All posts by csb10.top

Matthew Wade has announced his retirement from international cricket and will immediately transition into a coaching role with Australia for the T20I series against Pakistan next month.Wade was part of Australia’s side at the T20 World Cup in June and it had been expected that tournament would mark the end of his international career after he was overlooked for the tour of the UK in September. In March he had retired from red-ball cricket after Tasmania’s run to the Sheffield Shield final.Related

• Wade to retire from first-class cricket after Sheffield Shield final

• Rizwan announced white-ball captain; Babar, Afridi, Naseem return for Australia tour

• Australia Test players rested for T20Is against Pakistan with captain to be named

Wade will continue to play in the BBL for Hobart Hurricanes and some franchise tournaments around the world. He will also now work with what is a reasonably youthful Australia T20I squad which will be coached by Andre Borovec while Andrew McDonald and his other assistants preparing for the Test series against India. Wade will also spend time with Australia’s coaching group during the ODI series in an unofficial capacity.”I was fully aware my international days were most likely over at the end of the last T20 World Cup. My international retirement and coaching has been a constant conversation with George [Bailey] and Andrew [McDonald] over the past six months,” Wade said.”Coaching has been on my radar over the last few years and thankfully some great opportunities have come my way, for which I am very grateful and excited.”Overall, Wade played 36 Tests, 97 ODIs and 92 T20Is for Australia between 2011 and 2024. He was a key figure in their T20 World Cup title in the UAE in 2021 where he became a finisher, hitting an unbeaten 41 off 17 balls in the semi-final against Pakistan.Finest hour: Matthew Wade was a star of Australia’s 2021 T20 World Cup title•ICC via Getty Images

“As my international career closes, I want to thank all of my Australian team-mates, staff and coaches,” he said. “I enjoyed the ride as challenging as it can be at international level. Without good people around me I would have never got as much out of myself as I did.”I also thank my family, mum, dad and sisters for the countless hours they put in over the years getting me to games and training.”Lastly to Julia and the kids. I can’t thank them enough for the sacrifices they have made for me to continue to pursue my dreams. No words can explain how grateful I am to them, none of this would have happened without their support.”Wade’s Test career ended in 2021, during India’s previous tour, after he had made a successful return to the side as a specialist batter for the 2019 Ashes where he scored two centuries. His last ODI also came in 2021 when he briefly returned to the team after a gap of four years during the tour of West Indies in the Covid period.”Congratulations to Matthew on what has been a wonderful international career during which his skill and versatility has made him an outstanding performer across all formats,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said.”I’m delighted he will add to his massive contribution by coaching the next generation of stars and also continuing to light up the Big Bash with the Hobart Hurricanes.”

