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Allrounder’s left-arm spin takes 4 for 85 in Somerset’s second innings

ECB Reporters Network06-Sep-2023Tom Kohler-Cadmore scored a well-made 84, but Hampshire’s patience was rewarded with their sixth LV=Insurance County Championship victory of the season.Kohler-Cadmore and James Rew’s 107-run stand threatened to frustrate odds-on-favourites Hampshire, who had taken two early wickets. But Liam Dawson plugged away with 4 for 85 before the second new ball opened the visitors up as Hampshire won by 185 runs before tea, with 33 overs shy of survival.Hampshire, whose title ambitions were ended by Surrey’s victory the previous day, took 21 points to Somerset’s three – with both sides only battling for prize money in the final month of the season.Hampshire needed eight wickets, Somerset a less likely 400 runs on the final day at the Ageas Bowl. Somerset were rolled for 137 in the first innings, and when Sean Dickson – who had completed a half-century the previous evening – was castled by Mohammad Abbas to the 11th ball of the day, it felt like a landslide victory was coming for the hosts.Andy Umeed, who had played his part in the 68-run stand with Dickson, edged a rising Abbas delivery to second slip two overs later to make the lunch orders start to feel redundant. But Kohler-Cadmore and Rew bedded in and ate away at the overs.Kohler-Cadmore was skittish and refused to err from his aggressive tendencies, with plenty of plays and misses in the early part of his innings exciting the Hampshire cordon.His lack of fear might not have been the traditional way to save a match for his team, but it benefited both his side and himself – with his fourth half-century of the season coming in 67 deliveries. Rew took 16 balls to get off the mark and at various points was three of 31 and 11 off 49 but never seemed bogged down or frustrated.The pitch remained as slow and flat as it had been across the match, with Dawson finding some significant turn, and very occasional spit out the rough, but it was much too slow to provide a stern test. However, the left-arm spinner did break the 107-run alliance between Kohler-Cadmore and Rew.Rew had retaken his place as the highest run-scorer in Division One, he now has 1,077 runs, but a drive away from his body found an inside edge and was caught by wicketkeeper Ben Brown.Kohler-Cadmore’s resistance ended on 84 with a brilliant off-spinning delivery from Tom Prest five overs before the second new ball. It caught the edge of the rough wide of off stump to turn back and bowl the slog-sweeping batter. It was the former England under-19 captain’s maiden first-class wicket.The second new ball pulled the rug out from under Somerset’s resolve. Lewis Gregory edged Kyle Abbott behind to the fourth ball with the new cherry. Neil Wagner was castled by the South African quick in his following over, before Dawson bowled Jack Brooks and had Shoaib Bashir lbw to complete the victory.

New captain hopes team will feel ‘ten feet tall’ as he and McCullum take on leadership roles

Andrew Miller01-Jun-2022Ben Stokes, England’s new Test captain, insists the first LV= Insurance Test against New Zealand at Lord’s is a “blank canvas” for his team, rather than the start of the much-vaunted “red-ball reset”, and hopes that his partnership with head coach, Brendon McCullum, will allow the players to feel they are “ten feet tall” when they walk out of the pavilion on Thursday morning.In a sign of their determination for clarity in their new era, England confirmed their final XI 24 hours in advance of the match – with recalls for James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and a debut for Stokes’ Durham team-mate Matthew Potts, who has been the outstanding English quick on the county circuit this summer with 35 wickets at 18.57 to date.Overall, however, there is a sense of continuity to England’s first team of the summer, with seven survivors from their ten-wicket loss to West Indies in March, not to mention the 1177-wickets’ worth of new-ball experience back at the team’s disposal. However, despite a recent record of one Test win in 17 outings, Stokes is adamant that the players should not feel encumbered by what has gone before.”I just want everyone to feel free under my captaincy,” Stokes said, having taken over from Joe Root last month. “Obviously there has been talk around the word ‘reset’, which is something I don’t particularly like. I just see this as a complete and utter blank canvas for this Test team going forward.”We have got so much experience in that dressing room, with myself, Joe, Broady, Jimmy, Jonny [Bairstow], and at the other end we’ve younger lads with inexperience, but this is our time. We are going to dictate how things go, going forward. There is nothing on this blank canvas. Everyone is starting fresh now, whether you are Matt Potts or Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson.”The sense of new beginnings chimes with Broad’s insistence that he will treat his return to the side as a second debut after the hurt of missing out in the Caribbean. But for Potts – England cap No. 704 – that feeling will be all too real, and Stokes has no doubt that he will live up to the occasion.”Obviously he’s a Durham lad – there’s no bias there,” Stokes said. “I’ve got to know him over the years at Durham, and he has been outstanding in the games I have played, and even before that – he has been the guy that Scott Borthwick [their captain] has turned to to take the wickets.”Potts and Stokes have played together for Durham and Northern Superchargers•Getty Images

