Will Brown believes ninth team is needed to serve Gloucestershire and Somerset fans

Matt Roller01-Apr-2021Gloucestershire’s chief executive Will Brown has admitted his frustrations about the fact Bristol will not host any matches – men’s or women’s – in the inaugural season of the Hundred, and expressed a strong desire to bring the tournament to the South West of England in future seasons.Fixtures in the competition were initially planned to be played around the country, with men’s games staged at the eight major Test venues and women’s matches spread out around 20 venues, but the ECB announced in November that all men’s and women’s fixtures would be played back-to-back as double-headers – with the exception of the tournament’s two opening games – for reasons relating to logistics and exposure.For the ten counties whose main ground will not host any Hundred fixtures, the move was a significant blow, leaving them on the periphery of the competition’s inaugural season. Every county is represented in the competition at board level, but without staging games, smaller clubs’ involvement will be limited.That is particularly apparent in Gloucestershire’s case. The ECB deliberated over whether the team representing Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset would be given the identity of ‘Western Fire’ or ‘Welsh Fire’, but opted for the latter and unveiled a bright-red kit and a crest featuring the Welsh translation in late 2019.”We have frustrations locally that there is not a 100-ball team in this part of the world,” Brown said. “We’re incredibly supportive of the Hundred. We have been since day one and we think it’s a good vehicle for engaging new audiences, but it’s definitely a frustration that the women’s Hundred is not going to be as visible and as present as we’d like it to be at Bristol this year. We very much hope that it will return in 2022 and that the commitment to it going back to those venues will be what happens.”[The team] is Welsh Fire. Myself and Gordon Hollins [Somerset’s chief executive] are part of the board of directors at Welsh Fire and we love having that role, and we’re 100% supportive of Welsh Fire. [But] there have to be honest and real conversations about how easy it’s going to be for us attract supporters from Taunton, Devon, Cornwall or even Bristol across the river to support a team that effectively represents another country.”I think that’s going to be a challenge and I think we have to accept that and do our best to make Welsh Fire the success that Wales needs, rather than a success for Bristol and Taunton – we could spend a lot of money and time trying to promote something which probably doesn’t resonate over here.Jonny Bairstow will represent Welsh Fire in the Hundred, but there’s little to engage Gloucestershire or Somerset fans•Alex Davidson/Getty Images

“We’re frustrated. We understand the reasons this year but we hope we get it back in 2022, and more than that, that there’s a recognition around what the South West can do for cricket. My preference is still that you drop a ninth team in down here and we run it between us. We’ve certainly got the cricketing pedigree and the venues to do it, so I’d like to see it.”Brown admitted that there would be some “practical considerations” as to how games would be split between Bristol and Taunton, and how such a team would be branded, but he emphasised Bristol’s status as a city with a young, diverse population, which he believes makes it an ideal venue to fit into the ECB’s wider vision for the Hundred.”From the minute we didn’t get it, we’ve been lobbying for that,” Brown said. “In an ideal world you’d have 10 teams or whatever it might be, and it’s a funny debate about would it be Bristol or Taunton, or both – there would be some practical considerations. We’ve been lobbying, making comments – cheeky and optimistic – for the last three years about it. We’ll keep banging that drum.”All we can do is make the best business case we can for Bristol, and we think the strategy we’ve got means that if you’re trying to engage with families, different audiences – if you look at our sales record around youth, the number of women coming to matches, young families, and even Bristol as a city, it’s disproportionately weighted to that young family audience.”We’re trying to create a venue that people come up and they go ‘yeah, I recognise this, it feels like an extension of Gloucester Road or Stokes Croft or wherever I’ve come from. I’m a Bristolian and this represents me, and therefore this club represents me’. And then when we do get the Hundred or anything new and try and grow, people look at us locally and nationally and go: they understand their communities, and want to be with them.Related

