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Robinson presses England Lions claims with 6 for 63 but hosts lose early wickets and trail by 266 runs

ECB Reporters Network30-Jun-2019It is little wonder that Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson has been hoping for a call-up for the England Lions this summer. While the sensational Jofra Archer, his Sussex team-mate, has been capturing headlines, Robinson has been slowly building a reputation as one of the most consistent opening bowlers on the county circuit.When he took his fifth wicket on Sunday, on the opening day of the County Championship Division Two match against Northants, he had reached 200 first-class wickets in only his 50th match. He has now taken 110 Championship wickets since the beginning of last season. Last year he took 74 wickets at 18.66, and this summer he already has 36 at 18.77 as he spearheads his side’s bid for promotion.Robinson was not fully fit for last week’s disappointing defeat at home to Durham. But against Northants at Hove he was back to his best, achieving nasty bounce and away movement.He finished with figures of 6 for 63 as Northants were bowled out for 273 in 87 overs. But the away side were still happy with their score after winning the toss and sliding to 96 for 4 at lunch, and then 205 for 9.Northants have replaced Durham at the foot of the table and are still looking for their first Championship win of the season. Their hopes of making an impact were encouraged by the number of Sussex absentees. They were already without Archer and the injured Mir Hamza, and before this match all-rounder Chris Jordan pulled out with tonsillitis, along with Stiaan van Zyl, who has tennis elbow.Sussex were more in need of Robinson than ever before, and he didn’t disappoint. He broke through with the last ball of the opening over, when he had Ricardo Vasconcelos lbw for two. It was 29 for 2 when Rob Newton edged Robinson to keeper Ben Brown.Temba Bavuma got an inside edge to Brown, then Alex Wakely, on 36, was beaten by David Wiese and Laurie Evans took the catch at second slip.There didn’t look much chance of a recovery when Rob Keogh was lbw to Robinson with just one run added to the lunch score. And, in Robinson’s next over, Luke Procter edged and Luke Wells took an outstanding catch at third slip, moving his long arms very quickly to his left to take the chance two-handed.With Northants 99 for 6, captain Adam Rossington and Saif Zaib put on 51 for the seventh wicket and there was a last-wicket stand of 68 between Nathan Buck and Ben Sanderson before Robinson and Abi Sakande finished off the innings.Northants soon made an impact with the ball. Varun Chopra, signed on loan from Essex to stiffen their top-order batting, made just five and the returning Phil Salt a single.