Sherfane Rutherford and Gudakesh Motie put on a record-breaking 119-run ninth-wicket stand, before Motie and Alzarri Joseph struck once apiece inside the powerplay. Aside from these stretches of dominance though, Sri Lanka ran away with the game.Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, and Asitha Fernando had sent West Indies crashing to 58 for 8, before that ninth-wicket resistance came. Then, after the loss of two early wickets, Sri Lanka recovered through a 62-run partnership between Sadeera Samarawickrama and Nishan Madushka, before the in-form Charith Asalanka came in to produce a fluent half-century, and take Sri Lanka to a substantial victory, and another series victory under his fledgling captaincy.Though the pitch for this 44-over match – drizzle had delayed the start by two hours – was exceedingly spin friendly (it was the same track used for Sunday’s game), 190 was always going to be a challenge to defend. Where Sri Lanka’s spinners were able to be consistently menacing, often getting significant turn even off faster deliveries, West Indies’ slow bowlers did not quite have the same impact.Motie was their best slow bowler, conceding only 18 from his nine overs, and taking the wicket of Kusal Mendis. But legspinner Hayden Walsh was underwhelming, guilty of pitching far too short and being picked off – he went for 41 runs off his five overs. Roston Chase was also only moderately effective. In fact it was seamer Alzarri Joseph who collected the innings’ best figures of 2 for 30.Although Hasaranga would go on to get more wickets, it was Theekshana who was the best of Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers, and Theekshana who set the collapse in motion with a gorgeous offbreak that beat the outside of left-hander Alick Athanaze’s bat and clip off stump. The offbreak turned big on this surface, and he threatened both right-handers and left-handers with it, going to the carrom ball only occasionally. The lines Theekshana bowled were mostly impeccable.Later, a big offbreak would sneak between Keacy Carty’s bat and pad and rattle his stumps as well, before a slider beat the wild reverse-swipe that Walsh attempted off Theekshana in the 15th over. He collected figures of 3 for 25 off nine overs.Hasaranga’s googlies were doing their usual damage, with Chase suckered in by one that was flighted beautifully. Hasaranga had to work less hard for the wickets of Romario Shepherd, and Alzarri Joseph, who didn’t fancy picking him. He’d take the final wicket of the innings too, getting Jayden Seales caught and bowled, and took home the game’s best figures of 4 for 40.Sherfane Rutherford and Gudakesh Motie put on a record 119 runs for the ninth wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Fernando’s 3 for 35 was especially impressive on a track that did not favour him. He dismissed Brandon King with a surprise bouncer that King played at too early, before bowling Shai Hope with a slightly back of a length delivery that the batter dragged on to his stumps. That he broke the big Rutherford-Motie stand was also significant, even if the wicket of Rutherford came off a low full toss.In fact, Rutherford had been struggling terribly before Motie joined him at the crease in the 16th over and provided the early impetus for their partnership. The No. 10 struck important boundaries, off Hasaranga especially, and by the end of the 25th over had 35 runs to Rutherford’s 33, though Rutherford had been there longer and faced more balls.This is the point at which Rutherford began to attack however, having earlier seemed bewildered by every spinner Sri Lanka employed against him. There were suddenly sixes down the ground and on the legside from Rutherford – one hoick over deep square leg off Asalanka’s bowling taking him to his half century, off 57 balls. He continued to hit out until he was caught on the deep square leg boundary in the 35th over, having hit four sixes and seven fours. His 80 off 82 was the highest score in the game.Later, after Samarawickrama and Madushka – both of whom made 38 – had lifted Sri Lanka out of immediate danger, Asalanka’s entry into the game sent them smoothly off towards the five-wicket victory that would eventuate with 34 balls remaining.The hallmark of a good Asalanka innings is his early boundary-striking ability, and so it was here – spotting a full delivery outside off from the opposition’s best seamer second ball, Asalanka creamed it through point for four. In Joseph’s next over, Asalanka crashed him through square leg and drilled him through cover for two more fours, having also slog-swept Roston Chase for a boundary in between. In a flash he was on 20 off 14.Though the tempo slowed, he got to his half century off the 48th ball he faced, and went on to shepherd Sri Lanka home, remaining not out on 62 off 61 balls.

If five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) want, they can retain their former captain and talisman MS Dhoni as an uncapped player.This is because the IPL has decided to bring back a rule that it had started in 2008, allowing Indian players who had retired from international cricket at least five years before the relevant season to go into the auction as uncapped players. The rule was scrapped in 2021. However, during the broader discussion on uncapped players, the IPL informed the franchises that it was reviving the rule.In a media release on Saturday, the IPL said: “A capped Indian player will become uncapped if he has, in the five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant season is held, not played in the starting XI in international cricket and does not have a central contract with BCCI. This will be applicable for Indian players only.”Related

• IPL retention: How many players can a team keep? And at what cost?

• Dhoni: 'I just want to enjoy the game for the next few years'

• CSK waiting on go-ahead from Dhoni before retention deadline

• IPL retention FAQs: What is the modified RTM rule? Has the auction purse increased?

• October 31 set as deadline for IPL teams to finalise retentions

Ahead of the 2022 mega auction, Dhoni was retained as the second player by CSK for INR 12 crore. Dhoni, who turned 43 in July, last played an international match at the 2019 ODI World Cup. In case, CSK want to retain him as an uncapped player, they can do so by spending just INR 4 crore.The question of whether Dhoni will continue to play in the IPL or not has been doing the rounds for the last few seasons. After a knee surgery in 2023, he handed over the CSK captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of IPL 2024 and played a limited role with the bat, coming in late in the innings as a boundary-hitter. More recently, at an event, Dhoni said he and CSK would wait for the player retention rules to be finalised before taking a decision on his future as a player.

