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The pool incident is unlikely to leave him for a while, but on the pitch, he steered Australia into pole position

Andrew McGlashan13-Mar-2022Alex Carey had already left his mark on this tour before today. Unfortunately, it was for falling into the hotel swimming pool which went viral on social media courtesy of his captain recording it and giving millions a good laugh.It would be far too easy to therefore make reference to finding out whether he can sink or swim in Test cricket or whether he had been treading water since his debut at the start of the Ashes. So let’s just leave it to the man himself before getting to the serious business.”I’ve always wanted to have signs in the crowd to have my name on them but probably didn’t expect it would be about falling in a pool,” he said. “I still lay there at night time, can’t really describe happened.”While his slip is unlikely to leave him for a while it was a timely day to also be remembered for what really matters: his performances in the middle. He took Australia into a surely impregnable position only to fall seven runs short of a maiden century in the closing moments when he missed a sweep against the part-timers of Babar Azam.”I’m always disappointed when I get out. So close but unfortunately that’s the way it goes,” he said. “Thought I was pretty disciplined and patient throughout the day. To be honest I saw an opportunity to get one over cow [corner]. My head will probably hit the pillow tonight and have a few other shots go through.”These remain early days in a Test career that began rather hastily in early December (thrown in the deep end, perhaps) following the shock resignation of Tim Paine shortly before the Ashes. The succession planning was well in place, and it was little surprise when Carey assumed the position, but his handful of matches had not been without a few uneasy moments.It has been his glovework that has raised more questions after dropped catches against England and another couple put down in the opening Test in Rawalpindi. That side of his game will get a thorough working over in the next three days on a pitch where the ball is turning and uneven bounce could come into play. With Nathan Lyon joined by Mitchell Swepson there will be a lot of time spent up to the stumps. But he will take the gloves having contributed to the match as he carried Australia’s innings through the final session and beyond 500.He had made a maiden Test fifty against England in Adelaide and his slightly underwhelming batting returns in the Ashes needed a few asterisks by them: he offered to open in place of the injured David Warner for the small chase at the Gabba, only to edge behind with four runs needed, and gave his wicket for the cause in the second innings at the SCG the ball before Pat Cummins declared. However, coupled with only passing fifty once in four games for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield, it had left him a little thin on runs.”Guess it was a little bit of reward for some hard work,” he said. “I have full trust in my ability, the summer was really enjoyable…I went away from there with some learnings and take outs. I feel like over the last couple of years I’ve been pretty consistent in red-ball cricket, the last dozen games in first-class haven’t been my strongest but still feel really good out in the middle.”While Australia were not in trouble when he arrived at the crease, they were certainly at risk of falling short of the type of total they wanted. Sajid Khan had trapped Travis Head lbw then produced a superb delivery to end Usman Khawaja’s marathon innings. At 360 for 6 there was even a chance for Pakistan to keep Australia under 400 which would not have applied the scoreboard pressure Cummins wanted.It was not an overly fluent display from Carey – he never flicked the switch into one-day mode – on a surface where timing has become harder work especially against the older ball. But a few strokes did stand out, notably a straight drive followed by a cover drive against Shaheen Shah Afridi with the third new ball and his brace of straight sixes off Sajid. When he lofts spinners (or quick bowlers) down the ground, he has as smooth a swing of the bat as any player while he also swept well, until his dismissal at least, in what is just the second of potentially nine subcontinental Tests over the next 12 months.”Having the ability to sweep spin is probably going to be handy,” he said. “I do that in Australia on reasonably flat wickets and I’ll continue to do that. I probably looked at Usman’s innings to be honest and the way he played was fantastic. He has one gear, basically, throughout and sticks to that.”I stuck to my patience, my dismissal was probably otherwise, but when I came back into the rooms there were eight other blokes saying they would have played the same shot. I want to keep improving my own game but guess it’s a little step in the right direction.”Unlike the one he took into the swimming pool.