A stunning century from Somerset prodigy stole the plaudits at Taunton

David Hopps10-Aug-2019Somerset 206 for 8 (Banton 100, Abell 63) beat Kent 151 (C Overton 3-32) by 55 runsThere is no more exciting young T20 batsman in England than Tom Banton. In fact, let’s not beat about the bush, there is no more exciting young batsman in the world. A maiden T20 hundred at the 13th time of asking was a momentous moment in an emerging career, assuredly the prelude to greater things.Banton’s breathtaking 100 from 52 balls, with nine fours and five sixes, even managed to end one of T20 cricket’s great losing sequences along the way. Somerset had lost 11 successive T20 contests against Kent, equalled only by Zimbabwe’s frequent capitulations against Pakistan, but that run was ended emphatically by 55 runs as Kent found Somerset’s 206 for 8 beyond them.Kent remain second in South Group but Somerset have entered the top four and, although both have now played one more match than their rivals, they have the quality to progress to the quarter-finals.Somerset should enjoy Banton while they can because, in the way of county cricket, he will soon be spirited away, blooded by England in their next T20I (against New Zealand in November) if they have any sense, and pursued by T20 franchises around the globe. IPL negotiators are already studying highlight reels and after this they should request an update because the story gets better all the time.”Everywhere you look on social media, people are going crazy about him,” said Somerset’s captain, Tom Abell. “He is a phenomenal talent.”Banton, a tall and audacious strokemaker awash with scoring options, has something of Kevin Pietersen about him and is arguably more rhythmical. He has also found his self-belief somewhat sooner. About this stage of his career, KP still imagined he was an offspinner.In Somerset they joke that Banton bats faster than he talks, which is a something of a relief otherwise his front teeth would be in permanent danger of splattering into a pasty stall on Taunton High Street. He had a superb 50-over campaign and struck his previous T20-best, 71 against Surrey, only eight days ago. To keep his feet on the ground, the wise counsel of Marcus Trescothick will play a major role.From the moment that Banton square-drove the pace of Adam Milne in the opening over, one sensed that something special might be about to unfold. Freddie Klaasen’s left-arm disappeared for three boundaries in an over: a half volley along the ground, through extra cover; the length dragged back so struck on the up in the same direction; and then the reminder that nobody in England reverse-sweeps with such disdain.There was the odd hiccup along the way. Mohammad Nabi deceived him in the flight when he had 42 from 23 balls, but he escaped with three runs over the keeper’s head. On 57 from 31, he was badly dropped by Milne when he miscued to cover. The bowler? “Hardus Viljoen, I think his name is,” he told Sky TV at the interval. “He bowled very well.”Somehow, amidst the mayhem, Daniel Bell-Drummond, purveyor of only 45 previous deliveries in 86 T20s, stole in with an over conceding six singles. Bell-Drummond conceded the boundary that brought up Banton’s hundred but had him caught next ball at long on – his first T20 wicket.Banton had an excellent accomplice in an innings where only one other Somerset batsman reached double figures. Tom Abell’s combative 63 from 33 balls kept pace in a third-wicket stand of 102 in 54 balls. Rarely have so many deliberate shots been fashioned down past the keeper, none better than two retreats to leg against the left-arm round of Klaasen to deflect him to third man off leg stump.Whereas Banton plays with long-limbed fluency, almost dreamlike in his ease, Abell is more pugnacious, his chest expanding more determinedly than one might deem possible from a well-spoken young man of such modest stature. Once Banton had fallen at 169 for 3 with 22 balls remaining, it was Abell who helped gather a further 39 to bat Kent out of the game.It all ensured an unhappy return for Sam Billings, who was making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a left shoulder injury. Billings certainly tested it out in a jolting dive in the outfield which narrowly failed to end Abell’s innings on 56. When Abell was caught at deep mid-off by Zak Crawley, Billings slipped and almost collided with him. He survived to fight another day and Kent will be relieved about that.Crawley, another highly-regarded young talent (well ahead of Banton when it comes to considering future England Test batsmen) gave Kent early impetus, striking 35 from 24 balls in an opening stand of 50 in 5.2 overs with Bell-Drummond before he drove Jerome Taylor to cover.But Craig Overton broke Kent in the 13th over with three wickets in five balls. Bell-Drummond slashed into the off side and was well caught by Eddie Byrom, Billings departed to an off-side loft and Mohammad Nabi fell for nought, flicking to Taylor at short long leg. Two run outs by Tom Lammonby rounded off a tigerish Somerset fielding display on another memorable Taunton T20 night.

Pat Cummins’ pearler may go down as the moment Australia truly believed they were set to win the Ashes

