Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder have been left out of the line-up after being in the mix for the first three fixtures

Liam Brickhill11-Mar-2019Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla will return to South Africa’s squad for the remaining ODIs against Sri Lanka, while JP Duminy is also in line to play his first international cricket for four-and-a-half months as South Africa look to put the finishing touches to their squad ahead of the World Cup.Weight of runs has forced Markram back into contention after he was left out of the first three games, with his outstanding recent form including back-to-back centuries that have helped propel Titans to the top spot on the Momentum One-Day Cup table.

Squad for last two ODIs

Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.

Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder are the two players from the original squad who will sit the next two games out, with the group growing from 14 to 15 for the ODIs in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.Captain Faf du Plessis welcomed the return of experienced hands Amla and Duminy, who has made a successful comeback for Cape Cobras after being out of action following shoulder surgery.”We’ve spoken about the balance we’d like, and when you add JP to that you only need five overs from him and your allrounder,” du Plessis explained. “It’s a real good balance that he brings to the table. Obviously, his experience is amazing. The most important thing from JP’s point of view is that he got over his injury. So it’s great that he got runs, but that was the concern from us, just from the leadership group that he goes and plays two games, gets back into cricket. Because we know when he’s back what he brings to the team from a performance point of view. So good that he comes back into the next two games with some nice form.”We know what Hash has got,” du Plessis added. “Hash has played a lot of cricket for South Africa. He’s got an amazing record. But we needed to make sure Reeza got an opportunity this series. If Hash gets another opportunity coming back into the side, hopefully he grabs that with both hands.”The main concern for me with all the players is that you need make sure you put performances on the board to go to the World Cup. It’s about our best and most in-form team that’s going. Everyone in the dressing room knows that, and I believe it’s making us want to raise the bar on our own performance.”Du Plessis’ sentiments were echoed by national selection panel convener Linda Zondi. “Experience is always a key factor in major tournaments such as the ICC Men’s World Cup,” he said. “It is great to see how well JP has regained his best form after being out of action for so long.Dale Steyn celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

“What has also been highly encouraging is see how well the Proteas have played when they have returned to franchise cricket. It is important that they should dominate at this level and that their skills should rub off on our emerging talent. JP, Aiden and Dwaine Pretorius have all made significant contributions to their franchises in recent matches.
“We will use the final two matches in the ODI series to continue to examine all the options that are available to us as far as the World Cup squad is concerned.”Du Plessis added that Dale Steyn, who has been a part of the one-day squad for the series but is yet to play a match, is understanding of the need to field test new players such as fast bowler Anrich Nortje.”Dale understands. Anrich needs to play some games. That is a position that’s still needs to be selected. As far as Dale in concerned, he’s going to the World Cup. So we need to make sure who is our next fast bowler, and if we want to take a next fast bowler,” du Plessis said.”So we want to give Anrich as much opportunity as possible. He’ll definitely get another opportunity out of the next game, and then hopefully Dale in one of the other games.”Du Plessis denied that Steyn’s absence had anything to do with managing the paceman’s workload to keep him fresh for the World Cup. “No, because he’s not going to play a lot of cricket,” the captain explained. “He’s not going to the IPL. So for now his workload can continue, he can keep bowling in the nets. There was a thought of releasing him to go and play in the Titans, but the Titans are playing well and the balance of their side is probably going to stay the same, so we thought best just to keep training with us. He will get one game out of the next two.”

Warwickshire were made to follow on despite Dom Sibley’s 132 and lost four second-innings wickets before the close

