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Teams set to be split into three regional groups

George Dobell27-May-2020A five-day Lord’s final could be the centrepiece of an abbreviated 2020 county season which should also feature T20 Finals Day.Subject to government clearance and an ongoing improvement in the Covid-19 situation, ESPNcricinfo understands the ECB hope to start the domestic season in early August.The Championship is set to be split into three regional groups – North, South and West – with all teams set to play a minimum of five games. The top two teams at the end of the regional stage will play a final, probably over five days, at Lord’s. It remains unclear if the winners will be viewed as County Champions in the traditional sense, but the results of the 2020 season will have no bearing on divisions next year.That means the three promoted teams (Gloucestershire, Lancashire and Northamptonshire) will start the 2021 campaign in Division One, relegated Nottinghamshire will remain in Division Two, and Somerset’s 12-point pitch penalty is likely to roll over to next season.The Vitality T20 Blast season is also set to be played – including Finals Day at Edgbaston – but the Royal London One-Day Cup looks almost certain to be abandoned.If the domestic season is unable to begin until September, plans for a Championship season will be dropped and all efforts will instead focus on The Blast. In the best-case scenario, each county will play four first-class games in August before breaking for the Blast season.ALSO READ: Lancashire hopeful spectators could be admitted again in SeptemberWhile counties remain keen to play in front of crowds, there is an acceptance that there can be no guarantees in that regard at present.
If necessary, however, they appear determined to go ahead behind closed doors or with social distancing built into their plans. This could mean grounds such as Edgbaston and The Kia Oval, with capacities over 20,000, would only be able to accommodate around 6,000 spectators.How the 2020 county season might look•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The counties are anxious to see a return to cricket, however, fearing the consequences if they are unable to play from September 2019 to April 2021. Not least among their concerns is the prospect of needing to refund membership subscriptions. Several clubs would look to broadcast their games over their websites, Facebook, or YouTube.If the season were to start in August, county players would need to be taken off furlough at the start of July at the latest. Only two counties, Lancashire and Surrey, have not used the government’s job retention scheme for players.There are various complications. Several grounds – notably Edgbaston, Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl – are being used as bio-secure venues for touring teams (England at Southampton, West Indies in Manchester and Pakistan in Birmingham) while there may also be a need to play into October.But the Professional Game Group, who are discussing the plans on Thursday, believe that with a bit of flexibility, solutions can be found and hope the five-day final will mitigate against the increasingly possibility of bad light if the Championship final is played, as expected, in late September.

Jansen and Mulder shared six wickets before van der Dussen and Klaasen hit fifties in the paltry chase

Firdose Moonda01-Mar-20251:39

Do South Africa have the best attack in the tournament?

South Africa confirmed their spot in the Champions Trophy semi-finals with a commanding victory over a hapless England, who ended the tournament winless, captain-less, and on a seven-match losing streak.After choosing to bat first in Karachi, the most run-laden venue of the event, England played like a side that would rather not. They were bowled out for the lowest total of this Champions Trophy and gifted South Africa wickets in a display of carefree and sometimes careless strokeplay. South Africa were hit by both illness and injury-enforced absences and were not always at their best, but they caught particularly well in the field, paced their chase perfectly, and have plenty of positives to take into the knockouts.From a bowling perspective, the form of Marco Jansen, who picked up the first three wickets, continues on an upward curve while Keshav Maharaj was effective through the middle overs and Wiaan Mulder cleaned up the tail. South Africa’s batting line-up was without regular openers Temba Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi (both unwell), and Aiden Markram (hamstring injury in the field). Rassie van der Dussen and Heinrich Klaasen both scored half-centuries in a match-winning third-wicket stand of 127. If anything, it gives South Africa a good selection problem going forward while England just have problems.Lungi Ngidi covered good ground to pull off a diving catch•Associated Press

