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“We should have bowled first but the captain had some different instinct,” he said

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2024A campaign that ended in semi-final heartbreak for Tamil Nadu has now been jolted by coach Sulakshan Kulkarni’s remark that his team lost the match right at the toss on the opening day.Kulkarni made it clear in no uncertain terms the captain, R Sai Kishore, made the call despite conventional wisdom and his own knowledge of conditions having played and coached for Mumbai, suggesting they should’ve bowled first.”I always speak straightforward – we lost the match at 9 o’clock on day one,” Kulkarni said after Tamil Nadu were handed an innings defeat by Mumbai inside three days at the Bandra Kurla Complex Ground. “The moment I saw the wicket I exactly knew what we were going to get.”Everything was set, we won the toss, as a coach, as a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled but the captain had some different instinct.”Dinesh Karthik, the India wicketkeeper, termed Kulkarni’s comments as “so wrong” and “disappointing”, while former TN captain Hemang Badani felt Kulkarni had “thrown Sai Kishore under the bus” with his comments in the aftermath of their defeat.Sai Kishore’s decision to bat first backfired spectacularly as TN were tottering at 42 for 5. They were eventually bowled out for 146. Then they had Mumbai reeling at 106 for 7, before a century from Shardul Thakur hauled Mumbai out of a tricky situation. They eventually managed to make 378, which all but ensured TN were batted out of the game.”When I saw that they had played on a different pitch in the quarter-final and what wicket they gave, I realised that this is a seaming-friendly wicket and it was going to be a very tough match, and we would have to play really well to win this game,” Kulkarni said. “Ultimately he [Sai Kishore] is the boss. I can give my feedback and inputs (on) the kind of wickets and Mumbai’s mindset.”We were mentally prepared that whoever wins the toss would bowl first. We knew that we would bowl first. The moment they (on the TV broadcast) heard we would bat first, whatever you say (on how tough it can be to bat early on), it goes in the batsmen’s minds. That first half an hour (before play) got in the batsmen’s minds.”When you get into the first over, where the third (fourth) ball, your international player gets out and you see the situation… in the first hour, it’s difficult. We lost the plot in the first hour, it’s very difficult to come back from there.”

India fell short by 28 despite having a first-innings lead of 190

Sidharth Monga28-Jan-20242:26

Manjrekar: Indian batters found wanting temperamentally in Hyderabad

England pulled off one of their greatest Test wins in front of the raucous Barmy Army and a stunned home crowd in Hyderabad. Of all the ways you envisage winning a Test in India, falling behind by 190 in the first innings – a deficit never before reversed by a visiting team in India – is not one. Yet England did the unthinkable with their most experienced spinner injured, half their side gone before scores were levelled, and did so emphatically even though a hilarious last-wicket stand took India to within 29 runs of their target.The highest lead India have lost from is 192, in Galle back in 2015. That Sri Lankan win was fashioned by a sweep-filled, adventurous, once-in-a-generation knock from Dinesh Chandimal. Ollie Pope played that role for England, scoring 196 runs full of sweeps, reverse sweeps and reverse Dilscoops, messing up with the lengths of the Indian spinners as if they were match predictions after two days of cricket. The other hero was Tom Hartley, the debutant left-arm spinner who was hit for two sixes in his first over in Test cricket and consigned to one of the costliest analysis for a debutant, who ended up with seven wickets in the second innings.Related

• Where did India fall short in Hyderabad? Dravid points to the first innings

• India fall short in the Hyderabad sweep-stakes

• Stokes: 'Definitely our greatest triumph since I've been captain'

