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Fourth-wicket pair add 224 as Leicestershire experience chastening start to campaign

ECB Reporters' Network08-Apr-2021Contrasting centuries from James Vince and Tom Alsop saw Hampshire establish a dominant position in their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Leicestershire at the UptonSteel County Ground, Grace Road.Hampshire skipper Vince was all power and timing as he took full advantage of some wayward bowling from Leicestershire’s inexperienced seam attack, hitting 17 fours and two sixes in racing to three figures off just 81 balls.Alsop, who had just reached his half-century when Vince came to the crease on the dismissal of Sam Northeast, was less fluent, but while his century came off 153 deliveries, and included 17 fours, it was no less valuable to his side.Together the pair added 224 for the fourth wicket before Alsop got a leading edge trying to turn a delivery from Alex Evans into the leg side and was caught at point. Vince, however, remained unbeaten, reaching his 150 off 140 deliveries before closing on 168 not out. It is the sixth time he has made a score of 150 or more in his first-class career.Vince started the day as well as he ended it, winning the toss and choosing to bat first on a slightly drier pitch than might normally have been expected for the time of year – Leicestershire have two spinners in their side.Ian Holland was the first man dismissed, edging a Chris Wright outswinger to wicketkeeper Harry Swindells, but Joe Weatherley looked in good order, stroking seven fours in going to 41 before top-edging a pull at a short delivery from Gavin Griffiths and skying a catch to Swindells.Northeast was dismissed shortly after lunch, leg before to Wright to make the score 127 for 3, and Vince edged his first ball from Wright towards Leicestershire skipper Colin Ackermann at second slip. It dropped an inch short, and that was as close as the Foxes came to dismissing the England international: from that moment on he was in complete control.

The Sunrisers captain struggled to get going in a 55-ball innings, scoring just 57

Saurabh Somani28-Apr-20212:25

Trevor Bayliss: ‘There’s no reason why we can’t turn it around like last year’

David Warner will not look back very fondly at the match that got him his 50th IPL half-century and his 10,000th T20 run. Warner struggled to 57 off 55 against the Chennai Super Kings, contributing to a sluggish start as the Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to a seven-wicket defeat to stay at the bottom of the points table in IPL 2021.”I take full responsibility. The way that I batted was obviously very slow,” Warner told host broadcaster Star Sports at the end of the match. “I was hitting a lot of fielders and [was] very, very frustrated… Look I take full responsibility from a batting point of view. I felt [that with] Manish [Pandey] coming back into the team, the way that he batted was exceptional. And obviously Kane [Williamson] and Kedar [Jadhav] towards the back end there, they put some boundaries away and got us to a respectable total. I felt that we were probably just below par from where we were. But yeah look, at the end of the day, I’ll take full responsibility.”It is not that Warner wasn’t to get the ball away, but he never found the combination of timing and placement right. A lot of his forcing shots couldn’t hit the gaps, and those that did hadn’t travelled sweetly enough off the bat and could therefore be cut off. ESPNcricinfo’s control percentage illustrates both points: Warner was not in control of his shots for 20% of his innings which comes down to 11 balls, a high enough figure anyway given the length of his innings.He was in control for 44 balls, but those yielded only 56 runs. Normally, when a batter of Warner’s ability is in control for that many balls, you would expect a higher yield. But against the Super Kings, he couldn’t pierce the gaps even when he timed the ball well. The lack of runs told on Warner, who audibly indulged in self-recrimination and angry, frustrated swings of the bat after yet another ball had not gone where he wanted it to.”I hit probably 15 good shots to fielders, [as] simple as that,” he said. “I can’t do much about it. They’re the ones that make or break your innings I think. In the first six overs, I hit [to] the fielder four or five times. There was one guy on the leg side, I hit it straight to him with a full toss. It gets frustrating as a batsman when you’re out there. But at the end of the day, I took too many balls.”The Sunrisers’ coach Trevor Bayliss acknowledged that Warner was finding it tough but backed his captain to come good at the post-match press conference.Related

