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The BCCI president will remain in home isolation for the time being, with a team of doctors monitoring his health status

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2021Sourav Ganguly has been discharged from Kolkata’s Woodlands Hospital, where he had been admitted following a positive Covid-19 test, with the hospital declaring him “clinically stable”.Dr Rupali Basu, the MD and CEO of the hospital, issued a statement confirming that the BCCI chief would “remain in home isolation”, with two of the doctors who had been treating him – Dr Saptarshi Basu and Dr Soutik Panda – continuing to keep a watch on his health.Ganguly had a mild fever on Sunday, December 26, and tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday evening, after which he was admitted to the hospital, with his status reported as “stable”.It was learnt from family sources that while there was no cause for alarm, 49-year-old Ganguly was advised by medical experts to avoid isolating at home and, instead, get admitted to the hospital, possibly because of some pre-existing health conditions. According to a PTI report, he had been administered both doses of the vaccine against Covid-19.Following his admission, a hospital statement said that Ganguly was “haemodynamically stable” after receiving monoclonal antibody cocktail therapy, and a medical board had been formed to monitor his health.In January this year, Ganguly had to be hospitalised twice in quick succession after complaining of “chest discomfort”. He was initially admitted to Woodlands Hospital for what was described as a heart attack by doctors. He underwent angioplasty at the time, and was believed to have recovered.But, later that month, he had to undergo another angioplasty, this time at the city’s Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, and doctors confirmed afterwards that two stents had been placed.

NSW pacemen Tremain bags three wickets in rain-reduced 24-over game while Neser has suffered an apparent side strain

AAP14-Feb-2022New South Wales have overcome a nervous run chase against a Queensland bowling attack left without key paceman Michael Neser, scoring a five-wicket win in a rain-affected domestic day-night clash at the Gabba.Set a revised 101 runs from 24 overs after Queensland made 7-105 in 24.2 overs, NSW reached their target with 18 balls to spare.
Queensland were forced to defend the total without Neser, who succumbed to an apparent side strain after one legal delivery of the NSW innings.Picked in Australia’s squad to tour Pakistan in March, Neser seemed to hurt himself as he warmed up to bowl during the innings break.
NSW made heavy work of the run chase, slumping to 5-66 when opener Hayden Kerr was bowled by Mark Steketee (1-12) for 31 off 51 balls.But dashing young batter Ollie Davies steadied the innings with 26 from 29 balls and he found an able partner in 22-year-old wicketkeeper Baxter Holt.Holt made a quickfire 21 runs from 14 balls to help put the game out of Queensland’s reach.Jason Sangha, in his first match as NSW captain, won the toss and sent Queensland in on a seaming Gabba pitch under grey skies.
Bulls openers Usman Khawaja and Sam Heazlett made watchful starts before rain stopped play after the third over with Queensland 0-8.
It didn’t take long for NSW to make the breakthrough when play resumed as Heazlett (10) edged a delivery from Ben Dwarshuis that was eagerly accepted by Holt.Fourth Ashes Test hero Khawaja followed soon after, caught at second slip off Chris Tremain (3-25) for seven.Tremain struck again in the same over as he caught and bowled Matthew Renshaw for a duck, leaving the Queensland innings in disarray at 3-23.Queensland lost a further four wickets, including Marnus Labuschagne (13) and former Test opener Joe Burns (18), before rain intervened again in the 25th over.Jimmy Peirson top-scored for home side with an unbeaten 26 from 37 balls.Already missing key regulars Moises Henriques and Daniel Sams because of international Twenty20 duties, NSW also had to deal with two 11th hour withdrawals.Daniel Hughes was ruled out after testing positive for COVID-19 while Kurtis Patterson continues to recover from a broken finger.

Captain impressed by fight shown on tough pitch as West Indies shut door in emphatic style

