Category Uncategorized

Lancashire reported an operating profit of £763,000 for 2015 despite not hosting a Test match for the first time since completing their development of Emirates Old Trafford

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Mar-2016Lancashire joined Surrey as one of the most profitable county clubs in the country as they reported an operating profit of £763,000 for 2015 despite not hosting a Test match for the first time since completing their development of Emirates Old Trafford.They were also successful on the field in Ashley Giles’; first season as director of cricket, achieving promotion back to the first division of the Specsavers County Championship at the first attempt as well as securing a first limited-overs trophy in 16 years in winning the NatWest T20 Blast at Edgbaston with a squad with a strong north-west flavour.The loss of a Test match was offset by a T20 and ODI involving Australia and New Zealand which brought in more than 50,000 spectators, but the club calculates that there was still a fall in cricket revenue of more than £1.3m because of the absence of a Test.Lancashire’s Conference and Events sector proved more profitable and the Old Trafford Lodge again recorded revenues in excess of £1million ahead of its replacement by a new hotel due for completion this summer. Work commenced on a 4-star Hilton Garden Inn, with 150 bedrooms, in February, the final element of the redevelopment of Old Trafford which commenced in 2009.2015 also saw the return of major concerts with 50,000 attending the Foo Fighters gig, the success of which has led to promoters bringing both Rihanna and Beyoncé to the venue in 2016.After a year’s absence, 2016 will see the return of Test match cricket to Manchester with Pakistan providing the opposition in July.

Ryan Harris, the Australia pace bowler, is expected to be unavailable for the next 6-8 weeks, following a hamstring injury

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Aug-2013Ryan Harris, the Australia fast bowler, is expected to be unavailable for the next 6-8 weeks following a hamstring injury. The injury puts him out of contention for the Champions League T20, where he would have represented Brisbane Heat, and possibly the one-day series against India in October.According to an update from Cricket Australia, Harris was assessed on his return to Australia after suffering the injury during England’s second innings in the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval.Harris emerged as the leading wicket-taker for Australia, and the second-highest in the series, with 24 wickets in eight innings at an average of 19.58. This included a seven-wicket haul in the second innings of the fourth Test in Durham. He missed the first Test in Nottingham, but was included in the Australia squad after recovering from the heel injury he picked up in this year’s IPL.Since his international debut in 2009, Harris’ career has been interrupted by injury. He has been intermittently plagued by a chronic knee injury and fractured his ankle during the Boxing Day Test in 2010. He also suffered injuries on Australia’s tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa in 2011. A shoulder surgery before the start of the 2012-13 season ruled him out of Tests in the summer. He eased his way back to cricket by playing domestic cricket for Queensland. Harris, who played for Kings XI Punjab in this IPL, suffered an Achilles tendon injury which forced him to withdraw from the tournament.

Shashikala Siriwardene will lead Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in September

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2012Shashikala Siriwardene will lead Sri Lanka in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in September. Sri Lanka last played a Twenty20 game in a five-match series in the Caribbean. Dilani Manodara was the captain then, and she is also part of the 14-woman squad.Four players who weren’t part of the squad picked for the tour of the West Indies but feature in the World T20 squad are Ishani Lokusuriya, Udeshika Prabodini, Maduri Samudrika and Nilakshi Silva.Sri Lanka squad: Shashikala Siriwardene (capt), Sandamani Dolawatte, Dilani Manodara, Chamari Atapattu, Deepika Rasangika, Ishani Lokusuriya, Chamani Seneviratna, Sripali Weerakkody, Udeshika Prabodini, Maduri Samudrika, Inoka Ranaweera, Prasadani Weerakkody, Inoka Galagedara, Nilakshi Silva.

