All posts by n8rngtd.top

England Test coach says boards must “work with leagues” so best players remain available for international cricket

Vithushan Ehantharajah12-May-2023England Test head coach Brendon McCullum believes international boards, including the ECB, would be “completely naive” to assume their stars would turn down longterm franchise contracts.Recent reports have suggested that IPL teams are in talks with a number of English cricketers to sign annual deals. Given their investments across other tournaments such as the CPL, SA20, ILT20, Abu Dhabi T10 and the upcoming Major League Cricket in the United States, franchise owners have been working towards a situation where they can extend control over their most valuable assets beyond three months of the year.At the time of writing, it is understood no formal offers have been made to English players. However, Test nations such as South Africa and West Indies have long been at the mercy of franchise competitions when it comes to controlling the movement of their own players, and it seems only a matter of time before the likes of Australia and England must face a similar reality.Related

• McCullum puts faith in CSK to keep Stokes' Ashes ambitions on track

• Key: 'I thought, what's the worst that could happen?'

• Welcome to the IPL, England-style

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, England men’s managing director Rob Key spoke of boards needing to work with players regarding franchise competitions for their own good: “You’re never going to compete financially with these competitions. So you’ve got to try and find a way to actually make sure that you do retain control of those players.”Speaking to SENZ Radio in New Zealand, McCullum echoed those sentiments, urging professional empathy in a fast-changing landscape.”The last few years, there’s been a shifting of the sand somewhat around international cricket,” McCullum said.”We’d be completely naive to think that players would turn down huge amounts of money on longterm contracts for a lot less work in these T20 leagues because they should be playing international cricket. Those days are fast approaching to be over. It’s definitely a shifting landscape and you’ve just got to be fluid.”What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to work with these players, you got to work with these leagues and try and allow, ideally, players to have their cake and eat it too because you want your best players playing.”The ECB’s more open approach when it comes to the IPL is reflective of the fact it sees no gain in maintaining England’s early antagonism to the competition. This year’s edition has seen a record 17 Englishman contracted, most notably Test skipper Ben Stokes, Sam Curran and Harry Brook, who all signed on seven-figure deals.Brook, who has taken Test cricket by storm, is currently on an incremental contract with the ECB, earning around £60,000 (US$75,000) for representing England. That his deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad is £1.3 million (US$1.6 million) speaks of the disparity. While it is due to be rectified in the next round of central contract handouts at the end of the summer, particularly given Brook’s role as a multi-format batter, it is unlikely to be more than the eye-catching figure of his first IPL season.McCullum, however, does not anticipate a situation where he will not be able to call upon his best Test players in the near future. Indeed, he feels making international cricket a more enjoyable and meaningful experience can be an easy remedy as opposed to adopting a hardline stance on those who want to indulge in franchise cricket.”How much fun they’ve had, how much those experiences which they’ve been able to get in an England shirt is so great that they are prepared to continue to put their yards [in] even though it might not be as financially viable as some of the other leagues,” McCullum said.”I think we are a little bit lucky, too, because the amount of money that we can pay players is better than some of the other boards around the world. It’s not good enough to say ‘You know what, if they don’t want to play international cricket for us, then bugger them, we’ll move on and find someone different’.”As a spectator, you want to see the best players in the world representing their countries.”