Andrew Miller20-Mar-2022Joe Root praised both the fighting qualities of his England team, and the resilience shown by West Indies – in particular their indefatigable captain, Kraigg Brathwaite – as the second Test in Barbados finished in stalemate on the fifth and final evening.After a feisty declaration push in the morning session, led by another sparky cameo of 41 from 39 balls from Dan Lawrence, England briefly held out hopes of bowling West Indies out as they slipped to 65 for 3 at tea, in pursuit of a nominal target of 282.However, Brathwaite picked up where he had left off in his first-innings 160 with another unyielding innings of 56 not out from 184 balls. In so doing, he finished the match with a tally of 216 runs from 673 balls – eclipsing the 582 balls that Brian Lara faced in making 400 not out in 2004 as the longest any West Indian has ever spent at the crease in a single Test match.”It was annoying how good he was,” Root said. “He played brilliantly in both innings and didn’t give us many opportunities. He ground us down. He’s an ideal player for a pitch like that. He takes it deep time and time again. He had a clear game-plan and stuck to it very well. It’s frustrating but there’s a lot of respect for the way he went about it.”It did feel like a new-ball wicket, you needed to really make an impact while the ball was harder, but after three brilliant breakthroughs, we unfortunately couldn’t quite kick on,” Root added. “Credit to West Indies, they fought very hard in two brilliant Test matches, and it should be a brilliant final one of the series.”Brathwaite, the player of the match, admitted he had not been aware of the scale of his achievement until he returned to the West Indies dressing-room at the end of the match, having batted for a total of 15 hours and 45 minutes across his two innings, and been on the field of play for all but 21 overs.”I heard it when I went in, that’s amazing to hear,” he said. “Obviously I’ve put in a lot of work over the years, and to do it at home is a quite pleasant feeling, especially having family here, so I’m very happy and thankful.”However, when asked if West Indies might have taken a more proactive approach to their first innings, having kept England in the field for 187.5 overs, Brathwaite insisted that his team was focused on “learning on the job”, having not won a Test in ten attempts since February 2021, and that they would not necessarily look to up their tempo for next week’s series decider in Grenada.Kraigg Brathwaite extended his marathon contribution with the bat•AFP/Getty Images

“It was good that, after England put up 500, we as a team could fight and put 400 back,” Brathwaite said. “That’s the attitude we want, and the fans want to see. Once you continuously have the right attitude, our Test [results] will go up.”In periods we could [be more attacking], but spending time at the crease and batting through three new balls is a great start for us. We need to just learn as quick as possible on the job, and improve at different periods of the game.”Much the same could be said for England, who have themselves won just one Test out of their last 16. However, Root believes that the team has laid down a series of markers in the last two matches, and singled out Lawrence – who starred with the bat in both innings, as well as with the ball and in the field – as a particular example of the strides the team has made.”I think he’s been wonderful,” Root said. “One of the most pleasing things is how selfless he’s been throughout this series. He’s always tried to put the team first – again this morning, really making sure we tried to get as many as we could as quickly as we could, to give ourselves the best chance taking 10 wickets this afternoon.”England have now made five centuries in the series, with Root making his second of the series in Barbados alongside Ben Stokes’ first for 18 months. Lawrence, however, might have added three figures of his own in this match, had he not had a rush of blood in the final over of the first day, when he holed out to cover for 91.”I don’t think it will be long if he keeps playing like that, that’s for sure,” Root said. “He’s obviously a very talented player. He seems to be growing in confidence all the time, and the more and more he puts himself in those positions, I’m sure it won’t be long.”It was just really pleasing to see us make a substantial first-innings total for the first time in a long time,” Root added, after England had declared on 507 for 9. “So long may that continue. The guys have gained a lot of confidence from it and hopefully we can replicate it again, and again, and again.”Root also had a word of praise for England’s two debutant seamers, Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood, who stuck to their tasks well across both innings. In the first, Fisher had the euphoria of a wicket with his second ball when John Campbell edged to the keeper, and though Mahmood missed out on his moment due to a costly no-ball, he atoned with four in the match, including two in the second innings to lift England’s victory hopes.Related

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“I think they were brilliant,” Root said. “The two wickets that we’ve played on have not been the most receptive for seam bowlers, but the two lads have shown great commitment, great dedication, great skill levels – and a different kind of skill level to what they are used to in England, to hold a game and create pressure. It was great to see the delight on their faces when they both picked those first wickets up.”The unresponsive nature of the surfaces could tempt England into a fourth debutant of the series, if the legspinner Matt Parkinson comes into the side in Grenada. Root, however, insisted that their incumbent spinner, Jack Leach, had done everything asked of him in ploughing through for the remarkable match figures of 94.5-40-154-5, the heaviest workload by an England bowler in 60 years.”We’ll have to see what kind of wicket we get, and weigh what we think is the best way to take 20 wickets,” Root said. “But it’s really pleasing to see Jack play the way he has. You can see how much he’s enjoying himself out there, bowling with great control, looking very threatening all the time. And it’s great to see him really start to find his feet and look very comfortable at this level.”After consecutive declarations, England have twice run out of overs in which to turn the screw on West Indies. And Root conceded he “could have been braver” about the equation he left in Barbados, of 282 runs in 65 overs.”It’s always a tricky one isn’t it?” he said. “You’re always trying to weigh that up, but I think with how small this ground is, and how strong the wind was, you don’t want to make it too close. It’s easy to look back in hindsight and say, you know, could we have pulled out 10 overs earlier, but in the end, would it have made much difference?”