Having already exited the tournament after their defeat to Afghanistan and with Jos Buttler announcing he would step down as captain, England had nothing to lose and were expected to play with freedom. They showed their intent early when Phil Salt cracked Jansen’s second ball over backward point and smashed the fourth one over midwicket to open the scoring with fours. But, instead of closing out the opening over quietly, he tried to pull the final ball – a short one – also but top-edged it to van der Dussen at midwicket to end his tournament with a total of 30 runs from 25 balls.Ben Duckett picked up from where Salt left off and scored two boundaries in three balls off Lungi Ngidi but Jamie Smith repeated Salt’s mistake and tamely pulled Jansen to Markram at mid-on. Duckett settled as he was fed balls on the pads but when he tried to clip Jansen fine, he got a leading edge back to South Africa’s destroyer-in-chief. England were 37 for 3 in the seventh over.That could have become 38 for 4 when Joe Root cut Kagiso Rabada to backward point and though Mulder got both hands to it, he could not hold on. Root went on to nail the drive and the pull and formed a 62-run stand with a confident-looking Harry Brook and England were building solidly. But they could not keep Jansen out of the game. When Brook belted Maharaj over midwicket, Jansen ran to his right from long-on and slid on his knees to take a wonder catch. Four balls later, Root was bowled when he missed a leg-side flick off Mulder and the ball hit his back pad on its way on to the stumps.At that stage, Buttler, playing his last innings as England captain, had only faced a ball and had a big job on his hands. He received little help from Liam Livingstone, who charged down the track to meet a Maharaj ball but South Africa’s left-arm spinner saw him coming, tossed it up and had him stumped. Livingstone has only made more than 20 runs once in his last seven innings.By then, England’s effort looked mostly a case of marking time while South Africa stayed focused on searching for wickets. Rabada was brought back at the halfway stage. He beat Jamie Overton first up, then kept him in check by forcing a defensive shot, and then had him caught at mid-on as the batter tried to attack. He looked to whip Rabada over the leg side but chipped the ball towards mid-on where Ngidi ran back and took a one-handed stunner as he hit the ground.Heinrich Klaasen was in fine hitting form•Associated Press

South Africa continued to catch well: Jansen took a low catch at midwicket to see the end of Jofra Archer and Maharaj made a tumbling grab at mid-off to end Buttler’s innings on 21 and give Ngidi his 100th ODI wicket. England were bowled out in the 39th over, and took South Africa’s concerns about a slow over rate with them.At that stage, South Africa’s semi-final qualification was assured because even if they lost the match, their net run-rate could not dip below Afghanistan’s. That took pressure off the chase but not necessarily off South Africa’s batters, who all wanted runs ahead of an important week. Tristan Stubbs, playing his ninth ODI and first in an ICC event, didn’t get any as he tried to play an Archer ball late but deflected it on to his stumps.Though his first over lasted ten balls as he struggled to find his line, Archer quickly improved and delivered the rest of his opening spell with good pace and better accuracy. He was rewarded with a second wicket, too, when Ryan Rickelton, who looked confident in his 25-ball 27, was bowled by a delivery that nipped back into him and smashed into middle stump.From there, it was all South Africa. While van der Dussen appeared at times frustrated by his slower scoring rate than Klaasen’s, the pair complemented each other well. Van der Dussen scored largely through the leg side while six of Klaasen’s 11 fours came through the covers. Klaasen reached his fifty with one of those shots off the 41st ball he faced. It was his fifth successive half-century in the format, which is the joint-highest for South Africa. Van der Dussen’s came off 72 balls as he rocked back to send Adil Rashid through square leg and bring up a second fifty in the competition. Klaasen departed when he tried to smash Rashid over fine leg but outside-edged to short third. David Miller hit the winning runs off the second ball he faced when he smoked Livingstone over the sightscreen for six.This is the third successive tournament for which South Africa have qualified for the knockouts, after the 2023 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. Their semi-final opposition and venue will only be confirmed after the match between India and New Zealand on Sunday. They will play the loser of that match either in Dubai on Tuesday (if it’s India) or Lahore on Wednesday (if it’s New Zealand).

A round-up of the Under-19 World Cup games on February 1, 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2020
ScorecardMatthew Patrick was at the centre of a very tense game, first picking up two wickets with his offspin to further a South Africa collapse and then scoring a vital 25 runs off 61 balls to see West Indies through to victory in the fifth-place play-off match in Potchefstroom.South Africa were rather well placed at 120 for 4 in the 29th over but then Patrick and left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd (10-1-18-2) took control of the innings, triggering a collapse that resulted in the hosts losing six wickets for only 23 runs.With only 143 on the board, West Indies might have hoped for a straightforward finish but they ran straight into trouble, losing two wickets with only 11 runs on the board. Bryce Parsons and Merrick Brett turned five of their 19 overs into maidens and picked up four wickets between them as well to keep South Africa in the game, but Patrick, coming in at No. 6, absorbed all that pressure and made sure he stayed there while the winning runs were hit.Jonathan Figy plays a drive•ICC via Getty

