All posts by n8rngtd.top

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner, too, praised Yuvraj Singh, saying if Yuvraj repeated his effort “five or six times” then the defending champions could go a very long way in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Apr-2017Yuvraj Singh has said that his return to India’s limited-overs sides has helped him express himself more “freely”, after he struck a match-winning 62 off 27 for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening game of IPL 2017 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.”I enjoyed my batting tonight. My batting has been up and down over the couple of years, but I am feeling really good at the moment,” Yuvraj told . “The comeback into the Indian team has really helped me. I am more free in my mind and I am not worrying anymore about making a comeback. I am just going to play according to the situation and express myself.”Yuvraj was recalled to India’s ODI and T20I sides for the home series against England in January, having previously played for the side in the 2016 World T20. Picked on his form in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy, he went on to score 210 runs in the three-match ODI series, including a 127-ball 150 in the second ODI in Cuttack. He scored his fastest IPL fifty on Wednesday, reaching the landmark in 23 balls.Sunrisers captain David Warner said Yuvraj was given the No. 4 slot so that he could get his eye in before getting in the big hits.”Look, it’s superb to see him play the way he did. That’s the Yuvi I used to watch on TV,” Warner said. “Superb stroke-play, hitting it clean, and, you know what, he backed himself. And that’s the way we want him to keep playing. He’s batting at [No.] 4 for a reason and that’s to get himself in and play that way. If he can do that another five or six times for us this year, we are going to go a long way to the finals.”Yuvraj said the game-changing moment was Ben Cutting’s darting throw from fine-leg to run out a set Kedar Jadhav at a crucial stage in Royal Challengers’ chase of 208. Shane Watson, standing in as captain of Royal Challengers, also agreed that Jadhav’s run-out turned the game in Sunrisers’ favour, ending a promising 56-run partnership for the third wicket. Watson also pointed to the side’s sloppy fielding, particularly a dropped catch when Yuvraj was on 26, as a factor in their loss.Yuvraj Singh’s 27-ball 62 was his fastest fifty in ten seasons of IPL•BCCI

“That run-out of Kedar was the turning point, really,” Watson said. “We were neck and neck with Sunrisers and then we lost a couple of wickets especially through the middle period. He is batting beautifully at the moment, so Ben Cutting’s amazing piece of work changed the game. Especially with someone like Yuvi, if he is able to get some momentum, with the dropped catches, he hits the ball so sweet. If you drop someone of his caliber, he can hurt you like he did tonight.”There’s no doubt that <Yuzi [Yuzvendra Chahal] bowled beautifully. More than anything, Sunrisers took the game on in certain parts. A little bit of sloppy fielding, some good batting [from Sunrisers] and some not great execution at times meant they could get away. Unfortunately I didn’t execute what I wanted to do against Ashish Nehra’s left-arm pace. We certainly didn’t click as a bowling unit, and that comes down partly to me. I take full blame for that. Still a big learning curve for me to know how to take to them [bowlers], what fields to set and we will certainly be a lot better from what happened tonight.”

Eoin Morgan has revealed that first-hand experience of previous security scares is behind his uncertainty about whether to lead England’s one-day side in Bangladesh