Daniel Brettig in Manchester07-Sep-2019It may well go down as the moment Australia truly believed they were set to win the Ashes on English soil for the first time in 18 years. At the very least, Pat Cummins’ top-of-off-stump pearler to defeat England’s captain Joe Root first ball has set down a definitive blueprint for what the Australians will be attempting on day five at Old Trafford, according to no less an authority on batting than their talismanic run maker Steven Smith.There was a period on day four when England looked capable of elbowing their way back into the contest, as Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer delivered two of the most compelling spells of a series dominated by the bowlers on both sides. However Smith emerged as Australia’s’ bulwark yet again, cuffing 82 with help from Matthew Wade and Tim Paine to grant the visitors a handsome lead and the chance to bowl in murky light during the final half an hour.Cummins responded by drawing an error from Rory Burns in the first over, and followed up with a ball that could not have been bettered to flick Root’s off stump. He had copped a similar delivery from Ryan Harris at Durham in 2013, but this one will be remembered not only for the quality of the ball but the importance of the moment. Smith said that it made crystal clear what the Australians needed to do on the final day.”I think it will be difficult, particularly while the ball is hard. I found when I first went out to the middle, when you bowl a good length, there was enough up and down and sideways movement. My first 20 or 30 balls, I felt pretty vulnerable when they were bowling that good length,” Smith said. “Patty hit it beautifully tonight, I think that ball to Root is a blueprint of what we need to do tomorrow, first thing in the morning, and the quicks to keep hitting that top-of-the-stump length and let the pitch do its thing.”Mixed in with a good bouncer to play with their feet, and maybe get a bit of up and down as well. It’s the length we’ve been trying to hit on Root, particularly early in the innings. It’s worked a few times. He’s got out first ball a couple of times and early on a few time with a very similar ball. That’s the sort of length we tried to hit. Fortunately Patty did it first ball. I have no idea if it moved, kept low or what but I think it’s the length that’s the most important thing. That was a good length.”Bowlers on both sides have been able to dictate terms with seam more so than swing, and Smith believed this was deliberate: a scrambled seam delivery that can move either way off the pitch being far harder to adjust for than something that moves through the air, though as Mitchell Starc demonstrated to Johnny Bairstow, it can make for a devastating variation if conditions are right. At the same time, David Warner’s struggles have been unprecedented in his career, leaving him asking Smith, among others, for answers.”I think it’s off the pitch, that’s the key to try and hit that,” Smith said. “I don’t know what it does when they scramble it, but I guess it just hits the ball in a different spot then can move sideways, there is no doubt in my mind that the seaming ball is the hardest thing to play in the game. You don’t have time to react so you have to play the line and if it goes in, you are a chance of hitting the stumps and getting lbw, and if it goes away you are a chance of nicking it.”A couple of our guys have exploited that pretty well on this wicket and if they do that again and hit the top of the stumps, that same length as the Root ball, hopefully we can see a lot of bowled, lbws and caught behind the wickets. It’s been tough on the new ball for both sides. The ball’s probably done its most when it’s new. When it gets a little bit softer it doesn’t do quite as much, it gets a little bit easier. They’ve bowled pretty well with the new ball. They’re both particularly good bowlers to left-handed batters, both Broad and Archer. It’s not been easy for Davey and Marcus but they’re trying their hardest.”We’ve talked, a few different things here and there. Just trying to form a plan to get through Broad. He’s admitted himself that Broad’s had the wood on him throughout this series and he’s been talking to myself and Justin and Hicky, I think, about ways he can play. He’s tried a couple different ways and they haven’t quite worked. but Davey’s a quality player and he hasn’t had a great deal of luck this series either, hopefully he can turn it around and get a big one for us at The Oval.”As for his own incredibly prolific series with so much chaos around him, Smith said he had wanted to be involved when the games were at their most difficult, using his singular skills to turn numerous scenarios back around to Australia’s’ favour. “I think when it is tough you want your experienced players to step up,” he said. “I’ve played quite a lot of cricket now. I like to get into those situations and try and be the one to take the team through.”I was able to form a really good partnership with Matty Wade, who I thought played really well today as well. That partnership was really handy for us at that stage. England were really up and about with us four down but a good half an hour of batting and things got a bit easier for us and we were able to form a nice partnership, and hopefully one that will set us up for this game.”I’m not in the game for personal accolades, I’m here to do my job and score as many runs for the team as I can and fortunately this series I’ve been able to score quite a few and help the team as much as I can. Hopefully I can do that again next game.”

Mixed reactions to the players’ strike from BCB officials, with some terming the players’ stance “blackmail”

Mohammad Isam22-Oct-2019The BCB has called an emergency meeting of its directors on Tuesday in response to the players’ strike. They have less than 48 hours to convince the players to play the next round of the first-class National Cricket League matches in four venues across the country, and just a little more time to convince them to start training in a prep camp for the tour of India. The India tour begins on November 3.The cricketers put out an 11-point demand on Monday, which they said must be fulfilled before they will take part in any on-field activities. A majority of those demands are financial commitments that the board has to make publicly. Apart from the call to bring back Dhaka Premier League’s players transfer in the 2019-20 season, even the players understand that the rest of the points can only come into effect from next year.

Mashrafe backs the players

In a Facebook post, Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza has expressed solidarity with the cricketers, but said he wasn’t made aware of their plan.
“I have been asked several times why I wasn’t present with the cricketers,” Mashrafe wrote on his official Facebook page. “I think it is best to ask the players. I wasn’t aware of this movement. Definitely this was in discussion, and they were making preparations. The first I heard about their strike was when I saw their press conference.
“I have always been with cricketers and if I had known about their plan, I would have been with them. I have questioned myself why I wasn’t made aware. But it is more important that their 11-point demands are met. All of their demands are fair, and necessary for the betterment of cricket and cricketers. I, Mashrafe Mortaza, am in favour of a peaceful implementation of their 11-point demand.”