Reduced to 27 for 3 after being sent in, Super Giants recovered to set a target of 170, and Sunrisers stumbled at the end of the chase

Karthik Krishnaswamy04-Apr-2022Deepak Hooda, KL Rahul and Avesh Khan led the way as Lucknow Super Giants came back from behind with bat and ball to complete a 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, continuing the reversal of fortunes for teams batting first in IPL 2022.Reduced to 27 for 3 after being sent in, Super Giants recovered to set a target of 170, and Avesh took two powerplay wickets to put them firmly in front. But Sunrisers took the initiative with quickfire knocks from Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran; at one stage, they needed 27 from 17 balls with six wickets in hand. But Avesh turned it around once again with two wickets in two balls in the 18th over, and two more solid death overs from Andrew Tye and Jason Holder, playing his first game of the season, completed the job.Washington dominates powerplay
Sunrisers didn’t open the bowling with Washington Sundar in their first match against Rajasthan Royals, but they had a clear case to do so against Super Giants. One of their openers, Quinton de Kock, was a left-hander, and the other, KL Rahul, has struggled to score quickly against offspin of late, his strike rate against that style of bowling dropping from 176.66 until the end of 2019.Washington made an even bigger impact than Sunrisers may have hoped for. He dismissed de Kock by denying him room to hit inside-out, and took out another left-hander in Evin Lewis, who fell in the dangerous pursuit of sweeping every ball from a bowler who targets the stumps incessantly. With Rahul and Manish Pandey – another right-hander who starts slowly against spin – taking no chances against him either, Washington ended the powerplay with figures of 3-0-11-2.Romario Shepherd’s hard lengths took out Pandey, meanwhile, after he had conceded a six and a four earlier in the over, and Super Giants finished the powerplay at 32 for 3.A partnership of contrasts
In both 2020 and 2021, Rahul came in for plenty of criticism for his low-risk approach in the powerplay and middle overs, which brought him plenty of runs but also left the feeling that his franchise at the time, Punjab Kings, frequently ended up with lower-than-ideal totals even when they didn’t lose too many wickets. That approach was more understandable in this game, given the situation Super Giants got themselves into.At the other end, Hooda adopted a different approach, after taking 12 balls to get his eye in. The rapid Umran Malik bore the brunt of the punishment, with three fours and a six pinging off Hooda’s bat. It wasn’t that Malik bowled particularly badly: Hooda played some exceptional shots off him, including an open-faced slice to steer a near-yorker past backward point and a whipped six off a short ball angled in to tuck him up for room. There was also a ramped six that the leaping third man fielder – stationed fine for exactly that shot – got a hand to but couldn’t grab hold of.Rahul also hit two fours off Malik, and his second and third overs – the 10th and 14th of Super Giants’ innings – went for a combined 36. Even with Sunrisers’ other bowlers doing decently through this phase, Super Giants’ recovery was firmly on track.Bhuvneshwar and Natarajan nail the yorkers
Malik’s poor night forced Sunrisers into using Washington’s fourth over – which they probably weren’t planning to bowl – in the 17th over. Rahul and Ayush Badoni – who replaced Hooda following his dismissal in the 16th over – took it for 17.Badoni and Holder then took 17 off Shepherd in the 20th over, but in between, Bhuvneshwar and T Natarajan ensured Sunrisers wouldn’t be chasing too steep a target, with expert use of the yorker – if they erred, they sent down low full-tosses rather than half-volleys, and they always followed the batters’ movements with their line, ensuring they seldom got room to free their arms. Super Giants only took a combined 15 runs off the 18th and 19th overs, and lost Rahul and Krunal Pandya in the process.Avesh, part one
Sunrisers began their chase solidly enough, getting to 21 for no loss after three overs, with Kane Williamson picking up an eye-catching six behind the wicket with a scoop over the keeper off Holder in the third over.But just when Williamson’s form was beginning to look ominous – he punched Avesh to the cover point boundary at the start of the fourth over – Avesh got him out, another attempted lap over short fine leg ending up in the hands of the fielder.Abhishek Sharma, the other opener, fell in Avesh’s next over, miscuing an attempted big hit off a slower ball, and Sunrisers ended the powerplay at 40 for 2.KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda put up a half-century stand for the fourth wicket•BCCI

