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England seamer acknowledges whitewash in Australia was big setback in attempt to inspire new generation

Valkerie Baynes07-Mar-2025Kate Cross believes cultural change must form part of England’s rise from their Women’s Ashes nadir as the team sets out to win back fans as well as cricket matches.Cross admitted there was little positive to say off the back of a 16-nil points defeat at the hands of Australia, as players and staff await the outcome of an ECB review into the tour.”There’s areas that we probably know we need to address from cricket points of view, but also from probably cultural points of view as well,” Cross said. “This review, I don’t know what’s going to come of it, but I’m hoping that these are the things that will get addressed, and pave the way for the next generation to want to play for England.”The result in Australia was particularly disappointing for England in light of the excitement and optimism that the team generated in the course of their home Ashes campaign in 2023, in which they battled back from defeat in the one-off Test to square the series 8-8 with victories in both white-ball legs.”Ultimately I feel like we might’ve lost a few fans in the last couple of months, which is really sad from our point of view,” Cross added. “I think the 2023 Ashes was how good it can be and the 2025 Ashes how bad it can be.”The review, announced by Clare Connor, managing director of England Women’s Cricket, in the immediate aftermath of the Ashes whitewash, has conducted player interviews and is expected to make public its recommendations later this month.Cross brought a unique perspective to her evaluation of the tour, having travelled with a bulging disc in her back, which ultimately kept her sidelined throughout despite repeated attempts to prove her fitness to play.She acknowledged that, as professional athletes, players must accept increased scrutiny of their performances and she hoped people would “fall back in love with English cricket” after a torrid winter for both the women’s and men’s teams, the latter dumped out of contention in the Champions Trophy after two matches.England failed to win a match in the multi-format Women’s Ashes and were comprehensively out-played by hosts Australia, with the tourists’ physical fitness and mental toughness coming under the microscope, particularly in the wake of a row involving Alex Hartley, the former World Cup-winner turned commentator.Related

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“It was unprecedented how poorly we performed over there, I don’t think anyone probably anticipated the Ashes turning out the way it did, and obviously there was a huge disappointment that came with that,” Cross said.”As a group of players now, we don’t know what’s going to come of this review that’s happening at the moment, but I think it motivates you to be a better group of players and a better, I guess, version of yourself.”For Cross, it was a particularly frustrating trip, coming more than a decade on from her breakthrough performance at Perth on the 2013-14 tour of Australia, where her starring role on Test debut helped set England up for their most recent Ashes series win.”My reflections on my trip were quite unusual. I didn’t get to play a game of cricket, but as a 33-year-old getting ruled out of an Ashes series was devastating. So I feel like it’s made me really think about how I want to manage my career now moving forwards and, with the new structure of the tiers in the counties, I’m hoping that I’ll be so well supported with that, that that wasn’t my last Ashes hopefully.England’s players look on as Australia celebrate their Women’s Ashes whitewash•Getty Images

“Ultimately as players, we still want to try and get young girls interested in the game and us losing quite drastically isn’t going to do that. So we’re going to have to have a real look at how we want to portray ourselves as a team moving forward and try and get a bit of love back from our fans because we, or certainly I, felt that we kind of lost a lot of that from our Ashes series, so hopefully we can move in the right direction now.”Her comments suggest an acceptance that the ‘inspire and entertain’ mantra the team has espoused since Jon Lewis took over as head coach in 2022 has become irrelevant amid a rash of poor performances, going back to the group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup in October.Cross was speaking at the launch of the Professional Cricketers’ Association Women’s Impact Report, highlighting advances made in the game since 2020. That progress includes equal domestic minimum salaries of £28,000 for men and women from this season, where women’s teams have been aligned with the men’s in a three-tiered county-based structure.But more work remains to be done, including addressing the salary gap between genders in the Hundred, which widened rather than closed this year. While the leading earners in the men’s competition will earn £200,000, an increase of 60%, the top earners in the women’s game will earn £65,000, up 30%. The base salary for men went up by £1,000 on last year to £31,000 compared to the women, who went from £8,000 to £10,000.”I would hope to see that it happens quite quickly, especially with how vocal the players were about the pay gap getting bigger,” Cross said. “It was obviously a disappointment, but I’m always of the bigger picture, that the Hundred has done a lot for the women’s game. It continues to do that. It puts us in a spotlight that we’ve never had before in the domestic game.”So as disappointing as those headlines are, there’s still a lot of great stuff and there’s a lot more money coming into the game now and hopefully that’ll get pushed in the right direction and the gender play gap will continue to get smaller rather than get bigger.”A PCA working group will lobby the ECB on various aspects of the Hundred, which will receive a huge injection of funds through private investment from next season.Daryl Mitchell, PCA chief executive, said: “From our side, I think particularly the announcement of the salaries took us a little bit by surprise this time around, I think the communication needs to improve, particularly in that sort of announcement. What we were shown in October actually, at the players’ summit, was very different in terms of salary bands to what was actually produced and put out publicly.”There’s been some pretty robust discussions about that process, it’s fair to say, over the last couple of months. The ECB have stated it was an interim year with the sale of the Hundred franchises with a view to increase the salaries across the board next year. There’s a lot of things to work through.”

