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Lightning and bad light ended batting practice for the touring West Indies who emerged second-best from their three-day draw with a makeshift Kent XI in Canterbury

ECB Reporters Network08-Aug-2017
Shimron Hetmyer enjoyed some time in the middle•Sarah Ansell / Stringer

Lightning and bad light ended batting practice for the touring West Indies who emerged second-best from their three-day draw with a makeshift Kent XI in Canterbury. The game ended just before 5pm when lightning and heavy cloud took the players from the field with the West Indies on 132 for 4 – representing a modest overall lead in the match of 66 runs.Toby Radford, West Indies’ batting coach, was pleased with the workout his players had received. Shai Hope and Jermaine Blackwood made first-innings centuries and Shimron Hetmyer added an unbeaten 43 on day three.”Kent bowled in good areas and kept coming at us,” he said. “They swung it away to the right-handers and whenever we batted in this match there was cloud cover and a little bit of juice around. It was nipping around throughout, perfect English bowling conditions for when we batted and we talked about that, playing late and knowing where your off stump is. They’re finding out for themselves now that’s how you have to play here.”Jermaine has been in good form since we landed and Hetmyer has scored a lot of runs in the Under-19s and is making the big jump up a couple of levels. These guys are young, but they’re learning quickly.”We’re getting a lot of 30s and 40s, we need to convert them to bigger scores and make sure we post big first-innings total because if we’re to truly push England then we must get big scores up on the board first time around. Players batting for two-and-a-half hours won’t be enough, they have to be prepared to battle it out for a whole day or more.”The final day’s play finally got underway at 12.20pm after an 80-minute delay for rain, but once again the visiting top-order soon found the overcast conditions tricky against Kent’s rookie attack of seam and swing-bowlers.Facing a 66-run first innings deficit, West Indies lost their acting skipper Kraigg Brathwaite to Charlie Hartley’s fourth ball of the day. Prodding forward, Brathwaite feathered a legcutter through to keeper Adam Rouse to go without scoring and give Hartley his fifth wicket of the match. Then, with 24 on the board, Matt Hunn got one to hold its line against the slope and take the outside edge of Kyle Hope’s bat for Rouse to snaffle his second catch and send Hope packing for 9 as the tourists lunched on 24 for 2 – still 44 in arrears.After the interval Kieran Powell and Shai Hope made a watchful return, both surviving lbw appeals before drizzle again took the players from the field with the tourists on 45 for 2. Play resumed at 3.05pm with the loss of nine more overs and Rouse was soon celebrating a third catch after Powell tickled one from Adam Ball to depart for 23.Hope and Hetmyer made good their side’s 66-run first-innings arrears before Hartley bagged his sixth wicket of the match, having Hope well held at short extra cover by Zak Crawley as the tourists took tea with a modest lead of 22 runs. In fading light Hetmyer showed his steel with a battling 43 before the sides shook hands on the draw.

Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington eased Northamptonshire back to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group with a six-wicket waltz over Leicestershire at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network26-Jun-2016
ScorecardJosh Cobb’s half-century sank his former team-mates•PA Photos

Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington eased Northamptonshire back to the top of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group with a six-wicket waltz over Leicestershire at Wantage Road.Chasing just 150 after Mark Pettini’s 56 for the visitors, Cobb and Rossington knocked off the bulk of the chase with a partnership of 89 for the second wicket in 9.4 overs. Northants cruised home with three overs to spare and now, with 11 points on the board, just two more wins from their final seven matches should be enough for a quarter-final place – a home tie is very much in their sights.Rossington arrived in superb touch after a career-best 138 not out in the County Championship during the week and here made his third T20 fifty and second for Northants in 29 balls with nine fours. His timing was exceptional with some clean striking down the ground and also showed a clever touch with two late cut fours – the second of which during a over from Jigar Naik that went for 12 to leave only 57 needed from the final 10 overs.Cobb has relished the number three role and was again in excellent touch. He began by cutting Rob Taylor for his first boundary and he lifted another over midwicket. Kevin O’Brien was introduced and his first ball was heaved over mid-on. His third half-century in four inning was raised in 40 balls with four fours and a six. He chipped Cameron Delport to extra-cover for 57 when two were needed to win.Northants didn’t need a contribution from Richard Levi, in his first game back after a shoulder injury. He took 12 from the opening over – two leg side flicks and a straight drive – but edged Clint McKay to third man. His failure mattered not. There was time for Ben Duckett to lift Mark Cosgrove down the ground and wide of midwicket for boundaries as he and Cobb took their side home.Leicestershire’s total was well below par. Their 149 for 5 was built around a partnership of 74 in 8.1 overs for the third wicket between Pettini and O’Brien. They recovered the innings after the early loss of Mark Cosgrove for 2 and Cameron Delport for 6 – both bowled by Richard Gleeson, whose opening two overs conceded only seven runs.But Pettini clipped the first ball of Azharullah’s spell for six over midwicket – an over that yielded 17 runs and injected momentum into the innings. Petting swung Azharullah to long leg and deftly cut Steven Crook for four en route to a half-century in 31 balls with six fours and a six.Cobb ended the stand with the second ball of his spell – O’Brien chipping him into the hands of Graeme White at long-on – and three overs later Pettini also fell, trying to paddle sweep White and being plumb lbw for 56. It left Leicestershire 111 for 4 with five overs remaining.Paul Horton, playing his first T20 of the season, was left to try and provide the late-innings power and he twice classically drove through extra-cover for four. But facing the first ball of the final over, was struck in the ribs by a Gleeson beamer and retired hurt for 29. Only six runs came from the final over.

