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A raucous rendition of The Blaydon Races resounded from the home dressing room moments after Durham completed an equally resounding victory which elevates them to second in Division One

Les Smith at Chester-le-Street25-Aug-2013
ScorecardMark Wood took a career-best 5 for 44 to seal victory•Getty Images

A raucous rendition of The Blaydon Races resounded from the home dressing room moments after Durham completed an equally resounding victory which elevates them to second in Division One of the County Championship and sets up a mighty showdown with leaders Yorkshire at Scarborough next week. For Surrey the outcome was equally significant but for very different reasons.Surrey have a game in hand on all their rivals trying avoiding the drop to Division Two but they have yet to win a Championship game this season, and on the evidence of their performance at Chester-le-Street, the wait could be extended. The gap between them and Derbyshire, who are third from bottom, is now 15 points and the two teams will meet at The Oval at the end of next week. That makes the next round as important for those two sides as the game at the seaside in Yorkshire.When the 2013 season started, Chris Adams was in charge of coaching at Surrey and he brought in a new bowling coach, Stuart Barnes. A poor start to the year led to Adams’s dismissal in the middle of June, and the installation of Alec Stewart who predicted an expanded role for Barnes. This had to be daunting, given the underperformance of a side containing several big money imports including Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Vikram Solanki, and now Hashim Amla.Barnes has become more hands-on as the weeks have passed, and after his side lost by an innings, after winning the toss and choosing to field, he was understandably disappointed. “I think we lost it in the second session of the first day, when we didn’t take a wicket,” Barnes said.He spoke of the importance of “bowling partnerships”, and acknowledged that Chris Tremlett, while taking eight wickets in the Durham innings, was not well supported at the other end. “We talk long and hard, we make our plans, we practise them, but we don’t always execute them on the field”.Surrey’s performance had relegation candidates written all over it. In addition to the bowling frailties, their bottom five batsmen added a combined total of 26 in 10 innings. Their capitulation on either side of lunch today, while testament to the skills of the Durham bowlers, looked like that of a side resigned to failure. Hashim Amla made 89, supported stoutly by Zander de Bruyn, whose 12 runs came from 71 balls.De Bruyn was dropped at leg slip by Keaton Jennings off Mark Wood, then edged the next ball to third slip and this time the chance stuck. Steven Davies, the mainstay of Surrey’s first innings, was greeted by an extraordinary field of two slips and three gullies, and the introduction of Chris Rushworth to the attack. “Steve absolutely hates batting against Rushy”, Paul Collingwood said at the end of the day, but it was to be a less experienced quick bowler who would initiate the last rites.Mark Wood’s Championship opportunities have been limited this year, but he took his chance today. Collingwood switched him to the Finchale End for the last over before lunch, and he took wickets with the fifth and sixth balls, both caught behind the wicket by Phil Mustard, who claimed six catches in the innings and eight in the match. It seemed emblematic that on a day when resistance was paramount the Surrey captain, Gareth Batty, went first ball, albeit to a very decent ball.Wood was at it again immediately after lunch, when Gary Wilson swished injudiciously outside his off stump. When Tim Linley top edged a pull and Will Smith pouched it at short leg, it was all over, and Wood had career best figures of 5 for 44.Surrey had lost their last five wickets for 13 runs in four overs. Stuart Barnes remains upbeat, but he and his team have their work cut out.

India Women pulled off a remarkable 14-run victory at Taunton to take a 2-0 lead in the one-day series having earlier been in deep trouble at 71 for 9

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2012
ScorecardAmita Sharma made 42 to lift India to 129 and that proved enough for victory•Getty Images