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“I just want to take the excuses away when we come to things like the Hundred. I want people not to have a choice. I want the ECB to think ‘if we don’t give it to Bristol then we’ve done something wrong’.”Hollins, Somerset’s chief executive, said that the club would continue to be “pragmatic” in its outlook to the Hundred, and downplayed the prospects of a ninth team being added to the competition soon.”There’s been a lot of debate in these parts about the Hundred and I absolutely understand why that has been the case,” he said. “Whether it be more people wanting to watch cricket, more boys and girls wanting to pick up a bat and ball, more interest on social media, my job is to ensure that cricket in this part of the world benefits from that tournament, and at the same time as supporting colleagues over in Wales to help them grow cricket in Wales because that would be a good thing for everyone. We’re very pragmatic about it.”In terms of the future, who knows? I think that the ECB’s focus will be on getting the tournament off and running, getting that off to a successful start, and then who knows what happens to the Hundred in the future. We’ll be open to discussions with ECB and any other parties on that at the right point in time, but that’s not our focus right now.”

Dates might have been finalised with the T20 World Cup scheduled to conclude on November 15

ESPNcricinfo staff06-May-2021The fifth edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament will be held from November 19 to December 4 this year. The tournament will be stretched over 15 days – making it longer than all its previous editions – keeping in mind the extended public holiday weekend to celebrate the UAE’s 50th National Day, which falls on December 2.”It is most heartening to see the world’s top cricketers in this hugely popular format and upcoming cricketers seize the advantage of the platform to rub shoulders with the best in the business,” Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of Ten Sports Management (TSM), owners of the T10 League, said.It is possible that the dates of the tournament were finalised keeping in mind the fact that this year’s T20 World Cup is currently scheduled to conclude on November 15, thus making the short-format international players available.Related

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Moreover, the global event could yet be allotted to the UAE given that the original host, India, is battling a severe wave of the Covid-19 virus. So there is a chance that players would be able to avoid travel and quarantine by virtue of being in the same country.Among those who could make their respective national side’s T20 World Cup squad, Mohammad Hafeez, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Jordan and Dwayne Bravo – to name a few – have deals with the T10 franchises.The last edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 was conducted in January-February this year, with the Northern Warriors emerging as champions. That tournament was held in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, with no crowds in attendance and safety measures in place for the players.

England lost four middle-order wickets for 21 runs as their grip loosened

Annesha Ghosh16-Jun-2021Stumps Making their first appearance in the longest format since 2014, India wrested a measure of control courtesy debutants Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar as England, steered by half-centurions Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont, finished on 269 for 6 at stumps on the opening day of the one-off Test in Bristol.England firmly held control of the day’s proceedings until the final session, when they slipped from 230 for 2 to 251 for 6, three of those four wickets coming in the form of lbw dismissals courtesy offspinners Rana and Sharma. The collapse began with vice-captain Nat Sciver employing the sweep, a shot that fetched runs aplenty for the best part of the English innings, was struck on the right toe by Sharma’s full ball.India’s raucous appeal got the umpire’s nod but England reviewed the call without any success. The dismissal went down as India’s first Test wicket involving the DRS; the same bowler and batter also having been part of the first dismissal using the system in ODI cricket. It wasn’t long before Knight, five short of a second Test hundred, was also trapped on the pad. Upon review, replays upheld the umpire’s call, with Knight foxed by Sharma’s drift.That England threatened to go well past 300 on day one was down to Knight’s 90-run stand with Sciver, building on two prior fifty partnerships in the innings, making this the first instance of them scoring 50-plus for the first three wickets in the same innings since 1960. Knight, who had brought up her fifty, her third in four Test innings, with an exquisite drive, carted nine fours in her 175-ball stay.Heather Knight fell five short of a hundred•Getty Images

