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At 20 years and 257 days, he became the eighth youngest to hit a double-hundred in the Sheffield Shield

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2018
Will Pucovski raises his bat after bringing up his hundred•Getty Images

Twenty-year-old Victoria batsman Will Pucovski announced his arrival in Australian domestic cricket with a stunning double-century to punish Western Australia at the WACA ground.Pucovski’s 243 from 311 balls was his second Sheffield Shield century, having scored 188 against Queensland at the end of last summer. Noted statistician Lawrie Colliver pointed out that he joined some elite company among the youngest players in history to score a double-century in the Sheffield Shield.At 20 years and 257 days, he became the eighth youngest to achieve the mark, just 106 days older than Sir Donald Bradman and behind Clem Hill, Doug Walters, Darren Lehmann, Ricky Ponting, Paul Sheahan and Ian Chappell, all of whom went on to make Test hundreds for Australia.Pucovski got good support from Matthew Short who made 80 in a 159-run stand for the fifth wicket. He was the second last man out with the score at 9 for 503.WA allrounder Marcus Stoinis took 4 for 73 to follow up his 80 with the bat in the first innings.Chris Tremain continued his wicket-taking form from last season, bagging two early scalps late in the afternoon as WA’s top order crumbled for the second straight day. Stoinis and Josh Philippe survived to stumps but the Warriors will do well just to make Victoria back again.

West Indies’ batsmen looked in good order and Kieran Powell struck a century as a less-than-testing warm-up against a weakened Derbyshire side ended in a tame draw

ECB Reporters Network13-Aug-2017West Indians 427 for 3 dec (Chase 110*, S Hope 107*) and 327 for 6 dec ( Powell 100 ret hurt, Chase 60*) drew with Derbyshire 181 (Brodrick 52, Holder 3-48) and 51 for 0
Kieron Powell led an untroubled West Indies batting display [file picture]•AFP

The form of Shannon Gabriel was again a worry for the West Indians as the day/night floodlit game against Derbyshire at Derby ended in a tame draw.With the First Test at Edgbaston four days away, the tourists main strike bowler rarely threatened during a four over burst in which he bowled four no balls and conceded 24 runs .Gabriel’s problems will be a concern but at least the batsmen are in good form with opener Kieran Powell scoring a century and all-rounder Roston Chase making an unbeaten 60 to add to his first innings hundred.Skipper Jason Holder did not declare until tea at 327 for 6, a lead of 573, and Derbyshire reached from 51 without loss from 14 overs before the teams shook hands at 8pm.Powell, who was named man of the match, said: “We’ve had valuable match time in the middle and all the batters have had an opportunity to see what the pink ball does and how it operates in these conditions.”It’s going to be different to the Caribbean so it’s valuable experience. It was interesting , in the first innings the ball didn’t swing and in the second innings it did a bit so I guess at different points in the game you can expect the ball to react differently.”I’m not sure how much to read into that if the conditions at Edgbaston are similar to here so I guess it’s just something for us to have in the back of our minds that these things could happen but we still have to go in with an open mind.”The tourists went into the final day with a lead of 306 and they batted through the first two sessions with Powell and Chase taking the opportunity to further boost their confidence ahead of this week’s opening day/night Test.Powell had missed out on a hundred by eight runs in the first innings but the 27-year-old left hander became the fourth West Indian in the match to score a century before he retired hurt with cramp.He drove and pulled Tom Taylor for three consecutive fours as he accelerated to three figures off only 102 balls after Jermaine Blackwood had been well caught at extra cover for 29.Jason Holder fell to left-arm spinner Matt Sonczak just before lunch and Derbyshire took three wickets in four overs before Chase asserted himself to pass 50 for the fourth consecutive innings.Shane Dowrich edged a drive at Sonczak and Shai Hope failed to clear wide mid on before Kyle was caught at slip two balls later.But that was Derbyshire’s last success as Chase and Kemar Roach shared an unbroken stand of 104 in 29 overs before Holder gave his bowlers a work-out under the floodlights.After his problems on the second day when he bowled 20 no balls in nine overs, all eyes were on Gabriel who needed a decent spell ahead of the Test.But the big Trinidadian again struggled for rhythm, overstepping three times in his fourth over when he was also hit for two fours by Ben Slater and the tourists had turned to spin from both ends by the time the match petered out in stalemate.