Andrew McGlashan08-Sep-2016Eoin Morgan could be close to confirming his withdrawal from England’s tour of Bangladesh tomorrow, after revealing that first-hand experience of previous security scares have left him questioning whether he wants to lead England’s ODI team in the current climate.Morgan pinpointed two occasions – the 2010 bomb blasts during an IPL game in Bangalore and then political unrest during a stint playing domestic cricket in Bangladesh – that had left him determined not to put himself in such a situation again.He was part of Bangalore Royal Challengers’ squad in 2010 when two blasts struck outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium shortly before the match against Mumbai Indians was due to start. The game eventually went ahead, but later matches in the tournament were moved out of Bangalore.Then, in late 2013, Morgan was having a short spell playing for Gazi Tank Cricketers in the Dhaka Premier Division when pre-election violence was engulfing Bangladesh.”I have been to places before when things have become a distraction and once or twice when that has been security, and when it has been I told myself I would not put myself in that situation again,” Morgan said. “Playing international cricket – or any cricket – is not about worrying about different things, it should be the best time of your life, it should be something that you are looking forward to and wanting to do well in and are able to focus on.”Remembering the previous incidents, Morgan said: “We played an IPL game in Bangalore and a bomb went off in the ground, we immediately left and went straight to the airport. That was one instance, another was Bangladesh, playing domestic cricket, during political elections where things were incredibly violent.”Andrew Strauss, the team director, yesterday urged all England’s players to undertake the tour following the security advice of Reg Dickason. He said anyone who gave up their spot could not be guaranteed to come straight back in, and also made reference to the extra responsibility on the captain.However, recalling his experience of 2008 when he had to confront similar concerns about whether to tour India after the Mumbai terror attacks took place, he empathised with those who are struggling to reach a decision.”Having been through this myself, after the Mumbai bombings, intellectually coming to the decision – ‘if Reg says it’s safe to go somewhere, who am I to say otherwise’ – in hindsight, it looks like a very simple and obvious one.”But it still took me some time to get there at that point, and there’s no reason to expect a lot of these young guys who are going through this for the first time to make an on-the-spot decision.”Any players yet to make up their mind have effectively been given a deadline of Saturday to inform Strauss of their decision. All centrally and incrementally contracted players will have a two-day fitness and appraisal camp at Loughborough starting on Friday. The ODI and Tests squads are due to be named next Friday.

A round-up of the fifth day’s action at ICC World Cricket League Division Five in Jersey

Peter Della Penna in Jersey 25-May-2016Allrounder Ben Stevens nabbed his second straight Man of the Match award, following up 2 for 22 with the ball by steering Jersey’s chase with an unbeaten 67 in a seven-wicket win over Channel Islands rivals Guernsey at St Martin.The result put both teams at 3-1, behind 4-0 Oman, though Guernsey remains ahead of Jersey on the net run rate tiebreaker with a +0.069 advantage. Guernsey faces Oman on the last day of pool play and, barring a dramatic upset by Nigeria over Jersey, needs to beat Oman to stay alive for promotion and force a three-way tie at 4-1 for the two promotion berths available.Jersey won the toss at Farmers Field and captain Peter Gough opted to give Guernsey first strike. Despite a few edges that failed to carry to the slips cordon in the first three overs, Guernsey openers Matthew Stokes and GH Smith coasted through the first 15 overs in a promising half-century stand. It ended when Rob McBey struck midway through his second spell, beating