The offspinner, though, will need a work visa to play county cricket

Sidharth Monga06-Jul-2021R Ashwin will play a County Championship match for Surrey – provided he gets the required work visa on time – before re-joining the Indian team. While Ashwin is in England already for the Test series that will start in August, he will need a work visa to play county cricket. Both parties are confident it will be done in time for the match starting July 11.The Indian squad is currently on a break before it gets back together to prepare for the five-match Test series against England starting August 4 with the Trent Bridge game. Ashwin will play against Somerset at The Oval, which will host the fourth Test of the series. Ashwin’s match against Somerset is scheduled to end on July 14, the day the India team reconvenes.As of now, India have no tour games scheduled before the Tests. They haven’t been big fans of side games in recent years because there had been a trend of hosts not wanting to help visitors out by giving them tough opposition to practise against. Barring Australia last year, where they got a game against a strong Australia A, India have tended to prefer intense nets sessions to side games.However, reports suggest that India have now made a late request for a tour game or two before they get to Nottingham for the first Test. India captain Virat Kohli didn’t seem pleased they didn’t get first-class games in preparation for the Tests. After India lost the World Test Championship final to New Zealand, a side that had already played two Tests in England before the final, Kohli made a cryptic statement that his side hadn’t got what it wanted.”Well, that doesn’t depend on us,” Kohli said in the post-match press conference when asked if he would have preferred to play side games instead of intra-squad matches. “We obviously wanted first-class games, which I believe have not been given to us. I don’t know what the reasons for that are. But yeah, other than that, I think our preparation time will be ample for us to be ready for the first Test.”In that regard, the experience of getting a full first-class match – at a venue that will host a Test – for Ashwin will be welcomed from India’s point of view. His skills come at a good time for Surrey too. Teams in the County Championship are permitted two overseas players in their XI, and while Surrey already have two registered in Hashim Amla and Kyle Jamieson, Jamieson is an injury doubt for the Somerset fixture after injuring his glute in the ongoing game against Hampshire, in which he bowled only six first-innings overs.Ashwin has represented Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire in the past.

Sussex seamer played more than 350 games in 17-year professional career

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2021Mitchell Claydon, Sussex’s Australia-born seamer, has announced his retirement from professional cricket at the end of this season.Claydon, 38, was born in New South Wales but used his British passport to play county cricket, with spells at Yorkshire, Durham, Kent and Sussex, and also played domestic cricket in New Zealand. He was part of the Durham squad that won three County Championships and a Friends Provident Trophy, and won promotion with Kent in 2018.Claydon was an excellent death bowler with a good yorker in one-day and T20 cricket, and has taken 310 first-class wickets at 31.90 with the red ball. He is expected to stay in the game as a coach, and already has experience working with Sydney Sixers as an assistant coach.”After 17 years as a professional cricketer, I have decided that 2021 will be my last,” Claydon said in a statement. “I’m so proud that my shocking rig has got me through 371 games – over a hundred in each format – but all the overs are taking their toll, and everything is starting to hurt. I’m committed to finishing the 2021 season and ending on a high.”Big thanks to Canterbury, Central Districts, Durham, Yorkshire, Kent and Sussex for giving me the opportunity to play the game for a living all these years and all the coaches and support staff at those clubs for their help.”I’d like to give a special thanks to my family both in the UK and back home in Australia. I’ll miss life in the changing rooms more than anything. The fun I’ve had with so many people over the years will provide me with fantastic memories for the rest of my life.”Claydon has only played sporadically for Sussex since signing for them in 2019, appearing in four first-class matches and two T20s. He is yet to make a first-team appearance in 2021. He was banned for nine games following a ball-tampering controversy last year in which he applied hand sanitiser to the ball, which also saw the club docked points.

