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West Indies allrounder sparkles on opening night before first tie in T10 history

Barny Read in Abu Dhabi15-Nov-2019The T10 League’s third edition – first under its newly minted Abu Dhabi T10 moniker and debut in the UAE capital – was given a perfect day one endorsement by one of its highest profile players on Friday, after being hailed as “so sexy” by West Indies allrounder Andre Russell.Russell had hit 58 from just 24 balls to hand reigning champions Northern Warriors a nine-wicket victory over sole survivors from the inaugural tournament in 2017, Maratha Arabians.It was an exemplary batting performance from the 31-year-old – possibly short-form cricket’s premier player in the world right now – and Russell clearly enjoyed the freedom that ten-over cricket encourages.”I would describe this cricket as so sexy,” Russell said. “Honestly, it’s just quick, spicy and I have no form of nerve going out to bat or bowling because I expect a guy to hit me for four or six and it’s just a challenge for me as a bowler. Batting-wise I just know I have to get the job done… it’s so much fun.”Prior to the first fixture of 2019, Abu Dhabi T10 opened its curtains in customary fashion; fresh out the other side of a trying build-up, warily peered at from outsiders, talked of excitedly from within and a sense of intrigue shared by all.Two years in, the tournament’s preamble wouldn’t be the same without having to navigate hurdles.The first year had a circus-like feel to it, the celebrities in attendance often taking centre stage over the star-studded cast of players. It’s second season put on a far more professional production but had to overcome court orders, alleged Ponzi schemes and a bitter fallout between owner-cum-chariman Shaji ul Mulk and then president Salman Iqbal.And this year’s lead-up has been no different in proving a trying experience for most involved.Most tricky has been the PCB’s withdrawal of previously awarded No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for its players at the behest of prime minister Imran Khan. It left a number of high-profile players out of pocket and squads with gaping holes.No franchise was hit harder than Qalandars – a branch of Pakistan Super League outfit Lahore Qalandars – who have hastily replaced 12 of their roster, including icon player Shahid Afridi and Pakistan internationals such as Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez.For the second year running, it forced a rapid reprint at the branding suppliers and, considering the marketing pull of Pakistani cricketers in the UAE, the ramifications of the PCB’s decision were wide ranging.It prompted local governing body, the Emirates Cricket Board, into writing to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani, stating the absence of Pakistan players “will cause serious damage” to the league.But T10 – put forward at its two previous events by both Afridi and England captain Eoin Morgan as being cricket’s best bet for breaking into the Olympic Games – knows better than most that the show must go on and their ever expanding team are now experts in crisis management.For all the nuisance of this year’s biggest organisational challenge, however, there is a feel of real permanency.The 3.0 reinvention has seen the triad of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, Abu Dhabi Cricket and Abu Dhabi Tourism team with T10 for an initial five-years at Zayed Cricket Stadium, a venue growing at a rapid rate.That is no mean feat in this part of the world and, although initially planned to tie in with Diwali celebrations as a means of tapping into the Indian travel market before a clash with the recently concluded T20 World Cup Qualifiers, the infrastructure of the event is immediately slicker.Again, this is nothing to be scoffed at considering, for all its charm, history and wonderful atmosphere, how chaotic previous host Sharjah can be.Abu Dhabi will still have to tackle low attendance outside of Friday matches as well as enticing fans from other emirates to the capital, but day one brought with it a real sense of order to what is still, for now, the sport’s youngest variant.An encouraging swell of support in the stands lasted the bulk of the day’s remaining two games and those that stayed the distance were rewarded for their endurance.The second game saw icon captains Shane Watson (57*) and Morgan (52*) exchange half-centuries as the latter led his Delhi Bulls side to a seven-wicket victory over Deccan Gladiators before Team Abu Dhabi and Qalandars played out the first tie in T10 history, providing a dramatic opening to this year’s tournament.