Chris Tremlett has been ruled out of the third against India at Edgbaston having failed to recover from the hamstring and back injuries that forced him to miss the previous match at Trent Bridge

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2011Chris Tremlett has been ruled out of the third against India at Edgbaston having failed to recover from the back injury that forced him to miss the previous match at Trent Bridge.He had been included in the 13-man squad for Wednesday’s Test but wasn’t able to train on Monday or Tuesday, so there was no chance of him being considered. An ECB update added he “will receive ongoing treatment ahead of the fourth Test”.Tremlett initially suffered a hamstring injury towards the end of the Lord’s Test and then went down with a back spasm during training the day before the Trent Bridge match started. With the final Test starting at The Oval after only a three day gap, it remains doubtful whether Tremlett will play any further part in this series.Andrew Strauss said: “It’s sad for Chris that he has a bulging disc in his back and that should clear up sooner or later, but this Test has come too soon.”It means that Tim Bresnan will retain his place for Edgbaston after a superb all-round performance last week where he scored 90 and claimed a career-best 5 for 48 in the second innings. Steven Finn is also part of the squad but is unlikely to be considered given the success of the current unit in securing a 2-0 series lead.”One of the great things is people have come in and performed,” Strauss said. “Tim got his chance because Chris, who had done brilliantly, was injured and he took it with both hands. Ravi Bopara is coming in for this game and he’s got the chance to do something similar.”The pressing concern for Strauss though, even more than injuries, is England’s tendency to slip up when a big victory is in sight. Whether the Ashes loss in Headingley 2009, or again in Perth over the winter, England have had trouble wrapping up a series in the past. This time, though, Strauss thinks England will learn from the experience.”I certainly thought we learnt from lessons of Headingley in ’09 because I think we started looking at the outcome of the game rather than starting well,” he said. “Since then we’ve been keen to keep everyone’s feet on the ground whether winning or losing. This is one of those circumstances.”There is no point looking too far ahead. The rankings are not at the forefront of our minds right at the moment. What is at the forefront of our minds is starting this Test match well and hopefully getting into a position to win it at the end of this week.”Despite the measured talk from the captain himself, the groundswell of opinion since Trent Bridge is that Strauss’s England side are one of the best in the country’s recent history. Andrew Flintoff was one who insisted the current side are better than the 2004-05 vintage that Flintoff featured in. Strauss, however, rejected the idea.”Comparisons are odious and not all that helpful,” he said. “When you are involved in a side, it makes no difference whether people say if the side is as good as another side or not. It makes no difference to your preparation for a Test match at all. It’s not something I spend any time thinking about because if I did, I would subconsciously taking my eyes off what’s important for us as a side.”

Fawad Alam, the Pakistan batsman, who has been selected in his team’s limited-overs squads against England is looking ahead towards the World Cup and is keen to cement his place for the global tournament next year

Cricinfo staff24-Aug-2010Fawad Alam, the Pakistan batsman who has been selected in his team’s limited-overs squads against England, has said he is looking ahead to the 2011 World Cup and is keen to cement his place for the tournament next year.”The World Cup isn’t too far away now and with series against England, South Africa and New Zealand prior to the premier one-day competition, I know that I have to deliver and that the competition for places is intense,” Alam told . “I have faith in my ability though and hope that the selectors give me the opportunity to deliver.”I hope I get a chance to play in the Twenty20 matches and the one-day series [in England], especially as the World Cup is only six or so months away. It’s time to ensure that I perform well whenever I am given the opportunity, as preparations for the World Cup are now in full swing.”Alam has played 17 ODIs for Pakistan, averaging an impressive 40.87. He last played an ODI in January this year, against Australia in Perth. Upon the conclusion of the two-match Twenty20 series against Australia in England, Alam stayed back and signed up with Woodhall Spa in the ECB Premier League to play club cricket.”I could have gone back to Pakistan, but I felt that playing some club cricket in England would be more beneficial. Woodhall Spa gave me the opportunity and I am very grateful to them,” Alam said. “It has given me valuable match practice, the opportunity to maintain my levels of fitness and a chance to work on some technical issues as well. I’ve really enjoyed my stint in the ECB Premier league and have scored consistently and taken wickets too. Sometimes, away from the hustle and bustle of international and first-class cricket, you can work on issues that you feel you need to work on, which is what I have done”.