Chris Gayle only met his Somerset team-mates hours before the match but three years after they first tried to sign him he delivered in style with a domineering innings to set up a last-ball victory

Tim Wigmore at Chelmsford29-May-2015
ScorecardChris Gayle delivered – and how – on his first appearance for Somerset [file picture]•BCCI

The Gayle has landed. Three years ago Somerset were salivating over the prospect of Chris Gayle playing for them in the T20 Blast, only for his rapprochement with the West Indies Board to scupper those plans. But Gayle had always said that, when he made his belated debut in England’s T20 competition, it would be for Somerset.The standing ovation that greeted his dismissal spoke of the impact Gayle had made upon the Chelmsford crowd, supposedly one of the most raucous away crowds he could have faced. So too did the desperation of hoards of fans afterwards to get autographs, selfies or, in the case of a few, even a kiss on the cheeks. It spoke of a cricketer with transcendental power.Chelmsford had enjoyed – endured even – an archetypal Gayle T20 innings, even down to the almost ostentatious care with which he played himself in. After leaving a succession of balls, holding his bat carefully inside the line, it took Gayle until his sixth ball, a gentle push to midwicket, to get off the mark. Eighteen balls in and Gayle had only six runs.

“Beautiful,” says Gayle

“Beautiful, it’s a great start,” Chris Gayle said after summoning a matchwinning 92 on his first innings for Somerset, hours after meeting his team-mates for the first time. “A last-ball thriller in my first game so I can’t really complain. We got across the line. It’s a short stay over here, so I’m looking forward to entertaining the fans as much as possible.”
As so often in T20, Gayle batted with caution in the Powerplay before exploding later.
“It’s too cold for me but I stuck it out,” he joked. “It was something myself and Trescothick discussed in the middle. I didn’t want to make such a slow start and then get out because I know with my capabilities, I knew the runs would come so I’m very happy.
“It’s been good, I haven’t really had a chance to have a net, I’ve been in London and this was the first day catching up with the team. It’s a mental thing, it won’t happen like that all the time.”

Then it happened. Flats were cleared, marquee roofs were hit and dozens of spectators who had parked their cars were left fearing for the safety of their vehicles. Having cleared humongous grounds the world over, Gayle seemed like a man affronted by the puny size of Chelmsford’s boundaries. With laconic foot movement – and with such power and timing, why bother? – Gayle swatted deliveries through mid-on and cleared the legside boundary with six sixes, each more awesome than the last.Gayle’s impact goes beyond his mere runs. That much was clear from how Essex coped once he had located his swagger: they bowled five wides to him after he had reached 50. Straight after reaching that landmark, Gayle cut Reece Topley to third man. It was hard and low, but David Masters was in a perfect position and should not have shelled it. Gayle’s next shot seemed like an innocuous forward push, but thundered through mid-on for four. After another four, Gayle launched the final ball straight over the scaffolding behind the bowler’s arm.Suddenly, Somerset were cruising towards their target of 177. It looked, too, as if Gayle, representing his 12th club in T20 cricket, was en route to his 15th T20 century. But after he was sharply taken at Greg Smith at midwicket on 92, Somerset almost contrived to make a mess of the 13 required in ten balls.Tom Cooper nonchalantly flicked his first ball for six over square leg, but was run out in a moment of panic next ball. Essex entrusted Ravi Bopara with the final over, and he almost succeeded in preventing Somerset get the five more they required to win. But a single scampered from the final ball, after Lewis Gregory had dropped the ball into the legside, ensured Gayle’s belated Somerset debut had the result it deserved.However enticing the prospect of a Gayle-Trescothick opening partnership, the Chelmsford crowd also longed for Essex success after three defeats in their first four T20 games.And for all the focus on Gayle, exuding a typically unperturbed air patrolling the infield, Essex have a belligerent left-handed overseas opener of their own. In the third over of the innings, Jesse Ryder played three ferocious pulls off Sohail Tanvir, the second sailing over the square leg boundary for six. With his classical technique, Tom Westley provided an ideal folly; together the two added 90 in only 8.1 overs.It was a position from which Essex would have had designs on 220. Jim Allenby ensured otherwise, bowling wicket-to-wicket at a speed that forced the batsmen to generate their own pace. Besides the openers, no other player passed 16.Yet again, Somerset were grateful to the death bowling nous of Alfonso Thomas, whose final over yielded three runs and three wickets. In the process he became the fourth ever bowler to pass 250 T20 wickets. Few bowlers have more T20 pedigree, which is why South Africa attempted to entice him out of his Kolpak deal with Somerset in 2012 to play in the World T20.