So far, there are mixed reactions from within the BCB, with some directors accusing the cricketers of “blackmailing” the board, while others have said that they understand the players’ stance in these difficult circumstances.Director Jalal Yunus said that instead of going to the media, the players should have gone to the board with their demands. “We had no idea that the cricketers were so angry, disappointed and upset,” Yunus told Bengali daily . “They could have placed the demands at the board before issuing the ultimatum. However, they went to the media to call off all cricketing activities. This is nothing but blackmailing.”Speaking to the same newspaper, Mahbubul Anam, another influential board director, accused the cricketers of being part of a “wider conspiracy”. “They can have demands but before going to the media, they should have come to the BCB,” Anam said. “The board president is always in touch with these cricketers.”They could have followed the process of going through the CEO, cricket operations chairman and board chief, and if their demands weren’t met, then they could have gone for action. I believe something else is behind the cricketers’ call for the strike. It is a conspiracy against BCB.”But Akram Khan, the former Bangladesh captain and now a board director in charge of cricket operations, had a conciliatory tone: “These things always start with a movement. Once you sit with the board, it is no longer a movement. The board is there to serve the cricketers’ purpose. I hope there will be reconciliation between the players and the board. We will try to solve their issues in the board meeting [on Tuesday].”ALSO READ: What do the Bangladesh players want?Veteran board director Ahmed Sajjadul Alam said that he feels most of the demands are “reasonable”, and they can be met after discussion with the players.The cricketers have also generally received support from outside the cricket board, including some former cricketers. One of them, Salim Shahed, said that he was impressed by how the cricketers didn’t bring only their own issues into focus.”They didn’t just talk about themselves,” Shahed told the Bengali daily . “They wanted improvement in salaries for groundsmen, coaches, trainers, physios. They spoke about infrastructural improvement. They also didn’t drag the age-group cricketers in to their strike. They are only looking to ensure a better future for them.”

Chief executive Wasim Khan steps in to avert crisis for the moment; players fear CPL blacklist if tussle for NOCs continue

Osman Samiuddin02-Nov-2019Imad Wasim, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Amir were among a group of Pakistan’s cricketers on the verge of a strike last week, until a meeting with PCB chief executive Wasim Khan averted the threat – for now.Frustration and discontent with the PCB’s restrictive participation policy on foreign leagues had been rising among the country’s leading white-ball cricketers – a number of them currently preparing for the first T20I in Australia – and emboldened by the players’ strike in Bangladesh, it nearly led to the most serious collective action by Pakistani players in over 40 years, at the time of the Packer series.At the heart of it was the players’ anger at the PCB’s revoking of NOCs for the upcoming T10 league in Abu Dhabi, but the meeting ended up encompassing a number of issues, including the overall NOC policy and communication between players and the board.ALSO READ: Pakistanis’ absence in T10 league will cause ‘serious damage’Accounts vary of how many players met Khan on the day of the National T20 Cup final – anywhere from four to 12, while some players met or communicated with him separately. But a majority of those affected by the T10 decision were present, and Imad is believed to have played a lead role in the discussions.The meeting was, according to some present, constructive and rancour-free – Khan retains credibility among some players – and ended with some wins for the players. Notably, a review is now underway of the board’s NOC policy, the aim of which will be to find a balance between ensuring “no financial losses for players, workload management and participation in domestic tournaments”. But the situation remains fluid, especially as the PCB insists it will not change its T10 decision.As well as the T10 bar, players have seen participation in the CPL curtailed this season. In the world of T20 leagues, the CPL is important for Pakistani players, who are barred from the IPL and often see stints in the BPL or BBL affected by international commitments as they run during Pakistan’s home season. The PCB operates an informal “PSL plus one league” policy on NOCs, in place since Najam Sethi was board head.Nine Pakistani players were picked during the CPL draft in May but only three played five or more games. Two had heavily restricted stints and two had to pull out because of a PCB training camp ahead of the Sri Lanka series. Two players lost out entirely because the PCB didn’t issue an NOC in time. Indeed, a breakdown in the relationship between players and the international cricket department, who handle player NOCs, is a key issue.Meanwhile, as many as 15 frontline Pakistanis were picked in the T10 draft, but as things stand, only two will likely play: Shahid Afridi and, possibly, Imran Nazir. The decision to revoke those NOCs, it has emerged, came after the prime minister and board patron (and former captain) Imran Khan expressed concerns directly to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani about Pakistani players participating in a league that has some degree of Indian ownership and investment (although it also has significant Pakistani stakes in it). It is believed he thought participation wasn’t going to be in line with Pakistan’s foreign policy stance on India.But ESPNcricinfo understands that as far back as the end of August, the PCB had already informed T10 organisers that Pakistani players would not be released this year because of international and domestic commitments. It was only after the league reached out to players, who in turn approached the board, that conditional NOCs were granted, which now stand revoked altogether.The decision to revoke the NOCs came after Imran Khan spoke to Ehsan Mani•Getty Images

