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Milne replaces Usama Mir for the first three games, while Renegades have signed USA allrounder Hassan Khan and Hurricanes have signed Afghan spinner Waqar Salamkheil

Alex Malcolm08-Dec-2024Melbourne Stars have signed New Zealand quick Adam Milne for a pre-Christmas stint in the BBL as a replacement for Pakistan legspinner Usama Mir who will miss the first three matches of the season.Stars are also set to unveil a new captain this week after Glenn Maxwell stood down at the end of last season. Maxwell is unlikely to be fit for the first match against Perth Scorchers on December 15 as he continues to recover from his hamstring injury and it remains to be seen whether he will appear in any of the first three games before Christmas.Mir is also unavailable for the first three games against Scorchers, Brisbane Heat and Adelaide Strikers which will be played in three cities in the space of five days. Stars have swooped on Milne to fill in for those three games. He has previously played in the BBL for Sydney Thunder in 2020-21, taking just five wickets in 12 matches at an economy rate of 7.56.Related

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“To be able to secure someone of Adam’s talent and experience is a huge boost for the squad for the first three games,” Melbourne Stars General Manager Blair Crouch said. “Adam knows Australian conditions well, we value what he will add to the squad and we look forward to seeing what he can produce.”Milne also covers for the absence of Scott Boland who is on Test duty. Stars could also be missing allrounder Beau Webster for at least the opening game in Perth as he looks set to remain with the Test squad for the third match against India in Brisbane which starts on December 14. Stars’ second BBL match against Heat falls on day five of the third Test, meaning Webster could potentially be available if he is released from the Test squad pending Mitchell Marsh’s fitness.Stars are also missing England Test opener Ben Duckett for the opening three games of the BBL season, as he completes his Test duties in New Zealand, with Joe Clarke set for his second stint at Stars as a replacement after playing two seasons from 2021-23. Clarke also played six games for Melbourne Renegades last season and three games for Scorchers in 2020. He recently played for Victoria in the Global Super League in Guyana.Hassan Khan will play for Renegades in the BBL•CPL T20 via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Renegades have signed USA spin-bowling allrounder Hassan Khan as a replacement player. The former Pakistan Under-19 representative has yet to play international cricket but starred for San Francisco Unicorns, a franchise run by Cricket Victoria, in Major League Cricket taking 10 wickets and scoring 204 runs at a strike rate of 143.70 across his nine games. He was named domestic player of the tournament. He also performed well for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the GSL.”Hassan is an exciting young talent who gives us options in both departments,” Renegades General Manager James Rosengarten said. “His ability to contribute in those important middle overs with the ball and add valuable runs down the order will be crucial as we push for success this season.”Hobart Hurricanes have signed Afghanistan left-arm wrist-spinner Waqar Salamkheil as an overseas replacement for Rishad Hossain who has been ruled out of the entire BBL due to international commitments and the Bangladesh Premier League, despite being Hurricanes’ third pick in the overseas draft.Salamkheil will be available for the first six games of the BBL season before departing for the ILT20 in January. He was Trinbago Knight Riders’ leading wicket-taker in the recent Caribbean Premier League bagging 15 scalps in 11 matches, playing alongside two other Hurricanes players in Tim David and Chris Jordan.”Waqar is a tremendous young talent, he adds a different element to our bowling line-up and is a wrist-spinner with a well-disguised wrong-un, similar to Rishad,” Hurricanes High Performance Manager Salliann Beams said.”While we are disappointed that Rishad can’t join us because of the BPL, we know that we have someone who will help us win matches in the first half of the tournament in Waqar.”He was on our radar during the draft, with Ricky [Ponting] and Hopsey [James Hopes] familiar with his talent after seeing him play in franchise cricket, he will complement what we have in our squad already.”