A round-up of the sixth round National Cricket League matches

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2012
ScorecardDhaka Division opened up the title race for the National Cricket League by beating leaders Khulna Division by five wickets in Rajshahi. The seven points from the game put them just four short of Khulna in the points table.Put into bat first, Khulna were bowled out for 171 runs in 59 overs with Mosharraf Hossain taking seven wickets with his left-arm spin. Only Nazmus Sadat stood firm with the bat, scoring 53 off 138 balls. Dhaka took a 58-run lead as Khulna hit back with four wickets coming through their left-arm spinner Murad Khan and three from seamer Robiul Islam.Imrul Kayes hit a century in the second innings but only Mithun Ali contributed with a half-century as the rest of the batsmen failed against Shahadat Hossain and Mosharraf, who took three wickets each. Dhaka were set a target of 211 runs on the final day, which they reached in 40.2 overs, despite Robiul’s four-wicket haul.
ScorecardLast four season’s winners Rajshahi Division have given themselves an outside chance of retaining the title with a 10-wicket win over Sylhet Division in Savar. The win put them on 26 points and if Khulna and Dhaka both fail to pick up points in the last round of matches and Rajshahi win with the maximum of nine points, they could win the title.Sylhet, after being put into bat, were stung by Farhad Reza’s four-wicket haul on the first day and were bowled out for 218 runs. Rajshahi replied handsomely, taking a 172-run lead. Sabbir Rahman top-scored with 136 and there were some useful contributions down the order that helped Rajshahi stretch the lead, despite Enamul Haque jnr’s six wickets.In the second innings, Rajshahi left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took the first five-for of his career as Sylhet were bowled out for 202 runs. Rajshahi picked up the 31 runs required early on the fourth morning.
ScorecardChittagong Division picked up their second win in the competition after they beat bottom-placed Barisal Division by eight wickets in Sylhet. Batting first, Barisal made 204 runs with Salman Hossain scoring 98.Chittagong replied with 296 runs, helped mainly by Faisal Hossain’s unbeaten 123 and 72 by Nazimuddin, who returned to form this season. Pace bowler Kamrul Islam Rabbi took five wickets for Barisal, while left-arm spinner Monir Hossain picked up four.Barisal replied poorly as they were bowled out for just 163 runs in 71 overs. Legspinner Noor Hossain took only his second five-for in his career, giving Chittagong a target of 72 runs, which they completed late on the fourth afternoon.