• Face of this match contorted beyond recognition by Pope

Starting the day 126 ahead with just four wickets in hand, Pope added 48 to his overnight 148 with crucial assistance from Rehan Ahmed and Hartley. Only five times has 230 or more been chased down successfully in India, but the hosts would have had cause for optimism. Jack Leach, the experienced spinner, was at best hobbling. Hartley, the other left-arm spinner, had been punished for 63 runs in his first nine-over spell in the first innings. Ahmed had been so inconsistent and Mark Wood so unsuited to the conditions that Joe Root had been their best bowler until then.However, fourth-innings chases follow their own rhythms. Ben Stokes, who captained like a millionaire in the first innings to buy wickets, knew he just needed in-out fields here. Root, Hartley and Leach rose to the occasion despite obvious limitations. And India, unlike England, provided them stationary target, letting them bowl good length over and over again, a luxury not afforded to India’s spinners.You can imagine Pope, Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley spent two weeks in Abu Dhabi just practising the various sweeps more than their front-foot defence against spin. They took those chances in the second innings after having got out playing defensively in the first. Pope’s execution lasted the longest. Some of the shots were sensational, like his repeat of the reverse Dilscoop off Ravindra Jadeja from Saturday.It is an indictment of the spinners – world-beaters and two of the greatest of all time – that Jasprit Bumrah was India’s best bowler. He got Ahmed early with a reverse-swinging outswinger, and also ended Pope’s innings with a slower ball. Between that, though, Hartley and Pope added 80 for the eighth wicket. During that partnership, with Ashwin and Jadeja bowling, India struggled to hold their lengths and the field settings allowed singles everywhere.It might not be unfair to say that India didn’t have a response for the time when unorthodox methods worked against them. Pope needed some luck all right, 72 false responses, which is the second-highest for any innings since 2003, but he did do his bit in getting rid of catching men, which reduces the potency of mistakes bowlers induce.Pope could do what he did because that is the philosophy of Bazball: rather get out reverse-scooping than defending as he did in the first innings. For if he reverse-sweeps, he is playing what he has practised and prepared for. That England had nothing to lose after falling behind by 190 freed him further.India had none of these liberties. Firstly, they are not natural sweepers, forget reverse-sweepers. They also had a home Test to lose, which they rarely do, and never after taking that kind of first-innings lead.Stokes, who had looked to manufacture wickets in the first innings with attacking fields, could now fall back on the conventional method: attack with the ball, defend with the fields. Two catchers at the wicket, two at cover and midwicket, but others protecting runs.Wood bowled only one over with the new ball – in which he had Rohit Sharma dropped at second slip – but Root and Hartley then were all over the good length like a rash. India got off to a good enough start, getting 42 for the first wicket, but the spinners were troubling them and were not making the errors in length they did in the first innings.Credit has to be given to Stokes, who kept bowling Hartley in the first innings despite that ordinary start and got him into his work. Now that he found his length, India needed someone to work him off his areas. The first time someone did try it, Yashasvi Jaiswal was outside the crease, forced to defend by the length correction, but Pope pulled off a stunning catch at short leg off the face of the bat. Two balls later, Hartley had sent Shubman Gill back, who defended with hard hands and Pope got down on his knees at silly point to catch it off the face of the bat again.Rohit was the only India batter who showed the willingness to sweep and reverse-sweep spinners off their length. He even played three reverse sweeps after having played the shot only seven times in his Test career. Two of them got him boundaries. However, Hartley was good enough to pin him on the crease and forward-defending at one that didn’t turn, and had him plumb lbw.India promoted Axar Patel to introduce a left-hand batter in the mix and also use his batting ability better. He and KL Rahul added 32 for the fourth wicket, but the runs came in two spurts. First when Rahul was allowed to sweep from outside leg, and the second when Ahmed missed his length.Once England controlled the bad balls, the wickets came promptly. Axar gave a return catch to Hartley, and Rahul went back to a full ball from Root, a rare misjudgement of length.Jadeja then ran himself out, and Shreyas Iyer played arguably the worst shot, giving slip practice to Root when he followed the turn and opened the face for Hartley. The ball had become soft by then, and India were in a position to capitalise on the easiest batting conditions. Instead, KS Bharat and Ashwin added a conservative 57 for the eighth wicket in 21.4 overs. If India had more wickets during this phase, they could have got closer.In the dying moments of the day, Hartley produced his ball of the match, one that drifted in, pitched leg, and turned past Bharat’s bat to take the off stump. England claimed the extra half hour and, despite a chancy 25-run stand between Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, got home in the last over of the day.

Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, believes Rory Hamilton Brown, the 22-year-old Sussex allrounder, has the ‘charisma and intelligence’ to lead Surrey to the top of English cricket

Cricinfo staff15-Dec-2009Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, believes Rory Hamilton-Brown, the 22-year-old Sussex allrounder, has the ‘charisma and intelligence’ to lead Surrey to the top of English cricket.Hamilton-Brown, who is currently with England’s Performance Programme squad in South Africa, moved to Sussex from the Oval in 2008 but Adams, who joined Surrey after the 2008 season, is hoping to attract Hamilton-Brown back to London when they talk on Wednesday.”We’ve got sell him the vision,” said Adams to Surrey TV. “The journey that we have begun here which we hope will be a very special one. I want Surrey to go back to the top of English cricket, that’s what I’m doing here.”After a difficult first year in charge in which Surrey won just one of their 16 Division Two Championship matches and culminated in captain Mark Butcher’s retirement, Adams said the club needs a leader who can inspire and galvanise the squad as the club moves forward and claims that ‘Surrey lad’ Hamilton-Brown is the man to do so.”We need a new captain who really brings the players together and if you look at the guys out there currently, there’s not a massive list. Rory’s name came right at the very top. I know the lad, he’s a super talented cricketer and he’s a Surrey lad first and foremost.”He’s had 85% of his cricket through the Surrey system and a couple of years at Sussex, he’s developed exceptionally well and the time is right for me and him to come together and formulate a partnership which will take Surrey back to where it needs to be – the top of English cricket.”Hamilton-Brown would become the youngest captain on the county circuit and would have to manage the famously volatile temperament of star-batsman Mark Ramprakash. Yet Adams believes the English game can be too conservative and points to the example of Graeme Smith, who got the South African captaincy at the age of 22, to show what can be achieved.”Captains are born. You need charisma and intelligence and the ability to get people to follow you and Rory has that,” said Adams.”One of the problems of English cricket is that we’re too steeped in tradition, When we’re presented with an opportunity like this we tend to rule it out. But look at Graeme Smith – he captained South Africa at 22, look at Cameron White, now in Australia’s one-day team – captained Victoria at 20.”

Worker played for many years with Central Districts and Auckland, and had a short stint in international cricket between 2015 and 2018

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2024Former New Zealand batter George Worker has announced his retirement from professional cricket at the age of 34 to take up a “fantastic opportunity” with an investment services firm.”After a fulfilling 17-year journey in professional cricket, I am announcing my retirement from the sport. This decision marks the end of an incredible chapter of my life and the beginning of a new adventure,” Worker, who started his professional career with Central Districts and ended it with Auckland, said. “Throughout the course of my career, I’ve forged some great friendships that will last a lifetime and memories I will cherish forever.”Worker had a short stint in international cricket, playing ten ODIs and two T20Is between 2015 and 2018, in which he scored 272 and 90 runs respectively. It started on a 2015 tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa where, on T20I debut, he won the Player-of-the-Match award for his 38-ball 62 in Harare. An impressive 2017 Ford Trophy, where he scored 659 runs in ten innings for Central Districts while averaging 82.37, put him back on the selectors’ radar. The ODI debut came on that same tour of Africa, and he got a bit of a run in his best format in 2017 when he played in Ireland and at home against West Indies, scoring all his three ODI half-centuries in that span.More recently, Worker earned a call-up to New Zealand’s ODI squad for their home series against New Zealand in March 2022, when Mark Chapman was ruled out with Covid-19, but he did not get an opportunity to add to his 12 international caps.Overall, in 169 List A games, he scored 6721 runs at an average of 43.64 and a strike rate of 79.85 with 18 centuries and 37 half-centuries. His first-class (6400 runs at an average of 29.49) and T20 (3480 runs at a strike rate of 123.57) numbers were less impressive.Worker debuted for Central Districts in the 2007-08 season and represented New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup soon after. More recently, he played a big part in Auckland Aces’ Ford Trophy 2021-22 title win, topping the overall run-scoring chart with 672 runs in ten innings, averaging 84.00 and hitting four centuries.A part-time left-arm spinner, Worker finished with 58 first-class wickets to go with 60 in List A cricket and 42 in T20s.”Whilst his immense leadership and experience will be sorely missed in the Aces environment, we’re hugely excited for him as he embarks on this next chapter in his career,” Auckland Cricket’s head of performance and talent Evan Jones said. “George will, of course, remain an important part of the Auckland Cricket family, and we look forward to seeing what that may look like in the future.”The immediate future will be far away from cricket.”As I close this chapter, I am excited to embark on the next phase of my life with Forsyth Barr, who have offered me a fantastic opportunity,” Worker said. “I look forward to bringing the same passion and dedication to my new role with them.”