Hampshire’s Fletcha Middleton made his second century of the season but his team could do no better that share the spoils with relegation-threatened Lancashire on the first day of their Vitality County Championship match at Emirates Old Trafford.Middleton made 109 and shared a second-wicket partnership of 151 with Nick Gubbins, only for the home side to take six wickets in the evening session and leave the visitors on 330 for nine at the close.However, having asked Hampshire to bat first and using a Kookaburra ball on a pitch offering them little obvious help, Lancashire’s bowlers will surely be pleased to have fought back against opponents who had been 158 for one in mid-afternoon.Tom Aspinwall was the most successful of the quicker bowlers with three for 96 but leg-spinner Luke Wells matched his contribution with three for 69 from 19 overs.Opener Toby Albert was caught by George Bell off Aspinwall for six in the fourth over of the day but Hampshire’s second-wicket pair dominated the rest of the first session and came into lunch on 80 for one after 30 overs.Middleton and Gubbins continued to milk the Lancashire attack in the afternoon session. Gubbins reached his fifty off 122 balls with seven fours and Middleton the same landmark off 96 but with two fewer boundaries.Indeed, the pair looked set to threaten the second-wicket records for matches between these counties when Gubbins was caught at the wicket off Wells for 75 to end his stand with Middleton on 151.Hampshire skipper James Vince cover-drove his first ball for four but came yards down the wicket to Tom Hartley in the next over and skied a catch to Josh Bohannon at short-extra cover. Vince’s dismissal for five left the visitors on 165 for three and it was left to Middleton and Ben Brown to guide their side to 203 without further loss at tea.Middleton hit two fours in the space of four balls off Aspinwall and then tucked the next delivery from the Lancashire seamer backward of square for a single to reach his century off 173 balls with 13 fours.A quarter of an hour later, though, he inside-edged an attempted drive off Wells into his stumps and that began a poor half-hour for Hampshire, who lost three wickets for 14 runs in nine overs.Lancashire took the new ball as soon as it became available and Aspinwall struck twice in successive overs with it. Having made 40, Brown pulled the 20-year-old straight to Wells at square-leg and Tom Prest lasted just nine balls before he was caught by Venkatesh Iyer at backward point for one.Three overs from the close James Fuller was caught behind off George Balderson for 23 and Kyle Abbott was then leg before wicket for a three-ball duck in the same over. And next over there was even more success for Lancashire when John Turner was leg before to his first ball, thus giving Wells his third wicket of the day. Liam Dawson hit Wells for a six and a four off the last two balls of the day to finish on 46 not out.Lancashire left out Phil Salt, who is nursing a slight back injury, and also Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood, both of whom are “managing their workloads” after The Hundred and before next week’s T20 quarter-final against Sussex

The ICC has confirmed that a review into the conduct of T20 World Cup 2024 will be carried out after the global body set up a panel with three of its board directors – Roger Twose, Lawson Naidoo and Imran Khawaja – to oversee the review and submit findings later in the year.ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier that there was scrutiny on the extent of expenditure on the US leg of the tournament and the organisation of the Caribbean leg. The decision to appoint a review panel was taken at the ICC annual conference in Colombo from July 19 to 22, which was attended by all 108 members. The three-man panel will engage an independent consultancy to carry out the review, before reporting back to the board.The ICC also approved the expansion of the Women’s T20 World Cup to 16 teams in 2030. Eight teams had taken part in the inaugural tournament in 2009 and that number rose to ten in 2016. Ten teams will also take part in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October. The 2026 edition will have 12 participating teams, for which the cut-off date for qualification is October 31, 2024, before the expansion to 16 in 2030.For the next Men’s T20 World Cup in 2026, the ICC said the allocation of the eight regional qualifying spots would be as follows: two teams each from Africa and Europe, one from the Americas, and three from Asia and East Asia Pacific (EAP) combined. Previously, Asia had two spots and EAP one.The ICC also announced that USA Cricket and Cricket Chile have been “formally put on notice” because both organisations are not compliant with ICC membership criteria. They have 12 months to make rectifications.”Neither member is considered to have in place a fit for purpose detailed governance and administrative structure and systems,” the ICC said in a release. “The ICC Americas office will work with Cricket Chile to support them in remedying their non-compliance. The board agreed that a normalisation committee comprising of board and management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket’s compliance roadmap and the ICC board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the member for continued non-compliance.”