South Africa allrounder was reported for a suspect action last month in Australia and hasn’t played since

Firdose Moonda07-Sep-2025South Africa’s offspin-allrounder Prenelan Subrayen’s bowling action has been found to be legal by an independent testing centre. Subrayen, who has one Test and one ODI cap to his name, was reported for a suspect action last month in Australia and has not played since.While Subrayen was never suspended from bowling, South Africa chose to rest him for their remaining matches in Australia and did not name him in their squad for their ongoing series in England. Subrayen was tested in Brisbane on August 26 and an ICC statement confirmed that “the amount of elbow extension for all his deliveries was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations”.This is the third time Subrayen’s action has come under scrutiny. In December 2012, his action was deemed illegal and he was placed in a Cricket South Africa rehabilitation program. He was cleared to bowl again in January 2013. A year later he was reported during a Champions League T20 tournament in India and then suspended from bowling in November 2015 when all his deliveries were found to exceed the 15-degree limit. After failing a reassessment in January 2016, he was cleared to resume bowling in March that year.Subrayen has been playing in South Africa’s domestic system since 2011 and made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in July. He remains part of South Africa’s plans as they build to the next two white-ball World Cups.

Stoinis’ 27-ball 61* allowed Australia to race to a modest target with nearly nine overs left

Danyal Rasool18-Nov-2024Australia signed off their T20I series against Pakistan as they played the rest of it: with a decisive seven-wicket win that also sealed the series 3-0. Pakistan limped to 117 before being bowled out in 18.1 overs, losing their last nine wickets for 56 runs. Adam Zampa ran rings around them after the Powerplay, his 2-11 in four overs the catalyst for their collapse. Babar Azam – who top-scored with 41 off 28, had led Pakistan to a good position in the first six overs; by that time, the visitors sat relatively pretty at 58 for 1.Marcus Stoinis put any jeopardy out of the contest in the chase when he smashed Haris Rauf for 22 in an over. His 27-ball 61 meant Australia got to the target with almost nine overs to spare after Pakistan had made a respectable start in their attempt to defend a below-par target. Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matthew Short fell early, while Jahandad Khan’s variations made life tricky for Australia in the powerplay. But, as Stoinis later guaranteed, the visitors were merely delaying the inevitable.Pakistan’s bright startPakistan came out with clear intent after they had shown precious little of it when trying to chase Australia down in the previous game. Sahibzada Farhan fell early, but what Pakistan were trying to do was obvious: take advantage of the Powerplay. Even Babar, usually a slow starter, found the boundary off the first ball and carried on in that vein. Haseebullah Khan was riding his luck somewhat, his edges finding the boundary, but that, too, was a product of flashing hard. The upshot was Pakistan racing to 58 – their highest powerplay score in an innings against Australia.Zampa’s sorceryZampa’s impeccable control and skill makes him little short of a sorcerer in this format. For Pakistan, today, he was also their torturer – toying with batters at will as he varied pace, line, and variations, keeping batters second-guessing all the time.Adam Zampa put Babar Khan’s proactive innings to a halt•Getty Images