ScorecardUdaybir Walia’s Player-of-the-Match performance helped Canada take 13th place with a win over UAE in the play-off at Potchefstroom. Walia came in at No. 8 and made an unbeaten 42 as he put together an unbroken 86-run stand with Harmanjeet Singh Bedi to rescue his team after they’d fallen to 93 for 6 in a chase of 175. Earlier in the day Walia, bowling for the first time in the tournament, took 3 for 16 to close UAE’s innings after medium-pacer Akhil Kumar and offspinner Gurjot Gosal shared five wickets to restrict UAE.A Aravind, Ansh Tandon and KP Meiyappan all got into the 20s for UAE around Alishan Sharafu, who came in at 70 for 4 and was unbeaten on 65 by the end of the innings after Canada had elected to field. In response, Canada lost wickets regularly, four of them to offspinner Rishabh Mukherjee, who finished the tournament with eight wickets in his last two matches. But little damage came from the other ends as Walia and Bedi saw Canada through.Ifeanyichukwu Uboh wheels away in celebration•ICC via Getty

ScorecardA five-wicket haul by Ifeanyichukwu Uboh helped Nigeria to their first win in the Under-19 World Cup, beating Japan by eight wickets. His efforts brought the opposition down from 81 for 3 to 115 all out which then set up opener Sulaimon Runsewe to score a half-century and close the game out with 164 balls to spare. Japan have not won any of their games in this tournament, nor put up a total above 120, but they looked good for it with Shu Noguchi doing his best to stick to the crease, but his wicket for 31 off 77 balls caused a seven-wicket collapse for only 34 runs.

Young’s success presents a selection dilemma ahead of the WTC final

Matt Roller11-Jun-2021Devon Conway was 71 not out when Joe Root threw the old ball to Mark Wood, 15 minutes before tea. Other than an announcement over the PA system, there was no way to make the short-ball plan more obvious: fielders were stationed on the boundary at fine leg, long leg and square leg, with three more in close at square leg (again), forward short leg and straight midwicket.Wood banged his first ball in short towards the ribcage and Conway unfurled a pull shot, as if making a point of hitting it rather than using the ball’s pace to deflect it round the corner, and his placement was perfect, somehow finding the gap between two of the boundary-riders. Wood grimaced in frustration at a shot which encapsulated how easy Conway has made Test cricket look in his first two appearances at this level.England thought that they had found a gap in Conway’s armour on the first day of the Lord’s Test last week when Wood hit him on the shoulder with a bumper, but he has now hit 40 runs off the 31 short balls he has faced in the series and swivel-pulled with rare elegance, at times resembling Brian Lara with a raised right leg. Conway explained at Lord’s that he had been taken aback by the lack of bounce, having grown up playing on fast pitches in South Africa, and once he had adapted to Wood’s skiddy short stuff, he was away.The only surprise came when he whipped Stuart Broad off his pads and straight down Zak Crawley’s throat shortly after tea, causing him to throw his head back and shut his eyes in disbelief in his only show of emotion to date. No New Zealand player has scored as many runs across their first three Test innings and few of any nationality can have made such an impression.”It was good just to be out there in the middle and gain more experience at this level, I suppose,” he said afterwards, with typical understatement. “It was all about trying to be nice and positive, as I am throughout any sort of innings. It was a little bit disappointing getting out on 80 – when you get to those positions you’d really like to cash in as much as you can but such is life.”It’s a tough challenge facing two guys [Broad and James Anderson] that have been really successful over a number of years but it’s not really about facing the bowler, it’s about facing the ball that’s presented in front of you and sticking within your gameplan.”Related

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Things could have been very different. On 22, Conway had edged a low chance to second slip which was scooped up by Crawley, but stood his ground, waiting for a definitive verdict. Richard Kettleborough gave a soft signal of not out as he referred the decision to Michael Gough, the third umpire, who found no hard evidence that a mistake had been made. It was “Schrödinger’s catch – out and not out simultaneously,” Daniel Norcross suggested on Test Match Special.Broad was visibly exasperated, and pundits queued up to criticise the soft-signal protocols, which has already been scrapped in the IPL and will soon be up for debate at ICC level. Jason Holder, the former West Indies captain, tweeted, “How much longer will the soft signal cloud the game?” but in the case of marginal slip catches leaving the decision solely to the third umpire is no silver bullet: issues of foreshortening mean that they are destined to be unclear and contentious regardless.Devon Conway continued an impressive start to his Test career•Getty Images