India Women pulled off a remarkable 14-run victory at Taunton to take a 2-0 lead in the one-day series having earlier been in deep trouble at 71 for 9.Katherine Brunt had taken out the top order but Amita Sharma’s 42, in a final-wicket stand of 58, pushed them to 129 which the India bowlers then defended with verve as England slumped to 115 all out.A last-wicket stand of 26 between Danielle Wyatt and Georgia Elwiss took the game down to the wire, but with 15 needed from 17 balls, Elwiss was bowled by Jhulan Goswami, who picked up four wickets in the innings. The other outstanding figures belonged to legspinner Veda Krishnamurthy who took 2 for 14 in her 10 overs to strangle the middle order.The visitors began the defence of the small total in perfect fashion by removing the key pair of Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor for ducks. Edwards, who also fell early in the opening match of the series, was caught behind for 1 and Taylor was lbw as Goswami made both breakthroughs.Tammy Beaumont and Arran Brindle steadied the innings for a while but progress was never easy for England before Brindle edged behind off Gouher Sultana then Heather Knight, having hit two boundaries, was run out to leave England 43 for 4.Beaumont, who took 89 balls to make 31, and Gunn combined for an 18-over partnership that brought 34 runs – an indication of the pressure India put on the chase – before England lost 5 for 12 in six overs with Krishnamurthy claiming two in two balls.England had made all the early running as Brunt produced another impressive new-ball spell and her fourth wicket, trapping Goswami lbw, left India 34 for 6. That position became even worse when Laura Marsh struck twice and at 71 for 9 a chase well under a hundred was on the cards.However, England allowed India off the hook as Sharma and Sultana – whose previous best in 18 ODI innings was 10 not out – nearly doubled the total in a partnership lasting 15 overs.

Leah Poulton and Jess Cameron powered Australia into the finals of the NatWest Women’s T20 Quadrangular Series, their 82-run partnership for the second wicket setting up a six-wicket win

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jun-2011Australia 147 for 4 (Poulton 61, Cameron 47, Bates 2-17) beat New Zealand 146 for 6 (Perry 50*, Sthalekar 2-33) by six wickets
Scorecard
Leah Poulton drives down the ground during her 61•Getty Images

Leah Poulton and Jess Cameron powered Australia into the finals of the NatWest Women’s T20 Quadrangular Series, their 82-run partnership for the second wicket setting up a six-wicket win after New Zealand had set a competitive 146 for 6. Cameron fell just short of her fifty but Poulton batted on, adding a further 47 with Shelley Nitschke and reaching 61 before she was dismissed with victory in sight.Medium pacer Lea Tahuhu appeared to give her team a chance when she bowled Meg Lanning for single figures, but Poulton and Cameron’s partnership helped put Australia on top. Bates threatened to spark a late fightback, trapping Cameron and Alex Blackwell in front of their stumps with consecutive deliveries to put herself on a hat-trick, but Poulton and Nitschke locked the game down with their aggressive batting.New Zealand had got off to a similarly enterprising start with the bat after Aimee Watkins had won the toss and opted to set a target, Watkins herself leading the way with a 22-ball 29 that included four fours and a six.She put on an opening stand of 52 with Bates before a flurry of wickets dented the middle order, and New Zealand were thankful for the in-form Liz Perry’s unbeaten fifty, which ensured they set a defendable total. That was not to be, however, and Australia will now meet a rampant England in the tournament final at the Rose Bowl on Monday.”The ground had a fast outfield and the wicket was good,” said Watkins. “We thought that we had enough. But obviously it wasn’t. I think it was a par score on that pitch. But Australia took the opportunities that came their way and put away the bad balls. They chased down the target well.”Watkins also praised Perry for her second successive knock under pressure. “It was a good back-up performance from Liz. She came up with another good performance for us today. I hope that continues tomorrow in the play-off and then onto the 50-over competition.””It was a good ground to chase down scores,” said Player of the Match Poulton. “The pitch was good for batting. The target was gettable. We had some clear plans on how many runs need to be scored in every period of the match. I am glad the plans we had came good as we reached all targets set for the game.”Poulton recalled a similar chase against England at the same ground previously and said the batting derived confidence from that match. “We had played England here and chased down 150 then. So we knew that 146 was a gettable target. We thought 140 to 150 was a par score and Kiwis did well in getting there. But we were always confident going into the chase.”Jess and I had a good partnership. She was striking the ball well and I quite liked to play second fiddle. We have batting all the way down, it was nice to be able to play my game. It was good to have a win in the lead-up to the final. We are confident about our chances. We have played England quite often and know what to expect of them. They are also a good, strong unit and as confident as us. So it will be a good contest.”

