Abigail Freeborn’s unbeaten 107 overshadowed in losing cause as Sunrisers secure back-to-back wins

ECB Reporters Network10-Sep-2023Grace Scrivens, Amara Carr and Mady Villiers all hit half-centuries as Sunrisers stunned Central Sparks to register back-to-back wins in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for the first time.Teenager Scrivens, leading the side in place of the injured Dane van Niekerk, scored a gritty 51 and Carr struck 58 before Villiers’ explosive knock of 56 from 46 balls all but wrapped up a four-wicket victory at Chelmsford.Their efforts overshadowed a magnificent maiden hundred by Abigail Freeborn, who batted through all but nine deliveries of Sparks’ innings for an unbeaten 107 from 140 that enabled her side to post 227 for 8.But it was not enough for the visitors, who slip out of the play-off places after Sunrisers – having failed to win a single game in the tournament’s first two editions – chased down the target with five overs to spare.Sparks opted to bat after winning the toss, yet their start was less than ideal as Eva Gray opened up with a maiden and Kate Coppack bowled Bethan Ellis off her pads without a run on the board.Freeborn was soon into her stride, pummelling Coppack’s half-volley to the cover fence and overtaking partner Eve Jones as she clipped Amu Surenkumar for another boundary to raise the visitors’ 50 in the 10th over.Smart running helped to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but spin duo Scrivens and Jodi Grewcock (2 for 36) gained some degree of control and it was the latter who broke the partnership of 99. The legspinner tempted Jones down the track for Carr to take off the bails and that stifled the scoring rate, with shrewd bowling changes earning Sunrisers further success as Gray and Jo Gardner (2 for 21) collected wickets in the space of five deliveries.With Katie George drilling Grewcock straight to cover and Gardner’s flight deceiving Charis Pavely, Sparks slumped to 167 for 6 but Emily Arlott’s pugnacious 22 helped them clamber above 200.Although Freeborn advanced to a deserved century, Scrivens marshalled her attack cleverly and a death-overs charge never materialised, ensuring Sunrisers would chase just above four-and-a-half per over.However, accurate powerplay bowling from Arlott (2 for 33) and Grace Potts meant the home side initially struggled to gain traction, with the ball crossing the rope just once before Arlott had Ariana Dowse taken at gully in the eighth over.Grewcock, having just carved off-spinner Georgia Davis to the point boundary, departed lbw later in the over, but Carr and Scrivens dug in to nudge Sunrisers towards the target with a resolute partnership of 80.The skipper progressed to her third half-century of the tournament before falling leg before to Hannah Baker and, despite that setback, Carr followed suit by clouting an Ellis full toss to the midwicket fence.Villiers eagerly took up the baton after Scrivens’ departure, dispatching Davis (2 for 43) for successive boundaries and dominating the strike, with a single Baker over disappearing for 15 before another leg-side four off Arlott took her to a 40-ball half-century.Sparks sensed a glimmer of hope when they prised out Carr and Villiers in successive overs with 25 still required, but Gardner and Surenkumar saw their side across the line.

