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ESPNcricinfo understands the proposal emerged on Thursday after meetings between the new ICC chair Jay Shah and PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2024A likely breakthrough has emerged in the impasse over the 2025 Champions Trophy: the ICC and the PCB are believed to have reached an in-principle agreement to adopt the hybrid model for global tournaments being hosted in Pakistan or India until 2027. Such an arrangement would allow the two to play their games at ICC tournaments being hosted by the other at a neutral venue.Though the agreement has been confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by various sources, the PCB – official host of the 2025 Champions Trophy – has not commented on it, revealing only that discussions continue.It is not known yet whether the hybrid model would be applicable to both men’s and women’s tournaments. In the ICC’s current commercial cycle (2024-27), there are three global events scheduled to be hosted in either country: the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next February, the women’s ODI World Cup in India later in 2025, and the men’s T20 World Cup in 2026 co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.ESPNcricinfo understands the development emerged on Thursday after meetings between the new ICC chair Jay Shah and PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi. They met in Dubai, on the sidelines of a courtesy board meeting arranged by Shah, who was visiting the ICC headquarters in the city in his new role for the first time. A Board meeting to discuss the Champions Trophy has been scheduled for December 7.The PCB’s acceptance of a hybrid model for the eight-team Champions Trophy is believed to be contingent on a set of conditions. One of the those is that a hybrid model should be applicable for all ICC events, including women’s, hosted in India and Pakistan until at least 2027 if not the entire current events cycle until 2031.Other conditions are said to centre around compensation for a potential loss of commercial revenue from India’s Champions Trophy games being played at a separate overseas venue. If India were to make it to the knockout stages, then at least one semi-final and potentially the final are likely to be played outside Pakistan. The UAE and Sri Lanka are among the frontrunners for this.The PCB, it is understood, has suggested arranging a tri-nation series involving India, Pakistan and another country to offset any financial loss suffered by either board due to matches involving India and Pakistan being played elsewhere.There is likely to be more back and forth between the two boards and the ICC on the matter, with the final call likely to be taken at the Board meeting on December 7.PCB had planned for a February 19 start to the Champions Trophy, with Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi as the host cities. But, because of the impasse between the PCB and BCCI – the latter told the ICC last month that it could not travel to Pakistan for the tournament because it did not have the Indian government’s clearance – the ICC has not been able to release a schedule for the event.

Shah promises ‘new era’ for the world game

Shah, who was the BCCI secretary from December 2019 until December 1 this year, has officially taken charge at the ICC, becoming its youngest chair at 36. In his first media statement in the ICC role, Shah said the global body was embarking on a “new era” and his aim was to take the game to “unprecedented heights” collectively with the member countries. While the entire ICC Board was not present in person on Thursday, Shah said he discussed the “initial roadmap and strategies to shape the future” of the game with several directors.With Shah moving to the ICC, there has been intrigue about who will replace him as BCCI secretary. Since 2022 Shah had also been the BCCI’s representative to ICC Board, where he held influential positions including heading the Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee. While the BCCI has not made any statement on who will be the next secretary, the board’s joint-secretary, Devajit Saikia, was present at the ICC meetings in Dubai this week. Potentially, then, Saikia, could be the BCCI representative on the ICC Board.

In-form Georgia Voll is likely to be kept out of the XI while England wait on the fitness of Kate Cross

Valkerie Baynes11-Jan-20252:25

Charlie Dean: We don’t have as many Ashes scars in this team

Alyssa Healy will resume wicketkeeping duties for Australia in the Ashes series opener, Sunday’s first ODI against England in Sydney.But Healy, Australia’s captain who has been nursing a knee injury since mid-November, admitted that a tight schedule of seven matches – including a four-day Test – in the space of 22 days might mean some rotation of personnel through the series, which starts with three ODIs followed by three T20s.”Yeah, good to go,” a beaming Healy told reporters of her ability to keep after a practice session at North Sydney Oval, less than 24 hours before the series start at the same venue.Related