One way, then the other, and back
The middle overs seesawed this way and that. Rahul Tripathi clattered 44 off 30, including taking three fours off the eighth over, delivered by Andrew Tye – the highlight a deft ramp over the keeper off a rising short ball. But Krunal took both him and Aiden Markram out, leaving Sunrisers needing 75 off 41 with six wickets in hand and two new batters at the crease.Pooran began not just slowly but also most unconvincingly, as Ravi Bishnoi beat his outside edge three times in four balls with his wrong’un allied to his across-the-left-hander angle. But he muscled Krunal for a leg-side six in the 14th over and hit Holder for two fours in the 15th, before ending the 16th with a glorious drive to bisect extra-cover and long-off, off Bishnoi, to leave Sunrisers needing 41 off 24. The match was turning once again.Avesh, part two
Tye’s changes of pace and ability to land the ball wide of the left-handers’ hitting arc ensured he only conceded eight runs in the 17th over, with its one boundary coming via a lofted drive from Washington.Then, with Sunrisers needing 33 from 18, Pooran miscued a pull off Avesh only for the ball to carry all the way for six. The luck turned two balls later, as Pooran hit a full-toss straight into long-off’s hands.Then Avesh nicked off Abdul Samad first ball, delivering another blow to Sunrisers’ chances, before closing out the over with two dots and a wide, backing the wide line outside off to Shepherd.Tye delivered another superb over in the 19th, but just when Sunrisers seemed to be slipping out of the contest with 22 required off 8, an attempted yorker turned into a full-toss that Shepherd launched for a straight six.Sixteen of the last over was possible, though difficult. And it proved even more difficult thanks to the new rule regarding batters crossing over. Looking to hit the first ball for six, Washington was caught on the long-on boundary. Where Shepherd may have taken strike next ball in previous seasons, he now had to watch Bhuvneshwar from the other end.Two singles followed, before Bhuvneshwar holed out. Again, Shepherd couldn’t take strike, and with two sixes needed just to tie the game, the match was all but over.

Levick triggers collapse but Jones responds in kind to seal match for Thunder

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2022Thunder 148 for 7 (Boyce 65, Lamb 50, Levick 4-22) beat Northern Diamonds 92 (Jones 3-23) by 56 runsThunder survived a manic late-order collapse to win a pulsating cross-Pennine Charlotte Edwards Cup clash with Northern Diamonds by 56 runs at Sale.After half-centuries for home openers Emma Lamb and Georgie Boyce, both sides suffered major batting problems on a pitch offering signs of uneven bounce.Lamb made 50 and Boyce 65, the pair sharing an entertaining 95 inside 13 overs. But Thunder slipped from 136 for one in the 18th over to post 148 for seven, with Katie Levick taking three wickets in three legitimate balls.The Diamonds, however, were about to undo all of their good work as, including the loss of returning England star Nat Sciver for two, they collapsed to 33 for six in the seventh over of their reply. They were unable to recover and were bowled out for 92 in 20 overs.Left-arm spinner Hannah Jones claimed an excellent three for 23 from four overs as Thunder claimed all five points on offer for a bonus point victory.Lamb’s fourth Thunder score of 50 or more and Boyce’s third were central to a competitive score and both came at better than a run-a-ball.The pair shared three sixes, two hit down the ground and the other over midwicket.Lamb reached her fifty first, off 40 balls, before falling next ball to a brilliant diving catch from Sciver running in from the deep midwicket fence off Abi Glen’s seamers (95 for one in the 13th over).Boyce followed her there off 42 balls, reached with a straight six off New Zealand off-spinner Leigh Kasperek.But she was the second of the six wickets to fall in the last 13 legitimate balls of the innings as Thunder subsided badly from 136 for one in the 18th.Levick (four for 22 from four overs) ousted Shachi Pai caught in the deep and Ellie Threlkeld and Laura Jackson both bowled at the end of the 18th and start of the 20th overs – but there was a wide in between to prevent a hat-trick being taken.She added the wicket of Laura Marshall with the penultimate ball of the innings, added to two wickets for the left-arm spin of Linsey Smith as the Diamonds’ four spinners returned combined figures of six for 93 from 14 overs.While the Thunder were missing England duo Sophie Ecclestone and Kate Cross due to IPL Challenge duty, the Diamonds were able to include Sciver as a batter only for her first appearance since the early April World Cup final in New Zealand.And she was thrust into early action with the bat as national colleague Lauren Winfield-Hill, seemingly hampered by a leg injury suffered in the field, was bowled for a duck four balls into the visiting chase trying to hit Jackson (two for 16 from four overs) to leg.But Sciver’s first innings of the 2022 summer lasted only 10 balls as she also was bowled pushing forwards at Jackson.And when Hollie Armitage slapped former team-mate Phoebe Graham to mid-on shortly afterwards, the Diamonds were eight for three in the fourth over.Jones then trapped Abi Glen and Bess Heath lbw in the sixth over before Kasperek was run out by Alex Hartley as the score slipped to a game deciding 33 for six in the seventh.Jones later bowled tail-ender Rachael Slater as wickets continued to fall with the game already decided.