While Royals snapped up Patil, TKR picked Shikha Pandey and Salonee Dangore

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2025Offspinner Shreyanka Patil is among three Indians who will be in action in the Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) 2025. Patil, who had missed WPL 2025 with injury and has not played competitive cricket since October 2024, is set to return to action in the WCPL, where she will represent Barbados Royals (BR), the defending champions.Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have signed seamer Shikha Pandey and uncapped legspinner Salonee Dangore, who was a net bowler for Delhi Capitals (DC) in WPL 2025.Pandey had also played for TKR last season, picking up four wickets in five matches at an economy rate of 6.80. Patil, meanwhile, had turned out for Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) in 2023, taking a chart-topping nine wickets in their run to the final that season. Patil was also the leading wicket-taker in WPL 2024.Related

• Uncapped, not unnoticed: How Salonee Dangore went from track and field to the CPL

• Tim David signs with defending champions St Lucia Kings for CPL 2025

Big-hitting Sri Lanka allrounder Chamari Athapaththu will join Patil at BR for the upcoming season. Australians Laura Harris and Madeline Penna will be part of GAW’s overseas contingent, which will also include Shabnim Ismail, one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s game.As expected, Dottin (TKR), Hayley Matthews (BR) and Stafanie Taylor (GAW) were the top retentions for the franchises. Having won the WCPL in 2023 and 2024, BR are eyeing a three-peat this season.Guyana is set to host the fourth season of the WCPL, starting on September 6. The final will be played on September 17. All seven games – including the final – will be played at Providence Stadium. The tournament will have six league games spread across 11 days, with the final scheduled just one day after the final league-stage match. All matches are afternoon games. Four fixtures, including the final, start at 2pm. There are two 3pm starts and one 4pm start.The tournament’s highest run-scorer is BR’s Hayley Matthews (424). She is also the highest wicket-taker (23).

WCPL squads

Barbados Royals: Hayley Matthews, Chinelle Henry, Afy Fletcher, Aaliyah Alleyne, Kycia Knight, Steffie Soogrim, Shamilia Connell, Sheneta Grimmond, Qiana Joseph, Trishan Holder, NaiJanni Cumberbatch, Chamari Athapaththu, Georgia Redmayne, Courtney Webb, Shreyanka PatilGuyana Amazon Warriors: Stafanie Taylor, Ashmini Munisar, Cherry-Ann Fraser, Chedean Nation, Plaffiana Millington, Britney Cooper, Kaysia Schultz, Shemaine Campbelle, Karishma Ramharack, Nyia Latchman, Realeanna Grimmond, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Harris, Madeline PennaTrinbago Knight Riders: Deandra Dottin, Shabika Gajnabi, Shawnisha Hector, Rashada Williams, Nerissa Crafton, Jahzara Claxton, Zaida James, Jannillea Glasgow, Keila Elliott, Abigail Bryce, Samara Ramnath, Jess Jonassen, Lizelle Lee, Shikha Pandey, Salonee Dangore