Smit for pace with a short ball as an attempted pull ballooned to Nat Watkins at mid-on for 28.Two overs later, McBey snared Oliver Newey with a low full toss that struck low on the pads for an easy lbw decision before capping his 3 for 41 with the key scalp of Matthew Stokes for 36, brilliantly taken down the leg side by Jake Dunford standing up to the stumps. Stokes’ score wound up being Guernsey’s best output on the day as a steady procession followed back to the pavilion.Stevens and fellow left-arm spinning allrounder Watkins wiped out the middle order with Watkins claiming 3 for 29 in eight overs. Guernsey captain Jamie Nussbaumer’s dismissal was a microcosm of Guernsey’s limp batting effort, scooping a half-hearted drive back to Watkins for 14. Two balls later, Watkins pinned Oliver Nightingale on the crease with a full delivery for a duck to make it 97 for 6 in the 26th over and a Jersey rout was on in full force.Guernsey was eventually bowled out for 149 in 42.2 overs, forcing Jersey to bat for eight overs before lunch. Watkins opened with Gough and was dropped on four but only added one more run before he was castled by Nussbaumer. In the final over before the break, Stevens had yet to score when he went to pull Nussbaumer but was through the shot early and looked to have possibly edged one off the back of his bat through to wicketkeeper Jason Martin – who came up with a spectacular one-handed diving effort to his left – but was given not out to leave Guernsey distraught as Jersey went into the interval at 16 for 1.Guernsey applied strong pressure after play resumed with Gough finally succumbing in the 16th to a mistimed pull off Luke Nussbaumer, which found Smit backpedaling at mid-on for 20 to make it 33 for 2. At that stage Stevens was stuck in a rut on 6 off 36 balls, but the arrival of Jonty Jenner at the crease paired with a tactical switch to spin by Guernsey allowed Stevens to settle. Two balls into left-arm spinner Max Ellis’ second over, Stevens stepped down the track to loft him over the sightscreen for six and from there he batted fluently for the rest of his innings.Jenner made for an excellent partner, pushing hard with his running between the wickets in making 41 off 50 balls. The two shared an 88-run stand with Jenner falling just before Stevens brought up his 50 off 90 balls. A four and a single through the covers by Stevens off David Hooper brought scores level before a wide down leg ended the match with 10.1 overs to spare.Oman maintained their perfect record with a resounding nine-wicket win over Tanzania at St Saviour. Zeeshan Maqsood top-scored for the third match in a row and unbeaten for his second straight dig, ending 62 not out off 57 balls in Oman’s chase of Tanzania’s 94 which was overhauled in 17.4 overs.Left-arm spinning allrounder Aamir Kaleem took 5 for 23 to set up the short chase after Oman sent Tanzania in at the toss. Tanzania stand-in captain Shaheed Dhanani made 32, one of only three players to reach double-figures in Tanzania’s paltry total. He was ninth man out for Kaleem’s fourth wicket before a five-for was completed four balls later as Tanzania lasted 32.5 overs in a game ending before the lunch break.Vanuatu notched their first win of the tournament to keep alive hopes of avoiding relegation, defeating Nigeria by 110 runs. Patrick Matautaava, who missed Tuesday’s loss to Oman with a left quadriceps injury, came back into the lineup to score a crucial 60 off 43 balls at No. 7, dominating a 71-run sixth-wicket stand with captain Andrew Mansale after Vanuatu were teetering at 118 for 5 in the 34th over. An undisciplined bowling effort from Nigeria added 33 extras to Vanuatu’s total of 227.No one in the top seven made more than 12 as Callum Blake and Apolinaire Stephen made the most of the new ball for Vanuatu to reduce Nigeria to 66 for 7. Nigeria captain Kunle Adegbola made 42 at No. 8 to prevent his side from being bowled out for under 100 for the third match in a row. He fell to Mansale for the eighth wicket before Blake returned to clean up the rest of the tail, finishing with 4 for 26.