Four wickets from Muzarabani and a fighting 67 from Raza couldn’t prevent Zimbabwe from sinking to a 60-run defeat

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2022Four senior players made defining contributions as Afghanistan began the ODI leg of their Zimbabwe tour with a 60-run victory in Harare.Sent in, Afghanistan overcame a poor start to post a solid 276, with Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi putting on 181 to lay the platform and Rashid Khan adding the finishing touches with an unbeaten 39 off 17 balls.Zimbabwe made a reasonable start to their chase, with the debutant opener Innocent Kaia and captain, Craig Ervine, putting on 61 to steer them to 66 for 1 in the 15th over. Afghanistan’s spinners, however, dictated terms thereafter, as Rashid and Mohammad Nabi led a relentless middle-overs strangle. From the start of the 17th over to the end of the 40th, Zimbabwe scored just 93 runs at a rate of 3.8 per over, while losing four wickets – all to the offspin of Nabi. Their required rate ballooned from 6.09 to 11.10 in this period, and though Sikandar Raza (67 off 78) extended Zimbabwe’s fight, their chances of victory had all but vanished. Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out off the last ball of their innings.That Afghanistan would end the match as comfortable winners was hardly a given when they limped to 38 for 2. Blessing Muzarabani and Tendai Chatara made tidy starts with the new ball, with the former dismissing Ibrahim Zadran in the seventh over, before the debutant Tanaka Chivanga came on as first change in the 11th over and struck with his fifth ball, having Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at second slip.Blessing Muzarabani picked up four wickets•AFP/Getty Images

But Rahmat and Shahidi wrested the momentum away from the home team with the highest partnership by an Afghanistan pair against Zimbabwe, and the fourth-highest in Afghanistan’s ODI history. They didn’t force the pace too much early on, with the innings run rate still below four an over by the end of the 38th – by which time Wessley Madhevere had given Rahmat a life, dropping him off Ryan Burl’s legspin when he was batting on 42.Then came a burst of scoring, as Rahmat and Shahidi clattered 69 runs in 6.2 overs before Muzarabani broke the partnership in the 45th over, having Rahmat caught behind six short of what would have been his sixth ODI hundred.Then, in his next over, Muzarabani denied Shahidi what would have been his maiden ODI hundred, getting him to top-edge a slog to third man when he was on 88. When Nabi fell two balls later, Afghanistan may have feared that their end-overs charge was deflating.But they would have their flourish at the finish, as Rashid dominated an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 42 off 21 balls, smashing four sixes and two fours in an unbeaten 17-ball 39*, while Najibullah Zadran at the other end only got to face only four balls.

The full-strength South African outfit includes all the players who missed the Bangladesh Test after opting to go to the IPL instead

Firdose Moonda17-May-2022Tristan Stubbs, the second-highest run-scorer in South Africa’s domestic T20 challenge, has received his maiden call-up to the national side after being included in the squad to play five T20Is in India in June. Stubbs joins a full-strength South African outfit that includes all the players who missed the Bangladesh Test after opting to go to the IPL instead.Anrich Nortje, who has not played for South Africa since the T20 World Cup last November, has returned to fitness at the IPL and is part of the squad. Nortje travelled to the IPL in the final stages of his rehabilitation from a persistent hip and back injury which he completed while at the Delhi Capitals. He has since played five matches and taken seven wickets at an average of 25.71.He will join a six-seam contingent for the India T20Is, which includes left-armer Marco Jansen, who made his debut in Nortje’s injury-enforced absence last summer. Jansen has played five Tests and two ODIs for South Africa, but no T20Is. He is also in action at the IPL, has played eight matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad and claimed seven wickets at an average of 39.14. The best performing South African quick at the IPL is Kagiso Rabada, who is third on the wicket-takers’ list with 22 wickets at 16.72, while Lungi Ngidi has not played a game.Kagiso Rabada is third on the IPL wicket-takers’ list this season•BCCI