Phil Salt fifty, Fazalhaq Farooqi’s three wickets seal victory at Lord’s

ECB Media09-Aug-2024Inspired performances from Phil Salt and Fazalhaq Farooqi secured Manchester Originals their first win of The Hundred against London Spirit at Lord’s.Meerkat Match Hero Salt hit 58 from 41 balls to set London Spirit a target of 136, which Originals defended thanks to Farooqi taking 3 for 24 from his 20 balls.The result spelled the end of London Spirit’s campaign this season, unable to reach the knockout phase as they joined the already eliminated Originals stuck at the bottom of the table.Farooqi dismissed Michael Pepper for 9, then Ollie Pope for 0, and when Dan Lawrence was run out with a direct hit from wicketkeeper Salt, Originals looked favourites.Despite being dropped twice, Keaton Jennings’ 61 not out from 50 balls wasn’t enough to get Spirit over the line, falling 12 short of Originals’ total.He shared a 96-run partnership off 74 balls with Shimron Hetmyer, who reached 44 off 35 balls before he skied Scott Currie to Salt.Hetmyer’s dismissal brought the big-hitting Andre Russell to the crease with Spirit still needing 28 runs off 12 balls and when he fell cheaply picking out Wayne Madsen at extra cover to give Farooqi his third, the home side were left with too much to do.Originals got away with a poor performance in the field, a rash of dropped chances ultimately going unpunished.Earlier, Salt’s innings, which included four fours and two sixes, was the highlight of the Originals’ innings, with both Richard Gleeson and Olly Stone taking two wickets.Salt said: “The results haven’t gone our way. We’re on a mission now to be the party spoilers and with the luck we’ve had in the competition so far, I think that’s a role we’re going to enjoy.”

Notts allrounder continues stellar form as batters flunk on “blameless pitch”

ECB Reporters Network25-Jun-2023Brett Hutton claimed a five-wicket haul as Nottinghamshire took control on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.The hosts could post only 163 all out after winning the toss on a bright morning, Tom Kohler-Cadmore top-scoring with just 38 and Kasey Aldridge contributing 35. Hutton’s 5 for 34 and Matt Carter’s 3 for 43 did most of the damage for an accurate Notts attack.In reply, the visitors slipped to 105 for 4 on a seemingly blameless pitch, but opener Ben Slater’s unbeaten 67 saw them to 145 for 4 at the close, just 18 behind.With the sun shining brightly for most of the day, it was strange that 14 wickets should fall. Inability to post meaningful first-innings totals has been a long-standing problem for Somerset, and again there was a fragility about their top order as Hutton maintained an exemplary line and length from the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion End.Sean Dickson and George Bartlett were both dismissed shouldering arms to the experienced seamer; the former bowled for 1 and the latter leg before for 13 to a ball that nipped back. Sandwiched in between was the wicket of Tom Lammonby, who edged Hutton to first slip having made 24.From 48 for 3, Tom Abell and Kohler-Cadmore added 40 in positive style before the introduction of Carter’s offspin from the River End. With the first ball of his second over, he had Abell caught at slip, driving, for 19. Kohler-Cadmore looked strong through the off-side, producing some sweet drives and depositing Carter over long-off for six. By lunch, he had helped Somerset to 106 for 4.The afternoon session began disastrously for the home side as, with only four runs added, they lost first James Rew, caught at short leg off bat and pad to give Carter his second wicket and Kohler-Cadmore lbw to Dane Paterson, having faced 53 balls and hit four fours and a six.There was no way back from 110 for 6, despite the valiant efforts of Aldridge, who reverse-swept Carter for six and struck five fours. He quickly ran out of partners as Craig Overton edged Hutton into the slips where Carter’s left hand scooped the ball up for Joe Clarke to complete the catch.Hutton returned after an opening spell of 3 for 27 from eight overs to mop up the tail, bowling Matt Henry and having the advancing Aldridge caught behind. His wickets were largely the result of keeping the ball on the spot and taking advantage of batting errors.Somerset had been bowled out in just 48.1 overs and it looked like a well below par total in the conditions. Henry struck an early blow in the Notts’ reply by beating Haseeb Hameed’s defensive push and bowling him for a duck. By tea, the visitors had reached 23 for 1. Soon Slater and Matthew Montgomery were building confidently on that total under increasingly clear skies.They had put together a stand of 71 in 23 overs, with few alarms, when Montgomery, on 33, got an inside edge onto his leg off Aldridge and was powerless to prevent the ball rolling back onto his stumps.Slater edged Aldridge just short of wicketkeeper Rew and Somerset’s fightback continued when 19-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, making his first Championship appearance at the Cooper Associates County Ground, pinned Clarke lbw on the back foot for 12 to make it 94 for 3.Slater went to fifty off 104 balls before Henry struck another blow for Somerset with the total on 105, Lyndon James edging to Abell at first slip and departing for the second duck of the innings. But Steve Mullaney hit a six and two fours off a Bashir over as Notts regained some momentum before the close.Before the start of play, the teams lined up for a minute’s applause in memory of 19-year-old local club cricketer Barnaby Webber, who lost his life in the Nottingham stabbings earlier this month. Signed shirts from both counties were laid on the pitch at the toss and then presented to his mother, father and brother as tokens of support.