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“Probably I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t any doubt, in particular off the back of a rough couple of months, but everything’s progressed probably just as well as we would have hoped. I’m feeling really good.”More importantly, I’m feeling really confident on it to be able to get out there and do that job. I wouldn’t be doing it if I felt like I was going to let the team down. I’m really excited to get back out there tomorrow.”Healy has endured a tough run with injury since October, when she ruptured the plantar fascia in her in her right foot while running between the wickets during Australia’s group game against Pakistan at the T20 World Cup.She then suffered a knee problem while playing for the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL, ruling her out of Australia’s home one-dayers against India and she played as a batter only on the subsequent ODI tour of New Zealand with Beth Mooney standing in behind the stumps for both series.On Saturday, Healy trained with the gloves alongside Mooney at slip with Georgia Voll, the 21-year-old opening batter who impressed on international debut against India in her place, feeding balls off the bat.Voll has 173 runs at 86.50 and a strike rate of 108.80 from her three ODIs, including a century in just her second game against India. But Healy’s recovery leaves Australia with just one selection choice to make between quick Darcie Brown and Georgia Wareham as an extra spinner.Having proved herself such a valuable option at the top of the order, including fifty opening alongside Healy in the washed-out Ashes warm-up between England and a Governor General’s XI, Voll could slot in at any time Healy needs to rest though.Alyssa Healy will be back behind the stumps at the start of the Ashes•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“It’s a valid question, and I don’t know the answer to that just yet,” Healy said when asked if she had recovered enough to play all Ashes fixtures. “I think it’s just going to depend on how I pull up after each and every opportunity.”But obviously we know we’ve got a pretty handy back-up that’s ready to do the job, and I know that I can run around in the field quite confidently as well, so we’ll just play it by ear. From my perspective, I’d love to be out there keeping every game, but we’ll just have to see how the body goes.”England have one key decision to make over their bowling line-up depending on how dependable seamer Kate Cross pulls up from their match-eve training session after battling a back injury. Cross broke down with back spasms during last month’s tour of South Africa and scans subsequently revealed a slightly bulging disc that required an epidural over the Christmas period.”Obviously Crossy’s struggling a little bit with a back issue, she’s going to have a little bowl today and we’ll make a final decision once we’ve had a look at the wicket and seen where everyone’s at post-training,” Heather Knight, England’s captain, said on Saturday.England have a number of seam options including Lauren Bell who returned from South Africa with 12 wickets, eight of those in the Test, and Lauren Filer, whom Knight backed to provide an added dimension with her speed despite struggling with her footing on a soggy North Sydney pitch during the warm-up game, which Knight put down purely to the conditions.”The bounce that she gets and the speed that she bowls at is really tricky,” Knight said of Filer, who surprised the Australians with her speed on her international debut in the 2023 Ashes Test, where she took two wickets in each innings. “Facing her in the nets is not a particularly pleasant experience, I’ll tell you that, and I think since that 2023 series she’s really grown.”She’s improved her consistency, she’s added a few skills to her game as well. She was really raw in that series and really made an impact so she’s one of a number of bowlers that are going to contribute throughout this series.”She’s certainly someone that bowls wicket-taking balls and that’s what we want her to do. Accepting sometimes she’s going to go for runs, that’s completely fine, that’s not her job. Her job is to come in and take poles and try and ruffle a few feathers so I’m excited to watch her bowl for sure.”England XI (possible): Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight (capt), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Amy Jones (wk), Alice Capsey/Sophia Dunkley, Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer/Kate CrossAustralia XI (possible): Alyssa Healy (capt, wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown/Georgia Wareham

Defending champions take the long route to final after defeats in first three matches

Firdose Moonda06-Feb-2025Sunrisers Eastern Cape 177 for 2 (de Zorzi 78, J Hermann 69*) beat Paarl Royals 175 for 4 (R Hermann 81*, Pretorius 59) by eight wicketsSunrisers Eastern Cape will play in a third successive final after winning two matches in two days. They will take on first-time finalists MI Cape Town on Saturday, with memories of their wins over Pretoria Capitals (2023) and Durban’s Super Giants (2024) fresh in their minds. The defending champions have now won knockout matches both batting first and chasing on the Highveld, where MICT last played a week ago, and may fancy themselves as favourites.For now, they will celebrate another successful campaign, irrespective of whether they win the trophy or not. They have shown all the ingredients for a champion team, specifically that they have enough depth in the squad for sustained success.Less than 24 hours after beating Joburg Super Kings, SEC returned to Centurion with what looked like a completely different batting blueprint and new bowling plans.Liam Dawson, who has been both economical and attacking in the tournament so far, was only used when Ottneil Baartman had to leave the field with what looked like a hamstring concern and Aiden Markram bowled a full quota of four overs instead. That may be mostly to do with match-ups against a Paarl side filled with left-handers but also shows the versatility of SEC’s attack. Baartman will be a particular concern for them ahead of the final but he will have some time to assess the seriousness of the niggle.Importantly, their top-order, who were the least successful of the group stage, came together at the right time. David Bedingham and Tony de Zorzi posted 46 inside four overs against JSK in the Eliminator and de Zorzi’s 78 anchored their successful chase against Paarl in Qualifier 2.De Zorzi is a particularly interesting case because he is not really considered a T20 player. He was named as a replacement when allrounder Patrick Kruger was ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury and immediately displaced a misfiring Zak Crawley, who only contributed two scores over 20 in eight matches.Lhuan-dre Pretorius has been one of the finds of the tournament•Sportzpics