Match details

England vs Oman
Antigua, Thursday, 1500 local time

Big picture: England – what have you got?

The first of a three-part fightback must start here. Before England can even indulge the unthinkable – rooting for Australia to take down Scotland by a sizeable enough margin to grant them sheepish passage into the Super Eights – they must hold up their end of this monkey-paw deal with NRR-boosting victories over Oman and Namibia. Simple enough in the spreadsheets.That Oman come first on Thursday is welcome. Three games in, they look a team on the wane, one stretched to their limits after two solid showings. A valiant Super Over defeat to Namibia and a solid start with the ball against Australia gave way to a listless display against Scotland.The 19th-ranked team in the world are currently number one as far as drops go – a total of eight putting them bottom on the catching front in the T20 World Cup. Captain Aqib Ilyas also lamented the number of dot balls faced on Sunday, which resulted in a score of 150 for 7, which Scotland knocked off with seven wickets and all of 6.5 overs to spare.Related

• Marsh could face ban if Australia manipulate Scotland result to knock England out

• Buttler: England must 'earn the right' to worry about NRR

• Switch Hit: Deja vu all over again?

Form does not quite go out the window for their meeting with England, no matter how much introspection the defending champions have indulged since Saturday’s defeat to Australia. And it is Oman’s tentativeness with the bat that will give Jos Buttler’s bowlers the belief they can make amends for two less-than-convincing outings.Buttler has put on a cheerier front this week, discarding the sterner visage he had adopted at the start of the T20 World Cup. ICC competitions demand a lot from captains when it comes to media engagements, and Buttler’s lack of enthusiasm for such duties is nothing new. So, it is fair to assume his new tact is an attempt to channel more favourable .The proximity to the 2023 ODI World Cup failure makes comparisons unavoidable, and the inability to call an audible in the field against Australia speaks to similar errors in planning. David Warner and Travis Head kiboshed a prepared plan of straight lines and length from the quicks, peppering the short boundary early on. Only Jofra Archer had the wherewithal – and skill – to make adjustments, leaning on cutters to emerge relatively unscathed with an economy rate of seven. The gut feel on Will Jacks for the second over was probably indigestion.That Australia’s pace attack took cues from Archer means analysing England’s one batting innings in two weeks is a little pointless. The collective 77 from 66 balls managed by batters three to seven was far from ideal, but understandable given the pace-off, Adam Zampa-led squeeze after Buttler and Phil Salt’s opening stand of 73. Nevertheless, improvements need to be made by the individuals – particularly Jonny Bairstow, who struck 7 from 12 deliveries before tamely hoicking one in the air – by any means necessary.There is a sense, however, that this group – even those, like Bairstow, who were on deck for last winter’s debacle in India – have their heads well and truly in the game. Their 2022 success was ultimately forged by a similar fightback following defeat to Ireland and a washout against Australia. Though there is a little less in their control this time around, they will look to emerge from the corner for what will be a defining four days for this iteration of English white-ball cricket.