The offspinner will start his season by captaining New South Wales for the first time in what will just be the second occasion he has led in his first-class career

Andrew McGlashan01-Oct-20250:52

What Will Jacks offers the England Ashes squad

Nathan Lyon has endorsed the value of always playing a spinner in Australian conditions amid a growing sense that England may opt to go without a frontline option at stages during the upcoming Ashes.While it falls into the category of unsurprising assessments from Lyon, as he himself remarked, it will nevertheless provide one of the interesting dynamics in the build-up to the first Test next month when England ponder the balance of their side having selected allrounder Will Jacks, who last played Test cricket in 2022, as the back-up to offspinner Shoaib Bashir.”You’re asking the spinner if they want to pick a spinner,” Lyon said with a smile. “For me, yeah, you’re picking a spinner in every side. Variation, it changes the whole tempo of the game. I think spinners can play a very effective role out here if their skill sets suit.”Related

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One of the factors England will be considering is how visiting spinners have so often struggled in Australia: since Lyon’s debut, those from overseas have averaged 62.09 compared to Lyon’s 31.08. However, the last time England were successful down under, in 2010-11, Graeme Swann played a vital role in a four-man attack”I grew up here. I understand and built my craft around playing on wickets that don’t spin,” Lyon said. “So, I’ve had to find a way to firstly survive but also create chances and build pressure along the way, and it’s something that I thoroughly enjoy doing, and I’ll keep doing that.”There is a little twist to Lyon’s current situation, though, in that he was left out of Australia’s most recent Test in Jamaica when they opted for an all-pace attack in the day-night encounter with a pink Dukes ball. They finished the game by skittling West Indies for 27 with Lyon’s replacement, Scott Boland, taking a hat-trick.It is a scenario highly unlikely to play out in Australia, as the selectors have already indicated, and while Lyon acknowledges the end result justified the move, he was adamant he could have played a role.”Disappointed that I wasn’t a part of that, but I understood the reasons behind it and at the end of the day, you look at it now, it’s a pretty good call and brave call,” Lyon said. “But if I’m going to miss a Test for anyone, it’s going to be Scott Boland, that’s for sure. I’m only disappointed because I believe my skill set can play a role in any conditions around the world and I kind of feel like I’ve proven that to be effective.”Nathan Lyon will start his season as New South Wales captain•Getty Images

Lyon, who sits on 562 Test wickets, one short of equaling Glenn McGrath’s haul as the second-most for Australia, will begin his Ashes preparations by captaining New South Wales for the first time against Western Australia in Perth having been named as Jack Edwards’ understudy while the allrounder is with Australia A in India. It is one of three Shield appearances Lyon expects to make before the first Test.It will be just the second first-class match Lyon has ever captained in, having previously done it once in the Sheffield Shield for South Australia in 2012, while he also captained a Prime Minister’s XI against England in 2018.”It’s a massive honour to captain the state that you were born in and obviously dreamt of playing cricket for,” he said. “So to get that call the other day was pretty humbling. I’ve never had any ambitions to captain any teams, especially professional teams. But Greg Mail [NSW chief performance officer] has come up to me and asked me whether I’d do it, and that he wanted me to do it… so it’s a short stint but I’m pretty happy with that.”Alongside Edwards, New South Wales are missing six other potential Shield players between Australia’s T20I side in New Zealand and the A team in India, but the side to face Western Australia will include Sam Konstas as he heads into a vital month in his bid to retain a place in the Test side.Konstas enters the season having scored 188 runs in the two four-day Australia A matches, including a century, but the selectors have long stated that it will be the first three Shield matches that prove key to their decisions.When Lyon was asked what he expected of Konstas over the next few weeks, he said “runs”, but also stressed that he was a player still developing his game.”Obviously he had a pretty successful tour over there [in India], but it’s great to have him back on the Shield side,” Lyon said. “He’s learning the craft, as we’re all learning. Some of us are a lot further on in our journey as professional cricketers, but they’re learning their craft. Not just him, but everyone around Australia. They’ve got to learn their style and be brave enough to back that and have faith in it.”

After conceding 75 in his first 15 overs, he dismissed Pant, Rahul and Jadeja to put New Zealand in sight of victory

Ashish Pant19-Oct-20241:17

What worked for New Zealand’s bowlers?