The shares of the BCCI and the ECB in the ICC’s revenue pie have reduced, even as cricket’s governing body aims at a sense of equity in revenue distribution

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2017ESPNcricinfo can reveal details of the ICC’s new financial model that was proposed to Full Members at last weekend’s board meeting in Dubai. The models are part of a broader report, produced by an ICC working group committee, which seeks to provide the basis of a new constitution for the game.The draft of a new constitution was passed in principle at the meeting, with seven members voting for it, two opposing and one abstaining. Members will now bring thoughts, suggestions and concerns to the table in April, which may result in changes to the draft.The biggest obstacle will be the financial model and, in particular, the BCCI’s objections to it. ICC revenues for this rights cycle – 2015-2023 – are estimated to be around US $2.5 billion. Some estimates suggest revenues may go as high as $2.7 billion. The projections in this model are for revenues up to $3 billion. These are based on the possibility of additional ICC tournaments being added to the existing cycle. ESPNcricinfo has seen the model, from which a number of things stand out.

No contribution, no cost
The most controversial aspect of the 2014 Big Three financial model was the idea of contribution costs, and the realisation that not all members bring to the game an equal amount of money. What each Full Member earned in total from the ICC revenue was a percentage figure of the total revenues (the contribution cost, based on contributions made, and provided as compensation for playing in ICC events: the BCCI had a 20.3% share, ECB 4.4%, Cricket Australia, 2.7% and so on) plus an equal share of the surplus (which is how revenues had been divided until then). The seven non-Big Three boards also got an additional $10 million over eight years as part of the Test Cricket Fund.In the new model, this breakdown of earnings is redundant as is the contribution-cost element. Instead one lump sum figure is provided for each board. But the principle behind contribution costs remains because in every projection, the BCCI gets a bigger share of the pie than every other board – twice as much, in fact, as the next.The Big Three take a hit
In the new model, the percentage shares of the BCCI and ECB in the total pie have gone down, while that of CA remains roughly the same. But a quick calculation will tell you why the BCCI is unhappy with these models. Not only is there no real formula behind them, but the Indian board takes the biggest hit from the 2014 model.In that model, for gross ICC revenue of $2.5 billion, the BCCI stood to earn between 17.6-18% of the revenue (between $440-445 million*). In the new model, at the same gross revenue, it gets 10-10.2%. That is a reduction in potential earnings of between $180-190 million. The percentage share does increase should the ICC’s revenue increase but it isn’t a large spike: if the ICC gets $3 billion as revenue, the BCCI’s share will be between 11.16-11.33%.Under the 2014 model, the ECB stood to take 5.8-6%, whereas now its share is 4.8-5%, or between $20-30 million less. CA’s share was between 4.4-4.6% in the last model and is more or less the same now. As with the BCCI, their shares will increase should the ICC’s total gross revenue increase. That is the case with all boards.Equity
The ICC said in its press release after the meeting that a sense of equity played a big part in the determining of these figures. That much is clear in the fact that below the BCCI and ECB are seven boards that stand to get essentially the same share for nearly any projected value of total gross revenue.It would seem as if the ICC has tried to preserve both a sense of contribution cost – by recognising the right of the BCCI to the largest share – and, by narrowing the gap between them and the others, ensuring a degree of equality among the boards beneath them. The problem, of course, is that there remains no set formula behind these numbers – they remain, essentially, arbitrary figures.Welcome Ireland and Afghanistan
You will not have missed the last two entries in the first table – Ireland and Afghanistan. The status of both was discussed at the board meeting; Afghanistan’s domestic multi-day tournament was given first-class status, thus fulfilling one key prerequisite to play Test cricket.This model – as well as the Test league structure – is perhaps the clearest sign yet that there is a will to have them playing Tests, or at least be part of the big boys’ club. Over eight years (with ICC gross revenues of $2.5 billion) each could earn $50-55 million.Goodbye Test Cricket Fund
One of the redeeming features of the Big Three model was the introduction of a Test Cricket Fund that sought to subsidise unprofitable bilateral series outside the Big Three. That amounted to $10 million for each of the seven boards over the eight-year cycle. The first payments were made to these boards last year.This move is likely linked to the introduction of a league structure for Test cricket, which, in theory, means that all bilateral contests have greater context, and thus, greater financial value and so do not need subsidising.*

The head coach said previous series results had convinced him Pakistan were on the right track

Umar Farooq14-Jul-2021After losing 3-0 to England’s second-string side, Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has admitted he was left shell-shocked, citing the “poor performance” as a collective failure of the players and support staff. He said he was left looking for answers on what went wrong.”You can never defend such performances, it was poor and disappointing,” Misbah said in a virtual press conference. “In the first game, we couldn’t handle the conditions with the bat. In the last match, the batting did well and got a good total which we should have defended but then the bowling and fielding was disappointing, and that has been a problem throughout the series. So overall I think nobody can defend it and we need to pick it up.”Pakistan haven’t won an ODI series in England in the last 47 years, their last win coming in 1974. But despite England’s historical dominance over Pakistan, the 3-0 reverse represented a chastening defeat for Pakistan because of the inexperience of their opposition. England were forced to name a complete new ODI two days ahead of the tournament following a Covid-19 outbreak among the original selections. There were eight uncapped players in the England squad, and a further nine with fewer than five ODI caps to their name, with stand-in captain Ben Stokes the only player with 100 or more games.Related

• Misbah-ul-Haq admits Pakistan have 'same problems' with middle order

• What has gone wrong for Pakistan in T20Is over the last two years?

• Misbah: 'Tempting' to consider PSL form for Pakistan side but players had their chances

• Misbah: 'Couple of positions we need to focus on for next two series'