Knight’s departure was bookended by wicketkeeper Amy Jones unsuccessfully reviewing yet another lbw, this time off Rana, who then enticed Georgia Elwiss into an expansive drive with an away-drifting delivery. Sharma, diving low at first slip, held onto the thick outside edge to stall England’s momentum.India took the new ball in the 89th over, two overs after Jhulan Goswami had returned to deliver her 17th. Raj summoned Shikha Pandey’s pace for an over towards the close of the day’s play as Katherine Brunt and debutant Sophia Dunkley, who became the first black woman to represent England in Tests, remained watchful. Rana, the pick of the Indian attack on day one, signed off with 3 for 77 in what could be a memorable return to the Indian side after 2016.Earlier, Shafali Verma’s one-handed take at short leg off Rana stalled Tammy Beaumont and Knight’s second-wicket 71-run stand in the post-lunch session with Knight taking on the anchor’s role at 47 not out. After lunch, 17-year-old Verma’s visible discomfort at slip as well at close-in positions had become a talking point as had India’s slow over-rate and the wearing down that the Beaumont-Knight partnership had subjected the Indian attack to. However, Verma’s low, diving catch off the disciplined Rana ended Beaumont’s stay in the 49th over as she inside-edged into her front pad.Beaumont was the second wicket to fall, having reached her second Test fifty off 99 balls. Her six fours crowned an array of drives, sweeps, and behind-the-wickets strokes that often found India wanting in tactical nous when it came to field placements as well as in the variety among spinners.After sending down just 27 in the first session, India bowled only 28 after lunch, despite having two spinners in operation. Goswami, the 38-year-old, did the bulk of the bowling among the seamers, while Rana sent down 29 of the day’s 92 overs.Related

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Wickets were hard to come by in the first two sessions for India. After Beaumont’s dismissal, the closest they got to creating a genuine chance was when Knight, on 26, slashed at a wide Pandey delivery, only for the ball to fly over Harmanpreet Kaur’s fingertips at gully. That aside, Knight was perturbed little and, in Sciver’s company, steered the team past 200, breaking up the field at will. Both Pandey and Goswami remained wicketless while part-time offspinner Kaur lost out on Sciver’s wicket in her third over owing to a drop by Sharma.Debutant Taniya Bhatia’s wicket-taking grab behind the stumps and two sixes from Lauren Winfield-Hill headlined the opening session after the hosts opted to bat. India could’ve had an early wicket, but missed out due to a drop at first slip. Winfield-Hill, eventually out for 35 in the 21st over, received a lifeline on 3 when Smriti Mandhana grassed a chance off Goswami.Winfield-Hill’s two sixes were the first by an England batter in Tests since August 2006. The first one was off Pandey, one of three seamers in a six-bowler Indian attack: a short ball was lifted by Winfield-Hill from outside off, and with extended arms cleared deep midwicket. Then came another pick-up six, seemingly more effortless, decidedly more disdainful, in the 19th over off Vastrakar. It sailed over deep backward square while her partner Beaumont followed its trajectory.England’s hold on the morning session seemed well in place until Vastarakar gave India the breakthrough. Angling one back in, Vastrakar induced an outside edge off Winfield-Hill’s drive to the keeper, removing her for 35.The pitch – used previously for a T20 Blast fixture last Friday much to the chagrin of captain Knight and England coach Lisa Keightley – offered decent movement and carry for the quicks earlier in the day, but that assistance diminished as the overs kept getting added onto the surface along the day.

Maqsood too chips in with bruising half-century as Sultans make it two in two in UAE leg