George Dobell at Edgbaston13-Apr-2019Warwickshire 346 (Sibley 132, Milnes 3-50) and 79 for 4 trail Kent 504-9 dec by 79 runs
Warwickshire face a fight to save their opening Championship game of the season despite Dominic Sibley continuing his fine form. Sibley made his fifth century in five successive first-class games to keep his side in the match but, with none of his colleagues able to reach 50 – only two other men in the top nine reached 20 – Warwickshire conceded a first-innings deficit of 159 and were forced to follow-on.By the close, they had lost four second-innings wickets, including Sibley for 5, and still required 79 more runs to make Kent back again. Without the lower-order allrounders who used to bolster them – the likes of Keith Barker, Rikki Clarke and Chris Wright, who were all allowed to leave – or the injured Ian Bell, their batting looks just a little brittle. You wonder whether Chris Woakes, who will play for Warwickshire’s 2nd XI in a limited-overs game in the next few days, might have played as a specialist batsman.That all means that Kent are closing in on their first victory in the top division of the County Championship since September 2010. As a coincidence, their coach at the time was Paul Farbrace, who is the new director of cricket at Edgbaston. Darren Stevens is the only member of this Kent team who played in that match.Given how newly promoted sides have struggled to stay in Division One in recent seasons – last season, Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire both finished in the bottom three – this could prove a crucial game. These two are fresh from Division Two, after all, with many people suggesting Kent may struggle.But their excellent first-innings batting has given them a strong foundation in this match. And with their bowlers reacting well to the challenge of staying in the field for five sessions in succession so far – they bowled 120 overs in Warwickshire’s first innings before enforcing the follow-on – they have an excellent chance to secure an important win. But for a memorable fightback from Somerset last week, it could easily have been two wins from two.If they do go on to win, they will owe a great deal to Zak Crawley. Having made a match-defining century in the first innings, he also held on to a succession of outstanding catches in the slip cordon – not least the brilliant, diving effort to end Sibley’s second innings – to ensure his bowlers’ work was not wasted. He really does look an outstanding prospect.Much the same could be said about Sibley. While his team-mates prodded and pushed at the moving ball, he played admirably straight, left well and was not seduced into any of the hard-handed strokes that were to prove their undoing. He is patient and he is disciplined, but he also had a wide array of strokes with the on-drive that brought up his century a particular highlight. The only time he looked troubled in this innings was as he approached his century and he may well have been a little unfortunate to be adjudged leg before for 132.Sibley’s partnership with Tim Ambrose, who passed 11,000 runs during the day, gave Warwickshire hope. The pair added 87 in 30 overs and, with Kent’s attack tiring – Daniel Bell-Drummond, with four first-class wickets from 100 matches, took the second new ball – it seemed Warwickshire would creep past the follow-on mark. But Ambrose’s dismissal, shuffling in front of one from Stevens, opened the floodgates to a collapse that saw five wickets fall for the addition of just 32 runs.The impressive Harry Podmore broke the back of their resistance with a spell three wickets for six runs in 11 balls including Sibley. By the time the last pair – Jeetan Patel and Ryan Sidebottom – came together, Warwickshire required 82 to avoid being sent back in.They almost did it, too. With Patel leading the way in typically aggressive fashion, the 10th-wicket pair took advantage of some fielding lapses – Patel should have been stumped, Sidebottom should have been caught – to add 73, before Patel was caught at mid-off as he attempted to thrash one back over Stevens’ head.Podmore soon made inroads in Warwickshire’s second innings, too. Will Rhodes was trapped in front by one that swung back to take advantage of him over-balancing to the off-side, before Liam Banks was well caught as he edged a somewhat unnecessary forcing stroke and Sibley, perhaps wearied by his exertions, was drawn into a drive at a wide ball that he admitted he would have left in his first innings. Adam Hose edged a good one that left him a little off the pitch, though he could have left it.”The start of last season was a disaster for me,” Sibley said afterwards. “I was really struggling and things couldn’t have got much worse. But I’ve worked hard and I’ve changed my trigger movement. It’s great to get hundreds rather than fifties or sixties. I know there are places [available] there [in the England side] but I’m just concentrating on scoring runs for Warwickshire.”It’s disappointing to lose four wickets in the last session today, but this game hasn’t gone. Hopefully we can go past them and put them under a bit of pressure.”

Chris Liddle and Tom Smith claimed three wickets each as Gloucestershire skittled Surrey for just 88

ECB Reporters Network17-Apr-2019Chris Liddle and Tom Smith claimed three wickets each as Gloucestershire skittled Surrey for just 88 to win their opening Royal London One-Day Cup match at Bristol by 147 runs.The home side were bowled out for 235 after winning the toss, having been 156 for one, with Chris Dent and Gareth Roderick the main contributors, while Rikki Clarke and Tom Curran shared seven wickets. It looked a below par total. But Surrey turned in a hapless batting display, Jason Roy top-scoring with 19 as they were bowled out in only 24 overs.Liddle finished with 3 for 17 and left-arm spinner Smith 3 for 7 from two overs. Tightly as Gloucestershire bowled, it was an abject display by the visiting batting line-up.The game was played in bright sunshine on a slow pitch. Surrey made a quick breakthrough when George Hankins chased a wide delivery from Clarke and edged through to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.The best batting of the day followed as, having taken time to assess the pace of the pitch, Dent and Roderick played with increasing freedom.
Skipper Dent was first to his half-century, off 62 balls, with four fours and a pulled six off Clarke, and Roderick soon followed, off 65 deliveries, having struck seven boundaries.The pair were making batting look easy, Roderick having lofted Liam Plunkett over midwicket for six, when they fell in quick succession. Dent skied a catch to mid-on off Clarke to end a stand of 152 in 25 overs and the next over saw Roderick miscue to mid-off to give Curran his first wicket.The collapse that followed was a major surprise. Soon Gloucestershire were 171 for 5, with Ian Cockbain bowled off stump by Gareth Batty and Jack Taylor stumped attempting to swing Will Jacks’ offspin into the leg side. Benny Howell and Ryan Higgins added 43 for the sixth wicket before falling to Clarke and Curran respectively and there was little contribution from the tail as Gloucestershire were bowled out inside 48 overs.Tom Smith appeals for a wicket•Getty Images