In a summer already marked by high scores all around the county circuit, Potts’ wickets tally – which includes four hauls of six wickets or more, and a best of 7 for 40 against Glamorgan – is especially notable, and Stokes was full of praise for the tenacity he had shown even when the conditions have not been in his favour.”County cricket has not been all plain sailing for the bowlers [this season], like it has been over the last few years,” he said. “You’ve really had to work for your wickets and he’s managed to create things out of nowhere.”One thing that really made my mind up about Potts getting this opportunity was when he bowled us to victory against Glamorgan,” Stokes added. “He turned up on day four with a bit of a stiff side – and someone in his situation, with Test selection coming round the corner, he could have just sat back and said ‘no, I am going to just look after myself here’.”But he didn’t, he ran in and he won the game for Durham. That’s the attitude that sets you at the next level, and really makes you open your eyes that this kid is ready. He’s been phenomenal – he’s an athlete and everything I expect this team to be going forward.”Despite the magnitude of the occasion, Stokes insists he will feel no extra nerves when he dons his England blazer and walks out for the toss for the first time as the official Test captain, having stood in once before against West Indies in 2020.”It is a new responsibility but I will just be going out there, trying to do the same thing as I have in my 80 [79] games that I have played already, which is to try and win games for England.Related

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“I just have a bit more to think about now. I am excited, but I don’t see this as any hinder on what I bring to the team, as a few people have suggested I might. It is going to be a very proud moment, but it is what it is.”Either way, he knows he can count on the support of his friend and predecessor, Root, who is back in the ranks for the first time since 2016 having led England a record 64 times.”He says he is always going to be there, offering support and stuff like that, but he also said he doesn’t want to feel like he’s getting in the way,” Stokes said. “He just wants to let me be me, and I said the same to him: ‘Mate, just concentrate on your batting now, you don’t have all the extra responsibility on your shoulders. Don’t feel like you have to come to me, just concentrate on getting your runs, and I will come to you when I need some advice.'”I backed Joe in that five years he did, and I know full well I will have his backing, even though he has decided to step away from the captaincy role.”For the time being, Stokes’ primary sounding board will be his leadership sidekick, McCullum, whom the squad have been getting to know in person over the past few days following his arrival from the IPL last week. And the first impressions, Stokes said, were pretty consistent with what he had been led to expect of their new alliance.”He has pretty much done everything like he explained, the way he coaches,” Stokes said. “He hasn’t thrown one ball yet, he has lived up to that, but he has been good. He is all about making everyone feel, in his words, ‘ten feet tall’, and I think it is pretty obvious in the way he will speak in the dressing room, because of the way he played cricket and when he was in charge of New Zealand. It’s been a good few days working with him.”

Joe Root readies himself for a bigger role with the ball in Moeen Ali’s absence

George Dobell12-Jan-2021Joe Root has hinted that England will opt to field an extra seamer in the first Test of their series in Sri Lanka, rather than adding a third spinner to their attack.Despite playing at Galle, a venue with a long-earned reputation for favouring spin bowling, England are set to select only two specialist spinners in Dom Bess and Jack Leach. They are likely to pick three seamers and turn to the part-time spin of Root and Dan Lawrence as required.Ahead of the tour, it had seemed likely England that would pick three spinners in each Test. Since 2016, spinners have claimed twice as many wickets as seamers in Tests at Galle – the venue for both Tests in this series – and have done so at a lower overall average, strike rate and economy rate.Related