Danyal Rasool13-Jun-2021Mohammad Rizwan’s adjective-defying T20 run shows no signs of abating. On Sunday night, he produced another masterclass as the Multan Sultans coasted to an eight-wicket win over Peshawar Zalmi with 21 balls to spare.Chasing 167, Rizwan never once looked remotely under pressure as he caressed a classy 56-ball 82 without once appearing to take any risks. The flawless chase was merely following on from a fairly error-free effort from the Sultans’ bowlers, who had the wood over the Zalmi batters for much of the innings. Only Sherfane Rutherford’s breezy half-century briefly threatened to leave them with a bigger target.Batting first, Zalmi got themselves into a strong position thanks to evergreen opener Kamran Akmal, but the Sultans bowled well enough to ensured Zalmi never really succeeded in pulling clear. While speeding along to 70 inside the ninth over looked imperious, uncapped Shahnawaz Dhani’s devastating second spell ripped the heart out of the top and middle order.Imran Tahir, operating from the other end, while wicketless, rarely allows too many runs, and with the wickets falling and run-scoring spluttering, Zalmi were visibly fading in the game. A handful of clubbed sixes from Rutherford at the death threatened to rob the Sultans of momentum at the changeover, but a shoddy powerplay from the Zalmi bowlers meant all that advantage was swiftly squandered.Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan operated too often along a leg-stump line Rizwan was working away to a vacant boundary for fun, and with wides and misfields thrown into the mix, it was little surprise to see the 50 brought up in the fifth over.Once Sohaib Maqsood got together with Rizwan, the contrast of styles proved a devastating combination, much too hot for Riaz’s side to handle. If Rizwan was painting his way through his innings, Maqsood was hammering away during his. A whirlwind 31-ball 61 guaranteed this was never going to be allowed to go too deep, and when Rizwan helped a Riaz delivery over fine leg with six to go, it seemed a fitting way to end.The Rutherford Revival
With eight overs to go and Dhani’s four-wicket burst leaving Zalmi reeling, it was Rutherford who ensured what looked set to be a below-par total would end up a somewhat competitive one. Having taken a few balls to bed in, he was content to play second fiddle to David Miller initially. But when Miller holed out thanks to a spectacular catch from Rizwan, Zalmi were running out of batters, and the time for caution was over.A six clubbed back over Blessing Muzarabani’s head began a momentum shift, but the left-hander was only getting started. He would follow it up with a monster hit over square leg the same over, and two more off Sohail Tanvir brought up a 34-ball half-century. Where Zalmi looked like they might meander to 140, 45 runs off the final three overs got them to 166.Dhani’s fluctuating fortunes
Nothing about the way this game began suggested it might be Dhani’s day. He put down a sitter to reprieve Haider Ali in the third over, and went on to leak 15 the first time he came on in the fifth. It was a curious over that involved the veteran Kamran Akmal placing him across the park for three successive boundaries, followed by Rizwan spilling an easy chance to deny Dhani his wicket.Dhani followed it up with a beamer that struck his captain on the shin in an all-round horror show. When he came back for his second spell, Ali greeted him with a swiped six off the first ball. From that nadir, Dhani would turn things around to somehow become the pick of the Sultans bowlers.Akmal and Shoaib Malik were removed off successive deliveries, and Dhani would take two more in a brilliant follow-up over. Ali holed out to mid-off before the dangerous Rovman Powell top-edged a pull thanks to a canny change of pace, leaving Zalmi reeling after a strong start. It helped keep the target manageable and Rizwan, who took a phenomenal catch running backwards to remove Powell, ensured with the bat Dhani’s efforts would not be in vain.Where they stand
Multan bolster their chances of finishing in the top four, and are tied with fourth-placed Karachi on six points. Peshawar remain third with eight.

Obed McCoy’s four-for in vain as West Indies implode in chase

Firdose Moonda29-Jun-2021
We asked for a nail-biter and we got it. South Africa defended 19 runs off the last two overs; Kagiso Rabada defended eight off the last two balls as South Africa took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.For the third match in succession, Kieron Pollard put South Africa in to bat, and like in the previous game, West Indies stumbled in a chase of 160 plus; they have only managed to chase this score twice in their last 11 games.While South Africa may not be entirely pleased with all elements of their batting, especially their middle order, their attack held them get out of jail. Tabraiz Shamsi turned in the most economical effort of his career so far (2 for 13 in four overs) while Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi conceded 52 runs in seven overs between them and worked their variations well after West Indies seemed to be on course at 96 for 3 at the halfway mark of their 168 target.Earlier in the afternoon, Quinton de Kock proved to be their nemesis again in top-scoring with 72, before Obed McCoy and Dwayne Bravo shared seven wickets between them. McCoy ended with career-best 4 for 22, which didn’t prove to be enough.50 in his 50th
The effects of unburdening de Kock from the captaincy have been obvious on this tour. He followed up his career-best 141* in the first Test with 96 in the second, two scores over 25 in the first two T20Is and then a seventh T20I half-century here in his 50th T20I appearance.He set the tone in the third over when he took 15 runs off Andre Russell’s opening over, courtesy two fours and a six. He rebuilt with Aiden Markram after Obed McCoy’s double strike in the fifth over and attacked Fabian Allen’s left-arm spin, something South Africa had been reluctant to do in the previous two matches.He also put together a 60-run stand for the fourth-wicket with Rassie van der Dussen, the best of South Africa’s innings. It appeared as if he’d bat through but moved outside offstump to try and pull Dwayne Bravo over square leg but handed Lendl Simmons a simple catch in the 18th over.Obed McCoy bettered his previous best•AFP/Getty Images