Surrey looked strong favourites at halfway, but never recovered from losing Mark Stoneman to the third ball of their innings, bowled by Dan Worrall with a ball that nipped back off the seam. It was the start of a sorry procession, Liddle removing three of the top five in Roy, Rory Burns and Foakes, while Jacks, on 17, dislodged his leg bail attempting to pull Worrall as Surrey slumped to 61 for 5.There was simply no resistance as Howell had Ollie Pope caught behind down the leg side for 13, Clarke was bowled by Higgins and Smith polished off the tail by sending back Curran, Batty and Plunkett in the space of 11 balls.The speed with which the match ended caught everyone by surprise and Surrey – three times finalists in this competition between 2015 and 2017 – were left to reflect an opening group performance that was little short of embarrassing.Surrey head coach Michael Di Venuto was disappointed by his side’s performance.”It would be nice to start this competition well, but we have made a habit of doing the opposite in recent years,” Di Venuto said. “It was a particularly disappointing batting performance. We had a bit of bad luck with a few of the dismissals, strangles down the leg-side and a hit-wicket, but in general we didn’t adapt to the sort of pitch we were playing on.”Hopefully, we have got this out of our systems early and we will be looking to put things right quickly against Sussex at Hove on Friday.”

The match against Kings XI Punjab will be the allrounder’s last of the season before he joins England’s preparatory camp for the World Cup

Hemant Brar in Bengaluru23-Apr-2019It’s difficult to get noticed in a team that has Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, but Moeen Ali has definitely made his presence felt at Royal Challengers Bangalore this season.While Kohli (387), de Villiers (332) and Parthiv Patel (283) have more runs than Moeen, his 216 runs have come at the best strike rate among all the batsmen in the team – 168.75. Moeen played crucial roles in Royal Challengers winning their two most recent matches. His 66 off 28 balls set the platform for a 200-plus total against Kolkata Knight Riders, and his 26 off 16 ensured Royal Challengers piled on enough – just about – to beat Chennai Super Kings.”My job in the team is to do that [take the pressure off Kohli and de Villiers],” Moeen said on the eve of Royal Challengers’ match against Kings XI Punjab. “It is very difficult for a team to win if you rely on just two guys batting because they feel the pressure as well. My job is to come and score some runs and be part of the batting group, and contribute in winning games.”I think it gives a lot of confidence if Virat and AB don’t score, or if one of them doesn’t play, like AB didn’t against KKR, we can still score 200-plus. I have the confidence in my own game and belief that I can also score runs just as quick as them and take games away from the opposition. It won’t always happen, but I know I can do that.”I might be a quiet sort of person, but I’m quite confident in my own game. Before I even came to RCB, I said to myself (that) I wanted to score the runs that I could. I know I can do it, it is just going out and having the confidence to do it.”Dale Steyn’s arrival has given Royal Challengers a welcome injection of new-ball potency•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Apart from Moeen’s contributions, one other aspect of Royal Challengers’ game in their last two outings was the difference Dale Steyn has made to their attack. In their first eight matches of the season, their bowlers had only taken three wickets in the Powerplay overs, at an average of 144.33. In their last two games, they have taken seven at an average of 9.85, with Steyn claiming four.”He’s been massive,” Moeen said. “We didn’t take wickets in Powerplays and now since he has come, we’ve been taking wickets. When you take two, three, four wickets [in Powerplays], most of the time you’re going to win the game.”I think just the name of Dale Steyn [is enough]. Well, he has not played much in the last couple of years, but he still has class. The way he bowls, the swing… he pitches it up, he’s quite brave in the way he bowls. It’s probably the thing that we’ve been lacking in this team and it has cost us in a few games. But having him has been huge for our bowlers as well – the way he sets the tone in the first couple of overs. Anybody can get smashed but he has been fantastic.”Wednesday’s game will be Moeen’s last of the season before he leaves to join England’s camp ahead of the World Cup. This means he will miss at least three games for Royal Challengers.”It’s not ideal, obviously,” Moeen said. “I think it’s worse when there are three games to go, that there’s not much cricket left and you always think, ‘I could’ve played those three games’. If there were six-seven games, it was a little more understandable. But it’s a small window. And knowing that there could be a chance of going through if we win all our games, then you miss out on a potential semi-final and stuff.”But I’ll definitely keep an eye out and see how they’re going, hoping that we’re winning all our games. It’s also difficult to leave a team, especially when I’m in a bit of form and I want to keep going in the IPL, trying to improve my game. I feel like I’m a big part of the boys and I’ll miss them. It’s a shame but there’s obviously the World Cup, which is very important as well.”