Ryan Harris, the Australian fast bowler, has undergone corrective knee surgery after an injury forced him to return home from England

Cricinfo staff10-Jul-2010Ryan Harris, the Australian fast bowler, has undergone corrective knee surgery after an injury forced him to return home from England. It is still uncertain whether he will be fit in time for the one-dayers against India in three months’ time.”Ryan Harris underwent arthroscopic surgery in Melbourne on Thursday to correct cartilege damage to his right knee,” Cricket Australia doctor Trefor James said. “His progress will be monitored in the coming weeks to determine his availability for selection for the VB Tour of India tour in October.”Harris has been one of the most impressive performers in the attack since his call-up during the one-day series against Pakistan in January, having taken 41 wickets in 17 ODIs since then. He was Australia’s leading wicket taker during the ODI series against England, when he claimed ten victims at 17.10 despite missing the second game with a groin strain.This is not his first knee surgery, having had two of them last winter as well.

Brydon Carse to debut, Chris Woakes set for first overseas Test since 2022

Matt Roller05-Oct-2024Ben Stokes has been ruled out of England’s first Test against Pakistan in Multan, as he continues to recover from a torn hamstring. Stokes confirmed after training on Saturday that he is not yet fully recovered from the injury he sustained two months ago while playing in the Hundred.In Stokes’ absence, Chris Woakes will play his first overseas Test in two-and-a-half years and his first in Asia since 2016, while Brydon Carse will make his Test debut. Ollie Pope will captain England for a fourth successive match in Stokes’ absence, having led them to a 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka last month.”I tried my hardest to try and get myself fit for this first game but we’ve taken the call to miss this one. I’ve not quite managed to get game-ready,” Stokes said. “We got to a certain point, but just looking at the bigger picture around what we’ve got coming up and actually physically where I’m at with my rehab, I’m not quite ready to play.”Related

• Stokes finds his peace in home comforts after 'hardest trip' to Pakistan

• Jamal, Shaheen, Naseem return to Pakistan's XI for first Test against England

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• The good news for Pakistan? England have problems. The bad news? Pakistan have bigger ones

Stokes spent the first 45 minutes of England’s training session doing shuttle runs with Peter Sim, the strength and conditioning coach. He later batted in the nets, facing spin from Rehan Ahmed and local net-bowlers as well as throwdowns from England’s coaching staff, but is taking a cautious approach to his comeback.He will now target the second Test in 10 days’ time. “I’ve pushed myself incredibly hard,” Stokes said. “I’ve worked really, really hard with the medical team to get to where I’m at now. I think I’m further ahead than what we expected today. Look, I’ll be working just as hard over the next 10 days to try and give myself a chance to be fit.”Whatever sports you play, you’re going to get injuries. I’m 33 now, so I’ve put my body through quite a lot. I’ve started working incredibly hard over the last two years: I know that I’m getting older, so it’s not through lack of effort. It’s just one of those things where, with what we do, you’re going to put yourself at risk every time you walk out on the field for injuries.”Brydon Carse has been confirmed for a Test debut•Getty Images