William O’Rourke admitted being “pretty streaky” and “hot and cold” in the early part of the second innings of the first Test in Bengaluru. But having gone for 75 off his first 15 overs, he dismissed Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja in three successive overs with the second new ball as India lost their last six wickets for just 29 runs.”Overall, for me, I’ve been pretty streaky, pretty hot and cold with the ball,” O’Rourke said at the end of the fourth day. “Pant and Sarfaraz [Khan] obviously batted very well for a long time there, but that second new ball came on and started doing a little bit for us.”So, credit to Timmy [Tim Southee] for getting that first breakthrough [of Sarfaraz] and then I was lucky enough to get a wee chop on there [from Pant] to give us a bit of momentum going through.”Related

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Sarfaraz, in particular, handled O’Rourke well, picking him for 39 runs in 35 balls and repeatedly throwing him off his lengths with ramps and late cuts. While O’Rourke said he and the rest of the bowling unit could have been tighter with their lengths, he credited Sarfaraz for using the angles and opening up the field.”He [Sarfaraz] played me really well,” O’Rourke said. “With that angle of me sort of falling away, it sort of opens up that little dab shot. Yeah, maybe we could have been in the game a little bit, but he played it so well.”I would have liked to be a little bit tighter. Obviously, one of his strengths is that [the late cut]. So, yeah, I would have liked to be a little bit tighter, but I was missing a little bit wide, and he put me away. So credit to him.”O’Rourke has had a rousing start to his Test career. This is his fifth Test and he has already picked up 26 wickets at 18.84, which includes two five-fors. Fifteen of his 26 wickets have been in the subcontinent. He had an excellent tour of Sri Lanka last month where he picked up eight wickets in two Tests, and has continued his good run in India.William O’Rourke took three wickets in three overs to hurt India•BCCI

“I think we had a really good prep in Tauranga and down in Lincoln,” he said about his success in the subcontinent. “We had a few wickets that were a bit drier than probably what we are used to at that time of the year in New Zealand. And yeah, learning from the guys like Matt Henry, Tim Southee, who have been here before and done it before, it’s been massive for me coming here.”In the first innings here, O’Rourke picked up four wickets, including Virat Kohli’s for a duck.”It’s obviously pretty special getting someone so great, one of the greats of our game, out like that,” he said of the Kohli wicket. “You grow up watching those guys. So to come here and take that wicket, it’s probably right up there as one of the [best] wickets I’ve got.”While O’Rourke has been pleasantly surprised by the bounce he has seen on the Bengaluru surface, he is also loving bowling with the SG ball.”It has got a bit more of a pronounced seam than the Kookaburra [that New Zealand use at home], so it seems to be nice and hard to start with. It goes through nicely and big seams are always a big plus. [It’s] my first time here and [Bengaluru] probably had a little bit more bounce, a bit more pace than we expected coming over here, which suits a bowler like me. So far, I’ve really enjoyed it.”We definitely do our scouting and stuff before games. I’d say at the moment in my career, I’m more of a feel bowler. I like to back what I do, run in and do what I do. But definitely I have a look at the players beforehand, I like to know their strengths and weaknesses. But I think it normally comes back to just being me and doing what I do.”

Ecclestone’s 33 off 19 helped UPW tie the scores by smashing 41 runs off the last 17 balls before delivering a stunning Super Over

Shashank Kishore24-Feb-2025
Super Over An extraordinary night of drama delivered a thriller, with UP Warriorz sending a crowd in excess of 28,000 into stunned silence after RCB failed to knock off the nine runs they needed in the Super Over.In a game that seemed to be headed RCB’s way until the last two overs in regulation time, Sophie Ecclestone’s incredible final-over hitting against Renuka Singh, which went for 17, forced the game into a Super Over. But the showstopper for the night was a sensational final over Ecclestone delivered to deny Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh as Warriorz sprung their campaign back to life with a second straight win.Related

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The high-octane end

Forty-two needed off 18, with two wickets in hand. Ecclestone had pottered to 3 off eight balls, and had no option but to go for broke, especially with Chinelle Henry, seemingly the last hope for Warriorz, gone.Ecclestone got stuck into Georgia Wareham by muscling two sixes in a 13-run over. But when Saima Thakor was run out a ball after swinging one out of the ground in the 19th over, it was all on Ecclestone to knock off much of the 18 runs they needed off the last six.She hit 17 in an extraordinary sequence of 6, 6, 4, 1, taking Renuka to the cleaners as she repeatedly missed her lengths. But Ecclestone’s single off the fifth ball that left Warriorz needing one off the last ball, brought rookie Kranti Goud on strike.When Goud missed and the batters ran, Richa Ghosh did an MS Dhoni, choosing to sprint to the stumps and knock the bails off rather than risk an underarm throw. And just like that, the WPL had its first Super Over.Sophie Ecclestone’s sixes took the game into a Super Over•BCCI