Adam Lyth, Tom Kohler-Cadmore fall just shy of centuries on even day in Leeds

David Hopps03-Jun-2019This is where it’s at, baby: Yorkshire and Essex duking it for supremacy. Not quite how Sir Neville Cardus would have put it, admittedly, but when the World Cup is in full flow, and England are involved in a troubled run chase, the Championship needs to go full-on Iggy Pop, the grandfather of punk, to grab even a tiny share of attention.While the World Cup understandably dominates attention over the next month or so, the Championship will take shape. Surely Somerset will never have a better chance of winning county cricket’s premier tournament for the first time than this year. As for Yorkshire and Essex, they are still not sure what their seasons will deliver. The next three days will reveal much. The winner, if there is to be one, may be pleasantly surprised by their lofty position come Thursday evening.An even first day has left us none the wiser about which side might prosper. Yorkshire were dominant just after tea at 224 for 2 with the prospect of hundreds for both Adam Lyth and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but Simon Harmer’s tightly-engineered off-spin held Essex together, as it must, and neither hundred materialised as Yorkshire lost four wickets for 28 in 13 overs and they came to rest at 289 for 6.David Willey, omitted from England’s World Cup squad, was one of those wickets, leg before as he propped forward at Harmer. It’s fair to say that as he walked off you would not have been tempted to bottle the air around him and sell it as a Happiness Potion.Headingley’s World Cup matches are still to come, of course, and they will be enhanced by the magnificent new Emerald Stand, which will remain empty for this match while a few final touches are carried out but which gleams virginal white between the cricket and rugby sections of the ground. The decrepit old stand where the sun never dared intrude has been replaced by something more uplifting. People may even be caught smiling.It is a grand development – £43m worth, of which Yorkshire’s share was £18m – and brings a sense of beauty to a ground that once upon a time only admired beauty in a Geoffrey Boycott defensive push, Fred Trueman’s outswinger or Brian Close’s bruised forehead and where most of the cognoscenti would have probably dismissed Keats’ Grecian Urn as something you couldn’t rightly sup out of.But their Lust for Life, as Iggy once put it, centres proudly around the County Championship and there was much to sharpen their interest: a debutant batsman, and from Huddersfield, too; signs in Kohler-Cadmore’s 83 that has game is maturing nicely; a condemnatory statistic about Yorkshire opening stands that just will not go away; and an Essex wicketkeeping crisis, not that they would admit to being too interested in that.The debutant opener was Will Fraine, who moved from Nottinghamshire in the middle of last season, and whose father is a senior figure in an ice cream company that is one of Yorkshire’s major sponsors. His 39 from 69 balls was not quite the indulgence promised by the Idaho Valley Mint flavour, but was a sober affair, prospering largely through learned steers through backward point, head determinedly over ball, enough to satisfy the members on first sight. Sam Cook brought one back to bowl him through the gate.Fraine is the latest player to try to address some very un-Yorkshire shortcomings at the top of the order. According to the Yorkshire specialist Graham Hardcastle, it is 20 matches since they have managed a hundred stand for the first wicket in first-class cricket when Shaun Marsh and Kohler-Cadmore did so against Surrey at The Kia Oval; there again, they were responding to 529.The fact that such a skilful player as Lyth has routinely been one of those openers makes it an even more unlikely statistic. Lyth did his share of playing and missing in making 95, but otherwise had few alarms, his most uncertain moment perhaps coming on 17 when he edged Cook just in front of second slip.Lyth was also involved in the run out of Gary Ballance, who is searching for a century in six successive Yorkshire matches. Len Hutton once made a hundred for Yorkshire in seven successive matches, although that sequence was interrupted by England calls. It was an avoidable run out, a casual first run being followed by joint uncertainty over the second, Sam Cook’s throw from square leg doing the rest.Lyth could barely have succumbed more to self-blame had he walked home in bare feet wearing a placard saying ‘Stone Me’. “It was my fault,” he said. “It’s not great when you run the best batsman in the country out. I can’t honestly tell you how awful it felt. I can’t apologise enough. He said he would forgive me if I got 150 so he hasn’t forgiven me.”England might only have eyes for the World Cup at the moment, but the Ashes will soon be here and in these parts they are adamant that Ballance, defiantly playing as deep in the crease as ever, should be part of them. Lyth’s excessive self-blame proved as much.Lyth’s departure to a defensive push at Jamie Porter soon after tea gave Will Buttleman the first of two simple catches – he also held Kohler-Cadmore’s attempted drive – to adorn his emergency uptake of the keeping gloves after Robbie White injured an ankle in training, so ending his loan spell from Middlesex; he came in on debut against Hampshire last season, too, when Adam Wheater was injured midway through a match.Michael Pepper damaged a finger against Kent last week, soon after returning from an appendix operation and Wheater, the senior man, is a long-term absentee with a badly-broken finger. They said it would be difficult replacing James Foster, but nobody said it would be downright dangerous.

The former India captain said there had been a lot of “baffling” decisions by the team management, including how Rayudu and Rahane had been handled.