Northants struggle with bat before knockout hopes ended by six-wicket defeat

ECB Reporters Network02-Jul-2023Lancashire made it through to the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a comfortable six-wicket victory that also ended Northants Steelbacks’ qualification hopes.Phil Salt smashed a 51-ball 74 as Lancashire chased down the Steelbacks 138 for seven with twenty balls to spare. The result means the Lightning will return to Emirates Old Trafford next Friday, where they are now unbeaten in 21 home games, to host their quarter-final tie against Surrey.Northants struck two early blows as the hosts set off in pursuit of their target, Jos Buttler cracking a short ball from David Willey to Saif Zaib on the cover boundary for 11, immediately after he had hit the bowler for six and four from consecutive deliveries. Steven Croft swiftly followed after top edging Tom Taylor to AJ Tye for 5.That left the Lightning ending the powerplay on 43 for 2 but Salt picked up the scoring with a six off Freddie Heidreich during a 35-run partnership in five overs with Liam Livingstone.Livingstone, the stand-in Lightning skipper, went for 11 slicing Taylor to Ricardo Vasconcelos at gully as Lancashire reached halfway on 74 for 3 but Daryl Mitchell was quickly into his stride driving Taylor for six into the pavilion seats.Salt continued to score freely as the hosts reduced their target to a-run-a-ball 44 before a mix-up saw Mitchell run out for 17. Undeterred, Salt reached a 40-ball half century by smashing Tye for six over long-on, and then took four, six, four off Justin Broad in the fifteenth over as the Lightning raced towards their target.The opening bat ended the contest in style with six off Taylor in the seventeenth over to finish unbeaten on a Lancashire-best 74 alongside Dane Vilas.A fine opening spell of 2 for 14 from three overs by Wood, after Livingstone had put the visitors in to bat, had Northants quickly on the back foot at the start of their innings. Vasconcelos was brilliantly caught for 12 by wicketkeeper Buttler diving to his left, followed by Emilio Gay who chipped the left arm quick to Luke Wells at mid-on two balls later.Northants then suffered a big blow when Willey departed for 10 attempting to hit Livingstone over midwicket to leave the Steelbacks struggling on 47 for 3, midway through the seventh over.Chris Lynn led an initial fightback launching Livingstone for consecutive sixes in the ninth over but he was then bowled for 35 aiming a big heave at Wells with the visitors on 74 for 4, one ball into the 11th over.Zaib pulled Mitchell to Wells at fine leg for 12 and the Steelbacks only managed to get any impetus into their innings during a 40-run partnership for the sixth wicket between McManus and Broad. McManus hoisted a slower ball from Tom Bailey into the hands of Wood at long-on having made 22 while Broad smashed a six over midwicket in his unbeaten 34 off 26 balls.Wood returned to bowl Tye for 1 as Northants closed on 138 for 7.

It might be a little ramshackle, and it’s very last minute, but the Mzansi Super League is ready to kick off, with the likes of AB de Villiers and Rashid Khan in the mix

Liam Brickhill15-Nov-2018With a uniquely local name, new-look teams, picturesque grounds, a couple of marquee internationals, an overseas broadcast deal, and a local one that will nationalise cricket in a way that’s never happened before in South Africa, is it time to start believing the Mzansi Super League hype?After all the huff and puff over the failed first league, Cricket South Africa seem to have pulled their act together under chief executive Thabang Moroe and, while the paint might still be drying when the first ball is bowled on Friday night, this thing is happening.Many of the key elements have fallen into place despite the extremely short timeline since the CSA members’ council’s decided unanimously in mid-September that the league go ahead whatever the challenges. Stadiums have been chosen, teams announced, a player draft completed, a marketing campaign launched and, in the last couple of days, warm-up games played as the teams assembled.Vitally, CSA have also been able to secure a broadcast deal with Sony Pictures Network (SPN) that will open their league up to an Indian market, the channel broadcasting 28 matches, including the playoff and final on December 16.”As much as we had the skeleton of what we wanted for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League, there is a lot operationally that we had to make sure were in place and implemented,” Moroe told ESPNcricinfo. “This is the first time for all of us, at the same time we want to see the success and we want to see a quality product that will be well received by the public. So far, so good.”So far, so good in the short term, but in the long run there remain unanswered questions over the league’s sustainability. CSA recently told a parliamentary committee it expects to lose R 654 million in the next four years. That’s not including a projected R40 million loss in the first season of the MSL, and CSA also lost over R 200 million (USD 14.1 million) following the failure of the inaugural T20 Global League.Financing the MSL cannot be done without splashing plenty of cash, with the six new franchises each given over R 5 million to spend on their players, and a further R 10 million going towards the prize pot for the tournament. And that’s saying nothing of the transport, logistical, administrative and marketing costs associated with such an endeavour.CSA has said its annual financial statements would still show “substantial reserves” and first-season losses are nothing unique to the MSL – it took years for IPL teams and the Big Bash League to turn a profit – but their pockets are only so deep, and without incoming tours from England, Australia or India this season they won’t have a lot of cash coming in as it is.The Mzansi Super League trophy was unveiled by CSA•MSL