It took him just five balls before he saw to it that Haseebullah’s luck ran out, the flash outside off stump finding short third. In his third over, he put an end to Babar’s entertaining knock, adjusting the flight of his delivery as he saw the batter running down the wicket, and cleaning up his stumps.Even when he wasn’t taking wickets, he was piling on the pressure at the other end. Pakistan’s stand-in captain Salman Ali Agha played out five dot balls against him before he was put out of his misery by Aaron Hardie in the following over, and his figures of 4-0-11-2 didn’t remotely flatter him.Pakistan’s balanceIt’s difficult to expect the batters to play high-risk cricket when you simply don’t have enough batters. Pakistan had clearly briefed the team they expected aggression from the outset, even from players to whom it doesn’t come naturally. Usman Khan tends to take a few balls before being able to launch, but he came out from ball one looking to slog – even when the shot was never on. It never looked sustainable, as was demonstrated when he holed out off his fourth delivery, triggering a Pakistan collapse.Marcus Stoinis made 61* off 27 balls•Getty Images

Every fall of wicket was made all the more concerning for the visitors because of the extreme length of their tail; they effectively ran out of batters when the fifth wicket fell, with Abbas Afridi coming out at No. 7. It proved a problem for them in the second game, too, and remains an issue they need to find a way to resolve.Australia get on top of Haris – finallyA running theme in this series is Haris Rauf coming out and dominating whichever Australian batter he finds at the other end. This has been especially true of Glenn Maxwell, but Stoinis said post-match he told Haris this was the only time “one of us” got Haris’ number.And Stoinis did so in enthralling fashion. At the end of the eighth over, Australia were 57 for 2, and Pakistan still believed they had time to insert jeopardy into the game. But the ninth over saw him clobber Haris for two fours and two sixes off the first four balls, with the final six flying out of the Bellerive Oval altogether. It began a passage of play that saw Stoinis plunder 45 off his next 12 deliveries, including a 25-run over off Shaheen Afridi. The following over, Abbas had Stoinis caught at deep square leg but had overstepped. Sixty-one runs came off the final 21 balls to draw curtains to the match and the series.

“We need to grow this habit [of scoring big]… Of course, we should also play more franchise tournaments”

Mohammad Isam10-Oct-2024What happens in the aftermath of two huge defeats in India? For Bangladesh, it is less about trying to improve their batting or bowling, rather a discussion about having better pitches back home. Bangladesh’s players have told the BCB that they need to play on better tracks at home to have any chance of improving in T20s and compete against teams like India.Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had touched on the need for better pitches back home after the loss in the first T20I against India on Sunday, after which the BCB president Faruque Ahmed held a lengthy discussion on the subject in a press briefing earlier this week. Faruque even hinted that they would consider the future of the Shere Bangla National Stadium’s curator Gamini Silva. Now, after the 86-run defeat to India in the second T20I in Delhi on Thursday, Taskin Ahmed further emphasised on the need to have better pitches at home to get used to posting high totals, while admitting there was a “lot of room for improvement” in the team.”We have to improve our skills, but we also need to play on better wickets back home,” Taskin said. “These are the main reasons [for the defeat]. We have informed the board, so I am sure they are thinking about [better pitches]. They gave us hope that they will make things better. It is up to them how they will improve conditions back home.”Related