Worcestershire failed once more to secure a home quarter-final – this time falling to a six-hitting blitz from Riki Wessels

ECB Reporters Network12-Aug-2018
ScorecardWorcestershire Rapids were on the receiving end of a six-hitting blitz from Notts Outlaws opener Riki Wessels as a five wicket defeat dealt a blow to their hopes of sealing a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast.Wessels smashed nine sixes in his 55 off just 18 balls to set the Outlaws on their way to overhauling a 192 target with 11 balls to spare.Three more came in an over from former Nottinghamshire paceman Andy Carter and the first three deliveries of Pat Brown’s opening over also received the same treatment.When he finally perished, caught on the deep square leg boundary off Brown – the competition’s leading wicket-taker – the Outlaws total stood on 72 in just the fifth over.His boundary clearing spree took the pressure off the other Outlaws batsmen as victory strengthened their chances of a top four spot.But the Rapids, already guaranteed a quarter-final place, are now involved in a three horse race with Durham Jets and Lancashire Lightning to secure a home tie in the knockout stages.The Rapids innings of 191 for 6 was based around a career best T20 performance with the bat by Brett D’Oliveira who hit 64.Rapids captain Moeen Ali, released by England from Test duty to play in this fixture, got into his stride with two sixes over mid wicket off Outlaws skipper Dan Christian. The Rapids’ half century came up in the fifth over but then three wickets fell in quick succession.Clarke (29) lofted Fletcher straight to Alex Hales at mid-on and in the same over Callum Ferguson, a century-maker in the Blast fixture at Trent Bridge last weekend, cut the ball into the hands of Samit Patel at point.It became 62 for 3 when Moeen carved a delivery from Steven Mullaney to Jake Libby on the cover boundary. D’Oliveira and Ben Cox added 52 in five overs before the Rapids wicket-keeper on 16 was caught on the square leg boundary off Mullaney.Christian returned to the attack to bowl Ross Whiteley and D’Oliveira, having struck three sixes and six fours in his 37 ball knock, departed in the same fashion to Harry Gurney.But some late aggression from Wayne Parnell, including successive sixes off the final two deliveries of the innings from Gurney, lifted the Rapids to a competitive looking total.When Nottinghamshire launched their reply, Wessels adapted an all out aggressive approach despite Hales quickly departing to Carter. After his eventual dismissal, Libby and Steven Mullaney were able to play without taking any risks in adding 49 in six overs.Brown claimed a second scalp when Mullaney skied the ball on the on side and then Jake Libby was run out after smart work by D’Oliveira after Tom Moores called him through for a single. But Moores (30) ensured there were no late scares for the Outlaws as he lofted Mooen for three sixes in the 15th over despite him becoming a third victim of Brown.

Chris Read called Alex Hales’ innings the best he had seen for Nottinghamshire after their Royal London Cup triumph