The Real McCoy The ever-impressive left-armer Obed McCoy bettered his career-best 3 for 25 from the second game here with figures of 4 for 22. Apart from a beamer down the leg-side that cost five runs, he made a mark. He struck in the fifth over when Reeza Hendricks pulled a short ball straight to a running Allen at deep backward square, and then deceived South Africa captain Temba Bavuma with a back of the hand slower ball.Looking to go over the top, Bavuma sliced this with Shimron Hetmeyer running across from mid-off to take the catch. South Africa ended the Powerplay on 51 for 2, their lowest in the series so far.McCoy would have a third, but for Jason Holder shelling a running catch at long-on off de Kock. McCoy made up for in the penultimate over when he bowled George Linde with a slower ball and had Rassie van der Dussen caught at short third, trying to smack it over long-on. McCoy’s pace of the ball left South African about 15 runs adrift of what Bavuma thought would be a par score. 5 for 17 plays 3 for 14 South Africa lost momentum in the last three overs of their innings when they lost 5 wickets for 17 runs. That was the difference between a score under 170 and one closer to 200 and remains a cause for concern, especially sans a seam-bowling allrounder.But West Indies also have their problems in the middle. They promoted Holder to No. 3 for the first time in his career and while he took on Linde and Markram, he miscued an Ngidi slower ball to end the experiment.Hetmeyer, playing for the first time in the series, also targeted Linde and Markram but couldn’t get Shamsi past Rabada at point. And Kieron Pollard failed for the second successive time in the series when he yorked himself by charging Rabada and missing a flick to leave the lower-order to do the rest.Final flourish, and squeeze West Indies needed 44 runs off the last four overs, and Andre Russell transferred pressure onto the South African attack with back to back sixes off Nortje before mishitting an attempted third maximum and being dropped by a back-pedalling Bavuma at extra cover. The rest of that over brought just two runs and the wicket of Russell to put the ball back in the batting team’s court.Nicholas Pooran, who has had a poor series so far, smashed Ngidi over midwicket for six off the second ball of the 18th over but with only three more runs off the remaining three balls, West Indies still had work to do. It was Nortje who put South Africa in the pound seats with an over that cost just four runs and brought the wicket of Pooran, who missed a paddle and was out lbw, and left Rabada with 15 to defend in the last over.

India collapse from 157 for 3 to 225 all out in rain-hit game

Andrew Fidel Fernando23-Jul-20211:37

Muralidaran: India played into Sri Lanka spinners’ hands

Sri Lanka spinners ripped through India’s middle order after a long rain break, taking five wickets in the space of 38 runs, to knock the wind out of India’s innings. Then, chasing 227 in 47 overs, opener Avishka Fernando compiled a mature 76 off 98 balls to put Sri Lanka on the brink of victory. There were some middle-order jitters, but the 109-run second-wicket partnership Fernando had put on with Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who hit 65 off 56, had made enough ground to eventually see the hosts clamber to their second ODI win of the year.
The winning runs were hit with three wickets and 48 balls to spare, earning Sri Lanka 10 valuable ODI Super League points. They move to 11th on the table. Only the first seven teams gain automatic qualification.India, fielding as many as five debutants, and having made six changes to the side that sealed the series on Tuesday, were, for a change, the team that made the most mistakes. In addition to losing wickets in a heap, there were poor reviews, and at least three dropped catches. They had had one good partnership, between Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson, which was worth 74, but none of their batsmen hit a half-century in relatively good batting conditions.With what was essentially a third-string attack on show for India, the bowling lacked the menace the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal and Deepak Chahar provided earlier in the series. Although Rahul Chahar’s legspin caused problems late in his spell, precipitating the fall of four Sri Lanka wickets for 26 runs, they were always struggling to derail the chase.It wasn’t easy for hosts however. It fell to No. 7 Ramesh Mendis and No. 9 Akila Dananjaya to complete the victory. If Shikhar Dhawan had taken a tough chance off Rajapaksa on 32, or if Shaw at slip had held on to a chance off Mendis first ball, there was a chance panic could have overtaken the Sri Lanka dressing room.Earlier, India had been scorching a path to a total in the range of 300 when the rains arrived. They had been 147 for 3 after 23 overs, with Suryakumar Yadav quickly warming to his work, Manish Pandey batting alongside him. But Sri Lanka’s spinners suddenly appeared much more threatening after the 100-minute interruption. Pandey edged debutant Praveen Jayawickrama behind in the 25th over, then Hardik Pandya was given out lbw (upon review) against the same bowler, in the 29th.Praveen Jayawickrama picked up 3 for 59•AFP/Getty Images