“This is the Proteas like we have not seen them in a long time,” Victor Mpitsang, South Africa’s selection convener said. “The injection of the IPL players means that we will have a team that’s ready to fire on all cylinders immediately and has vast experience of the conditions that we will be playing in. The country can also join us in a collective sigh of relief at the return of Anrich Nortje, who has been working hard to recover from a frustrating injury. The National Selection Panel and I are really excited to watch our full strength Proteas take on the world’s number one T20 team.”With another T20 World Cup on the horizon, South Africa’s first-choice group of players is starting to emerge. Wayne Parnell, who has not played a T20I for South Africa since 2017 but made his ODI comeback last season, and Dwaine Pretorius are part of that contingent and will compete for the allrounder role, leaving no room for Wiaan Mulder. Left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin is the only other player from the T20 World Cup squad who has not been retained. Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi are the two frontline spinners in the squad, with Stubbs and Aiden Markram both offering part-time offspin.Stubbs made it impossible for the national selectors to ignore him after an outstanding run for the Warriors in the domestic T20 competition. He scored 293 runs in seven matches at an average of 48.83 and a strike rate of 183.12, including three fifties. Notably, he smashed 80 off 31 balls in pursuit of a target of 212, which the Warriors eventually fell 20 runs short of, and 65 off 35 balls in a match against the Knights. He was selected as part of the South Africa A squad to tour Zimbabwe earlier this month and was then called up to replace Tymal Mills at the IPL. He played one match for Mumbai Indians where he was out for a duck.Only two other South Africans at the IPL, Faf du Plessis and Dewald Brevis, have not been considered for the T20I squad. du Plessis retired from Test cricket last year but remains available for national selection in white-ball formats. However, he has not been considered since. He is currently the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and seventh on the IPL run-scorers’ list. Brevis shot to stardom at the Under-19 World Cup, where he was the leading run-scorer and was contracted to the Mumbai Indians before he’d even played a first-class match. He has played six matches at the IPL and impressed with 49 off 25 against Punjab Kings but will have to bide his time before a national call-up.South Africa’s batting line-up features familiar names including captain Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Markram, David Miller, Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen. They will travel with coach Mark Boucher, who reaffirmed his commitment to taking the team through to the end of the 2023 World Cup, in line with his contract, after Cricket South Africa dropped disciplinary charges against him last week.The five-match series will be played from June 9 to 19 in Delhi, Cuttack, Vizag, Rajkot and Bengaluru.Squad: Temba Bavuma (capt), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen

Australia batter also spent first half of 2018 season with the county, replacing Cameron Bancroft after ball-tampering scandal

Matt Roller18-Jan-2022Matt Renshaw has signed a contract to play for Somerset as an overseas player in 2022. Renshaw, the 25-year-old batter who played 11 Tests for Australia from 2016 until 2018, will be available for most of the season in both the County Championship as well as the Royal London Cup.The club said in a statement that he would be available “until at least the end of August”. Andy Hurry, Somerset’s director of cricket, said: “There is no doubt that Matt is a quality performer, and he has proved that on the biggest stage. He burst on to the scene and caught the eye at a young age, and through hard work and determination, he is once again on the cusp of international recognition.”We wanted to bolster our ability to put opposition bowlers under real pressure, and this will be a great opportunity for him to contribute to our success and to put himself right back in the frame for selection for the national team.”Renshaw previously spent the first half of the 2018 season with Somerset, replacing Cameron Bancroft in the aftermath of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. He scored three hundreds in his six Championship games – including one before lunch against Yorkshire – and proved a popular signing at the time.He has also been pressing his case for a Test recall in the Sheffield Shield this season, capped by a call-up for Australia A against the England Lions.”I really enjoyed my time at Somerset in 2018, and I can’t wait to go back,” Renshaw said. “It’s a special place, and there’s a great atmosphere around the whole club. I’ve kept in touch with a lot of the guys there, and when I got the opportunity to go back, I jumped at the chance.”Although I was only there for a short time, the members and supporters really got behind me and made me feel extremely welcome. I’ve never forgotten that, and hopefully I can help give them something to cheer about in 2022. I know they’ve always wanted that Championship trophy, so let’s see what we can do.”Renshaw is the second overseas signing that Somerset have confirmed for 2022, with Marchant de Lange, the South Africa fast bowler, also returning for the second year of a two-year contract across formats.