Conway’s only obvious deficiency has been a proclivity to play a fraction outside the line of the ball, bringing chop-ons via the inside edge into play. At Lord’s, he inside-edged 25 times against seamers – including once onto his stumps in the second innings – compared to only one outside edge, according to CricViz’s data, and the figures were six and three respectively today. He has also had limited exposure to top-quality spin bowling, and will be tested by R Ashwin in the World Test Championship final next week.Conway was supported ably by Will Young, who gritted things out for just over six hours before inside-edging Dan Lawrence’s whirly offspin to short leg via his pad immediately before the close. He was dropped on 7, Root shelling a straightforward catch at first slip as Olly Stone induced an outside edge, and had to cling on for dear life during a probing burst from Broad and Anderson after tea, but he appears to be reaping the benefits of an early-season stint with Durham in which he hit two County Championship hundreds.Young’s success presents a selection dilemma ahead of the WTC final, with Kane Williamson due to return after resting his sore left elbow and New Zealand certain to go in with five bowling options, including an allrounder at No. 7. One batter will be squeezed out and while Ross Taylor has been in a tough run of form over the last 18 months, he survived a characteristically anxious start and reached the close unbeaten on 46 to further his case for retention. Assuming a clean bill of health, that leaves Young as the favourite to miss out despite his 82 – providing further illustration of New Zealand’s new-found strength in depth.

Lions seamer returns to home county after nine seasons at Lord’s

Matt Roller02-Aug-2021James Harris, the seam-bowling allrounder, will leave Middlesex at the end of the season to return to his boyhood club Glamorgan on a three-year deal.Harris, 31, is a product of Glamorgan’s youth system and made his first-class debut for the club as a 16-year-old back in 2007. He was long considered to be a future England international, having been on several Lions tours early in his career, and several counties were interested in signing him when he left the club in 2012.He eventually decided to join Middlesex, but has had two spells back at Glamorgan on loan and struggled for consistency during his early years at the club after attempting to add a yard of pace in order to put himself into England contention.His form returned in 2015, when he took 69 Division One wickets at 25.74 to take Middlesex to second, and while his average doubled the following summer, he played seven games in their Championship-winning season.He developed his batting over the next few seasons, scoring his first professional hundred in the 2019 Royal London Cup, but struggled to nail down a regular spot in the side across formats. He has also developed his career off-field, becoming the PCA’s chairman earlier this year.”I always saw myself one day returning to Glamorgan, and this this is the perfect time for me to do so, and I am excited for the next chapter in my cricket career,” Harris said. “I still believe I have a lot to offer on the pitch and I want to use my experience to assist the younger players and help us push for silverware.”Mark Wallace, Glamorgan’s director of cricket, said: “From the moment James left, we’ve wanted to re-sign him. He’s a fantastic acquisition for the club. He’s a high-class seam bowler, a strong lower-order batsmen and a great voice in the dressing room given his leadership experience.”

Western Australia in a position to seek an outright win they need to make the Sheffield Shield final

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2019Western Australia pushed towards a position from which they can seek the outright win they need to make the Sheffield Shield final after Queensland failed to do significant first innings damage with the bat on day two at the WACA Ground in Perth.Queensland had rolled Western Australia for 138 on the opening day as Michael Neser pursued an Ashes berth with Dukes ball proficiency. After Neser and Sam Heazlett had been separated on the second morning, having added 72 together, the visitors managed to forge a lead of only 37 and so kept Western Australia in the game.They were then afforded a solid second innings platform by Cameron Bancroft and Sam Whiteman, who pushed Western Australia into the lead and effectively shielded the middle order from the new ball. Bancroft was only to get as far as 52 and Whiteman 30, but their stand slowed the previously frenetic rush of wickets.Granted the aforementioned protection, Western Australia captain Mitchell Marsh was able to put together the foundations of a major innings, joined for a partnership worth 74 by Hilton Cartwright and then to the close by Josh Philippe.At the end of a wretched season, Marsh now has the chance to lead his side to the competition decider, chasing the Shield title that has now eluded the Warriors for 20 years.

