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Home side hopeful of reaching knockouts after seven-wicket win over Hampshire

ECB Reporters Network06-Aug-2021Ben Charlesworth kept Gloucestershire’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the Royal London Cup alive with a career-best 99 not out in a seven-wicket win over Hampshire at Bristol.The 20-year-old left-hander smacked 13 fours, sharing an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 130 with Jack Taylor, who finished on 67, having been dropped twice, as the hosts reached a target of 205 with nine balls to spare.In a match reduced to 37 overs per side, Hampshire ran up 204 for 8 after winning the toss, Tom Alsop top-scoring with 57 and sharing an opening stand of 90 with Tom Prest.Graeme van Buuren claimed 3 for 36 with his left-arm spin and the total looked below par, despite a slow pitch.On a blustery day, play did not start until 1pm following heavy overnight rain. Both Hampshire openers rode their luck early, Prest being dropped on three by Tom Smith at point off Matt Taylor.It proved an expensive miss as Prest and Alsop brought up their fifty stand in the ninth over and added to it with increasing confidence until Smith atoned for his error by beating Prest’s defensive push and bowling him to end the partnership.Alsop went to his half-century off 61 balls before Nick Gubbins was caught at fine leg off Josh Shaw with the total on 110 in the 20th over.Things began to go awry for Hampshire when Joe Weatherley called for a single to short cover off Smith and Chris Dent’s throw to the wicketkeeper’s end saw Alsop run out.Ian Holland contributed 17 before falling lbw to van Buuren reverse sweeping and it was 145 for 5 when Weatherley was bowled by the same bowler on the back foot.Lewis McManus lifted a big six over mid-wicket off van Buuren, who took his revenge with a smart caught-and-bowled above his head to make it 190 for 6.Felix Organ was run out in a mix-up over a quick single and, although James Fuller hit a superb six over extra cover off Dan Worrall, a clatter of late wickets saw Hampshire’s innings fold disappointingly.With a required run rate of less than six an over, Gloucestershire openers Charlesworth and Dent began cautiously. They had taken the score to 47 in the 11th over when Dent fell leg before, trying to sweep off-spinner Prest, who quickly followed up by having Tom Lace caught off a top edge attempting the same shot.It was 75 for 3 when van Buuren fell lbw on the back foot to Holland and the game looked evenly poised. But Charlesworth was looking increasingly in command as he moved to fifty, from 67 balls, with a gloriously timed four, lifted elegantly back over off-spinner Organ’s head.Taylor attacked at every opportunity to reach a 47-ball half-century, but was lucky to get there as he was dropped at third man by Organ off John Turner on 49.The century stand occupied 90 deliveries. Taylor was dropped again on 63, by Turner at fine-leg off Weatherley, before Charlesworth pulled a boundary off Holland to pass his previous best score for Gloucestershire of 87. Time ran out for him to get a century but it was an innings rich with promise that he will long remember.

The board wants to stage the MSL in front of an audience, which could mean the tournament is pushed back