Form guide

England: LWWLW
Oman: LLLLWAqib Ilyas’ party trick of bowling offspin to left-handers and leg breaks to right-handers has been effective enough•ICC/Getty Images

In the spotlight – Harry Brook and Aqib Ilyas

Part of the criticism Bairstow copped for his innings in Barbados was fuelled by the “demotion” of Harry Brook to number six. Moeen Ali’s floating role – which is set to continue – saw him come in ahead of Brook, who eventually got to the crease upon Moeen’s dismissal with 74 to get in just 26 deliveries. The Yorkshire wunderkind could only manage 20 from 16.Brook has never batted higher than four in T20I cricket, and he’s only done that six times in 29 knocks. Getting him into an innings early makes sense, and No.4 seems a prime spot for him in this line-up. Whether that means dropping Bairstow down the order or altogether – unlikely for now – it feels a necessary play to ensure Brook is not wasted. It is worth noting that both times Brook has faced more than 30 deliveries, he has pocketed half-centuries at strike rates of 231.42 (against Pakistan in 2022) and 186.11 (against New Zealand in 2023).Aqib Ilyas was refreshingly honest after the defeat against Scotland. But it is time for the Oman captain to contribute. Three innings at first drop have reaped just 34 runs from 25 deliveries, all of which have come in the first six overs. He did at least practice the positivity he preached in his last innings, striking 16 off five before being trapped lbw by Safyaan Sharif.His party trick of bowling offspin to left-handers and leg breaks to right-handers has been effective enough. He started economically across the first two matches at Bridgetown, particularly with his 0 for 18 from four overs against Australia. But there was a rude awakening at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium when his three overs were taken for 41.

Team news

Reece Topley is likely to be brought in for his first appearance of the tournament to add some much-needed dimension to England’s bowling attack. If that is the case, it will be for Chris Jordan, with the understanding that England are set to continue with dual pace-threat of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer. The temptation to draft in Ben Duckett to add a left-hander to the XI, at the expense of Bairstow, has been resisted for now.England (probable): 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Jofra Archer 9. Mark Wood, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece TopleyOman need a refresh of their batting after a series of costly false starts. Their lead batter Ayaan Khan, with 92 runs at an average of 46.00, has been operating at six but is surely due for a promotion.Oman (probable): 1 Pratik Athavale (wk), 2 Naseem Khushi, 3 Aqib Ilyas (capt), 4 Zeeshan Maqsood, 5 Ayaan Khan, 6 Rafiullah, 7 Mohammad Nadeem, 8 Mehran Khan, 9 Fayyaz Butt, 10 Samay Shrivastava, 11 Bilal Khan

Pitch and conditions

The two matches played at North Sound so far have both been one-sided, which makes judging the surface a little harder. The ball has carried through well, and batters’ intent does bring rewards, but the wind is a big factor here. Much like in Bridgetown, it goes across the ground and is more forceful given the openness of this venue. The forecast looks good, with intermittent cloud cover and an afternoon high of 30 degrees Celsius.

Stats and trivia

• This is the first meeting between England and Oman in a full international fixture
• Despite playing 13 times at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, including twice during December’s white-ball tour of the Caribbean, this will be England’s first T20I at the venue. They played here twice during the 2007 ODI World Cup, against Sri Lanka and Australia, losing both.
• Zeeshan Maqsood needs two more wickets to become the second Oman player with 50 T20I wickets after Bilal Khan

Quotes

“We’re treating this game with Oman in isolation. They’ve got our full attention. We’re going to prepare really well for that. And then see what happens in this game. If we get into a position where we’re in a dominant position and can push hard, we will. If we have to scrap and fight and get the two points, we will as well.”

Bangladesh’s tour of India to play a series of three ODIs and three T20Is in December has been “postponed”.A BCB spokesperson confirmed the news to ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday, saying that the board has received a letter from the BCCI saying that the white-ball series will be scheduled at a later date.No specific reason has been given for the postponement but it is understood that the prevailing political tensions between India and Bangladesh was a key factor.The series, a part of the ICC’s future tours programme, was meant to be India’s last set of games before the start of the next edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the only series between their triumphant ODI World Cup campaign and the WPL. The matches were expected to be played in Kolkata and Cuttack, with the ODIs kicking off the new cycle of the Women’s ODI Championship for both sides.Earlier this year, India men’s white-ball tour of Bangladesh, originally slotted for August 2025, was pushed to September 2026.”This decision has been reached following discussions between the two boards, taking into account the international cricketing commitments and scheduling convenience of both teams,” the BCCI had said in a statement at the time. “The BCB looks forward to welcoming India in September 2026 for this eagerly anticipated series. Revised dates and fixtures for the tour will be announced in due course.”

India spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been named Tamil Nadu captain for the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, beginning November 26. Narayan Jagadeesan will be the vice-captain.Varun played a handy role in India’s recent T20I series win in Australia, taking five wickets across three completed matches. This will be his first captaincy stint at any level. He replaced M Shahrukh Khan in the role and was appointed ahead of R Sai Kishore and Jagadeesan, both of whom have prior captaincy experience.India left-arm seamer T Natarajan is also part of the squad, as is his fellow left-arm seamer Gurjapneet Singh. Two more left-armers, Sai Kishore and M Siddharth, will lead the spin attack.Tamil Nadu are having a modest run in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and are placed sixth in their group after two losses and two draws in four games.In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, they are in Elite Group D alongside Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Tripura, Jharkhand and Saurashtra. They will open their campaign against Rajasthan in Ahmedabad.

Tamil Nadu squad

Varun Chakravarthy (capt), Narayan Jagadeesan (vice-capt, wk), Tushar Raheja (wk), VP Amit Sathvik, M Shahrukh Khan, Andre Siddarth, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Shivam Singh, R Sai Kishore, M Siddharth, T Natarajan, Gurjapneet Singh, A Esakkimuthu, R Sonu Yadav, R Silambarasan, S Rithik Easwaran (wk)

Jon Lewis has joined his old county Gloucestershire in a newly-created director of cricket role which will cover both men’s and women’s cricket, after losing his job as England women’s head coach earlier this year.Lewis, who won 16 England caps across formats as a swing bowler, spent the vast majority of his playing career at Gloucestershire and has worked at the ECB in various coaching roles since, including as Under-19s head coach and fast-bowling coach in the men’s game. “It feels like I’m coming home,” he told the club’s YouTube channel.He took over as England women’s coach in late 2022 but paid the price for their disastrous 16-0 Ashes defeat in Australia last winter, which saw him replaced in the role by Charlotte Edwards. Lewis also spent three years at UP Warriorz in the WPL, and will oversee Gloucestershire’s push towards a fully professional women’s set-up in the years to come.Lewis will work closely with Mark Alleyne, Gloucestershire men’s head coach, who won the T20 Blast in his first season in charge but oversaw a disappointing 2024 campaign. His arrival will belatedly fill the vacancy left by Steve Snell’s removal as performance director midway through the 2023 summer.”It’s a big job. There’s a lot to do,” Lewis said. “I’m excited to be back at a place that has a really special meaning for me. It created a lot of opportunities for me to be better as a player, and hopefully I can give people opportunities to do the same things that I did here.”Ajeet Singh Dale is among several seamers leaving Gloucestershire•Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Lewis said that a long-term priority will be to bring through more players from the local area. “We haven’t had a really strong production line of cricketers coming from Gloucestershire and Bristol. That’s a high priority for us here at the club, to make sure that we put the processes in place that are able to produce Gloucestershire cricketers from Gloucestershire.”Gloucestershire’s men have already lost a swathe of seamers ahead of next season, with Archie Bailey (Durham), Ajeet Singh Dale (Lancashire), Zaman Akhter (Essex), Josh Shaw (Somerset), Dom Goodman and Tom Price (both Sussex) all leaving the club. Craig Miles (Warwickshire) and Will Williams (Lancashire) will both join, but Lewis wants further reinforcements.”It’s important that we try to work out how to replace those players, whether it’s from within the squad or also from outside, or from overseas,” he said. “We’ve got some real thinking to do in that space to make sure that the club becomes really competitive across all formats next year.”Gloucestershire’s women play in Tier Two of the ECB’s new domestic set-up, but Lewis hopes that will change in the long term: “That’d be a big goal for us here at the club… I’m hoping that this becomes a place where players become really fond of playing, and they feel like they’re able to grow, to learn, and to get a lot better at playing cricket.”