Alan Gardner02-Jul-2017After watching Alex Hales clobber Surrey’s bowlers all around Lord’s to record the highest List A score on the ground, Chris Read was in no doubt about where the innings ranked: “Number one, pure and simple.”Hales’ imperious, unbeaten 187 – having been dropped on 9 – allowed Nottinghamshire to get home with 13 balls to spare in their chase of 298 and claim the Royal London Cup. His innings spanned a 137-run sixth-wicket stand with Read, Nottinghamshire’s captain, who was able to lift a one-day trophy at Lord’s for the second time in four years, in his final season before retirement.”Apart from the one he belted straight at cover early on,” Read added, with a laugh. “That aside, it was chanceless, but also the tempo of the innings. The one thing that made it easy for me, is all I needed to do was build a partnership, run rate was never an issue, throughout the time we were out there. All it meant was I had to be there, that was my role, because he did what he did. To be there at the end was special.”With Hales batting aggressively from outset, Nottinghamshire just needed someone to stick with him. When Steven Mullaney fell at the start of the 26th over, Notts were 150 for 5 with Hales having scored 114 and Brendan Taylor the only other batsman to reach double-figures. Having been told early on by Michael Lumb that Hales was on for a big one, Read knew he “just had to stay there and knock it around”.”I was acutely aware that the partnership needed to be built, which we’d failed to do,” Read said. “One bloke was on a hundred and we’d only managed to get one other bloke into double-figures, so what it needed was a partnership. The way he was playing, Lumby came to me shortly after he got out – Alex and Lumby know each other very, very well, they’ve opened for a long time – and he said: ‘He’s on today’. Well, if he says that… and you saw it. When he’s on, he’s as good as there is.”The day had not started well for Notts, after Gareth Batty won the toss and chose to bat first in Surrey’s third consecutive Royal London Cup final. Jason Roy was dropped off the first ball of the morning and Surrey had reached 83 for 0 after 11 overs, before Read turned to Samit Patel – Man of the Match for his 3 for 21 in Notts’ YB40 win in 2013.”The first ten overs was pretty awful,” Read said. “The wicket for Samit, who’s done so well with the ball here, he seems to make things happen… To get a wicket with his first ball, soon after the Powerplay. I had a little chat with the guys and said ‘look, we probably need to start now, let’s just scrap those last ten overs’. We got back on track and I thought, particularly through Mullaney and Samit, pace off worked well for us for a while and we managed to keep the run-scoring in check.”After that ten overs I never felt out of control, the run rate never felt like it was getting away from us, which is important. Also having played in a semi and quarter-final where runs seemed to flow at will, we accept that good balls, bad balls can go for boundaries, we get over that, do our utmost in the field and back ourselves to chase whatever they got. We were disappointed at halftime about the way we fielded but ultimately we believed that 297 was very chaseable.”Read is due to play at Lord’s again next week, in an MCC fixture against Afghanistan. He laughingly referred to “ducking Cairns’ slower ball”, in his second Test back in 1999, as one of his less enjoyable times on the ground but described the Royal London final as a “fairytale” finish to his one-day career.”It’s brilliant, what a day. I came here in 2013, we had the Yorkshire Bank 40 final and that was my first Lord’s final. I was blown away by what a day it is. It’s an emotional day because of everything that’s going on. It’s a big moment in your career.”The fans make it to a degree, when you hear them chanting. We get well supported at Trent Bridge and in T20 we get good crowds but when they make the effort to come to London to have a day out and cheer all day, that’s what brings it home. Today was a very special moment. We were party to one of the finest one-day innings that I’ve ever witnessed and it was just a pleasure to be at the other end for a decent chunk of that.”I’ve some great times here, brilliant times. Some less so, obviously right at the start of my career, ducking Cairns’ slower ball, that wasn’t so good. Mostly past that has been great. Winning in 2013, the MCC bicentenary game, playing with the legends of my era, and then today. So yeah, it’s a fairytale.”Read, whose next assignment alongside Hales could be in a 2nd XI match at Grantham to prepare for the start of the NatWest T20 Blast, was also positive about the decision to move the 50-over competition into the first half of the season, with the final played in July rather than September.”The overhead conditions were for the most part great but the pitch was a beauty, which potentially we haven’t seen in 50-over finals of late because they come so late in the season on a potentially tired square. Also having that final in the middle of summer, it’s nice to get that out of the way, played that in a clump, now we can focus on T20, then the Championship reaches its finale towards the end, so I think there’s a good balance. Good pitches, nice weather, high-scoring games… I think 50-over cricket has definitely got a place in the future.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the first Test between England and Sri Lanka

The Preview by Alan Gardner18-May-2016

Match facts

May 19-23, 2016
Start time 11am local (1000 GMT)