Warwickshire’s run chase leaves Middlesex in drop zone heading into final round

ECB Reporters Network22-Sep-2023Warwickshire 315 (Rhodes 102, Briggs 99, Murtagh 6-83) and 58 for 2 beat Middlesex 121 (Hannon-Dalby 5-29) and 251 (Robson 107*, Higgins 57) by eight wicketsSam Robson’s tenacious, unbeaten hundred proved to be in vain for Middlesex as they slid into the LV= Insurance County Championship relegation places after defeat to Warwickshire at Lord’s.Warwickshire’s bowlers stuck to their task, dismissing Middlesex for 251 in their second innings despite a spirited knock of almost seven hours by Robson, who carried his bat for 107 not out.Ryan Higgins provided support with 57, but Craig Miles’ 3 for 52 was backed up by Olly Hannon-Dalby, who also took three wickets to finish with match figures of 8 for 81 and pass 50 in the Championship this season.Although an afternoon downpour threatened to derail Warwickshire’s success, leaving them with just 10 overs to chase 58, Rob Yates and Ed Barnard guided their side home with nine balls to spare.Middlesex began the day 98 runs in arrears and Barnard immediately sent a couple of deliveries whizzing just past Robson’s outside edge before the opener steered him through point for four.However, Jack Davies soon perished to a rash stroke, having failed to increase his overnight score of 10 when he swatted a loose delivery from Miles into the hands of backward square leg.The seamer also claimed the scalp of Joe Cracknell, who had just struck him for two boundaries but was lured into a trap next ball, miscuing the pull as Miles switched to around the wicket and tempted him with a short one.Three down and 74 short of making Warwickshire bat again, the home side urgently needed a partnership and Higgins settled down to build one of 85 with Robson as the pair whittled down the deficit.Two overs of offspin from Yates helped them to do that, disappearing for 20 as Higgins fished the reverse-sweep out of his locker and Middlesex went to lunch just 13 behind their opponents.A stray leg-side ball from Miles that went for two byes took the batting side into positive territory and, in the next over, Higgins reached his half-century with a sweet straight drive off Barnard for four.But the bowler quickly responded by breaching Higgins’ defence to hit his off stump – just as he had done in the first innings – and reignited Warwickshire’s prospects of pressing for victory, with the new ball on the horizon.Those were strengthened further still as Danny Briggs had John Simpson caught at short leg before Hannon-Dalby and Chris Rushworth took joint ownership of the new ball, picking up a wicket apiece to plunge Middlesex deeper into trouble at 234 for 7.Despite that pressure, Robson maintained his focus to progress to three figures from 251 balls, squirting Rushworth for a leg-side single, while Tom Helm dug in to deny Warwickshire further success prior to tea.Having survived more than half an hour, Helm was undone by one from Hannon-Dalby that kept low and the same bowler eventually brought Ethan Bamber’s dogged resistance to an end by finding the edge of his bat.With the sky darkening, Warwickshire had to revert to spin and the second ball of Briggs’ first over was enough to fox Tim Murtagh – who registered a duck in his final innings at Lord’s – and leave the visitors with an apparent 25 overs to chase their modest target.As Warwickshire’s top-order batters sprinted towards the pavilion, though, the heavens opened and the resulting delay reduced their allocation of overs by 60 per cent when play resumed an hour later.Alex Davies moved up to open and carted Murtagh into the grandstand for six before the bowler trapped him lbw – and a superb reaction by Simpson to stump Dan Mousley earned the 42-year-old his eighth wicket of the match.But there was to be no fairytale finish for Murtagh, with Barnard clubbing Jayant Yadav over the top and running three to secure Warwickshire’s victory.

These pitches, he said, neither allowed their batters to be in top hitting form, nor taught their spinners how to handle conditions that required them to work harder

Madushka Balasuriya12-Nov-20232:01

Silverwood: ‘We need a proper plan for the next cycle’

As the Sri Lanka squad arrived home after a disappointing 2023 World Cup, consultant coach Mahela Jayawardene attributed much of the team’s struggles the types of tracks being produced for domestic cricket in Sri Lanka. These pitches, he said, neither allowed their batters to be in top hitting form heading into the World Cup on flatter decks in India, nor taught their spinners how to handle conditions that required them to work harder for their wickets.Sri Lanka finished ninth on the points table, meaning they do not qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy. In the five instances where they batted first, they were able to breach the 280-run mark only once, against Pakistan.”We knew that when we went to India, looking at the wickets, that we had to play at a very high tempo, which we discussed with the batters,” Jayawardene said. “It was something that they were not used to, particularly leading up to the World Cup did not allow us to do that – and most of the surfaces that we play in Sri Lanka.Related