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Taskin said that Bangladesh bank heavily only on a select few members contributing to a total; so when the top order failed against India in the second game, they had little chance to chase down 222.”The average score in Delhi is more than 200 runs. Both [Gwalior and Delhi] were good to bat but we didn’t bat well,” Taskin said. “We didn’t play to our potential. We didn’t have a good game. We had to go hard at their big total. There’s not much to do in a T20 when the top five or six batters fail.”We haven’t done well as a team in the two T20Is, which is sad for us. We are the sort of team [in which] we need 80% of our team to win a game. We can’t win with [just] one or two [players] doing well. There’s a lot of room for improvement.”Bangladesh’s batting failure was in stark contrast to how India batted smoothly despite slipping to 41 for 3 in the sixth over. Newcomer Nitish Kumar Reddy and finisher Rinku Singh counterattacked with a 108-run fourth-wicket partnership, with both scoring rapid fifties before Hardik Pandya and Riyan Parag took India past 200. Taskin said India playing most of their cricket on good batting pitches has helped them hit big.”Most matches in IPL are high-scoring. They know how to chase big targets, and build high scores,” Taskin said. “What [scores like] 130-150 is for us, is 180-200 for them. We need to grow this habit [of scoring big], but I hope we have better home conditions so that we develop the ability to score and chase big targets. Of course, we should also play more franchise tournaments, which will give us better experience.”If we try to hit shots sitting or lying down in our home conditions, we would get hit in the face” – Taskin Ahmed•Associated Press

“You need everything [to be a big-hitter] – power, technique, ability and adaptation. If you see the way they hit those sixes so fluently, I am sure if we try to hit those shots sitting or lying down in our home conditions, we would get hit in the face. They grew this habit from their childhood to play on good wickets. This is their biggest strength in bowling and batting.”Taskin was Bangladesh’s standout bowler in Delhi, giving away just 16 runs in his four overs while also taking two wickets. The pace bowlers combined to take six wickets in 12 overs which cost 102 runs. The spinners, though, bowled eight overs which went for 14.50 an over, something which cost Bangladesh the game. It is worrying that the spinners couldn’t put together good spells in the first series since Shakib Al Hasan announced his retirement from T20Is.”Shakib is someone who is always an important player for us. The reality is that he will retire soon [from Tests as well],” Taskin said. “We have to stand up without him. Definitely, he is an all-time legend. We will miss him.”I think we started well in the powerplay. They batted really well towards the end to get a big total. Unfortunately, the spinners had a bad day. There was also dew. It is the nature of T20s. Anything can happen any time. I think we could have chased a target of 180 or 190. We failed to make runs, but it was a good wicket.”Taskin conceded that Bangladesh aren’t adapting quickly to better batting conditions too, which is an overall “failure” of their T20 approach.”We haven’t improved in T20s. It is our failure,” he said. “Regardless of wickets back home, we are not doing well in better conditions. We are trying hard to improve, and we are hoping we can improve. That’s all we can do.”

Konstas thought Kohli bumping into him was an accident but he said he enjoyed India coming at him: “It got heated at times, just feel like that brings the best out of me”

Alex Malcolm26-Dec-20241:51

Manjrekar explains how Konstas took down Bumrah

The naivety of youth. That’s the secret to reverse scooping Jasprit Bumrah for six, according to Sam Konstas.Not many 19-year-olds are conscious of how naive they are. But Konstas appears to be. He reverse scooped Bumrah twice to the boundary, and lap scooped him once, in his astonishing debut innings at the MCG, despite having nearly got out to the reverse scoop twice in the first three overs.Konstas had no fear of what might have been said had he got out to that shot, opting to focus on the scoring possibility rather than the consequences of an error.”I think it probably will look silly if I did get out,” Konstas said at the end of a day when 87,242 fans came to the MCG. “But I’ve worked pretty hard on that shot, and I feel like it’s probably a safe shot for me really. But I think that’s the beauty about being young and maybe a bit naive. I’m just trying to put pressure back on the bowler in the best way I think is, and it was good to get a few runs today.”Related