Sylhet Strikers will now face Rangpur Riders in Qualifier 2 on Tuesday

Mohammad Isam12-Feb-2023Defending champions Comilla Victorians made it to their fourth BPL final after trouncing Sylhet Strikers by four wickets in Qualifier 1 in Mirpur. Strikers will now face Rangpur Riders, who beat Fortune Barishal in the afternoon’s Eliminator, in Qualifier 2 on Tuesday.Sylhet would rue missing three chances during Comilla’s chase. Mushfiqur Rahim was involved in all three – dropping two skiers and missing a stumping. It could have made a difference.It was Comilla’s varied and experienced bowling attack that set up the victory. Andre Russell, Mustafizur Rahman and Tanvir Islam took two wickets apiece, and Sunil Narine, Moeen Ali and Mukidul Islam picked up one each. They combined great lengths with a wicket-taking approach that left Sylhet with no respite.Shafiqullah Ghafari, the 21-year-old uncapped Afghan, fell to Russell in the second over, before Tanvir ran out the in-form Towhid Hridoy with a direct hit. When Moeen’s extra bounce took out Zakir Hasan in the following over, Comilla had Sylhet on the ropes at 16 for 3.Their recovery came through the surprise appearance of the veteran Mashrafe Mortaza who promoted himself to No 5. He cracked two sixes and as many fours in his 17-ball 26, and lent a helping hand to Najmul Hossain Shanto who was batting calmly at the other end.But the pair fell within eight balls of each other when Mashrafe skied Russell and Shanto was bowled by Tanvir. Tanvir dented them further by removing Ryan Burl on the next ball to make it 78 for 6 in the 11th over. Mushfiqur tried to resuscitate the innings but to no avail, as Strikers were bowled out for a paltry 125 in the 18th over.Narine gave Comilla a rollicking start, hitting four sixes and three fours in his 18-ball 39. He fell in the fifth over, but it had a lasting impact despite Comilla floundering in their chase. Litton Das had earlier fallen in the fourth over, while Johnson Charles and Imrul Kayes couldn’t get going.Moeen Ali, though, struck a 13-ball 21, and Mosaddek Hossain played the anchor’s role with an unbeaten run-a-ball 27.There was another wobble when Moeen and Jakir Ali fell in the same over but by then the target was just 19 runs away. Russell, who was the beneficiary of one of Mushfiqur’s dropped catches, smashed a couple of sixes to complete the win in the 17th over.

Allrounder eclipses previous best by 69 runs as Surrey run out comfortable winners

