Derbyshire suffered their first complete wash-out in the County Championship in 35 years after no play was possible for the third day running against Northamptonshire at Chesterfield

ECB Reporters Network06-Jul-2016Derbyshire v Northamptonshire – match abandoned without a ball being bowled
There wasn’t too much danger of flying balls at Chesterfield on another washed out day•Getty Images

Derbyshire suffered their first complete wash-out in the County Championship in 35 years after no play was possible for the third day running against Northamptonshire at Chesterfield.Play was abandoned after umpires Neil Mallender and Ian Blackwell decided the bowler’s run-ups were still unsafe and the match was officially called off in mid-afternoon following an inspection by umpires, captain and coaches.Although no rain has fallen during the hours of play in recent days, the Queen’s Park ground is still saturated from heavy rainfall through June.Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely said: “It’s one of the most bizarre games of cricket I’ve ever been involved in.”It’s a great ground and great place to play cricket but unfortunately the weather had taken its toll from the previous week with the heavy rain completely saturating the run-ups and they’re still unstable.”I think if you bowled on them for four or five overs you would be churning up mud. We got bowlers to run in but they didn’t feel confident and with our injury issues we had to be pretty careful.”But it wasn’t our decision, the umpires deemed it unfit and although it’s frustrating, there’s nothing we can do about it.”The washout is a major setback for the Chesterfield festival, which has also lost the chance to host Sunday’s NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Yorkshire after the club made the decision to shift the fixture to Derby.Chief Executive, Simon Storey said: “Chesterfield is a special venue and everyone puts a huge amount of time, planning and preparation into delivering a successful festival each year.”Unfortunately, following the recent bad weather over the last few weeks, the outfield has taken on a huge amount of water and is still saturated despite the recent sunshine. In the interest of player safety, no play has been possible.”It’s clearly very disappointing that the weather has beaten us this year but we remain committed to bringing county cricket to Queen’s Park.”The Festival is so much more than just cricket and helps put Chesterfield on the map. Since county cricket returned to Chesterfield in 2006, we have been able to build strong partnerships with Chesterfield Cricket Club and Chesterfield Borough Council.”

Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat has declared his board’s support for the introduction of two divisions in Test cricket

Tim Wigmore08-Aug-2016Cricket South Africa chief executive Haroon Lorgat has declared his board’s support for the introduction of two divisions in Test cricket, as debate intensifies about the future of the game.”Test cricket is already fading and will die if nothing is done,” Lorgat said. “South Africa would support a two-tier Test system in order to create meaningful context for Test match cricket. Currently there is little or no meaning when countries play against each other in bilateral Test matches, save for the Ashes.”The model of two division Test cricket devised by the ICC would feature seven teams in division one and five in division two, with each team playing a series either home or away against the others in their divisions over a two-year cycle. The standings would then be used to determine the overall winner of the Test league, and promotion and relegation between the two divisions. The winners of the Intercontinental Cup, the first-class competition for Associate nations, would also be able to win promotion to division two.”A two-tier system with promotion and relegation will allow for a much better narrative plus two more teams will have the opportunity to play Test match cricket,” Lorgat said. “The Test league can also link down to the Intercontinental Cup where again promotion and relegation will create context and opportunity for other countries.”The news that South Africa endorse the two division plan follows officials from Australia, England and New Zealand supporting the proposals, which are favoured by ICC chief executive David Richardson.Although Anurag Thakur, the president of the BCCI, recently voiced his opposition to two divisions, some other Full Members remain hopeful that the plans could yet pass. Any change would need the vote of seven of the ten Full Members on the ICC board, and Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also expressed their opposition to two divisions. One insider said that they believed that Pakistan lean towards supporting two divisions, but Zimbabwe are believed to be reluctant.West Indies have still not decided on their stance. “At this point in time the West Indies Cricket Board does not have enough information to make an informed decision,” Dave Cameron, the president of the WICB, said. “However in world football there are no divisions with over 200 nations participation, and so off the bat we cannot see the need for divisions if we have 12 teams participating in Test cricket.”While Thakur said that the BCCI was worried that “the smaller countries will lose out” under the proposals, Lorgat does not think this would be the case. As well as Associate nations benefiting from the introduction of promotion and relegation, he also said that lower-ranked Full Members, like Bangladesh, could stand to gain from the reforms. “In the proposed system they will have certainty of Test fixtures compared to now when they are at the mercy of countries playing against them.” Sides in division two would also be free to organise extra matches against division one teams.The ICC is due to meet in Dubai next month for a special meeting to discuss comprehensive reforms to the structure of cricket, including the introduction of two divisions in Tests, a 13-team ODI league and ratifying bringing the World T20 back to a once-in-two-years event.

Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard will play a reduced role in talks over the next payment deal between the players and Cricket Australia

Daniel Brettig23-Aug-2016Australia’s team performance manager Pat Howard will play a reduced role in talks over the next payment deal between the players and Cricket Australia, with fellow senior executive Kevin Roberts set to work as the Board’s chief negotiator.The decision to sideline Howard arrived ahead of the formal start to the MOU negotiating period, on October 1, in which CA are expected to pressure the Australian Cricketers Association for a change to the fixed revenue percentage model that has endured since the ACA was formed in 1997. Australian players are entitled to a share of between 24.5% and 27% of annual cricket revenue depending on performance.Howard was a leading figure in a pair of fractious pay negotiations over the past four years, debating the last MOU signed with the men in 2012 and then finding himself in several stoushes with the ACA over an agreement for women’s pay earlier this year.Roberts, who has been an industrious figure at CA since becoming the first person in history to resign as a Board director to join management, has been deemed better placed to deal with the ACA both as a personality – he played first-class cricket where Howard did not – and also because he is based in Melbourne where most talks will be held.”Kevin will take a lead role and that’s fine,” Howard told ESPNcricinfo. “He heads up strategy and human resources and it makes sense to do industrial relations. I will be across it, I’m involved the whole way along. But you’ve got CA located in Melbourne, the ACA’s located in Melbourne, I’m on the road a fair bit, so it makes perfect sense.”I’m across the whole thing; I was the only one left who was sitting at the last negotiation so I have a reasonable amount of IP [intellectual property] in this, and I see what works on the road. So Kevin will take that role. It actually makes sense when you remove the personalities. I was there last time because it worked for the organisation.”There had been some scepticism among the players about Howard’s dual roles as the senior executive chiefly accountable for the national team’s performanc,e while at the same time bringing his forceful personality to bear in collective bargaining between the players and the Board.”It was really challenging, but a role I’d done before,” Howard said. “In many roles, your manager has to decide where your remuneration is but also be really positive about where you’re going to grow. I’m very much a link between the playing group and CA, between the strategy and the team.”I’m well aware I want to win as much as anyone and make sure the team has got the resources to win – how do we give ourselves the best chance of winning? I want to give the team the best chance of winning, and you try to do that for the best bang for your buck.”Since the 2012 deal, the ACA has lost its chief executive Paul Marsh to the equivalent role at the head of the AFL players association, and this year has also seen the departure of the head of operations Graham Manou to a talent pathway role at CA. The Board chairman David Peever was outspoken in favour of bypassing unions in negotiations with employees during his former role as managing director of the mining company Rio Tinto, and the chief executive James Sutherland gave little away when asked whether the fixed revenue model would be challenged in coming talks.”I don’t know whether it will be up for debate or not, but certainly from our perspective we’ll take a position of having discussions behind closed doors,” Sutherland said. “I certainly don’t intend to go into detail as to what our position might be on the MOU at this time.”

First-innings centurion Dimuth Karunaratne scored an unbeaten 39 to guide Sri Lanka A to a seven-wicket win over West Indies A

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Dimuth Karunaratne top-scored in the second innings with an unbeaten 39 to see Sri Lanka A through•Getty Images

First-innings centurion Dimuth Karunaratne scored an unbeaten 39 to guide Sri Lanka A to a seven-wicket win over West Indies A in the first match of West Indies A’s tour of Sri Lanka. After taking the last wicket to bowl out West Indies A for 175, Sri Lanka A knocked off the 66-run target in 20.3 overs.The day began with West Indies A on an overnight score of 165-9 and a lead of 55. They added only ten more runs before Lakshan Sandakan picked up his fourth wicket, getting No. 11 Reynard Leveridge stumped. Keon Joseph, who had resisted with Gudakesh Moti-Kanhai in a ninth-wicket stand the previous evening, remained unbeaten on 12 off 73 balls.Lahiru Thirimanne, who had played his last Test in June, was promoted to open with Karunaratne. He scored 21 in a 43-run opening stand, before Rahkeem Cornwall trapped in him in front.Fast-bowler Joseph removed Roshen Silva in the following over and Charith Asalanka shortly after. But Sri Lanka A were never in any danger as Niroshan Dickwella joined Karunaratne to see them through.