The sun duly set on Sri Lanka’s tour of England, but the literal setting on a sunkissed day in Hampshire proved infinitely more impressive than the figurative version

The Report by Andrew Miller in Southampton05-Jul-2016England 144 for 2 (Buttler 73*, Morgan 47*) beat Sri Lanka 140 (Dawson 3-27, Jordan 3-29) by eight wickets

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsJos Buttler opened England’s innings and ended unbeaten on 73•Getty Images

The sun duly set on Sri Lanka’s tour of England, but the literal setting on a sunkissed day in Hampshire proved infinitely more impressive than the figurative version. As a packed house at the Ageas Bowl revelled in another show of force from an increasingly impressive England white-ball team, the visitors prepared to exit stage left – trampled underfoot at the end of a long and arduous tour from which the positives will only be visible if their talented young players can learn from the experience and turn it to their country’s advantage in the future.For today, however, it was all about England’s here and now. Liam Dawson pleased his Hampshire home fans by starring on debut with figures of 3 for 27 in four overs, before Jos Buttler – offered an unexpected opportunity to open the batting – eased England to a clean sweep of all three formats (and a resounding 20 points to four victory in the inaugural Super Series) with 73 not out from 49 balls, including three fours and four emphatic sixes.

Morgan faces X-ray after dislocation

Eoin Morgan will undergo an X-ray on his left ring finger tomorrow after suffering a dislocation while taking a catch in the covers off Dinesh Chandimal.
“It bent right back, it was dislocated,” Morgan said. “I got it put back in and injected, so I can’t really feel it at the moment. I’ll have an X-ray on it tomorrow afternoon and see what it’s like.”
The incident did not hamper his batting in the short term, as he finished unbeaten on 47 from 39 balls, the most runs he has scored in his last 22 innings for England.
“It’s nice to get some runs,” he said. “I’ve struggled to string an innings together but everyone in the team has dovetailed around that, which has been awesome.
“As a captain you want to lead from the front and, when you’re not doing that, it can leave a bit to be desired. I enjoy scoring runs in a successful team.”