David Hopps26-May-2023Sean Abbott’s first thought about a glorious night he could never have envisaged was that he is no Andrew Symonds with the bat. That made his intervention at the Kia Oval all the more remarkable. He now shares with Symonds the joint-fastest T20 hundred ever made in England and the fourth fastest in T20 history after his 34-ball romp for Surrey in front of 17,000 spectators. He is no mean cricketer, but he just kept smiling at the absurdity of it all.Kent had been pleasantly stunned by Symonds’ hundred in their colours that night in Maidstone back in 2004 as the potential of T20 began to dawn. This time they were the fall guys, their control of Surrey’s top-order abruptly surrendered to one of those nights when a recognised lower-order batter simply discovers a power within themselves that has never previously been witnessed.Nigh-on two decades have followed since Symonds’ revelation of T20’s potential. Then the game invited scepticism and suspicion even in the country that had been daring and forward-thinking enough to present it to the world. As Abbott underlined once more, it has since become a game where anything is possible.”I don’t think people should be thinking about me and ‘Roy’ in the same breath,” Abbott said, moments after his unbeaten 110 from 41 balls with four fours and 11 sixes (all but one between long on and deep square) became just the latest tale of the unexpected. “But it was a lot of fun. Batting records could not be further from my radar. I was just grateful to find the middle of the bat.”He found it so often on his debut T20 appearance at Kia Oval that he now stands only four balls adrift of Chris Gayle’s all-time record. He achieved the feat in the penultimate over with a muscular, short-arm shovel down the ground against his fellow Australian, the veteran seamer Michael Hogan. This from a seam bowler whose average in T20 was 10.91, who had never made more than 41 in 76 previous innings in this format, and who made only 51 runs as an afterthought in Sydney Sixers’ 2022-23 Big Bash campaign.Nobody doubts that he can bat – he has made good runs for Surrey in the Championship this season and has a first-class average of 22 – but this was only the second hundred of his professional career. Inspiration fell upon him. If his maiden half-century brought professional satisfaction, the realisation that he might actually make a hundred became a bit of a lark.It was Kent Day, the Feast of St Augustine, which celebrates the patron saint of Kent and first Archbishop of Canterbury. But this time the chomping was left to Abbott, whose saintly qualities are not even known in Windsor, New South Wales. He came in with Surrey 64 for 4 in 8.2 tentative overs. Sam Curran had just departed to a bit of catching practice at mid-off and the pitch cried out for somebody who would just give it a slug.Thanks to Surrey’s uncommon reliance on a bowler-heavy side, Abbott had that opportunity. He said later that he just didn’t want to use up too many balls. With six overs remaining, Surrey were 118 for 5, Abbott on 28 from 17, and there was talk of how 170 would surpass Kia Oval’s par score. But Surrey added 105 in the last five overs. First Kent’s bowling fell apart then their fielding followed. They began like the side that finished top of South Group in 2021 and finished like the side that ended up bottom a year later.Abbott first took a liking to the left-arm spin of George Linde – too short, six; too full, another six. He might have holed out during that over on 47, but Joey Evison, who had watched those two balls sail many miles over his head, could not make ground at long-off to the mishit.Kane Richardson, another Australian in the firing line, then went for 30 (6-4-6-4-4-6) on the 18th over. Richardson opted for wide yorkers, but never nailed them, and Abbott, by now discovering his full repertoire, mixed delicate steers and extra-cover drives with lean-back heaves into a warm South London sky.When one of those heaves malfunctioned against Evison, Linde, who had a bad night, leaned forward to fumble a sitter. With the century achieved against Hogan, there was time for laughter, too, in the crowd as Richardson and Jack Leaning combined to pat-a-cake another blow into the boundary boards. It was all a far cry from the impressive way Kent had started, exemplified by a brilliant run out of Tom Curran by Jordan Cox at mid off.It was good to see Sam Curran back in Surrey’s side, batting at three and captain, too, so soon after an IPL season in which he had been charged with living up to a record £1.85m price tag. “A season of many ups and downs, lots to learn from and come back stronger,” he had tweeted. He can relax into a tournament where IPL price tags are rarely a staple of crowd conversation.Another of Surrey’s IPL contingent, Jason Roy, was again absent with a minor calf injury, quite a coincidence after a fraught and highly-publicised week in which he abandoned his England incremental contract to sign for the MLC’s inaugural tournament in the United States. The suggestion remains that he will see out Surrey’s Blast season, and will miss the start of the MLC tournment if they reach the final stages, but cricket is in flux, Roy is one of the players at the centre of it, and nothing can be assumed to be set in stone.In the meantime, Surrey’s medical team will see rather more of him than Surrey supporters which is a common state of affairs that county cricket is finding increasingly hard to live with.It was hard therefore not to recall the words of Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket – and seemingly a contender to replace the late Mystic Meg – who remarked a week or so earlier about top English players attached to counties: “They go away and play elsewhere and when they come back they want time in the indoor school with the best coaches just to get ready to go off and play in another franchise competition. ‘Oh and by the way I’ve got a little calf injury so can I get treated by the physio, the doctor, the medical staff and can I get rehab as well?’ “Sunil Narine stood in as opener during Surrey’s victory against Middlesex at Lord’s 24 hours earlier – a match when Abbott was not one of the eight batters who reached the crease. This time Surrey promoted Laurie Evans and opted for make-do-and-mend with Abbott at No. 6. It all went rather well.When Symonds made that format-defining hundred, Kent’s coach, Matt Walker, had watched with wonder from the non-striker’s end. This time he was about 100 metres away and could be forgiven if he did not find things quite as uplifting.Kent made a spirited start with the bat as Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tawande Muyeye repeatedly peppered the boundary to reach 75 in the powerplay. Both reached half-centuries – Muyeye’s first – but after Sunil Narine had Bell-Drummond caught in the deep, Kent crumbled. The last over was left to Abbott, the game won, his face full of smiles, but no wicket to add the final touch to his evening.

Roy makes international comeback too as England stretch player pool to be able to have a squad in place for the Tests in Pakistan

Matt Roller25-Oct-2022James Vince and Sam Billings have won recalls to England’s ODI squad for a three-match series in Australia, which takes place immediately after the men’s T20 World Cup.As revealed by ESPNcricinfo earlier, Jason Roy will make his return to international cricket after a lean English summer led to him losing his spot in the T20I side and his ECB central contract, while there is no place for Alex Hales who is now seen as a T20 specialist.