If Stokes is available for the second Test, it may only be as a specialist batter – though he said it was “too far away” to tell. “That’s in my 10-day plan from now to that next one, eking bowling back into my training. We’ve had a good plan put together by myself and the medical guys out here, so I’ll be working incredibly hard to try and give myself a good chance of being ready.”England confirmed their XI later on Saturday, two days out from the first Test. They have picked two specialist spinners, with Jack Leach returning to the side for the first time since January alongside his Somerset team-mate Shoaib Bashir. Gus Atkinson has shaken off a thigh niggle and will play his first overseas Test after impressing during the English summer.Carse pipped Olly Stone and his Durham team-mate Matthew Potts – who both featured against Sri Lanka last month – to the final spot in England’s seam attack. Carse, like Potts, impressed in England’s recent ODI series against Australia but his additional pace and superior batting have seen him win the battle to be England’s third fast bowler.Having missed most of the summer due to a gambling ban, Carse regularly hit 90mph/145kph during Australia’s tour and has impressed England’s players in the nets. “He’s a natural wicket-taker,” Joe Root said. “He’s got those balls in him that, out of nowhere, on the flattest of wickets, you can make something happen… He offers a huge amount to the squad.”Carse, 29, was born and raised in South Africa but qualified for England through his ancestry in 2019. He will become England’s sixth Test debutant of the year after Tom Hartley, Bashir, Atkinson, Jamie Smith and Josh Hull, and has been carded to bat at No. 9, just below Atkinson.England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Shoaib Bashir

Opener scores 100, Tom Moores 72 not out as Kent pay for wayward bowling

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2023Nottinghamshire opener Ben Slater completed his first LV= Insurance County Championship hundred since April last year to lay the foundation for a solid opening day against Kent at Trent Bridge.The left-hander, who has had a lean year by the standards he has set in recent seasons, made exactly 100, with wicketkeeper Tom Moores finishing unbeaten on 72 as Nottinghamshire closed on 275 for 5.Kent’s bowling lacked consistency. Matt Quinn and Arshdeep Singh kept to a little over two runs an over but Jas Singh’s two wickets came at a cost of 11 fours and a six in 12 overs.Beset by injuries and other non-availabilities, Kent were forced to sign two on-loan batters ahead of this fixture but might have expected more from their seam attack on a pitch that looked green enough to have tempted Nottinghamshire to bowl first had they won the toss.Under an overcast morning sky, batting looked hazardous when the stumps were under threat but Kent’s bowlers were too often wide of that mark in the opening session, conceding boundaries in 12 consecutive overs across one expansive passage of play.Joey Evison, a talented allrounder who left Trent Bridge last year through lack of opportunities, inflicted the only wound to the Nottinghamshire top order when Haseeb Hameed, who was beginning to find his timing after a slow start, played all round one that hit the knee roll of his front pad.The exception among the Kent seamers was Arshdeep Singh, the Indian white-ball international left-armer who is playing in the last of his five first-class matches in England this summer. Unlucky at times from the pavilion end as Nottinghamshire reached 116 for 1 at lunch, he was rewarded for switching ends shortly afterwards as the New Zealander Will Young, another at the end of a short-term contract, pushed forward to a ball that found the edge.Nonetheless, the day was still unfolding nicely for Nottinghamshire until just over an hour into the afternoon session, when they lost Joe Clarke and then Slater within four overs. Clarke, who had steered his first ball for four to the short boundary on the Bridgford Road side, looked in ominously good touch as he drove and pulled two more boundaries and then hoisted Singh over the longer boundary for six.Yet he was stopped in his tracks on 22 when pinned in front by a swinging delivery from Quinn. Minutes later, after running three from a straight drive to complete his hundred from 150 balls, Slater was squared up a touch by a ball from Singh that found the thinnest of edges, a second catch for Harry Finch, who continued as stand-in wicketkeeper with Jordan Cox injured and Sam Billings taking time away from the game.It left Steven Mullaney and Moores with a rebuilding job at 169 for 4, not helped by a stoppage of 108 minutes after a burst of heavy rain followed by a lengthy mopping-up operation.The delay cost 15 overs and, seemingly, Kent’s hopes of building any momentum on the back of those two important wickets as the fifth-wicket partners added 83 before there was another breakthrough, Mullaney falling leg before as Singh hurried one through.Kent had missed two chances along the way, with Mullaney dropped inexplicably by Ben Compton at first slip on 16 off Arshdeep, and Moores given a life moments after his eighth four had taken him to a 77-ball half-century as Singh shelled a difficult caught-and-bowled.