Big Picture

After a three-month break, in which the upstart T20 has held court, Test cricket is back. We hope you have a good appetite. In late February, Brendon McCullum signed off his international career by slamming the fastest-ever Test century in Christchurch. What does Headingley, one of England’s most-storied grounds, have in store?There was an almighty tale to be told the last time Sri Lanka were in Yorkshire, England’s cricketing heartland but not one which bestows easy favours on the home team. Angelo Mathews’ masterful, career-best 160 helped set up a dramatic victory, spearheaded by Dhammika Prasad’s 5 for 50 and sealed from the penultimate ball of a pulsating match. Those Headingley heroics secured Sri Lanka’s first (multi-Test) series win in England, as well as a clean sweep in all three formats on their 2014 tour.As Sri Lanka’s players cavorted, and James Anderson shed a tear, England were left contemplating another fresh low. Much has changed since then. Alastair Cook, his face set grimly against the wind and rain, slowly turned around the listing vessel under his command, heaving the ship’s wheel with all his might. Two years on and England are sailing with the breeze at their backs again, negotiating some choppy waters to record significant wins over Australia and South Africa in their last three series. Cook himself is about to crest 10,000 Test runs, uncharted territory for an Englishman.That doesn’t mean they can’t be knocked off course again, however. Headingley was again the scene of an England defeat last summer, as New Zealand squared the two-match series, and it is the venue where they have had least success over recent years. The decision to retain Alex Hales and Nick Compton in the top three, after poor and indifferent returns respectively in South Africa, gives Sri Lanka a couple of obvious pressure points to probe, while there will also be a debutant in the top five, due to James Taylor’s forced retirement.But Sri Lanka have their own areas of concern and it would be a truly remarkable achievement if they were to repeat the feats of 2014. The squad has not changed much but Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene will only contribute from the sidelines – they tallied 516 runs in two Tests last time – while only Mathews and Rangana Herath have more than 50 caps. Prasad has been ruled out of the first Test, and Shaminda Eranga has not played in 18 months; Dushmantha Chameera’s pace will catch the eye but he has to learn to catch the edge in conditions of which he has little knowledge.England will hope that this all amounts to a perfect storm for them. Carlos Brathwaite rained on their World T20 parade but international cricket rarely stops moving and series wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan this summer would mean they hold all nine Test trophies – the first team to do so since Australia in 2008 and giving further heft to their status as a coming team under Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace. As if to further chill the Sri Lankans, the weather in Leeds has become decidedly mucky. Test rewards don’t come easily and it is time for these two teams to get their hands dirty again.Alastair Cook and Angelo Mathews pose with the Investec trophy•Getty Images

Form guide

England: LWDWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)


Sri Lanka: LLWWL

In the spotlight

Stepping in to the spot sadly vacated by Taylor is the elegant, unflappable Hampshire batsman James Vince. Marked out as a future international since being compared to Michael Vaughan as an 18-year-old, Vince’s cover drive ought to be classified as an addictive substance but he has learned that there are times when he must overcome his urges to succeed, as a gutsy hundred against Yorkshire demonstrated last month. That innings won over the selectors and he will be back on the same ground looking to prove himself the man to shore up England’s slightly mercurial batting order at No. 5.Big Foot would have a job filling Sangakkara’s boots but it seems like that is just what Kusal Mendis will be asked to do. Experiments with Upul Tharanga, Udara Jayasundera and Lahiru Thirimanne at No. 3 have all been short-lived and Mendis, who made his debut there last year before opening the batting in New Zealand, has had an encouraging start to the tour, with fifties against Essex and Leicestershire. Sangakkara has said he believes the 21-year-old former Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year will be “a very good player as the years go by”; Mathews must be hoping that the future isn’t all that far off.

Teams news

Alastair Cook confirmed his XI on Wednesday and there are just two changes to the England team that was roundly thumped in Centurion at the end of the South Africa series, with Vince making his Test introduction and Steven Finn fit to reclaim his place from Chris Woakes. That means no debut for Nottinghamshire’s highly rated seamer Jake Ball.England 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Nick Compton, 4 Joe Root, 5 James Vince, 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Moeen Ali, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Steven Finn, 11 James AndersonThe major question marks for Sri Lanka hover over No. 7 and the make-up of the pace attack. Kaushal Silva will return to opener, after missing the New Zealand tour, while Dinesh Chandimal looks likely to keep the gloves and bat four. Dasun Shanaka’s century against Leicestershire, and his ability to bowl seam-up, may win him a Test debut in the allrounder’s spot; Prasad’s injury reduces their bowling options, with the four other seamers in the party having played once each so far, to underwhelming effect.Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Dasun Shanaka, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Shaminda Eranga/Nuwan Pradeep 11 Suranga Lakmal

Pitch and conditions

Headingley is likely to be as capricious as ever over the next few days, with rain showers set to break up play while providing longed-for cloud cover for the bowlers. The pitch had a green tinge to it one day out but, if the sun shines, it should still be good to bat on, as Root and Bairstow proved during their record-breaking 372-stand during the last Championship match held there.