A round-up of the first day of the eighth round of Division Two in the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2011Seventeen wickets fell on day one of the Multan v Lahore Shalimar game at the Multan Cricket Stadium. After they were put in, Multan slumped to 17 for 4, before 69-run stand between Naved Yasin – who top scored with 47 – and Mohammad Ahmed steadied them briefly. However, two wickets fell on 86 and three on 110 as the side were shot out for 110. New-ball bowler Asif Raza was the destroyer in chief, taking a career-best 7 for 40. Multan’s bowlers did not let the game get away from their team though, knocking over seven wickets for 89 runs in the last session. While the bowlers shared the wickets around, only Lahore Shalimar’s captain, Fahad-ul-Haq, managed to get into double digits. He remained unbeaten on 48 at stumps.Driven by an unbeaten 88 from their captain Usman Salahuddin, Lahore Ravi got to 211 for 7 against Hyderabad at the Niaz Stadium in Sind. After being asked to bat, Lahore Ravi were wobbling at 30 for 3 when Salahuddin came out to bat. He was supported briefly by Rana Adnan and Mohammad Zohaib, putting on half-century stands with both, to make sure his side got past the 200-run mark. Mir Ali was the pick of the bowlers on day one, with figures of 3 for 55.Half-centuries from Israrullah and Akbar Badshah took Peshawar to a steady 241 for 5 against Karachi Whites at the National Stadium in Karachi. Peshawar were inserted and were steered initially by opener Israrullah, who made a fluent 61 with nine fours and a six. Captain Badshah then took over, making a patient, unbeaten 74. He was involved in an unbroken 93-run stand with the keeper, Mohammad Rizwan, when stumps was called.A team bowling performance by Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) helped them to knock over United Bank Limited for 121 at the Lahore Cricket Association Ground. After being asked to bat, none of the KRL batsmen could manage more than opener Ali Asad’s 34. The other opener, Naved Khan was caught off the first ball of the match and that set the tone for the innings. Rahat Ali was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 33 at a miserly 1.73 runs per over. Tahir Mughal managed to dismiss KRL’s Ali Naqvi cheaply and Saeed Anwar jnr was run out for 27 just prior to stumps, as KRL finished with 45 for 2.Quetta laboured to 187 for 8 against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. In keeping with the trend at the toss, SNGPL inserted Quetta, who went on to lose wickets at regular intervals. Only opener Badar Ali managed a half-century, top scoring with 56, while the only partnership of note was a 79-run stand for the sixth wicket. Mohibullah with 40 and Ata-ur-Rehman with 33 were the only other batsmen who got past 16. Legspinner Yasir Shah was the pick for SNGPL, claiming 3 for 44.

Gerald Majola, is expected to be “cleared of all charges” of financial impropriety at the associations board meeting on Friday

Firdose Moonda18-Nov-2010Gerald Majola, chief executive of Cricket South Africa (CSA), is expected to be “cleared of all charges” of financial impropriety at the associations board meeting on Friday, a CSA insider told ESPNcricinfo. The body’s internal commission of inquiry, headed by CSA vice president AK Khan, that was looking into the bonus payments Majola received after last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, found “no evidence of fraud against Majola,” according to the source.However, the methods of awarding bonuses to CSA staff members could face an overhaul after the committee presents its findings. “The questions of procedure and governance are totally different matters and what will probably happen now is that the board will put in rules in place over how bonuses should be paid out, so that everything is accounted for.”Majola and 39 other staff members were paid bonuses after the successful second season of the T20 tournament, but they did not go through CSA’s remunerations committee. This was picked up by CSA’s auditors Deloitte who reported irregularities in the body’s financial statements in August. CSA insiders said that nothing suspicious could be read into the payments because they were made according to a precedent for paying bonuses after major tournaments that was set at the 2003 World Cup.Also under the spotlight will be a report leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper, allegedly written by CSA president Doctor Mtutuzeli Nyoka, which accused Majola of other wrongdoings. The report alleged that besides questioning the bonus payments, Nyoka also claimed that Majola had used R318 238 (approximately US$ 45,462) in travel costs for his wife. The source expects Majola to be cleared on that charge as well. “I’ve heard as part his [Majola’s] contract that he is given a travel allowance for his family and I’ve also heard that the numbers involves in the costs have been greatly inflated.”The leaked report also brought to the fore what the insider claims is a “very strained relationship” between Majola and Nyoka. The two have been at loggerheads since Nyoka was Chairman of the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) at the turn of the millennium. In 2002, Nyoka resigned from his post at the GCB after unsuccessfully challenging then United Cricket Board (UCB) president Percy Sonn for his position.Nyoka was also one of the loudest critics of the UCB’s pace of transformation and questioned the body’s commitment to developing players of colour. At the time, Nyoka was quoted as saying, “Gerald Majola must understand that his appointment was an affirmative action and others should be getting the same opportunities as him if transformation is going to work.”Nyoka returned to cricket in 2005, as chair of a 22-man steering committee that was set up to run the GCB. His role to assist in mediating between warring clubs who were up in arms over the lack of transformation in the province He was elected President of CSA in October 2008. The two have not had any public spats since then.CSA initially appointed an external commission, under Judge Pius Langa, to investigate the bonus payments but u-turned on their decision a few weeks later, opting to conduct the probe internally. At the time, ESPNcricinfo was told that the decision to make use of the Langa commission was made “unilaterally by a member of the CSA executive, who did not consult with the board”. When the board met on the August 21, they voted to shift the probe internally because they had “not exhausted all their own procedures.”The move resulted in CSA being criticised for a lack of transparency but the source said they took it upon themselves to ensure independence. “What will come out is that even though the commission was internal, CSA got an external person to run it. I can’t say who that person is but those details will emerge on Friday.”The board meeting will take place at 10am South African time at the OR Tambo International Airport.