Tourists suffer top-order implosion, losing eight wickets in a session in final bat before first Test

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2022County Select XI 247 and 112 for 1 (Compton 56*, Ajaz 1-12) need 152 runs to beat New Zealanders 362 for 9 dec and 148 (Jamieson 36, Wagner 36, Porter 5-31)After four playing days of largely serene progress in their build-up towards the first Test, New Zealand were blindsided by the County Select XI at Chelmsford. Jamie Porter ripped out five top-order wickets to belatedly remind the England selectors of his prowess in seaming conditions, and despite recovering somewhat from a parlous position of 9 for 5, the tourists have a scrap on their hands if they are to avert defeat on day four.This second four-day friendly, after a rain-affected outing down in Hove, has allowed New Zealand to rotate their personnel with a view to getting playing time for as many of the party as possible. But Kane Williamson, the Test captain, managed a nine-ball duck in his only outing before next week’s encounter at Lord’s, while there were single-figure scores for Tom Latham, Will Young, Devon Conway (his second of the match), Tom Blundell and Colin de Grandhomme – all likely starters in the Test XI.The dismissal of de Grandhomme completed a five-for for Porter inside five overs, leaving New Zealand on 19 for 6. That anaemic scoreline had improved to 70 when the eighth wicket fell, but the County Select XI were still eyeing up a target below 200, only for some timely lower-order resistance from Neil Wagner and Kyle Jamieson to stave off complete collapse. A 63-run stand pushed the New Zealanders towards something defendable, before Worcestershire left-armer Ben Gibbon picked up both to complete an impressive outing.The New Zealanders’ second-innings 148 meant the County Select XI would need to score 264 for victory – more than they had managed collectively the first time around. But Ben Compton continued his prolific summer with an obdurate, unbeaten half-century and although Ajaz Patel removed Dom Sibley after an opening stand worth 88, the ECB’s scratch team will return needing 152 more with nine wickets in hand in the morning.There had been little to suggest that New Zealand were in for such a torrid morning examination when the unbeaten openers, Young and Latham, resumed the innings in bright sunshine, having played out a maiden from spinner Liam Patterson-White the previous evening. But Porter struck with his third, 12th, 16th and 18th balls to leave the visitors five down and not yet into double-figures.Young was the first to go, lbw for a three-ball duck playing no stroke to one nipping back in. Williamson, who joined up with the squad this week after leaving the IPL early to witness the birth of his second child in New Zealand, had spent some time in the field on Friday and now walked out in place of Conway in his customary berth at No. 3. But quickly heading in the opposite direction was his deputy, Latham, who thick-edged Gibbon’s sixth delivery to third slip.Ben Compton led the chase with an unbeaten half-century•Getty Images

Williamson has not played Test cricket since November, having experienced issues with a chronic elbow problem. Although he was fit enough to play for Sunrisers Hyderabad at the IPL, his returns were underwhelming, and he would have been hoping for a lengthy stay in the middle ahead of his comeback. Instead, Porter found extra lift from a length outside off stump to induce a startled prod to slip.With Conway, another recent arrival from India, also looking for a workout against the red ball after making 4 off 14 in the first innings, Porter struck again from round the wicket, rapping the left-hander on the pads. Two balls later, wicketkeeper Blundell propped forward to also be given out lbw – although he lingered for some time after the decision, with a strong suggestion that he had got an inside edge.At that stage Porter, who has seemingly drifted out of contention for a Test cap despite being called up to the England squad in 2018, had figures of 4 for 4 from three overs; and they improved still further when de Grandhomme defended the ball softly down into the turf, only for it bounce back and dislodge the bails.The New Zealanders finally got the scoreboard moving with the arrival of Tim Southee, who cracked five fours and a six during a 17-ball innings. He scored 34 out of the 37 added in partnership with Daryl Mitchell for the seventh wicket, before another belligerent slap down the ground off Patterson-White was intercepted by the diving Gibbon at long-on. Mitchell then became the eighth wicket to fall, providing a success for Jack Blatherwick, as his ungainly attempt to pull ended up in the hands of point.From there, Wagner and Jamieson dug in for 20 overs of respectable batting that took the innings into the afternoon session. Gibbon eventually trapped Wagner with a full delivery angled into the pads, before Jamieson’s attempt to thrash the ball into Hayes Close ended up in the hands of Porter at long-off. Wagner and Southee both then delivered ten overs, their first proper bowl before Lord’s, as the County Select XI made a good start in pursuit of victory; Sibley fell cutting at Ajaz but the spinner dropped Tom Haines off Wagner in the penultimate over to sum up New Zealand’s day.