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Konstas showed the value of playing the ball and not the man. Bumrah had tormented Australia’s batters through the first three Test matches and tormented them again after Konstas was out by picking up three scalps – Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh – to drag India back into the game.He threatened to torture Konstas as well, having beaten him four times in the opening over and seven times in his first three, which included the two failed reverse scoops. But Konstas was completely unflustered.”I think I was just getting used to the wicket, first time facing him, getting used to his action,” Konstas said. “Obviously, he beat my bat quite a few times, and [I] was lucky enough to get a few away. But it was a great contest.”He’s a legend of the game, obviously, so I was trying to put a bit of pressure on him, and it paid off today. But obviously, he took three wickets and he changed the momentum. But I think I’m always challenging myself, trying to bring the best out of myself, so just getting that contest with him and trying to take his lines away.”He took more than his lines away. He did something no one had done to Bumrah in his Test career. Bumrah conceded 18 runs in an over for the first time. He conceded 38 in a six-over spell for the first time. He got hit for six for the first time in nearly four years and conceded two sixes to an individual for just the second time.Konstas explained that his reverse scoop was premeditated and designed to get the field changes that India ended up granting him.”Yeah, definitely premeditated, especially with the pace,” Konstas said. “[I was] just trying to keep my head still and just watch it as hard onto my bat. But yeah, got a few away today and changed the field, which was good, and then trying to [get them to] bowl in my zones.”Sam Konstas took on Jasprit Bumrah with high-risk reverse scoops•Getty Images

It is something former Australia captain Mark Taylor, the man who presented Konstas his baggy green at the start of the day, would have never dreamed of doing during his era. But Konstas is grateful to playing in a generation where he is allowed to express himself.”Yeah, definitely,” Konstas said. “I reckon maybe 20-30 years ago people were probably saying, defend a lot, just bat all day. But I think the new generation, new shots, it’s exciting for me. Obviously, I like doing that, putting pressure back on the bowlers, and hopefully it pays off for the next innings.”India also got baited into trying to intimidate him and paid an enormous price for it. Mohammed Siraj sledged him verbally and got dispatched to the boundary next ball.Virat Kohli deliberately bumped into him to spark a verbal argument which Konstas didn’t back down from. Konstas thought the bump was an accident but he said he enjoyed India coming at him.”I was just doing my gloves and I think he accidentally bumped me,” Konstas said. “But I think that’s just cricket, just the tension.”I was just trying to get in the contest and whoever I was facing, just trying to bring the best version of myself. Obviously, it got heated at times, which was good for me. Just feel like that brings the best out of me.”

Batting coach Thilina Kandamby said Sri Lanka had initially hoped to play three seamers, but changed their minds when they saw the pitch

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Jun-2025Pitches at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo tend to come in two varieties. There were the mega run-fest flatbeds of the late aughts. Since then, they have tended to be be big-turning dustbowls.But the track for the second Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is unusual, as Bangladesh batter Shadman Islam and Sri Lanka batting coach Thilina Kandamby agree. Shadman is playing his first Test at this venue. Kandamby played domestic cricket here for more than a decade. But they’ve both arrived at roughly the same conclusion: this pitch is unexpectedly difficult to bat on.”It’s a two-paced wicket, when it usually has even bounce here,” Kandamby said after the first day’s play. “This is an unusual wicket at SSC because I’ve been playing here for almost 15 years. This is a totally different wicket. With the uneven bounce, even we were surprised by it.”Related

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Shadman, who is currently top-scorer for Bangladesh with 46 off 93 balls, also said that run-scoring was not easy. At least four of Bangladesh’s top seven batters were out playing aggressive strokes, including Shadman himself.”I think the wicket was a little bit slow,” he said. “You cannot score runs without playing shots. We played shots [during the first Test] in Galle too where those ended in boundaries. But unfortunately, maybe it was not our day today.”Having batted longer than anyone on this track, Shadman felt that 270 or 280 would be a good first-innings score for Bangladesh, who ended day one at 220 for 8. He also said there was enough juice in this pitch for Bangladesh’s own bowlers to exploit during Sri Lanka’s innings.”It’s very different conditions to Galle,” Kandamby said. “It was more batting-friendly than previous Galle wickets, and Bangladesh batted brilliantly. But here, we planned a few things about how to get them out, and some of those plans worked. We’d actually been hoping to play three seamers, but decided not to after coming here and seeing the wicket. For me, it’s an unusual SSC track.”

