All posts by n8rngtd.top

Wes Agar, Brendan Doggett and Nathan McAndrew were impressive throughout the game

AAP03-Dec-2022South Australia raced to their first Sheffield Shield win of the season after their pacemen ripped through Tasmania’s top order for the second time to secure a 208-run win.Tasmania were dismissed for 208 just before stumps on day three while chasing 417 for victory at Hobart’s Blundstone Arena. Pace trio of Brendan Doggett, Wes Agar and Nathan McAndrew repeated their best form after also taking nine wickets between them in the first innings.SA were earlier dismissed in their second innings for 236 shortly after lunch, with No. 3 Daniel Drew the top scorer.Related

• McSweeney hits maiden first-class hundred, Weatherald cracks own century

• Doggett's four helps put South Australia in command

• New South Wales hunt first win amid Victoria's substitute drama

Drew said it was “awesome” to secure such a comprehensive win.”It is really great to get the (first) win for the season,” he said. “It has been a long time coming so it is really good to tick that one over inside three days. It was a great effort from all the boys, and the bowling group this afternoon to take 10 wickets.”Tasmania had gone to tea at 1 for 69 in pursuit of an unlikely 417 but lost 3 for 2 straight after the break. Matthew Wade and Tim Ward had both been dropped in the slips when on 6, but were dismissed in consecutive overs by Doggett and Agar.SA’s bowlers kept the pressure on and had the hosts 6 for 106 before Jake Doran and aggressive allrounder Jarrod Freeman held them up.Agar came back on to clean up the tail and take his wicket tally for the Sheffield Shield season so far to 23 at an average of 27.08.The victory will be a relief for South Australia who were fifth before the match. They have claimed four wooden spoons in the past five seasons but have now moved to mid-table. It was a deserved win by the visitors, whose batsmen and bowlers dominated.

ECB welcomes funding although it falls well short of £35 million pledge from Rishi Sunak last year

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2025The UK government has pledged £1.5million for the construction of two new indoor, all-season cricket domes in Luton and Lancashire. But while the development has been welcomed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), it is significantly less than the £35million promised last summer by then-prime minister Rishi Sunak.That announcement, in April 2024, mooted the construction of 16 domes across England by 2029, as a tie-in to the women’s and men’s T20 World Cups in 2026 and 2030, respectively. The ECB has already funded a prototype dome in Bradford (open in 2023), and now seem resigned to not seeing anywhere near that figure going forward.Sunak’s promise looked set not to materialise after a change of government last summer. Speaking at the announcement of these amended plans last week at Leyland Cricket Club in Lancashire, culture secretary Lisa Nandy stated Sunak’s plans were not grounded in reality.”Unfortunately, the announcement made by the last government was a fantasy,” Nandy told the BBC. “There was not a single penny of actual funding attached to it.”So the announcement in itself equated to absolutely nothing at all. We are backing sport because we know how much it matters. It changes people’s lives. It opens up opportunities that people would never have had otherwise.”The ECB plan to push for further funding, in line with the governing body’s stated aims in their game-wide strategy, Inspiring Generations, which involve “working in partnership with the Government to maximise the legacy of the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup”. This £1.5million is in addition to the £400million for grassroots sport that was announced at the Spending Review, which will benefit a wide range of sports over the next four years.Speaking on Monday’s announcement, ECB chair Richard Thompson said: “These state-of-the-art all-weather cricket domes will be transformative for the communities they serve, opening up cricket to more people year-round and providing top-class facilities for elite players too. They are an important part of our plans to break down barriers and make cricket the most inclusive team sport.”We are pleased to secure Government support for these incredible community facilities, which we hope will provide a vital proof point of what can be achieved, and look forward to future collaboration. As we have seen in Bradford, centres like these can have a hugely positive impact–bringing people together, opening up opportunities, and inspiring the next generation.”As we look ahead to hosting the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026, building on that success by rolling out more domes in communities across England and Wales will be key to creating a genuine and lasting legacy from the tournament.”The two state-of-the-art domes will be focused on opening cricket up to a broader, more diverse audience as part of the “Plan for Change” initiative to get more young people active and participating in sport. The announcement is the latest step in the govenment’s new National Youth Strategy, which will be published in the autumn.