De Zorzi did not initially look the part with 24 runs in three innings and was doubting himself. “It is tough. We don’t play that many T20 games,” de Zorzi said in the post-match press conference. “I think you would obviously want to play a lot more and find your rhythm or your blueprint. Marco [Jansen] kept saying to me, ‘just keep your intent up’. There’s definitely times where you look in the mirror and you think, ‘Maybe I must put that [hopes of being a T20 player] in the cupboard.”Tonight was not one of those times. Against expectation, de Zorzi pulled off his highest score since his century in the 2018 Abu Dhabi T20. His was an innings that started riskily with a top-edge that fell safely and went for four, and an outside edge that evaded first slip, and then evolved spectacularly. There were drives and cuts but the shot of the night was when the ball became but a speck in the night sky as he pulled Mitch Owen high over deep square leg for six. That shot created distance between Sunrisers and the DLS par score as lightning strikes surrounded Centurion.The storm didn’t arrive but Paarl Royals were still blown away, and one family in particular will have felt they’d navigated changing winds. The Hermann brothers were on either side of this contest and their father, Marius, was in attendance in his custom-made half-and-half shirt and cap. One half is the pink of Paarl; the other is the orange of the Eastern Cape and on the back it says “Hermann supporter.”At least, he was rewarded for the surname. Rubin top-scored with 81 off 53 balls and was key to Paarl getting over 160 but Jordan was there at the end, when SEC won the match. By the end, Marius was in full SEC kit, which was as good a signal as any that Paarl’s race was run.Related

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In reality, it ended after their home stretch, where they became the first team to win all five of the games they’ve played, and when they lost Joe Root to national duty shortly after. “Him leaving left a little bit of a gap with that all-round role,” David Miller said. “That one or two overs of spin, or sometimes four and the kind of experience that he has batting through, or getting through the Powerplay, and just playing good cricket shots.”Paarl’s attack may also need a re-think after it was primarily set up for the slower, lower conditions of Boland Park and then struggled up-country. In particular, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who was the leading wicket-taker at one stage of the tournament, has gone wicketless in the last three games, while Lungi Ngidi, their senior seamer, only played in five of their 12 games and no knockouts. Asked if they could have used him more, Miller concurred.”We definitely could have. It’s a very unfortunate situation… but the way the team is set up, there was only really one position between a couple of fast bowlers and, you know, we went with Kwena [Maphaka] with the extra pace and the left arm variation,” Miller said, also dousing any worries that Ngidi is not fully fit. “But Lungi has been bowling a lot outside of the games and really getting back to where he knows he can bowl. He’s been fantastic off the field for the squad.”But all is not lost for Paarl. Root’s opening partner, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, was the find of the tournament and is currently the leading run-scorer. Though he had a lean patch after his two big scores in his first three games, he struck a sweet 59 in the second qualifier and will be one to watch in future.”He’s unbelievable. He’s 18 years old so he’s got a lot of time,” Miller said. “He plays length really well, he’s got a really good head on him and he wants to do well so those are all very good things. He’s an incredible talent and I’m really looking forward to watching his progress and seeing what he can achieve.”Some will be saying the same about SEC as they wonder how much more they can win. They remain the only team to win the SA20 and their ability to step up when it matters means it would be difficult to bet against them.”They’re a team that never leaves you as an opposition, so you always have to be on your game. They’re clever cricketers and gutsy cricketers,” Miller said. “When you’ve got a squad like that and a never-say-die attitude, it often goes a long way in T20 cricket, especially in the field. They give absolutely everything. They’ve got a great thing going and I wish them all the very best.”