Fixtures

November 17 – 1st ODI, Adelaide
November 19 – 2nd ODI, Sydney
November 22 – 3rd ODI, Melbourne

Neither Vince nor Billings has played an ODI since July 2021, but both have impressed in their recent 50-over opportunities. Vince’s last ODI innings brought his first England hundred to complete a clean sweep over Pakistan, while Billings has been unfortunate to miss out on recent selection after averaging 56.00 in his eight ODI innings since 2020.Olly Stone also won a recall, having last played an ODI in October 2018, and will fly out to Australia along with Billings, Vince and Roy in the coming weeks. Chris Jordan will stay with the set-up after the World Cup and will come into contention to win his first ODI cap since February 2020.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Luke Wood is the only uncapped player in the squad. He went on the tour to the Netherlands in June but did not play, and is due to travel to Australia this week as a reserve after Tymal Mills replaced Reece Topley in the full squad for the World Cup.Dawid Malan, Wood’s team-mate in the Hundred, has been recalled after being left out of England’s home ODIs this summer. Liam Dawson, a regular feature in England squads because of his versatility, could win only his fourth ODI cap and his first since 2018.The series, which does not form part of the World Cup Super League, will stretch England’s player pool considerably. By November 17, the day of the first ODI in Adelaide, the squad for their Tests in Pakistan in December will be in Abu Dhabi, along with a 15-man Lions training group and three fast bowlers who are recovering from long-term injuries.As a result, several leading white-ball players are not involved in the ODI series. Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Mark Wood will travel to the UAE straight after the World Cup – along with Ben Stokes, who has retired from the ODI format – while Ben Duckett, Will Jacks and Joe Root were not considered for selection because of their involvement in the Test squad.

Shoriful Islam took the first hat-trick of his T20 career, as new franchise Durdanto Dhaka started with a win

Mohammad Isam24-Jan-2024Comilla Victorians rounded it up with a thrilling four-wicket win against Fortune Barishal in Mirpur. The match finished only off the penultimate delivery, though Imrul Kayes had led the chase with 52 from 41 balls before Matthew Forde smashed Khaled Ahmed for a four and six in the final over.Meanwhile, Khulna Tigers turned out to be the table-toppers due to a better net run rate over Chattogram Challengers, who have played a game more than Khulna. In their second match of the season, Khulna hunted down 188 in a convincing chase against Barishal.Related

• Mohammad Haris leaves BPL 2024 after being denied NOC

• BPL 2024: Comilla eye title hat-trick as big five take centrestage

They had eight wickets and two overs to spare when Shai Hope hit the winning boundary. Hope, who played a cameo of an unbeaten 25 from 10 balls, combined brilliantly with Evin Lewis and Anamul Haque in Khulna’s big win. While Anamul got a composed 63 not out off 44 deliveries, Lewis thrashed 53 from only 22, with 50 of those runs coming in boundaries.Durdanto Dhaka, this season’s only new franchise, started by beating defending champions Comilla in the tournament opener. For Durdanto, Player of the Match Shoriful Islam took the first hat-trick of his T20 career, after which Mohammad Naim hit 52 off 40 balls.On the second day of the season, Barishal’s successful chase of 135 against Rangpur Riders had gone into the final over the match. That included a mini-battle of its own. Bangladesh seniors Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal faced off for the first time since Shakib called Tamim “childish” last September. But all the anticipation only resulted in a dud battle. Tamim managed just five runs from the first seven balls he faced from Shakib, who was dismissed for 2 earlier in the day.Mushfiqur Rahim got over a hundred runs in the first week•BPL

But Rangpur hit back just days later when they reduced Sylhet Strikers to 39 for 5. Sylhet recovered through Benny Howell and Ben Cutting to post 120, and even avenged it with the ball by having Rangpur at 39 for 6. But Babar Azam, reportedly the most expensive signing in this season’s BPL, got Rangpur home with a half-century, and an undefeated stand of 88 with Azmatullah Omarzai. That left Sylhet as the only winless side in the competition so far.

Batter of the week

While both Mushfiqur Rahim and Kayes got over a hundred runs in the first week, Anamul Haque’s unbeaten 63 against Barishal stood out as the best innings from the first eight games. Anamul is often talked about as a lost talent, but he has consistently scored runs in the BPL and the domestic competitions. His half-century came right after Lewis had lit up the powerplay, even as he played a steady hand in the successful chase of 188, which was completed by Hope slamming three consecutive boundaries.