Firdose Moonda21-May-2020Cricket South Africa is preparing for four different scenarios ahead of the 2020-21 summer with the most likely being a reduced domestic season, with matches expected to be played behind closed doors. The Mzansi Super League (MSL) remains a priority but CSA is reluctant to play the tournament behind closed doors, which could see it pushed out as far as March next year, in order to be played with an audience. Either way, South African cricketers can expect some part of their summer to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with the country planning for a peak infection rate in September, which is when the season typically gets underway.”The unlikeliest scenario is that the season will start as normal,” Jacques Faul, the board’s acting CEO said. “The second one is that we only have half a season. As the scenarios unfold and we get more clarity. One of the likely scenarios we are planning for is half a season, so January onwards, and hopefully the MSL at the start.”The other two scenarios consider various amounts of cricket being played, including internationals, as well as other aspects of CSA’s financial position, such as sponsors.The third edition of the MSL is scheduled for November and December with the final taking place on December 16, the date that marks the start of South Africa’s holiday season. Although the tournament has made losses over the past two years, because of unsold television rights, CSA is hoping things would fare better this time around. The board is in the process of securing a broadcaster and is also planning on expanding the tournament from six teams to eight.While gate-takings from the MSL are not a major revenue earner, it is still South Africa’s best-attended domestic competition, intended to promote family viewing. Faul is hoping that it can stay that way.”I’m not sure it would make sense behind closed doors,” he said. “It could be a restricted audience and the capacity will be lower so that we can guarantee social distancing but it will need to be government approved and we would need to look at the cost factor of it and the risks. And that would only be around November or December. I can’t see it happening earlier, but the MSL would have been scheduled for that period anyway.”The other option would be to play the MSL in March-April, with the Easter holiday period in mind.Meanwhile, the franchise four-day first-class competition and one-day cup as well as the provincial three-day first-class fixtures and fifty-over tournament and other age-group and club tournaments are more than likely to be affected by delayed starts. While CSA is hopeful of as much professional cricket as possible, it is “planning for half a season of amateur and recreational cricket,” Faul said.There is currently no indication of when sport will resume in South Africa, which remains under a strict lockdown that prohibits any group activity. CSA and several other sporting bodies are seeking an audience with the sports minister to clarify the steps required in order to return to play.The South African Cricketers’ Association, on the other hand, is working to ensure the mental and financial well-being of their athletes given the fact that all of them are facing a truncated season.”We have an existential crisis in cricket so it is important that we all work together,” Andrew Breetzke, SACA CEO said. “It is a period when players would normally go into an off-season, so that has helped us, because it hasn’t been such a mind shift change but there have been a number of players affected by the English season which has in effect been postponed indefinitely.”Breetzke explained that it is not just the top players whose county contracts have been canceled (such as Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander) but senior provincial players whose club deals were called off, resulting in them losing amounts of around R100,000 (US$5,600 approx) each. Others, who would have had coaching jobs in academies and schools in the winter, have also lost out.SACA is actively encouraging players to focus on “dual career” growth and make use of the organisation’s scholarship programme to begin further study. It is also providing psychological support to players, through a referral program, the costs of which are covered through the SACA medical scheme.That said, director of cricket Graeme Smith remains hopeful cricket will resume soon and is working with players to ensure their readiness. Over the last seven weeks, players were provided with home training programs to maintain fitness over the lockdown and this week, they will begin online coaching sessions. “We are keen to play as quickly as possible. We believe we are a socially distant sport,” Smith said. “From our perspective, we are trying to ensure players are as ready as possible.”At the same time, CSA has put several other pressing matters on hold. The positions of a selection convener, A team, under-19 team, and national women’s team coach were all advertised last month but none of them have been filled. “It’s not a process we are rushing. We are trying to assess the landscape,” Smith said.South Africa are also due to appoint a Test captain in the coming months but with no matches expected for a while, that is another issue they can take some time on.

Rain and bad light, meanwhile, forced the encounter between Dolphins and Knights into a draw