A list of signings and trades between BPL teams

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2017Michael Klinger to Khulna Titans – The 37-year old Australia batsman is expected to be available for the entire season. He has been in good form in 2017, scoring a century and four fifties in 21 T20 innings, all at a healthy strike-rate of 132. Klinger has played three T20Is as well, with a top score of 62 against Sri Lanka. He has played for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League and Gloucestershire in the NatWest T20 Blast.Brendon McCullum to Rangpur Riders – The explosive former New Zealand batsman was one of the eight international marquee players for the T20 Global League. The postponement of that tournament has allowed McCullum to sign up for his first BPL season. He will reportedly be available to play for Rangpur Riders from November 15, which means he is set to miss their first three matches.Kieron Pollard to Dhaka Dynamites – The hard-hitting allrounder becomes the first player to shift from the now-postponed T20 Global League to the BPL. Pollard was picked by Bloem City Blazers as the first overseas marquee player at the draft of the South African domestic competition on August 26. Given that the two tournaments were to run side-by-side, the postponement of the GLT20 has afforded BPL teams to dig into additional player reserves. Pollard was part of the Dhaka Gladiators that won the title in 2012 and 2013. Pollard is 13 matches short of becoming the first cricketer to play 400 T20s, but to do that, he has to remain fit for the entire tournament.Mushfiqur Rahim to Rajshahi Kings – The BPL’s highest overall run-getter has left Barisal Bulls for Rajshahi Kings. This is the third consecutive time that Mushfiqur has moved from one franchise to another, having previously played for Duranta Rajshahi (2012), Sylhet Royals (2013), Sylhet Superstars (2015) and Barisal Bulls (2016).Luke Wright to Rajshahi Kings – Having already scored a hundred in the NatWest T20 Blast, Wright will look to replicate his prolific returns for Kings. His only appearance in the BPL was in the 2013 edition, when he struck a half-century in his three innings for eventual champions Dhaka Gladiators.Lendl Simmons smashed three sixes in his 19-ball 32•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Malcolm Waller to Rajshahi Kings – The Zimbabwe allrounder is set to return to the BPL after scoring only 91 runs for Dhaka Dynamites in seven innings during the 2015 season. While his strike-rate will be an asset to Kings, who have looked to bulk up their middle order with big hitting allrounders, Waller’s offbreaks could also be handy in stemming the scoring of the oppositions.Mashrafe Mortaza to Rangpur Riders – Mashrafe Mortaza has moved to a third BPL franchise with the Riders acquiring him this year. Mashrafe had taken 13 wickets in 12 games for Comilla Victorians last year after having led them to a maiden title in 2015. Mashrafe had also led the Dhaka Gladiators to the 2012 and 2013 BPL titles, and was termed by the Riders CEO Ishtiaque Sadeque as a “lucky charm”.Chris Lynn to Khulna Titans – One of Australia’s biggest T20 names, he was set to head to the BPL for the first time this season, until shoulder surgery ruled him out.Seekkuge Prasanna to Khulna Titans – The Sri Lankan legspinner played for Dhaka Dynamites in last season’s Bangladesh Premier League. He had one six-filled innings though his bowling didn’t come off too well. Prasanna played for Barisal Bulls in BPL 2015.Kyle Abbott to Khulna Titans – The South African fast bowler will strengthen the Titans’ pace attack, which already has Junaid Khan. He hasn’t, however, had a lot of success in the format since the World T20 in 2016. This will be his first BPL campaign as well.Sarfraz Ahmed to Khulna Titans – Pakistan’s new Test captain was roped in by the Titans soon after he led his side to their maiden Champions Trophy triumph in England in June. He will certainly be a step-up after they experimented with Nicholas Pooran last season.Shadab Khan to Khulna Titans – The Pakistan spin sensation’s 16 wickets in four T20Is against West Indies put him on the map before he was involved in his side’s Champions Trophy winning campaign. He was signed alongside Sarfraz last month.Rilee Rossouw to Khulna Titans – The T20 veteran batted well for Quetta Gladiators in this year’s Pakistan Super League and will be an important addition to the Titans’ batting line-up.Lendl Simmons to Rajshahi Kings – He will return to the BPL after making 221 runs at 22.10 for Rangpur Riders in BPL 2015. Simmons’ IPL stint this year didn’t go too well after a promising start – he made 137 runs in seven innings.