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On England’s last tour to Sri Lanka, in late 2018, spin accounted for 100 wickets – the most ever in a three-Test series – while James Anderson and Stuart Broad claimed only one wicket between them. England used a three-man spin attack comprising Moeen Ali, Jack Leach and Adil Rashid in all three Tests, who claimed 48 wickets between them in a 3-0 win (Root’s offspin accounted for a 49th).But illness and absence have reduced their options. Moeen, England’s joint leading wicket-taker with Leach on the last tour, has been ruled out of contention having contracted Covid-19, while Rashid has limited himself to limited-overs cricket as he comes to terms with a long-term shoulder problem. Other options, such as Liam Dawson, are also unavailable through injury.That leaves England with three choices for third spinner. Although none of Matt Parkinson, Mason Crane and Amar Virdi are officially part of the Test squad at present, they are all part of the tour party as reserves and are considered to be available for selection.Only Crane has previously played Test cricket – he took 1 for 193 in Sydney at the start of 2018 – but he underwhelmed in the warm-up match (he conceded 37 from five overs, though he did dismiss Zak Crawley when he attempted to run a short ball to third man). Virdi didn’t bowl at all in that match, while Parkinson’s last first-class appearance was in September 2019. It is a situation which raises familiar questions about the lack of opportunities provided to developing spinners in the county game.England’s options have been diminished further by the likely absence of two seam-bowling allrounders. Ben Stokes has been rested for this tour, while Chris Woakes was obliged to spend the first week of it in quarantine having been deemed a close contact of Moeen. As a result, Woakes was unable to participate in the warm-up game and may be considered a little short of match fitness in conditions which are expected to be hot and humid.Sam Curran is set to play ahead of Chris Woakes or a third spinner•ECB

Those draining conditions – and the lack of the usual preparation time – might persuade England not to place too many demands on individual bowlers. And with Sri Lanka’s batsmen not always looking comfortable against pace, England are likely to want one of their quicker bowlers – Olly Stone or Mark Wood – alongside the allrounder, Sam Curran, and one of Broad or Anderson.That means Root, who took his Test-best figures of 4 for 122 at Port Elizabeth at the start of 2020, may well be obliged to contribute with the ball, while Lawrence and, to a lesser extent, Dom Sibley provide further part-time options.”I’ve readied myself for it [a role with the ball],” Root said. “I’ve prepared for it in practice and it does seem to be coming out OK at the moment. If it is the case that I need to bowl longer spells than previously and take a bigger workload in this series, then I’m looking forward to that challenge. It’s certainly an option and it will come down to the balance of the side.”As you’d expect in Galle, it’s going to spin. It’s just when in the game it’s going to spin – that’s the question.”But the pitch does look very different here from memory to what it did on previous tours. I don’t think it’s going to be miles away from what you’d expect a Galle wicket to play like, but if there’s weather around in the Test match and there’s a tacky nature to the pitch and it sweats with the covers on that probably brings seam into the game a bit more than it might normally do. Everything is pointing towards it being a bowlers’ game.”While Root will wait for another look at the pitch and the weather conditions before confirming his side – Galle has been hit by unseasonable rain in recent days – he did confirm he will bat at No. 4, with Jonny Bairstow at No. 3. He also said that Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley will open, and has previously confirmed that Jos Buttler will keep wicket.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

While he acknowledged that England’s lack of preparation time – they go into the series having played just one day of warm-up cricket – is far from ideal, he knows they have to start well to have a hope of winning the two-match series. The fact that they’ve lost the first Test in five of their last six series is not lost on him.”The preparations and build-up time is not ideal,” Root said. “There’s no point hiding behind the fact: we haven’t had the ideal lead-up to this series. It’s probably the shortest lead-up we’ve ever had going into an away Test match series. But regardless, it is about making sure we start the game well. So many times in these two-match series, it’s imperative you get off to a good start.”It’s something we’re desperate to keep improving on. We’ve started series poorly, as was mentioned last summer, and if we are to keep improving as a team we can’t be behind the eight ball going into the second Test match of every series.”The way we are going to do that is by scoring big first-innings runs and controlling the game. If we can manage to do that I think we’ll have success here.”