Victory was duly sealed by eight wickets and with 15 balls left unused, thanks to an unbroken third-wicket stand of 114 in 79 deliveries between Buttler and Eoin Morgan, who rose above the dislocation of his left ring finger while taking a catch in the covers to produce his best innings of the year to date, an unbeaten 47 from 39 balls which included a firm swipe for six over wide long-on to cue the fireworks and wrap up England’s first white-ball campaign of the summer.Dawson, who was an unused member of England’s World T20 squad, demonstrated his aptitude for the international stage by striking in each of his first three overs. In a composed and mature performance, he used his local knowledge to gauge the pace of the surface from the outset and cramp Sri Lanka’s ambitions as they sought in vain to accelerate through the middle overs. On his watch, they collapsed from 58 for 1 to 82 for 5, including a crass first-ball run-out for Dasun Shanaka, their ambitions of a defendable total over there and then.Dawson’s fellow England debutant, Tymal Mills, was no less impressive even though his maiden international wicket will have to wait for another day. In two bursts of two overs, at the front- and back-end of the innings, he returned figures of none for 22, conceding a solitary boundary in each spell as Sri Lanka struggled to align his fierce pace with a cunningly disguised slower ball.According to the speedgun, Mills’ fastest ball was also his first – a 92.5mph loosener on a good length outside off stump, and that line rarely strayed at any stage of his performance, allowing Morgan to trust him implicitly at either end of the innings. It is early days in an England career that could have been over before it had begun when Mills was diagnosed with a degenerative back condition two years ago, but the early impressions were exciting in the extreme.Then again, Sri Lanka’s batting was as haphazard as you might expect from a side that has been through the wringer in all formats during their two-month tour of England. Despite Angelo Mathews’ insistence, after winning the toss, that this contest was their opportunity to “end the tour on a high”, many of the dismissals suggested that the only height that mattered any more was the cruising altitude of tomorrow’s flight to Colombo.”That has been the case for us right throughout the summer, we didn’t get enough runs on the board,” Mathews admitted afterwards. “We knew it would be a tough challenge but we just had to compete and give ourselves the best chance to win. Unfortunately either batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every single game…140 was a very average score.”On a pitch that had been shown, by England’s women during their hard-earned victory over Pakistan earlier in the afternoon, to be somewhat slower than might have been anticipated, Sri Lanka succumbed to a diet of half-formed mows and drives that they might have got away with, had the ball been coming onto the bat.Instead, as Mathews conceded, it was “stopping and turning” a bit off the surface, and, as a consequence, their attempts at acceleration took on, at first, an air of desperation and then, latterly, resignation. Chris Jordan, in particular, took command at the death, returning from a minor mauling in the Powerplay to claim three wickets for six runs in his final two overs of the innings.Liam Plunkett’s heavy artillery accounted for the dangerous duo of Kusal Perera and Seekkuge Prasanna before either could fully cut loose, while Adil Rashid’s wrist-spin was typically slippery and varied, and included a T20 collector’s item – the first maiden of his 20-over career. Ramith Rambukwella, an offspinning allrounder whose only previous match had come against New Zealand at Pallekele three years ago, was tormented as he attempted to swing his way through the square boundaries. Though he eventually connected in Rashid’s next over for one of only three sixes in the innings, he soon departed for 19 from 16 thanks to a direct hit at the non-striker’s end from James Vince at point.In reply, England’s innings stuttered at the outset as Jason Roy – flushed with understandable confidence after his recent glut of ODI runs – stepped across his stumps in Mathews’ first over to be bowled round his legs for a duck, before Vince made it 30 for 2 in the fifth over when he lost sight of a deflection off his pads and was stumped by Dinesh Chandimal as he strayed out of his crease in search of an non-existent bye.By that stage, however, Sri Lanka believed they ought to have had the big one. On 5, Buttler appeared to graze a thin nick through to Chandimal behind the stumps but the umpire was unmoved. Snicko soon revealed a large spike as the ball passed the edge, but with no DRS on offer for the T20 leg of the tour, Sri Lanka had no recourse.”Chandimal was pretty convinced he nicked it, but unfortunately it’s one of those things, it happens,” said Mathews afterwards. “T20 is a fast game and you want it to be fast. It was one of those days when you think you might need that one DRS. But it was human error once again and we couldn’t do anything about it.”The same could broadly be said of England’s run-chase, as Morgan appeared on schedule at No. 4, his finger numbed with painkillers and his timing and placement seemingly restored as a consequence. But it was Buttler’s brilliance that ripped the game away. His promotion may only be a temporary measure, with Alex Hales rested for this game, but such was the clarity of his strokeplay and the inevitability with which he swept England to the spoils, you have to wonder if it may prove to be a longer-term plan.”Certainly it’s something we would consider again,” said Morgan. “It’s about getting the best of this fellow, because you don’t know what his limits are – he’s that good. His potential is as good as anyone’s around the world. It’s up to himself, me, TB [Trevor Bayliss] and Farby [Paul Farbrace] to be as open and honest about where his best position is to bat. But watching him crunch it is pretty awesome.”Where the white-ball game is concerned, however, such thoughts can be shelved until September. For now, England’s attention turns back to Test cricket and the rapidly approaching Lord’s Test against Pakistan. For Sri Lanka, a long flight home awaits. It’s been a bruising visit.

Angus Robson struck his first century of the season as Leicestershire ended the second day at Chelmsford as favourites to claim a long-overdue victory.