In light of Mitchell Johnson’s retirement from the BBL, David Barham is acutely conscious of the tournament needing to get its playing roster strengthened by more overseas star power

Daniel Brettig25-Jul-2018More international firepower is needed to ensure the expanded Big Bash League can grow its audience after a recent downturn, while Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers must perform strongly enough to reignite interest in Australia’s two largest cities.These are the views of the new Seven network head of cricket, David Barham, who helmed Ten’s widely lauded BBL coverage for five years before being recruited to the rival broadcaster when it scooped the free-to-air portion of Cricket Australia’s A$1.18 billion television and digital rights deal in April.With Wednesday’s revelation that Mitchell Johnson is withdrawing from the BBL due to the increased length – now 14 games per side – of the competition, Barham is acutely conscious of the tournament needing to get its big market teams functioning strongly and its playing roster strengthened by more overseas star power. The race has well and truly begun for the signature of AB de Villiers, to name one.”Last year it was all down to the Melbourne Stars, they couldn’t get out of their own way [losing their first five games]. And if you have one team with a lot of the big names in it not firing a shot, that hurt,” Barham told ESPNcricinfo. “The Stars are important, and Sydney [Sixers] were shocking as well, they lost their first six, so neither of them could win a game. That really had a big impact.”Provided everyone’s up and alive…that was probably the first year where you had a competition with games that weren’t relevant. You knew the Stars after five games were gone. The draw was a bit around them, so that hurt and I suppose that can happen again. But I think as the standard keeps improving, and that’s what cricket’s got to do, the standard’s got to keep improving … I think in the end they’ve got to bring in more internationals and I think they will as they go.”International players will be playing for a number of games in certain places. So you might have Joe Root for four games and swap him for Dwayne Bravo or someone for the back end. Or you might be able to get de Villiers for four games at the back end of the summer. If you start rolling a couple of these blokes in late in the tournament [it will help].”Another major change Barham pointed to is the fact that after seven seasons of sitting on different networks, Test matches and the BBL would run seamlessly from one broadcast to the other under the Seven banner. Commentators talking about BBL games was almost unheard of on Nine’s Test coverage: not so anymore.”The other thing that’s really important this year that no-one’s really factored in from a Seven and cricket point of view is there’s a lot more cross-promotion,” Barham said. “Not knocking Nine at all or Ten for that matter, but Nine didn’t promote the BBL for five years, so you had this situation where BBL stood out on its own and Test cricket was there [separate]. We’ve got this whole summer where we’re talking about each other the whole way.”I look at it and go – you’ve got a big group of people who follow BBL who are younger, a big group of people at Test cricket, and this group in the middle. If we can make the group in the middle [follow both], the game will grow, television audiences will grow, everything will grow. That’s part of the strategy for me, because I want the commentators to do everything [Tests and BBL] as well.”So we won’t just have a Test commentary team, we’ll have Ricky doing both, Michael Slater doing both, only a few specifically doing one form. I hope that means young people will look at Michael Slater and go ‘he’s good, I like him, might watch a Test match’. That’s the strategy.”Mitchell Johnson holds aloft the BBL trophy•Getty Images

An example of this will be the extremely tight crossover between matches during the day/night Test between Australia and Sri Lanka in Brisbane in late January. Barham described the scheduling of a BBL fixture in Melbourne to start in the final session of the fourth day at the Gabba was a sort of “insurance policy”.”How long will that Sri Lanka Test go in Brisbane?” he asked. “You’d imagine it’ll be a swinging ball, day/night, will it go to the end of that fourth day, will it get to a fifth day? So in some ways, because we want to have cricket on all summer, it was a good way of guaranteeing we do.”And if we end up having a problem with a magnificent Test match going down to the wire and we have a BBL game which s really exciting, and we’ve got two channels going, happy days. It’ll just be a matter of someone else [in programming] to decide what they want to put where.”Some queries have been raised over whether the tournament’s expansion would create a sense of fatigue among its followers, who have averaged in the region of 1 million a night on Ten’s coverage from 2013 to this year, peaking in 2015-16 before starting a gradual decline that has also been reflected in attendances. However, Barham noted that beyond the conclusion of school holidays at the end of January, the tournament would largely revert to a Thursday-Sunday pattern akin to football fixtures.”They’ve been pretty smart with how the scheduling is. On every night through the school holidays, then it pretty much slips into a pattern of Thursday, Friday, Sunday,” he said. “I reckon that’s a pretty good strategy. Thursday, Friday, Sunday for the last two or three weekends in February, pretty good sport viewing times, people are used to watching footy and other sports in those times, I think you can stack it up and make it work.”I think it’ll stop the fatigue thing too. It’ll give you a bit of a break between and you can look forward to Thursday, Friday and Sunday. You also get a build up to a finals series, which…the whole thing used to scream along at 100 miles an hour and you’d go ‘oh finals.’ There was no space.”