Dane Vilas butchers Yorkshire’s bowlers for his 82

Paul Edwards13-May-2022
Optimism is not a notable Lancastrian trait. For one or two regulars in the pavilion at Emirates Old Trafford life is akin to having a Smiths CD on permanent repeat. Nevertheless, there was a moment at lunchtime on this second day of the Roses match when even the most curmudgeonly Red Rose supporter’s cup brimmed with strange joy.In between its many advertisements, Headingley’s scoreboard showed a score of 412 for 3; Keaton Jennings was unbeaten on 202 and had already become only the fourth Lancashire cricketer to make a double century in a Championship match at Leeds; Dane Vilas had butchered Yorkshire’s bowlers for most of the preceding session and was 80 not out. Those inclined to combine Lancashire’s score with their previous innings at Leeds last summer would have been presented with a total of 823 for 5. Neither life nor Roses matches were meant to be like this.We wondered if any other records were in danger. Fortunately, Lancashire’s number crunchers had foreseen this possibility and had been hard at work through the owl-haunted hours of darkness. As at Canterbury a few weeks ago, the bourgeois villas of Bury fairly thrummed with activity as computers from the era of punched cards spat out statistical gems. It was like local election night all over again.Unlike the game at Kent, though, the jewels hewn from the rock were put to good use. A few minutes after lunch, Jennings reached 207 and became his county’s highest scorer in a Championship match against Yorkshire; when he got to 226 Graham Lloyd’s record in a non-Championship first-class match against ‘that bunch from over t’way’ was also gone, as well as Jennings’ previous career-best, 221, which was also made against Yorkshire when he was at Durham.Related

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The records kept coming and it was probably useful at such moments to recall Steve Patterson’s point on Thursday evening that if his bowlers had been better supported in the field, Lancashire would have been 22 for 4 halfway through the first session of the game. That would have denied Dane Vilas’s cricketers their meal ticket to the conspicuous consumption we watched on Friday morning.As it was, though, Yorkshire continued to spill chances and Lancashire’s top order continued to fill their boots, slippers and bed-socks. Vilas hit Haris Rauf for three fours in an over and then hooked him out of the ground and in the general direction of Meanwood. Having relieved the ECB of roughly £90 for one cricket ball, Lancashire’s skipper set about damaging its replacement. He drove Dom Bess for a six and a four before thin-edging a cut to Harry Duke, who dropped the chance. Jennings had been more restrained; he added just 52 runs in the morning session but had also offered a chance when Harry Brook got a hand to a slash through gully in the fifth over of the morning. That was the toughest of the six chances Patterson’s fielders dropped in four sessions but it took their total for the season to nearly 30.Just before two o’clock a wicket fell and a festival of irony began at the Kirkstall Lane End. If Vilas’s front leg was a shade outside off stump when he missed a sweep against Bess, nobody gave a thrice-used tea-bag. The joy of Yorkshire supporters mingled with their astonishment. It was like a hot night in Guisborough’s Parisian quarter.Eight overs later Jennings was on 238 and just 14 short of Darren Lehman’s individual record in all Roses cricket when he was summoned for a single by Phil Salt, the striker. He answered the call but was sent back when Jordan Thompson’s sharp stop made a run impossible. He never had a hope of regaining his ground and had to be satisfied with the marvellous reaction of the Kirkstall Lane End crowd, most of whom stood and applauded him home. That’s how you play this game.Yorkshire took four more wickets and they may have brought a little consolation to those same supporters. In the context of the match, though, they fell while Lancashire were tying ribbons and bows around a massive 566 for 9 declared, their highest score in Roses cricket. Bess picked up his second and third wickets; Tom Loten enjoyed his maiden successes in first-class cricket but his day was not yet over. Nightwatchman duties awaited him.When Lancashire’s ninth wicket fell, Vilas declared and the crowd settled down for the battles some of them had been keen to witness for five sessions. But James Anderson’s eight overs this evening were unremarkable things and they cost him an unusually expensive 27 runs. He bowled four from The Howard Stand End – close, E M Forster, but no cigar – and four more from the Kirkstall Lane End one suspects he favours. But his only particular achievement was to crack George Hill on the helmet, thus delaying the close for ten minutes while the sconed cricketer was asked what his name was.But Lancashire did manage two breakthroughs in the 22 overs that ended the day and they have put the visitors in a position of absolute dominance. With the sixth delivery of his first over Tom Bailey brought the ball so far back off the seam that Adam Lyth’s decision to play no shot looked vaguely unhinged. Then five overs before the close Dawid Malan clipped George Balderson a little wide of Matt Parkinson’s right at midwicket, only to see the fielder complete a two-handed diving catch. This was more than a gleeful footnote to Lancashire’s daylong feast. Parkinson had already fielded well in the innings and if he continues to improve this department of his game, England will have one less reason not to pick him. Not that they should need any at all.