Stats and trivia

• Alastair Cook needs 36 runs to become the 12th player – and first Englishman – to 10,000 in Tests. If he gets there in this Test, he will be the youngest to do so.
• England’s only victory in their last six Tests at Headingley came in 2013 against New Zealand. They have lost four and drawn one.
• Rangana Herath needs three wickets to become the third Sri Lankan to 300 in Tests.
• If Sri Lanka’s last tour had been played using the proposed multiformat points system, they would have won 14-6 (with four points for a Test win, two for a draw, two for a limited-overs win).

Quotes

“Sri Lanka have got a history of punching above their weight and are really, really competitive, no matter what’s gone before.”
Alastair Cook suggests he won’t be taking the opposition lightly“When you have 20-odd thousand runs in your team it is a great advantage, but unfortunately we don’t have them any more.”

There was a mixture of delight and relief for Chris Read after he played a key role in helping Nottinghamshire end a 24-year wait for one-day silverware with the YB40

Andrew McGlashan21-Sep-2013There was a mixture of delight and relief for Chris Read after he played a key role in helping Nottinghamshire end a 24-year wait for one-day silverware with the YB40 title.His run-a-ball 53 helped them recover from a precarious 90 for 4 and also provided Read with a rare success with the bat in what was been a lean season for the Nottinghamshire captain. This was just his second half-century in all cricket for the summer; he has averaged 19 in the Championship and before Lord’s had 93 runs in nine innings during the YB40.However, his final effort was the best of Read with scampering running, deft placement and some thumping boundaries and he believes the make-or-break nature of the contest helped free his mind for the crucial innings.”I’ve been terrible,” he said. “In all honesty I’ve done nothing different, I’ve worked so, so hard hitting balls left, right and centre and it just hasn’t worked for me this season. I’ve been consistent for a lot of seasons now so it’s had me thinking this season about what exactly is going wrong.”At the end of the day sometimes it takes a big game like this to actually say that what it’s about is watching that ball and trying to do the best you can for your team. That’s what I set out to do from the start and did it pretty well.”Read has been part of two Championship triumphs with Nottinghamshire but he admitted there were times when he wondered if he would ever play a showpiece final at Lord’s.”This is something that is been nagging at me for a number of years – can we get to a Lord’s final, can we do it in my career? So to have got there, to have won and lifted the trophy is a fantastic feeling, it’s right up there.”Although the last trophy of the season has now been decided – to go alongside Northamptonshire’s FLt20 success, the Division One crown for Durham and Lancashire’s Division Two title – it is not quite the end of the domestic season. For Nottinghamshire there is much still riding on the final week of the Championship.They and Somerset, who play each other at Trent Bridge, are jostling near the relegation zone and even though there is 15-point cushion to Derbyshire it is too close to comfort for Read’s liking but he hopes the confidence from their Lord’s victory can give them one final push.”I hope the momentum and the joy we’ve experienced today will carry on through next week. We have played some good red-ball cricket, although for the most part it has been a mightily disappointing season. To go into the last game not knowing if you’ll be in Division One next year, for a side as big as we are and with a squad of such quality, is very disappointing. It’s a different form, one we’ve not been overly successful in in recent months but we’ve got to come out fighting on Tuesday. We are fighting for survival which is integral for the club.”And neither is Read’s future at Trent Bridge entirely signed and sealed. He has been offered a new contract, but with the club still battling Championship safety and having the YB40 to focus on further talks have been put on the backburner.”The situation we’ve been in, with our precarious position in the Championship and this final, we decided to park it until the end of the season and see where we are at,” Read said. “We’ll have a good sit down and work out where the club needs to go and where I need to go and how we can go about building Nottinghamshire for the future.”

A fluent unbeaten 76 by Ben Brown and superb bowling by Steve Magoffin helped Sussex to step up their bid for second place in the County Championship

11-Sep-2012
ScorecardBen Brown started Sussex’s fightback with a determined innings•Getty Images