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Jul-2019″Baffling.”That was the word former India captain Sunil Gavaskar used to express his disappointment with the Indian team management’s decisions ahead of, and during, their World Cup 2019 campaign. India had topped the league stage of the tournament, but lost by 18 runs against fourth-placed New Zealand in a thrilling semi-final.Matt Henry and Trent Boult had reduced India to 5 for 3 in their chase of 240, but there was some surprise about MS Dhoni’s batting position, with the most experienced member of the team coming in at No.7, with all of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya sent in ahead of Dhoni.Dhoni didn’t walk out even when India became 24 for 4 in 10 overs, with Jimmy Neesham taking a spectacular one-handed catch to send back Karthik. The general expectation was that the situation was ideal for Dhoni’s experience and calm, but it was Pandya who came out to join Pant.Both young players put their heads down in a 47-run stand for the fifth wicket, playing with confidence and composure. However, Pant went for the slog-sweep against Mitchell Santner, with the bowler having built up pressure through tight bowling, and was caught at deep midwicket. Pandya was out to a similar shot, as the asking rate mounted.Gavaskar felt that Dhoni should have been the one to join Pant when the fourth wicket fell, since he could have settled any nerves that Pant, as a rookie, might have felt.”At that stage (24 for 4) you did not need two players playing in the same mould,” Gavaskar told on Thursday, the day after India’s defeat. “Both (Pant and Pandya) are attacking players. It could have been an MS Dhoni coming in at this stage and talking to Rishabh every second delivery.”He would have assessed from the non-striker’s end what exactly Rishabh Pant is feeling: is he getting a little impatient? You have sent two people whose natural game is to go bang-bang, and at that stage, with the ball doing all kinds of things and the pressure being there, four wickets gone – you wanted somebody to hang in there. That was baffling.”When India’s captain Virat Kohli was asked why Dhoni walked in at No. 7, the lowest he has batted in the tournament, he said the role Dhoni had been given some games into the tournament was to be there at the end. “Well, he’s been given that role after the first few games of being in a situation where he can, if the situation’s bad, control one end, like he did today,” Kohli said. “Or if there is a scenario where there are six or seven overs left, he can go and strike.”Gavaskar pointed to Ambati Rayudu as one batsman who would have had the ability and experience to handle the situation following the top order collapse. Rayudu had been on the list of standbys for India’s World Cup squad, but wasn’t called up despite two men being rendered unavailable through injuries, following which he announced his retirement from all cricket.Rayudu had batted 14 times at No.4 since his return to the Indian ODI squad last year in the Asia Cup, but he wasn’t called up to the team, with Pant flown in when Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out and Mayank Agarwal included when Vijay Shankar had to exit.”Let’s face, there have been a lot of baffling decisions over the last couple of years. Ambati Rayudu for example – he should have been brought here,” Gavaskar said. “Why and how can you explain to me you bring in a Mayank Agarwal? He hasn’t played a single ODI as yet. He just came before the Sri Lanka game, the last league game, (so) you want to him to make his debut in a semifinals or a final in case a slot was open? Why not bring in an Ambati Rayudu, who is your standby? Very disappointing to see what happened yesterday.”VVS Laxman, too, was critical of the selectors and the Indian team management for preferring Vijay Shankar over Rayudu in the original squad. “Yes, Vijay Shankar can contribute with the ball (too), but what about the experience the Indian middle order required?” Laxman said. “Who is that batsman at No. 4? It has been musical chairs: 13 players have been tried and tested, but they have not been given enough opportunities. In a semi-final ultimately, those kind of decisions will affect the team, which it did.”MS Dhoni smashed a six late into the chase•AFP

Gavaskar said the Indian fans deserved answers to some of the rationale behind the decision-making. “Last year you say we found our No. 4,” he said, referring to when Kohli had anointed Rayudu as the man to fill that spot. “So what happens to that No. 4? He is now left out of the original squad. Then when you have the opportunity when Vijay Shankar gets unfortunately injured, you bring somebody else in. This is something nobody can understand. The Indian public is entitled to answers – what is the thinking behind this (selections).”It is not the selection committee’s decision. It is the team management which has been asking these things. We are not saying you are wrong but at the moment what we are seeing didn’t work out, so we need to know.”Gavaskar said even someone like Ajinkya Rahane could have been an option at No.4, given his sound technique. Rahane had been tried at that position earlier, but was dropped, and Gavaskar felt the batsman was given confusing messages.”You have tried Ajinkya Rahane. He was your middle order batsman for such a long time. Suddenly you are only going to consider him as an opening batsman because in the middle overs he is not a finisher, he does not take runs, whatever, whatever excuses we heard,” Gavaskar said.”In those conditions in Manchester, what did you need? Somebody with technique. Somebody who could have been around to see that period off and then eventually leave the field open for a Hardik Pandya or even a MS Dhoni.”