Fast bowler joins Bristol exodus after agreeing three-year contract

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-2025Fast bowler Zaman Akhter has become the latest Gloucestershire player to agree a move away from the club after signing a three-year deal with Essex.Zaman has featured for England Lions after impressing with his pace for Gloucestershire. He made his first-class debut in 2019 for Oxford MCCU before gaining a second chance through the South Asian Cricket Academy, leading to a county contract at the age of 24.Essex are currently third from bottom in Division One of the County Championship and beginning a process of reshaping their squad after the return of Chris Silverwood as director of cricket before the start of the season.”We are really excited to bring ‘Zum’ into the group,” Silverwood said. “He is a player we’ve had our eye on for a while and we really believe his quality will add and strengthen our bowling group.”I look forward to working closely with Zaman over the winter period when we prepare for the 2026 season, integrating him into the squad and our plans for the season ahead.”Zaman is the fourth Gloucestershire quick to announce their departure in recent weeks. Ajeet Singh Dale will join Lancashire at the end of the season, while Tom Price and Dom Goodman are making the switch to Sussex. Long-serving batter Chris Dent has also announced his retirement.Zaman said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be joining Essex. It’s a great club with a rich history and a strong winning culture, and I can’t wait to get started.”I’m really looking forward to contributing on and off the field, learning from some outstanding players and coaches. Speaking to Chris Silverwood, it’s a really exciting time and hopefully I can thrive at Essex to help contribute to their future success.”

SA’s quicks Rabada and Jansen then tore through a line-up already missing the injured Ayub

Danyal Rasool04-Jan-2025Pakistan’s horror day in Cape Town was complete after South Africa ripped through their top order to leave them staring down the barrel of a huge defeat. Having posted 615 thanks to a double-hundred from Ryan Rickelton and a century from Kyle Verreynne, South Africa’s quicks Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen tore through a Pakistan line-up already missing the injured Saim Ayub. So effectively, South Africa are six wickets away from making Pakistan bat again, with the visitors a mammoth 551 runs behind after day two.Having taken command before lunch, South Africa ground Pakistan into the dust in the afternoon. Rickelton ended up with 259, falling just short of Stephen Fleming’s 262 as the highest score at Newlands. Verreynne brought up his fourth Test hundred. Jansen, out of form with the bat all year in 2024, heralded the new year with a whirlwind half-century. Six fours and three sixes helped him get there in 42 balls. Thus, as many as 137 runs were added in the second session, with South Africa having surged to 566 for 7 by tea, already their highest score at home in four years.Pakistan gamely battled on, but their efforts never looked like bearing fruit on a wicket that had long since flattened, and batters that had long since settled. Much of the second session became a milestone-marking exercise. Verreynne continued with the belligerence that had lit up the first session, a boundary off Mohammad Abbas and a single off the next ball bringing up three figures. It brought Newlands to its feet once more; they may have sore legs from the frequency with which they had to do that.Salman Ali Agha struck next over to prise him out as Verreynne went for a slog sweep, but it did little to stymie South Africa’s momentum. With no scoreboard pressure, Jansen let his natural talent speak for itself, swinging freely and timing it beautifully. He took 11 balls to get off the mark, but once he did, there was no stopping him. Two fours and a six off Khurram Shahzad in two successive overs helped bring up the 50 partnership in 46 balls, while each of Rickelton and Jansen helped themselves to sixes off Salman.Kyle Verreynne got to his fourth Test hundred•AFP/Getty Images

Pakistan finally saw the back of Rickelton before tea was called. Having slapped Mir Hamza over his head for four, he top-edged the next ball to Abbas at long-on, who hung on to send him on his way, but not before he had nearly doubled his Test tally in one innings.In the morning, Rickelton had become the first South African in eight years to score a Test double hundred as South Africa tightened their grip on the Test. Pakistan began the session with some promise, taking the new ball immediately and striking within four overs, when Abbas tempted David Bedingham into a push outside off stump and induced an outside edge. It gave Pakistan a lift, but Rickelton merely carried on with the discipline that saw him go in overnight unbeaten on 176. He was cautious against the length deliveries and dismissive of everything else.Verreynne, meanwhile, was less discerning in his shot selection, a hook over deep backward square off Abbas revealing his intentions. It was a shot that defined the session for him; he picked up another two sixes off Jamal in the final over before lunch the same way. When Shan Masood put in three fielders close in at cover, he still found a way to pierce them through that region against Hamza, whose attempts to induce cover drives were successful, but just not in the way he had hoped.At the other end, Rickelton got to his double hundred with a punch through the off side, haring off halfway down the field in celebration. But the highlights all belonged to Verreynne, who greeted Salman with a reverse sweep for four off the second ball, and another one to finish the over off. Before the session was out, Verreynne had taken Jamal down by plundering 17 runs in an over.Kagiso Rabada got two early wickets with the new ball•Gallo Images