Amid all this, the MSL is positioned a little awkwardly as both a vehicle for expanding cricket’s footprint in South Africa – which is noble but not necessarily financially fruitful, especially without a headline sponsor on board – and a way for CSA to supplement its income. It is believed that CSA offered the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) the exclusive Sub-Saharan broadcasting rights for a cut price – Moroe says he is “not in the position of giving out the details, but there was value in the rights”, while SABC chief operations officer Chris Maroleng called the deal a “lucrative opportunity” for SABC, but no one has said exactly who paid what.The deal with Sony should help plug a little of the financial shortfall, and CSA does at least have a sellable product, given the quality on the field. Some of the biggest names in T20 cricket – Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Rashid Khan, Dwayne Bravo – will be taking part, as will all the familiar Protea players (as soon as they get back from Australia).Pleasingly, there will also be a few Zimbabweans knocking about, which will stoke some interest north of the border, and every squad has had to include young, local rookies.CSA faces a long and potentially rocky road to fully commercialise its homegrown T20 league, and off the field there will be yet more expenses as the legal battle with the disgruntled owners of the failed T20 Global League threatens to rumble on in court. “We have a legal team tasked with dealing with those matters,” Moroe said. The informed opinion seems to be that the legal wrangling could revolve around the terms of the original contract that the owners signed with CSA – what was warrantied by CSA, and what was not.While hurdles remain,CSA’s choice, in the cut-throat world of modern sport, was to evolve or die. It might be a little ramshackle, and it’s very last minute, but it has managed – finally – to get a league of its own off the ground.”Have a look at how, for instance, the Big Bash has taken off and captured the Australian and international markets” Moroe said. “It was natural for South Africa to also have a T20 competition of our own that will attract marquee international players and keep cricket among the top attractions in the country. People want to see a world quality product in our shores – and the Mzansi Super League will offer that.”