Former England star continues burgeoning coaching career with Hundred appointment

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2022Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper, says that more female coaches would “benefit the game as a whole”, after joining Manchester Originals as an assistant coach for this year’s Men’s Hundred.Taylor, who is widely regarded as one of the best wicketkeepers in the history of the game, male or female, has been working with Sussex’s men’s squad as a specialist keeping coach since the start of 2021, and more recently took up a role with Team Abu Dhabi in the Abu Dhabi T10.Her appointment comes after a playing role with Welsh Fire in last season’s inaugural competition, when she came out of retirement to also feature for Northern Diamonds in the Charlotte Edwards Cup and Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.While she admitted to the BBC that she had been tempted to continue with her on-field career, Taylor also recognised she would be “stupid to turn down” the chance to enhance her coaching credentials with another high-profile appointment.”These roles are coming around now and any woman that gets offered an opportunity, they should take it with open arms,” Taylor said. “I’m extremely grateful to Manchester for giving me this opportunity.”There is no rush for me. I’m still young enough and fit enough to play, so if an opportunity comes around I will absolutely consider it.
But right now coaching is the opportunity I was happy with, so I’m going down this route.”Taylor will be working under head coach Simon Katich, and alongside her fellow World Cup-winning wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, one of 11 men’s squad players to be retained by Manchester. Other England players in the set-up include Ollie Robinson, Matt Parkinson and Phil Salt – with whom Taylor has previously worked at Sussex.”I fell into the men’s game and I’m taking every opportunity I can to keep learning,” Taylor added. “We have to keep pushing. There are some brilliant women’s coaches out there and I hope they get recognised, in the male or female game.”Although her primary role will be with the men’s squad, Taylor will also work with the Manchester women’s set-up when the chance arises – including her former England team-mates Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone, and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee.”I absolutely loved playing last year,” Taylor added of the Hundred experience. “It’s an exciting tournament and I loved how the boys and girls were treated as one unit.”