Heinrich Klaasen was the only batter to resist as Orcas were bowled out for 82, which took Freedom just 9.2 overs to overhaul

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2025Shimron Hetmyer had done it three games in a row for Seattle Orcas, but couldn’t on this occasion, against Washington Freedom. That Orcas batting line-up, which had stuttered and stumbled to five losses in a row before Hetmyer took charge, went back to being incompetent as Hetmyer had an off-day, putting up a paltry 82. It took Freedom just 9.2 overs to complete the chase and climb back to No. 2 on the MLC 2025 points table.Freedom won the toss, bowled, and Saurabh Netravalkar struck first ball, sending back Shayan Jahangir. Next over, Glenn Maxwell had Aaron Jones’ number. Netravalkar got rid of Sikandar Raza in the third over. First ball of the fourth, Maxwell sent back Steven Taylor. And Maxwell then finished the powerplay with Kyle Mayers’ wicket, leaving Orcas at 21 for 5 after six overs.Those three wickets gave Maxwell, who finished up by bowling the tenth, figures of 3 for 12 from four, while Netravalkar, who came back to bowl the 16th and got the wicket of Jasdeep Singh, the ninth of the innings, returned 3-13. Jack Edwards was the other major wicket-taker for Freedom, finishing with 3 for 19, including the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen, the only Orcas batter to put up a fight before becoming last man out for a 39-ball 48.The chase was a straightforward one even though Raza saw the back of Mitchell Owen in the third over. By the end of the powerplay, Rachin Ravindra and Mukhtar Ahmed had taken Freedom to 50 for 1, leaving just 37 runs to get from 14 overs. They needed just 3.2 more, as Ravindra scored 32 from 23 before becoming the next batter out, and Mukhtar remained unbeaten on a 21-ball 36.For Orcas, despite the big defeat, the three-match winning run has kept them in the fray for the playoffs. They are still at No. 4, though after nine games, as opposed to fifth-placed MI New York, who are one win behind but with a game in hand.

Ben Duckett’s 62 in a 122-run stand with Pope held England’s response together after India finished on 471

Vithushan Ehantharajah21-Jun-2025Stumps Saturday in Leeds was a day of opportunities taken and spurned. Unfortunately for India, it was their contribution to the latter that has changed the complexion of this Test match.Having begun the day with Rishabh Pant’s thrill-filled 134, the third century of the innings, India proceeded to lose 7 for 41 to cap their first innings at 471. And yet more profligacy in the field not only allowed Ollie Pope to move to his ninth Test century, but England to close on 209 for 3.Related

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Pope, unbeaten on 100, rests satiated with a second Test hundred in a row following his 171 against Zimbabwe, at a time when his place has been questioned with the precocious yet century-less Jacob Bethell, who is waiting in the wings.Pope rests dreaming of mimicking his Hyderabad epic that dug England out of a similar-sized hole. But India will rue a drop on 60 by Yashasvi Jaiswal at third slip, after Pope had played in the air through that region earlier (when on 48), and where fourth would have been at the very start of his innings when on 10. That he had made all three errors off Jasprit Bumrah was no surprise, particularly as the demonic quick ended up accounting for all three wickets.But just when it looked like Bumrah would head to stumps with a clean record, a third front-foot no ball in his final over of the day ended up giving Harry Brook a life on 0. A brutal short ball was clothed amateurishly by Brook towards midwicket. Umpire Chris Gaffaney, having stuck his arm out for the previously delivery, put his hand to his ear before doing so once more as news of another infringement came through from the television umpire.2:22

Duckett: Bumrah the best in the world

That would have made it 208 for 4 at stumps. India’s frustration was carried in spades by the searing bouncer Bumrah delivered to close out a thrilling day’s play. They could have batted a victory out of England’s reach but instead, the hosts have seven wickets left to claw back more if not all of the remaining deficit of 262.Was it a lack of ruthlessness on Shubman Gill’s first day in the field as India’s Test captain? If so, it was not something anyone could have predicted when he and Pant recommenced India’s first innings on 359 for 3. The first 90 minutes of play was a reassertion of their day one dominance, with Pant at his mischievous best.He was a one-man circus of heaves and tumbles, the first of them coming when he greeted Shoaib Bashir’s first delivery with a fall-away paddle over his shoulder. The second was more choreographed after lifting Bashir over wide midwicket to bring up his seventh hundred as wicketkeeper, from his 146th delivery, this a third century on these shores – no other keeper-batter has more than one – that also sits top of his three-figure knocks for most sixes (six).There were no chances offered, per se, until, on 124, he ran past a delivery from Bashir and was forced to reclaim his ground on his hands and knees, having flung the bat away towards fine leg. Jamie Smith failed to capitalise on the error, but his blushes were saved when Josh Tongue, hidden in the field for most of this session, was able to catch Pant not playing a shot to trap him lbw.2:33