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“In domestic cricket we play on pretty slowish wickets so the batters aren’t going to trust their shot selection on good wickets, because they’re not used to that, against high quality bowling.”Of the batters, Pathum Nissanka and Sadeera Samarawickrama were regular contributors in the top order, while the bowling unit was carried by the outstanding Dilshan Madushanka. After his 21 wickets, the next highest for Sri Lanka was Kasun Rajitha with eight, while Angelo Mathews and Maheesh Theekshana had six apiece.Theekshana’s struggles in particular hurt Sri Lanka, however support in terms of other spin options was sorely lacking. Jayawardene once more lay the blame on the pitches being offered domestically, which traditionally are known to suit spin bowling – but crucially does not necessitate the imparting of extra revolutions on the ball, something spinners who were successful at the World Cup, such as Mitchell Santner and Ravindra Jadeja, have been known to do.”When we play in Sri Lanka, the number of good wickets we play on is very low. So on those wickets it’s not really necessary for our spinners to bowl with any sort of overspin – which is what is needed to succeed on wickets like those in India. That’s where we see a big difference in our spinners.”If you take someone like Rangana Herath, he played years in England, so he had that skill. What we need to see is how we get our spinners to acquire those skills. At the moment, if you even take a player from the Under-19s they will first play in domestic cricket. But to get them to the right level, we need them to play on good wickets.”We’ve run the numbers in the high performance centre, and at the moment 66% of the deliveries bowled in domestic cricket are by spinners. We even saw a match last week where the whole innings was bowled by spinners. These the major problems we have to address. It’s only if we fix these problems that we can take Sri Lankan cricket to where it needs to be even in the next 10 years.”Jayawardene was speaking during an hour and thirty-minute long post-mortem, during which Sri Lanka’s returning players and staff were grilled by the country’s media on topics ranging from team changes and decisions made at the toss to more wide-spanning inquests regarding Sri Lanka’s standing in the broader cricketing landscape and the way forward for a side seemingly lacking in direction.The entire World Cup squad was present at the briefing, with only Angelo Mathews absent, while head coach Chris Silverwood and Jayawardene represented the coaching staff. It was Jayawardene though that took the lead in navigating a sometimes hostile press. He urged critics to show “trust and be patient” in a “skilful group”.Maheesh Theekshana had a disappointing 2023 World Cup•AFP/Getty Images

“It’s a process that we have to trust and be patient with. This is a skilful group,” Jayawardene said. “The expectations I understand. I think the fans, they all know that when we go for a World Cup, we’re going to do well, perform well. But that expectation has to be realistic, along with the plans.”People jumping and shouting and screaming have to realise what one-day cricket is, and how we’re going to compete going forward. The plans are being set, we just need to be patient and work harder in areas where we need to improve.”More immediately however, Jayawardene drew attention to the team’s fielding and fitness levels. Sri Lanka were the worst fielding side in the tournament in terms of the percentage of catches dropped, while in terms of fitness – aside from injuries to Dasun Shanaka, Matheesha Pathirana and Lahiru Kumara – Jayawardene said that fatigue played a role in some of the poor performances towards the end of the tournament.”We dropped 16 catches which is the highest in the competition. When you’re going with a depleted bowling unit you can’t afford such mistakes. They work really hard in their fielding practices, but on the field the anticipation and execution we do lack. That comes with experience.”But for me the biggest thing is the fitness. What I noticed over the course of the tournament, because of our fitness levels the fatigue got to us as the tournament progressed, and because of that our performances died down. From the first game to the last game, we saw guys making a lot more mistakes. That happens with mental and physical fatigue. The execution and concentration lapse is because of that.”Looking ahead, the path forward is not without substantial obstacles. Much like the World Cup cycle that preceded it, the one leading up to the 2027 tournament will have two T20 World Cups in between. Further, with Sri Lanka having failed to qualify for the 2025 Champions Trophy, they will have considerably less ODI cricket under their belt heading into the next ODI World Cup – which could potentially leave the ODI side undercooked once more in four years time.”There’s a big difference between how T20 cricket and one-day cricket is played,” Jayawardene said. “We need to see how we can fit in more one-day games in to the next FTP [future tours programme]. We also need to increase the number of one-day games being played domestically.”Once we have a debrief of this World Cup, we will start planning for the next year and the two years after that and so on, and see what the best plan is moving forward. During this planning we must not only look at the T20 and one-day sides, but also the Test side – who were very close last time around of qualifying for the World Test Championship final.”Despite the team’s poor recent results, Jayawardene was eager to stress patience with the current set of players, highlighting the primarily the need to create an identifiable culture within the team.”We’ve come this way with the talent of our players, the issue is the consistency of them utilising that talent. The players know this as well. They all have a responsibility to build a culture within the team. Each player has that responsibility.”They have to do it on their own though, it’s not someone can just come and instil. The biggest challenge is building that culture along while winning. My biggest belief is that culture precedes strategy. If that culture is there then the team strategy will be easy to execute. If we can do that then this team will go a long way.”