In all this, the players continue to feel aggrieved. Already they are among the lowest-paid in international cricket – and the central contracts pool has shrunk considerably this year. To add to it, they’ve felt the pinch of a new domestic cricket restructure which has left their pay significantly reduced.Several players have expressed their frustration to ESPNcricinfo, but on the condition of anonymity, because they are worried about reprisals from the PCB.”Pakistan didn’t have a coach or selection panel when players were looking for CPL NOCs,” one said. “It was a complete mess. Some got NOCs for four games, some didn’t get any, some received for the entire duration. How are we going to cover the financial loss?”If we play an entire domestic season even then we won’t be making as much as in these leagues. We are given India’s example and how their board doesn’t give NOCs, but Indian players earn millions in IPL, their domestic salaries alone are good enough, they don’t need to play other leagues. We understand the PCB can’t give us that much money but at least make it reasonable, at least give us some clarity.”Another said: “If they didn’t want us to play T10, then why didn’t they tell us earlier? Why did we even enter the draft? Same with the CPL. Why would franchises sign Pakistan players in the future when they know the PCB can do anything anytime?”There is no players’ association in Pakistan, a major hurdle to organised collective action. There never has been one, though they came close to having one in the aftermath of the Packer fallout in 1976, when several players – including Imran – refused to play for Pakistan until they were paid better.In light of this one of the meeting’s more intriguing developments was the suggestion to use Imran Ahmad Khan, the PSL player acquisition head and a PCB employee, as a mediator for player-board negotiations. Players are unlikely to mind though Khan is a board employee, which – in negotiations – would represent an obvious conflict of interest.No further meetings are scheduled as of now between players and the board – the board considers the matter resolved. But the T20s with Australia finish on November 8, and the players could potentially regroup with a week to go before the T10 begins.

He marked his 300th T20 game with an unbeaten 69 off 37 balls to smash Paarl Rocks

The Report by Firdose Moonda29-Nov-2019
The Tshwane Spartans moved to the top of the Mzansi Super League table, with an eight-wicket bonus-point victory over the Paarl Rocks. Three teams – the Spartans, Rocks and the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants are tied on 19 points – with the Spartans leading the pack on net run-rate. As things stand, these three teams will battle it out to host the final, but the Durban Heat and the Cape Town Blitz will have opportunities in the coming week to make up some ground.AB gets a move on, a let-off and the winThe Spartans’ chase seemed to be drifting despite the team knowing the importance of a bonus point and they reached the halfway stage of their innings on 63 for 2, effectively half the total of the Rocks. And then AB de Villiers had enough. In his 300th T20 match, de Villiers reminded viewers who the boss of this circuit is. He took 19 runs off Hardus Viljoen’s third over, which also contained a wide, and three of the biggest sixes seen at this tournament.Viljoen went short too many times and de Villiers sent him over the leg-side boundary each time, with his sixes flying progressively further as he went. In the next over, de Villiers placed and timed a pull off Tabraiz Shasmi perfectly to bisect the fielders on the leg-side boundary but then made a mistake when he top-edged the left-arm wristspinner. Wicketkeeper Mangliso Mosehle and Henry Davids at first slip were both going for the catch, which should have been Mosehle’s, and the ball eventually fell between them. De Villiers went on to finish with an unbeaten 69 off 37 balls to take his side home in 15 overs.Rocks crumble The Rocks had raced to 29 off their first two overs but things swiftly went wrong from the their third.They added seven runs in the first four balls before Henry Davids was bowled by a Morne Morkel snorter than rattled middle and off stump. The Rocks lost all 10 wickets for 90 runs and their next highest stand was only 22. They were bowled out with two balls to spare.The Dupscoop Forget the Dilscoop, Faf du Plessis has invented a shot of his own and he brought it out against his old national team-mate Morne Morkel. Before Morkel had even released the delivery, du Plessis walked outside his off stump, bent his right knee to the ground and then flicked the length ball over his left shoulder and down to fine leg. Dane Piedt, on commentary, confirmed it’s called the Dupscoop. Unfortunately, du Plessis did not have the chance to do it again. Four balls later he gifted a catch to mid-off and was dismissed for 19.Best figures in MSL 2019 Roelof van der Merwe is now the holder of the best figures this season after his 3 for 15 in this match. His first victim was Sibonelo Makhanya who holed out to deep square leg and his third was du Plessis’ but it’s the second that van der Merwe will be particularly pleased was attributed to him. Bjorn Fortuin played across the line and missed an attempted leg-glance. The ball hit his back pad as he dragged his foot outside the crease and even seemed to think about a leg-bye. Heinrich Klaasen, though, reacted quickly to throw the ball onto the stumps and find Fortuin short of his crease. On the scorecard, the wicket was recorded as a stumping, and so counts towards van der Merwe’s tally, and not a run-out. It also put van der Merwe into the top-ten wicket-takers in the tournament.