“It all boils down to execution in crunch moments,” says India captain

Nagraj Gollapudi03-Aug-20213:39

A player of Pujara’s calibre and experience should be left alone – Kohli

Having spent two months in the UK, India are “definitely better prepared” for the five-Test series in England, but Virat Kohli believes the visitors cannot cross the line if they don’t find a way to execute their plans in “situations which are not easy”. More than winning the Pataudi Trophy, a feat India last achieved under the leadership of Rahul Dravid in 2007, Kohli said the challenge for his team was to win in “situations which are not ours”.This is Kohli’s fourth tour of England and second as captain. In 2011 he came in as a replacement for Yuvraj Singh during the series, but did not play any Test. In 2014, James Anderson made him feel like the loneliest guy in the world. Four years later, Kohli returned as the best batter across both teams and the only one to make an aggregate of 500-plus runs. India, though, lost the series 4-1 having started on equal footing alongside England.Three years after that, Kohli’s India have been rated as firm favorites by all and sundry against an England side without Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes. In a chat with the Indian media on Monday, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar even said India had the potential to win 4-0 if the conditions were dry in August and September.Related

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Kohli, though, was not interested in looking too far ahead. Asked on Tuesday what it would mean to win the Test series in England, he remained impassive.”It is a very relative question,” Kohli said. “I have never really played for any kind of landmark or milestones in my career. Every game in international cricket has been an opportunity for me to test myself and my character and how mentally strong I am and how much skill level I have to be able to sustain at this level for a long period of time. And things are going to be no different this series as well – we are going to play with the same passion, same commitment, same belief that we play every series with.”(The question of) a few series matter more than others – I don’t really believe in these things because then you are really picking and choosing what you want to do. That is not being honest with the game. For us it is all about wanting difficult cricket, wanting tough cricket, and wanting to win in conditions which are not ours. That is the only challenge that I see.”India have been in the country since June 2, arriving early to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand. They had a three-week break after the final, post which they played a warm-up match in Durham. The time spent has also meant better acclimatisation to the English weather.”We are definitely much better prepared than we have been in the past,” Kohli said. “The situation allowed us to get acclimatised to the weather firstly because it can change quite drastically and quite quickly. At the same time playing under different changes in conditions in terms of weather – whether it is overcast, or it is sunny, how the pitches behave, how the ball travels, how much it swings in the air. All those kinds of things are definitely going to add to our experience which already the team possesses a lot of, having played in England in the past.”It all boils down to execution in crunch moments and that purely comes from belief and how badly you want to be in situations which are not easy. As long as we are looking to embrace that we will find answers to all the questions thrown at us. Otherwise you cannot play at this level for a long period if you are not literally wanting to be in situations which are absolutely opposite to what your comfort zone is.”One of the reasons behind the 2018 series loss was how India lost the key moments to England. Kohli admitted it was an area of concern.”As a team we looked to improve. We haven’t done well and that is one aspect of the game we need to get better, which is understanding when things are not going your way, how to control damage. That’s what Test cricket is all about: you have to go through situations and then eventually capitalise when things turn your way as well. Because you are not going to have all sessions turn your way. When things do not favour you as a team, that’s an area we want to keep improving at and the Test matches that we have done that well we have ended up winning. It all boils down to execution in those difficult moments.”

“We received advice on security and player welfare and took the decision [to pull out of touring Pakistan] we made”

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2021Ian Watmore, the ECB chairman, has apologised to Pakistan cricket and admitted the relationship between the two boards needs to be rebuilt, in his first public comments after England withdrew from scheduled tours by their men and women to Pakistan just a few days after New Zealand had abruptly abandoned their tour of Pakistan citing a specific security threat.Related