Ecclestone’s dream night continues

When Kim Garth bowled Henry, who had muscled an incredible eight sixes in her 23-ball 62 against Delhi Capitals, with a slower delivery with Warriorz needing 47 off 22, she wouldn’t have envisaged having to bowl the Super Over.Yet, when she did, and conceded just 8 while dismissing Henry again, she wouldn’t have imagined finishing on the wrong side of the result. But, five minutes later, she watched in agony as Mandhana and Ghosh failed to find their hitting range on the face of some nerveless bowling from Ecclestone.It was a performance straight out of fantasy for the world’s No. 1 T20I and ODI bowler, who had also quite extraordinarily just conceded six runs off the final over in RCB’s innings. Three of those deliveries were pinpoint yorkers that denied Ellyse Perry a final charge towards what would have been an extraordinary century.

Perry, Wyatt-Hodge set RCB up

Perry offset Mandhana’s early loss – against offspin for the 11th time in the WPL – by welcoming Ecclestone with back-to-back fours, her step-out to bisect cover and mid-off being the standout. Perry’s intent-laden approach brought her a first six when she launched Thakor down the ground. At 42 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, RCB had a base.All through her innings, Perry was bubbling with flair. She became the first player to hit the 200-run mark in each of the first three WPLs. She also overtook Meg Lanning to become the highest run-getter in the tournament’s short history, during the course of a 94-run second-wicket stand with Danni Wyatt-Hodge.The five-over period between seven and 11 brought RCB just 33, but the pair was able to flick the switch. Goud, who hustled Wyatt-Hodge with an excellent bumper early on, was picked away for three back-to-back fours in the 13th.In doing so, Wyatt-Hodge exhibited her range of shots – a cut when offered width, a swat back past the bowler when it was dug in short, and a pummel over extra cover when the bowler went full. Wyatt-Hodge brought up her maiden WPL half-century off 36 balls against the side that had traded her out. But her dismissal brought Warriorz two more wickets – of Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja.Ellyse Perry brought out her glorious drives from the start•BCCI

But Perry didn’t pass up an opportunity to go all out in the death overs. She took a liking for Deepti Sharma’s predictable lengths and bowling into the surface by picking her for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 2 in the penultimate over – hitting the ball to different areas, from deep cover to long-on to deep midwicket.Perry’s use of angles to try and get inside the line and sweep the bowlers off their lengths was particularly noteworthy. She finished unbeaten on 90 off 56, with RCB hitting 105 off the last nine overs.

Navgire sparks life into chase

With Chamari Athapaththu again on the bench, Warriorz needed some firepower up top, and when Kiran Navgire smashed a 27-ball 51 four nights ago against Capitals, it seemed like they had found an answer.Navgire tantalised yet again, her uncomplicated stand-and-deliver mantra bringing her 24 off just 12 balls, as she swung at anything remotely in her zone before she was bowled attempting to hoick Renuka. Vrinda Dinesh’s run of low scores stretched into a fourth game as she picked out mid-off for 14 as Warriorz lost two early.

Warriorz rise after slide

An injury to Shreyanka Patil opened up a spot for Sneh Rana as a replacement, and she inflicted more agony for Warriorz when she struck twice in two overs. This put Warriorz in freefall mode, even though Shweta Sehrawat sparked life into the innings with a sprightly 31. But at 125 for 7 in 15, only a freak Henry innings would have silenced the crowd. But when she chopped on to Garth in the 17th, Warriorz needed a miracle, and Ecclestone scripted one.