Plus Chris Green’s jet-setting T20 career continues, and how Bermuda’s call could prove costly for Sussex

Matt Roller12-Aug-2019The Blast has enjoyed a considerable uplift from England’s World Cup-winning campaign with the competition poised to reach 1 million spectators for the first time (David Hopps writes).Hopes that the 1 million mark could be breached have been dashed before, but with nearly 900,000 sales achieved heading into last weekend’s games, it appears that only a continuation of recent bad weather could stop the target being reached.With the ECB’s emphasis increasingly turning to the launch of The Hundred in 2020, there were fears that the Blast could suffer as a result – and until England won the World Cup for the first time in mid-July the tournament had been matching, but not exceeding, comparable sales in 2018. All that has changed, leaving total ground sales now 14% ahead of the same time last year.London remains the main engine of Blast ticket sales with Surrey and Middlesex responsible for more than 20% of purchases. But the attraction of the Blast is growing in Hove, where Sussex, who went into the weekend games top of South Group, are packing them in with comparable success to two other non-Test grounds, Somerset and Essex.Lancashire, who head the table in the North, are also enjoying their most successful Blast season ever as they have become the best-attended county outside London.***Tom Abell is down on one knee to drive•Getty Images

In the excitement at Taunton on Saturday over Tom Banton’s maiden T20 hundred – another eye-catching innings that will surely propel him into England’s T20 side sooner rather than later – another crucial component in Somerset’s attempts to win the Blast, and with it keep their hopes of a treble alive, gained less attention.Tom Abell’s 63 from 33 balls, including a series of street-smart deflections past the wicketkeeper was another plucky innings from Somerset’s captain, but it was a surprise to discover that the innings put him into the top three in this season’s Blast strike rates.Abell awoke on Sunday morning to the news that he is scoring at 172.2 runs per hundred balls with only AB de Villiers (191.7) and Cameron Delport (180.6) above him (with a minimum of 200 runs scored). A little bloke who packs quite a punch, clearly.***Colin Ackermann could be forgiven a slightly bemused expression as he claimed the most successful global analysis in Twenty20 history.Ackermann, appointed Leicestershire’s Blast captain this season, exploited rare turn in the pitch at Grace Road to return 7 for 18 from his four overs of offspin, figures made all the more astounding for the fact he is primarily a batsman.Searching for an explanation for his success, he offered the thought that he had worked hard on his bowling over the English winter, which he spent playing for Warriors in his native South Africa, and had taken full advantage of the advice of former Test offspinner Simon Harmer, a team-mate at Warriors.That improvement was signalled when he picked up a maiden five-wicket return in first-class cricket in Leicestershire’s first Championship match of this season, a win against Sussex at Hove.But it’s fair to say that Warriors did not recognise they might be on to a good thing. Search his record in all competitions between October and March for the Warriors between October 2018 and March 2019 and there is not a wicket in sight.***Chris Green was handed the captaincy of Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Birmingham Bears swooped quickly to sign Chris Green to replace the injured Ashton Agar, with Paul Farbrace telling Sky he had been working night and day to find a last-minute replacement (Matt Roller writes).Green is a traditionalist’s worst nightmare of a cricketer. At 25, he is yet to make his first-class debut, though counts Lahore Qalandars, Guyana Amazon Warriors, and Toronto Nationals among his clubs.And he took the freelance lifestyle to the next level last week. After losing the Global T20 eliminator to Winnipeg Hawks on Thursday afternoon in controversial circumstances – the game was called off early due to bad light, and Green’s side lost on DLS – he got a lift to the airport to get on the 11.19pm flight from Toronto to Heathrow.That meant he arrived at 11.05am in the UK, and drove up to Birmingham just in time to meet his new team-mates and have a quick warm-up before Friday night’s game against Nottinghamshire, which started around 18 hours after his previous game – on a different continent, remember – had finished.After seven games for Birmingham, Green will fly straight to the Caribbean Premier League to make his Guyana return. In a blow for fans of nominative determinism, his carbon footprint is racking up.***On the subject of Birmingham, it was unthinkable last year that Ed Pollock – then a world-record holder for his pinch-hitting exploits – would be kept out of the team due to anything other than injury, but he found himself dropped four games into the Blast after a slow start to the competition.While his side was capitulating against Ackermann, Pollock was sat at home after hitting a 39-ball 100 for Warwickshire’s 2nd XI against Durham, and would have been forgiven for wondering why he had been omitted.His situation demonstrates the difficulties of the role he was given – to score at a 200 strike rate from the word go. It is one that comes with a high floor and a low ceiling, and one which requires a team which will stick with you during the rough times. But as long as cricketing orthodoxy – which comes down hard on those who get out playing attacking shots – prevails ahead of new-age T20 thinking, the Pollocks of the world will be up against it.***Delray Rawlins gets low to sweep•Getty Images

Sussex are expected to be without Delray Rawlins for four of their remaining games after the explosive middle-order batsman was picked in Bermuda’s squad for the ICC Americas T20 World Cup Qualifier.While the club is yet to comment publicly, the Bermudian reported that after much wrangling and negotiation, the national team have secured Rawlins’ service for the tournament.Rawlins’ opportunities with the bat have been limited this season – largely due to Sussex’s imposing top order facing so many balls between them – but he is striking at 160.97, and hit a vital 35 not out off 17 balls to see off Gloucestershire at Bristol: he may yet be a big miss.***Any disappointment Kent officials may have felt after their mauling by Somerset on Saturday evening will fade rapidly should their county qualify for Finals Day on September 21 (Paul Edwards writes).The likelihood of that happening has been increased by the return to fitness of skipper Sam Billings, who dislocated his shoulder 80 minutes into his first appearance for his team in April but played a full part in Saturday’s game, albeit he will not be keeping wicket this season.Many of Kent’s performances have already mocked the predictions made about the county in March but the addition of Billings’ clean hitting to a batting line-up which already includes Mohammad Nabi and Alex Blake increases Kent’s chances of making the last eight and even securing a home semi-final.”Sam has come back quicker than we thought he would and he’s worked very hard to get himself in the frame,” the Kent coach, Matt Walker, said. “We’re bringing back a very fine international T20 cricketer but also one of the best one-day captains in the country. It is almost like signing an overseas player.”We’ve coped very well to win six games without him but his return gives a real lift to the dressing room.”