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In an interview with the , Watmore said security was a factor but insisted that player welfare was a primary consideration. “I’m very sorry to anyone who feels hurt or let down by our decision, particularly in Pakistan,” Watmore said. “The decision the board made was an extremely difficult one.”I won’t go into details, but we received advice on security and player welfare and took the decision we made. We had to make it quickly because of the short term to the World Cup and the New Zealand exodus from Pakistan. They were all factors, but the primary consideration was the welfare of the players.”The tours, in October, would have been England’s first of any kind to Pakistan since 2005-06, and the first by the England women’s team. The men were scheduled to play two T20Is in the lead up to the T20 World Cup, both double-headers with the women, while the women were due to stay on for a three-match ODI series as well.Watmore also confirmed that the decision was not made by the players and said no wider consultations were held. “The board took the decision based on its own judgments and it didn’t go out to wider consultation. Had we decided to go forward with the tour, we’d have had to put the proposals to TEPP (the body that represents England players) and the PCA, but it didn’t reach that point.”The repercussions of that decision are still playing out for Pakistan. There is concern within the PCB that England’s withdrawal would lead to Australia also not touring, as they are due to, early next year. That would leave what was supposed to be one of Pakistan’s biggest home seasons in recent years in tatters.West Indies, who have toured Pakistan in recent years – in 2017 for a series of white-ball games – are due to tour as part of the season as well. But WIPA (the players’ body) said it has started gathering information for its members who may now have concerns.”What we have done so far is to reach out to our counterparts in New Zealand and in England — the New Zealand Cricket Association and the Professional Cricket Association in England — and I reached out as well to some of my colleagues that sit on the FICA Board with me,” Wavell Hinds, the head of WIPA, told Television Jamaica, adding that a security report from Pakistan will also be needed.The England withdrawal has led Ramiz Raja, the PCB chairman, to talk of putting in contingency plans for England’s full tour of Pakistan, in 2022, because he’s not convinced they wouldn’t pull out at the last minute then.”We will have longer to plan for 2022 and this trip was impacted by events very close to the time frame,” Watmore said. “I don’t know if you read President Biden’s mind but I didn’t know he was going to evacuate Afghanistan or that New Zealand would pull out whilst effectively warming up on the pitch. We have to think through those options next year and what we would do in those situations and have answers to them so we don’t get caught out.”We need to rebuild our relationship with Pakistan and will refocus on going there in 2022. This wasn’t the right time. Obviously we’re extremely grateful to Pakistan coming here last year and we will do everything we can to deliver the scheduled tour next year.”

Silverwood says seam duo are “fit and ready to go” ahead of Adelaide’s pink-ball fixture

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2021Stuart Broad and James Anderson are in line for selection in the second Ashes Test in Adelaide, with England head coach Chris Silverwood declaring that the pair are “fit and ready to go”.The omission of the vastly experienced seam-bowling duo from the series opener at the Gabba raised eyebrows even before Australia romped to a nine-wicket victory inside four days, and selection was a predictable focus of the post-match wash-up.And while he did not confirm any selections for the day-night Test starting on Thursday, Silverwood backed Broad’s assertion earlier in the day that they would be well prepared, having started training with the pink ball in the Brisbane nets as soon as their omission from the first Test was apparent.Related

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“Jimmy will be fit and ready to go for the second Test, as will Stuart,” Silverwood said on Sunday ahead of the team’s planned departure from Brisbane on Monday. “They are available. Certainly, from an experience point of view, with the bowlers we’ve got heaps of experience so I’m happy with that.”The guys have already been training with the pink ball behind the scenes. And what we have got is a very skilful set of bowlers. We have talent and we still have two of the best up our sleeve as well.”The decision to leave Anderson out of the first Test emerged on the eve of the match, with the ECB saying it was not injury related but aimed at managing him ahead of the day-night fixture in Adelaide. Broad’s omission was more of a surprise on match-day morning when England opted for spinner Jack Leach instead, a call which came in for more criticism after Leach’s return of 1 for 102 in 13 overs.Broad, who hasn’t played since tearing his calf in August, wrote in his Mail On Sunday column that he believed he would only have been chosen in a five-man seam attack at the Gabba. While disappointed, he believed it would be inappropriate to “kick up a stink” over his non-selection, having publicly questioned his omission for the first Test against West Indies in Southampton in July 2020.”Stuart has been great, to be honest,” Silverwood said. “Obviously he was disappointed not to be playing but he understood that this is a long series.”Everybody will put their hand up to do the hard work out there and he is ready to do that now. We had good conversations with Stuart before any decisions were made and he was 100 per cent on board.”I’ve not told anyone they are playing yet. We will have some sore bodies from this Test and we’ll make decisions from there.”Australia also have some decisions to make at the selection table with Josh Hazlewood flying to Sydney nursing a side strain, although Cricket Australia have said he hasn’t been ruled out of the Adelaide Test yet. David Warner is also being monitored for a rib injury after being struck by a Ben Stokes short ball in Brisbane.Silverwood said his team were looking ahead, rather than dwelling on their disappointing showing in the first Test, which was characterised by twin batting collapses and some sloppy fielding.”We had a good chat in the dressing-room after,” he said. “There are obvious areas we need to improve on, such as holding our catches and building big partnerships.”Obviously they were hurting, but there is belief they can win this series. We have been in this position before. We have gone 1-0 down and then bounced back. We have the players here that can match the Australians. The confidence is there that we can compete with Australia, and that’s exactly what we intend to do.”