Mehidy picked up four wickets to restrict first-innings lead to 162

Associated Press18-Jun-2022Captain Kraigg Brathwaite scored 94 as West Indies pressed their advantage on day two of the first Test. West Indies were dismissed for 265 after tea at barely two runs an over for a first-innings lead of 162, and reduced Bangladesh to 50 for 2 by stumps. Bangladesh trailed by 112 with eight wickets left.Brathwaite, the opener, led his side with a half-century or better for the fifth time in his last eight test innings dating to November. He was unlucky, after facing 267 balls and closing on an 11th test century after more than 6 1/2 hours, as a Khaled Ahmed delivery stayed low and hit his pad in front of leg stump. Brathwaite didn’t dispute it.By then, he’d long helped his side pass Bangladesh’s total in the morning, and almost double it when he was out at 197 for 4. But rather than inspire West Indies to continue grinding away, Brathwaite’s demise appeared to stiffen Bangladesh’s resolve.West Indies, after losing only Nkrumah Bonner’s wicket in the morning, lost three in the middle session after the new ball was taken, and the last four wickets in the nine overs after tea.Jermaine Blackwood, who joined Brathwaite in the morning, lasted until the third session and was the ninth man out for 63 off 139 balls. He was Khaled’s second wicket, falling to a great diving catch by Mehidy Hasan Miraz at extra cover.Gudakesh Motie, making his West Indies debut, added an unbeaten 23 off 21 balls batting at No. 10.Offspinner Mehidy picked up 4 for 59 for Bangladesh.But the team’s batting came under the scanner again. Opener Tamim Iqbal was gone for 22 in the 10th over, getting a thick edge in Alzarri Joseph’s first over. Joseph’s second over netted planned nightwatchman Mehidy for 2 from an edge to the slips. Joseph had 2 for 14 at stumps.Mahmudul Hasan Joy was left on 18 not out and Najmul Hossain Shanto, who took 14 balls to get off the mark, was 8 not out.

The former England batter’s tenure will begin with a T20I tour of Ireland in August

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jul-2022Jonathan Trott has taken over as Afghanistan’s new head coach, with his first assignment a T20I tour of Ireland in August. This is 41-year-old’s first time in charge of a men’s senior team in international cricket, although he has had a few stints as batting coach for England and was most recently a consultant with Scotland during the 2021 T20 World Cup.Trott had a storied time with England, especially in Test cricket where he made 3835 runs in 52 matches, and was one of the pillars of their Ashes triumph in 2010-11. At his peak a player capable of batting long periods and constructing massive innings, Trott’s success also translated well into ODI cricket where me made 2819 runs at an average of 51 with four hundreds and 22 fifties.Related