A fluent unbeaten 76 by Ben Brown and superb bowling by Steve Magoffin helped Sussex to step up their bid for second place in the County Championship on the first day against Durham at Chester-le-Street.Brown went in with his side on 67 for 5 and helped them to 211 then Magoffin opened up with 3 for 19 in 10 overs. Durham recovered from 65 for 4 through a stand of 53 between Mark Stoneman and Paul Collingwood when the Australian seamer returned for a further five overs.But it was Monty Panesar who lifted the day’s tally of wickets to 16 by taking 2 for 4 in five overs as Durham closed on 131 for 6. Collingwood tried to hit his former England team-mate over the top and was caught at mid-on for 19, then Stoneman edged to Mike Yardy at slip.Stoneman was the only batsman on either side able to counter the new ball as the left-handed opener made 53, despite batting for half his innings with a runner after suffering a hamstring injury.Despite having more at stake than Durham, it was Sussex who took the opportunity to give experience to a few youngsters. Neither Murray Goodwin nor Matt Prior was included, while Ed Joyce is with the Ireland squad preparing for the World Twenty20 and Luke Wright is with England. The team included 21-year-old batsman Matt Machan, left-arm swing bowler Lewis Hatchett, South African allrounder Kirk Wernars and 6ft 9in allrounder Will Adkin.After losing the toss, acting captain Chris Nash drove at the seventh ball and edged to first slip as Chris Rushworth opened up with an excellent spell. Graham Onions struggled at the other end, but when he switched he quickly took two wickets.Callum Thorp was the first to strike from the Finchale End, having Luke Wells caught behind for 25, although the left-hander clearly did not agree with the decision. Once the ball stopped swinging batting became relatively easy and Brown and Wernars put on 106.Durham needed a run out to make the breakthrough. Brown had just reached 50 off 59 balls when he drove into the covers and went for a run, only for Wernars to be stranded by Michael Richardson’s diving stop. Wernars was three short of his career-best on 50. Brown looked very comfortable and timed the ball superbly in making his runs off 102 balls with 13 fours.Durham also scored fluently against all bowlers other than Magoffin and Panesar, but it was Hatchett who struck first when Keaton Jennings padded up to his sixth ball and fell lbw.Richardson was Magoffin’s first victim, lbw third ball, and the other two were both bowled. Ben Stokes was beaten on the drive and Dale Benkenstein played back defensively to a ball which trimmed his off bail.

Kevin O’Brien is targeting a repeat of his Bangalore heroics when Ireland take on England in Dubin on Thursday, but already has one eye on next year’s challenges

Andrew McGlashan22-Aug-2011Kevin O’Brien is targeting a repeat of his Bangalore heroics when Ireland take on England in Dubin on Thursday, but already has one eye on next year’s challenges which include the World Twenty20, in Sri Lanka, and hopes to secure further deals with overseas sides to further his reputation.O’Brien, who has released a book about the World Cup called Six after Six, produced one of the highlights of the tournament when he slammed 113 off 63 balls to take his country to a famous victory in a huge run chase. He has already benefited from that success, signing a one-day deal with Gloucestershire and a three-year contract with the Sri Lanka Premier League (SPL), although the first season of that has been delayed, but O’Brien has his sights set higher including the IPL and a possible stint in New Zealand.”Looking ahead, for me next year is a big year for Ireland in Twenty20 with the World Championship and I’m looking to play as much as I can in the next 12 months,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I’d signed a deal with the SPL and hopefully that will take place next year, but the big one is the IPL. I’ve registered for next year’s tournament so hopefully someone will sign me up. I’d love to play in such a big tournament against the world’s best players. I’m also trying to get into the New Zealand Twenty20. I’ve put my name in the hat so hopefully something will come from that.”With the overseas Twenty20 leagues currently filling up their rosters ahead of the new season, this one-day international against England, which is being broadcast on TV unlike the 2009 game in Belfast, has come at a good time for O’Brien to remind everyone of his potential. However, they are also important matches for Ireland who were one of main forces behind successfully lobbying the ICC to overturn their decision to limit the 2015 World Cup to 10 teams”We have to keep performing as a team and improving as players,” he said. “We are used to these games now, we’ve played a lot against the big nations now and we enjoy it. There will hopefully be six or seven thousand at Clontarf and we can pull off another victory.”Ireland will face a new-look England side with a number of first-choice players, including one-day captain Alastair Cook, having been rested following the Test series against India. It will enable to them to assess the potential of Ben Stokes, James Taylor, Scott Borthwick and Jonny Bairstow plus a number of other fringe players but does mean that the Irish public won’t get a chance to watch Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad at first hand.Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland, has admitted it would have been pleasing to see England send a full-strength squad but is fully aware it is their prerogative what line-up they select.”Of course, we would like to host more of the stars that have propelled England to No. 1 in the Test rankings, but obviously the role of the England selectors is to satisfy the priorities of the England set-up, not ours,” Deutrom told ESPNcricinfo. “The RSA Challenge is an official ODI, and there are rankings points at stake, which means the match has context. Therefore, our guys will be highly motivated and, bearing in mind that this is more or less our 2011 World Cup squad, they will be drawing on recent history for confidence.”O’Brien also insisted that Ireland will not look at the England side any differently because they are without some household names. “We aren’t too fussed, whatever team they send over they are playing for England,” he said. “They are bringing over a young side, both in age and experience, but they are still a very good team full of promising players having good seasons in county cricket who are trying to prove their worth.”A couple of curious aspects to the match include Eoin Morgan, a former Ireland player, captaining England and that Boyd Rankin, the tall fast bowler, will be aiming to impress the visitors having been selected for England Lions last week.”Eoin’s been playing for England now two years so we’ve all come to terms that he’s an integral part of the one-day team and has now moved into the Test team,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think it’s going to be any different if he was just playing. Someone of Boyd’s talent, and after the season he’s had for Warwickshire, England will be looking at him. That’s for Boyd to decide if he wants to play for England in the future. But this is a big game for Ireland this week.”