Liam Brickhill17-Jan-2019Results summaryThe race for the 2018-19 4-Day Franchise Series title was thrown wide open after Warriors stunned Cape Cobras at Newlands, winning by six wickets. A pair of first-innings 70s from Colin Ackermann and Sinethemba Qeshile gave Warriors a vital 104-run lead, after which Simon Harmer’s 7 for 89, his 24th career five-for, set up a tight finish, with Warriors set a target of 206 to win.Dane Piedt struck four times with his offspin, but Warriors raced to victory through a blistering 91-run unbroken partnership between captain JJ Smuts and the 19-year-old Qeshile. They compiled their stand at 6.42 per over, with Smuts hitting 10 fours and a six in his 70 and Qeshile reaching fifty for the second time in the match, from 49 deliveries. With two rounds remaining, the Cobras’ defeat, coupled with Lions’ win, narrowed the gap at the top of the table to just over 1.6 points. The result also kept alive the Warriors’ slim title hopes – they are now just over 27 points behind the leaders.ALSO READ: South Africa’s Rory Kleinveldt calls time on first-class careerNandre Burger ended with a career-best five-for as the Lions defeated defending champions Titans to win their derby clash in record fashion at Willowmoore Park, in Benoni, on Thursday. Burger took 5 for 36 in in 14.4 overs to complete an emphatic innings-and-239-run victory that was not only the biggest one ever for the Lions in their history and third-biggest ever since the inception of franchise cricket in 2004/05, but also saw the gap at the competition summit reduced significantly.Burger’s match-sealing effort came after mammoth innings from Nicky van den Bergh and Dominic Hendricks had given Lions complete control of the game. Van den Bergh recorded the first double-century of the season, reaching an unbeaten unbeaten 217 – a fixture record individual score and career-best – as the hosts amassed 593 for 5 declared.Hendricks also reached a career-best score, batting ten-and-a-half hours for his 453-ball 197. The pair put on a stand of 390 for the fifth wicket, another fixture record but not a competition best after it fell three runs short of the unbroken 393 shared by JP Duminy and Dane Vilas for the Cape Cobras against the Lions in Potchefstroom back in 2014-15. Their stand left the Titans staring at a likely defeat, particularly after Chris Morris, who had scored 97 out of their first-innings 229, had to sit out the second innings due to a finger injury. Titans folded for 125.Rain and bad light ultimately proved to be the main winner as the encounter between Dolphins and Knights ended in a draw at the City Oval in Pietermaritzburg. The inclement weather, which led to no play on day two and just over 50 overs squeezed in on day three, again briefly returned on the final day, allowing for only 72 overs to be sent down. To their credit, both teams tried to effect a result, with three declarations before the visitors finished the game on 181 for 3 in pursuit of a target of 295. Heading into the final day, only one innings had been completed, and after Knights declared their innings at 206 for 9, Dolphins went after quick runs. Sarel Erwee and captain Khaya Zondo both reached fifty, with Zondo striking 10 fours in his 45-ball 59 before declaring the innings at 146 for 3. That left Knights with a target of 295 to win, with Raynard van Tonder reaching 60 and Keegan Petersen striking an unbeaten 71 before the captains shook hands on a draw.On the national radarChris Morris was somewhat surprisingly left out of South Africa’s squad for the first two ODIs against Pakistan, and the allrounder appeared to have been further set back when he suffered a laceration to his finger in the field for Titans. The injury did not stop Morris from bowling on the third day, although he did not come out to bat in Titans’ second innings.Morris’ fitness has been one of the main factors in his limited chances for South Africa in recent times: he picked up a back injury at last year’s IPL, and, more, recently struggled with a strained hamstring. South Africa coach Ottis Gibson has suggested that the Proteas’ search for an allrounder at No. 7 to balance out their side is still open, and Morris could yet be drafted into the ODI squad for the final three games against Pakistan – but time is running short for Morris to force his way back into contention for a spot in South Africa’s World Cup squad.Top performerWhile Keegan Petersen maintained his place at the top of the competition batting charts, and Nicky van den Bergh and Dominic Hendricks deserve a mention for sheer weight of runs in their career-best knocks, it was a pair of innings from teenager Sinethemba Qeshile that turned heads in the latest round of the 4-day Series. Qeshile turned 19 in October last year, the day after he had scored back to back fifties against a strong Lions attack containing three Sout Africa players. Since then, Qeshile has bounced back from a pair to fall one run short of his maiden first-class hundred against a Knights attack spearheaded by Duanne Olivier. In his first full franchise season for Warriors, he has now scored 500 runs at an average of 50, and looks a very promising prospect, especially after his latest knocks to help beat Cobras.

Saurabh Kumar and Upendra Yadav add 246 for the seventh wicket after top order stumbles to 74 for 6 before lunch; Bawne 92 lifts Maharashtra