Fast bowler had previously indicated he would be unlikely to play another away Test after modest record

Matt Roller21-Aug-2024Chris Woakes believes he could lead England’s bowling attack in Pakistan and New Zealand this winter, despite his modest Test record overseas.Woakes has a bowling average of 51.88 in his 20 away Tests, compared to 21.57 in 32 at home, but said that he will not “shy away” from touring either this winter and beyond, despite having last featured in an overseas Test at Grenada in March 2022.Woakes took 3 for 32 at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday as England bowled Sri Lanka out for 236 on the opening day of the first of three Tests, and has now taken 14 wickets at 19.07 this summer. At 35, he has led England’s attack since James Anderson followed Stuart Broad into retirement earlier this summer, and is not ruling himself out of fulfilling the same role overseas.”Naturally as you get older, the more Test cricket you play, you pick up new skills, you have more experience to fall back on and are a little bit wiser,” Woakes said. “I haven’t played an away Test for a little while, so it’s hard to look back at that – but that might be a good thing as well, that I haven’t in a little while. It gives you a little fresh look on things.”Woakes was not involved for England’s only Test tour of the 2023-24 winter, instead playing for Sharjah Warriors at the ILT20 after appearing to concede that he was unlikely to play another overseas Test, saying: “My away record speaks for itself.” However, after bad light brought an early close in Manchester, he insisted that he remains available for selection.”I certainly wouldn’t shy away from it,” Woakes said. “I’ll play for England where I’m picked to play for England. I certainly wouldn’t rule myself out, and obviously that will be a discussion for probably further down the line, but I’m certainly not ruling myself out. The selectors will have their plans, but I’m certainly not going to turn down a tour if selected, so we shall see.”England will play six overseas Tests this winter, three each against Pakistan in October and New Zealand in December. Brendon McCullum, their coach, said after their whitewash against West Indies that it would be “hard to rub him out right now” from selection overseas, not least as perhaps England’s only seamer capable of contributing regularly with the bat from No. 8.Related

• Lawrence accepts his top billing even as middle-order wait goes on

• What does Bazball without Ben Stokes look like? We're about to find out

• Jayasuriya: 'Karunaratne is a strong-minded player. He can do something major on this tour'

• Pope vows to lean on Stokes as he begins stand-in captaincy reign

• Dhananjaya: Sri Lanka wanted extra warm-up but were denied

He will bat one spot higher than that in this series, promoted to No. 7 in Ben Stokes’ absence. “I’ve worked hard on my batting in my whole career,” he said. “It’s not something which I’ve always found easy. I’ve put in some hard yards to make sure that I’m capable of doing that, and it’s an extra string in the bow which allows you to potentially be selected ahead of someone else, who maybe can’t quite fulfil that role.”I feel like batting at No. 8 in the Test side, it’s probably a role which sometimes goes under the radar. You do have to be able to contribute with the bat and it’s not necessarily just the runs you score; it’s the time you spend out there to bat with the genuine batters that you come and join in the middle, who can then add more runs for the side.”Having spent most of his Test career as a change bowler behind Anderson and Broad, Woakes has thrived with the new ball this summer. “It’s not like Ben and Baz have come up and said, ‘you are the leader, you have to lead this attack’. It’s just a role which I’m taking on this summer as the opening bowler and the oldest to try and give options and communicate with the other bowlers as much as I can.”He struck twice in his fourth over on Wednesday, having Nishan Madushka caught at first slip when he went chasing after a wide outswinger, and setting Angelo Mathews up to pin him lbw playing no shot. “It was a big wicket for myself, and it’s always nice when you’ve moved a few away and then you get one to come back like that,” Woakes said.In the afternoon session, Woakes had Kamindu Mendis caught behind to leave Sri Lanka 92 for 6, with poor light denying him an opportunity to dismiss debutant Milan Rathnayake, who made 72 from No. 9. “We’re really happy,” he said. “To bowl a team out on day one of a Test match and to be none down at the close is a superb day.”The Sri Lankans will probably still feel with how the surface played for the first half of today that you can get on a roll and you can pick up wickets on that pitch, but we will see… it felt like today it was more of a new-ball pitch or a hard-ball pitch, where it moved around with that harder ball. Once it got soft, it actually looked really nice and easier to bat.”