Pakistan, on the contrary, came into the series with a full-strength squad but lost all three matches, slipping down the World Cup Super League table in the process. The visitors were thumped heavily in the first two games after effective no-shows with the bat, while England chased down 331 in the final ODI, with Pakistan captain Babar Azam critical of the bowling and fielding efforts.After the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan won three consecutive ODI series, one against a depleted Sri Lanka team, and the other against Zimbabwe, in which Pakistan lost the final game. They were followed by a 2-1 series win in South Africa, which Misbah believed had helped Pakistan gain momentum, but struggles in the middle order have persisted.”If you look back to our recent series, we were satisfied that we are on a right track,” Misbah said. “We had covered almost every department, whether batting, bowling, or fielding, and performed outstandingly. But this series panned out differently and seems like we are still standing where we started and it’s very disappointing. We couldn’t pick up the same thread where we left. There are different reasons and we have to figure that out how and what really effected and how we can move ahead from this point. Why suddenly we had such a poor series [is a mystery], otherwise this team has been doing great for the last four-five series.”I don’t know what changed in the last month. There was nothing much other than just the PSL and now the boys are totally off-colour. So it’s a worrying sign for me as a head coach. I am not looking for an excuse but somewhere we lost the momentum and are struggling to regain it. We have very important T20 series ahead against England, then West Indies and we are looking to sort this out before it.”Misbah, however, urged people to refrain from the blame game.”You can’t just blame coaches or players alone because it’s a team game and you work as a team,” he said. “If they didn’t execute well, then we are equally responsible as well as the players. We do make plans and practice, too. Those bowlers who have to bowl in a certain area and had to hit certain lengths, it was all planned, just not executed on the day. Even when it was executed well, then the fielders didn’t support it. If you drop straight catches in crucial stages then I don’t think you can win. No one individual is to be blamed but we failed collectively as a team, even players or supporting staff.”

The hosts will miss Hazlewood, but have a ready replacement in Jhye Richardson and might give a bigger role to Cameron Green

Andrew McGlashan15-Dec-2021Pat Cummins’ learning-on-the-fly captaincy will be tested in Adelaide this week as he juggles an attack without one of Australia’s pink-ball spearheads plus the added factor of the day-night element.Cummins – and Australia – have more day-night experience to call on than others. He has been involved in five of the team’s eight floodlit Tests, in which they have a 100% record with five of the wins coming at Adelaide Oval. And while the tactical elements of the format are, perhaps, sometimes overblown – Faf du Plessis’ declaration in the 2016-17 Test is the only example of a captain really thinking outside the box, and that was partly because David Warner was off the field – it will now fall on Cummins’ shoulders to make the decisions needed.Related

• Anderson replaces Wood for Adelaide Test; Leach retained in squad

• Adelaide's pink-ball Test history

• Australia's Broad-map: Done our homework, says Head

• Jhye Richardson to replace Hazlewood for second Test; Warner to play despite damaged rib

Being a bowler will give him plenty of first-hand knowledge of what can happen in the final session of the day when the lights have taken hold. In the 2017-18 Ashes Test, Australia were on the receiving end of James Anderson and Chris Woakes nipping the ball around after Steven Smith had not enforced the follow-on, but Australia’s advantage was so large that it didn’t change the outcome.”There’s a few different considerations for sure,” Cummins said. “Think you have to earn the right to dictate the timings of the game. There’s a few things you think about if you are in a certain stage, whether you might do a slightly different declaration, but you really have to be in that position. Don’t think you can forward-plan too much.”One hour can be a long time in a pink-ball game. Nothing can happen, or it can be darting around everywhere, you feel like you’ll lose a wicket every ball. You can have a think about planning ahead but you have to play what’s in front of you. It’s still a new format and we are still learning.”In reality, though, Australia have rarely been challenged too hard in Adelaide with their three-wicket win in the first match of the format against New Zealand in 2015-16 the tightest occasion. Whichever team bats first, barring a strange set of circumstances, the timing of a declaration only comes into the reckoning if the innings has gone deep into the second day.”It’s still not a huge sample size but you feel like you learn something new every time you play one,” Cummins said. “You might get a period of play where the ball just starts swinging around and you can’t explain why. We’ve got good experience. Definitely when you start the match you can’t see it playing out exactly like a red-ball game.”This time, though, there is one difference Cummins will need to contend with: the absence of Josh Hazlewood, who has a magnificent record with the pink ball, having taken 32 wickets at 19.90 (although that is still the highest average of Australia’s big three, which emphasises England’s task).However, the attack remains strong with Jhye Richardson a ready replacement, albeit not with the height of Hazlewood. Instead, he will challenge England with sharp, late outswing at around 145kph – which is not a bad skillset for this type of Test. He also averages 19.33 in day-night first-class cricket with five wickets on his debut in a floodlit Test against Sri Lanka.Cameron Green could have a bigger role to play with the ball than he did in Brisbane•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