Manjrekar: The world knows how special Pant is

By then, Gill’s own century had been cut off at 147, when he lifted Bashir to Tongue at deep square-leg, angling for his second six and 21st boundary, ending the fourth-wicket stand on 209. Karun Nair had also come and gone, an eight-year hiatus amounting to a four-ball duck when he was plucked gloriously out of the air by Pope at cover.And so, with lunch looming, the thought was India would take it to the break and regroup. Alas, Shardul Thakur brought about an early break when chasing a very wide delivery through to Smith. It gave Ben Stokes figures for 4 for 66, once again the England captain standing out as the best bowler on show.He was soon joined on a four-for by Tongue, who wagged when the tail did not to clean up some untidy figures. The Nottinghamshire quick went from nursing 0 for 78 from 17 to parading 4 for 86 from 20.A tame but delaying shower meant England’s first innings only began at 2.55pm, with ominous looking clouds and a ground illuminated by the floodlights promising movement for Bumrah. He needed just six deliveries to get one bending reality; Zak Crawley turned inside out with one that swung in late and seamed away later, flying through to Nair at face height at first slip.

That he would only take 1 for 21 in his opening five overs was through no fault of his own. Though Gill kept a packed cordon for the first 20 overs, the desire to cover more than one position with just one fielder led to Pope’s initial pseudo life on 10 – a Schrödinger’s fourth slip, if you will. But it was at the end of his fourth over that Bumrah had Ben Duckett dropped on 15, by Ravindra Jadeja of all people, at backward point.Duckett would end up moving to his 19th score of fifty or more from 68 deliveries with a fine sweep off Jadeja, marching forward with Pope in a stand of 122 that for the most part actually felt easier than it maybe should have been.On 62, Duckett drove a thick edge onto his stumps to hand Bumrah his third, met with an exclamation from the 31-year-old that spoke of the fact his frustration was steadily morphing into anger. From that point on, it was Pope who seized the initiative a little more, dwarfing Joe Root (42 to 28) in an 80-run stand where he seemed like the more established pro.Mohammed Siraj emerged from a patchy first spell to hold his own and one end, and seemingly had Root on toast. For a moment, he thought he had him outright, lbw for 7, with the impact in front of the stumps and the right-hand batter selling it well with a stumble over to the off side. But a review would take that from Siraj, with HawkEye projecting the delivery would miss leg stump, forcing umpire Paul Reiffel to overturn his decision.Pope, though, was making hay while Bumrah was powering back up. He had already got away with a flinch outside off that Jaiswal, diving low to his right, should have held. Bumrah’s reaction was to open his arms out to the cordon as if to ask “WHY?!” Understandably, given he had opened the evening session and been immediately dabbed through a vacant third by Pope, who moved to 52 from 74 deliveries.1:12

Manjrekar: Stokes makes England a dangerous side

The remainder of the No. 3’s crisp 100 took just 51 deliveries more, helped by Thakur’s lack of pace, which allowed him to drive on the up through the covers, before a stylish back cut off Prasidh Krishna’s extra pace. The latter decided to be more forceful in his approach to Pope, offering a few choice words along with some short stuff. Pope responded with a well-executed pull-flip over to the fine-leg fence for a one bounce for, clearing the man up around the corner with ease, and taking deep square-leg out of the game entirely.Bumrah’s return for two overs at the end was always going to give us a final shot of drama. A thick inside edge into the leg side brought Pope his century, and as good a reason as any to let the frustrations of talk in the media and behind his back flow out in a cathartic, satisfying roar, punching the air with a mix of relief and glee. It was by no means a convincing way to move to such a landmark, but the fact he walked at Bumrah was an apt reminder of the guts he showed throughout this knock.Joy was short-lived when Root finally succumbed to a teaser outside off. But an over later, Bumrah’s journey to anger had been completed. Brook’s reprieve was all the more irksome for India considering the efforts of Siraj to take the catch running back at midwicket.India still have the surer footing in this match, with England resuming on Sunday 63 off the follow-on target. But they have relinquished the opportunity to be the sole drivers of this match.