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“Look I think David will be the first to admit he struggled to hit the gaps today,” Bayliss said. “He hit a lot of balls to the field today. Obviously, with David that doesn’t happen a lot. Tonight it did, so yeah that put us a bit behind the eight-ball, but the other guys batted really well in a team effort. Unfortunately, 170 [171] wasn’t quite enough. I thought they bowled pretty well and then obviously batted well.”Warner’s 55-ball 57 was worth only 24 points on ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats. An indication of how low that is, is demonstrated by how much Kane Williamson’s 26* off 10 deliveries was worth, which was nearly double at 44 points.Williamson’s knock, in fact, was worth more than even Pandey’s 61 off 46. Pandey didn’t accelerate enough through the middle overs and at the death. The Sunrisers have top-heavy batting in their playing XI, with Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Williamson expected to do the heavy lifting. Ordinarily, an innings where Warner has faced 55 balls might have yielded 75 to 100 runs for them. But this happened to be one of those days when everything went wrong for Warner.With the team sitting at the bottom of the points table and time to catch up running out, they will need this to be a one-off.

The fast bowler is hoping to face Bangladesh in T20s later this month after another frustrating injury-hit season

Andrew McGlashan05-Mar-2021Lockie Ferguson is holding out hope that he can still earn a place in New Zealand’s squad for the World Test Championship final and the preceding matches against England despite another season disrupted by injury.Ferguson is making good progress in his recovery from the stress fracture of his back which has sidelined him since the middle of December and is hopeful of being available for the T20Is against Bangladesh as previously flagged by New Zealand coach Gary Stead.”That’s the aim, it’s a bit of process so can’t make the call right now,” he said of facing Bangladesh. “Certainly there’s some boxes to tick, but definitely the way things have been tracking it’s been going really well that’s certainly the goal.”Despite competition for spots in all formats, Ferguson’s standing in the white-ball game is pretty secure, although it remains to be seen whether there is an element of rotation to keep players fresh.Related

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Test cricket is a bit harder to gauge, not least because Ferguson would have to get past Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson for a spot in the starting XI although if fit he would surely feature in any extended squad for the trip to the UK which follows the IPL where he has a deal with Kolkata Knight Riders.That tournament could keep him, and a few other players, out of the Test series against England depending on final dates of the IPL with the indication that franchises will be able to keep hold of their overseas players for the knockouts.However, Ferguson holds Test cricket in very high regard and is eager to add to his one cap which came against Australia, in Perth, in late 2019 and which ended after 11 overs due to a calf injury that limited last season for him before the pandemic hit.”I’ve always talked very highly of Test cricket and the want to play it,” he said. “Certainly my closest focus is to get back on the park and play, it’s been enjoyable watching the Test boys and stoked they made the final which is going to be super exciting.”Think the best thing for me and the team is to get back playing a decent amount of cricket, get that loading behind me, then I certainly want to be in the mix for selection for the UK trip but that’s a couple of months down the line so we’ll cross that bridge later on.”Despite the amount of T20 on the calendar this season, which now includes a stint in the T20 Blast with Yorkshire, and concludes with the World Cup in India during October, Ferguson is not making it is sole focus although acknowledges Test cricket presents different challenges”Certainly to play in the Test Championship would be very special as well…but at the same time have to focus on what’s coming up and make sure I’m ready to go,” he said. “The Test demands are much higher than T20 in terms of loading, so from that point of view it takes some time to build up. Give your body a chance to adjust to playing a lot of cricket then you can make a decision.”Ferguson does not have any worries about returning from the back injury, reasoning that the risk of injury will always go alongside trying to bowl at 150kph.”I’ve always pushed my body to the limits and to do what I do you need to,” he said. “With that comes risk of getting injured, the forces are that much greater that go through the body. Unfortunately, this injury kept me out a while but you certainly can’t dwell on that”There were a lot of injuries coming out of that big break that international sportsman had from Covid. It’s interesting watching players come back to the intensity of international sport, not just cricket, and getting injured. There’s a few things to think about, a few areas to tighten the bolts, work on the body a bit more, build strength and build my core.”