Bumrah had a significant say with three wickets although it was Australia who edged the honours with their top four all passing fifty

Andrew McGlashan26-Dec-20241:51

Manjrekar explains how Konstas took down Bumrah

Sam Konstas, the 19-year-old making his Test debut, lit up the MCG with an audacious display of strokeplay against Jasprit Bumrah which in the process riled Virat Kohli on a compelling Boxing Day at the MCG. The world’s best fast bowler still had a significant say with three wickets although it was Australia who edged the honours with their top four all passing fifty.By stumps, Steven Smith was the key figure in how much further Australia’s first innings would be able to extend as he eyed his second hundred in three innings after Bumrah had sparked a middle-order wobble. Yet it was the opening passage of the Test that could well go down as defining.Within an hour of his first Test innings Konstas, who became his country’s fourth-youngest men’s player, was the most talked-about figure in the game having brazenly taken 32 off two overs from Bumrah. While he was stopped on 60 off 65 balls, he had already written himself a chapter among the most remarkable debuts and more than repaid the selectors’ desire to provide something different at the top of the order after Nathan McSweeney’s struggles.Related

• Konstas on taking on Bumrah: 'That's the beauty of being young and a bit naive'

• Kohli fined 20% of match fees after heated altercation with Konstas at MCG

• Konstas arrives at the Test arena like a supernova

Bumrah still pocketed key top-order scalps of Usman Khawaja, the prolific Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh although it did little to downplay talk India are over-reliant on him. The latter two came as Australia lost 3 for 9 in the final session with Akash Deep then claiming a much-deserved wicket with the second new ball when he removed Alex Carey to end the fourth significant partnership of the innings.Khawaja, Smith and Marnus Labuschagne all brought up half-centuries at more sedate tempos than Konstas. It was the first time since Rawalpindi in 2022 that Australia’s top four had all reached fifty in the same innings. Khawaja and Labuschagne will have been left wondering what could have been but Smith played a vital role in keeping Australia ahead.Sam Konstas celebrates his fifty•Getty Images

But it was all about how the day started. Konstas’ first over in Test cricket was against Bumrah and consisted of four plays and misses. Off his eighth delivery he worked a brace into the leg side to a loud ovation and two deliveries later signaled his intent with an attempt to reverse scoop Bumrah which brought a combination of cheers and gasps.He missed another an over later and with Mohammed Siraj also troubling Khawaja, Australia were 12 without loss after six overs when Konstas unleashed a passage of play that will never be forgotten. Off Bumrah’s fourth over he scooped to fine leg, reverse scooped for six over deep third and was an inch away from repeating it three balls later.He had dispatched the world’s leading bowler for 14 but wasn’t done there. In Bumrah’s sixth over he took him for 18, this time by peppering the boundary with drives including lofting a slower ball over wide long-on. By this point, he had been shoulder-checked by Kohli between overs with Khawaja trying to act as peacemaker with all eyes on how the match referee would adjudicate the confrontation.Not long after, a quickly run two brought up his fifty from 52 balls and he grabbed the Australian emblem on his shirt while pointing to the name on the back. What were you doing as a 19-year-old on Boxing Day? The mind started to wander towards something even more spectacular, but Ravindra Jadeja trapped Konstas lbw in a manner many a more experienced batter has been removed.The tempo then reverted to something more traditional: the stand of 89 between Konstas and Khawaja took 116 balls, the next of 65 between Khawaja and Labuschagne required 150. The afternoon session started with four consecutive maidens from Bumrah and Akash, the latter again bowling without luck. Both batters had edges fall short of slip and another from Khawaja which bisected the cordon took him to just his second fifty of the year.Jasprit Bumrah removed Travis Head for a duck•Getty Images