Derbyshire’s chances of hauling themselves off the bottom of the County Championship were hit by heavy rain which washed out the second day of the match against Middlesex at Derby

26-Aug-2010
ScorecardDerbyshire’s chances of hauling themselves off the bottom of the County Championship were hit by heavy rain which washed out the second day of the match against Middlesex at Derby.No play was possible before lunch after overnight rain and further showers during the morning left the County Ground outfield saturated.Umpires Neil Mallender and Stephen Gale decided there was no chance of conditions improving enough for the game to start and made the inevitable decision following an inspection at 1.30pm.It means four sessions have now been lost after rain halted play on the opening day three overs before the scheduled team interval.Although the forecast is better for the next two days, it looks unlikely that Derbyshire will have enough time to force the win they need to close the gap on Surrey, who are one place above them at the foot of Division Two.Middlesex are in a decent position on 228 for three with opener Scott Newman unbeaten on 119, his second Championship century of the season, but the chances of them being able to put Derbyshire under enough pressure to claim victory already appear slim.

With one eye on the 2027 Test tour of India, selectors have shown some of their cards on how the future Australia Test team could look

Andrew McGlashan09-Jan-2025Nathan McSweeney’s second call in three weeks from chair of selectors George Bailey was much better than the first one.After being ruthlessly cut from the Test side against India following the Brisbane match, paving for the way for Sam Konstas’ momentum-shifting debut, McSweeney is back in the fold for the Sri Lanka series having been selected in a squad that has a youthful flavour.”Obviously [it was] nice news after a bit of a chaotic couple of months,” McSweeney told reporters at Brisbane airport. “It was a bit of nicer call than the last one. I will take heaps of learning from my experiences in my first three Tests and hopefully learn from that if I get the opportunity to play over there I play really well.”It would need a reshuffle of the batting order for McSweeney to return to the side in Sri Lanka, which is not out of the question with Travis Head an option to open although there will also been a keenness to get subcontinent cricket into Konstas, but even if he doesn’t play it is notable that he has been recalled swiftly.Related

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• Australia 'very hopeful' Green could play World Test Championship final as a batter

• Connolly, McSweeney, Kuhnemann included for Sri Lanka tour

“I think it shows the character that we’ve seen and the sort of person he is, the way he responded and spoke so well about it publicly pretty soon after it happened and jumped straight back into performing for the Heat,” Bailey said.McSweeney has previously traveled to the MRF Academy in India to further his education against spin and expects to have to use a different set of skills than works for him in Australia should he get an opportunity.”It’s a great challenge no doubt, but one I have planned for and will be ready for no doubt,” he said. “Playing spin in Australia has to be very different to playing spin over in Sri Lanka. I’ve worked out a method in Australia that has worked for me in my Shield career but will definitely have to work out a new one to be a good player over there.”In the official release, Bailey had talked of the tour as a chance for players to “grow their games in the subcontinent” with a view on the years ahead, although later insisted that qualification for the World Test Championship final, with the 3-1 series margin over India, had not changed the selectors’ thinking over who went on this trip.Nathan McSweeney had a tough initiation to Test cricket•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