Wicketkeeper unbeaten overnight but Warwickshire turn the screw at Edgbaston

Jon Culley at Edgbaston19-Aug-2019Such is the romance that has come to be associated with Somerset’s quest for their first County Championship in 144 years of history that lovers of cricket are cancelling September holidays in the hope of being at Taunton to witness a doubtless tearful celebration.Whether it will be worth it remains in the balance. As things stand, the side they will meet in the last fixture of the season, the 2017 winners Essex, who beat them at Chelmsford in June, are in pole position. Four matches remain after this isolated, mid-Blast round, yet Somerset could do without losing ground at this moment.They might not find it easy to prevent that happening. Having winkled out two important wickets in the final session of the opening day, when Sam Hain and Adam Hose were dismissed before they were able to inflict too much damage, they picked up an early bonus on day two when Rob Yates, whose maiden century had been the thorn in their flesh on Sunday, was out to only the seventh delivery of the morning.Yet their bowlers failed to build on that, gaining only one extra bonus point and, more importantly in the context of potentially taking the 16 points for a win, allowing Warwickshire, themselves casting anxious glances at the one team behind them in the Division One table, the luxury of passing 400 for only the second time this season.Then came a pretty torrid start to their reply, encompassing three wickets lost for 15 runs between the eighth over and the 11th, including a first-ball duck for Babar Azam, their Vitality Blast star, on his red-ball debut for the county.By the close, they had recovered to a degree, thanks in large part to Steven Davies, who showed his adaptability by opening in a rejigged top order and willingness to graft as necessary in finishing 11 runs short of a hundred. Somerset, though, are still 103 runs away from the follow-on target and lost George Bartlett in the penultimate over, a moment of celebration for 19-year-old debutant George Garrett in claiming his maiden first-class wicket.Jack Brooks had made what they had hoped would be a decisive morning breakthrough as Yates, stretching to drive, edged to gully. When the former Yorkshire seamer followed up by having Tim Ambrose caught behind four overs later to claim the second bowling bonus point in the 102nd over, all looked well.Helped by a remarkable gully catch by Roelof van der Merwe as Henry Brookes somehow offered him a leading edge as he shaped to clip Jamie Overton to the short Hollies Stand boundary on his leg side – which he had already cleared with a square cut off Brookes – Somerset had the seventh wicket at 338 in the 107th over and were into the Warwickshire tail.And it did look more like a tail than is customary in a team that generally bats deep, with Oliver Hannon-Dalby making a rare appearance at No. 10 ahead Garrett.In the event, it was a while before they had a look at either, thanks primarily to Michael Burgess, who made it his business to use the aforementioned short boundary to his advantage whenever the Somerset bowlers gave him the opportunity, hitting 52 off 58 balls in a manner that was very easy on the eye.He and his captain, Jeetan Patel, added 66 in 13 overs to claim a fourth batting point and take the total beyond 400, to which Hannon-Dalby celebrated his promotion by making his first score in double figures since he giddily hit 11 not out and 13 against the same opponents at Taunton in May. At the other end, young Garrett manfully survived 22 deliveries to mark his maiden first-class innings with a red-inker and two runs.As if that were not enough to furrow Somerset brows, a positive response in terms of quick runs on the board was rapidly undermined as Tom Abell was bowled shouldering arms and Hannon-Dalby continued to influence the game by gaining the desired reward for bowling into James Hildreth’s pads. He then reaped an unexpected bonus when Babar, who has been drafted into Somerset’s red-ball team in place of his compatriot Azhar Ali, clipped a legside half-volley direct to midwicket.Azhar’s return to Pakistan for a training camp meant a rejigged top order with Davies opening with Abell. Happily for Somerset, he looked comfortable in the roll from the outset, anchoring a 63-run partnership for the fourth wicket that ended when Tom Banton edged behind off Will Rhodes, who was unlucky during an impressive spell when Tim Ambrose was not quite able to grasp an inside edge offered by Davies on 72.

Match referee Andy Pycroft ruled that the surface provided “almost no assistance to any type of bowler”

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2022The Rawalpindi pitch has earned a “below average” rating for the second time in 2022. The latest rating follows the first Test between Pakistan and England earlier this month, in which England racked up a record 506 runs on day one to set up an eventual 74-run win.Though the match ended in a decisive result, there was little joy for the bowlers particularly in the first two innings, which produced seven centuries and totals of 657 and 579. England scored at well above a run a ball in both their innings.On day two of the Test match, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja had termed the pitch “embarrassing”, and suggested that the contest it produced was “not a good advert for Test cricket”.Related

• ICC rescinds demerit point for Rawalpindi pitch that hosted Pakistan-England Test

• PCB appeals against ICC's decision to award Rawalpindi pitch demerit point

• Babar Azam: 'We didn't get the pitch we wanted'

• Switch Hit podcast: Pindi-monium

• Why does Ramiz Raja think Pakistan have a problem with their pitches?

ICC match referee Andy Pycroft seemed to agree with him while handing out a “below average” rating and a demerit point on Tuesday.”It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler,” Pycroft said. “That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals.”The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match. Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be ‘below average’ as per the ICC guidelines.”In March, when Rawalpindi hosted the first Test of Australia’s tour of Pakistan, bat dominated ball to the extent that 1187 runs were scored for the loss of only 14 wickets over five days. That pitch had earned a “below average” rating too, with match referee Ranjan Madugalle noting that the Test match did not “represent an even contest between bat and ball”.Rawalpindi has now received demerit points in successive Test matches. Demerit points remain active for a five-year rolling period, and a venue stands to be suspended from hosting international cricket for a period of five years if it accumulates five demerit points. A “below average” rating earns a venue one demerit point, while “poor” and “unfit” ratings earn three and five demerit points, respectively.