Dwayne Bravo said Hauritz will be Australia’s main weapon but was confident West Indies had the batting might to chase a tall target

Brydon Coverdale at the WACA18-Dec-2009Nathan Hauritz looms as the key to Australia’s victory hopes in Perth, where West Indies will need to follow the lead of South Africa last year to chase a hefty fourth-innings target. Sulieman Benn found some sharp turn in the final session on the third day as Australia struggled to 8 for 137, and Hauritz will be searching for similar spin to trouble West Indies.Australia’s lead had grown to 345 by stumps but in the back of their minds will be the chase this time last year, when AB de Villiers and JP Duminy took South Africa to a monstrous target of 414 with only four wickets down. On that occasion, Australia’s spinner Jason Krejza leaked runs but Dwayne Bravo was in no doubt who Australia’s main weapon could be this time.”The wicket is playing pretty good,” Bravo said. “It’s not keeping low or anything like that. It’s starting to turn a bit more, so I think Hauritz might play a big part for them in the second innings.”Hauritz will be encouraged by the two wickets for Benn on the third afternoon, especially a ball that turned and bounced significantly to catch the edge of Brad Haddin’s bat. West Indies will also be hoping to capitalise on the pressure building on Australia to avoid a drawn series, and on individuals within the side. Hauritz always seems to be under the microscope despite solid performances over the past year, while the debutant Clint McKay will still be nervous following a wicketless first innings.”We know the Australians are under a lot of pressure to perform well,” Bravo said. “Some of the players in the team are also under pressure. That’s good for us. We are looking forward to the challenge we have nothing to lose so were going to give it our best shot.”West Indies provided a remarkable fightback after they were dismissed with Australia still 208 runs in front, led by three wickets from Bravo and two from Benn. Australia remained in the ascendancy given their lead but Bravo was confident West Indies were still well and truly in the match.”It’s still balanced,” he said. “We know the Australian team is a world-class team and 300-odd runs on the board, they have the self-belief in their bowling attack that they know they can take that and defend that. But we have the batters in our line-up also to chase down 360-plus runs with a day and a half to go. At this point in time we’d back ourselves to get that.”Doug Bollinger was a key man with the ball for Australia as he collected his maiden five-wicket haul to help dismiss West Indies for 312, and he could yet be an important player with the bat. Australia have two wickets in hand and will aim to add as many runs as they can. Bollinger jokingly said he’d like to set a target of 500 before unleashing Hauritz and the fast men.”He’s going to be pretty confident,” Bollinger said of Hauritz. “As we saw, Benn bowled tonight and got a few to spin and bounce, which is a massive bonus for him. He’ll just come out and bowl the way he normally does and the rest will look after itself. “

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.”

There is no ICC requirement that World Cup knockout matches must be played on unused pitches