Peter Handcomb also leaving Australia A squad to be with his pregnant partner; Test quick Scott Boland and Queensland keeper Jimmy Pierson called into the A squad

Alex Malcolm07-Jun-2022Bowling allrounder Sean Abbott has been ruled out of the rest of the Sri Lanka tour after fracturing his finger in the nets, while Peter Handscomb has also left the Australia A squad to be with his pregnant partner in Melbourne.Abbott was part of Australia’s T20I squad that was preparing for the first T20I of a three-match series in Colombo on Tuesday, although he was not selected in Australia’s XI for game one. But he suffered a fracture to his left index finger while batting in the nets and has been ruled out of the remainder of the tour. He was supposed to link up with the Australia A squad following the T20I series, for the four-day matches, as he is not part of Australia’s ODI squad.Related

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Handscomb, who had also announced he was not heading back to captain Middlesex in the county championship following the Australia A series in Sri Lanka, has decided to leave Sri Lanka to head home to be with his pregnant partner as the pair are expecting their first child.Test bowler Scott Boland has been called up to travel to Sri Lanka early to cover for Abbott in the Australia A four-day matches ahead of the two-match Test series. He was originally set to arrive later with the Test-only squad members not required to travel until later in the month.Queensland wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson has been called up to the A squad as cover for Handscomb. Peirson has been called up in the likely event Australia A needs a specialist wicketkeeper in the four-day games if Josh Inglis is required to play in the ODI series as a batter. Josh Philippe is in the A squad but appears likely to only play in the 50-over games.Australia’s selectors have named an Australia A XI for the first 50-over match in Colombo on Wednesday. Alex Carey is set to captain the side with Cameron Green also named. Carey and Green weren’t originally in the A squad but have been added for the two 50-over games as preparation for the ODI series starting next Tuesday.Australia A will feature three specialist spinners in the same XI, with Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann and Tanveer Sangha all named to play as Australia hope to expose their young spinners to Sri Lankan conditions.Australia A XI for Wednesday: Henry Hunt, Josh Philippe, Matt Renshaw, Nic Maddinson, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (capt, wk), Aaron Hardie, Mark Steketee, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann, Tanveer Sangha

Northants find themselves adrift at the bottom of the table after being tipped for a successful Division Two season and Zak Chappell ensured there would be no quick fix

ECB Reporters Network09-Jun-2018
ScorecardZak Chappell took a maiden first-class five-wicket haul as Leicestershire edged the first day as the Specsavers County Championship returned at Wantage Road, bowling Northamptonshire out for 204 before going to the close 64 for 3.Chappell, playing his first County Championship match of the season, took 6 for 44 with the bulk of his work done in a fiery spell after lunch.Before lunch, he seamed a quick, full delivery into Rob Newton’s off stump to remove the opener for 31 before a wider ball was edged by Alex Wakely to second slip where Mark Cosgrove claimed a very sharp catch above his right shoulder.And then brought back into the attack an hour into the afternoon, he sent down six overs, 3 for 19 to run through the hosts’ middle order.Tall and well-built, he gained some bounce to take Ricardo Vasconcelos’ edge to deny the left-hander a half-century on his County Championship debut. Two balls later, Chappell induced a thin edge from Rob Keogh who was caught behind for a duck.Chappell’s five-for was completed when Rory Kleinveldt walked across his stumps to lose his leg stump for 21 before he flattened Nathan Buck’s off stump.Ben Raine also claimed three wickets to help dismiss Northants shortly after tea after Leicestershire elected to field first. He made the opening breakthrough with one that bounced on Ben Duckett to take an edge behind. Saif Zaib, after a smart 34, slapped Raine straight to point before last man Ben Sanderson was pinned lbw.Northants were going well with Vasconcelos and Adam Rossington taking them to 128 for 3 an after lunch on a wicket where plenty of grass was left on. But Chappell’s burst reduced them to 155 for 7 and it took Zaib and Buck to rescue a batting bonus point.The total was put into context as Leicestershire came out to face 25 overs before the close. Sanderson found considerable swing to take two wickets in a nine-over burst. He claimed a stunning return catch down low to his right after Paul Horton produced a leading edge before a beauty straightened on Harry Dearden and took out his off stump.Mark Cosgrove and Colin Ackermann looked to be steering the visitors to stumps but Cosgrove was pinned lbw by Ben Cotton – a short-term signing for Northants among a string of injuries – to ensure the home side kept in touch.