Stevens returns to Kent for 2026

Darren Stevens was a fan favourite in his playing career for Kent•Nathan Stirk/ECB/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Kent have announced that club legend Darren Stevens will work in Adam Hollioake’s coaching staff as a bowling consultant in 2026. Stevens left the county three years ago when, at 46, he was not offered a new contract and has since worked in coaching roles for South East Stars and Essex women.He will work alongside Kent’s newly-appointed bowling coach Sam Faulkner, who has progressed through the club’s backroom staff and will replace Robbie Joseph in the role. Jaahid Ali, a former Pakistan A player, has replaced Toby Radford as batting coach.”Stevo coming back to Kent to join our bowling coaching provision will undoubtedly by popular with our members and supporters,” Simon Cook, the club’s director of cricket, said. “His experience and coaching skills will be invaluable to our first-team bowlers as we head into a new season under Adam Hollioake.”With Sam and Jaahid, there will be clear guidance and mentoring for our young talent at first-team, Academy and Pathway level to make any transition to a higher level more seamless from a playing perspective. Both Sam and Jaahid have worked closely with our Talent Pathway for a number of years now and are both held in high regard by our Pathway players and staff.”

Worcestershire 593 for 9 (Roderick 151, Brookes 100, D’Oliveira 84, Taylor 66*, Edavalath 61) vs DurhamWorcestershire’s relegation was confirmed on day three of their Rothesay County Championship clash with Durham despite centuries from Gareth Roderick and Ethan Brookes.Worcestershire, whose fate was sealed after failing to pick up a third batting point, continued to frustrate a Durham side desperately seeking points to avoid the same fate.Roderick picked up his 12th first class century on a docile pitch after the morning session was washed out and despite a first Durham wicket for Afghan leg spinner Shafiqullah Ghafari, they continued to pile on the runs throughout the day.Brookes joined Roderick in the middle and he picked up his fifty, while Roderick passed 150, but a double-wicket burst from Sam Conners halted the Pears’ momentum.However, Brookes continued the onslaught and notched up three figures as the Pears finished on 591 for 9 at the close.Rain meant that play didn’t start until 1.20pm with 70 overs in the day and Roderick, unbeaten on 95, and nightwatcher Ben Gibbon resumed Worcestershire’s innings.Gibbon continued his good work from the previous night as he frustrated the Durham bowlers and Roderick finally got his first century of the season, coming off 180 deliveries.Gibbon continued to play his strokes, picking up a boundary on the offside off the bowling of Ghafari.Conners almost got the breakthrough as Gibbon edged one on 28, but Emilio Gay couldn’t cling on to it at second slip.Ghafari got his first Durham wicket, Gibbon lbw for 33, but it was too late for a second Durham bowling point.The Pears duo of Roderick and Brookes then guided their side to 400, however Raine nearly had Brookes caught behind, but Ollie Robinson couldn’t hold to a diving catch.The solid Roderick continued to frustrate the home side as he played a lovely dab off Will Rhodes to third region for four just before tea.Roderick resumed after tea as he slammed a Matthew Potts delivery through the covers for four, while Brookes produced a carbon copy in the same over.The Pears keeper continued his vigil in the middle by punishing a Rhodes delivery, but Roderick offered a rare opportunity as Rhodes couldn’t cling on to a caught-and-bowled opportunity. Milestones then followed for the visitors as Brookes passed fifty from 86 balls, while Roderick picked up his 150 from 276 balls.Brookes was dropped a second time, as he edged a Ghafari ball on 57, but Robinson spilled the catch, and Brookes made him pay as he picked up the first six of the game with a hit down the ground.Roderick finally fell for 151, as Conners got him lbw, his second of the match and he followed that up with the wicket of Matthew Waite for a three-ball duck.Brookes continued to pick up runs as he played a wonderful sweep shot for four off the bowling of Ghafari and he took his side to 500 later in the over.Tom Taylor got another life as he miscued one when he was on 15, but Gay couldn’t hold onto it.Brookes then picked up his second ton of the campaign from 130 balls and Taylor absolutely smashed one down the ground for four one ball later.Brookes departed for 100 as he was bowled by Potts after going for a big shot, but he completely missed it, however his team-mate Taylor got to fifty from 54 balls.Final pair Ben Allison and Taylor took Worcestershire to close and will resume unbeaten on 10 and 64 respectively in the morning.