Glamorgan allrounder will serve until February 2025, having succeeded Daryl Mitchell in 2021

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2023James Harris, the Glamorgan allrounder, has been re-elected for a second term as chair of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Harris, 32, took over from the previous incumbent Daryl Mitchell in 2021, and will remain in the post until February 2025 – the maximum four-year stint permitted by the PCA’s constitution.”Being re-elected is a huge honour,” Harris said. “I’ve really enjoyed the first two years. Having an extra two years will be brilliant and I’m really looking forward to pushing through some meaningful change in my second term.”Harris’ first term coincided with the sport’s recovery from the Covid pandemic, and in addition to representing the organisation in Parliament, at the DCMS Select Committee hearings, he has also overseen the PCA’s increased commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.iAs a Director of the Professional Cricketers’ Trust, he also helped raise funds for the PCA’s charitable arm by cycling over 1,000km to and from Cardiff, via Headingley and Lord’s.”The PCA has a huge role to play in the evolution of the game worldwide, we need to make sure that we’re moving forward with the game, keeping pace with the game, because there’s so many opportunities to play around the world in different tournaments which wasn’t available 10 years ago,” Harris said.”I think with the opportunity for players to travel and improve their game around the world, there really is no better time to be a professional cricketer than right now and I can only see that trending in one direction as we move forward.”PCA Chief Executive, Rob Lynch, said: “I’m really pleased that James has been elected by his peers to take on a second term as Chair of the Association.”A lot has happened in the world of cricket in the last two years and James has been as been at the forefront of the change in England and Wales.”I’m looking forward to continuing our strong working relationship and strategic planning for the next two years is already under way in this crucial point in the history of our game. With key priorities assessed to ensure we continue to champion the interests of professional cricketers in this country, we will be updating our members in the coming weeks through the AGM, Rookie Camp and pre-season meetings with all 26 domestic squads.”

Dan Christian’s 37-ball hundred was the second quickest in England and the seventh fastest of all time as Notts Outlaws ruled the roost at Wantage Road

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jul-2018
ScorecardDan Christian struck the one of the fastest hundreds in the history of T20 to get Nottinghamshire off the mark at the second attempt in the Vitality Blast with a 58-run win at Northamptonshire.Christian’s 37-ball century with seven fours and eight sixes was the joint-seventh fastest in the history of the format and the second-fastest in the domestic game. It was Christian’s second T20 hundred and the third T20 hundred by a Notts batsman.His brutal hitting saw Notts rack up 219 for 6 – equalling the highest T20 total at Wantage Road only set on Wednesday – and despite Ben Duckett’s 88 from 45 balls, Northants were bowled out for 161.Northants’ captain Alex Wakely said: “I was pretty proud of the response after our defeat in the first game. We were a bit of a shambles on Wednesday but we were on the ball today and put them under early pressure before one bloke came out and played a pretty special knock.”Christian arrived at the crease with Notts 81 for 4 in the 10th over having been sent in and set about dismantling the Northants bowling with some of the cleanest hitting seen at Northampton. He struck three consecutive sixes off Graeme White’s left-arm spin – over deep midwicket, long-off and then a huge strike a long way back over long-on.

Download our T20 Blast Podcast

Dan Norcross and Jarrod Kimber preview the Vitality T20 Blast 2018
Listen on ESPN Radio
Subscribe on iTunes