Was out celebrating a win with Petherton Cricket Club team-mates when the incident occurred, resulting in head injury

Firdose Moonda31-May-2022Former South African Under-19 bowler Mondli Khumalo is in an induced coma in Bristol after being assaulted outside a pub in Bridgwater on Saturday night. Khumalo has suffered bleeding on the brain and has had two operations thus far. He remains in a serious condition. A 27-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.Khumalo, 20, is contracted to Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland in South Africa, and is on his first overseas stint as a professional for North Petherton Cricket Club. The team was out celebrating a victory last weekend when the incident took place. ESPNcricinfo understands that Khumalo was unconscious at the scene and received emergency medical treatment at Southmead Hospital. It is not yet known what Khumalo’s long-term prognosis is.North Petherton Cricket Club and Khumalo’s agent, Rob Humphries, have begun work on assisting the Khumalo family, especially Mondli’s mother, to obtain a passport to travel to the United Kingdom to be with him. “Mondli is such a gentle guy. His mom just can’t understand how something like this could have happened to him,” Humphries told ESPNcricinfo. “And everyone at North Petherton just adores him. He is a genuinely lovely kid. He was having a really good time here. He had bowled really well and he had become such a wonderful part of the club.”Khumalo represented South Africa U-19 at the 2020 World Cup, has four first-class caps and received a high-performance contract from Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland for the 2022-2023 season.Though Khumalo’s medical bills while he is in hospital are covered, it is not known whether he will need further treatment in future. North Petherton have set up a crowdfunder page in his name to assist in any way needed.

Siraj won’t return for the last rites in Hyderabad due to quarantine protocols

PTI20-Nov-2020India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, who is in Australia with the Indian squads for the upcoming four-Test series, lost his father Mohammed Ghouse on Friday in India. According to a BCCI release, Siraj was offered the option of flying back home but the fast bowler decided to stay with the Indian squad in Australia.Ghouse was 53 and lost the battle to a lung ailment. He was instrumental in Siraj’s growth as a cricketer as he supported his son’s ambitions with his limited resources. The Indian squad, currently in the middle of a 14-day quarantine period, has been training in isolation on the outskirts of Sydney after arriving on November 13 from the UAE after the IPL.Siraj, 26, has played one ODI and three T20Is so far and is part of the Test squad in Australia. He will be the fifth pace-bowling option along with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini. Ishant Sharma, currently at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, is also expected to join the squad ahead of the first Test starting on December 17, once he is declared fit.In a video posted on social media by the BCCI on Tuesday, Siraj and Shami were seen bowling with the pink and red balls to captain Virat Kohli and other batsmen.Siraj recently represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL to take 11 wickets in nine games, including a match-winning 3 for 8 against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

SLC CEO cites policy of not giving NOCs when there is a national tour for which a player might reasonably be picked,