India were largely keeping the scoreboard under control but were not overly threatening, only for Khawaja to toe-end a pull against the first ball of Bumrah’s third spell to midwicket which left the bowler a little embarrassed to celebrate.Labuschagne was still not quite at his fluent best, but was looking as good as he had all series with some delicate glides to third off Jadeja and the types of drives to suggest better days lie ahead for Australia’s No. 3. There was a shift in gears after tea with Labuschagne and Smith adding 41 in the first six overs of the final session against the older ball, although there remained enough assistance from the surface to challenge the batters as another luckless spell from Akash showed.However, the door was opened for India by offspinner Washington Sundar, who had been brought into the side in place of Shubman Gill, when Labuschagne picked out mid-off with a skimming drive the ball after a drinks break. Labuschagne threw his head back as Kohli took the catch, knowing the chance of a first Test century since last July had gone begging.Rohit Sharma sensed a moment and immediately brought back Bumrah and against his third delivery Travis Head shouldered arms to one that clipped his off stump. A batter who has caused India nightmares with his attacking strokeplay departed not offering a shot. In Bumrah’s next over Mitchell Marsh, having slotted away one thumping cover drive, edged an expansive pull to continue what has been a lean series after the summer of his life in 2023-24.As the ground rose for the hats-off commemoration of Shane Warne at 3.50pm (to match Warne’s Test cap number), Smith had slotted consecutive boundaries off Jadeja when Australia looked to be taking control but now his presence was vital in ensuring the innings didn’t lose its way. He and Carey added 53 before Akash produced a terrific delivery from round the wicket. Smith remained firm and walked off to warm applause from those who remained of an 87,242 crowd but it was nothing compared to the ovations earlier in the day.

High Performance Review may yet scupper season’s aim, as lowly Leicestershire are routed

David Hopps07-Sep-2022Nottinghamshire 201 (Montgomery 43, Wright 3-26, Barnes 3-32) and 390 for 7 dec (Clarke 67, James 61, Hameed 60) beat Leicestershire 93 (Evans 50*, Fletcher 4-23) and 257 (Finan 58, Mullaney 3-29) by 241 runsJust as Mark Wood can ride an imaginary horse during a Test match, so Nottinghamshire fear they are again contesting an imaginary promotion race as they approach the winners’ enclosure. For the moment, they can do little else but hope. But at least in a Championship season which still has no confirmed denouement, and in a format that has no confirmed future, they have all but done what they can, stretching their lead in Division Two to 34 points with a thumping 241-run win inside three days against Leicestershire.Nottinghamshire’s nearest pursuers, Middlesex and Glamorgan, have three matches left to their two, but they play each other at Lord’s next week. Their next match, against Worcestershire at New Road a week on Tuesday, will be a promotion party. Presumably.Their latest win ended amid some drama as the players trooped out after six o’clock, the rain briefly relenting, Leicestershire nine-down, floodlights blazing, and the threat of a dodgy weather forecast on the final day. They grabbed that wicket within 10 balls as drizzle again began to fall. The Gods then are shining upon them, but the question remains as to whether they will be doubly blessed by the cricket authorities, who would have forced even Zeus to procrastinate and form another sub-committee.The bigger picture was that Nottinghamshire’s win came on the day when Andrew Strauss openly lobbied in a podcast for his oft-signalled preference for a future of three divisions of six and warned that if the counties did not accept a reduction in the amount of Championship cricket played, then more and more players would take the easy option and abandon county cricket for an ever-growing number of worldwide T20 leagues. Result: disaster.Basically, the High Performance Review message is that you old guys might want to watch wall-to-wall Championship cricket, but we young guys don’t want to play it, so you’d better get used to the idea before the walls come tumbling down.Strauss will officially unveil his proposals to the ECB Board next Wednesday, with Richard Thompson taking the chair for the first time. The Board will then decide what exactly to propose to the counties, and when, and there is every chance that a September deadline will not be met. There is also a growing sense that any changes might not come into effect until 2024. If that is so, Nottinghamshire, then your promotion might actually exist.Nottinghamshire would deserve as much. They finished fourth in the Conference system in 2021, a format introduced because of Covid-19, but when the counties voted to revert to two divisions this summer, that achievement was ruled irrelevant. Instead, they were demoted to the Second Division on the basis of their bottom-placed finish in Division One in the last pre-Covid season two years earlier.For all Strauss’s warnings, it is eminently possible that county cricket could opt to stare down the possibility of a talent drain (after all, they have suffered an ECB-approved talent drain for years) and calculate that a surfeit of short-form global tournaments will ultimately implode.But the contention that England’s professional circuit needs the best versus the best has more in its favour. One look at Leicestershire insisted as much. They can be grateful that Strauss is not trying to dismantle the 18-team professional system in the naïve belief that shrinking a game somehow makes it stronger, but their inadequacies are a powerful advocacy of a steeper pyramid system that three divisions of six would bring.They were largely dire on the third day at Trent Bridge, entirely lacking in conviction and application once their openers had departed, happy to tumble to defeat in fatalistic fashion until the merriment of a last-wicket stand of 83 put a gloss on proceedings that they did not deserve. Leicestershire’s last-wicket pair even survived a statutory extra half-hour to reach tea at 251 for 9, their stand worth 77 in 13.2 overs and the last man, Michael Finan, a 26-year-old triallist from Cheshire, finding himself the possessor of a maiden Championship fifty on debut – an innings that involved Nottinghamshire pounding the old ball at him from short of a length with a short leg and five fielders back for the catch, and Finan surviving through a mixture of luck, judgment and dropped catches.Related

