Young fast bowler in line to make ODI debut against Ireland this week

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2022Jayden Seales is in line to make his ODI debut for West Indies against Ireland on Saturday and knows that his ability to adapt to situations and learn on the job will be key, with limited experience of professional 50-over cricket to fall back on.Seales, who turned 20 in September, made his Test debut as a teenager last year and has impressed in a West Indies shirt, taking 16 wickets at 21.31 in his four caps to date.He has played only three List A games in his fledgling career, but was a key part of Jaffna Kings’ side as they won the Lanka Premier League last month and will try to take things in his stride if selected this week, with the first of three ODIs – all at Sabina Park – taking place on Saturday.Seales was playing in an overseas franchise league for the first time and took 15 wickets in only seven appearances. He was part of the same squad as Suranga Lakmal and Wahab Riaz, and credited them with helping him to develop his death bowling.Related

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“In the team I was with, they had a lot of guys around my age group [so] we tended to go to the gym and practise a lot together,” Seales said in a virtual press conference on Thursday. “But in terms of the fast bowling, I hung around a lot with Suranga Lakmal and Wahab Riaz.”They would kind of mentor me in terms of my death bowling. I think that was the biggest struggle for me in the tournament, bowling my yorkers and things like that. Being around those guys gave me a bit more confidence in my death bowling and helped me throughout the tournament.”It wasn’t that hard [adapting to white-ball cricket]. For me in the LPL, it was just to start off bowling that hard, Test-match length and when I was given the ball in the middle and death overs, bowl my variations and take pace off the ball, whether it be slower balls, yorkers, things like that.”Seales – who has also been named as a reserve for the T20I series against Ireland and England later this month – suggested that there was a certain amount of pressure on him to perform if selected, due to his quick rise to prominence.”I think I’ve been under pressure for the majority of the time in my career thus far, seeing as I’m a youngster and I’ve been performing,” he said. “Now the media and everyone will look at me [and say] he has to perform, or if he doesn’t perform, the talk might come up ‘he’s too young’.”Yes, there’s pressure, but I don’t take it on per se. I just go out and enjoy my cricket and play to the best of my ability. If, on the day, I happen to perform well for the team, I’m very pleased.”I was born into a family of cricketers from the age of three years old – I started playing windball cricket with my family outside. I was the youngest and the smallest and they never took it easy on me. Growing up into that, I think I got competitive because of that, and it made me grow into the cricketer I am today – it made me love the game even more.”I thought I would have started [playing international cricket] at the age of 21 or 22. That was the age I gave my parents, I told them at 21, I’d be at the top. Thankfully, it came earlier. I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I’m just enjoying it.”

The duo headlined a five-wicket victory over Melbourne Renegades after Heat crossed the border from NSW at 2am on match day

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2021Brisbane Heat overcame a midnight border crossing to claim their first BBL victory of the summer, defeating Melbourne Renegades by five wickets on the Gold Coast.Set a target of 141 after Mackenzie Harvey’s unbeaten 71 lifted the visitors to 6 for 140 at Metricon Stadium, Heat were given a typically fast start by Chris Lynn’s 32 off 15 balls to reach the target with 19 balls to spare.The win comes after Heat left the northern New South Wales town of Kingscliff, where they had been staying following last week’s loss to Perth Scorchers in Western Australia, and crossed the border at 2am on Monday before reaching their hotel two hours later.Sent in to bat by Heat captain Jimmy Peirson, Renegades had plenty to be thankful towards Harvey for after he top-scored, off 56 balls. He was the only Renegades batter to pass 20 in a innings where the Heat bowlers Liam Guthrie (0 for 10) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (0 for 19) bowled their four overs each without conceding a boundary.Legspinner Mitch Swepson and English Lions batter Tom Abell added to Heat’s line-up after participating in the four-day tour game at Brisbane’s Ian Healy Oval, where Australia A defeated the Lions by 112 runs.Swepson, in tandem with Mujeeb, tied down the Renegades in the first half of their innings, as they went from the end of the third over until the 11th without scoring a boundary.Player-of-the-Match James Bazley was the leading wicket-taker for the hosts with 3 for 28 and then contributed a handy innings to help finish the game.Lynn smashed three boundaries and a six off the first four deliveries of Will Sutherland’s first over to get the Heat off to a perfect start. He fell trying to launch one too many off left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan who was the best of Renegades’ bowlers with 2 for 27 off his four overs.After a brief wobble at 5 for 107, Sam Heazlett guided the chase home with an unbeaten 44 off 29 deliveries.Brisbane next play Sydney Thunder at the Gabba on Sunday with Renegades’ next match at home against Scorchers on December 22.