Dananjaya then took over, finding purchase with both his offbreak and the legbreak. He had Yadav lbw for 40 off 37, then K Gowtham lbw as well, the batter missing a full toss. Later in that same over, when Rana sent an outside edge to the keeper, India had been reduced to 195 for 8. The spinners took three wickets apiece, Dananjaya giving away only 14 runs off his last five overs, after his first five had gone for 30. Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera then came back into the attack to bounce out the tail, and have India all out at the start of the 44th over.Sri Lanka lost Minod Bhanuka in the sixth over of the chase, but Fernando played a restrained innings, hitting only the bad balls away, and taking few of his usual risks even inside the powerplay. Rajapaksa lived more dangerously, once inside-edging Hardik Pandya past the keeper while on 20, but also produced some beautifully timed boundaries, sometimes making room or coming down the track to blast the spinners.With Rajapaksa on the attack, Fernando settled into a rhythm of taking singles and twos into the outfield, gradually advancing his score, and reaching his second half-century of the series off the 53rd ball he faced. Rajapaksa brought up his maiden ODI fifty with a reverse-swept boundary off Chahar in the 20th over. He was out not long after, caught at fine leg off Chetan Sakariya, but had made a valuable – if streaky – contribution.The only other partnership of note in the match had been between Shaw and Samson. India had set off quickly during the powerplay, and despite the loss of Dhawan, had been 66 for 1 after 10 overs. Early in the middle overs, the batting pair were intent on putting the spinners under pressure. Shaw, for example, struck three fours in four balls in Jayawickrama’s third ODI over. Their aggression also contributed to their downfall, however. Shaw was out for a run-a-ball 49 when he missed a leg-side shot against Dasun Shanaka, and Samson came down the track attempting to hit Jayawickrama inside out and was caught at cover for a run-a-ball 46.

Sharjeel Khan’s 64 off 43 balls helped Sindh post 176

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2021A spell of rain soaked up Northern’s hopes allowing Sindh to post a three-run victory under DLS method in the National T20 Cup, played in Rawalpindi. With this victory, Sindh climbed to the top of the table, winning four out of five matches. Northern suffered their second defeat to sit at third place with three wins from five games.Chasing Sindh’s 176 for seven, Northern got off to a decent start scoring at a rate of 8.64 in the powerplay, but when the revised target was set at 66 from 7.3 overs, Northern fell short by a small margin to end at 62 for three.Earlier in the overcast conditions, Northern picked up the wicket of Shan Masood in the second ball of the innings after opting to bowl first. Both Sharjeel Khan and Khurram Manzoor (15 off 17) helped recover from an early wobble putting on a 52-run stand for the second wicket. Sharjeel fell after hitting 10 fours and two sixes in his 43-ball 64. A few quick wickets saw Sindh reeling at 128 for five. Saud Shakeel played a cautious 28 off 21, but a cameo of 13 each by Anwar Ali and Rumman Raees in nine and five balls respectively boosted the total, with Sarfaraz Ahmed also helping the cause with his 18-ball 26.For Northern, Salman Irshad, Shadab Khan and Muhammad Musa picked up two wickets each.Northern made an impressive start to the chase by scoring 12 runs in the first over but lost Sarmad Hameed soon for five off six. Haider Ali (11 off 9) was the next man to fall, followed by Nasir Nawaz (27 off 19 balls), leaving Imad Wasim unbeaten at 13 when the rain came into play.