‘Every time I get onto the field, the aim is to contribute to the team’s success in whichever way I can’

Annesha Ghosh02-Jul-20211:41

Shikha Pandey -‘We are working towards playing a fearless brand of cricket’

Shikha Pandey is eyeing better all-round returns on the tour of England following her performance with the ball in the second ODI, where she picked up 9-1-34-1, her economy the best among the Indian attack.Though India lost the match, Pandey was pivotal to setting the tone of India’s attempt to defend 221 and the bowling unit’s much-improved performance. She gave away just two runs in her first two overs, including a maiden, and got the ball to hoop early, causing discomfort to Tammy Beaumont, the in-form England opener.Heading into the third and final ODI in Worcester on Saturday, which then leads into the three-match T20I series, Pandey, 32, was hopeful to build on her outing in the second ODI in Taunton.”Not setting long-term goals,” Pandey said when asked about the all-round role she may be expected to play in the 2022 ODI World Cup. “That’s not really something that works for me, so [I’m] just setting short-term goals. For me it’s one session, one spell, one ball at a time when I’m going in to bowl. I think I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can.

Mithali Raj set to play third ODI

The India captain had not fielded in the second ODI on Wednesday after suffering from neck pain, with Harmanpreet Kaur leading the side. On Friday, Pandey said, “Mithali di is all well. She has been assessed by the medical staff, [physio] Tracy [Fernandes] ma’am…” The BCCI later tweeted, “Captain @M_Raj03 has recovered and is training with the girls as we prepare for the 3rd WODI tomorrow here at New Road, Worcester,” with photos of Raj training with the team.

“As a bowling allrounder, I am, yes, supposed to be scoring runs and every time I get onto the field, the aim is to contribute to the team’s success in whichever way I can. There are goals being set but at a very short-term basis; no long-term goals in mind. So, it’s just the game tomorrow and bowl well and in case I get to bat, probably score better and contribute a lot more with the bat.”The solitary wicket – of opener Lauren Winfield-Hill – Pandey took in Taunton was also her first one on the tour.Winfield-Hill’s dismissal was as much a result of Pandey’s ability to entice a set batter into prodding at an away-going delivery as it was of Taniya Bhatia’s deft work with the gloves. Standing up to the two seamers, Jhulan Goswami and Pandey, Bhatia, in sparkling form throughout the series effecting four dismissals in three innings, snagged the faintest of edges to dismiss Winfield-Hill for 42.”Firstly, I am huge fan of Taniya,” Pandey said. “The kind of keeping, standing up to the stumps to medium pacers is not an easy job and the way she stood up to us, even with the new ball, is amazing. You can count on your fingers the number of keepers that can do that in international cricket. So, firstly, it’s commendable what she is doing for us.Related

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“It’s a few, small, little things we noticed on the field that if the England batters are standing way too outside the crease and I’m the swing bowler, so my swing gets negated,” Pandey said, elaborating on the thinking that prompted Bhatia to stand up to the stumps. “There are pretty practical decisions being taken on the ground that we need to get them to play from the crease and that’s how Taniya comes in.”I think the first wicket we got yesterday [of Beaumont, being bowled by Goswami], Taniya standing up to the stumps made a huge difference. So, firstly, Taniya is doing a great job for us and it’s just about responding to the situations on the field.”After the loss in the first ODI, captain Mithali Raj had called for the Indian seam attack to take more responsibility and support Goswami, the pace spearhead, better. Pandey said the seamers’ improved performance in the second match was down mainly to having drawn up more well-defined plans.Shikha Pandey – “I have found some rhythm back in the second game, so just going to go ahead, follow the basics and keep doing all I can”•Associated Press