Clarke was mentioned in former team-mate Alex Hepburn’s rape trial in 2019

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2022Joe Clarke, the Nottinghamshire batter, has been taken off England’s blacklist after being placed on standby for next month’s Test tour to the Caribbean.The reported that Clarke is among a number of non-travelling reserves for March’s Test series against West Indies, who will be called upon in the event of a squad member contracting Covid-19 or being ruled out through injury.Andrew Strauss, the ECB’s interim managing director, refused to confirm the names of the players on England’s standby list at Lord’s on Wednesday, but clarified that James Anderson and Stuart Broad – the high-profile omissions from the squad – were not included.”There are a number of non-travelling reserves,” Strauss said. “We have identified a group of players who could come in if there are injuries, so we have asked them to prepare themselves as if they might get a call-up at some stage.”Clarke was mentioned in a court case involving his former Worcestershire team-mate Alex Hepburn, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2019 after he was found guilty of raping a woman in 2017 and has since been released.Related

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• Hepburn sentenced to five years in prison after rape of sleeping woman

The pair shared a flat in Worcester and during the course of his trial, the jury heard from the prosecution how Hepburn had “dehumanised” women as part of a “sexual conquest competition” on WhatsApp with Clarke and another ex-Worcestershire player, Tom Kohler-Cadmore.Neither Clarke nor Kohler-Cadmore was arrested, nor suspected of an offence. Both were fined by the ECB, handed back-dated suspensions, and told they would not be considered for England selection until further notice.Kohler-Cadmore was part of the England Lions tour to Australia in 2019-20 and named in an enlarged training group at the start of the following summer, but Clarke – once a regular feature in Lions squads – has not played for England at any level in the years since.Clarke spoke about his involvement in an interview with ESPNcricinfo in 2020, saying at the time: “If I could take back everything that happened, in terms of the whole situation for all the parties involved, then I would. It runs through my mind every day.”Clarke’s first-class form has been solid over the last two years – he has averaged 36.53 with two hundreds since the start of the 2020 season – but he has flourished in T20 cricket, impressing for Nottinghamshire in the Blast and recently for Melbourne Stars in the BBL.

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.”

Former captain praises successor for supreme batting focus but fears his message is getting lost

Andrew Miller04-Apr-2022Alastair Cook says he is in awe of Joe Root’s ability to stay focused on his run-scoring amid intense speculation about his future as Test captain, but has warned his successor that the relentless focus on the “positives” within England’s dressing-room is running the risk of sounding “deluded”.Root is currently taking a break from cricket in the wake of England’s series loss to West Indies, having overseen a run of one Test victory out of 17 since February 2021. And Cook – who is gearing up for his 20th season of county cricket with Essex – knows better than most how his predecessor will currently be feeling, having come through his own torrid year as captain in 2014, when England’s 5-0 whitewash against Australia gave way to the controversial sacking of Kevin Pietersen.However, while Cook acknowledged that his own Test form suffered amid the furore, Root’s own batting standards remain a class apart. Despite a relative lull during the Ashes, in which he was still one of only two England batters to average more than 30, he returned to form with twin hundreds in the Caribbean, making it eight in 20 Tests, and a total of 2066 runs, since the start of 2021.”The amount of runs that Joe Root has scored is an incredible effort,” Cook said. “I really struggled in 2014, scoring runs with that KP stuff going on the background, that really affected me. For him to be able to handle that and not let his personal performance go, that’s an unbelievable sign.”He’s England’s most complete batsman I’ve ever seen, but if [juggling the captaincy] was going to affect him, it would have affected him in the last eight months or so,” Cook added. “To score 1700 runs [in 2021], 1200 more than anyone else, it’s laughable, and normally it’s untenable to do that. But the way he’s scored those runs, and singlehandedly carried England’s batting, is an extraordinary effort, with all the other stuff going on.”Nevertheless, Cook also warned that the singlemindedness that has allowed Root to block out the criticism and concentrate on his run-scoring could also be a double-edged sword when it comes to recognising when and if his tenure as captain has run its course.Writing in his Sunday Times column, Cook had praised Root’s determination to “get England’s sinking ship … floating again”. However, having spent the winter as an at-times outspoken pundit for BT Sport, Cook also admits his concerns that the players will stop listening to their captain’s belief in the team’s progression if – as seemed to be the case in the immediate aftermath of their ten-wicket loss in Grenada – it seems too far removed from the reality of their performances.”I am a bit bored of all the positive chat, because I don’t think it was a sense of reality in that changing room,” Cook said. “All the noise was that ‘we’ve turned a corner and our attitude is brilliant’. Some of that stuff should have been a given.Root speaks to his team during the tour of the Caribbean•Getty Images