“I know there’s been a lot of speculation around that [WTC qualification], but we view every Test tour and Test match as being really important,” Bailey said. “So for us, it was more around structuring up two or three different ways of what we thought the first XI may look like.”But there is certainly evidence of the next generation being unfurled with McSweeney (25) joined by Konstas (19) and the uncapped Cooper Connolly (21). Todd Murphy, who has six Tests under his belt, is also just 24. Call-ups for Glenn Maxwell (36) and Peter Handscomb (33) would not have brought a sense of forward planning, although Handscomb was very close and remains on standby.While it is not rubberstamped that Konstas retains his spot as an opener, it would be a way to help fast-track his education at Test level in what are likely to be spin-friendly conditions with an eye on the 2027 Test tour of India.”What we have seen is he’s a quick learner, absorbs a lot of information,” Bailey said. “So [we are] expecting him to get a lot out of it. From his spin play in Australia and the opportunities he has played in different parts of the world, we think he’s got a game that’s well suited and a technique that can stand up. That’s one of the exciting things about this tour. We’ll learn a bit more about his game in different conditions to what he’s just faced in Australia.”Connolly, meanwhile, has been selected after just four first-class matches which have brought three half-centuries, including 90 on debut in last year’s Sheffield Shield final, and he has yet to take a wicket in the format with his left-arm spin. However, the selectors have been encouraged by his big-temperament which has already earned him four white-ball appearances.”Technically, we like it. Temperament, we like. Character, we like. Clearly, skill set, there’s a lot to like there as well,” Bailey said. “On the first-class front, there’s not a great deal of games behind him, but he is one that’s been around that one-day group. We have in the past used that as a stepping stone at different times to see a player a bit more, find out a bit more about the way they play. He was obviously the beneficiary of that. He’s someone that we’ve had our eye on for a period of time.”

Veteran allrounder vacates role after six seasons in charge

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2023Steven Mullaney has announced his decision to step down as club captain of Nottinghamshire after six years in the role.Mullaney, 36, was in charge when Notts won promotion to Division One last year, and oversaw a sixth place finish on their return to the top tier – although his returns with the bat this season were limited to 485 runs from 12 matches, with one half-century.”I’m honoured, proud and privileged to have had this opportunity,” he said. “My main aim in the job was to make a difference – and while the big goal was to win Division One, and we weren’t quite able to do that, I’m proud of the foundations we’ve been able to put down for us to challenge in the next few years.”As captain, I wanted to have an influence on the culture at the club, and the way we went about things. It took us a couple of years, and we had to have some tough conversations along the way, but I really think we got somewhere.”I’ve put my heart and soul into this job, but I think it’s time for someone else to enjoy the ride. Whoever that is, they’ll have my complete support.”Mullaney took over as captain of Nottinghamshire’s Championship and One-Day Cup teams after the retirement of Chris Read in 2017, before picking up responsibility for the T20 side following Dan Christian’s departure. His involvement with Trent Rockets in the Hundred curtailed Mullaney’s time as 50-over captain, with the job going to Haseeb Hameed – a likely candidate for the red-ball leadership – in 2022.The veteran allrounder, who joined Nottinghamshire in 2010, still has a year left on his most-recent contract with the club and can expect to be a sounding board for whoever succeeds him.”Firstly I’d like to say a huge well done to Steve on his six years as captain,” Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach, said. “He took over at a time when we needed to rebuild, having lost several senior players the year before, and when we needed to find a new direction as a group.”He led us superbly through that period, and made sure the players never lost sight of their goals by staying consistent with the messages he got across to them.”Our results in red-ball cricket in recent years, and our retaining of first-division status this summer, are testament to the improvements he helped to bring about. The squad is definitely in a better place now than when he took over, which is ultimately the goal of any captain.”It feels like an exciting time for someone to take over, and I know Steve will be the first to offer his support, with that same goal of bringing further success to the club.”