Royals’ star player is finding life off the field tough in the Covid era

Andrew Miller29-Oct-2020On the field, at least, Jofra Archer appears to be having the time of his life right now. His already astronomical profile has soared yet further thanks to a series of outstanding displays with ball, and bat as well, for Rajasthan Royals, for whom he has been the stand-out competitor in this year’s IPL, with his haul of 17 wickets at an economy rate of 6.71, including eight in his first six overs of a match.Rarely in his career has Archer bowled at a more consistent top speed, regularly in excess of 150kph – a trait perhaps aided by his decision to shelve his slower balls on the UAE’s unresponsive wickets and stick to raw pace – and his lower-order batting has touched new heights in the competition too, with 107 runs from 54 balls to date, including ten sixes.Off the field, however, it’s a slightly different story, and it was a lugubrious Archer who faced the UK media on Wednesday, as he reflected on a year spent in the gilded cages of bio-secure bubbles in both England and now the UAE.”You’re just counting days down,” he said. “I might actually get a calendar just to cross them down to feel like the days are going faster.”Archer’s angst is understandable. No player spent longer in the bubble than his 87 days in the course of the English summer, a period which was broken up by two brief breaks between the West Indies and Pakistan Test series in August, and then during the Pakistan T20s in September.He did of course take one further, unscheduled break when he left the bubble without permission to visit his home in Brighton after the summer’s first Test, but as a consequence of that, he then had to spend a full five days in isolation during the second Test at Emirates Old Trafford.And compared to that experience, Archer admits that the Royals’ beach-fronted hotel for this year’s IPL is a step-up from the on-site facilities that England’s players endured this summer, in order to get their home fixtures completed.”I guess, bubble-wise, it’s the best of a bad situation, so no complaints,” Archer said. “It’s a little bit better than being trapped at the cricket ground. Here it’s okay, but then the demands at IPL, if it’s not media, it’s meet-and-greets and whatever. You’re not at the ground but you still can’t get away from cricket. Even doing this [interview] now, you still can’t escape it.”It’s okay. I guess we’ve got a few group games left, our last group game is the 1st [November] and then the play-offs are the 10th… it will be over soon anyway. You’re just counting days down till you’re free again.”It might seem strange that Archer would wish the tournament away when he is in such a rich vein of form. And yet, the real difficulty this year, he says, has not been his off-field existence – regular games of Call of Duty have kept him amply occupied during his down time – rather, it’s the absence of a crowd to get behind his spectacular efforts.”No crowds [takes away the enjoyment],” he said. “The bubble doesn’t. It’s a really nice hotel, we’ve got a beach and other activities. I think no crowds is probably sucking most of the excitement out of the game.”At the age of 25, Archer knows that he is in the prime of his career, and therefore he will have to make sacrifices if he is to capitalise on it in the Covid-dominated climate. And yet, with his England team-mate Mark Wood acknowledging that he may have to consider a white-ball-only future, he is conscious that something may have to give in his workload, given how important he is to all three forms of the game.”It just goes down to man-management,” Archer said. “You can definitely play all three [formats] but they can’t expect you to play every single game of all three … God… thinking about it that is a lot of overs actually!”Bigger squads would definitely have to be taken into consideration or some guys would just have to play a few formats,” he added. “Being a person that plays all three formats, I’ve probably done the most bubble days out of anyone.”If you’re going to play in all three formats, you can’t play all the games. You probably play two Test matches, miss the last one and take some time off and maybe come back for the second ODI or second T20.”I don’t think it’s impossible but you need to be managed properly, and I think everyone at England has done a great job. But also Woody has just had a kid and the time he is spending now away from cricket is very, very precious.”With times moving forward, especially being in a Covid bubble, I think he would probably back me in saying you are going to need to have your family with you. Especially in these bubbles. It helps you stay sane. I reckon about four days, five days in, you start to get a little bit of cabin fever. You need your family to take some of that pressure off you.”