‘You come directly under a head coach as it’s his domain and you work according to his mindset. We will try to help Misbah as much as possible and move forward,’ Waqar says

Umar Farooq in Lahore20-Sep-2019When Waqar Younis twice served as the Pakistan head coach in the past – 2010 to 2011 and 2014 to 2016 – Misbah-ul-Haq was the Test captain on both occasions. Three-and-a-half years since his last stint with the team, Waqar has returned to the support staff set-up as the bowling coach and Misbah is now the head coach.Waqar will, as a result, work under Misbah after the PCB overhauled the support staff that was led by Mickey Arthur until the World Cup. Waqar and Misbah have shared a cordial relationship and the former fast bowler brings with him loads of coaching experience. This will be his fifth term in the Pakistan support staff, having served twice as the head coach, as the bowling coach in 2006-07, and the bowling and fielding coach briefly in 2009-10.His two stints as head coach had not ended on a good note earlier as he resigned both times before the end of his tenure. In 2011 he stepped down amid differences with then limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi and in 2016 he quit after a dispute with the PCB’s management following that year’s T20 World Cup.Will working under Misbah be a “demotion” of sorts for Waqar? He doesn’t think so.”As far as thinking like it’s a demotion, it’s only a myth that you go up or down,” Waqar said. “Our goal is how to make Pakistan a better team. For me the exciting thing is to try and help some of the promising youngsters who are in the pipeline, and some more who will come in the near future too.”You come directly under a head coach as it’s his domain and you work according to his mindset. The others are helping hands like the fielding coach and bowling coach. We will try to help Misbah as much as possible and move forward.”In three years lots of things have changed,” Waqar said when asked what made him come back. “The format has changed in domestic cricket, new people have come, there are new coaches, new thinking has come. I am not here to make controversies, I will try to make the Pakistan bowling attack a good one.”Waqar clarified that he wasn’t “mentally ready” to apply for the post of head coach again and he knew that Misbah was the main contender for the job. Waqar applied for the bowling coach position and he was the main candidate after another shortlisted applicant, Mohammad Akram, withdrew at the last minute.”I decided that I wasn’t mentally ready to get back into the set-up [as head coach] so I applied for bowling coach,” Waqar said. “I think I have a very good chemistry with Misbah, I’ve got a very good understanding with him and it will help in the future. The PCB has given Misbah an opportunity and it’s our responsibility to support and back him because he’s a very honest man and passionate about the game.”My role is very simple and well-defined. I had done both the roles as a head coach and a bowling coach so I have an idea. The best thing is that I know about Misbah’s mindset because whatever coaching I had done was with Misbah as the captain.”Their first assignment together will be two limited-overs series against Sri Lanka starting September 27 in Karachi with three ODIs followed by as many T20Is in Lahore next month. Currently, Waqar and Misbah are holding a training camp at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore where Waqar is working with young fast bowlers.”The emphasis of the camp is on training and fitness, we are always focusing on fitness with our bowlers,” Waqar said. “We have bowlers in the pipeline like Mohammad Hasnain and Nasim Shah and in the next few months they will come on the scene.”The best thing is Sri Lanka is coming, it’s a plus for Pakistan, and other teams should also come. Our short-term goal is that we should win matches early on and build the confidence.”

The opener currently stands provisionally suspended from all international and domestic cricket after returning a positive result on a dope test

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-2018Habib Bank Limited (HBL) will appoint a new captain for this year’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy after the team stripped Ahmed Shehzad of the role. Shehzad captained HBL last year in the QeA, but currently stands provisionally suspended from all international and domestic cricket organised by any national cricket board or its affiliate members after returning a positive result on a dope test. He is not part of HBL’s current 25-man squad for the QeA, meaning the removal from the captaincy was something of an inevitability. In the absence of Ahmed Shehzad last year, HBL were captained by former Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul.Shehzad underwent a random test during the 50-over Pakistan Cup in April, but it was only in June that news reports suggested he had failed to clear it. The PCB tweeted confirmation of the failed test, but said that according to ICC rules, it could not name the player until the result was backed up by Pakistan’s anti-doping agency; the original finding was from a WADA-accredited laboratory in India.Shehzad had the right to apply for his B sample to be tested separately (taken at the same time as his A sample), but opted not to do so, instead accepting the charge in response to the PCB’s show-cause notice to the player. The PCB will form a panel to hear Shehzad’s explanation, before determining what sanctions to apply. A date for the hearing is yet to be decided.Depending on the nature of the prohibited substance, the player could face up to a two-year ban. The last Pakistan international to suffer that fate was Raza Hasan, who tested positive for cocaine in 2015, and was banned until 2017. In the last few years, Pakistan spinners Yasir Shah and Abdur Rehman were also banned for minor doping offences, each serving three-month bans.