Pakistan finally did manage to bring the innings to a close after more than 140 overs under the hot Newlands sun, finishing, with pleasing symmetry, the way they started it. Abbas hit the top of off to knock back debutant Kwena Maphaka’s stumps, just like ball-tracking projected Abbas would have done off the innings’ first ball had Aiden Markram’s pad didn’t get in the way.But as soon as they started with the bat, they might almost have been left wishing South Africa’s innings didn’t end. Masood didn’t see out the first over, pushing at a Rabada delivery that nibbled away and took his outside edge along with it. Saud Shakeel fell in almost identical fashion as he uncharacteristically drove at Rabada, the same edge carrying to the same slip fielder, with David Bedingham making no mistake.In between, extra pace and bounce from Jansen forced Kamran Ghulam into an awkward position that culminated in his stumps being scattered behind him.So threatening was South Africa’s opening salvo and so listless were Pakistan’s batters that it felt the hosts might burrow deep into the tail this evening. But Babar Azam, opening in the absence of Ayub, dug in alongside Mohammad Rizwan, and South Africa’s replacement bowlers were not quite at Rabada and Jansen’s devastating level.It helped Pakistan that made sure they ended a day that had no redeeming features with the hope the next one may delay the inevitable a while longer.

Before changing his statement, Robi had indicated that he had been hit in his back and in his ribs, possibly by local fans

Daya Sagar27-Sep-2024A Bangladeshi fan at the centre of an alleged altercation at Kanpur’s Green Park on Friday ended up in a hospital. Robi, the Bangladeshi superfan, initially said he had been at the receiving end of some violence from other fans but retracted that claim from hospital later, saying he had been feeling unwell after suffering from dehydration in the Kanpur heat. Local police also said Robi had been taken away from the ground during the opening day’s play of the India vs Bangladesh Test because he was feeling unwell.It was during the lunch break that Robi, with the tiger stripes painted on his face, appeared to stumble out of a gate and appear near the gate for the media personnel. Security officials and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) officials got him a chair, offered him water, and soon arranged for an ambulance to take him to a medical facility. Videos recorded at the time by ESPNcricinfo showed Robi in discomfort, and while his words were unclear, he indicated that he had been punched from behind in his lower back, and had been elbowed in the ribs. He appeared out of breath and struggling.Prior to this, before the interval, Robi had been spotted in Stand C at Green Park. He was the only fan – of either team – there, waving the national flag. Incidentally, parts of that stand had been deemed unfit for spectators prior to the Test, and Robi was in one of the barred areas. A few eyewitnesses ESPNcricinfo spoke to said that Robi had an argument with some Indian fans, after which there was some pushing and shoving, and his flag was snatched from him and thrown away. UPCA officials were unresponsive when ESPNcricinfo asked how and why Robi was able to get to that specific part of the stand.At the hospital later, Robi told mediapersons, “I was feeling unwell. The police brought me to the hospital, and I am feeling better after being treated.”Assistant police commissioner of Kalyanpur, Abhishek Pandey, said in his statement that Robi’s health had “deteriorated suddenly” and “reports of an altercation are baseless; he hurt himself when he fell”. “A liaison officer has been attached to him [Robi] so that he gets assistance whenever he requires it,” Pandey added. Police sources also said that Robi had undergone a number of tests and scans, and he has been found to be fit. At the time of filing this report, Robi was still in the hospital.All of this came even as protests against Bangladesh playing a Test match in Kanpur continued. Like on the eve of the match, activists connected to some right-wing political parties conducted protests barely a kilometre from the stadium on Friday. The protests are a response to reports that there have been attacks against members of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh over the past month-and-a-half. It has been a period of tumult in Bangladesh, since July, when student-led protests led to the end of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government.Incidentally, Shoaib Ali Bukhari, the celebrated Bangladesh fan who travels around the world with the team, was allegedly manhandled during an ODI World Cup match against India in Pune last year.