• Darren Stevens vows to play on next season after 'gutting' Kent release aged 46

• Strauss review proposes smaller Championship top tier, 'revamped' 50-over competition

• Nottinghamshire put foot firmly on Leicestershire's throat

• Ben Raine bowls Durham back into contention

There followed a rain delay of more than two hours before the sides reappeared. Leicestershire had six overs plus an extra half hour to withstand. The skies were dark and the floodlights were on. From the 10th ball, Finan edged Dane Paterson to second slip where Matthew Montgomery held a low catch. Notts celebrated as if it matters, and let’s hope that this time it does.Leicestershire have not won a first-class game in 11 attempts and look as weak as when they failed to win a single match in 2013 and 2014. A threadbare squad not been helped by the absence of Wiaan Mulder, who has been called up by South Africa, and Ben Mike, who is bound for Yorkshire at the season’s end. They have competed more ably in white-ball formats, only missing a place in the T20 Blast quarter-finals when they were docked points, and reaching the Royal London Cup play-offs, but over four days they are again scraping the barrel. It is due to freakish circumstances that they are playing Nottinghamshire in this season’s Championship, but in the longer format the gulf in class has been apparent.Leicestershire’s director of cricket, Paul Nixon, sounds increasingly dismayed by their four-day failures. “There were too many soft dismissals, too many times we got ourselves out. It’s tough when the odds are against you, but that’s the mindset of a winner. You’ve got to believe that you’re the man who is going to take responsibility for your team and if people haven’t got that mindset, I don’t want them playing for Leicestershire County Cricket Club.”Their openers did resist the new ball gamely enough, albeit rendered largely strokeless. Sam Evans had batted through the first innings for 50 out of 93, no other player reaching double figures (extras contributed 17). His downfall, though, was disappointing as, foot planted a few inches down the pitch, he stretched for a drive at a wide ball from Paterson and edged to the keeper.With Hassan Azad also embedded, Notts appeared to be faced with a bit of a grind on a slow surface, only for their skipper, Steven Mullaney, to change the tone with a pre-lunch spell of 3 for 15 in four overs. He swung the ball prodigiously at times and offered subtle variations of pace. A straight one from around the wicket had Azad lbw; Louis Kimber, who has been promoted to No.3 on the back of excellent 50-overs form, checked a drive to mid-off; and a huge inducker did for Colin Ackermann, who was lbw.As Ryan Patel and Harry Swindells contrived to flick catches to midwicket, six wickets had fallen for 121. Ed Barnes, struggling for oxygen as high as No. 7, banished the doubters in a positive innings of 37, even if his eventual demise was slightly embarrassing as Brett Hutton, having loaded the legside field, banged one in that followed Barnes as he backed away, and he popped a catch to short leg in self-protection while falling on his bottom.Mullaney reckoned Nottinghamshire looked “rusty”. But only Leicestershire had disintegrated.

South Africa’s captain had injured himself during their last World Cup league game against Afghanistan

Firdose Moonda11-Nov-20231:35

Should injured Bavuma have continued playing?