Faf du Plessis has conceded that JP Duminy’s place in the Test side will come in for scrutiny after a run of poor form

Firdose Moonda10-Jul-20172:05

Moonda: Duminy’s Test career may be over

JP Duminy may not be able to keep his place in South Africa’s Test XI after the returning captain, Faf du Plessis, conceded Duminy was under pressure due to poor form. That observation is vastly different from the support du Plessis had offered in the recent past, often saying Duminy looked at his best in training and it was only a matter of time before he translated that into match-day performances.Now, after eight innings without crossing 40, du Plessis has been forced to admit Duminy is not doing enough. He made 15 and 2 in the first Test at Lord’s, with his dismissal on the stroke of tea on day four particularly culpable as South Africa slipped to a 221-run defeat.”JP will be the first guy to say he knows he needs to score runs for this team and it’s no different for anyone else,” du Plessis said. “He is desperate to do well as anyone in that position. You want to try and score runs every time you go out that. He knows at the end of the day that it’s about runs. He understands that if it has to come to a position where there is someone else that needs to be looked at… he will be the first to acknowledge [that]. He is a crucial part of our senior player group and he will always put the team interests above himself so yes, he will be the first to acknowledge that.”With du Plessis back in the squad after missing the first Test for the birth of his first child, one option would for him to slot straight back into the team in Duminy’s place but the captain said South Africa will consider a few other things. Kagiso Rabada is suspended from the Trent Bridge match for ICC code of conduct violations and South Africa may look at playing both allrounder Chris Morris and reserve quick Duanne Olivier to make up for his absence. In that case, Theunis de Bruyn would have to miss out, with du Plessis coming in for Duminy.”With losing KG – do you look at possibly playing a four-seam attack because you are losing quite a high-quality bowler? That’s means there would be a batsman that will miss out,” du Plessis said. “That’s one option.”Either way, du Plessis seemed to suggest that de Bruyn, who scored 48 in the first innings in what was just his second Test, has moved up the queue and possibly ahead of Duminy for the rest of this series. “You can look at someone like Theunis de Bruyn who has played pretty well this game – standing up at Lord’s and it’s only his second Test match. He was solid in that first innings. He played well,” du Plessis said.JP Duminy was twice dismissed cheaply at Lord’s•Getty Images

The form of the middle order was the only positive South Africa’s batting could take from the Lord’s Test after the top four let them down yet again. Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander all scored half-centuries and du Plessis would like to see one of them in particular go on to convert that into something bigger.”Temba has once again been consistent,” du Plessis said. “But now, something Temba needs to work on is making sure he converts those starts. He is playing brilliantly but he knows that fifties don’t win us matches. The difference between the two teams is that one guy scored 190. That changed the outcome of the game.”Bavuma has scored three fifties in his last four Tests but only has one hundred in his short career, against England in January 2016. Having to constantly bail the top order out may be a handbrake for him, however, and du Plessis stressed that the top two must come good. Dean Elgar got a start with a half-century in the first innings at Lord’s and du Plessis was confident Heino Kuhn, who was unconvincing on debut, will show his experience at some stage.”Heino Kuhn is not a young guy anymore but he is new to Test cricket,” du Plessis said. “I don’t think everything is supposed to be a fairytale where you just rock up and score two hundreds in your first game. Ask Dean. He got a pair in his first game. It’s about character and how you stand up to that. This will be good. It will make him stronger.”

A round-up of the Dhaka Premier League matches played on May 14, 2016

Mohammad Isam14-May-2016Mashrafe Mortaza slammed a 50-ball century, the fastest by a Bangladeshi in List A cricket, in Kalabagan Krira Chakra‘s 21-run win over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in Fatullah.Shakib Al Hasan’s 63-ball century against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2009 was the previous fastest List A century by a Bangladeshi. Mashrafe’s feat is now placed third among the fastest List A centuries hit in Bangladesh, behind Brain Lara’s 45-ball-effort against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 1999 and Brendan Taylor’s 46-ball effort for Prime Bank Cricket Club against Kalabagan Cricket Academy in Rajshahi in 2013.Mashrafe smashed 11 sixes, the second highest by a batsman in List A cricket in Bangladesh. A majority of his sixes came in the arc between deep midwicket and long-on. Shane Watson struck 15 sixes during his 185 not out off 96 balls in Mirpur in 2011. Mashrafe’s 11 sixes are the most by a batsman in the Dhaka Premier League, after the tournament was given List A status in 2013.Kalabagan were reduced to 169 for 4 by the 36th over when Mashrafe walked out to bat. He cracked four sixes by the time he reached 50 off 35 balls. Mashrafe kicked into higher gear when he hit seamer Muktar Ali for three sixes in the 46th over. He then crashed four sixes off left-arm spinner Wahidul Alam, including three on the trot, in the 48th over.Mashrafe needed only 15 balls to move from fifty to hundred before he was dismissed in the penultimate over of Kalabagan’s innings. Opener Jashimuddin, Hamilton Masakadza, and Tasamul Haque made useful contributions as their team surged to 316 for 7.Mashrafe then struck in the first over of the chase, having Mahbulul Karim caught by Abdur Razzak for a three-ball duck. Abdullah Al Mamun and Sohag Gazi added 71 runs for the second wicket but the partnership ended when Masakadza removed Abdullah for 40 in the 13th over. Masakadza went on to cut through Dhanmondi’s batting line-up with figures of 4 for 37. Late fifties from Zabid Hossain and Muktar to add to 49 off 27 balls from No.11 Alam gave Kalabagan a scare. But they eventually scraped to their second win in six games.Shahriar Nafees struck his first List A ton after nine years, as Brothers Union sent Cricket Coaching School to their sixth consecutive defeat. This time CCS lost by 38 runs.Having been inserted, Brothers, led by Nafees’ 134 off 147 balls, posted 253 for 6. Nafees struck 14 fours and five sixes, having reached 100 off 132 balls. He put on 108 for the first wicket with Imrul Kayes, who made 49, and 60 for the fourth wicket with Zakir Hasan. Nafees’ knock was ended by left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed in the last over of Brothers’ innings.CCS then had a shaky start to the chase, losing both openers by the ninth over. Saif Hassan and Salman Hossain added 139 for the third wicket. However, both fell in quick succession and the lower-middle order crumbled. CCS were ultimately bowled out for 215 in 47.2 overs.Gazi Group Cricketers picked up their fourth win after beating Kalabagan Cricket Academy by eight wickets at the BKSP-3 ground.Batting first, KCA were shot out for 186 in 47.3 overs with legspinner Alok Kapali taking his maiden five-for in List A cricket. He finished with figures of 5 for 44, including a maiden. Jatin Saxena top-scored for KCA with 44 while Mahmudul Hasan contributed 41.Gazi Group then reached the target in 40.2 overs with Shamsur Rahman leading the way with an unbeaten 95 off 120 balls, including eight fours and three sixes. Anamul Haque, Mehedi Hasan, and Saeed Anwar jnr made cameos to assist Shamsur.

Chris Rushworth’s five wickets have set up an intriguing final day in which both Durham and Sussex are hanging on to 100% records

Srihari Daivanayagam at Chester-le-Street28-Apr-2015
ScorecardChris Rushworth’s five wickets set up a tight finish at Chester-le-Street•Getty Images