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Towards the end of his career, though, the intensity of his game took a toll on him and he needed a break from cricket in 2013-14. Trott eventually retired from England duty in 2015.”I’m honoured and excited to have the opportunity to take one of international cricket’s most exciting teams through what is a huge year for their development as a team.” Trott was quoted as saying by an Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) press release. “I also believe that Afghanistan has proved to be a hot-bed of talent, and has produced players capable of playing the game in their own style and with unrivalled passion. I can’t wait to get to work with a group of players who are clearly capable of generating results in a style that will make the people of Afghanistan proud.”Afghanistan had unveiled Graham Thorpe as their new head coach in March 2022, but two months later he fell seriously ill, prompting a change of plans.Despite this uncertainty, Afghanistan won each of their six limited-overs matches on a tour of Zimbabwe with Raees Khan Ahmadzai as interim head coach, former captain Nawroz Mangal as batting coach, former Pakistan bowler Umar Gul as bowling coach, and South Africa’s Ryan Maron as fielding coach (only for six months).Afghanistan’s Ireland tour will begin on August 9 with the first of five T20Is. The side is also set to feature in this year’s Asia Cup in the UAE next month and the T20 World Cup in Australia in October. There is also a three-match ODI series pending against Pakistan, likely to be played at a neutral venue.

No concerns in seven-wicket victory as visitors hunt down 214 with ease

Paul Edwards28-Jul-2022
A match that had appeared to be nip and tuck on Wednesday evening eventually proved to be neither. On a pitch that was drier and easier for batting than it had been earlier in the week, Hampshire’s batters strolled to their target of 214 to set up a second successive push for the County Championship in September, when their next opponents will be Northamptonshire at the Ageas Bowl.And if James Vince’s side do win their county’s third title in September, they will have conformed to the curious pattern whereby recent champions – Middlesex, Essex, Surrey and Yorkshire themselves – have all recorded victories at North Marine Road. Scarborough has always been the most hospitable of towns but rarely to this extent.Yet there was really no point in this day’s cricket when Yorkshire appeared likely to discomfit their opponents. Runs came easily in the cool morning as Jordan Thompson strayed down the leg side and Ian Holland tucked into a couple of pies. Then Ben Coad bowled too full, a rare error, and Felix Organ gave it the full diapason down the ground. Before we had finished our first coffees of the day, Hampshire had scored 30 runs and the shape of the game looked very different. Matthew Waite replaced Thompson but he went for runs as well. Hampshire’s fifty came up in 45 minutes and Dom Bess was bowling from the Peasholm Park End by noon.Even in late July we are at the stage when cricketers take notice of other teams’ progress. So the only sombre note in Hampshire’s morning came from the Kia Oval where Division One leaders Surrey were beginning what proved to be a serene run-chase against Warwickshire. Meanwhile, Holland and Organ continued to mind their own business, pushing singles and ticking things along “sensibly, steadily” much like the clock in .Holland showed himself to be as adept at the reverse-sweep as Alfred (Scarborough College Class of 22) had been before play started, when one of the youngster’s well-timed efforts clattered into a couple of spectators on the wooden benches high in this amphitheatre. But the ball was soft and no one objects to lads practising cricket in this town.The morning’s only alarm for Hampshire came when Jonny Tattersall missed a stumping when Organ was 37 but the ball had spun sharply out of the rough and down the leg side. Only the martinet Yorkshire coaches like Arthur “Ticker” Mitchell would have laid into the keeper for that one. At lunch, Hampshire were 121 without loss – just as everyone had predicted.The afternoon’s play brought a little comfort for Yorkshire supporters, although they might have seen Hampshire’s loss of three wickets in 5.4 overs as an irritating reminder of what might have been possible had their bowlers shaped themselves earlier. But Coad was playing his first match after four months out with injuries and he will have been encouraged to remove Holland for 71, when a little extra bounce induced an edge to first slip, and then Joe Weatherley, who was leg before wicket for nought. Those dismissals sandwiched the departure of Organ, who hit Bess for a splendid six over long-on, only to pull the next ball, a steaming long-hop, straight to Matthew Revis at deep square leg.The super-optimists at North Marine Road may have thought these wickets a prelude to the sort of fightback in which Steve Patterson’s team has specialised this summer. If so, they were swiftly disabused of this notion by the grace of Vince, whose cover drives off Bess and Patterson were of the highest quality. Hampshire’s skipper even managed to invest a slog-swept six with aesthetic value and he was unbeaten on 43 when the victory was confirmed and the red balls were put away for a month or so.Meanwhile, at The Oval Surrey’s progress towards victory was progressing smoothly and their victory over Warwickshire has extended their lead over Hampshire at the top of the table to 16 points, albeit Vince’s team look to have the easier final three games. And at least we should have yet another September to cherish through the autumn

Phil Salt half-century guides visitors before Phoenix crumble to lowest total in men’s Hundred