Stokes took three wickets after a spirited display marked by long periods of short-pitched bowling

Andrew Miller17-Dec-2021Ben Stokes says that if England don’t believe they can save the Adelaide Test and turn around their fortunes in the Ashes, then “we’re beaten already”, after another chastening day with bat and ball in the second Test.Stokes finished with figures of 3 for 113 after a spirited display with the ball, marked by lengthy periods of short-pitched bowling, most notably against Australia’s centurion Marnus Labuschagne. However, his main role may yet be to come with the bat, after England limped to 17 for 2 under the floodlights, in reply to Australia’s 473 for 9 declared, before a lightning strike behind the bowler’s arm forced an early close to the second day’s play.”It’s been a tough two days,” Stokes said afterwards. “We spent a lot of time out in the field, put some overs into our legs, but it was nice to get off the field at the end and watch the guys go out and bat.”Obviously we came off in pretty strange circumstances – I’m not sure I’ve been involved in the game being called off early because of lightning – but we get to turn up tomorrow in the natural light, which has looked the easiest and best time to be around the middle.Despite the hard grind that England have endured across 150.4 overs of bowling, Stokes insisted that he had relished the scrap as he continues his return to Test cricket after a lengthy absence from the game last summer, during which time he feared he might never play at the highest level again.Related

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• England run for the exits as Australia storm into commanding position

“You’ve just got to look for dirt when you get that deep, and understand what you’re playing for,” he said. “I’ve loved every minute of it. Walking out onto the field and wearing the three lions is one of the great feelings as a cricketer.”If you don’t feel sore coming off the field, and if you don’t feel sore waking up in the morning, then you’ve probably not done what’s required of you.”If we don’t believe, we’re beaten already.”Stokes has more right to feel sore than most after his tireless efforts with the ball. At Brisbane last week, he got through just 12 overs after jarring his knee while fielding. But having been reassured of no lasting damage, he’s pushed himself through the pain in this Test, serving up 25 overs all told to finish as England’s most successful wicket-taker in an arduous innings.In the absence of Mark Wood, England’s one genuine 90mph option within their squad, Stokes was employed as the attack’s point of difference, with a sustained spell of short-pitched bowling designed to discomfort Australia’s batters. The policy paid off on the first day, when David Warner carved a short ball to cover to fall for 95, while Stokes suggested it might also have played a part in the dismissal of Cameron Green, who failed to get fully forward to the full-length delivery that bowled him for 2 on the second afternoon.”It was about trying to create a different type of environment out there for the batters,” Stokes said. “It does look odd when you run and bowl 11 overs of short stuff, but in my first couple of spells I felt like I was creating quite a lot of chances and they weren’t really going anywhere. It wasn’t until the third spell today that we started to leak a few runs. But you can create chances and leak a few runs by trying to hit the top off as well.”Ben Stokes glares at Marnus Labuschagne•AFP/Getty Images

If England are to claw their way back into the contest, then a lot will rest on their incumbent pairing of Joe Root and Dawid Malan, whose century stand at Brisbane was their batting high point of the tour so far. But Stokes knows he will have a key role too at No.5, after scores of 5 and 14 in the first Test, his first competitive outing for six months after he missed England’s summer Test series against New Zealand and India with his broken finger.”I didn’t get anywhere near the amount of runs I would have wanted to in the first game,” Stokes said, “but how I look at batting, it’s not always about the runs that I score but how I felt out in the middle.”I’ve felt good in the nets and I felt really good out in the middle both times, I just wasn’t able to go on and get that big score. So I will be going out with the same mindset like I did in Brisbane.”Stokes added that he and his team-mates were conscious of the need to put up a stronger showing for the benefit of England’s fans – those staying up through the night at home as well as those in Australia. However, he also insisted that the tragic events in Tasmania on Thursday, where five children died after a bouncy castle broke its moorings in strong winds and for which Australia’s players had worn black armbands, “puts a lot of things into perspective”.”Obviously the first Test didn’t go well and Australia are ahead at the moment, but we know that back home we will be getting as much support as we always do,” he said. “We really appreciate it and it doesn’t go unnoticed.”