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2017Counter-attacking centuries from rookie Upendra Yadav and allrounder Saurabh Kumar helped Uttar Pradesh stage a remarkable recovery after being reduced to 74 for 6 before lunch on the first day against Assam in Guwahati. The seventh-wicket pair added 246 in just 38.1 overs to drive the innings, with UP eventually finishing with 349. Rishav Das and Rahul Hazarika played out a tricky new-ball burst towards close as Assam ended on 25 for no loss.Suresh Raina, the UP captain, continued to flounder in his quest to regain lost form, falling for 6. Mohammad Saif and Rinku Singh, who rescued UP in the first innings in their previous outings against Delhi, managed just 4 and 18 respectively. Rajjakuddin Ahmed, the fast bowler, picked up three wickets while Dhiraj Goswami, Abu Nechim and Gokul Sharma, the captain, picked up two wickets apiece for Assam.Ankit Bawne fell eight short of his second century this season and 18th overall, as Maharashtra overcame an early wobble to end on 249 for 5 on an attritional opening day against Railways in Pune. The innings was built on two vital partnerships: 71 for the fourth-wicket (between Bawne and Naushad Shaikh) and 95 for the fifth (Bawne and Motwani). Karaun Thakur, the medium pacer, who removed the in-form Rahul Tripathi earlier in the day, came back to dismiss Bawne minutes before stumps to even the scales for Railways.

Derbyshire have appointed John Wright as a specialist T20 head coach – the first English county to do so

David Hopps19-Oct-2016Derbyshire have become the first English county to employ a specialist T20 head coach. Contemporary thinking, though, has rarely seemed more of a throwback as they have turned to John Wright, the former New Zealand Test batsman, who first set foot in Derbyshire nearly 40 years ago.Wright, 62, is steeped in experience with coaching spells for India for five years from 2000 and his native New Zealand as well as guiding Mumbai Indians to the IPL title in 2013. He currently has a scouting role with Mumbai Indians.Specialist T20 coaches have been logistically unappealing in England because the NatWest Blast has stretched over three months of the season. But the competition is back in a tighter block for 2017 and Derbyshire have been quick to take advantage.After a dismal 2016 season in which poor T20 form was allied to a failure to win a single match in the second division of the Championship, they now hope that Wright’s know-how, and love for the area, can bring a change of fortune in the shortest format.Chris Grant, Derbyshire’s chairman, said: “We’re delighted to secure a coach of John’s quality and experience for this crucial role. It’s a unique position amongst the 18 counties in England, but it is not uncommon amongst teams in the major international Twenty20 competitions like the Big Bash, IPL and CPL.”It’s a high-priority that we improve our Twenty20 performances and the new model allows John to give the NatWest T20 Blast competition his complete focus.”Wright, who scored almost 15,000 runs for Derbyshire between 1977 and 1988, will join them in mid-June.Derbyshire have already looked backwards in an attempt to move forwards. Kim Barnett, a former captain a generation ago, is their new director of cricket and has trust in Wright’s methods.”We could not have secured anybody with higher pedigree than John to fill this new role,” Barnett said. “He has won the IPL with the Mumbai Indians, been an international coach and was a great player at Derbyshire.”I could not be more pleased to get him back on board here and work with him. He is a fantastic strategist and will give us a lot of expertise technically and tactically.”Wright’s genial manner enabled him to cope with the cultural challenge of being India’s first overseas coach.But it is his scouting knowledge that will also appeal to Derbyshire as they seek value from their overseas signings and, indeed, seek to identify unproven English players with T20 potential. Barnett, who does not delegate without good reason, will give Wright total freedom to design his squad as he sees fit.

OCA secretary Asirbad Behara has said the state association will need to be more vigilant in the future to prevent incidents like the bottle throwing that disrupted the second T20I

Amol Karhadkar06-Oct-2015Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Asirbad Behara has said the state association will need to be more vigilant in the future to prevent incidents like the bottle throwing that disrupted the second T20 international between India and South Africa in Cuttack.Behara said spectators had been allowed to carry water bottles into the stadium to cope with the heat but that such allowances might have to be removed. Bottles, and other objects that can be used as projectiles, are not allowed inside most stadiums in India.”We decided to let spectators carry water bottles so that they can cope better with the sweltering heat and not have to climb down three storeys every time they had to drink water,” Behara told ESPNcricinfo. “But some of them decided to misuse the bottles. No way will we think of providing comfort to the spectators in future.”The episode also tells up to be extra-vigilant in future to avoid any such instances. We will take all the precautionary measures possible.”A BCCI official confirmed the board was still taking stock of the situation, and Behara said the OCA had not yet been asked for an explanation. “From what I understand, based on the match referee’s report, the ICC may write in to BCCI and the BCCI will then ask OCA for an explanation,” he said. “We will explain our side to the authorities.”All of us know cricket fans are crazy and tempers had been flared after India’s innings but still something like this is unfortunate and unacceptable. We must also realise that in a crowd of around 50,000, it was barely 100 or 150 spectators who kept throwing bottles, so it may be a ploy to defame Barabati. Over the last three decades, this is the first time some such incident has happened in Cuttack.”The first bottle-throwing incident was in the break between innings – India were bowled out for 92, their lowest T20I total at home – and did not interrupt play. The second came after 11 overs of South Africa’s chase and stopped play for 27 minutes. The players remained in the middle through the delay and play resumed at 10pm, with security personnel lining the boundaries. However, a third wave of bottle-throwing two overs later forced them off. Play resumed after a 24-minute hold-up once the police had cleared the section of the crowd causing the disruption. South Africa required another 4.1 overs, which passed without further incident, to complete the chase and seal the series 2-0.India captain MS Dhoni downplayed the incident, but South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said it was disappointing and expressed his desire to not see a repeat during the rest of the tour.