Romario Shepherd strikes key blows to seal nervous DLS-adjusted chase

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Dec-2023West Indies 191 for 6 (Carty 50, Jacks 3-22) beat England 206 for 9 (Duckett 71, Forde 3-29, Joseph 3-61) by four wickets (DLS method)West Indies secured a long-awaited 2-1 series win over England with victory by four wickets in the third ODI in BarbadosNot since 2007 had they enjoyed a 50-over success against England, who themselves craved a positive result here to move on from their abject title defence at the World Cup. West Indies, who failed to make it to India after falling in the qualifier, also registered their first bilateral win against a Full Member nation in more than two-and-a-half years.It was a largely torturous affair after rain that delayed the start by two hours and then interrupted England’s innings, which began as a 43-over affair before morphing into a 40-over one. The tourists scraped 206 for 9 before another delay, which left West Indies needing 188 from 34 overs, a target they achieved with 14 balls to spare.Debutant Matthew Forde set things in motion in front of his home crowd, taking 3 for 29 to reduce England to 49 for 5 inside 10 overs. Keacy Carty then showed his class with a second career half-century, after making 16 and a duck in his first two knocks of the series, before Romario Shepherd repeated his 28-ball cameo from Antigua, scoring an unbeaten 41 this time to take them over the line.For England and Jos Buttler, who lost the toss and returned a first-ball duck, it was another blow to wear in what has been a harrowing winter for the ODI set-up. That being said, they were favourites on the home stretch, thanks to a fine spell of 3 for 22 from Will Jacks. The Surrey opener helped level the series with 73 in the second ODI and looked to be turning things with his offspin. Having not been utilised in the field during the first match, he was able to return career-best List A figures.After sharing the honours in the two opening exchanges in Antigua, this showdown in Barbados was supposed to provide an opportunity for both teams to secure a nourishing series win.Having dealt with unchanged line-ups for the first two ODIs, a single tweak was made to each XI. England were pushed into action with illness ruling out Brydon Carse, giving his Durham team-mate Matthew Potts a fourth ODI cap. West Indies, however, opted for a tactical shift in rotating out Oshane Thomas for Forde.The 21-year-old needed just 25 balls to pick up his first three wickets, utilising the moisture in the air and extra life in the pitch to give himself a day to remember. Playing in just his 13th List A match, Forde was entrusted to open the bowling and repaid Shai Hope’s faith by prising out Phil Salt at the end of the first over for his maiden dismissal.Ben Duckett and Liam Livingstone put on an 88-run stand•Getty Images

Salt was typically bullish, flaying the second delivery over point for four, but botched a drive to Alzarri Joseph at mid-off whose catch passed the sniff test after the umpires sent it upstairs to check it was clean. Bounce then did for Zak Crawley, attempting to leave outside off stump only for the ball to lift and kiss the glove for a dolly to Alick Athanaze at second slip.The best of the opening trio was the removal of Jacks. Forde angled one into the right-hander which held its line enough on pitching to skim Jacks’ edge through to Hope, making it 45 for 3 at the start of the ninth over – the last of the first powerplay with the revised playing conditions.Things went from bad to comical for England in the next over. Joseph was brought into the attack for the 10th and was loose enough to field his second delivery into the leg side before throwing down the non-striker’s end stumps after Harry Brook had tipped and run for an ambitious single. Two balls later, Buttler was walking off for a golden duck having top-edged a well-directed short ball from Joseph to Gudakesh Motie down at fine leg.And so came an all-too-familiar sense of dread from an English perspective. As impressively as Forde had begun, the situation was reminiscent of the various moments of disarray England had found themselves in during the 2023 World Cup, with a few new faces.It was one of those new faces in Ben Duckett who set about the rebuild. Having arrived on the scene in the third over – England were only two down by then – he was an engaging presence at the crease even amid the decline at the other end.Both he and Liam Livingstone set about ticking over, safe in the knowledge that Forde’s six overs meant they would not be seeing him for a while. They knocked about spinners Motie and Yannic Cariah with ease – the latter guided through point for the single to take Duckett to his fourth ODI score of 50 or more, from 56 deliveries.The the pair exchanged sixes to score 17 from the 22nd over, delivered by Joseph. Duckett’s, the first of the innings, came over fine leg before Livingstone heaved over midwicket. The tide seemed to be turning, particularly when Livingstone was given a life on 31 when Carty shelled a straightforward high catch out at deep square leg after an unnecessary hack across the line.That should have been a learning experience for the Lancashire allrounder. But he fell on 45 to an even worse shot, clothing to mid-on when trying to clear the straight boundary. A dismissal made all the worse coming 17 balls after Duckett had unwittingly prodded to midwicket to end his impressive resistance, and the sixth-wicket stand on 88.Sam Curran and Rehan Ahmed took the score to 161 for 7 after 33 overs before more rain lopped off three further overs, putting the onus on the tail to pitch in. Joseph profited, Rehan scuffing a rising delivery through to Hope, then Curran skewing a shorter, slower delivery out to Motie at deep third. But Atkinson and Potts were able to find 35 unbeaten runs between them to take England to 206. They would have had to settle for 190 had Carty not dropped his second catch of the innings when Potts chipped to him at cover.Keacy Carty acknowledges his half-century•AFP/Getty Images