Sri Lanka fast bowler to be reunited with former national coach Mickey Arthur

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2022Suranga Lakmal has signed a two-year deal with Derbyshire, where he will be reunited with his former national coach Mickey Arthur, after announcing that he will be retiring from all forms of international cricket following Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour of India.Lakmal, the 34-year old fast bowler, did his best work in Test cricket, having so far picked up 168 wickets from 68 matches. One-hundred-and-thirty of them came away from home.”I’m indebted to Sri Lanka Cricket for giving me this astonishing opportunity and having faith in me to bring my motherland honour, as it has been [an] absolute pleasure to be associated with the board that shaped my professional life and also enriched my personal development,” he said in his retirement letter submitted to Sri Lanka Cricket.Arthur, who joined Derbyshire as director of cricket late last year, praised Lakmal’s attributes as a bowler and a leader in welcoming him to the club.”Suranga is among Sri Lanka’s all-time greats with the ball and it’s brilliant to be able to bring him to Derbyshire for the next two seasons,” he said. “We have big ambitions for the project at Derbyshire, and Suranga’s decision to retire from international cricket and commit to the club shows he’s as excited about those plans as the other players and coaches.”He knows my standards and can set the example for our young players on and off the field, and to add his quality to our ranks gives us a whole new dimension with the ball.”Lakmal added: “Experiencing county cricket is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and the chance to work with Mickey again was something I couldn’t turn down.”I’ve loved every second of my international career, and I would like to thank Sri Lanka for giving me the opportunity to live my dream. Hopefully I can bring that experience into this new challenge, to help the young bowlers, who are already making an impact at Derbyshire.”The spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka often pushed him into the sidelines, but on tour, Lakmal’s ability to hold a line and length over long periods of time and his knack for moving the ball both off the pitch and in the air made him an important asset. So far, he has a five-for in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the West Indies. His away average, accordingly, is an entire 15 points lower than his home average, even though his record in five Tests in England, 12 wickets at 51.83 between 2011 and 2016, bucks that trend.Lakmal has also captained Sri Lanka in five Tests, winning three of them – two against South Africa during the home series in 2018.In the last six years, Lakmal has been Sri Lanka’s seam-bowling spearhead. He has contributed to several excellent results during that time, taking 4 for 39 in the second innings to set up victory in Port Elizabeth in 2019, 3 for 25 in the second innings to fashion a win in Bridgetown the previous year, and a match haul of 7 for 119 as Sri Lanka struggled late to draw a rain-affected match in Kolkata in 2017. Since 2018, he has been especially consistent, taking 72 wickets and averaging overall 24.73 across the next four years, and 22.61 away from home.However, he departs without a real successor in place. Dushmantha Chameera has been good in limited-overs cricket, but has not been a regular member of the Test squad partly owing to fitness concerns. Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando have also only made sporadic appearances in the Test team.Lakmal made his debut for Sri Lanka in December 2009 and largely performed a holding role in limited-overs cricket, picking up 109 wickets from 86 ODIs and eight wickets from 11 T20Is.