Matt Henry has been confirmed as his replacement for Welsh Fire

Matt Roller and Danyal Rasool04-Jun-2024Shaheen Shah Afridi is in talks to join Canada’s Global T20 league, after pulling out of the Hundred citing a desire to spend time with his family. The two leagues are set to clash directly in 2024 and Afridi’s withdrawal is a significant blow to the Hundred’s standing.Afridi played in the Hundred for the first time last year, taking six wickets in six appearances for Welsh Fire. He was retained by mutual agreement on a contract worth £100,000 – the second-highest salary band in the league – for the 2024 season, but has now pulled out of his deal. The ECB confirmed his withdrawal on Monday.”I’m sad to miss out on playing for Welsh Fire this year,” Afridi was quoted as saying in a press release. “I enjoyed the Hundred a lot last season, and I was excited about being back in Cardiff. I wish Mike [Hussey, Welsh Fire’s coach] and the team the best of luck for 2024.”Related

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ESPNcricinfo understands that Afridi’s official explanation to the ECB was that he is reluctant to commit to spending four weeks away from his family. The Hundred starts on July 23 and ends on August 18, with players expected to report a few days before their opening match.Pakistan players are only permitted two No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to play in foreign leagues per season, as per the terms of their central contracts with the PCB. Afridi is already locked into a long-term deal with the Avram Glazer-owned Desert Vipers in UAE’s ILT20.Rather than using his second NOC on the Hundred, Afridi will instead consider playing in the Global T20, a privately-run league in Canada, which is set to return for a fourth season in 2024. The league’s organisers are yet to announce a schedule but it is expected to run from July 25 until August 11 – a slightly shorter window than the Hundred.The first two editions of the Global T20 were in 2018 and 2019 but it was postponed indefinitely during the Covid pandemic. It returned unexpectedly in 2023, attracting a strong cast of overseas players including Andre Russell, Mohammad Rizwan and Shakib Al Hasan, running at a similar time to the inaugural Major League Cricket (MLC).The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) has received reports of late or non-payment issues with the Global T20 in the past 24 months. As a result, FICA recommends on its leagues hub that “any participating players request advanced payment”.Matt Henry, the New Zealand seamer, has been confirmed as Afridi’s replacement at Welsh Fire in the Hundred. He could miss the start of the tournament if San Francisco Unicorns, his MLC franchise, reach the play-offs, with around half of the men’s overseas players signed up for the Hundred in a similar situation.The ECB’s desire to compete with salaries on offer in other leagues is among the reasons underpinning their decision to open the Hundred up to private investment. Four other Pakistan players are under contract in the men’s Hundred for 2024: Naseem Shah (Birmingham Phoenix), Haris Rauf (Welsh Fire), Imad Wasim (Trent Rockets) and Usama Mir (Manchester Originals).

Owen impressed on his T20I debut, taking a key wicket before clubbing 50 off 27 which included six sixes

Alex Malcolm20-Jul-2025A dream debut for Mitchell Owen with bat and ball alongside a stunning half-century from Cameron Green guided Australia to a three-wicket win over West Indies after a masterful death bowling display from Ben Dwarshuis and Nathan Ellis set the game up at Sabina Park.Owen took a key wicket before clubbing 50 off 27 to become the third Australian behind Ricky Ponting and David Warner to make a half-century on T20I debut and bag the Player-of-the-Match award. He smashed six sixes while Green thumped five and two boundaries in a 26-ball 51. The pair added 80 from 40 to rescue Australia from 78 for 4 and gun down the target of 190. Australia out-hit West Indies, smashing 17 sixes to just nine overall.Earlier, Dwarshuis took 4 for 36 including three in an over, as he and Ellis combined to take four wickets for just seven runs in the last 16 balls of West Indies innings to restrict them to 189 for 8 after half-centuries from Roston Chase and Shai Hope had threatened to set-up a huge total. Chase made 60 off 32 at No.3 while Hope made 55 from 39. Shimron Hetmyer also clubbed 38 from 19 but West Indies’ lower-order combined for 11 between them as they lost 6 for 30 in the final five overs.Chase-ing Hope earlyIn the absence of the injured Evin Lewis, West Indies new-look top three laid a superb platform. Brandon King made the switch from Test cricket to T20 mode look easy, thumping four boundaries in the first three overs as Australia’s quicks missed wide. The early introduction of spin halted momentum with Cooper Connolly bagging his first T20I wicket as King ran past one. Hope picked up the baton launching Connolly inside out over cover off the back foot.Roston Chase launches down the ground•Getty Images