Jos Buttler has admitted his relief at being able to play a part in an England victory after his brutal 32 off 10 balls against South Africa at Edgbaston levelled the Twenty20 series

Andrew McGlashan13-Sep-2012Jos Buttler has admitted his relief at being able to play a part in an England victory after his brutal 32 off 10 balls against South Africa gave England a timely boost ahead of the World Twenty20. It was the first time Buttler had managed to translate his county exploits for Somerset onto the international stage and it has thrown his name into the spotlight as the team fly to Sri Lanka.Buttler’s England career remains in its infancy having made his debut last year against India so time was always on his side, but he came with such a reputation for matchwinning innings at domestic level that it was important to live up to his billing after six previous innings had brought a best of 13. That was quickly eclipsed as he straight drove two sixes off Wayne Parnell then twice flicked him over short fine-leg with his ‘ramp’ shot – the penultimate over of the shortened innings going on to cost 32.”International cricket hasn’t quite gone as I’d have hoped but days like this are really pleasing and give me a lot of confidence to take into Sri Lanka,” Buttler said. “It was something I was desperate to get in an England shirt, to have that innings.”I could take confidence from what I’ve done for Somerset but to do it on the international stage is a really proud moment. It’s nice to repay the faith that people have shown in you. But I need to get back in the right frame of mind a look forward to Sri Lanka.”Buttler conceded that his confidence had taken a hit against Pakistan in the UAE earlier this year where his ramp twice brought his downfall during the Twenty20 series. However, he was not about to shelve a shot he had played since his days at the Somerset academy and continued to use it during this year’s Friends Life t20 and CB40 competitions. He also said that a chat with Mark Bawden, the England team psychologist, and his county captain Marcus Trescothick had relaxed him ahead of the final match against South Africa.”I had a bit of a confidence knock by getting out to it in Dubai, but think being myself was a huge thing,” he said. “I had a good chat about things and had a nice couple of texts off Tres, just saying be yourself and enjoy it and that’s what I did.”It’s a huge part of my game to either get fine leg or mid-off up to be able to hit straight and sweep. I always know I have an option. Guys improvise a lot these days and try to second guess bowlers so I’m glad I can do that and have it in my armoury.”Nowadays players practice scoops, ramps, flicks and switch-hits as much as their cover drives, hook and pulls and Buttler’s belief in the shot comes from hours against the bowling machine to the extent that he sees it as a viable option regardless of how the bowler responds. That was shown on Wednesday at Edgbaston when Parnell tried to counter Buttler’s approach by dragging his line outside off stump only to see the ball still fly over short fine-leg”I’m looking for a ball in an area but I’ve worked on ways to compensate if it’s in other areas and get bat on it and get off strike,” Buttler said. “The way I play it, I think I can do it to a full ball, a wide ball or a back-of-a-length ball. I’m really comfortable with the shot, obviously it didn’t work against Pakistan in the UAE – but talking to people they said it was a huge a part to my game so keep trying it and it came off.”

The delayed Cricket Kenya elections this weekend will go ahead despite a dispute within the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association

Martin Williamson25-May-2012The delayed Cricket Kenya elections this weekend will go ahead despite a dispute within the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) which threatened to derail the process.In a throwback to the kind of argument which left Kenyan cricket embroiled in acrimonious rows between 2003 and 2005, the NPCA, itself riven by an internal dispute, had sought to again postpone the CK election.Although the NPCA nominated a candidate, it argued that the withdrawal of two of the three candidates it was being asked to choose between was a reason for the delay. This was rejected by CK.Yet again there is confusion over the details and three NPCA clubs – Swamibapa, Premier and Impala – claim that they were unaware of resolutions passed in their names.Some NPCA officials have threatened to boycott the elections. “The issue as to whether NPCA should attend or should not attend the AGM is a matter for the NPCA,” a board spokesman said. “There is nothing that we can do to prevent them from attending. They have complied procedurally with everything they were required to do.”The dispute has all the hallmarks of the way Sharad Ghai and his associates managed to keep control of the old Kenyan Cricket Association until they were ousted in 2005. Since then although Kenya have continued to struggle on the field, its finances, accountability and transparency have become far more stable.