ECB/PA01-Jun-2015
ScorecardAngus Robson made a determined ton to push Leicestershire ahead•Getty Images

Angus Robson struck his first century of the season as Leicestershire ended the second day at Chelmsford as favourites to claim a long-overdue victory. The Australian-born opener, made 120 out of a total of 280 to earn a first-innings lead of 114 and then watched his new ball bowlers remove both Essex openers before the close.Robson anchored the innings for just over five and a half hours while collecting 15 boundaries before he was ninth out when he edged Jesse Ryder to Nick Browne at first slip. He showed immense discipline during his marathon effort and needed all his concentration to keep the visitors afloat while the Essex seam attack picked up wickets at regular intervals on a pitch that gave them help, although it did not pose the sort of problems experienced on the opening day.Robson shared in an opening stand of 58 with Matt Boyce but his most productive partnership featured Clint McKay, who adopted a carefree approach while contributing 45 in a partnership of 74 in 16 overs. McKay’s runs came from 59 deliveries with the help of six fours and a six before he chanced his arm once too often and was bowled by Ravi Bopara.Earlier Graham Napier destroyed the middle-order with a devastating 21-ball spell in which he picked up three wickets for seven runs as the visitors subsided to 170 for 6 after passing the 150 mark with only three wickets down. But those setbacks did not ruffle Robson who occasionally broke from his watchful defence to produce several sweetly-timed strokes either side of the wicket.Fast bowler Jamie Porter, who did the early damage, finished with 3 for 69 while Napier returned figures of 3 for 63. There was also a wicket for debutant Aron Nijjar, the left-arm spinner having Tom Wells caught in the covers.Essex soon ran into trouble when they went in again. Nick Browne’s poor run of form continued when he caught at bat-pad off McKay for only 2, and soon afterwards, Jaik Mickleburgh was bowled by Ben Raine who had claimed a career-best five-wickets haul on the opening day. That left Essex in serious trouble at 16 for 2 but Tom Westley and Bopara steered clear of further trouble before the close. But it will take a monumental effort by the home side if they are to deny their opponents a first victory in 38 Championship games.”In terms of the match situation, it was the most important innings I’ve played,” Leicestershire centurion Robson said. “It was a good cricket wicket – one you could trust but one on which you never quite felt you were really in because the ball did a bit at times. But we are now ahead of the game and hopefully, we can press home our advantage. But there is still a lot of hard work ahead because Essex have a strong batting line-up to get right back in it.”Paul Grayson commented: “We would have liked to have restricted them to a lead of around 50 but the stand between Robson and McKay put paid to that. We are not out of it but I feel we will need to bat all day tomorrow and if we can leave them a target of around 220, we can still win.”

Round-up of the Zimbabwe one-day competition matches played on October 17

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2012Ray Price and Mark Mbophana held their nerves in the last two over to guide Eagles to a narrow one-wicket win over Tuskers in the one-day competition in Harare. Ten runs were required off 10 balls when the last pair came together, but they went past Tuskers’ score off 237 with two balls to spare. The foundation of the chase, however, was set up by useful contributions by the top order. Opener Regis Chakabva scored 41 in a slow start and was the second wicket to fall with the score on 100 in the 28th over after a 70-run stand with Sikandar Raza. Raza carried on and scored an attacking 73-ball 63 that helped raise the tempo of the chase. Tuskers’ bowlers, though, kept chipping away with wickets to keep the game in the balance, but failed to get that one last wicket.Eagles put Tuskers into bat and removed the openers cheaply, but Sean Ervine held one end together and shared a 92-run stand with Charles Coventry (34). Ervine was out six runs short of his century in the 44th over after which Glen Querl scored late runs to put up a competitive total. Mbofana and Kyle Jarvis were the pick of the bowlers, sharing three wickets each.Rhinos‘ bowlers dished out a pasting to Mountaineers to set up an eight-wicket win and helped them move to the top of the table in Kwekwe. Mountaineers, put into bat, were immediately under pressure when they lost their opener Kevin Kasuza in the first over. The opening bowlers – Ed Rainsford and Michael Chinouya – shared two wickets each by the eighth over as Mountaineers were reduced to 10 for 4. There was a brief period of 8.4 overs where Mountaineers resisted, but wickets fell in a heap again as from 29 for 4, they went to 30 for 8. They were eventually bowled out for 66 in the 27th over, with Graeme Cremer picking up three wickets.Rhinos didn’t waste much time in the chase as they quickly completed the chase in the 13th over. Vusi Sibanda scored a quick 31 but was out eight runs short of the target.

The Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh later this year will feature 10 teams and be played at four venues in Dhaka

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-2011The 2011 Women’s World Cup Qualifier will feature 10 teams and be played at four venues in Dhaka, the ICC has said. The tournament is scheduled between November 14 and 25.The four venues will be the Sher-e-Bangla stadium, Narayanganj Osmani Stadium, Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (Bangladesh Institute of Sports) 1 and BKSP 2. Hosts Bangladesh will be joined by South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, USA, West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Japan to battle it out for the four remaining spots at the 2013 Women’s World Cup in India. England, Australia, India and New Zealand already qualified for the event because they were the top four teams in the 2009 Women’s World Cup.The teams for the qualifiers will be split into two groups. Bangladesh play Pakistan in the first game of the tournament on November 14 at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium.Group A
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Zimbabwe, USA
Group B
West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland, Japan, Bangladesh

A couple of hundred protestors were at Lahore airport when the three Pakistan players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal returned home

Osman Samiuddin09-Sep-2010A couple of hundred protestors were at Lahore airport when the three Pakistan players at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal returned home on Saturday morning. Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt left through a back exit away from the people carrying banners and waving shoes.There was also support for the players inside the terminal with one sign saying: “Long live Salman Butt.” As reported by ESPNcricinfo on Thursday, their return does not, however, mean they are cleared from the ongoing criminal investigation. Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik said the government of Pakistan would provide a written assurance that the players be made available if needed for further investigations.”We have spoken to Scotland Yard, and the [Pakistan] high commissioner to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, has also been in talks with them and they have agreed that the players can return to Pakistan,” Malik told ESPNcricinfo.The trio were provisionally suspended by the ICC last Thursday and were quizzed by police the next day for their alleged role in bowling deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test at Lord’s between England and Pakistan; an undercover sting operation by the tabloid apparently revealed that they had done so at the behest of Mazhar Majeed, an agent to the players. Majeed was arrested but released on bail while the players had their mobile phones confiscated. No charges have been pressed against them yet.On Thursday, the PCB chief revealed that Wahab Riaz, the left-arm fast bowler, will be the fourth player to be interviewed by the police in relation to the scandal. Ijaz Butt sounded confident in his press conference at Gaddafi Stadium earlier that the three players would return to Pakistan soon and though he indicated that the criminal case against them might not be as strong, he did not say they would be cleared. The PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that investigations will continue.The players also have to respond to the suspension notices served to them by the ICC for which they have one more week left. That investigation and process is separate to whatever conclusion police officials reach.

Tamim has not played an international game since September 2023 but now the selectors are hopeful he will make the trip to Pakistan next month

Mohammad Isam08-Jan-2025Bangladesh’s selectors are waiting for Tamim Iqbal to make up his mind about a possible comeback to international cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy next month. The deadline for announcing squads is January 12, and the BCB is willing to wait till the last minute to see if Tamim wants to play. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain led the talks with Tamim at the Fortune Barishal team hotel in Sylhet; Tamim is captaining the side in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).Tamim retired from international cricket in July 2023, before reversing his decision the next day after intervention from then Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Tamim had a falling out with then BCB president Nazmul Hassan. Both Hasina and Hassan left the country during the anti-government protests in mid-2024 which left several hundred protesters dead.Tamim gave up the captaincy during that run-in with the board in 2023 but returned to play two ODIs against New Zealand in September before the then selectors, led by Minhajul Abedin, dropped him for the 2023 World Cup. That was followed by then captain Shakib Al Hasan blasting Tamim in a televised interview.Tamim Iqbal has been a key cog for Fortune Barishal at the BPL•Fortune Barishal