Chase’s first 10 balls were very sluggish but he found his groove outside the powerplay. He launched Connolly and Adam Zampa in back-to-back overs before playing four superb strokes off Sean Abbott in the 10th to find the boundary four times. He first paddle-scooped fine, before showing power and touch to thread the same gap between short third and backward point before again paddling a predictable full and straight ball fine again. West Indies looked set for a huge score at 123 for 1 in the 13th over.Dwarshuis and Ellis death bowling masterclassDwarshuis started a West Indies collapse as Chase holed out to long-on trying to clear the rope again. Hope slowed down significantly before Owen made his first impact in T20I cricket with the ball, forcing a miscue from Hope with a wide slower ball. Either side of that though he conceded two sixes to Hetmyer.Ellis and Dwarshuis then put on a clinic. Hetmyer was threatening to push West Indies well over 200, smoking Ellis’ first two balls of the 18th over to the rope. But thereafter West Indies lost 4 for 7 off the last 16 balls of the innings. Ellis’ last four balls of the 18th over were a mixture of brilliant slower balls and yorkers. Dwarshuis took three wickets for one run in the 19th with three mishits caught in the deep. Ellis closed out the last thanks to some help from Green who denied Hetmyer a certain six at long-off with a stunning catch that no other Australian fielder could have caught at full stretch on the rope.Ben Dwarshuis bagged four wickets•Getty Images

Fraser-McGurk misfires yet againEyebrows were raised when Australia’s selectors recalled Fraser-McGurk in place of the injured Spencer Johnson as a reserve wicketkeeper for Josh Inglis, and they remained raised when he was selected in the XI to open in place of the injured Matt Short. But there was very little surprise when he struggled to 2 off 7 before miscuing Jason Holder to mid-off.Mitchell Marsh was in an all-or-nothing mood, mixing three monstrous sixes with seven dots in the powerplay before he got a thin edge to the extra pace of Alzarri Joseph. Green fought fire with fire. He got away with a top edge that flew for six over fine third before being pinned on the shoulder. He then deposited Joseph over fine leg twice to finish the powerplay.Australia looked in all sorts of trouble when Josh Inglis top-edged Akeal Hosein to short fine and Glenn Maxwell skied Motie straight up to end an indifferent innings of 11 off 10.Green and Owen power Australia home, justNeither man had much experience as middle-order finishers coming into the game but the pair showed extraordinary composure and power to rip the game away from West Indies. Owen was fearless, getting off the mark with a six off Andre Russell and launching another later in the over for good measure. He then deposited Hosein three times in the 12th over to dispel any concerns over his ability against spin in the middle overs. Green played really smartly at the other end knocking three twos to keep the board moving without risk after his fast start. He then took Holder and Motie down to blaze to 50 off 25 balls and get the target to just 32 off 31 balls. But he fell trying to hit Motie out of the ground again.Owen kept going, pounding Joseph into the stands to reach 50 off 26 but he too fell next ball trying to go again with Australia still needing 15 off 21. But Connolly, Dwarshuis and Abbott did just enough to steer the visitors home, but not without help from West Indies’ fielders. Substitute fielder Jewel Andrew dropped Abbott at fine leg off Holder with seven to win. He was almost run out too but they nurdled their way home with seven balls to spare.

Laura Wolvaardt dropped to tied-second alongside Nat Sciver-Brunt

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2025India opener Smriti Mandhana is back to No. 1 on the ICC’s ODI rankings for women’s batting. It is the first time since 2019 for Mandhana (727 rating points) at the top. South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt (717) – who lost 17 rating points – dropped to tied-second alongside England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt.In early May, Mandhana had scored 51 against South Africa and 116 in the final against hosts Sri Lanka in a tri-series, which were has last two ODI appearances.Wolvaardt, in her five ODI appearances in 2025, has averaged 28.20 with a top score of 43. She scored 27 and 28 in the first two ODIs of the ongoing series against West Indies.Related

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England’s Amy Jones and Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry round out the top five. Mandhana is the lone Indian in the top ten, with Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur on 15th and 16th respectively.The top of the ODI bowling charts stayed the same, with England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone well ahead of Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt. But West Indies spinner Afy Fletcher’s four-wicket haul against South Africa in the second ODI helped her gain four spots up to 19th.There were no changes in the ODI allrounders’ top ten either. Gardner leads the list, with West Indies’ Hayley Matthews at No. 2 and South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp at No. 3. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine, who announced her decision to retire from ODIs after the World Cup in September to be hosted by India, is ninth among allrounders and 13th among batters.