She could become first West Indian and only fourth bowler in women’s cricket to get 300 international wickets

Annesha Ghosh22-Jan-20222:28

Anisa Mohammed – ‘I like to prove people wrong’

A new variation to unleash on the opposition and four wickets to add to her tally during the four-ODI tour of South Africa.These, along with helping West Indies fine-tune their preparations ahead of the ODI World Cup in March-April, are on the checklist of their premier offspinner Anisa Mohammed as she heads into the bilateral series next week, four wickets shy of becoming the first West Indies women’s player to 300 wickets in international cricket.”I’m currently working on a new variation,” Mohammed, the leading ODI wicket-taker of 2021 and the all-time highest wicket-taker in T20Is, said in a virtual press conference from Johannesburg. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to use that in this upcoming series against South Africa, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to execute and get a positive result from that.”Behind only India’s Jhulan Goswami, England’s Katherine Brunt, and Australia’s Ellyse Perry, Mohammed, who has 171 wickets in ODIs and 125 wickets in T20Is, is hopeful the series against South Africa starting on January 28 at the Wanderers propels her to the distinction of the first spinner to reach the 300-wicket mark in the women’s international game.Related

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“This would be a huge milestone for me. I’d really like to get it in this series and not have to wait for the World Cup,” Mohammed said. “That’s something that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. I’ve been working on my game and I really hope that I’m able to pick up just four [wickets]. I’m just telling myself, ‘Four wickets – I have four matches to get four wickets,’ so I’m really excited.”A veteran of four ODI World Cups and West Indies’ most-capped player, Mohammed, 33, is mindful of the responsibility her experience and heft of personal achievements in a career spanning nearly 19 years bring with them, especially with the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand around the corner.”I’m one of the senior players on the team. This is my fifth ODI World Cup. And I’ve said to some of the younger players, ‘Playing in a World Cup the atmosphere is different and you have to keep a level head.’ I think having played four World Cups – this will be my fifth one – I have to step up as the one of the senior players on the team and try to perform and while I do that, try to keep the younger players calm and help them to be able to go out there and execute as well.”Named in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year and the ESPNcricinfo Women’s Team of the Year for 2021 recently, Mohammed gave little away on whether the upcoming world event could be her swansong – “I’m not going to put a timeline on my career” – but admitted she was cognizant of the phase she has entered in her career.Anisa Mohammed is on the verge of joining the 300-wicket club•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“It’s a great feeling to be named in the ICC ODI Team of the Year last year,” Mohammed said. “And that’s definitely inspiration to go forward and try to make it into this year’s team as well. To be honest, I’m just trying to enjoy my cricket. As you know, I’m coming to the latter part of my career, so I’ve been trying to enjoy whatever is left of my career.”I’ll be 34 this year. I don’t know how long I have, but I just really want to make sure that when I leave cricket or when I retire, I have a good memory of West Indies cricket and representing West Indies.”West Indies were not among the five teams to earn direct qualification to the ODI World Cup but made the cut based on rankings in the wake of the pandemic-enforced cancellation of the global qualifier. They will fancy their chances against South Africa, who will be missing their designated captain and premier legspin-bowling allrounder Dane van Niekerk through an injury.”That’s a big blow for South Africa. And it’s never nice when you have an injury,” Mohammed said. “But if you’re looking at winning and losing, I think that’s an advantage for us because, as we know, she’s a key player for the South Africa team, not just in her batting and bowling but also her leadership qualities. And I think that we have to take full advantage of that – of her not being here. But having said that, I would like to wish her a speedy recovery.”Mohammed, for her part, will spearhead an attack bolstered by the addition of the experienced legspinner Afy Fletcher in their 18-member squad.”We’re really excited for Afy. It’s nice having her back,” Mohammed said of Fletcher, who is returning from a maternity break, having last played for West Indies in September 2020. “Unfortunately, she could not bring the baby with her. We would have liked to have a baby on tour, like the other teams, but she calls her baby every day and chat with him online. So it’s nice having a baby around and having some fun with him as well.”