Some key players need to restore confidence before facing India after a bruising tour

Andrew McGlashan07-Jan-2020New Zealand are “hurting a lot” after being whitewashed in Australia, with coach Gary Stead admitting confidence among some key players will need to be resorted ahead of the next Test series against India in February.Defeats by 296 runs, 247 runs and 279 runs – in a series where they only passed 200 twice – condemned New Zealand to their worst ever result in Australia having arrived as the No. 2 team in the world. While they were hampered by injuries to key players, and a flu bug that went through the camp during the Sydney Test, they were so far short of expectations as to raise questions over their planning and mindset.This was the middle series of three key contests for New Zealand, having played England at home and then having India at the end of their season. Stead had said before this series that the team should be judged at the end of that run, which leaves the India matches as key for restoring some reputations, although it will be hard to shake off the magnitude of this defeat.ALSO READ: Williamson’s workload, Santner’s spot – five questions for New Zealand“Everyone in the team is hurting and hurting a lot,” Stead said. “We wanted to perform better than this but Australia didn’t allow us to. There’s no doubt the team has taken a confidence knock as everyone does when this happens. We have to go back and regroup, look in the mirror and say how can we keep getting better. India are an equally strong team and they will bring a big challenge for us. We need to learn from what’s happened here but also trust the way we’ve played in New Zealand in the past will hopefully stand us in good stead when we play India.”There are unlikely to be significant changes for the Tests against India partly because there is not a vast pool to be selected from, but the emergence of Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips on this tour has at least given some options. Blundell will likely retain his place opening in the short-term while Phillips will put pressure on the incumbents to produce runs.BJ Watling chops one onto his stumps•Getty Images

“The way Australia applied pressure for long periods, and equally when they batted how they absorbed it is the key thing,” Stead said. “They just did it better than us for long periods of time. The decision making around our batting needs to be stronger.”It would be silly to have knee-jerk reactions about coming to Australia, which is one of the two toughest places in the world to tour. It’s not like we have thousands of cricketers in a population base that allows us to make wholesale changes. There’s no doubt we’ll think about it, review what’s happened and find the good and work out where we can keep making improvements.”Trent Boult (broken hand), Lockie Ferguson (calf) and Matt Henry (broken thumb) are on the injury list with Ferguson’s time frame the most uncertain. Before the India Tests there is a five-match T20I series and three ODIs where Stead indicated the selectors may need to look at some other options.”One of the key things will be assessing injuries. This tour hasn’t been kind to us… it has the potential to leave some holes depending on their recovery time. That might mean more opportunity for a different crop of people to be looked at.”We’ve got the T20 World Cup further down the track, I think it’s 22-23 matches away now and we’re still honing the way we want to play and who we see fitting into roles and learning as much as we can before we hit that tournament.”