Bowler of the week

Nahidul Islam has often been a match-winner in the BPL. He took four wickets for Khulna against Chattogram, before bowling another tight spell against Barishal by conceding just 23 runs in four overs.Against Chattogram, Nahidul took the first three wickets, including those of Avishka Fernando and Tanzid Hasan, and came back to pick his fourth when he removed Najibullah Zadran. Nahidul has remained economical, with his economy rate at just 4.38 after bowling eight overs across two matches.

Middlesex battle back from the brink to haul themselves into knock-outs in epic tussle

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay26-Aug-2025 Middlesex 292 for 9 (Fernandes 92, Morgan 61, de Caires 50, Singh 4-27) beat Lancashire 291 for 8 (Harris 64, Blatherwick 48*, Hollman 2-30, Brookes 2-57) by one wicket Nathan Fernandes’ brilliant 92 off 79 balls helped Middlesex conjure an extraordinary one-wicket over Lancashire in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, a result that also ensures the visitors qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition.But the bland facts tell only half the story. Coming to the wicket with his side in the toils on 105 for five and needing another 186 runs, Fernandes put on 126 for the seventh wicket with Seb Morgan and despite being caught on the boundary in the final over, went on watch Noah Cornwell clinch the victory on an evening that recalled the great limited-overs matches on this ground.Part-time off-spinner Harry Singh had earlier taken a career-best four for 27 and it seemed the visitors’ chances were gone when they were 127 for six, despite Josh de Caires 50. But their hopes were raised in dramatic fashion late in the game by Fernandes and Morgan, whose fearless batting inspired a quite wonderful victory for their team.Having reached his maiden List A fifty, Morgan was eventually caught on the boundary off George Balderson for 61, but Fernandes went on to make his best List A score and the tailenders did the rest.Lancashire skipper Marcus Harris made 64 for the home side but the main acceleration towards a defendable total had come late in the innings from youngsters Arav Shetty and Joe Moores before Jack Blatherwick clubbed an alarmingly violent 48 in 20 balls.Lancashire’s innings had begun poorly when George Bell was caught behind by Joe Cracknell off Cornwell for a first-ball duck in the day’s opening over. Michael Jones and Harris then oversaw a recovery with a partnership of 61 in eleven overs before Jones, who had hit earlier hit two big leg-side sixes was caught by Jack Davies at deep square leg off Morgan for 42 when trying to repeat the trick.For the next 20 overs Lancashire’s batsmen struggled to score fluently on a stodgy pitch against an accurate Middlesex attack. Josh Bohannon made 24 off 33 balls but perished when he skied Luke Hollman to Morgan at mid-off. Hollman was clearly the pick of the visitors’ attack, bowling his ten overs for 30 runs, and in his penultimate over he took the prize wicket of Harris when the Lancashire skipper was lbw for 64 when trying to reverse sweep.It was left to the home side’s youngsters to supply some much-needed acceleration. Shetty made 30 off 23 balls and put on 50 with Singh, thereby hoisting the total to 192. And after Shetty and Balderson had fallen to successive balls from Henry Brookes, Moores clubbed two sixes in his 21-ball 35 before he top-edged de Caires to Noah Cornwell at deep square leg.Put under pressure, the Middlesex attack crumbled a little. Blatherwick maintained the tempo, whacking two sixes off a Cornwell over that cost 21 runs and a remarkable 99 runs were scored off the final nine overs, Blatherwick thrashing four sixes and four fours in an unbeaten innings that changed the shape of the game. Singh was dismissed in the penultimate over caught at mid-off by Ben Geddes off Gilchrist for a 116-ball 38. Apart from Hollman, Brookes was the most successful Middlesex bowler with two for 57.Middlesex’s pursuit began badly when Joe Cracknell was pinned on the back foot by Tom Bailey for ten and their intent to score quickly was constantly hampered by the regular fall of wickets.Sam Robson was bowled via bat, pad and foot by Singh for 31; Geddes lost his stumps in more conventional fashion to the same bowler for eight; Davies shovelled Balderson to Singh at midwicket when her had made only nine; and when Bailey ran across from deep mid-off to catch Hollman without scoring Middlesex were in deep trouble on 108 for five with almost half their overs gone.Seven overs later, de Caires holed out on the deep square leg boundary, Moores taking the catch to give Singh his fourth wicket but the rest of the day belonged to Fernandes and Morgan, whose partnership seems certain to become part of Middlesex folklore.