Opener’s second hundred in as many games prevents Yorkshire for taking full control

ECB Reporters Network28-Apr-2022A second century in as many games for Daniel Bell-Drummond helped Kent recover from early strife to claim the opening day’s honours in their LV= Insurance County Championship fixture against Yorkshire at Headingley.This Division One clash features two counties dealing with injury issues, but it was the visitors who will be much the happier after being invited to bat and slipping to 20 for 3 following a blistering new-ball spell from Haris Rauf.Kent closed on 270 for 6 from 81 overs, of which Bell-Drummond scored 109. Fifteen overs were lost through two stoppages for bad light.The 28-year-old shared a partnership of 133 for the fourth wicket either side of lunch with Jordan Cox (68) after Pakistan overseas quick Rauf’s early triple-strike included England opener Zak Crawley lbw for 4.This was Yorkshire’s first day of home cricket in 2022 after a winter of off-field disquiet, and it ended with Ollie Robinson a late departure for 58.It did not yield the inroads Yorkshire would have hoped for after encouraging away performances in victory over Gloucestershire and a draw against Northamptonshire.But, even though approximately 2,000 supporters had to brave the chill of an overcast late April day, it would have been a relief to see the likes of homegrown favourites Steve Patterson and Jordan Thompson bound into the crease.The last time home debutant Rauf played on this ground, in a T20 international last year, he was smashed for six high over the newly named Howard Stand (named after the late Keith Howard, founder of the Emerald Group) by Liam Livingstone.This was a much better experience as, bowling from the same end, he had Ben Compton (3) caught behind, Crawley lbw playing to leg and Jack Leaning lbw stuck on the crease for a two-ball duck against his former side. He finished with 3 for 52 from 11 overs.Stand-in captain Leaning’s departure in his first appearance of the season after a hamstring injury left Kent 20 for three inside 10 overs. But then came the Bell-Drummond led revival.Kent came into this match on the back of a draw and two defeats, although Bell-Drummond scored a 149 in the second of those, against Hampshire last week.They are without Jackson Bird (shoulder) and Darren Stevens (suspected hamstring), though have included South African overseas all-rounder George Linde for the first time following a groin injury.Yorkshire are missing regular new ball pair Matthew Fisher (back) and Ben Coad (groin) amongst other absentees.After Rauf’s pulsating five-over opening burst, the hosts just weren’t able to build pressure for long enough in conditions which provided less assistance than would have been expected before play.Yorkshire delivered too many boundary balls under the floodlights, as Bell-Drummond hit 17 fours in 194 balls.Either side of being dropped on 50 – by Adam Lyth at second slip off Patterson – two balls into the afternoon, Bell-Drummond drove, cut, whipped and flicked with aplomb.He reached his fifty off 73 balls late in the morning and his 13th first-class century off 172 just before tea.By that time, his fourth-wicket partnership with Cox had been broken by the off-spin of Dom Bess, who trapped the latter lbw (153 for 4).Play was halted by bad light for almost an hour from 4.20pm, but on the resumption Bell-Drummond was ousted – caught at mid-on by Rauf off the seam of young all-rounder Matthew Revis as the score fell to 227 for 5 in the 72nd over.Revis, awarded his second-team cap before play, broke a 74-run stand with Robinson, who fifty came up shortly afterwards off 94 balls.He was then trapped lbw by the frugal Patterson almost immediately before play was halted for a second time at 6.15pm.

“I encourage all spectators to participate in this initiative by purchasing tickets for the first T20I and turning up in big numbers,” says Ramiz Raja