The West Indies allrounder has battled back from a serious shoulder injury to feature at the T20 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2020West Indies allrounder Deandra Dottin was on the verge of quitting the game as she battled to recovery from shoulder sugery.Dottin’s last international was a year ago and she underwent surgery in June but initially struggled with the rehabilitation, reaching the point where she considered whether she could ever be able to make a comeback.She credits advice from former West Indies captain Merissa Aguilleira and fast bowler Alzarri Joseph, who suffered a similar injury, as key to keeping her motivated.”I had to find means and ways to keep on a positive side and have some extra confidence. Times I’ve felt down, felt like giving up at times,” she said at the West Indies’ media day before the T20 World Cup. “Basically, I did a lot of praying. Also having my best friend just text or call to keep me motivated, giving me that belief to continue to keep working to get back on track.”There were times when I felt like I was getting somewhere, then it was points where I felt like I was taking 50 steps back. So close to point where I said that’s it, I didn’t think I would get back with West Indies or back playing any cricket at all. I didn’t even think that I’d be able to use my shoulder like I used to. I was so close to saying I think I should call it a day.”But speaking to Merissa Aguilleira it gave me that extra boost. I actually had a conversation with Alzarri Joseph who had similar injury to me and he felt the same way, but he kept pushing and he gave me some tips on how to keep positive.”Dottin, who holds the record for the fastest hundred in women’s T20Is with her 38-ball effort against South Africa at the 2010 T20 World Cup, batting as low as No. 6, will be a vital cog in the West Indies side as they look to overturn a poor run of form and be contenders for the title they won in 2016.With the ball, Dottin has 59 wickets at 18.08 in T20Is with a best of 5 for 5 and is confident she will be able to play an all-round role.”In terms of bowling, it [the injury] had a big impact, but it’s coming along good and I think my shoulder is actually feeling stronger than it was before the injury. All in all, in thank god and the people who helped me. Today I’m here which I’m thankful for.”

Peshawar Zalmi emerge comfortable victors in match reduced to 12 overs a side

Report by Peter Della Penna28-Feb-2020
How the game played outThe early season woes of Lahore Qalandars continued in Rawalpindi as Tom Banton and Haider Ali’s aggressive knocks helped set a total of 132 that was well out of reach, setting up a 16-run win for Peshawar Zalmi in a match that was rain-reduced to 12 overs. The pair struck twin 34s at better than two runs per ball, combining for a total of six sixes.Medium pacer Dilbar Hussain did his best to rein in the scoring rate with a four-wicket haul, striking immediately upon his entry in the eighth over to get Haider, but by that stage Zalmi’s batting unit had given a solid platform for some lusty late hitting by Lewis Gregory, Darren Sammy and Wahab Riaz for a further four sixes.Chris Lynn spearheaded a fiery reply by Qalandars to get them to 48 for 0 in four overs, well in line with the required run rate in the 12-over chase. But Gregory derailed the replay upon his entry into the attack in the fifth over, striking twice in his first five balls to claim Lynn and then Hafeez on his way to a four-wicket haul of his own. Qalandars stuttered the rest of the way as wickets fell in regular intervals mainly to Gregory, whose fine all-round display earned him Player of the Match honours.Turning pointLynn had savaged Hasan Ali’s medium pace in the second over, cracking a trio of fours over third man, cover and extra cover. But his attempt to flat-bat a short ball from Gregory over long-off failed to clear Hasan on the boundary, and the wheels quickly fell off as Gregory continued to flummox the Qalandars batsmen with a regular diet of change of pace deliveries.Star of the dayGregory began his day by hammering legspinner Maaz Khan for a straight six and then slicing Dilbar over third man for another maximum in a crucial late burst with the bat. After striking with his first ball in the field, Gregory outfoxed Hafeez four balls later with an offcutter heaved to Banton at deep midwicket for wicket number two in his haul.Fakhar Zaman, who gave multiple chances, drove a fuller ball high to Liam Livingstone at long-on to give Gregory a third wicket. The Englishman rounded off his haul nabbing Sohail Akhtar caught behind. One ball after the Qalandars captain heaved him for six over the leg side, Gregory dragged his length back to cramp Sohail trying to cut, resulting in a healthy edge through to Kamran Akmal. Gregory also arguably could have had a fifth wicket had Mohammad Amir Khan come forward instead of backpedalling all the way up against the rope at deep third man on an uppercut off the bat of Samit Patel, only for the ball to land two yards in front of his feet.The big missUmpire Tariq Rasheed called Shaheen Afridi for a no ball on the Pakistani quick’s first ball coming on in the third over, but replays showed his foot was comfortably behind the line. Shaheen was not pleased, even less so when Banton sliced him over third man for six on the free hit, one of several mighty blows struck on the day by the right-hander.Where the teams standQalandars are still searching for their first victory of the season, having lost each of their first three matches. Zalmi are tied for third place on four points with Islamabad United, though United have a superior net run rate.