Atkinson carried that responsibility over the elongated innings break and into his work with the ball, striking with his second delivery as Brandon King crunched a drive straight to Jacks at cover. Athanaze and Carty then set about a run-a-ball stand of 76 which seemed to take the sting out of the chase.Athanaze was back in the groove that allowed him to strum a classy 66 in the first ODI, driving everything overpitched, occasionally dealing with flourishes to pick boundaries through the leg side. When a googly from Rehan passed his edge and clipped off stump through to Buttler’s gloves without dislodging a bail, you wondered if the left-hander would see things through to the end.Alas, he would be yorked by Atkinson for 44, having added just one more run, and that triggered a four-wicket collapse for just 44. Hope, the only centurion of the series after his first ODI heroics, was seen off for 15 after turning Rehan to Potts at midwicket. Shimron Hetmyer cut straight to point off Jacks, who then had Sherfane Rutherford caught at long-on.As the required rate ticked above six-an-over, the onus was on the new batter, Shepherd. Initially, his role was to play second fiddle to Carty, who brought up a half-century from 56 deliveries. Two balls later, Carty danced down and bunted a return catch to Jacks for his third wicket, shifting the focus squarely on Shepherd. And he delivered.His first six was a towering effort off Rehan that just cleared Crawley at long-on. Numbers two and three came in successive deliveries at the start of Atkinson’s sixth over – the most expensive of the match at 24 – both off full tosses. Forde chipped in with a flick around the corner for his first boundary, before Shepherd closed it out with a powerful straight strike all along the floor to leave just nine needed from the final 18 deliveries.With the help of five wides from Livingstone, they would come in the next four legal deliveries, with Shepherd securing the moment of glory with a fine sweep for his sixth and final boundary.

The left-arm quick has thanked the team for changing his life after starring in their BBL final triumph

Tristan Lavalette24-Jan-2024An emotional Spencer Johnson has said Brisbane Heat have “changed my life” after leading them to an upset 54-run victory over Sydney Sixers in the BBL final.Left-arm quick Johnson was the Player of the Match after picking up 4 for 26, the best figures recorded in a BBL final, as Heat ended an 11-year drought to capture their second title.Related

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It was sweet redemption for Heat, who were unable to defend 175 in a heartbreaking defeat in last season’s epic final against Perth Scorchers.But Johnson, one of eight players in Heat’s Wednesday line-up who were part of that bitter defeat in Perth, led from the front with the wickets of top-order batters Josh Philippe and Jack Edwards before closing the door on Sixers by dismissing Ben Dwarshuis in the power surge.He finished his brilliant effort by snaring Hayden Kerr as the celebrations started for Heat.It’s the latest spectacular performance for Johnson, who burst to prominence during last season’s BBL by unleashing 145kph thunderbolts with his left-arm angle and towering height making him almost unplayable at times.He made his international debut for Australia in white-ball cricket last year and looms as a player of significant interest for the national hierarchy despite being overlooked for the T20I and ODI squads for the upcoming series against West Indies.”I owe Brisbane Heat everything. Coming up here last year, I didn’t know where my career was going and now I’ve just won a Big Bash with 11 of my closest mates,” a visibly emotional Johnson told Fox Sports.”Twelve months ago, I wasn’t in this position. And I think the Brisbane Heat have changed my life. So it’s pretty special.”Johnson and Heat’s miserly attack sealed a victory set up brilliantly by opener Josh Brown, who blasted 53 off 38 balls on a tricky SCG surface after Sixers surprisingly elected to bowl in overcast and humid conditions.It was a superb follow-up to his extraordinary 140 off 57 balls against Adelaide Strikers in the Challenger as Heat finished with a total of 166 for 8 that proved more than enough.”Credit to the batters. Browny again, got us to a total that we can defend and I feel like we were the best team all year so I think we deserve to have the medal around our necks,” Johnson said.Spurred by the painful memories of last year’s final, Heat finished on top of the ladder before exacting revenge over Sixers, who had easily won the Qualifier on the Gold Coast.”The boys with the ball have been incredible all year. To defend that with ease was really special for them,” said batter Matt Renshaw, who smashed 40 off 22 balls to spark Heat at the death.”We’re a real squad mentality. Everyone has contributed on and off the field.”Unlike his teammates, Renshaw will have to temper his celebrations ahead of a 10am flight to Brisbane on Thursday as he races to be part of Australia’s squad for the pink-ball second Test against West Indies.”I’m going to try and keep it a quiet night,” he said. “I’ll be watching all the other boys. It will be good fun.”