Andrew Fidel Fernando10-Sep-2019Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has denied Niroshan Dickwella a no-objection certificate (NOC) to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and will also prevent Thisara Perera from playing in the majority of the T20 league, after the two players – and eight others – refused to tour Pakistan in September and October.According to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva, it is the board’s policy that if there is a national tour for which a player might reasonably be picked, that player will not be granted an NOC to play in a foreign league if he or she withdraws from national commitments voluntarily.Another SLC official also expressed serious dismay that so many frontline Sri Lanka players had refused to visit Pakistan, despite the fact that the board’s security assessments had concluded that the tour was safe.”It’s our policy not to give NOCs when there is a national tour, and the players would have known that,” de Silva said. “So Dickwella has not been granted an NOC and will be expected to train with the national team in the next few weeks. We have also asked Thisara to return to the country on September 15, so he can also join the team in training.”Thisara has already played two matches for St Lucia Zouks after initially being granted an NOC. That agreement, however, was conditional upon his availability for Sri Lanka tours. And although he has refused to go on the Pakistan tour, he now has to return to Sri Lanka.Unlike Thisara, Dickwella had not been granted an NOC at all, because he had been with Sri Lanka’s T20 team for the series against New Zealand last week. A third player, Isuru Udana, had also been picked for a CPL team, but later made himself unavailable due to international commitments and is prepared to tour Pakistan. As such, he has not sought an NOC from the board.Dickwella and Thisara were among ten players who refused to tour Pakistan despite assurances from Sri Lankan security experts. Although chief selector Ashantha de Mel has told players their refusal would not hurt their selection chances for future tours, there remains frustration within the Sri Lanka board that a full-fledged tour could not go ahead as planned.”We have done a very meticulous security assessment, and the Pakistan board has gone out of their way,” one board official said. “Other international players have also toured there with the World XI and so on. And Pakistan is also willing to provide the same security they give to heads of state for the players. What more could they want?”The Sri Lanka players, however, have suggested they would prefer another team to take the lead in helping international cricket return to Pakistan. It was the 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team bus that halted international tours to the country, though only Suranga Lakmal of the current list of players had been caught up in that attack.”I can completely understand that for players who were actually there during the attack – like Lakmal – why they would be reluctant,” the SLC official said. “But we have to help our Asian neighbours. Soon after the Easter Attacks this year, Pakistan sent an Under-19 team to Sri Lanka. We’re not trying to risk anyone’s life, but we do have obligations and there needs to be reciprocation. The security situation in Pakistan has improved a lot.”On refusing NOCs, the official said: “It’s not a question of trying to be vindictive or victimise players. But they do have an obligation.”

The batsman is likely to team up with AB de Villiers, who could make himself available for the franchise next summer, despite his recent international retirement

Firdose Moonda28-May-2018Theunis de Bruyn, who has played five Tests for South Africa, will no longer captain Knights’ franchise after he opted to move to Titans for the 2018-19 summer. He joins 11 other current internationals at SuperSport Park, where discussions are still underway with AB de Villiers, who had recently retired from international cricket. The batsman, however, could make himself available for the franchise next summer.De Villiers was not listed among the franchise’s contracted players, which, apart from the eight nationally contracted players on Titans’ books, also included Farhaan Behardien, Junior Dala and Heinrich Klaasen. Rookie contracts were awarded to former national under-19 allrounder Corbin Bosch, son of Tertius, and recent under-19 World Cup success story Wandile Makwetu.Malusi Siboto, a medium-pacer who has been instrumental to the Titans’ limited-overs success over the last few seasons, left the franchise after his contract expired, while bowling all-rounder Rowan Richards was released. Instead, Tshepo Moreki, a right-arm quick from Cobras was signed up.”The squad is a good balance of youth and experience and definitely one that has the potential to defend our two trophies and possibly put us in a position to win all three competitions,” Mark Boucher, Titans’ coach said. “Theunis is a very good player and a very dominant batsman. We saw an opening in our batting line-up and believe Theunis can definitely strengthen our batting unit. Not only is it a massive benefit to have him in our batting line-up, but his pace bowling will add another dimension. Tshepo is a promising talent. I love his attitude on the field, he’s fit and is hungry to play, so I am looking forward to see what he can bring with the ball.”Titans have announced their contract list even though talks between CSA and the South African Cricketers’ Association regarding their MOU, which outlines the terms and conditions for players contracts, have yet to conclude. The MOU, which expires at the end of April, was extended with a new deadline set for June 30.Titans squad: Andrea Agathangelou, Farhaan Behardien, Corbin Bosch, Junior Dala, Henry Davids, Theunis de Bruyn, Tony de Zorzi, Eldred Hawken, Heinrich Klaasen, Heino Kuhn, Wandile Makwetu, Tshepo Moreki , Rivaldo Moonsamy, Albie Morkel, Alfred Mothoa, Grant Thomson, Jonathan Vandiar. Shaun von BergCSA contracted players at Titans: Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plessis, Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn