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While the Heat captain disagreed with the third umpire’s decision of giving Alex Ross out for obstructing the field, he aimed his ire not at the them but at Hobart Hurricanes

Alex Malcolm10-Jan-2018Brisbane Heat captain Brendon McCullum has said Hobart Hurricanes captain George Bailey “missed an opportunity” to uphold the spirit of the game following a bizarre obstructing-the-field incident during a BBL clash at the Gabba.Batsman Alex Ross was given out obstructing the field at a critical point in the Heat’s chase of 180. Needing 49 runs from 19 balls, Ross pulled the ball to deep midwicket and looked to return for a second run. Jofra Archer fired a throw wide of the stumps at the striker’s end and hit Ross as he was sliding to make his ground. The ball eventually ricocheted onto the stumps off Ross.The Hurricanes initially appealed thinking he might have been run-out. Replays then showed he had made his ground but they also indicated he had veered off his line. Ross appeared to veer away from the ball to avoid being hit rather than get intentionally into the line of the ball to block the throw but the third umpire gave him out obstructing the field.
Law 37.1 says a batsman is out obstructing the field “if he wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action.”McCullum held long and animated discussions with both the umpires and Bailey after the end of the match. While he disagreed with the third umpire’s decision, he aimed his ire not at the them but at Bailey and the Hurricanes for not calling Ross back.”Firstly, I don’t believe it was the right decision,” McCullum said post-match.”We’re not righteous about our stance on spirit of the game. But I think every now and then you get an opportunity to stand up for the spirit of the game. Tonight, I think the Hurricanes and George (Bailey) missed an opportunity.”Bailey felt he had done nothing wrong and told broadcasters, , post-match that he had simply asked the question of the umpires and left the decision up to them.McCullum said he and Bailey did not budge from their opposing views during their tense conversation.”We were debating the philosophical merits of one another’s points,” McCullum said.”Whatever the rules are, to be honest I don’t really care what the rules are. To me that’s one of those grey areas about the definition of that rule, just like a Mankad is a grey area as well in terms of the rules that we have.”But to me it also falls into the spirit of the game and that was what I was making the point to George and he’s quite entitled to do differently.”As we say we’re not righteous about our stance. But I’m also going to be truthful about it and say that I think he missed an opportunity tonight. And perhaps in time, sometimes these opportunities are more important than the two points at play. I think he missed one of those tonight.”I think (Ross) was trying to veer away from the ball. If you do check the laws it’s about wilfully obstructing the field. Again, none of that matters because to me it is a grey rule. When it’s grey, then it comes into the definition of the spirit of the game.”They are quite entitled to do what they want. But I just get the feeling, speaking from experience that this is an opportunity that he, in time, will perhaps live to wish he had made the other choice.”I did the Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey lecture a couple of years ago and I openly admitted my own mistakes about not adhering to what was a great opportunity to, I guess, hold the spirit of cricket up where it needs to sit.”Look, that’s the way we want to play the game. Other teams don’t have to play like that. I think we’ll certainly endear ourselves to a select group of fans for the way we play and you can judge the others how you want.”McCullum did state that he felt the Hurricanes deserved to win the game because they had played the better cricket.The two teams are set to meet again in at Blundstone Arena in Hobart on Monday.

The Hurricanes had lost their last three matches, lost their leading scorer D’Arcy Short to international duty, dropped Tymal Mills, but they still managed to dethrone the defending champions

The Report by Alex Malcolm01-Feb-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHobart Hurricanes became the first team in BBL history to score more than 200 against Perth Scorchers, and thus the first team into this year’s BBL final. They dethroned the defending champions in staggering fashion.Before today, The Hurricanes had lost their last three matches, lost their leading scorer D’Arcy Short to international duty, dropped their highly touted import Tymal Mills. But they dismantled the Scorchers infront of 52,960 hostile fans at the new Optus Stadium in Perth.Matthew Wade made a sensational 71 off 45 balls at the top of the order to set up a record score in BBL knockouts, outshining Australia wicketkeeper Tim Paine in the process. Ben McDermott and Dan Christian clubbed 87 runs off the last six overs to pound the Scorchers into submission.Mills’ replacement Tom Rogers knocked over the Scorchers’ top three with extra pace and bounce. The Scorchers’ deep batting line-up folded under the weight of the enormous chase. The Hurricanes now wait to see whether they will travel to Adelaide or Melbourne for Sunday’s final.Agar’s absence one too many
The Scorchers have been able to absorb the loss of Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye, Jhye Richardson and David Willey at different stages throughout the tournament. But Ashton Agar’s loss was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He has been the Scorchers’ most economical bowler this season, conceding just 5.74 per over, but more than that he balances their pace-heavy attack.The Scorchers opted to use Mitchell Marsh as their fifth bowler and paid a heavy price. Firstly, he took the new ball to try and get through an easy over first up. He was wayward and got hammered for two boundaries by Wade. Secondly, it gave Wade a start before facing Mitchell Johnson and he capitalised. He smashed six more boundaries to all corners in 12 balls, including four off Johnson. While his team-mates struggled to adjust to the pace and bounce of the pitch, Wade batted with incredible fluency. Agar’s absence hurt the most in the four overs post the Powerplay. Wade and George Bailey struck a boundary an over and scored at 9.5 for four overs in a period where Agar normally concedes less than a run a ball.McDermott mauls the Scorchers
Wade’s innings set the game up but at one stage he appeared to need to go very deep to ensure a competitive total. At the end of 12 overs he had scored 69 of the Hurricanes’ 105 runs. He needed help, and McDermott provided it. McDermott got going with a six over mid-off off his ninth delivery. Wade fell in the 14th over but McDermott upped the ante. He launched Marsh, Johnson and Richardson into the stands five more times. Marsh ended up conceding 53 from his four overs. The power of the striking against such velocity stunned the Scorchers’ fans into silence. McDermott made 67 from just 30 balls. Christian continued his outstanding form with another superb cameo to set the Scorchers a mammoth target.Getty Images

Rogers the replacement
Rogers had only played two T20s prior to this semi-final. He gave up 50 runs in three overs on debut against Sydney Thunder and then took 1 for 29 in four overs against the Scorchers at the WACA. But Mills had bowled himself out of the team on form and Rogers was the first cab off the rank. He bowled the right lengths on a surface where anything slightly astray got punished. He hurried Michael Klinger into pulling to short fine leg after bowling four dots to him. He forced Cameron Bancroft and Shaun Marsh to pull to the long boundary and both men picked out a deliberately placed deep square leg. Rogers had 3 for 17 in three overs in the Powerplay and the Scorchers were 3 for 51.Bailey and Archer atone
Bailey and Jofra Archer were two of the chief architects of the calamitous loss to Melbourne Stars last Sunday that had nearly cost the Hurricanes a semi-final berth. During the eighth over of the Scorchers’ chase, two brilliant pieces of fielding all but sealed the Hurricanes place in a BBL final for the first time. Mitchell Marsh hooked Christian towards fine leg, where Archer charged in from the rope and dived forward at full stretch to take an incredible catch inches above the turf. Two balls later Ashton Turner hit a ball to Bailey at mid-off and took him on. Bailey accepted the challenge and produced a direct hit that ran Turner out by miles. Adam Voges and Hilton Cartwright never got going and both men fell before the end of the 10th over ,leaving the Scorchers at 7 for 68. They would never recover. Christian finished with 4 for 17 to cap another excellent all-round display.

Female physical education teachers who are “not interested” in the history of cricket is one reason the game is falling behind other sports in Jamaica, Dave Cameron has said

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-2018Female physical education teachers who are “not interested” in the history of cricket is one reason the game is falling behind other sports in Jamaica. That is the view not of the common man, but Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dave Cameron, who is from Jamaica. Cameron also believes space constraints have generally contributed to the waning popularity of cricket in Jamaica, which has given to West Indies cricket players like Michael Holding, Lawrence Rowe, Jeffrey Dujon, Courtney Walsh and Chris Gayle.”It has nothing to do with the Government,” Cameron told the . “Firstly, we only have female PE teachers, which is a problem. Most of them don’t know cricket. The game of cricket is very complicated. They don’t know the history and neither are they interested. That becomes an issue. When we went to school, most of our PE teachers, if not all, were male. So they coach cricket, football, track and field, and we’re not getting that anymore.”Cameron did also say that the costs and infrastructure requirements of the game were a factor in schools preferring football over cricket. “In football, four-a-side scrimmage can be played in a little two-by-four space; on the road, you put a hoop on a light post and you can play basketball. Cricket suffers from needing space and specialised equipment, and all that kind of thing, to operate.”So we’re continuously looking at different ways and different types of the game that can be played without that huge fanfare of a big field and specialised pitches.”It is not the first time Cameron has made such comments. His five-year tenure as CWI president has been ridden with controversies, none bigger than his differences with a group of senior West Indies players who abandoned the India tour in October 2014 over disputes involving contracts. Recently, Cameron made headlines when he said some of the players who had skipped the World Cup Qualifiers for personal reasons might not play for West Indies again.Cameron called for tough measures to be taken in order to safeguard CWI’s commercial interests, though he did acknowledge that he could have improved his communication with senior players.”If we had to do it again, what we would’ve done is engage WIPA and our senior players,” Cameron told the last week. “I’m not so sure that we would’ve gone back on our policy of what we needed to do at that time. Because if we didn’t do that, we would not be where we are today, with a business that I can say to you, with fair confidence, that would be sustainable. Going forward, when we’re making decisions like that, we will be trying to cover all the bases.”

Yorkshire’s Martyn Moxon will chair the meeting at Edgbaston aimed at considering how to fight back against the lure of sundry worldwide Twenty20 leagues

David Hopps02-Apr-2018County cricket’s leading coaches will gather at Edgbaston next week in a crisis meeting to consider how to fight back against the lure of sundry worldwide Twenty20 leagues to the top limited-overs players in the country.The growing feeling within the counties is that they are paying reliable, long-term contracts to players – many of whom they have developed since childhood – who then rarely take the field.As cricket has no transfer system, or worldwide compensation agreement, the complaint is that English counties are running extensive coaching networks and nurturing players from an early age without adequate rewards for their efforts.A record number of England players are taking part in this season’s IPL, causing them to miss virtually half the Championship season, but at least when it comes to India’s T20 competition the counties can anticipate some levels of compensation.One proposal on the agenda is that county players contracted for an entire year must pass on a percentage of their earnings from winter tournaments like the Bangladesh Premier League, Australia’s Big Bash and the Pakistan Super League – so putting those tournaments on roughly the same level as the IPL.Others contend that overseas T20 leagues should pay loan fees, similar to the methodology used in football. If they can reach common accord, many counties believe they can prevent players switching from county to county in search of a softer deal.Former England coaches Ashley Giles and Peter Moores are expected at the meeting, as well as ex-England internationals such as Alec Stewart and Paul Allott.Representatives from 15 county clubs are confirmed to attend and such is the level of anxiety about county cricket’s plight that the only surprise is that three counties don’t see fit to be there.A prime fear is that more players will follow the example of Alex Hales and Adil Rashid in seeking a white-ball only future, which might suit England’s needs as they plan for the 2019 World Cup on home soil but could, if the habit became widespread, put the survival of England’s first-class game at risk.But the growing sense of dismay goes deeper than that. Equally disturbing for the counties are the players who will profess their loyalty in all forms of the game, but who then top up their salaries with several close-season T20 leagues, and as a result are either injured, fatigued or must undertake enforced rest periods imposed by England, during the county season.Players, for their part, contend that an impossible overcrowded fixture list, with international and club cricket battling for supremacy, leaves them with the sort of divided loyalties that they would rather not face as they seek to maximise their earnings.Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, will chair the meeting on April 10, which will seek solutions at a time when the ECB seems merely content to let cricket’s shifting sands move in whatever direction they wish.Moxon, who has developed into one of the county game’s more serious thinkers, is well placed to pass on concerns, also being on the ECB’s cricket committee, and well respected by the ECB chairman Colin Graves.Central to their concerns are the white-ball only contracts introduced by the managing director of England cricket, Andrew Strauss. These were introduced in September 2016 as a supplement to county contracts – roughly doubling their pay – but the counties now feel that England are getting their one-day specialists on the cheap.The situation is more equable in Test cricket where the ECB contracts the player exclusively – although even that makes it difficult for a county to make financial plans when a player suddenly loses that contract and is added to the county payroll.The ECB claims it wishes to protect the 18-team county system – the most successful professional club league in world cricket despite predictions of its demise for more than half a century – but the harsh fact is that counties barely see some of their top white-ball players in spite of most of them earning salaries above GBP100,000 a year.That situation is seen as unsustainable. Parasitical T20 leagues can ultimately destroy the host. The counties are seeking something more symbiotic – a form of mutual advantage – and, as the cricketing calendar seems to be the harshest form of economic free-for-all, they believe that time is running out to achieve it.

Both teams have depended on a few key performers and will want substantial efforts from the others

The Preview by Annesha Ghosh13-May-20185:26

Hogg: Kings XI are chopping and changing too much

Big Picture

On a day when assembly elections in Karnataka dominated Twitter trends, the IPL team from the state (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and a local boy (KL Rahul) took over the headlines for the better part of the evening.Rahul accomplished this with his third straight fifty during Kings XI Punjab’s loss in Indore; RCB earned it through a Virat Kohli-AB de Villiers masterclass.It’s been the story of the season for both teams; if Kings XI have been over-reliant on Rahul and Chris Gayle, the same is true of RCB, Kohli and de Villiers. On the ground where 459 runs were plundered in 40 overs on Saturday, the two teams’ fortunes might depend on how the rest of their line-ups fare.Both teams will also be wary of their death-bowling issues on a ground with a notably flat pitch and short boundaries. RCB are the most expensive death-overs team this season, while Kings XI leaked 76 runs in the last five overs during their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. As their seam mainstay and purple-cap holder Andrew Tye said, “You have to just hope on this wicket.”

Form guide

• Kings XI Punjab: lost to Kolkata Knigt Riders by 31 runs lost to Rajasthan Royals by 15 runs, beat Rajasthan Royals by six wickets

• Royal Challengers Bangalore: beat Delhi Daredevils by five wickets, lost to Sunrisers by five runs, lost to Super Kings by six wickets

Previous meeting

A little over a month ago, a red-hot Umesh Yadav neutralised a blazing start from KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Umesh’s season-best figures of 3 for 23 helped bowl out Kings XI for 155. Built on a 54-run stand between Quinton de Kock and de Villiers, RCB’s maiden win of the season coincided with Kings XI’s first loss, and ended a five-match losing streak at the M Chinnaswamy going back to last season.

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: 1 KL Rahul (wk), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Karun Nair, 4 Mayank Agarwal/ Akshdeep Nath, 5 Manoj Tiwary, 6 Aaron Finch, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin (capt), 9 Andrew Tye, 10 Mohit Sharma, 11 Mujeeb Ur RahmanRoyal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Parthiv Patel (wk)/Manan Vohra, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Sarfaraz Khan, 7 Colin de Grandhomme/ Moeen Ali, 8 Tim Southee, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Strategy punt

Quinton de Kock’s availability for selection could see Colin de Grandhomme vacate the fourth overseas player’s slot. De Kock’s quickfire 45 against Kings XI in their last meeting and his breezy 54 against Chennai Super Kings proved pivotal in RCB getting off to steady starts before he took a break to attend Theunis de Bruyn’s wedding in South Africa.The wicketkeeper-batsman’s return also gives RCB the option of a left-right opening combination, with Manan Vohra, due to play his 50th IPL match, slotting back in for Parthiv Patel, who opened with Moeen Ali in a left-left combination in RCB’s previous game. Going with at least one right-hand batsman at the top could help RCB deal with the threat of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who has a ridiculously good record against left-hand batsmen this season: eight wickets while only conceding 51 runs to them in 58 balls.

Stats that matter

• Chris Gayle is 42 runs short of becoming the seventh player to score 4000 runs in the IPL
• Rahul hasn’t dominated against spin (average 27.9) the way he has against pace (average 171). Seven of his nine dismissals this season are against spin
• Kohli, who is 34 runs away from registering 500 runs in an IPL season for the fifth time, has never been dismissed by Ashwin, Tye or Mohit Sharma in the IPL
• With at least three left-handers in the fray to grab the opening slot, Mujeeb’s dot percentage of 55.2 and economy rate of 5.3 against left-handers this season could help keep a tight leash on the RCB openers
• Ashwin has bowled 192 of his 256 balls this season during the middle overs. In that phase, he has an economy rate of 7.7, has conceded a boundary every eight balls, and has taken four of his six wickets.

Fantasy pick

In his first appearance after gaining the Australia T20I captaincy, Aaron Finch finally broke free, getting past 30 for the first time in six innings this season. If the three sixes he hammered during his 20-ball 34 against Delhi Daredevils doesn’t inspire you to pick him in your team, sample this: his strike rate of 161 since 2017 is the highest among the Kings XI batsmen.

Quotes

“It will be a completely different wicket at Indore. The ground is small. Their batsmen are in form and I think they have the best batting line-up. We’ll strategise according to the conditions”
“We’d love to have someone other than KL [Rahul] stand up and go with KL, put a couple of performances on.”

Mason Crane claimed three wickets on his return from injury as Hampshire edged out Surrey in a rain-affected contest

ECB Reporters Network21-May-2018
ScorecardMason Crane and Rilee Rossouw starred as Hampshire continued their 100 percent record in the Royal London One-Day Cup – as they edged out Surrey by four wickets.Legspinner Crane grabbed 3 for 45 on his first appearance at the Ageas Bowl since making his Test debut over the winter, before Rossouw blasted a memorable 90, and Joe Weatherley bundled Hampshire over the line, to condemn Surrey to their second defeat of the tournament.Hampshire were set 227 to win from 34 overs, on DLS method, after Surrey had amassed 262 in 44 rain-affected overs, thanks to Dean Elgar’s 91.Rossouw and Hashim Amla set about the task enthusiastically, with the latter creaming a series of cut shots to the boundary. But the former South Africa Test captain, having helped put on 52 for the first wicket, was leg before to a Rikki Clarke ball that jagged in.Rossouw then went on the attack, plunging Sam Curran and Clarke for sixes on the way to a 34-ball fifty. Vince scored 14 in a 63-run partnership with Rossouw before he was bowled by Gareth Batty while attempting to give himself space to drive.Weatherley joined the swashbuckling Rossouw to add the third half-century stand of the innings but Rossouw fell ten runs short of what would have been a deserved ton as he was bowled by Clarke.Jimmy Adams and Brad Taylor both came and went, skying to Foakes and Meaker respectively, before Gareth Berg, who had received a reprieve as replays showed his edge behind hadn’t carried, was bowled – all three to Clarke.Curran spilled Lewis McManus at third man before the wicketkeeper-batsman, along with Weatherley, 46 not out, edged Hampshire to victory with seven balls to spare.Earlier, Rory Burns won the toss and elected to bat on a good-looking wicket, which was to offer equal assistance for bat and ball, with both sides deciding to pick unchanged XIs from their opening matches.England Under-19s star Will Jacks drove to a diving Jimmy Adams at short cover in the sixth over to bring Burns and Elgar together to add 93 for the second wicket.Elgar produced a scrappy innings, full of swings across the line and dabs into gaps, but while it wouldn’t win any style points it proved effective.The South African reached his half-century from 50 balls before spinners Crane and Brad Taylor started the mid-innings squeeze. Crane struck in three successive overs to have Burns, for a well-made 46, and Ollie Pope lbw before producing a devilish delivery to beat Ben Foakes outside his off-stump, with Lewis McManus completing the stumping.While Crane was making the headline by taking wickets, Taylor was stopping the runs – their combined statistics a miserly 3 for 88 from 18 overs.The fast bowlers returned and Fidel Edwards delivered a rising bouncer which bruised Curran’s glove before being caught behind.
And then Berg had Elgar chopping on for 91, before the rain paused the game after 37.1 overs – eventually play resumed with the match cut to 44 overs a side.From the remaining 6.5 overs, Surrey managed to score 64 runs, with Scott Borthwick and Clarke putting on 56, with the latter lbw to Edwards in the penultimate over but it wasn’t enough to prevent Rossouw’s fireworks.

A perfectly paced rearguard from England’s seventh-wicket pair staved off the prospect of an innings defeat and raised the faintest hope of a fightback

The Live Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando26-May-2018England 184 (Cook 70) and 235 for 6 (Root 68, Buttler 66*, Bess 55*) lead Pakistan 363 (Babar 68*) by 56 runs

ScorecardJos Buttler, basically in his IPL post-season, and Dom Bess, a 20-year-old debutant for whom batting is his second suit, found England’s match-cause beaten and bloodied in a gutter, resuscitated it, and gave it session-long TLC.Thanks to a sublime period of bowling from virtually the entire Pakistan attack, England were still 69 runs in the hole, and six wickets down, when Buttler and Bess came together. But after tea, the pair batted with spunk. They quelled Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Abbas who had run riot during parts of the day, defused Shadab Khan who had worked himself into a nice rhythm, and by stumps had forced Sarfraz Ahmed into defence with their as-yet unbroken 125-run stand. England are still only 56 runs ahead. The second new ball is only two overs away. But there is hope yet. Hope that this lead can be nudged and nurdled and massaged and stretched to 150. Hope for a another famous Pakistan fourth-innings collapse.The resistance was built on good sense. At no point did Bess or Buttler attempt a sustained counterattack. They just took note that the last of the reverse swing Pakistan had generated had disappeared, and so set about only venturing runs off the bad balls. Buttler prospered largely on the leg-side, putting away the balls aimed at his body. Bess was much more of an off-side man, all but nine of his runs coming there.Each had reached their fifties before stumps. Buttler had a sober 66 off 130 deliveries – his pacing perfectly suited to this difficult Test-match situation, even though he was playing rollicking knocks for Rajasthan Royals not long back. It was valiance, meanwhile, that characterised Bess’s innings. He wasn’t always in control of his shots, and misread Shadab repeatedly. But he shook off the plays-and-misses and looked for runs right through his innings. Sarfraz, Pakistan’s captain, helped them out a little by hedging his bets. He had token slips in place, but otherwise had spread the field as if he was just killing time until the second new ball became available.As good as that partnership was, though, Pakistan’s late-afternoon burst was perhaps even better. Amir bowled another magic delivery, bringing his tally of superbly unplayable balls to two in this Test. In the first innings, Cook had been his victim, this time: Jonny Bairstow. The ball curved out of Amir’s hands – reverse probably – pitched just on a good length, and snorted its way back towards Bairstow, his bat and pad wide apart. It then screamed through to clatter the top of middle and off.Bairstow’s was the second dismissal in a four-wicket sequence that cost Pakistan only 19 runs. The first in that stretch to fall had been Dawid Malan, edging Amir behind to Sarfraz, who threw himself beautifully to his left to complete a low catch. After Bairstow was dismissed, Ben Stokes punched a Shadab delivery to midwicket, who leapt and stretched athletically to reel it in. Then Joe Root who, until that stage, was the only England batsman to achieve any manner of fluency in this innings, was struck in front of the stumps by an Abbas delivery that seamed in from well outside off stump. The score at 110 for 6, he held his head in his hands before he left the field.Pakistan had also found the morning session productive. Their last-wicket pair put on a further 13 runs together, to take the first-innings lead to 179. Then they got both the openers before lunch. Abbas nailed Alastair Cook in front with another nip-backer and Mark Stoneman was bowled by a Shadab delivery that spun very low out of the rough. Stoneman’s innings, which brought him 9 off 45 balls, had been dire.

Tom Latham’s battling century frustrated Gloucestershire’s bid to take control of their Specsavers County Championship match with Durham on the second day at Cheltenham

ECB Reporters Network23-Jul-2018
ScorecardTom Latham’s battling century frustrated Gloucestershire’s bid to take control of their Specsavers County Championship match with Durham on the second day at Cheltenham. The visitors’ stand-in skipper hit an unbeaten 120, off 239 balls with 19 fours, remaining rock solid as his side slipped to 105 for 4 in reply to the home team’s 362 all out.Thanks largely to Latham’s first ton of the season, Durham were able to close on 219 for 5, but still trailed by 143. Ben Stokes could contribute only three off 31 deliveries after completing figures of 5 for 52 from 25 impressive overs in Gloucestershire’s innings.Durham’s other England bowler, Mark Wood, was still feeling the effects of a foot injury suffered on day one and was unable to bowl.The day began with the hosts 315 for 7. Stokes claimed two of the last three wickets, but could not prevent Craig Miles and David Payne securing a fourth batting point. Miles was dropped at gully on 13 off Stokes, who went on to uproot his off stump and then have Matt Taylor caught at point off a leading edge. Matt Salisbury had last man George Drissell caught behind off an attempted pull shot to end the innings.By lunch Durham had replied with 39 for no wicket, Latham dominating the opening stand with Cameron Steel, who fell for 13 soon after the interval with the total on 46. Looking to withdraw the bat from a Craig Miles delivery, Steel appeared to glove it through to wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick.Will Smith could make only 8 before departing lbw to Miles in the 24th over and Graham Clark, who had survived a tough chance to slip on 9, followed for 18, leg-before looking to clip Matt Taylor through the on-side.Latham went to his half-century off 117 balls, but the 26-year-old New Zealander was made to fight hard by some accurate Gloucestershire bowling. Stokes, too, was pinned down in uncharacteristic fashion until attempting to break loose with a drive off Kieran Noema-Barnett and edging the medium pacer to Chris Dent at second slip.At tea Durham were 115 for 4, but Latham and Michael Richardson carefully went about repairing the damage, adding 66 for the fifth wicket before Richardson, on 21, carelessly pulled a Ryan Higgins long-hop straight to Benny Howell at midwicket. It could have been worse for the visitors as Miles Hammond spilled a straightforward catch at midwicket off Drissell to give Stuart Poynter a life before he had scored.Latham brought up a workmanlike and disciplined hundred with a fine extra-cover drive off Miles for four and Poynton settled in to be unbeaten on 21 at the close

Cricket South Africa’s change of heart has been explained by a recurrence of a finger injury but it follows a disturbing pattern for county sides

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2018Quinton de Kock has withdrawn from his proposed stint with Nottinghamshire at the request of Cricket South Africa.De Kock had been scheduled to appear in four Specsavers County Championship matches at the end of the season.His withdrawal leaves Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell on the hunt for a replacement for a county currently lying third in the table, 43 points behind the leaders Surrey.Cricket South Africa have indicated that de Kock has a reoccurrence of an injury to a right index finger that he sustained during the New Zealand series and that the management has decided to pull him out to allow the injury to heal ahead of a busy season.However, he has been promoted to captain for the last two matches in South Africa’s one-day series against Sri Lanka, even though the series has already been won, suggesting that the injury is not all that serious.De Kock’s withdrawal follows a disturbing pattern for county cricket this summer of national Boards pressing players to withdraw from confirmed deals, often more because of a change of heart than change of circumstance.Yorkshire lost Australian Billy Stanlake at the last moment from their Vitality Blast campaign and the will-he-won’t-he saga of Virat Kohli and Surrey finally ended with him not fulfilling his brief county deal.”We’re disappointed because Quinton is a high-quality player and we would have been stronger with him in the side, but he has a central contract with Cricket South Africa and there is always some risk when you sign a player of his profile,” said Newell.”We would like to strengthen the team for the remaining red ball fixtures and will consider the options that are out there but it’s a particularly tough market at this stage of the season.”If there’s something that can be done then we’ll explore it but there isn’t a long list of available overseas talent.”

Rookie No 3 Jack Murphy brought Glamorgan satisfaction in a grim season that has left then bottom of Division Two

ECB Reporters Network18-Sep-2018
ScorecardOn a day when young, top-order batsmen shone for their respective clubs, Zak Crawley hit a fluent 56 not out to give Kent the advantage on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship clash with Glamorgan in Canterbury.Chasing their fifth successive red-ball win and their 10th of the Championship summer, Kent reached stumps on 93 for 2 with Crawley and nightwatchman Harry Podmore still at the crease.Starting their response to Glamorgan’s 186 all out soon after 4pm, Kent set out their stall to play positively as Crawley plundered six boundaries in the early exchanges.At the other end, however, Sean Dickson struggled to get the ball away and, after battling for 27 minutes, fenced a lifter from Timm van der Gugten to Stephen Cook at slip.Crawley cover drove Craig Meschede for his ninth boundary to raise his fourth championship half-century of the campaign off 62 balls as he and Joe Denly marked their 50 partnership inside 13 overs.Off-spinner Kieran Bull broke the 65-run stand shortly before the close by having Denly caught behind down the leg-side for 30 to send Kent into the second day facing a deficit of 93 runs.Earlier, Glamorgan’s rookie No 3 Jack Murphy batted almost four-and-a-half hours for a career-best 80 that left promotion-chasing Kent frustrated.The tall left-hander from Pembrokeshire faced 182 balls and hit 13 fours during a stylish, yet dogged knock that ended in him becoming last man out with his side 14 short of a bonus batting point.After losing five wickets in the opening session, Glamorgan appeared to have little hope of reaching 200, but Murphy – who scored 54 and 39 not out in Glamorgan’s six-wicket Championship defeat to Kent at Sophia Gardens in May – proved his mettle in playing Matt Henry, Kent’s star paceman, with aplomb.Henry took three wickets in the morning session and bagged four for 45 overall after finally ending Murphy’s stay for his 70th championship scalp of the season in only his 10th red-ball start for the Hop County.Glamorgan, bottom of Division Two, elected to bat first after winning the toss on a bright and breezy Kentish morning but suffered their first casualty in the fourth over when Nick Selman pushed half-forward to a Darren Stevens delivery that knocked back leg stump via a thick inside edge.After switching ends to have the gusting wind at his back, Henry, the New Zealand right-armer, proved a much tougher proposition plying his trade in away-swingers from the Pavilion End.The championship’s leading wicket-taker had Stephen Cook well held at gully when pushing at a wide one, then Kiran Carlson prodded down the line of fourth stump to feather a low catch to slip.Podmore pulled off a stunning catch on the run at wide mid-on after Jeremy Lawlor, when aiming to work Henry through mid-wicket, lofted the chance via a leading edge.Five balls before lunch, Grant Stewart found extra lift from the Nackington Road End to have Chris Cooke caught behind then, soon after the resumption, Meschede stopped his intended push drive against Stewart to be caught in the cordon.Murphy and Ruaidhri Smith combined to add 42 before the latter was caught at mid-off against Stevens and Stewart changed ends to uproot Kieran Bull’s off stump with a full-length away swinger to join Henry with three wickets.Murphy ploughed on to reach only his second half-century from 111 balls and with eight fours, before van der Gugten became the first player in the match to fall to spin after feathering a Denly leg-spinner to slip.With his side nine down, Murphy perished to his first overly expansive shot of the day. Clearing his front leg, the youngster heaved off the back foot to pick out long-off and gift Henry his fourth scalp.