Club and ECB appeal to CDC after reduction of matches from 14 to ten in 2021 season

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jan-2021Somerset’s points handicap for next season’s County Championship has been reduced to reflect the competition’s remodelled format, after they were sanctioned by the Cricket Discipline Commission in 2019 for breaching the ECB Pitch Regulations with their spin-friendly surfaces for home fixtures.The club was originally handed a 24-point penalty for the 2020 season – of which 12 were suspended – after being deemed to have prepared a substandard pitch for their Championship decider against Essex at Taunton in September 2019, a match in which Essex held on for a draw to secure their second title in three seasons.The deduction was initially rolled over into 2021 when the onset of Covid-19 led to the cancellation of last summer’s County Championship and the introduction of the Bob Willis Trophy, a competition in which Essex and Somerset once again played off for the title in the final at Lord’s, with Essex again taking the title after a hard-earned draw on the final day.But now, with the Championship divided into three initial groups of six to mitigate against further Covid disruption in 2021, a joint petition from Somerset and the ECB has resulted in the CDC adjusting their penalty to reflect the competition’s reduction from 14 matches (in an eight-team first division) to ten.Related

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Somerset will now begin the season with a direct eight-point penalty in the Championship’s group phase, but if they commit any further breaches of the pitch regulations in 2021, they could face a further sanction, in addition to the suspended element of their punishment, which will be revisited when the format for the 2022 County Championship is confirmed by the ECB.However, the amended sanction comes just days after Somerset’s former spin pairing of Dom Bess and Jack Leach combined with 14 wickets at Galle – including a five-for in either innings – to set up England’s seven-wicket win in the first Test against Sri Lanka.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in the wake of that victory, senior figures at Somerset said that their overwhelming feeling was one of pride at the achievements of their spinners, with both Jason Kerr, the head coach, and Tom Abell, the captain, feeling that the club deserved recognition for the role it plays in preparing English cricketers for facing spinning conditions overseas.”Surfaces need to be good enough for four-day cricket, definitely,” Kerr said, “but ultimately you want to encourage skill development and make sure that batters are prepared to go to somewhere like Sri Lanka, and perform as well as they do in Australia or anywhere else in the world. Yes, we want to win competitions, but to me, domestic cricket is there to help make the England team as strong as possible.”

India players were seen training with pink and red balls

PTI17-Nov-2020The limited-overs competition awaits them first but the India players, led by captain Virat Kohli, seemed focused on next month’s Tests against Australia as they practised in simulated long-format match conditions with pacers using red and pink balls in Sydney on Tuesday.The top batsmen and bowlers from across the three squads were seen taking part in the practice session.The likes of Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj were seen bowling to Kohli in a video posted on Twitter by the captain himself.ALSO READ: Tim Paine, Marnus Labuschagne in mass airlift to avert summer disruptionKohli will feature in just the opening day-night Test, starting December 17 in Adelaide, before flying back to India for the birth of his first child. The video showed the players using the centre strip of the ground with Test match field and a batsman at the non-striker’s end, which is a deviation from traditional net sessions. Given that the players were kept busy by the IPL for the last two months, the white-ball training has taken a back seat.In another video, posted by the BCCI, Shami was seen bowling in tandem with Siraj. The 30-year-old Shami, who took 20 wickets from 14 matches for the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, is a part of all three squads. India will rely heavily on him during the four-match Test series.Siraj, who is only in the Test squad, followed his senior team-mate and was seen sending down a few deliveries as other senior players watched him bowl.ALSO READ: Glenn McGrath says ‘Australia slightly ahead’ because of Mitchell Starc’s X-factorThe 26-year-old, who has played one ODI and three T20Is, took 11 wickets from nine matches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.On Monday, the star studded batting line-up was seen gearing up for the lively Australian pitches with the traditional tennis ball training after competing on the slow UAE tracks during the IPL.The first two matches of the ODI series will be played at the SCG on November 27 and 29, followed by the third in Canberra on December 2.The first T20I, on December 4, will also be played in Canberra while the last two will be played at the SCG on December 6 and 8.

ESPNcricinfo’s updates from Qualifier 2 of IPL 2020

Matt Roller08-Nov-2020