Matt Roller15-Nov-20233:44

Rohit: I believe toss is not a factor at Wankhede

The first semi-final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, between India and New Zealand in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon, will be played on a used pitch that has already staged two matches in the tournament.ESPNcricinfo understands the semi-final was initially supposed to be played on Pitch 7, the central strip of the Wankhede Stadium’s pitch block. Pitch 7 is a fresh surface that was not used in the league stage of the World Cup.But a decision was made to shift the game to Pitch 6, which is slightly off-centre and has already hosted two matches in the tournament: South Africa’s 229-run win over England on October 21, and India’s 302-run victory over Sri Lanka on November 2.The change represents a late deviation from the pitch allocation devised before the World Cup. A source told ESPNcricinfo: “6-8-6-8-7 was the planned rotation at Wankhede. 6-8-6-8 is what has been used so far.”After the semi-final had begun, the ICC released a statement saying the change was not unusual. “Changes to planned pitch rotations are common towards the end of an event of this length, and has already happened a couple of times. This change was made on the recommendation of the venue curator in conjunction with our host. The ICC independent pitch consultant was apprised of the change and has no reason to believe the pitch won’t play well.”According to the ICC’s Playing Conditions for the World Cup, the relevant ‘ground authority’ is “responsible for the selection and preparation of the pitch” before any given match – in this case, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). The ICC also have an independent pitch consultant, Andy Atkinson, who works alongside local groundstaff.The Daily Mail reported that Atkinson has become frustrated by changes to pre-agreed plans throughout the World Cup, and that he speculated in a leaked email whether the pitch for the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday “will be the first ever ICC CWC final to have a pitch which has been specifically chosen and prepared to their stipulation at the request of the team management and/or the hierarchy of the home nation board.”Should India make the final in Ahmedabad, they would face either Australia or South Africa. Pat Cummins put his faith in the ICC to oversee the pitch process.”Yeah, I saw that [the report]…obviously ICC have an independent pitch curator who manages that so I’m sure they are all over making sure it’s fair for both teams,” he said. “So far this tournament [on pitches] that we’ve played on I’ve not seen any issue.”There is no ICC requirement which states that knockout fixtures must be played on fresh pitches. The only stipulation in their Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process reads: “It is expected that venues that are allocated the responsibility of hosting a match will present the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for that match.”The semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup, in England four years ago, were both played on fresh pitches at Old Trafford and Edgbaston. But last year, both T20 World Cup semi-finals were played on used pitches: one at Adelaide Oval, the other at the Sydney Cricket Ground.Both India and New Zealand players inspected the pitch at the Wankhede from close quarters on Tuesday evening before it was covered by groundstaff early during India’s training session under floodlights.

Australia’s captain said their collapse from 298 for 5 on the second morning was “an opportunity missed”

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Jul-2022They won an attritional series in Pakistan, and dominated Sri Lanka in what was essentially a two-day win last week. But this loss in Galle, by an innings and 39 runs, might be a “reality check” for an Australia team intent on improving their long-form cricket in Asia.So said captain Pat Cummins, after the second Test hurtled to a conclusion on the fourth evening – Australia collapsing to 151 against spin inside 41 overs.”Some batters went out with a really clear plan, and you just get a ball with your name on it earlier than you would’ve liked,” Cummins said. “It’s a good reality check for people touring over here that it’s really hard. So many positives out of last week, that we did find methods that work. One small hiccup doesn’t mean you have to change everything. And it makes for more learning than after a win.Related

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“I think half our batting line-up and half our bowling line-up hasn’t played a lot over here in the subcontinent. So the experience on these two vastly different wickets [in the two Tests], I think we got a lot of lessons out of it to take to India next year.”Cummins pointed to the second morning as a session in which Australia let the match slip. Although they had won the first day, ending at 298 for 5 at stumps, they then lost their last five first-innings wickets for 35 runs, finishing at 364 all out. This was after Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne had hit hundreds, and while Smith remained at the crease, the wickets fell at the other end.”That was probably an opportunity missed. The way we set up the game on day one, we were hoping to get 400-plus, which history suggests here puts you in a really good position,” Cummins said. “Unfortunately none of us hung around with Smith long enough to get up to the 400-plus, which meant even if we were out there for 180 overs you were kind of level at the turn.”Dimuth Karunaratne and Pat Cummins pose with the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, which they shared•AFP/Getty Images

Australia’s second-innings collapse took less than two sessions, after they started 190 runs behind. Usman Khawaja and David Warner put on 49 to begin, suggesting the surface remained decent for batting. But then they lost 10 wickets for 101.”Certainly as the game went on the footmarks started to react a bit more,” Cummins said. “A fresh bowling side always makes a bit of a difference as well. So it all happened pretty quickly, and unfortunately we were on the wrong side.”The plan had been to just bat. It was still close to five sessions left in the game. I think if we were behind by just over 100 we were still in the game, but 200 probably put it beyond us. We were trying to bat for the rest of the day then come up with a plan for tomorrow.”Australia’s tour has come in the backdrop of a crippling economic crisis and a major political crisis in Sri Lanka. Cummins and the Australia team have made efforts to reach out and understand the situation better, even making appeals for fundraisers. On day two of this Test, large protests were seen on the fort overlooking the ground, and at the central intersection at Galle, which is right outside the stadium.”We’ve got protests round the ground, it really hits home how lucky we are to be travelling the world but also in some ways it’s more than just being here to play cricket, you can see the impact it can have. It hasn’t been lost on our group, something we speak about quite a bit.”You couldn’t escape the protests on Saturday. We got lots of messages from back home, just saying ‘How is it? Hope you’re ok.’ And we felt totally fine.”