Abbas, Pennington claim three wickets each as Somerset are bowled out for 438

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay30-Jul-2025 Nottinghamshire 189 for 2 trail Somerset 438 (Rew 166, Abell 156, Abbas 3-60) by 249 runs Captain Haseeb Hameed’s third century of the season helped title-chasing Nottinghamshire build a solid foundation in reply to Somerset’s 438 on day two of their Rothesay County Championship clash at Trent Bridge.Hameed, who struck 15 fours and two sixes, also passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season with the same shot that completed his hundred. He had earlier shared a stand of 101 for the second wicket with Freddie McCann (48).At 189 for two, though, Nottinghamshire, who began this round one point behind Division One leaders and defending champions Surrey, still have much work to do, trailing by 249 runs even after third-placed Somerset lost their last seven wickets for 100, Mohammad Abbas (three for 60) and Dillon Pennington (three for 71) sharing the bowling honours for the home side.Somerset’s 438 all out – while a total not to be sniffed at after being asked to bat first – perversely still felt like fewer than Somerset probably should have accumulated on a pitch with little in it for the bowling side, given that they had been 338 for three before Tom Abell’s demise shortly before Tuesday’s close,Abbas excepted, Nottinghamshire had not been at their best with the ball on the opening day. They looked better for a night’s reflection, yet most of the damage suffered by Somerset was to some degree self-inflicted.Of the four wickets to fall in adding 58 before lunch, nightwatchman Jack Leach cut the first ball of the day straight to backward point, after which James Rew fell into a trap set on the leg side as his impressive 166 ended with him athletically caught behind pulling.Tom Banton, chasing a wide one, and Archie Vaughan, nibbling outside off stump, gave Joe Clarke two much easier catches in his latest tour of duty keeping wicket, this time because Kyle Verreynne is back home in South Africa for an awards ceremony. Migael Pretorius popped back a tame return catch for Calvin Harrison soon after lunch.Craig Overton’s 31 not out was the third highest score in an innings dominated by Rew’s 313-run fourth-wicket stand with Abell (156). Jake Ball, the former Nottinghamshire quick, made 24 against his old mates before chipping back a catch to Liam Patterson-White after 41 were added for the last wicketOpening a Nottinghamshire innings for the 100th time together – matching the feats of Chris Broad and Tim Robinson, and Darren Bicknell and Jason Gallian as the only opening pairs to reach that milestone for the county since 1960 – Haseeb and Ben Slater were quickly parted, Slater falling to the eighth ball of the innings, shouldering arms to a ball from Craig Overton that clipped his off stump.Yet it took another 28 overs for the Somerset attack to make a second incision. McCann was looking to match Hameed, who had just completed an 87-ball half-century, when Ball offered him a delivery wide of off stump. It was a boundary for the taking to the short side of the square but he flashed at the ball and it took the edge, Rew having no problem taking the catch.If this represented a potential opening for Somerset, though, it was not one that offered any more than a glimpse of light, as Hameed and Clarke negotiated a safe passage through the 25 overs that remained.Hameed survived a chance on 91, albeit a difficult one, when he drove a ball back hard at Pretorius, who instinctively flung out a hand but could only prevent runs. The Nottinghamshire skipper celebrated his reprieve by lofting Vaughan’s off spin down the ground, not cleanly but with enough power to beat the fielder and the boundary for his second six, then patiently waiting on 99 to drive the same bowler to the long-on boundary for his 15th four and his 18th first-class century.

Durham left with too much to do after openers, Cartwright smash rapid fifties in total of 221 for 8