Carlos Brathwaite’s Patriots suffered their third defeat of the season

The Report by Sreshth Shah12-Sep-2019Barbados Tridents completed their first win of CPL 2019 after youngsters Leniko Boucher and Sandeep Lamichhane contributed with bat and ball respectively to hand the visitors a 18-run win over St Kitts and Nevis Patriots. In the first innings, Boucher was assisted by JP Duminy’s 18-ball 43 to lift Tridents to 186, while Lamichhane was ably supported by captain Jason Holder and USA’s Hayden Walsh Jr. in the second.Patriots’ Laurie Evans struck a quickfire 64 to keep the hosts in the hunt till the 12th over, but the team fell away after they lost four middle-order wickets in fifteen deliveries. Barring Evans, the Patriots batting performance was so poor that their second-highest run-scorer was their No. 11. Patriots eventually finished well short, for their third defeat of the season.A wicketkeeper-batsman with a familiar surnamePlaying only his second T20 game, right-handed batsman Boucher walked in after opener Alex Hales’ dismissal in the fifth over. Trying to guide a Rayad Emrit delivery to third man, Hales could only find the keeper. Early signs showed that the pitch was similar to the one where 483 runs were scored on Wednesday.The other opener Johnson Charles, however, having a difficult time rotating the strike at that point, and it was the 21-year old Boucher who sunk anchor in the post-Powerplay period. The first signs of Boucher’s dominance came in the seventh over, when he confidently skipped down the ground to lift Emrit over his head. Boucher then made the most of a dropped chance to the keeper in the ninth over by upping the tempo off left-arm spinner Fabian Allen. He began the 13th over with a six and a four off Allen, and in Charles’ company lifted Tridents into triple figures.Charles, sluggish right up that point, moved from 38 off 39 balls to 51 in 41 on the back of two sixes as they got past hundred. It was legspinner Usama Mir who bore the brunt, but he took revenge two balls later when Charles holed out to deep midwicket.That brought in JP Duminy at No. 4, and the South African swiftly found his timing by pulling his second ball over long-on. Two balls later, Boucher moved to 48 with a six over long-on to end the 16th over. Off the next ball, he brought up his fifty in 40 deliveries.Tridents’ triple-over blitzA tidy three-run 17th over from Emrit seemed to have stifled Tridents’ run-scoring, but the last three overs was where the batting team displayed the advantage of having so many wickets in hand. With a license to smash, Duminy and Boucher struck 51 runs in the last 18 balls to take Tridents to 186 for 2. The unbeaten stand of 73 in 36 balls saw Boucher finish on 62 and Duminy on an 18-ball 43.After Tridents finished the first innings with such a flurry, Emrit – standing in as captain while Brathwaite was off the field nursing a knock – called the Patriots in for a huddle before walking off the field, perhaps to instill the same beliefs they had the night before when they chased 243.Evans sizzles, others not so muchThe chase began with Duminy’s spin, and Patriots opener Evin Lewis enjoyed the ball coming into him from around the wicket. He swept Duminy twice for fours in the first over to give the hosts early momentum, but Tridents negated that advantage when the other opener Devon Thomas edged Holder to Boucher next over. Lewis ended the second over with a square cut for four, but Holder dismissed him next over when he sliced an attempted drive to cover.At 28 for 2, Patriots were in trouble, but Evans’ shot-making didn’t make it appear so. He found his footing by driving left-arm seamer Josh Lalor for four and following it up with a punched shot over midwicket two balls later. Entering the game, Evans had gone past thirty in seven of his last eight T20 games, and he proceeded to do the same once more by making full use of a dropped chance on 21. Evans was especially brutal towards the on-side, taking on Walsh Jr. for consecutive fours, before reaching his 21st T20 fifty in the tenth over. By then, No. 4 Jason Mohammad was already out and Evans was building a partnership with No. 5 Shamarh Brooks, and with eight overs to go, Patriots needed 90 off 48 with seven wickets in hand.Lamichhane triggers Patriots’ downward spiralBut the final eight overs began poorly for Patriots. Brooks tried to take Lamichhane on the first ball of the 13th over, but he sliced a catch to Nurse at extra cover, who had to run back and put in a dive to complete a catch. Five balls later came the bigger blow when Evans looked to paddle-sweep the legspinner away, only to top-edge one to short fine leg. Evans fell for a 41-ball 64, but his dismissal meant there were two new batsmen at the crease with the run-rate continuously rising.Walsh Jr. then prised out the dangerous Allen after the batsman failed to pick a slider that was aimed for the stumps, and when Lamichhane returned for his final over of the night, he trapped Brathwaite with a googly to send Patriots reeling at 106 for 7. Two balls later, the skies opened up, and the teams went off for close to 45 minutes with Patriots still needing 80 off 5.1 overs.When the teams returned, Walsh Jr. claimed his second wicket by removing Usama Mir. No. 9 Emrit briefly entertained, but he too fell trying to clear the long-on boundary in the 17th over. No. 11 Dominic Drakes brought some respectability to the Patriots total by striking three sixes and three fours to score the highest-ever T20 score for a No. 11 batsman, a 34 off 14 balls. His last-wicket partnership of 49 with No. 10 Alzarri Joseph ensured Patriots’ net run-rate took a much lesser hit than it could’ve at one point.