Hampshire openers rack up 152-run stand to set up thumping win in rain-reduced contest

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay07-Sep-2025Leaders Hampshire Women clinched a semi-final berth in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup after a convincing nine-wicket victory with 13.2 overs to spare against Durham Women at the Banks Homes Riverside.The defeat leaves Durham in fifth place with two rounds to play, one point behind fourth-placed Surrey with the two sides meeting in the final group match at Chester-le-Street next Saturday.Initially chasing a target of 225, Hampshire opening pair of Maia Bouchier and Rhianna Southby produced an attacking start that saw 74 runs arrive from the 10-over powerplay and they had raced along with some fine strokeplay to reach 144 for 0 from 19 overs when rain took 13 overs out of the game.A revised DLS target of 171 in 37 overs made little difference, and despite the loss of Southby for 58, Bouchier and Freya Kemp quickly scored the 27 needed to clinch an impressive victory.Earlier, a fighting 88 by captain Hollie Armitage had given Durham some hope with the hosts posting 224 for 9 after a poor start. Armitage came to the crease in the eighth over and batted through to the last, hitting nine fours, but found partnerships difficult to come by until Grace Thompson finally provided great support for the eighth wicket. The pair added 72 to rescue Durham from a perilous 144 for 7 with 18-year-old Thompson contributing a List A career-best 39.Georgia Adams with 3 for 41 led an excellent bowling effort by the visitors with Freya Davies impressive with 2 for 30 along with Bex Tyson (2 for 40).Southby and Bouchier made a strong start to the Hampshire run chase, the pair attacking effectively to race to their fifty partnership from just 41 balls in increasingly gloomy overhead conditions that required the use of the floodlights.Bouchier was the first to reach her half century – her fifth in this season’s competition – from 47 balls hitting eight fours, with the century partnership arriving moments later from only 86 balls as Durham struggled to exert any control with the ball.Southby hit the first six of the game on her way to a 45-ball fifty that also included eight fours as the Hampshire openers raced along at nearly eight runs per over to put the outcome in little doubt.It was an impressive display, with Bouchier not out on 76 from 67 balls and Southby unbeaten on 56 from 50 balls when rain stopped play at 3.30pm with Hampshire 144-0 after 19 overs. After an 80 minutes delay, the target was reduced to 171 from 37 overs and Durham finally made a breakthrough when Thompson bowled Southby for 58 to end a fine 152-run partnership.Bouchier and Kemp then eased their way to 174 for 1 in the 24th over to clinch the win.After opting to bat, Durham lost both opening batters in the powerplay, Mia Rogers run out for 6 and Emma Marlow caught at cover for 12 during an impressive five over spell of 1 for 9 by Davies.Armitage and Mady Villiers had begun to fashion a recovery with a steady partnership of 30 before Villers on 19 was tempted into a drive off left-arm spinner Tyson that ended up in the hands of Mary Taylor at mid-on. That also proved to be the fate of Emily Windsor when she picked out Bouchier off Adams for 13 who then had Bess Heath caught behind three balls later to leave Durham struggling on 89 for 5 in the 22nd over.It left a lot resting on the shoulders Armitage, and she responded with a determined innings, passing fifty off 65-balls for the fifth time while becoming the second batter to pass 500 runs in the competition this season. But Durham continued to lose wickets at the other end. Having taken 1 for 14 from a six-over spell, Tyson returned to bowl Phoebe Turner around her legs for 18 while Adams picked up her third wicket when trapping Katherine Fraser lbw sweeping for 4.An excellent innings by Thompson finally lent Armitage the support needed over the final 15 overs, the pair adding 72 off 86 balls – easily the highest partnership of the innings – with Armitage’s excellent effort ending in the final over as Durham posted a far better total than had looked likely earlier, but one the visitors comfortably hauled in.