There was a suggestion from Cummins that allrounder Cameron Green – who has the height to match Hazlewood – could see a more prominent role with the ball, having impressed in the Gabba, especially with his dismissal of Joe Root in England’s second innings.”We are really lucky to have bench strength like Jhye to walk straight in,” Cummins said. “Josh is one of the best in the world and is very hard to replace, but think Jhye really is in that upper echelon. He’s been bowling fantastically.”Probably the biggest change is having someone like Cameron Green to lean on as well. Will probably try and get him into the game a bit more. Nathan [Lyon] always finds a bit of spin. We aren’t short of options at any time.”Despite the injury to Hazlewood and the concerns over David Warner’s fitness with how much he will be hampered by his damaged ribs, the majority of the problems remain England’s – largely around whether their batting line-up can post a strong first-innings total, but also balancing an attack to take 20 wickets – as they try to get themselves back into the series.”It went perfectly for us [in Brisbane], no doubt that’s not going to happen every game and certainly won’t happen this series I’m sure,” Cummins said. “We couldn’t be happier with the start but know it’s one match in a five-match series.”That said, Australia’s record in this fixture would suggest that Cummins is well placed to be able to continue his perfect start in the captaincy seat.

Patience may be a key virtue for Australia’s Test batsmen in Sri Lanka, according to Joe Burns, who hit 72 in the ongoing practice match at the P Sara Oval

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jul-2016Patience may be a key virtue for Australia’s Test batsmen in Sri Lanka, according to Joe Burns, who hit 72 in the ongoing practice match at the P Sara Oval. Burns’ half-century was one of three in Australia’s solid 431 for 9. The visitors scored at 3.53 runs an over against a modest Sri Lankan XI attack, but Burns suggested Australia should become accustomed to a slow run rate, given the nature of the surfaces they are likely to encounter on tour.”We’ve talked as a batting group about needing to be patient for long periods on the subcontinent,” Burns said. “If they bowl good areas, it’s tough work and slow going. You have to be committed to trying to bat all day. I guess that’s one disappointing thing to come out of the day – all our batsmen spent some time at the crease but no one went on to get a big score.”When bowlers are bowling straight, with straight fields, you hit the fielders a lot. You go long periods where you’re not scoring quickly, and then you might get a few boundaries away in a cluster. That’s generally how scoring goes on low, slow wickets with reverse swing and spin bowling. You just have to ride the waves and wait for the sets to come in.”Burns was tested by both seam and spin during his stay. He and Shaun Marsh made a quick start against the new ball in the third session of the first day, but were more measured as the innings wore on – particularly to left-arm seamer Vimukthi Perera and the spin bowlers. Burns was eventually dismissed by Perera, who angled a ball in through his defences early on day two.”You just have to be prepared to buckle in and try and go with the conditions,” Burns said. “There’s nothing too much you can do about it as a batter. As a batting group we’re prepared for those long battles. Hopefully we can bat for extended periods of time going into the Test series.”The Australian batsmen largely scored their runs square of the pitch with a few venturing slog sweeps to push the spinners off their lengths. Burns suggested this could be a trend through the Test series.”I guess here – with the lower, slower wickets – you hit more balls than perhaps you would in Australia, especially because bowlers bowl straighter as well. I guess you want to be hitting straight, but that seems to be where the fielders are. Generally you probably pick up your runs quite square, even though you’re trying to hit straight. There are also periods when it’s reversing quite a lot, and then it will die down.”The Australians are 202 runs ahead with one wicket in hand, at stumps on day two of the three-day encounter.

The opener will be available for the County Championship and one-day tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2021Leicestershire have signed Australia opener Marcus Harris for their County Championship and Royal London Cup campaigns.Harris returned to the Australia side in January when he partnered David Warner in the final match of the series against India in Brisbane, his first Test since being dropped during the 2019 Ashes.In the Sheffield Shield this season he has scored 516 runs at 64.50 including 239 when he formed a record partnership of 486 with Will Pucovski. Harris will join Leicestershire when Victoria’s season finishes.Related