He saved his biggest strike for Nathan Buck who was hammered over his head and onto the roof of the Ken Turner Stand among an over that cost 28 before the final over of the innings, bowled by Rory Kleinveldt, disappeared for 22 with two more Christian sixes. 80 runs came from the final five overs.Christian’s partnership with Samit Patel added 97 runs in 45 balls to take Notts to a total beyond their ambitions at the half-way stage. Patel skipped down to lift White over long-on and heaved him through midwicket for four in his 35 in 26 balls.Northants had removed their usual tormentor, Riki Wessels, for just 6 – bowled trying to pull Ben Sanderson – and also picked up Tom Moores for 15 and Steven Mullaney for 21 in a Powerplay that yielded 50 for 3 but Christian’s brilliance from there effectively won the game.Duckett kept Northants in the game for the first half of the chase, by flashing past fifty in only 17 balls. He took 30 from the third over, bowled by Samit Patel with a succession of sweeps. Three consecutive sixes preceded three consecutive fours. He swung Mullaney into the sight-screen at the Wilson End but trying to hit the same bowler over the off side, top-edged to Paul Coughlin who claimed a fine catch on his Notts debut.But Duckett was the only batsman to show for Northants who lost Richard Levi to a leg-side strange for just 3 and Josh Cobb caught at deep-midwicket for only 6. The chase suffered a huge blow when Alex Wakely was sent back by Duckett trying to come back for a second run and was run out for 11 after a diving save on the boundary by Will Fraine.After Duckett’s dismissal, Northants subsided and when Harry Gurney took out Buck’s leg-stump, victory was completed by a handsome margin to get the defending champions underway for 2018.

A career-best haul from Somerset’s England spinner saw Essex beaten by 45 runs in a close encounter at Taunton

Matt Roller at Taunton22-Aug-2018
ScorecardJack Leach looked every bit an England player as he bowled unchanged from the River End for the entirety of the final day at Taunton, 32 overs in all, for career-best figures of 8 for 85. He beat the bat time after time; his voice must have waned after going up for appeal after appeal. He was Somerset’s match-winner, and he had a bullish air about him.It seemed a far cry from the analysis of Chris Rogers, Somerset’s then captain, who suggested in 2016 that “emotionally he still has a bit of a way to go” when asked about Leach’s England prospects. “He is still a young guy, he has only ever been in Somerset and the challenges in international cricket are a lot more difficult,” Rogers said. “If they pick him then good luck to him but they’d better look after him.”Then, resembling a follicly challenged IT technician, Leach would celebrate his wickets as though he had surprised even himself by getting a Championship batsman out. He was a superb county spinner, no doubt, but it was hard to imagine him being anything more.”Looking back,” Leach has said of Rogers’ comments, “he was spot on”.Two of his wickets in Somerset’s hard-fought victory over Essex stuck out as crucial. On the stroke of lunch, after accounting for the dogged Nick Browne earlier in the morning, his arm ball shot through Dan Lawrence’s defences to knock back off stump. Leach celebrated with a roar, but with only 111 needed and six wickets in hand, Essex were still in pole position.Then, after the interval, he beat Ryan ten Doeschate once, twice, and a third time for good measure, but could not end his resistance. The Essex captain raised his bat for a second fifty of the game, and he looked primed for a match-winning contribution. Instead, Leach straightened one past his outside edge and into the stumps, and Somerset were halfway there.Ravi Bopara was the next to go, bowled chopping a wide one on to his off stump, before Adam Wheater, Peter Siddle, and Jamie Porter followed. Leach had eight, and the best figures in Division One this season.Things do not tend to come easily for Leach. After his remarkable form in the 2016 run-in, his action came under scrutiny at Loughborough, and he spent the winter undergoing remedial work. After impressing on Test debut in New Zealand, he missed out this summer by breaking his thumb the day before Ed Smith’s first squad was announced. After being told he needed bowl more overs to press his case for the India series, he suffered a concussion against Surrey, ruling him out of Somerset’s next game.He has admitted he found his non-selection for the ongoing India series tough, though his involvement on the winter tour of Sri Lanka looks increasingly likely.”He’s a world-class bowler in my opinion,” said Tom Abell, the man now captaining Leach at Somerset, “it’s so exciting what the future holds for him. We all know how good he is, and hopefully he’s now seeing how good he can be as well.”While it may be assumed from afar that the pitch turned square for Leach, as this Taunton track has tended to over the past few seasons, that was not the case. It was firm and dry, but flattened out as the game wore on.That much was evidenced by Dom Bess, who had a tougher time of it. He bowled flatter, without Leach’s unerring accuracy, and to defensive fields.His day was best summed up by a moment in the field during Josh Davey’s first over with the new ball. Bopara – who came out to bat despite being ill with shingles – had scratched around for 16 deliveries. Still itching to get off the mark, Bopara took a couple of strides down the wicket as the ball rolled to Bess at point. Bess aimed at the stumps, but his wild throw missed by some way, and a misfield backing up meant it ran away for four.Bess lay prone on the ground, surely feeling that this would be neither his nor Somerset’s day. Instead, it was unequivocally Leach’s.