“And it looked like a dig at the Australia tour, that their attitude there wasn’t great,” Cook added, after a raft of senior players were dropped for the West Indies – most notably James Anderson and Stuart Broad, but also Rory Burns and Dawid Malan.”Actually, from watching, I never saw them throw the towel in. They just weren’t good enough to compete, and their batting under pressure folded, and the same thing happened in Grenada.”I compare it to Toto Wolff and the Mercedes [Formula One] team,” Cook continued. “They’ve been the outstanding team for the last eight years, and they’ve obviously designed a car which isn’t quite as quick as their rivals, and [Wolff] comes out after two races, and says ‘that’s totally unacceptable’.”Now that’s not slagging off his team. It’s just the reality they’re in, and I’m sure he would have said ‘we will be good enough to turn it round’. But some of the stuff coming out [from England], with all this positivity. We’ve just lost again, we’ve won one in 17. That’s the reality, and it hurts. But if you own that, as a side, that could be a step forward.”Cook, however, also recognises there are extraordinary external circumstances dominating England’s current agenda, and that nothing significant can change within the existing set-up until a raft of permanent appointments are made at the ECB.”It’s maddening to think that a company as big as the ECB has got no chairman, no director of cricket and no coach,” Cook said, following the departure of Ian Watmore before Christmas and the sackings of Ashley Giles and Chris Silverwood after the Ashes. “How it’s got there shows where English cricket is at this point. It’s an amazing challenge for whoever does get that job to turn it around because there’s been some dark days for English cricket.”Maybe dark isn’t the right word, because actually there’s a huge amount of talent around and I think everyone can see that. But you can’t have no coach, no director of cricket and no chairman – if you’re running a business that doesn’t seem to make much sense. So it’s an exciting time. You’re actually thinking if the next appointment is a good appointment, it’s a total and utter fresh start because that’s what English cricket needs.”With that in mind, there remains an awkward piece of unresolved business for whoever does take over, given that Anderson and Broad, 39 and 35 respectively, have both made it clear they are not ready to accept their time in the England team is over just yet – and that, with the possible exception of Saqib Mahmood, few of the seamers selected for the Caribbean tour enhanced their claims to be long-term replacements.Related

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Cook himself bowed out of Test cricket on the ultimate high in 2018, with a matchwinning century in his final Test innings against India. But he recognises that not everyone gets the chance to go out on their own terms, even when their records and reputation merit a perfect send-off.”Absolutely they [deserve it], but professional sport doesn’t always work like you want it to,” Cook said. “We know they are legends of the game. They’re legends of English cricket, they’re right up there with the best bowlers ever to play the game.”Hopefully they do get a chance [for a send-off], but tell that to Jimmy, he’ll slap your hand off and say ‘I’m not thinking about retiring, I’m still playing until I’m 75’. He’s thinking, I want to get back in that Test side and prove that they shouldn’t have left me out.”But it makes it an interesting summer doesn’t it? Do they play or who is the new line-up? Are they good enough? Absolutely. Do they still warrant their places? Yeah, you’d say so with the quality they’ve got. But this is where England need to be clear.”

Reverses decision after intervention from Chennai Super Kings management

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-2022Ambati Rayudu, the 36-year-old Chennai Super Kings batter, created a bit of a stir on Saturday after first posting and then deleting a tweet in which he had said IPL 2022 would be his final season in the competition.Rayudu had initially tweeted: “I am happy to announce that this will be my last ipl. I have had a wonderful time playing it and being a part of 2 great teams for 13 years. Would love to sincerely thank Mumbai Indians and Csk for the wonderful journey.”However that tweet was withdrawn within 30 minutes. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the Chennai Super Kings management spoke to Rayudu, who then pulled down the tweet.Minutes after Rayudu posted his message, former team-mates and fans paid tributes. One came from former India fast bowler Irfan Pathan who said he had always “admired” Rayudu’s batting and “energy” on the field.Rayudu has been a big part of the set-up at Super Kings, who despite being defending champions, have been among the weakest performers this season. On Thursday, Super Kings became the second team to fall out of the playoffs’ race, after recording one of their lowest scores and suffering one of their biggest defeats in the IPL, which came against Mumbai. Despite being powerhouses in IPL, Super Kings have been an embattled unit this season, after Ravindra Jadeja stepped down as captain halfway through the tournament, and then this week left the tournament having suffered a bruised rib.This is not the first time that Rayudu has taken back a decision surrounding retirement. In 2019, he had announced his retirement from all cricket after being snubbed for the 2019 ODI World Cup. But he then made a U-turn to return to domestic and IPL cricket.Rayudu is among the top-ten most-experienced IPL cricketers, and the second-most successful IPL cricketer with five titles. Only Rohit Sharma [six] has won more times. Kieron Pollard also had five titles. Under Rohit, Rayudu won the 2013, 2015 and 2017 IPL titles with Mumbai and then won the 2018 and 2021 IPL titles with Super Kings. Rayudu had missed the first two years of the competition because of association with the Indian Cricket League.With two games left to go for Super Kings in the season, Rayudu is currently on 187 IPL games. He has made 4187 runs with 22 fifties and one century, against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018.Barring the IPL, Rayudu’s domestic cricket appearances have been limited of late. Although named in the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad for Andhra, he did not play a single game. His last domestic match was a December 2021 Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture against Gujarat.