• Stanlake aiming to develop red-ball game after signing for Derbyshire

• Bancroft returns to Durham for 2021 county season

• Mulder withdraws from overseas spell with Leicestershire

“I am delighted to have signed for Leicestershire and cannot wait to get up and running within English domestic cricket,” Harris said. “To play domestic cricket in England has always been an ambition of mine.”Leicestershire coach Paul Nixon said: “Marcus is a high-class opening batsman and will add both quality experience to the top of our batting order. He has an excellent first-class record in the Sheffield Shield.”He has represented Australia at the highest level in the test match arena and will also add a high-class option to our 50-over side, which also fits the bill with Colin Ackermann winning selection for Manchester Originals in the Hundred.”The club previously announced that South Africa allrounder Wiaan Mulder would not be taking up his contract due to uncertainty around the international schedule.Harris is the latest in a long list of Australian players securing county clubs, either new ones or deals delayed from last season due to the pandemic, including Billy Stanlake joining Derbyshire and Cameron Bancroft returning to Durham.

Gladiators allrounder stretchered off to an ambulance as second innings got underway

Sreshth Shah11-Jun-2021Playing his first match of PSL 2021, Quetta Gladiators’ Andre Russell was struck on the helmet while batting and later replaced by fast bowler Naseem Shah under the concussion-sub rule at the innings break. The decision to replace the allrounder with Naseem did not seem to go down well with Islamabad United; their captain Shadab Khan could be seen talking to umpire Aleem Dar before the second innings began.During the first over of the second innings, Russell was stretchered out from the dressing room to an ambulance. He had received the blow to the head in the 14th over of Gladiators’ innings. He hit two sixes off Muhammad Musa in that over before he was slow on a pull shot to a bouncer from the pacer. After being struck, Russell was checked by a physio and allowed to continue batting, although he was out next ball, caught at third man.The rules on concussion substitutes state that any concussed player can be replaced by someone outside the XI, as long as the match referee agrees that the incoming player is a like-for-like replacement. Although Russell is a pace-bowling allrounder and Naseem is a specialist fast bowler, the decision to allow Naseem as a replacement might have been based on Russell’s inability to deliver four overs in Gladiators’ bowling innings.Naseem opened the bowling for Gladiators but, defending 133, conceded four fours in a 19-run first over. Gladiators went on to lose inside 10 overs, the first time in PSL history a side has won by the halfway mark. This was Gladiators’ first match after PSL 2021’s restart in Abu Dhabi.

Matt Renshaw’s dismissal for 71 meant that his parents did not need to make a trip across Brisbane to get to the ground

Brydon Coverdale in Brisbane15-Dec-2016Midway through the second session, Matt Renshaw danced down the pitch and shovelled Yasir Shah over midwicket for three. Already Renshaw had raised the bat to his home crowd upon reaching his maiden Test half-century. Now he was moving into the 70s. A hometown Test hundred was beginning to seem within his reach. And a cross-town dash was starting to look necessary for his parents, Ian and Alison.The Renshaws had been in Adelaide for their son’s Test debut last month, and might have been expected to be in the crowd for his first Test at his home ground. But instead they were several kilometres away, watching Renshaw’s sister Hannah graduate from her Masters of Architecture degree at the University of Queensland.”Matthew’s had his debut in Adelaide, so we’ll be there, very, very proud of what she [Hannah] has done,” Alison Renshaw told earlier this week. Ian Renshaw added that Matt was perhaps relieved not to have to sit through his sister’s three-hour ceremony: “But as we said, ‘we’ve waited three hours for you to bat and then you’ve been out first ball’.”At stumps, having fallen for 71 when he edged behind off Wahab Riaz, Renshaw explained that he understood his parents’ prioritising.”They came to Adelaide and Hannah’s graduation is a really big thing for her, so I think it’s good that they went and saw her,” Renshaw said at stumps. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t still be in when they finished there and they couldn’t head over.”What would it have taken for them to rush across Brisbane and find their way into the Gabba?”They told me I needed to be 80 not out at the dinner break, but I couldn’t do that. I let them down,” he joked.There was, however, one “Renshaw” in the crowd. Some time ago, Renshaw had purchased a ticket for the Gabba Test, not expecting to be part of Australia’s side. He was meant to be sitting with a group of friends from the Toombul Cricket Club, where Renshaw plays in Brisbane, and some of those mates chose to honour his call-up by filling his seat with a mannequin adorned with a print-out of Renshaw’s face.”It was a bit strange seeing my face on a mannequin when I was out there batting,” Renshaw said. “It probably took my mind off the game for a little bit, but it was good fun from the boys.”