“[After the first match] We just sat down and spoke about what we are capable of and backing out strengths and having clearer plans in place and just going by them and not looking too much for the wickets and just keeping it tight,” Pandey said. “That was what was said: to keep our plans simple and going about our business early in the innings.”I think we did pretty well in all departments in the second game and we are catching up,” she said. “Considering this is a multi-format series, we know going ahead if we win all four games we can still win it.”We are not really gauging ourselves against them; it’s just about backing ourselves, and we know as a team we are a very good team and when we play to our strengths, we have a good day and we know we can beat any team in the world. We are just backing ourselves and looking forward to the next game and not thinking too about much about what has happened.”Head coach Ramesh Powar, she said, had also played a part in keeping the team’s morale up.”He has backed us a lot,” Pandey said. “Even after the second game, the talk in the dressing room was very positive. He has always said if we play to our potential, to what our strengths are, we can beat any team in the world. He has got full confidence in us and he backs us as a group. I mean, what else do we need? As a coach he has been very helpful in all three departments. He has backed us a lot.”Shikha Pandey heaves a sigh of relief after picking up Lauren Winfield-Hill’s wicket•Getty Images

India’s first-innings totals so far in the series – 201 and 221 – have hardly been a challenge to the England line-up. Aside from Raj and Shafali Verma, no other India batter has been able to make an imprint on the scoring substantially. However, Pandey said the onus to win the team a match was as much the batters’ responsibility as it was of the bowling contingent’s.”I wouldn’t say batting is the main concern,” she said. “At the very outset, I can give you a player’s perspective. When I get into a game, we think about all three aspects of the game together. So if the batters cannot get us runs, it’s us, the bowlers, the bowling unit, we need to fight hard and back the batters. I wouldn’t say it is one department of the game that’s lacking.”If we can get all the three [departments clicking] together on the day, we will be doing well. Thinking too much about what has happened is not really going to help us, so just thinking ahead about what we can do as a team together. Whatever runs the batters score, the bowlers have to defend it and whatever runs the bowlers initially get the other team to score, the batting team has to go chase it.”

Curran set to return to the UK for rehab; Sixers will also miss the services of Manenti and O’Keefe for the next fixture

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Dec-2021Sydney Sixers fast bowler Tom Curran has been ruled out of the remainder of the BBL 2021-22 after suffering a troublesome hotspot in his back and is set to return to the UK immediately for his rehabilitation. The defending champions will also miss the services of spinners Ben Manenti and Steve O’Keefe due to injuries.Curran, who has taken six wickets in four matches this edition, was expected to play a crucial role in the Sixers’ pace attack alongside his English team-mate Chris Jordan. He was the team’s leading wicket-taker in the 2019-2020 title-winning campaign and chipped in with the bat in the middle order before missing last season’s BBL because of the difficulty in travel and the need to quarantine.Related

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Meanwhile, Manenti, who suffered neck stress fractures, will continue to undergo treatment in Hobart, where he plays Premier Cricket, and Sydney. O’Keefe, who has scalped seven this BBL, is ruled out of action in the “short term” after straining his calf in Sixers’ seven-wicket win over Melbourne Stars at the MCG on Wednesday. Sixers said in a statement that the veteran spinner is unlikely to feature in their next home fixture against Adelaide Strikers on Tuesday, and “a return to play to be assessed in due course.”Despite losing three key players to injuries, captain Moises Henriques believes the team, who are the table-toppers currently, has a strong bench strength to overcome these challenges.”We pride ourselves on being a club and a team that embraces challenges but to lose players of the calibre of Tom and Ben, and to have SOK on the sidelines, would be a challenge for any team and those guys aren’t simply replaced,” Henriques said.”On and off the field, all three of those guys play a massive role for us and their presence around the team and skills on the field will be missed by everybody in the group. But for us, we always look to have 18-match ready players in our squad, and we see it as an opportunity for others within our group.Henriques said there is “no need to panic” as he believes this series of injuries has only opened the doors for the likes of leg spinner Lloyd Pope and fast bowler Mickey Edwards and to step up.”There are guys like Lloyd Pope and Mickey Edwards who really deserve an opportunity, but due to the strength of our list haven’t been able to get as many chances as they deserve,” Henriques said. “So, it will be a great little period for those guys to have a run of games.”We also saw Ben Dwarshuis return from injury this week, Jackson Bird isn’t too far away, and Sean Abbott is back after the birth of his daughter, so there is no need to panic.”The Sixers have won three of their four matches and have accumulated 11 points so far.