Temba Bavuma has “showed an improvement overnight” from the hamstring strain that hampered him during South Africa’s World Cup match against Afghanistan on Friday. Cricket South Africa confirmed on Sunday morning that Bavuma had not gone for a scan.Earlier on Saturday, ESPNcricinfo confirmed with two sources that a decision on whether Bavuma would be taken for a scan would be made over the course of the day, but when asked several times whether Bavuma had gone for one, CSA management did not reply. They later issued a statement which suggested Bavuma was recovering at the team hotel in Ahmedabad on what is a rest day for South Africa.”Proteas captain Temba Bavuma sustained a right hamstring strain during the match against Afghanistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday night,” CSA said. “He was assessed by the Proteas medical team today and showed an improvement overnight. He will continue to be monitored and managed by the medical team.”Bavuma had left the field after nine balls of the first innings against Afghanistan, and returned four overs later but limped as he fielded – mostly at mid-off. He chased balls gingerly and hobbled as he jogged to talk to his bowlers but did not go off again, with his role as opening batter in mind. Had Bavuma spent significant time off the field, he would have only been allowed to bat after the same amount of time had elapsed or until at least five batters had been dismissed, which he did not want to do as he searches for form. To date, Bavuma has a top score of 35 at the tournament, and scored 23 against Afghanistan.After the match, Bavuma explained that while it was a “bit risky,” he did what he “felt was right” by staying on the field despite being given the option to go off. While he did not know the extent of the injury at the time, he said it would “have to be fine” for the semi-final against Australia in Kolkata on November 16. It is understood CSA will leave the decision as to whether he plays as late as possible.If Bavuma is unable to play the semi-final, Aiden Markram is likely to captain South Africa – as he did when Bavuma missed the England and Bangladesh games with illness – while Reeza Hendricks could open the batting.South Africa are scheduled to travel to Kolkata on Sunday.

Stuart Broad said he was amazed that no senior Australian player questioned the morality of Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2023Stuart Broad was “amazed that not one senior player” in the Australian team “questioned what they had done” during or after the hotly-debated dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the Lord’s Test.Writing in his column for the two days after a heated fifth day at Lord’s, where England lost to go 2-0 down in the Ashes, Broad brought up the cultural review Australia had gone through in the aftermath of ball-tampering scandal involving sandpaper in Cape Town in 2018.”What amazed me, and what I told the Australians I could not believe as we left the field at lunch, was that not one senior player among them — and I very much understand in the emotion of the game that the bowler and wicketkeeper would have thought ‘that’s out’ — questioned what they had done.”Especially given what their team has been through over recent years, with all their cultural change. Not one of them said: ‘Hang on, lads. I’m not really sure about this.’ Not one of them thought: ‘He’s gaining no advantage. He’s not trying to get a run. It’s the end of the over. It’s a bit of a random dismissal. We should cancel that appeal.'”Ultimately, Pat Cummins is a really great guy and I would be amazed, once the emotion settles, if he does not sit back and think, ‘I got that one wrong’, even though his bottom line at the time was winning a Test match.”Related

• MCC introduce stricter pavilion regulations after Long Room chaos

• McCullum: Bairstow dismissal will 'galvanise' England in Ashes comeback bid

• Stokes, Cummins expect fiery Lord's atmosphere to spill over to Headingley

• Usman Khawaja condemns 'disrespectful' behaviour from MCC members

• Ashes finds its flashpoint as Bairstow stumping ignites England

The incident occurred when England were five down and needed a further 178 runs to win: Bairstow ducked underneath a short ball from Cameron Green, scratched the crease with his boot and walked down the pitch towards his partner Ben Stokes at the non-striker’s end. Before Bairstow had begun to leave his ground, wicketkeeper Alex Carey had gathered the ball on the bounce and, in one motion, under-armed a throw at stumps at the striker’s end. The on-field umpires, Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney, referred the decision to TV umpire Marais Erasmus who gave the batter out – and the dismissal was recorded as stumped. Bairstow glared at the Australian huddle as he walked off and boos rang out around Lord’s. The crowd – who have been largely subdued throughout the first four days of this Test – then chanted repeatedly: “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”Broad said, for him, the crux of the matter was whether Bairstow was “looking to gain an advantage” and dismissed comparisons to previous incidents where England were the team trying to effect the dismissal.