Distinguished career in investigative journalism preceded switch to cricket writing in later years

Andrew Miller18-May-2020Stephen Fay, the distinguished journalist, author and former editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly, has died at the age of 81.In a wide-ranging career that spanned six decades, Fay carved himself a reputation as one of the country’s foremost investigative journalists, in particular through his work on the Sunday Times‘ renowned Insight team.Along the way, he wrote numerous books with a particular focus on the worlds of art and finance, among them in 1976, co-authored with Philip Knightley, and , which was written in the space of three months in the winter of 1995-96, barely a year after the rogue trader Nick Leeson had brought down one of the world’s oldest merchant banks.After rising to become deputy editor of the Independent on Sunday, and briefly its editor, a pivot to cricket journalism was perhaps not the obvious next step for Fay, but in 1994, he was given a weekly slot in the sports pages, and happened to be in the right place at the right time as Devon Malcolm cleaned up South Africa with his figures of 9 for 57 at The Oval.Thereafter Fay’s forensic attention to detail made him a fixture on the cricket beat, as he brought to the role the same rigour that had served him so well in his news-focused days. In particular, he made it his duty to attend all post-match press conferences, no matter how unremarkable the speaker might be, rightly concluding that there was insight to be gleaned from even the most banal of utterances.As his former colleague at the Independent, Stephen Brenkley, wrote in a personal tribute on the Cricket Writers’ Club website, Fay’s example set “a lesson for all young reporters: he was never afraid to pose apparently dumb questions because he was eternally curious, as all reporters in whatever category should be, and sometimes they elicited answers that otherwise might have been elusive or evaded.”In 1999, at the age of 62, Fay was invited to take up the reins as editor of (having had previous experience in the magazine world as editor of (in its original guise), as his deputy John Stern took charge of a new publication, The Wisden Cricketer, following the merger of and its long-term rival, The Cricketer.Fay’s methods were not beyond a bit of light ribbing. He was dubbed “Captain Claret” by for his enduring faith in the art of the journalist’s long lunch, but the time that he made to enjoy the pleasures of networking paid rich dividends, not least in forging enduring bonds with the likes of Mike Atherton and Derek Pringle at the start of their own careers in cricket writing.At one such gathering, Fay took perverse delight in being told by Atherton that he “knew nothing about cricket”. (“I know more about journalism than Mike does,” was his subsequent retort, “though he is learning”).”We would talk about cricket for a bit, but there were always other subjects to explore,” Atherton told Brenkley. “He was pin sharp still and forever curious. I always walked away from the restaurant with a spring in my step.”Mike Selvey, the former cricket correspondent, added his own tribute on Twitter, describing Fay as “such a kind, generous, supportive, brilliant, sage fellow. And great company.”Whether or not there had been a grain of truth in Atherton’s assertion in the early years of their association, it was self-evidently a falsehood by the time of what Fay himself may have considered his crowning achievement in cricket writing, his claiming of the CWC Book of the Year award in 2018, in conjunction with the social historian, David Kynaston, for their work: . In 2005, he had written his first cricket book, , a year in the life of the first former professional to be made president of MCC, and a study of the club’s evolution.Fay’s curiosity and open-mindedness were enduring themes of his career – for instance, his even-handed assessment of the merits of the Twenty20 Cup, on the eve of the first staging of the competition in 2003, was just one example of how unwise it would be to draw any conclusions from appearances, which in Fay’s case were unmistakably ruddy-faced and grand.A personal highlight of my own career was the week I spent sitting next to him up in the media overflow gantry at the Gabba in 2006-07, watching the first Test of that winter’s Ashes, and offering insights into how to use Cricinfo’s Statsguru filters in return for pearls of journalistic wisdom. He would be taken seriously ill shortly after that match, an ailment that would continue to afflict him, but he never let it take the edge off his love of life.”For so many of us in journalism he was mentor, confidante and wise counsel as well as terrific company,” wrote Pringle on Twitter. “I will miss our lunches together with @Athersmike. RIP Captain Claret.”