The rain which had been threatening to disrupt play throughout the first two days eventually came on day three, but not before Durham, led by Chris Rushworth’s five-wicket haul, bowled out Sussex for 265 to set up an intriguing day four at Chester-le-Street.After record partnerships from tail enders on the first two days, there was a hint of normalcy in the proceedings on a day in which bowlers took wickets and batsmen scored runs.Sussex dominated the first session of play and looked on course for a big total. But a couple of quick wickets before lunch, followed by a post-lunch batting collapse meant that they managed to set a target of just 262.A positive start by Durham’s openers has left them with just 147 to get on the final day to record their second successive win of the season.Rushworth, who picked up his 10th five-wicket haul for Durham said it has been a “remarkable game”. On how the pitch is behaving, he said: “The odd one is doing a bit, keeping low, bouncing a little bit sidewards so there’s plenty there for the bowlers. But I think in general it is a pretty good pitch.”Earlier in the day, it looked as though it wasn’t going to be Durham’s day as the Sussex batsmen either kept playing and missing it by a whisker or edging it past or just short of the slip cordon. Durham have learned not to despair. “We always feel in the game here,” Rusworth said. “We know as a bowling unit that if you hang around there and be patient, rewards will either come at the other end or later on in the day.”Despite riding his luck early on with a couple of lbw shouts and edges that didn’t quite carry, Matt Machan sparkled for Sussex on a pitch that wasn’t exactly easy to bat, securing his third half-century of the season.After frustrating Durham’s bowlers for large parts of the opening session, both Machan and Harry Finch fell to Usman Arshad and Ben Brown nicked one to Scott Borthwick to put the game nicely in the balance going into lunch.At 255-6 with Luke Wright still at the crease, the visitors would have been looking for another late-order flourish to make good Machan’s efforts. It was not forthcoming. The last four wickets fell for just 10 runs as Rushworth and John Hastings did what they couldn’t in the first innings, wrap up the tail quickly.Rushworth started the collapse by trapping Ajmal Shahzad lbw with the score at 255 for 6. Considering the amount of good shouts that were turned down by both umpires, that was a surprise as it looked as though the ball was heading down leg. In his next over, Rushworth sent the dangerous Luke Wright’s middle stump out for a walk with an delivery that moved off the pitch.Hastings who had hitherto bowled well without any reward picked wrapped up the tail with two wickets in two balls just nine overs after lunch.Chasing a modest 262, both of Durham’s openers started positively on a pitch that is still difficult for new batsmen. Unusually, it was Keaton Jennings who was the aggressor at the start. It was not until the 11th over, when he hit debutant Robinson for three fours that Mark Stoneman really got going. The last of the boundaries also brought up the pair’s second fifty partnership of the innings.Just when it looked as though Durham were cruising to the target, Shahzad removed both openers before tea. First Stoneman was trapped lbw two balls after hitting a massive six onto the top tier of the County Durham Stand. His opening partner followed four overs later, as Division One’s leading wicket taker got the ball to move back in and got the edge off Jennings’ bat into the keeper’s glove.Borthwick and Michael Richardson held fort after tea before the players left due to bad light, with play eventually being abandoned due to rain. With plenty of overs left to play, the weather and not the players will decide whether Division One still has a side that has won all of their games this season.

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, believes Alastair Cook’s wealth of experience at international level gives him a head start to the Test captaincy

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Aug-2012Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, believes Alastair Cook’s wealth of experience at international level gives him a head start after taking over the Test captaincy from Andrew Strauss who retired from professional cricket on Wednesday.Cook, who has been England’s one-day captain since last year, will take charge for the first time on the tour of India which starts in October and already has 83 Tests to his name.”He is unquestionably England’s most experienced leader to have got the job,” Vaughan told ESPNcricinfo . “He has played 83 Test matches for England. When I got the job I had played 31, Straussy had got the job when he played 50, Nasser Hussain got the job when he had played 47. Even if Cook is still a young boy he is the most experienced guy to ever have taken the role. So he should be in a great position to lead the team.”Strauss’ retirement was the latest instalment of a difficult year for England who are also having to deal with the ongoing Kevin Pietersen stand-off. The Test side has lost six of 11 matches this year to concede the No. 1 ranking to South Africa cumulating in the recent 2-0 series loss to them. However, Vaughan said the basis of English cricket remained solid and there was no need for Cook to press the panic button.According to Vaughan, who was handed the captaincy in 2003, after Nasser Hussain called time on the role after the first Test against South Africa at Edgbaston, most captains assume the captaincy job in equally “tricky” situations. Vaughan led England for five years, starting with the onerous task of phasing out some of his senior team-mates to allow the “new generation” help him reach his goal.”Whenever you get the job you never get in a great circumstance,” he said while promoting the Extreme Sailing Series in Cardiff. “I got the role when there were a lot of senior players around and clearly that transition of bringing in new players has to happen.”So I had to kind of oversee how we were going to rid of the legendary or senior guys who had performed well for England for a number of years and bring a new generation and change the mentality of the team. We had lost to Australia for many, many series. I had to change the mentality of beating the great Australian side. That was my role.”

Who is the right partner for Cook?

The right man to occupy the vacant opening slot left behind by Strauss should be a specialist opener according to Michael Vaughan instead of a middle-order player being moved up.

There has been discussion that one of Jonathan Trott, the current No. 3, or Ian Bell should go alongside Cook. Such a move, Vaughan cautioned, could be counter-productive. “I have heard rumours about Trott or even Bell to move up and open the batting,” he said. “I would advise them to pick an opening batsman, who has done it from an early age. The best openers in the game historically come from people who have done all their lives. Cook and Strauss did that as little boys.”

Another reason Vaughan felt the move could backfire was because an opening batsman generally was more adept at moving down order whereas a middle-order batsman can struggle to settle against the new ball.