Rest of India agreed to settle for a draw after being set a 450-run target with little time left in the game

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2024Tanush Kotian scored his second first class century on the fifth day of the Irani Cup as Mumbai won the title on the basis of their first-innings lead, lifting the trophy for the first time since the 1997-98 season.Kotian added 94 runs to his overnight total of 20 as Mumbai batted through the day, declaring with a 450-run lead when Rest of India agreed to end the match as a draw. Kotian became the first batter to cross fifty twice in an Irani Cup game while batting at No. 8 or lower. Offspinner Saransh Jain picked up a six-wicket haul, but Rest of India were unable to bowl Mumbai out with enough time to have a crack at their total.Mumbai began the day with a 274-run lead, with Kotian at the crease with Sarfaraz Khan. Saransh trapped Sarfaraz lbw in the fourth over of the day, and two overs later, had Shardul Thakur stumped.But Kotian and Mohit Awasthi batted 200 balls, adding 158 runs, to seal Mumbai’s victory.Rest of India turned to eight bowlers in total, including Ishan Kishan, Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal, but could not add to their two strikes early in the day.Kotian, who made 64 in the first innings, hit ten fours and a six as he batted out 150 balls for his unbeaten 114.Awasthi, meanwhile, hit a six of his own and stroked four fours as he scored his maiden first class half-century.

India were unable to chase 116 against Zimbabwe in a T20I in Harare

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-20240:30

Bishnoi: Gill’s captaincy was up to the mark

Shubman Gill’s first match as India captain did not go according to plan as a team full of players trying to make the step up from the IPL to international cricket was found wanting against Zimbabwe in a low-scoring thriller in Harare.Many of the players on this tour haven’t had a lot of recent cricket behind them, and Gill, at the post-match presentation, suggested that played a part in their downfall. “I think we bowled pretty well but I think we left ourselves down with the fielding. We weren’t up to our standards and I think everybody looked rusty.”Also a factor was the conditions. Harare offered sideways movement for the new ball and even once that stopped, the pitch was so slow that playing the kind of shots these batters were used to playing in the IPL – hitting through the line and over the top – didn’t always work. Five of India’s top six fell for single-digit scores and four of those fell trying to force the pace.Gill, who top-scored with 31 off 29 balls, said that his instruction to the team between innings was to bat normally. “Honestly, just take your time, enjoy the batting. Not too many runs on the board. So not much pressure but it wasn’t the way [the match] panned out.”Halfway down, we had lost five wickets and it would have been best for us if I had stayed there to the end but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Very disappointed with the way I got out and the way this whole match turned out.”A couple of hits from Avesh Khan kept India in with a chance right at the end, reducing the equation down to 18 off 12 balls. But by that time they only had two wickets in hand and Gill knew those were long odds.”Definitely there was a bit of hope for us,” he said. “But you know when you are chasing 115 and you want your No. 10 batter to stay out there, something has gone wrong.”India have a chance to quickly recover the ground they’ve lost with the second game of this five-match series coming up on Sunday.