The seamer’s third-over blitz helped PNG skittle Bermuda out for 89

The Report by Peter Della Penna in Dubai19-Oct-2019When Bermuda last played Papua New Guinea at ICC Academy Oval 1 in 2012, Janeiro Tucker produced a hat-trick of sixes in the final over off PNG captain Rarua Dikana to deliver a stunning five-wicket win. At the same venue on Saturday morning, it was PNG who stunned Bermuda with a hat-trick of their own as Norman Vanua’s third-over blitz set up a ten-wicket mauling.Bermuda were already struggling at 11 for 2 in two overs after the left-arm new-ball pace-spin duo of Nosaina Pokana and Jason Kila removed Okera Bascome and the 44-year-old Tucker, back for one last hurrah after first retiring in May 2018. Vanua was brought on in the third over in place of Pokana as captain Assad Vala rotated his bowlers rapidly to keep Bermuda off balance, and it worked to maximum effect in this particular sequence.Vanua struck the first blow in his hat-trick maiden off the fourth ball, bowling captain Dion Stovell, who was late driving a full length ball. Kamau Leverock then fished at a good-length ball outside off to edge behind for the second before Deunte Darrell was pinned on the toe with a yorker, making it 11 for 5. Sussex star Delray Rawlins could only watch helplessly from the non-striker’s end.Rawlins did his best to counter-attack, driving and pulling his way to a series of boundaries off Vanua in the fifth over to hit him out of the attack. But his stay was ended by Vala, who pierced through to bowl him for 25 and, at 43 for 6 in the eighth over, Bermuda faced an uphill battle to last the full 20 overs. Charles Amini, Damien Ravu and Pokana methodically worked their way through the rest of the order to wrap up the innings in just 17.2 overs.PNG attacked in the Powerplay, in pursuit of an early net run-rate boost. Vala and Tony Ura swept and drove their way to 47 for 0 after the first six. Vala eventually brought up a 32-ball half-century in the tenth with a four flicked over wide long-on, his seventh to go with one six, before he ended the match pinching a two to long-on with 58 balls to spare.

Former England batsman took club to fourth in Division Two while in interim role

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2019Matthew Maynard, the former England batsman, has been appointed as Glamorgan’s permanent head coach after spending the 2019 season in the job on an interim basis.Maynard led the side to fourth in Division Two of the County Championship last season – their joint-highest finish since 2010 – and has been rewarded with a three-year deal.He first re-joined the club at the end of 2017 in a batting consultant role, having previously been head coach from 2008 to 2010. His first spell in charge ended acrimoniously, as he resigned branding his position “untenable” following the appointment of Alviro Petersen as captain, which was made without him being consulted.He later enjoyed a successful spell at Titans in South Africa, where he won the domestic four-day competition and the Ram Slam in 2013. He then spent three years at Somerset as director of cricket before re-joining Glamorgan.Maynard said it was “very exciting to be able to carry on the work we started this year”.”I love being a part of this club and I have enjoyed working with the players and coaching staff throughout the season,” he said. “There is lots of talent within the squad and we have a good mix of young players and experienced heads.”Despite their strong showing in the Championship, Glamorgan struggled in both white-ball competitions last season. They finish sixth in the South Group of the One-Day Cup, and dead last in the Blast, registering their only win in the season’s final game.”We saw a big improvement in the County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup,” Maynard said, “but it’s important we continue that upward trajectory and take our form across into the Vitality Blast next season.”Mark Wallace, the club’s director of cricket, said: “We are delighted to have secured Matt as our permanent head coach.”After conducting a thorough review of the season with players, coaches and staff, it became apparent Matt should continue his role as head coach. The side showed a great deal of improvement across two of the three formats under his leadership and came very close to gaining promotion in the County Championship.”Matt is a highly experienced head coach who has developed his skills around the world and possesses an intimate knowledge of the club and how we are structured. He has developed a very good rapport with the players since his return and helped to improve their individual games and mindsets.”