“You can go from opening to No.3, but, I am not so sure you can move in time from middle order to open. It is a very specialist position so I would advise them to pick who they feel is the best opening batsman to go with Cook and leave the experience in the middle order. So Trott and Bell, we need those kind of players in the middle of the innings particularly in the parts of the world like India.”

Similarly, it was a difficult time when Strauss took over in the midst of the Pietersen-Peter Moores dispute in 2009. Despite such incidents, Vaughan stressed, England have always held the advantage of having a ready back-up in place. “When Straussy got the role there was a fall-out between Pietersen and Peter Moores, but there was a still a good element of players around. There has been a system for a while now, what I describe as a conveyor belt where England would keep producing players.”And now Cook gets the role again in a tricky circumstance: England have lost six in their last eleven Tests, the Pietersen situation, how does he manage that, only he knows best how to manage that. It is actually good because you can start from afresh and move forward.”Paying tribute to Strauss, Vaughan called him a “good captain,” someone who would always fall in the bracket of the best men to lead England this generation. Equally impressive for Vaughan was the timing of Strauss’ retirement.”The respect side was always there,” Vaughan said. “The way he dealt with people was outstanding. The way he dealt with media was outstanding. And he has won games for England and managed to score runs as a captain. He is right up there with the captains of last 20 years. Andrew Strauss would be in that group that got mentioned quite often. He has done a good job and he has gone out at the right time.”It was Vaughan the captain who handed Strauss his Test cap on debut against New Zealand at Lord’s. A decade later Strauss finished an illustrious career standing next to Vaughan among the most successful Test captains for England. Vaughan had 26 wins alongside 11 losses during his 51-match tenure while Strauss had 24 wins and 11 losses in the 50 Tests at the helm. Yet, according to Vaughan, neither man was destined to be a leader.”I certainly did not think on my debut I would captain England, never mind going on to lead England 51 times and win 26 of those Tests,” Vaughan said. ” I never even expected that. And I never expected Andrew Strauss to have 50 Tests as captain when I gave him the Test cap. When I retired in 2008 Kevin Pietersen got the role and I did not see an opportunity for Strauss to get the job. But it came out of circumstance.”Vaughan called Strauss selfless, a modern leader. “He is very self-deprecating, always looked out for others and the team before himself. That is what makes a good leader in this era, someone who really looks at the rest before he looks at himself. That is really good.”On the August 30, Michael Vaughan is making his way down to Cardiff for the Extreme Sailing Series, Extreme 40 Catamaran race weekend. Raced by many of the world’s best sailors, including Ian Williams the skipper of the GAC Pindar team and three tims World Match Racing Tour champion, the race will take place on Cardiff bay over four days with the event open to the public.

South Africa’s domestic limited-overs competition has been changed to bring it in line with international one-day cricket

Firdose Moonda20-Aug-2011South Africa’s domestic limited-overs competition has been changed to bring it in line with international one-day cricket. The tournament, which was a 40-over event for the last two seasons, will now be a 50-over competition in a bid to prepare for the 2015 World Cup. The decision was taken at Cricket South Africa’s annual general meeting in Port Elizabeth on Saturday on the advice of the cricket committee.”The conditions will be identical to those for ODIs to prepare our players better for international competition,” Gerald Majola, CSA chief executive said. “That should help us to win that elusive ICC limited overs trophy.”In April, after South Africa crashed out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage, convenor of selectors, Andrew Hudson indicated to ESPNcricinfo that the domestic structure would be changed in order to better prepare the national team for major tournaments. Two months later, CSA announced that the competition would revert back to a 45-over game, as it had been from the 1995-6 season until 2009-10. Now, CSA have decided to replicate the ODI format exactly, in an attempt to win a first World Cup trophy.South Africa’s limited-overs competition had undergone many changes in the past two decades, often with the view to copy innovations in the international game. In the 2005-06 season, when the ICC was experimenting with the use of a “super-sub” and Powerplays, South Africa followed suit. With thoughts of 50-over cricket becoming a thing of the past, the competition was reduced to 40 overs and three Powerplays were added. With the anticipated change in ODIs coming to nothing, CSA are going back to the traditional limited-overs form of the game.The new competition is without a sponsor after mobile telephone operator MTN, who backed the tournament from the 2006-07 season, pulled out of cricket. A sponsor is expected to be announced in the next month.