Allrounder smacks 51 and then returns 5-29 to help Bangladesh script a 62-run win and get in the top half of the points table

The Report by Saurabh Somani24-Jun-2019As it happenedShakib Al Hasan came, spun, and conquered, carrying Bangladesh to a comfortable 62-run win over Afghanistan that kept their semi-final aspirations alive at the 2019 World Cup.Shakib made it to the record books on the way, most significantly becoming only the third player – after Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh – to have a century and a five-wicket haul in the same edition of the World Cup, and the second, after Yuvraj, to score a 50-plus score and return a five-for in the same World Cup game. He first extended his good batting form to hit a fifth 50-plus score in six innings in the tournament, and then broke the back of Afghanistan’s chase with 5 for 29 in ten overs – Bangladesh’s best World Cup figures.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Bangladesh’s 62-run win over AfghanistanBangladesh now have seven points with two games in hand. Those two games are against India and Pakistan, but the manner in which Bangladesh have been playing, they will have the belief that they can continue to upset pre-tournament predictions.Against Afghanistan, form-wise, Bangladesh were heavily favoured to win. But they have had a prickly history with Afghanistan and the head-to-head record is a lot closer than they would want. They did look tentative in the initial exchanges, but on pitch that gripped, and a ground with long boundaries, that wasn’t catastrophic.Watch on Hotstar (India only): Highlights from Mushfiqur Rahim’s 87-ball 83Gulbadin Naib made the surprising decision to bowl first on winning the toss, a move that made Mashrafe Mortaza happy because he wanted to bat first in any case.Afghanistan’s game plan while bowling revolved around their spinners – making the decision to bat first seem more inexplicable – and Bangladesh prepared their tactics accordingly. They broke up the successful opening combine of Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar, sending Liton Das at the top instead of Soumya to counter Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The move didn’t work, with Mujeeb accounting for Liton with a carrom ball. He would later get Soumya, who came in at No. 5, too.In the middle, he struck another crucial blow by trapping Shakib lbw, which allowed Afghanistan some measure of control in the middle overs. Mujeeb’s 3 for 39 was just rewards for his excellent show. He had bowled the tough overs and kept Bangladesh’s batsmen quiet. Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan too had good outings, with Nabi taking out Tamim.Shakib Al Hasan entered the record books on his way to a match-winning performance•Getty Images

But Mushfiqur Rahim stayed put, moving the score along. Bangladesh had a phase of more than 12 overs – from 24.1 to 36.1 inclusive – without a boundary, but Mushfiqur didn’t lose patience in that phase and opened out after that. He had a shot at emulating countrymen Shakib and Mahmudullah in hitting back-to-back World Cup tons, but fell for an 87-ball 83 in the penultimate over.However, Bangladesh did get the finishing kick courtesy Mossadek Hossain’s 35 off 24, and once they had put on in excess of 250, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Afghanistan, who didn’t help themselves with a sloppy display in the field – ESPNcricinfo’s data had them saving three runs and conceding 19.The chase needed one top-order batsman to play a big innings, batting throughout, but Gulbadin’s 47 was the only substantial score in the top five. The openers built a steady platform, but they needed more than steady. Bangladesh gave the new ball to their pacers, Mortaza and Mustafizur Rahman, and Afghanistan’s best bet was to get off to a fast start against the hard new ball with the sun out, and later milk the spinners. But with Mashrafe and Mustafizur keeping things relatively tight, Afghanistan weren’t quite where they had hoped to be after the first Powerplay.Enter Shakib. And mayhem. He got Rahmat Shah in his first over, and then returned to prise the heart out of Afghanistan’s chase with the wickets of Gulbadin and Nabi within three balls.Adding to Afghanistan’s strange decision-making was another odd move: sending Najibullah Zadran at No. 8, behind wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil. Najibullah showed the folly of that move with pleasing strokeplay, but he had walked in against an asking rate that was improbable, against a spinner on top of his game.Shakib duly got his five-for when Najibullah wandered too far down and was stumped, and any faint hope Afghanistan might have had vanished, even though Samiullah Shinwari, playing his first game of the competition, did push them along with a stroke-filled 49 not out.When Kapil, in 1983, and Yuvraj, in 2011, hit a century and took a five-wicket haul in the same World Cup, their teams lifted the trophy. That final result is still a long way off for this edition, but Shakib’s wizardry has meant that the boulder souls in Bangladesh will dare to hope of a repeat.