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay05-Sep-2025Hampshire Hawks reached Finals Day for an 11th time as they comfortably beat Durham by 26 runs in their Vitality Blast quarter-final.Hampshire made a brilliant start, with Toby Albert and Chris Lynn smashing half-centuries to put on 112 for the first wicket. Durham did restrain them briefly in the middle overs, but Hilton Cartwright’s 61 took the Hawks to a massive total of 221 for 8.Durham’s chase was full of starts, with Ollie Robinson the only batter to pass fifty, but an excellent all-round bowling effort from the Hawks restricted Durham to 195 for 6.Alex Lees won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Banks Homes Riverside and Matthew Potts kicked things off with a tidy first over, but Albert showed some early intent as he launched Callum Parkinson’s first ball down the ground for six. The opening pair of Albert and Lynn continued to take on the bowling, with Jimmy Neesham’s first over going for 24 runs.Durham had a chance to breakthrough, but Albert was dropped by Robinson on 25 as a Parkinson delivery was nicked but the keeper couldn’t cling on.The pair continued to hit anything short and in the slot to the boundary, as they displayed incredible power to get the visitors to 89 without the loss in the powerplay, a season high. Hampshire then passed the century mark, with Lynn and Albert both recording fifties, but Nathan Sowter struck to remove Lynn for an excellent 51.Albert continued his assault as he heaved back-to-back Parkinson deliveries to the boundary, but the opener went for one hit too many as he picked out Colin Ackermann on the fence and he had to go for a swashbuckling 68.Cartwright then came to the crease and played a lovely reverse sweep for four and James Vince started to tick with consecutive boundaries off Raine. However, the Hawks skipper went for 27 as his ramp shot from a Raine ball didn’t have the legs on it and David Bedingham produced an excellent catch to dismiss him.Cartwright continued the onslaught, but Neesham picked up the wicket of James Fuller to stem the flow of runs.Australian Cawrtwright became the third half-centurion for the Hawks as he hit a Raine ball for six, but Benny Howell was then run out and Potts removed Cartwright for 61. A cluster of wickets then fell as Liam Dawson was run out and Potts removed Scott Currie, but the Hawks still reached an imposing total of 221 for 8.Durham, in front of their biggest crowd since 2019, had a daunting task, and that wasn’t made any easier as Graham Clark clipped one to Scott Currie in the deep to depart for 9.Bedingham heaved a Chris Wood short ball into the stands to give Durham their first maximum of the night and the South African smashed one down the ground in the same over. Bedingham then went for an enterprising 22 to leave Durham in trouble, as he sent a Currie ball straight to Howell on the leg-side boundary.Lees started to open his shoulders as he clipped a Dawson ball to the long-on boundary for four, but the impressive Howell removed him for 26 with the Durham skipper holing out to Dawson on the leg-side boundary.Ackermann was then run out by Wood for 16 after he tried for a single that wasn’t really there to leave Durham staring down the barrel of a T20 Blast exit.The Hawks then got Raine for 13, with Howell getting his second, but Neesham came out firing and smashed four boundaries in an over, but his cameo ended at the hands of Wood. Robinson showed some resistance with a tidy ramp shot off Currie and reached fifty from 29 balls but it was too little too late for Durham and they fell 26 runs short.

Abhimanyu Easwaran has been named captain, replacing Anustup Majumdar

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2025Mohammed Shami has been named in a strong Bengal squad for the start of the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season. Shami will be partnered by Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Porel in the pace department, with the squad captained by opener Abhimanyu Easwaran.Bengal had earlier named Anustup Majumdar as captain. But the late change is understood to have been made in consultation with Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain who recently took charge as president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).Shami hasn’t played for India since featuring in the Champions Trophy in early March. Asked of his omission from the squad for the West Indies Tests, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had highlighted Shami’s lack of match time as one of the reasons.Related

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So far, since the end of IPL 2025 in June, Shami has featured in just one first-class game, for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy. In that game, he sent down 34 overs across the two innings, picking up one wicket. In the second innings of that match, Shami didn’t bowl much on the final day in a game East Zone lost after conceding a big first-innings lead.The Ranji season is also an opportunity for Akash Deep and Mukesh to get back on the Test selection radar ahead of the South Africa series starting November 14.Akash Deep was part of the England tour in the summer, where he featured in three of the five Tests and starred with a ten-wicket haul in India’s win in Birmingham. However, since his return from England, Akash Deep has had to undergo rehab for a back injury that ruled him out of the Duleep Trophy. He has since passed a fitness test but was not picked in the squad for the ongoing series against West Indies.Mukesh was part of the India A tour of England in the summer, where he picked up three wickets in his only outing. He bowled in just one innings in the Duleep Trophy opener for East Zone before being examined for a hamstring injury. He has since cleared his fitness tests at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.Bengal open their campaign against Uttarakhand at Eden Gardens on October 15. They are placed in Group C, with Assam, Services, Tripura, Railways, Haryana and Gujarat as the other teams.

Opener Campbell Kellaway also impressed for Australia A on a dominant day for the hosts

AAP05-Dec-2025Jhye Richardson has announced his triumphant return to bowling, taking four wickets in his second game back from injury as Australia A punished a hapless England Lions.The hosts went to stumps on day one of their four-day match in Brisbane at 155 for 2, after Richardson had taken 4 for 35 to help bowl the Lions out for 166.Richardson would almost certainly have figured in Test contention for this summer, had he not been recovering from shoulder surgery. He went wicketless during 20 overs for a CA XI against the Lions late last month, but was back bowling at pace at Allan Border Field on Friday.Richardson had Ben McKinney dropped at first slip in his third over of the day, before running through the tourists in the second session. He bowled James Rew for 7 when the left-hander inside-edged a ball that angled across him onto his stumps, before Richardson’s pace had Ben Kellaway playing on.In almost comical fashion, Kellaway defended a delivery from the quick before he was unable to stop the ball rolling back onto his stumps.Richardson then had both Matthew Fisher and Nathan Gilchrist edging behind the wicket, as the Lions fell from 72 for 1 to all out for 166 in 50 overs.Richardson played his last Test in December 2022, but has battled constant shoulder and hamstring injuries since then. His recovery from last season’s dislocated shoulder ruled him out of contention for the start of the Ashes, with Brendan Doggett debuting in Perth.Todd Murphy and Xavier Bartlett also took two wickets each for Australia A, before Campbell Kellaway flew to 71 off 75 balls in the final session.Earmarked as a Test opener of the future, Kellaway’s runs came after he also hit a half-century for the Prime Minister’s XI against England last weekend.Kellaway produced one of the shots of the day with a cracking pull shot off Gilchrist, before he later pulled the quick straight to mid on.England spinner Shoaib Bashir meanwhile had an unhappy afternoon, taking 0 for 22 from three overs after being overlooked for the Gabba Test.Nathan McSweeney (40 not out) pulled Bashir’s first two balls for four, before Kellaway also took to him in the next over and he was dragged out of the attack.