For the first time at Lord’s, the floodlights shone in a Championship match – but they went off for bad light all the same

ECB Reporters Network13-Apr-2018
ScorecardMiddlesex batsman Max Holden dives to regain his ground•Getty Images

Middlesex’s batsmen fought back from a sticky start against Northamptonshire to reach 136 for 4 on a shortened opening day of the Specsavers County Championship at Lord’s.Inserted on a greenish wicket, the home side slumped to 63 for 4 before lunch, with Northants seamers Ben Sanderson and Brett Hutton picking up two wickets each.But Sanderson squandered a chance to cement his side’s grip on the game, dropping John Simpson at fine leg before the Middlesex wicketkeeper went on to share an unbroken stand of 73 with Paul Stirling.Simpson (31*) and Stirling (40*) seemed well set when bad light halted play – despite the Lord’s floodlights being in use for the first time in a Championship fixture.Middlesex deployed an inexperienced batting line-up, with club captain Dawid Malan unavailable and Nick Gubbins, Eoin Morgan and Stevie Eskinazi all ruled out through injury or illness.That left 20-year-old Max Holden – who spent a successful loan period at Northamptonshire last season – to open alongside stand-in captain Sam Robson, with debutant Robbie White coming in at three.Holden managed just eight before he nudged Sanderson (2-30) to second slip – and White left the next delivery, which moved back to flatten his off stump.Australian Test batsman Hilton Cartwright, also making his Championship debut, went on the offensive with a couple of boundaries off Doug Bracewell and then pulled Hutton into the Mound Stand for six.But Hutton, who joined Northants on a permanent basis from Nottinghamshire during the winter, took his revenge with a slower ball that foxed Cartwright after a brisk 30.Having dropped anchor with a gritty 14, Robson also fell victim to Hutton as he was trapped leg before to compound Middlesex’s difficulties.After lunch, Simpson had made only three when his top-edged hook sailed towards the waiting hands of Sanderson, only for the fielder to spill what looked a regulation catch.Simpson made the most of that let-off, beginning to play his shots as the bowlers’ accuracy waned and carved Bracewell through the covers to bring up the 50-partnership with Stirling.Meanwhile, the Ireland international took advantage of the short boundary on one side, hitting seven fours, but Middlesex were unable to build on that momentum as deteriorating light forced the players from the field just before 3pm.They returned briefly towards the end of the day and Richard Gleeson found some movement during the 3.5 overs that were bowled, with Stirling adding a further four runs to the total before play was finally abandoned.

The head coach also backed captain Sarfaraz Ahmed for his wicketkeeping form over recent months