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2022The PCB will donate gate receipts from Pakistan’s first T20I against England, in Karachi on September 20, to flood-relief efforts to help the country deal with the catastrophic situation that has caused over 1000 deaths.The floods were caused by the highest rainfall in the country in more than three decades, an occurrence described by Sherry Rehman, the minister for climate change, as a “climate catastrophe”. Over 33 million people in the country have been affected and, according to some estimates, the flooding has caused over $10 billion worth of damage.Ramiz Raja, the PCB chairman, said in a statement, “As cricket unites our proud nation, we stand firmly with the victims and all those involved in​ the flood relief and rescue operations. As a responsible and caring organisation, the PCB has always stood with its fans and public in tough, challenging and testing times. In this regard, we have decided to donate gate proceeds from the first T20I against England ​next month to the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund.”I encourage all spectators to participate in this initiative by purchasing tickets for the first T20I and turning up in big numbers so that we as a cricket family can donate ​a substantial amount to the fund and show solidarity with those affected by the catastrophe.”The Pakistan players had worn black armbands during their Asia Cup opener against India in Dubai on Sunday to show their solidarity with those affected by the floods.”We have already sent trucks full of food, medicines and other commodities to the affected areas and will continue to support our ​nation and rescue operational teams in any way we can,” Ramiz said. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the people of Pakistan.”After the Asia Cup, Pakistan will host England upon their return home for a series of seven T20Is. It will be England’s first tour of Pakistan in 17 years and the matches will be held in Karachi (the first four) and Lahore (the remaining three). After the series, the teams will travel to Australia for the T20 World Cup, and England will then return to Pakistan for a three-Test series, to be played in Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi in December.

England Test captain beefs up his pleas to protect players’ wellbeing upon his ODI retirement

Vithushan Ehantharajah19-Jul-2022Ben Stokes has urged the authorities to stop considering players as “cars” and hopes his ODI retirement will be a wake-up call.The allrounder was speaking ahead of his 105th and final ODI after taking the decision to retire from the format. In a statement detailing his decision, he spoke of a desire to lighten his loads, citing playing all three international codes was “unsustainable for me now”.Having taken on the Test captaincy at the start of the summer, Stokes will continue to give “everything I have” to the longest format, as well as Twenty20. As it happens, the 31-year-old Stokes missed the T20 series against India to rest after Test matches against New Zealand and India, and will not play in the T20s against South Africa that follow the ODI series, or The Hundred ahead of the three Tests with the Proteas.Speaking to the media ahead of Tuesday’s match, he went firmer on his comments the previous day of an unsustainable schedule and believes the on-field product will suffer if nothing changes.”We are not cars,” he stated to Test Match Special. “You can’t just fill us up and we’ll go out there and be ready to be fuelled up again. We had a Test series and then the one-day team had a series going on at the same time – that was a bit silly.”I just feel like there is too much cricket rammed in for people to play all three formats now. It is a lot harder than it used to be. I look back to when I used to do all three and it didn’t feel like it was as jam-packed and all that. Obviously you want to play as much cricket as you possibly can but when it is making you feel tired, sore and you’ve got to look towards five or six months down the road for what you’re doing in the here and now it is probably not the best thing.”The more cricket that is played, the better for the sport, but you want a product that is of the highest quality. You want the best players to be playing as much as you possibly can, all the time, and it isn’t just me or us. You see it all around the world now where teams are having to rest some players in a certain series so they feel like they are getting a break.”Related

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Stokes also referenced the examples of James Anderson and Stuart Broad for what he hopes will be a prolonged career in the remaining two formats. Anderson and Broad last played white-ball cricket for England in 2015 and 2016, respectively, and are still vital cogs in the Test attack in 2022. Stokes even spoke to Broad about how the 36-year-old found the lighter workload and was left convinced he had made the right decision, especially if he is to replicate Anderson and Broad’s tally of over 150 appearances in Tests.”I asked Stuart if he felt that not playing white-ball cricket was a reason he is still playing now, 160 Tests. He said without a shadow of a doubt, yes. I want to play 140-150 Tests for England.”It’s come a lot earlier than I would have liked at 31 years old, giving one of the formats up. T20 bowl, 2-3 overs here and there. Longevity I have thought about. Hopefully when I’m 35, 36, still playing Test cricket, I can look back on this decision and say I’m very happy with it.”Stokes also revealed he had come upon the decision after the first ODI against India at the Oval on Tuesday, July 12. As he consulted others, one told him “if there’s any doubt, there’s no doubt” that he should step away from 50-over cricket. He then spoke to Jos Buttler, the limited-overs captain, about his thoughts, which centred initially on not being able to bowl his full complement of 10 overs. That inability to play a full, all-round part in matches was ultimately the deciding factor.”After that one-day game it hit me in the face. A quick chat with Jos after the game, I said that if the game was in a different position I’d have bowled more for him. We had five minutes together, he said you don’t owe the team anything and that I had a lot of cricket coming up. That was nice to hear.”I went away and had five minutes to myself, I told him I almost felt a bit useless that I can’t do that. It’s not a nice feeling, knowing I have to look after myself, the captain is trying to look after me, the medical team and the coach as well. It’s international cricket you can’t be doing that.”