He hit the winning runs for India in their landmark Test win at The Oval in 1971, the highlight of a colourful career

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2025Syed Abid Ali, who represented India in 29 Tests from 1967 to 1974, has died in California aged 83.A medium pacer who was renowned for his high standards of fielding and lightning-fast running between the wickets, one of Abid Ali’s greatest moments on the cricket field came with the bat: he hit the winning runs for India from No. 8 at The Oval in 1971 to give India their first series triumph in England.These runs came via a “square cut that never reached the boundary as it was engulfed by jubilant supporters charging onto the ground”, as had been reported on ESPNcricinfo.Abid Ali also played five ODIs between 1974 and 1975, which also happened to be India’s first five ODIs.Related

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He finished with 47 wickets from his 29 Tests, including career-best figures of 6 for 55 in his debut innings against Australia in Adelaide. His medium pace came with enough variations to test batters. He also recorded six Test-match fifties, including twin fifties in Sydney later in that debut series.It could be argued that he was an allrounder, given that those two fifties came as an opener, and he batted at the top of the order in 21 of his 53 Test innings and scored 1018 runs at an average of 20.36 in his Test career. Those fifties in Sydney included “cavalier treatment of the new ball,” the match report said. Overall, he batted across the order for India, everywhere barring Nos. 4, 10 and 11.Then, there were his impressive fitness levels and fielding. His ESPNcricinfo profile sums it up thus: “Abid Ali had the feet of a sprinter, the energy of a marathon runner and the will of a decathlete, but his misfortune was that he was born 20 years too early. His game was made to order for one-day cricket: he bowled brisk medium-pace, fielded outstandingly, and was a busy lower-order batsman who ran between the wickets as if on invisible skates.”His focus on fitness came at a time when it was not the norm in cricket, and helped him gain a reputation both as a close-in fielder and for his spot-on flat throws from the outfield. Former ESPNcricinfo columnist V Ramnarayan, who was a young cricketer in the Hyderabad domestic circles when Abid Ali was in his prime, wrote of him: “The punishing regimen of training he followed was often the subject of anecdotes, wildly exaggerated and embellished, but perfect entertainment in the evening after a long day at the ground.”Syed Abid Ali during his stint coaching UAE•AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images

He was also quite a bit of a character. Ramnarayan wrote: “He was demonstrative in an age when most bowlers tended to hide their emotions. His appeals to God when he beat the edge, and his sardonic grins at batsmen blessed by the Lord – unfairly in Abid’s opinion – were sights to see and remember.”He was once no-balled for throwing in a Test match against New Zealand in Christchurch, but his blatant chucking apparently came in protest against Gary Bartlett having taken a six-for with an action that the Indian team felt was suspect.Abid Ali never went on to establish himself as a premier name in Indian cricket, in part because he had the misfortune of being a bowler in the era of India’s famous spin quartet. He was a mainstay for Hyderabad, though, playing 212 first-class games across 20 seasons, taking 397 wickets at 28.55 and scoring 8732 runs with 13 hundreds and 41 fifties. He played his last Test match in December 1974, his last ODI in June 1975, and his last first-class game in 1978-79.”Shri Syed Abid Ali was a true allrounder, a cricketer who embodied the spirit of the game,” BCCI president Roger Binny said in a statement. “His contributions to India’s historic victories in the 1970s will always be remembered. His dedication and versatility made him stand out. My deepest condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”After his playing days, Abid Ali went on to coach Andhra at the Ranji Trophy, and also had stints with UAE and Maldives. At the time of his death, he was living in Tracy, California, with his family.