New South Wales will afford their next state coach control of a Big Bash League team, falling into line with the coaching structure favoured by the rest of the country

Daniel Brettig01-Mar-2013New South Wales will afford their next state coach control of a Big Bash League team, falling into line with the coaching structure favoured by the rest of the country after a disjointed and often disastrous two years of separated roles.The Blues have advertised the position of coach with applications to close by Friday, March 8, the description calling for candidate with “a successful coaching career with proven results, in addition to having successfully managed a coaching structure at the highest level.”All candidates should have experience of coaching at International level, plus have demonstrated success in all three forms of the game.”This would appear to place the Sydney Sixers coach Trevor Bayliss in strong contention to resume his former job as state coach, having left the state to mentor Sri Lanka.He returned in 2011 and was keen to resume with the Blues, but had to settle for the BBL role alone due to the then chief executive David Gilbert’s insistence that the roles be split.Gilbert appointed Anthony Stuart as head coach of NSW, while Bayliss guided the Sixers to the inaugural BBL title then the Champions League.Bayliss was less successful in season two of the tournament, and the problems experienced by both the Sixers and the Sydney Thunder have encouraged NSW to look for a better integrated structure.The Thunder have been by a distance the most poorly performed team in the BBL, and their general manager John Dyson paid for a winless second season with his job earlier this week.For 2013-14 it is expected that the NSW state coach will run one BBL team while his assistant takes the reins of the other, reminiscent of the roles performed by Greg Shipperd and Simon Helmot in Victoria.”The new role will oversee the implementation and development of a coaching structure for Cricket NSW that will include the State side and two Big Bash Teams,” the job description states. “The State Coach will play an active role as Head Coach of the State team and ideally a Big Bash League team.”Apart from Bayliss, another former Blues coach, Steve Rixon, may also come into contention, having been mentioned by the outgoing chairman Harry Harinath.Rixon is currently employed as the fielding and spin bowling coach for the national team, and is regarded highly by the captain Michael Clarke, who also leads NSW when not on international duty.

Nathan Coulter-Nile pressed his case for an Australia call-up with a compelling allround display, but New South Wales were still able to achieve a four-wicket victory over the Warriors

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2012
ScorecardNathan Coulter-Nile, the Western Australia fast bowler, pressed his case for an Australia call-up with a compelling allround display, but New South Wales were still able to achieve a four-wicket victory over the Warriors in the domestic limited overs match in Perth.After WA’s batting slipped to 7 for 96, Coulter-Nile shepherded the tail to a total of 151 with a poised innings of 53. He then claimed the wickets of Simon Katich, Steve Smith and Nic Maddinson with the ball to ensure the Blues made hard work of their modest chase, achieved with 7.2 overs to spare.The NSW chase was guided by Phillip Hughes, batting at No. 3 behind Usman Khawaja and Brad Haddin. Hughes made an unbeaten 58, after Haddin had found some semblance of batting form in an innings of 32.Mitchell Starc, dropped from Australia’s ODI squad in order to be available for the match, collected 4-39 to slice through The Warriors’ batting. His first wicket was that of WA’s stand-in captain Shaun Marsh, who cut a short ball straight to backward point.