Tamim has not played an international game since then but continued to play domestic cricket, including winning the 2024 BPL with the Barishal franchise and finishing as the Player of the Tournament. Tamim is currently defending that title in Sylhet, where the meeting with the national selectors took place.”We held a primary discussion with Tamim,” Gazi Ashraf Hossain said. “We have to announce the Champions Trophy team by January 12, so we have a bit of time. We want to let him take time, not be in a hurry to decide. We have spoken to him on behalf of the board. The player has to come to a decision after speaking to his family, friends and well-wishers. He is also in the middle of a tournament so he will need a bit of time.”We have four days left [before announcing the squad]. We have done our homework, so we know how things will shape up. We pay respect to a cricketer like Tamim Iqbal, so he can take his time before informing us. I think it’s fair enough. The board is fine with this, so everyone now has to be patient.”Gazi Ashraf said that ODI captain Najmul Hossain Shanto is in faour of Tamim’s return. “We are always speaking to the captain. He wasn’t however there when we spoke to Tamim. We have spoken to the captain separately about the squad. I think everyone wants Tamim back in the Bangladesh team.”Tamim also recently played in the National Cricket League T20s, where he was the top scorer for Chattogram Division.Gazi Ashraf said that showed Tamim is match fit, though he will have to take a call himself if he can make the step up to international cricket. “There’s a huge gap between domestic and international cricket. A player who is at a crucial juncture in his career, he has to consider a lot of things. I think it will be hasty for everyone to take a call in just one meeting, given that Tamim hasn’t been around international cricket for quite some time.”He is playing the BPL. He played in the NCL T20s. There’s no question about his ability. We are all waiting for his return to the Bangladesh team. He is most welcome from our side. You just have to wait. Let there be suspense.”

Spirited Leicestershire fall short despite best efforts of Ackermann, Amin, Scriven and Cox

ECB Reporters Network13-Sep-2023Indian left-armer Jaydev Unadkat took six wickets on his home debut as Sussex revived their promotion challenge by wearing down Leicestershire’s spirited resistance to claim only their second win of the season in the LV= Insurance County Championship.Undakat defied the discomfort of a sore ankle to take an outstanding 6 for 94 from 32.4 overs including the last four wickets in 31 balls as they bowled out the Foxes for 483 at Hove to squeeze home by 15 runs.Sussex visit Derbyshire next week before finishing the season at home to Gloucestershire but second-placed Worcestershire, who currently have a 18-point advantage over Sussex, are still favourites for the other promotion place. They play Durham at New Road next week before finishing at Headingley.Leicestershire, for whom Colin Ackermann made 136, Umar Amin 94 and Tom Scriven 78, aren’t completely out of the running to join Durham in Division One next season but have a tough run-in, facing Yorkshire at home before finishing at Durham.After Ackermann and Amin put on 180 for the fourth wicket, Scriven and Ben Cox added 130 for the seventh to take Leicestershire to within 46 runs of victory when Undakat produced an inspired spell down the slope.He found some bounce and seam movement on a benign surface to defeat both established batters. Having made his career-best, Scriven was drawn half-forward and edged behind and Cox taken at head height at slip by Tom Alsop before Scott Currie nibbled at a full-length delivery to bag a second-ball duck.That left Chris Wright, who joins Sussex next season, and last man Matt Salisbury needing 43 and Salisbury batting with a runner because of a hamstring injury. Wright had famously guided Leicestershire to a target of 389 against Yorkshire earlier in the season and when he slapped Fynn Hudson-Prentice for two sixes to help get the target down to 16 Sussex nerves were jangling again, only for Unadkat to produce a brilliant leg-stump yorker that was too good for Wright.Leicestershire had the consolation of making the highest fourth-innings total in their history and there were plenty of periods during a fluctuating day when they looked favourites.Ackermann and Amin added 67 runs in the first hour with few alarms but with the new ball an over away, off-spinner Jack Carson removed both batters in the space of four deliveries. Ackermann, who’d hit 21 fours, was bowled making room to cut and Amin played for turn which wasn’t there and was struck on the back pad six short of his hundred, having hit 17 boundaries.Rehman Ahmed threatened to make the most of being dropped at short leg by Alsop with a single to his name, moving quickly to 29. Sussex had delayed taking the new ball for ten overs but in his third over with it Unadkat persuaded Ahmed to drive at a ball well outside off stump and Carter took a good catch diving to his right.However, with the pitch showing little sign of deterioration Scriven and Cox settled in, saw off the threat of the new ball and after lunch began to tick off the runs with few alarms.Umpires Ben Debenham and Paul Baldwin had to speak to both Carson and captain Cheteshwar Pujara as Sussex’s frustrations threatened to boil over, before Undakat changed the mood completely and the hosts could celebrate winning more than one game in a Championship season for the first time since 2019.

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.”