The two teams will play only four ODIs as a part of their preparation for the ODI World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jan-2022The rescheduled limited-overs series between South Africa Women and West Indies Women is set to begin on January 28 and end on February 6 in Johannesburg to “complete preparations” ahead of the ODI World Cup, the two boards confirmed on Wednesday.According to the original schedule, the two teams were supposed to play three T20Is and five ODIs from January 15 to February 6. Now, the revised schedule will see them take part in only four ODIs – two matches under lights – and a warm-up match against a South Africa XI on January 25.

West Indies in SA

January 28

First ODI.

January 31

Second ODI.

February 3

Third ODI.

February 6

Fourth ODI.

All matches in South Africa will be played in a bio-secure environment at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.”There has been a lot of hard work and collaboration with our friends at Cricket South Africa regarding this tour and we are very pleased that we have been able to confirm this rescheduled ODI Series, allowing us to play vital high-level international competition and complete preparations ahead of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup,” Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave said. “We are extremely grateful to both CSA’s and CWI’s operational and medical teams for their efforts in confirming the schedule and we look forward to an exciting ODI series.”Head coach Courtney Walsh believes that this tour will give them a chance to get some quality game time before the World Cup, which is scheduled for March in New Zealand.”We have played less cricket than anticipated following the cancellation of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe,” Walsh said. “This tour will show us exactly what we need to fine-tune before departing for New Zealand so that when we get there we can hit the ground running and give a proper showing of ourselves on the world stage.”The last time these two teams faced each other, in the West Indies in September last year, South Africa thrashed the hosts 4-0 in the five-match ODI series and drew the three-match T20I series 1-1.

“It wouldn’t be fair on any team I signed up for if I wasn’t totally focused,” Stokes writes in newspaper column

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Feb-2022Ben Stokes has revealed that he opted out of this weekend’s IPL auction because Test cricket is his “number one priority”.Stokes was the IPL’s MVP in 2017 and was the most expensive player at the 2018 auction when Rajasthan Royals bought him for Rs. 12.5 crore (£1.37 million approx.) but has not registered for the 2022 mega-auction.Stokes’ returns for Rajasthan were underwhelming – he made two fifties and took 16 wickets in 31 appearances – but he would likely have been a major draw at the auction due to his skillset as an allrounder and his versatility with the bat. Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of Lucknow Supergiants, has hinted that the franchise might have signed Stokes ahead of Marcus Stoinis had he been available.Writing in his column, Stokes said that he had “thought long and hard” about whether or not he should enter the auction but decided that playing two months of early-season County Championship cricket would serve him and England best ahead of their first home Test of the summer against New Zealand on June 2.Related

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Stokes is one of several multi-format England players not involved in the auction, along with Joe Root, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes, though others including Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan and Mark Wood will be up for sale in Bengaluru. Any England Test players picked in the IPL are likely to miss the final stages of the season in order to prepare for the first Test.”It was a bitterly disappointing Ashes campaign Down Under, but we have to learn from it and begin the job of building the team back to where we want to be,” Stokes wrote. “It will take time, of course it will. Even the white-ball team took time to get to the point where we could win a World Cup.”And we need to go on a similar journey with the Test team now, with everyone involved 100 percent committed to doing what is necessary to improve and be among the best teams again.”That is my approach to it. Test cricket is absolutely my number one priority, and I want to work alongside Joe Root, the best man we could have as captain, to get us there.”It is why I thought long and hard about whether to go to the IPL or not, and felt that this was not about the money but about where my priorities are. It wouldn’t be fair on any team I signed up for if I wasn’t totally focused on things out there.”The Test team is where it is at for me right now and I want to give as much of my time and energy to that as possible. I think the Test side will benefit more from me playing a number of County Championship matches this summer and getting myself as best prepared as possible for the challenges of New Zealand and South Africa.”Stokes added that Paul Collingwood, his former Durham team-mate, is “the ideal man” to take over as interim head coach, after his appointment for March’s tour to the Caribbean was confirmed on Monday.”Having Colly as the interim head coach for the start of this challenge is a huge bonus for us because he offers so much and already has good relationships to work from,” he wrote.”He has an infectious enthusiasm and passion for the game, and because he has been there and understands what we are going through, he translates it brilliantly to the players.”Don’t think he is a soft touch, though. He is one of the toughest men I know and will demand the same level of hard work from us as he always puts in himself.”