This ends India’s reign as the top team across all three formats

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2024Australia have replaced India as the No.1-ranked Test team in the ICC rankings. Prior to this, Australia had held the top spot briefly following their win in the World Test Championship final in June.Before the latest update, both Australia and India had a rating of 118 each, but India were ahead on points. However, India lost one rating point after they drew their two-match series in South Africa 1-1, and are now placed second. Australia, meanwhile, beat Pakistan in the first two Tests to stay on 118 rating points.This also means India’s reign as the No. 1 team across all three formats has come to an end. In last September, they had become only the second team in men’s history to occupy the top spot across formats.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

India and Australia also occupy the top two spots in ODIs. India are No. 1 with a rating of 121, Australia just below with 117.In T20Is, India (265) have a lead of nine over the second-placed England (256).When it comes to player rankings, Kane Williamson, Babar Azam and Suryakumar Yadav are the No. 1 batters in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively.Among bowlers, three spinners – R Ashwin in Tests, Keshav Maharaj in ODIs and Adil Rashid in T20Is – occupy the top spots.

Chasing 249 set by Queensland, Carey hit a composed 111 from 135 balls to control the hosts’ innings and get them home with 14 balls to spare

AAP24-Feb-2024Nicola Carey hit Tasmania to a WNCL three-peat, with an unbeaten century lifting them to a six-wicket win over Queensland in the final.Chasing 249, Carey hit a composed 111 from 135 balls to control the hosts innings and get them home with 14 balls to spare at Blundstone Arena.Perennial battlers in the 50-over competition for their first 10 seasons after joining in 2010-11, Tasmania only won their first title in 2022 before backing it up with two more.And they can thank Carey for the latest one. Not picked for Australia since December 2022, Carey knocked back a national contract last April in a bid to rejuvenate her game with a full winter at home. The decision has paid dividends. The one-time bowling allrounder topped the run-scoring charts in this summer’s WNCL, with Saturday’s runs taking her past 696 for the season. Carey’s runs came at an average of 69.6, a mark only bettered by Meg Lanning this season.On Saturday, Carey barely offered a chance, pulling powerfully and twice reverse-sweeping spinner Charlie Knott to the boundary. She brought up her century off 128 balls, after previously forming a 132-run partnership with Heather Graham (63 off 75) that swung the match.Queensland briefly had a sniff when Graham was bowled trying to reverse sweep Georgia Voll, before Naomi Stalenberg was caught three balls later for a duck. At that point Tasmania needed 67 runs from 68 balls with six wickets in hand, but Carey and Emma Manix-Geeves ensured there would be no late jitters.”I’m relieved, that was stressful,” Carey said. “I felt scratchy but Heather and EMG made my life so much easier. I love batting with Heather, it’s always good fun. She makes it look really easy and I make it look harder.”Earlier, Graham also took 3 for 39 with the ball to stop any hope of Queensland setting an unattainable target. With Queesland 115 for 2 in the 28th over, Graham got a ball to skid on and bowl Lauren Winfield-Hill for 28. She then had Mikayla Hinkley lbw on 33, before bowling a hard-hitting Knott for 73 late in the innings to keep Queensland to 248 for 7.Tasmania’s victory makes them the second state to achieve a hat-trick of titles in the WNCL, with NSW having at one stage won 10 straight between 2005-06 and 2014-15.

Their previous tour to Bangladesh had ended on a bitter note, with Harmanpreet questioning the umpiring standards

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Apr-2024India Women’s five-match T20I tour of Bangladesh will start on April 28, with Sylhet to host all five matches.The three night games will be played in the main stadium, and the two day games will be held at the outer venue. The night games will start at 6.30pm local time and day games at 2pm.India will see this series as a preparation for the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will also be played in Bangladesh, in September-October.This is India’s second tour of Bangladesh in two years, and their third overall. In 2023, they had played three T20Is and as many ODIs. They won the T20I series 2-1, while the ODI series was tied 1-1.That tour had ended on a bitter note with India captain Harmanpreet Kaur criticising the umpires after the third ODI, which was tied. After being given out caught behind, Harmanpreet had smashed the stumps with her bat, and called the umpiring “pathetic” at the post-match presentation.”The next time whenever we are coming to Bangladesh, we’ll have to make sure we have to deal with this kind of umpiring and accordingly, we’ll have to prepare ourselves,” she had said. For her outburst, she was banned for two matches by the ICC.Smriti Mandhana, India’s vice-captain, had also hoped for neutral umpires for the next tour.The Indian team will arrive in Bangladesh on April 23.Fixtures

• April 28 – 1st T20I (night)
• April 30 – 2nd T20I (night)
• May 2 – 3rd T20I (day)
• May 6 – 4th T20I (day)
• May 9 – 5th T20I (night)

Former South Africa limited-overs captain appointed as head coach for the next three years

Alex Malcolm13-May-2024Former South Africa limited-overs captain Johan Botha has been appointed as the new head coach of BBL reigning champions Brisbane Heat and Queensland in state cricket for the next three years.Botha, 42, was appointed in the wake of Wade Seccombe’s departure. He has previous head coach experience in the PSL, CPL and ILT20. Queensland WNCL and Brisbane Heat women’s coach Ashley Noffke and former England allrounder Adam Hollioake were also in the mix for the job.Related

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Speaking in Brisbane on Tuesday following his appointment, Botha said he already had a few existing relationships with Queensland and Heat players. He had played with Michael Neser at Adelaide Strikers and coached Colin Munro in the PSL but had also played against a lot of the players in his career. He said his experience of coaching Usman Khawaja at Islamabad United should give the players a sense that his style is different to his approach as a player.”I think chatting to him [Khawaja] during PSL and post PSL he just said to me, he was so surprised at how different I was as a coach to a player,” Botha said. “I think he’s had a little taste of me. Hopefully, he’s spread that to the group that what you played against is a little bit different, which I think is a good thing.”Botha is an Australian citizen after moving to Adelaide in 2012 to play full-time for South Australia which effectively ended his international career with South Africa after he had played five Tests, 78 ODIs and 40 T20Is, including captaining his country in 21 white-ball matches.He captained South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup for two years before resigning midway through the 2014-15 season to allow Travis Head to take over. Botha also has extensive playing experience in the BBL having played 71 matches with Adelaide Strikers, Sydney Sixers and Hobart Hurricanes. He retired abruptly in 2019 to take up a coaching opportunity in the PSL but came out of retirement as a fill-in during the Covid-ravaged season of 2020-21.Botha has accrued extensive coaching experience around the world in recent years. He has been head coach of three PSL sides, Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings and Islamabad United. He also coached Guyana Amazon Warriors in the CPL and led them to the final in 2019 with a unique spin-heavy team.He was the head coach of Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20 last season, although they finished last, and was assistant coach of Seattle Orcas in MLC when they finished runners-up last year. He was also an assistant coach with Strikers in the BBL as recently as 2022-23.Johan Botha captained South Africa 21 times•Getty Images

Botha credited the late Australian great Dean Jones and Tom Moody as key coaching mentors during his early forays into coaching.”I think the big thing with Deano was he was so far ahead of his generation,” he said. “He understood T20 cricket. He never played it but he just understood it. And he was great for just relating to players.”He almost did a Phil Jackson-Dennis Rodman scenario once. He let Alex Hales go back to Dubai for five days. And I said, ‘Deano what are you doing? He’s never going to come back.’ But he said, ‘Just trust me, he will come back, and he will make some runs.’ And that’s exactly what he did. So that was a great example to trust your players. And I’m not sure if I could have done it at that point. But I trusted him, he was the man in charge, and sure enough, Halesy came back and he made some runs for us.”The coaching recruitment process was run by Queensland’s head of elite cricket Joe Dawes, CEO Terry Svenson and Queensland board director and former Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy. It is understood Dawes and the Queensland Cricket Board were looking for a coach with a harder edge and they feel they have found that person in Botha.”Johan is a fiercely motivated and determined person and has consistently displayed those traits during his playing and coaching career,” Dawes said. “He is very much at the cutting edge of the game internationally and will bring a fresh and dynamic outlook to our organisation and especially the Bulls and championship Brisbane Heat squads.”Botha acknowledged his biggest challenge will be coaching the Shield side given all of his coaching experience has come in the T20 space. “I’ve played a lot of four-day and one-day cricket but I haven’t coached it,” he said. “So I think that’s going to be a little bit of a challenge to start with.”

England captain pinpoints powerplay assault as key factor in close contest

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-20241:21

Morkel: De Kock doesn’t overthink the game

England captain Jos Buttler described Quinton de Kock’s innings of 65 from 38 balls as “probably the difference” between the sides after South Africa closed out a seven-run win in St Lucia to extend their winning run at the T20 World Cup 2024 to six games.De Kock struck four sixes on the way to a 22-ball half-century, helping South Africa finish the powerplay on 63 without loss. With the surface notably slower than during the four preceding evening games at the Daren Sammy Stadium, South Africa could only post 163 for 6 at the end of 20 overs but they had enough in the bank to hold England at arm’s length.”I’d say in the powerplay, actually,” Buttler said, when asked at the post-match presentation where England had lost the game. “Quinton de Kock came out with a lot of intensity in that powerplay, and we couldn’t quite match that. I think we were probably 20 behind them after six overs. The wicket slowed up and we brought it back really well, we were quite happy chasing 160 [164]. But yeah, they bowled well in the powerplay and Quinton de Kock’s innings was probably the difference.”Related

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England, by contrast, lost Phil Salt on the way to 41 for 1 from the first six overs of their chase, with Jonny Bairstow falling shortly after. When Buttler was dismissed for 17 off 20 and Moeen Ali holed out two overs later – both dismissed by Keshav Maharaj – England were 61 for 4 with 103 still required from 9.4 overs.A stand of 78 in 42 balls between Harry Brook and Liam Livingstone edged them back into contention, the pair taking 21 off Ottneil Baartman’s 17th over to bring the equation down to 25 needed from the last three. But Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje held their nerve to close out victory.”I think it’s still a good wicket,” Buttler said. “A little bit slower than we probably expected, but as I said, we were quite happy chasing 160. We came back really well with the ball after how well Quinny played in the powerplay. I thought Brook and Livingstone had a fantastic partnership there to take us so close and at one stage [we were] looking like favourites but it’s never quite as simple as that in T20 cricket and credit to South Africa for closing it out.”I thought we were really good [with the ball]. As I said, the powerplay was the best time to bat, and I think Quinny recognised that and took some calculated risks. But yeah, the bowling performance, to come back and restrict a really powerful line-up to what I thought was a par score was a great effort.”Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks added 86 in 9.5 overs for the opening wicket•Associated Press

Defeat means England will have to beat USA in their final Group 2 game to retain hopes of reaching the semi-finals and defending their trophy, with the potential for net run rate to again be the decider.The equation for South Africa is more straightforward, with victory over West Indies on Sunday guaranteeing them a semi-final spot. Aiden Markram’s side have now won six games in a row, a run which has seen them prevail in several close finishes, and the captain praised their “fighting spirit” after holding off England’s charge at the end.”Yeah, we’ve had a few of those so far this comp,” Markram said. “But specifically today’s, probably getting to those last three overs and it looks like the odds will be heavily against you, and for the bowlers to hang in there, have really good plans and ultimately get the execution right, shows a lot of skill. But I think it comes from deeper and that fighting spirit, like you mentioned, helped us a lot.”On his bowlers’ approach between overs 15 and 17, during which Brook and Livingstone defied the conditions to add 52, Markram was philosophical.”It’s always a tricky one, you want to see the bowlers’ best skills. You want to give him the freedom to bowl his best ball first before changing to conditions. It was a bit nerve-wracking there in those overs. The plans were okay but the execution let us down, but that’s okay, that’s part of the game. You do have to give credit to Liam and to Brooky, they put us under the pump, and ultimately in the last few overs it was good to see the bowlers respond.”Markram also pinpointed the start de Kock gave his side, given the way conditions changed, adding that he felt South Africa were “getting closer to the really complete game” with their latest performance.”I thought Quinny and Reeza [Hendricks] took on the powerplay beautifully for us but then it definitely got slower,” he said. “I probably wanted another 10-20 runs, being greedy, especially on the back of that really good start. We needed to try and squeeze in the middle, try and save as many runs as we could in the field and build pressure that way. As a whole, we are probably getting closer to the really complete game of cricket. Not quite there just yet, but we are definitely on the right track.”