The seventh-wicket pair put on 166, the third successive century partnership of the innings

Himanshu Agrawal13-Mar-2022Jharkhand posted a mammoth 769 – their highest score since they began playing first-class cricket from the 2004-05 season onward – on the back of wicketkeeper-batter Kumar Kushagra’s commanding knock of 266 and No. 8 Shahbaz Nadeem’s unbeaten 123, his highest score in first-class cricket. These followed Virat Singh’s innings of 107 from Saturday, as Nagaland stared at a mountain to climb after spending 177 overs on the field across two days.It was a day where multiple records tumbled: Jharkhand achieved their highest first-class score by far, eclipsing the 556 they had made against Hyderabad in 2015; Eden Gardens witnessed its second-highest first-class total; and Kushagra bagged the second-highest score by a Jharkhand batter in first-class cricket.Kushagra and Nadeem added 166 for the seventh wicket, capitalising on some ineffective bowling as well as poor fielding from Nagaland, who dropped Kushagra on 132 on the second morning after also giving him lives on 10 and 44 on the first day. Eventually, Kushagra took only 269 balls to hit 266, 160 of which came in boundaries.He reached his double century off 213 deliveries in the morning session, and displayed a range of strokes throughout the day: a drive to bisect cover and mid-off, a pull between fine leg and deep square leg, a punch off the back foot and a loft over the bowler’s head, among others.At the other end, Nadeem displayed the patience and application of a frontline batter, grinding his way to a second first-class century. He got to his fifty off 100 balls, and reached the three-figure landmark off 196 deliveries. He hit 14 fours, and one effortless six, a casual walk down the pitch to legspinner Khrievitso Kense followed by a gentle loft over long-on.Nagaland’s frustrations on the day were summed up when a straight drive from Nadeem off medium-pacer Raja Swarnkar in the 161st over hit the stumps at the bowler’s end and ricocheted to the rope for four.Earlier, overnight batter Anukul Roy had got to a half-century before falling for 59 to end a 128-run partnership with Kushagra. Jharkhand were 489 for 6 at that point; if Nagaland thought they would soon be done chasing leather, Kushagra and Nadeem rid them of that notion by putting on the third successive century stand of the innings.

Highlights of tournament for WI captain were the wins over New Zealand and England in the league stage

Valkerie Baynes30-Mar-2022″You’ll be seeing us around,” Stafanie Taylor, the West Indies captain, said after an emphatic 157-run defeat at the hands of title favourites Australia knocked her side out of a World Cup tournament regarded as a resounding success for her team.Two batters down chasing a mammoth 306 from 45 overs after Anisa Mohammad injured her hamstring while fielding and Chinelle Henry took ill during the match, West Indies had been comprehensively out-played long before that.Australian centurion Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes put on 216 runs for the first wicket and a steady stream of wickets knocked West Indies’ pursuit on the head shortly after it got going via Deandra Dottin and then Hayley Matthews, with Taylor only able to hold the innings together for so long, by which point the run rate required had blown out.But Taylor said reaching the semi-finals showed the progress her side had made since reaching the tournament based on world rankings when the qualifiers were cancelled amid the Covid-19 pandemic, then losing their four-match ODI series against South Africa in the lead-up 2-1.West Indies set the World Cup alight by defeating New Zealand and England in their first two matches but fell away after that, winning just one more game – against Bangladesh – before a washout against South Africa left them relying on South Africa’s narrow defeat of India to scrape into the final four.”We beat two of the top teams and I reckon no one expected that,” Taylor said. “And to be in the semi-finals, no one expected that. The way we played throughout the tournament has been really good.”We had some downs and that happens. It’s about learning and I believe that we are still learning. I’m very proud of the way we played. We still have more to go, so yeah, you’ll see us around.”Matthews was West Indies’ leading run-scorer with 260 at 37.14 and a strike rate of 80.00 as well as their leading wicket-taker with eight at an average of 26.80. She echoed her captain’s belief that the tournament was a success and hoped it would provide a solid platform for future growth.”Beating a team like New Zealand and then being able to beat a team like England right after, these are things that we couldn’t imagine doing a year ago,” Matthews said. “It’s just really, really good to be a part of the growth that this team has had over the last year and I genuinely do think that if we continue moving in this direction, there’s only bigger things for us.”When you speak about the advantages some of the other teams would have over us, like Australia or England, with their domestic structure and the amount of talent that they have to pull from within their pools, and then you look at us competing against teams like that, it just shows the fight and the heart that we really do have as a team.”When you look at the characteristics of this team, you think of people who play with their hearts on their sleeves. We come into every game with so much emotion and so much passion, trying to represent the West Indies and the Caribbean and we plan to continuously do that, all the time, try to play with us as much fight as we possibly can.”We are by no means the absolutely best cricketers in the world compared to some of the others but at the same time we play with so much fight and so much spirit that we can compete with the best in the world, which is brilliant to be a part of.”And Matthews believed that West Indies were on the right path towards developing more local talent via domestic competition such as the recently announced three-team Women’s CPL starting later this year.”The more cricket we can play at a lower level to the domestic stuff, the better,” she said. “Hopefully we can get some more young girls coming through the system.”In this batch of players, this may be a lot of their last World Cups… it would be really good if we could start to nurture some younger players throughout the domestic cricket season and get some more people filtering into West Indies stuff.”