Umar Farooq08-Feb-2019With under four months to go for the World Cup in England, Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has said the selectors and team management will look at the upcoming PSL and the ODI series against Australia before finalising a squad of 15 for the global tournament. Pakistan play 10 ODIs before the World Cup – five against Australia in the UAE after the PSL and five in England in May – and Arthur said he and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq had 19 players in mind and would want to have two game plans in place for the conditions in England during the summer.”Inzi and I have been on the same page for a long while here. And I’m going to be honest because I’ve told the boys in the dressing room the same thing the other night,” Arthur said in Lahore after returning from South Africa. “I think we’ve got probably 19 players for 15 positions. PSL always throws up one or two good individual performers, so we are going to have a look at some of our borderline players, the guys that we are not sure about. We have to look at them during the Australian series and then we will make our minds up leading into England, obviously we will be taking 15 there. The key is players get clarity in terms of their roles and role clarity is particularly important.”Pakistan have given opportunities to youngsters with the advent of the PSL in the last couple of years. With the T20 league starting in under a week, players will want to impress the selectors particularly for slots in the middle order and the fast-bowling attack. The current probables for the pace attack comprise Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari and bowling allrounder Faheem Ashraf. Among the spinners, Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim are the likely candidates to make the trip to England.”The other thing that’s important for us is having an option with two game plans,” Arthur said. “I’m saying two game plans because the weather in England at any given time is very unpredictable, so we need an option where we have our spinners, who are able to suffocate through the middle [overs] because the key for us to win one-day games is about taking wickets through that middle period.”Either we do that with two spinners or little bit of reverse-swing if the weather stays dry, or if the weather is wet over that period of time there we have to have an option of a seam-bowling allrounder who can come in and bat at No. 7 for us. So we’re very close, we’ve covered all our bases in terms of our personnel at the moment.”Pakistan fought hard against South Africa in the ODIs, losing the series 3-2, but their form since they won the Champions Trophy in June 2017 hasn’t been impressive. They have won 15 of their 27 completed matches since then, completing series wins only against Sri Lanka, ranked eighth, and Zimbabwe. In this time they were also blanked 5-0 in New Zealand a year ago, won matches only against Hong Kong and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in September, and drew the three-match series 1-1 against New Zealand in the UAE in November.AFP

Looking back at the South Africa tour, where Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0, ODIs 3-2 and T20Is 2-1, Arthur said he was proud of the way the team showed their “passion” and “intensity”.”I just think it is really important that I reiterate how proud I am of the cricket team,” he said. “We were two months away on the road. Four-and-a-half months away is a hell of a long time and the intensity and the passion that these guys trained with has been fantastic. So, look I am very very proud, players are very proud, of the development of the lot of our young players.”We’ve played the most cricket over the last four-and-a-half months than any other team in the world. That’s not an excuse, I’m not using it as an excuse because that’s the way it is. We’ve got to handle that. India have a large pool of players available to them. We didn’t rotate our players as much because we are in a process, we need to educate them in all conditions so that’s exactly the decision we’ve made.”Our planning is done. We’ve got our schedules, we’ve got everything in place leading upto the World Cup. Myself, Inzamam and Sarfaraz [Ahmed] have been completely united in the process that we are going forward.”Even though Sarfaraz’s own form has been under scrutiny, he recently got the backing of the PCB to lead the team in the World Cup. He has averaged only 26.62 in 12 ODI innings over the last year, scoring only one half-century. But with his replacement Mohammad Rizwan not impressing much with the bat in two ODIs and three T20Is against South Africa, the pressure on Sarfaraz was not mounting and Arthur, too, backed the captain primarily for his wicketkeeping skills and form.”It’s very simple, we need to be very fluid with out game plans,” Arthur said. “Sarfaraz has done exceptional work for us up and down the order. I think the thing that we’ve got to realise is over a long tour, form comes and goes and players start playing well and then they slip off the radar a little bit, and we need to then be able to send our form players at any given minute. In terms of fluidity in our batting order it’s whoever is in form and what that situation demands at that particular time. If you see all the best teams in the world have the ability to be flexible. We’re trying to be as flexible as we can. If we didn’t give the opportunity to players in those positions we wouldn’t know.”Understand that Sarfaraz’s first and foremost thing is captain and wicketkeeper, people forget wicketkeeping is a specialist position. Sarfaraz’s numbers over the last four-and-a-half months are mindblowing, one catch dropped, one stumping missed. I can tell you I did the research on the plane coming last night, he’s dropped eight balls in four-and-a-half months, so he is not out of form in his core job. His core job is to keep wickets and to take the catches and make the stumpings, he’s done a job over four-and-a-half months.”Sarfaraz will be the first one to admit that his batting form has come and gone. We have worked exceptionally hard on Sarfaraz’s batting going forward. When Sarfaraz plays well, he wins games for us. I want to reiterate I am not worried about Sarfaraz’s form. Sarfaraz Ahmed is a very very good cricketer. He and I work incredibly close together, we’ve got very close working relationship, as good as I had with any captain. I just need to put that to bed.”