Cox and Critchley pile on the runs as Kent are made to suffer on opening day

Andrew Miller12-Apr-2024Essex 421 for 6 (Elgar 120, Critchley 103*, Cox 67) vs KentNothing changes with any great speed at Chelmsford. Plans are currently afoot for a grand renovation of the pavilion and its surrounding concourse – the only corner of this postage-stamp ground with any wriggle-room for expansion – though rather like this week’s announcement that the ground’s Hayes Close and River Ends have been renamed in honour of its most storied Test performers, Graham Gooch and Sir Alastair Cook, there’s been no pretence of an upgrade in signage in the interim. Indeed, the interactive “Graham Napier Sixes Trail”, with its 16 plaques to commemorate each of Napier’s swings for the bleachers in his famous T20 onslaught against Sussex in 2008, remains Chelmsford’s most visible tribute to any former player, Graham or otherwise.Until, that is, Dean Elgar rocked up with a note-perfect tribute to Cook, whose studiously anonymous retirement last summer had precluded any official attempts to send him off in style. As if to make amends, Elgar filled his boots – in every sense – with no fuss and little flourish. Just 176 balls of nuggetty application across the best part of two sessions, as Essex’s latest left-handed ex-Test opener shifted through his gears with the same unshowy elitism that his English forebear had habitually brought to bear.And, just as had been the case in Essex’s opening-week victory at Trent Bridge, Elgar’s sidekick throughout an innings-defining third-wicket stand of 159 was an up-and-coming England prospect with the same weight and range of stroke as the recently departed Dan Lawrence. Between them, Elgar and Jordan Cox set about convincing an impressive first-day crowd of 2,226 that nothing whatsoever has changed about Essex’s red-ball batting prowess. A scoreline of 421 for 6, capped by an unbeaten century from Matt Critchley, amply backed up that pretence.It wasn’t all plain sailing for Essex after Tom Westley had won a handy toss on the first genuinely shirt-sleeves day of the season. In keeping with the uneven challenge that this month’s two-round experiment with the Kookaburra ball has created, Kent’s seamers caused havoc for precisely 21 balls. In that time, Westley himself was caught behind for 5 off George Garrett, after Feroz Khushi – whose use of an improperly sized bat at Trent Bridge still threatens his side’s top-of-the-table status – chose not to use it at all this week in being bowled by Wes Agar while shouldering arms first-ball.That double-whammy brought Cox out to face his former team-mates at an awkward 10 for 2 – and given his pointed pre-season remarks about Kent’s lack of red-ball ambition, the stage was set for him to be served a large dollop of schadenfreude. Instead, Cox’s opening gambit was a volley of extraordinarily poised drives down the ground – three fours and a three as Garrett strained for swing – and as he marched to 15 from his first six balls, it was as if all threat off the pitch or through the air had been dragged away with him.Jordan Cox made a free-flowing fifty against his former team-mates•Andrew Miller/ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cox’s confidence on the front foot was ample excuse for Elgar to step up his own intent with a series of compact drives of his own, but it was the introduction of Matt Parkinson’s legspin that kicked Essex’s innings into overdrive. Cox greeted his first-ball full-toss with a dismissive slap through the covers – the first of three fours in a 13-run first over – and he was scarcely allowed to settle thereafter in leaking 25 runs in his first three.Having romped to his fifty from 61 balls, a chance came and went for Cox when Agar at fine leg fumbled a top-edged pull off Nathan Gilchrist, but he had added only seven more runs when Garrett pushed a touch fuller to pin him on the knee-roll for 67. It was hardly the harbinger of a Kent fightback, however. Critchley emerged with a platform of 169 for 3 but just as importantly the Kookaburra entering its dead-zone in the 39th over, and Essex duly punched along at a rate of 4.5 an over, with scarcely a need to over-reach themselves.Elgar’s departure came as something of a surprise when, on 120, he popped a tame catch to short midwicket off Parkinson and dropped his bat in frustration at his own missed opportunity, but that merely unleashed the long levers of “Tall” Paul Walter, who bombed the long-off boundary with a four and two increasingly weighty sixes before scuffing a third attempt to give Parkinson his second wicket.Michael Pepper, too, peppered the boundary, including with a full-faced lift for six over the cover rope, only to pick out deep third with an attempted ramp, one short of his fifty. Critchley, however, made no such error in carrying Essex past the second new ball and through to the close, with the promise of plenty more where these first-day offerings had come from.The only truly duff note for Essex had come before play, when Sam Cook – their Kookaburra-proofed seamer whose ten-wicket haul had routed Nottinghamshire in the first round – was ruled out of contention. Not, it should be said, in protest at the wrong Cook getting the honour of an End named after him, but as a precaution after feeling a thigh strain.