Matt Roller28-Aug-2022Manchester Originals won their fourth game in a row to set up a qualification decider against Oval Invincibles in the final fixture of the Hundred’s group stage, bowling Birmingham Phoenix out for 75 to silence a 20,836 crowd at Edgbaston.Originals’ 154, which owed much to Phil Salt’s third fifty of the season, looked like a competitive score on a used pitch. Despite the absence of Liam Livingstone, Phoenix’s leading run-scorer who was ruled out of the final stages of the tournament through injury earlier on Sunday, a short boundary towards the Eric Hollies Stand meant that the home side would have fancied their chances at the interval.But their chase never got going and their eventual total was the lowest across both seasons of the men’s Hundred, beating their 87 all out in the reverse fixture in 2021. Tom Hartley struck twice in the first five balls of the chase, removing Miles Hammond and Moeen Ali, and came back to dismiss Brett D’Oliveira and Ben Dwarshuis to return 4 for 22 from his 20 balls.Will Smeed hit 31 off 17 but no other Phoenix batter passed 13, as Originals closed out a 79-run win despite the absences of Jos Buttler, their injured captain, and Andre Russell, who has left for the CPL. They will almost certainly qualify for the eliminator if they beat Invincibles at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.However, Phoenix’s qualification hopes have taken a significant dent following a heavy net run-rate swing: they will need to beat London Spirit convincingly at Lord’s on Tuesday night to stand a chance of sneaking through to the play-offs.Phoenix flounder
Laurie Evans made a brave move to throw Hartley the new ball at the start of the chase, after Moeen had used only 10 balls of spin in the first innings, with Imran Tahir surprisingly left out in favour of Dwarshuis, the Australian left-arm seamer, but his move was vindicated with two wickets in the first five balls.Hammond, the left-hander, looked to reverse-slap his third ball over the infield and towards the short off-side boundary, but picked out extra cover, and after Moeen punched his first ball through point for four, he lost him off stump looking to swing down the ground. It set the tone for an abject Phoenix innings, which saw Chris Benjamin and Tom Helm dozily run out.”We knew we had to use our cutters and spin options,” Hartley said. “We saw Southern Brave do it last year when they lost their first two games; we lost our first three but picked up good rhythm and the boys are really getting along. There’s no reason why we can’t [keep winning].”Moeen described Phoenix’s performance as “a bit soft” after Josh Little had sealed the deal with two late wickets. “We’ve got some young players. Livi is a big miss, obviously, but players like myself have to take more responsibility. We were poor. We need to be a bit smarter at times.”Brilliant Benny
Originals made a bright start thanks to Salt and Laurie Evans, reaching 73 for 1 at the halfway stage, but were pegged back by a superb spell in the middle of the innings from Benny Howell. After Evans had sliced Kane Richardson to short third in the powerplay, Wayne Madsen scooped Howell straight to short fine leg where Henry Brookes took a sharp catch, having earlier dropped Salt on 8.Howell’s changes of pace flummoxed Originals’ middle order on a slow surface, and he struck twice when bowling 10 consecutive deliveries between balls 71 and 80: Tristan Stubbs chipped a knuckleball to extra cover, while Paul Walter’s leading edge found Brookes, diving forwards at short cover. When Howell completed his allocation, Originals were 111 for 4 and struggling for impetus.Salt Late City
Salt has been in excellent form in the Hundred and raced to a 33-ball fifty after an early reprieve, slog-sweeping Brookes over the shorter boundary and into the Hollies. But just as he was eyeing a launch at the death, he was controversially given out when Richardson skidded a full ball into his pad.Salt opted to review after a long discussion with Ashton Turner and was furious when Alex Wharf told him that the 15-second timer had already run out by the time he had made his signal. Almost inevitably, replays confirmed that the ball had struck him outside the line of off stump. “We had to calm him down a little bit,” Evans told Sky, laughing.Lammonby’s late blitz
Originals were 113 for 5 with 18 balls remaining after Salt’s dismissal, but a 41-run stand for the sixth wicket between Tom Lammonby and Turner hauled them up to a competitive score. Lammonby, playing his first game of the season, was particularly effective: he made 26 not out off 12 balls, scooping Richardson for four and Helm for six as Phoenix lost their way at the death.”It’s a huge win,” Evans said. “They’ve been must-win games all the way through for us, ever since we lost three out of three. The boys were outstanding. We thought we were a little bit under par, but it turned out to be a pretty competitive score.”