She plays pinch-hitter to perfection before taking a wicket in four miserly overs

ECB Reporters Network18-May-2022Issy Wong starred with bat and ball as Central Sparks beat holders South East Stars by 34 runs in the Charlotte Edwards Cup at Guildford.Wong, renowned for her quick bowling, excelled in the role of pinch-hitter with 45 in 28 balls and was well supported by England wicketkeeper Amy Jones with 40 as Sparks rattled up 170 for 6 after being invited to bat, Alice Davidson-Richards the pick of the host’s attack with 2 for 27.Chelsea-born speedster Wong returned to the day job, taking 1 for 14, including three frugal overs at the top of the Stars’ innings. She was ably assisted by Sparks’ spin twins Hannah Baker, who took 2 for 19, and Sarah Glenn (2 for 22), while Grace Potts added 4 for 36 mopping up the tail, meaning that despite 41 from skipper Bryony Smith, Stars finished well short on 136 all out.From the moment Wong clubbed Alice Capsey over the scoreboard at mid-wicket in the first over, Sparks were on the charge.Wong treated Tash Farrant’s bowling with similar disdain and with fellow opener Eve Jones taking a heavy toll on Freya Davies at the other end, the 50-stand came off 30 balls.Davidson-Richards made the breakthrough when Eve Jones top edged to mid-on, but the bowler was out of luck when new batter Amy Jones hoisted her to Emma Jones at deep mid-on only for the fielder to grass the chance.Emma Jones would partially atone when she caught Wong at cover, but the drop proved costly as Amy Jones forged on, driving powerfully to hit six fours before Smith had her caught at cover.Smith and the impressive Davidson-Richards kept some level of control, but impressive cameos from Ami Campbell and Gwen Davies saw Sparks post an imposing target.Smith got the chase off to a rattling start with three boundaries off the first over from Potts and Saturday’s half-centurion Aylish Cranstone caught the mood almost hitting an Emily Arlott delivery into the road.Wong gave Smith a life on 19 when she shelled a catch on the square leg boundary, Arlott the aggrieved bowler, but the boot was on the other foot in the following over when she too dropped Smith off Wong. Wong though wouldn’t be denied, removing Cranstone via a top edge bagged by Amy Jones as Sparks reached 44 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.The fielding lapses continued, Abi Freeborn dropping Capsey off an attempted reverse sweep. However, Baker struck twice in four balls as first Smith skied a catch behind and then Amy Jones stumped Capsey, who had given the bowler the charge.Glenn followed up with two in two to despatch Farrant and Emma Jones before Potts cleaned up.