Bangladesh suffered an abysmal collapse of 9 for 49 in their first innings but then removed three England wickets before rain brought an early finished to the first day of the Dhaka Test

The Report by Alan Gardner28-Oct-2016
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThis was a day of Test cricket in two halves. During the first 41 overs, with Tamim Iqbal in imperious form, 171 runs were scored and just one wicket fell; from the 35.2 bowled thereafter, the corresponding returns were 99 and 12. By the time rain arrived to cut the evening session short, with England three-down in their reply to 220, it was unclear quite where the balance of power resided.Bangladesh’s innings had lurched from the serene to the tremulous. An astonishing collapse either side of the tea interval resulted in a nausea-inducing slide of 9 for 49, a seemingly dominant position reduced to rubble. Moeen Ali was the main catalyst and beneficiary for England, although Ben Stokes’ steadfast spell of 6-2-7-2 before tea deserved high praise, his mastery of reverse swing once again causing the sorts of problems that spin – initially at least – had failed to achieve.Momentum was certainly with England as they began their innings, having fought back from one of their worst bowling performances of recent memory, but once again a fragile top-order was exposed by spinners more confident in their craft. Ben Duckett fell in the second over, before Mehedi Hasan removed Alastair Cook – lbw via the latest review in a series stuffed with them – and Gary Ballance to leave England 42 for 3 and looking anxiously to Joe Root for the required innings of substance.Despite losing a wicket in the third over of the day, Tamim’s third Test hundred against England had given Bangladesh a solid foundation and left Cook frantically shuffling through his bowling options. Mominul Haque scored a crisp half-century as he and Tamim inflicted fresh psychological blows on an already beleaguered spin cohort during a stand of 170 – Bangladesh’s highest for the second wicket against England – which came at a rate comfortably above four an over.Tamim bestrode the morning and early afternoon during a regal innings full of judicious stroke-making that culminated in two full-blooded drives through the covers to go to three figures, though he did not add many more having unwisely chosen to pad up to Moeen’s arm ball. Mominul’s first significant contribution of the series was also an accomplished knock but he was then bowled for 66 playing back to a similar delivery. That over, the 46th of the innings, was the first maiden bowled by a spinner, a measure of how England had been unable to contain the pair.The twist, when it came, was a sharp one and all the more surprising after England’s subcontinental weak spot had been exposed again. Following on from Tamim and Monimul, the next-highest score was 13, as Stokes once more exerted his will on proceedings by providing both control and penetration, while Moeen located a groove to finish with 5 for 57 – only his second five-for in Tests.Stokes’ threat was also physical, as Mushfiqur Rahim could attest. With the ball reversing, Stokes had Mahmudullah taken at slip and he then roughed up Mushfiqur with a snorting bouncer that struck the Bangladesh captain on the back of the helmet as he turned away. He got up to carry on after treatment by the physio but was back in the changing room minutes later after a brilliant catch from Cook at leg slip, who clung on at the second attempt after Mushfiqur had inside-edged a glance off Moeen through his legs.Sabbir Rahman, so nearly the hero of Chittagong, fell meekly to Stokes with the tea interval approaching; Chris Woakes struck twice straight after, having Shuvagata Hom and Shakib Al Hasan caught behind; and England successfully turned to the DRS to have Mehedi lbw before Moeen rounded things up when Kamrul Islam Rabbi was taken at slip.Mushfiqur’s head must have been spinning twice over. He had had better luck at the start of his 50th Test, having won the toss and decided to bat first – just the sort of good fortune he must have hoped for after electing to go in with a fourth spinner on a cracked surface that was expected to turn.It could yet prove decisive, after Tamim rammed home the initial advantage. His eighth fifty-plus score against England in 11 innings came after Woakes had picked up a wicket in his second over and helped Bangladesh respond emphatically during a rousing stand with Mominul. Tamim motored to 60-ball fifty, having failed to score off his first 19 deliveries during a watchful opening, and also successfully utilised the review system – such a feature of the first Test – by overturning a caught-behind decision on 66, shortly before the lunch break.Cook struggled for control throughout the morning session, with only Stokes going at less than three runs an over. Zafar Ansari, into the side as one of two changes from England’s victory in Chittagong, suffered a chastening introduction to Test cricket as his first six overs were taxed to the tune of 36 runs. The debutant left-armer was not seen again.England had found success after being put into the field, throttling the scoring and removing Imrul Kayes, and after four overs the card had gone nowhere at 1 for 1. Mominul eased the pressure with a brace of boundaries off Woakes; Tamim, meanwhile, was content to bide his time against the new ball.Cook turned to Moeen in the seventh over but the sight of spin encouraged Tamim to kick into gear as he stepped out to drive his first boundary. Three fours off Woakes – leg-side flick, back-foot drive and a meaty pull – confirmed that he had hit his stride and another brace came in the next over, as Tamim welcomed Ansari by crunching him through the covers and down the ground. Ansari did succeed in drawing an edge with his second delivery, though it scuttled wide of slip for three, and his opening over cost 13 runs, England still no nearer to finding a spinner who could offer control.Mominul happily ceded the impetus to his partner, as Bangladesh reached the top of the hour in a much more comfortable position at 67 for 1, with England also wasting a review against Tamim when he padded up to a Moeen delivery that was shown to be bouncing over the stumps. Tamim’s fifty came up via a sweep off Ansari and it took a vigorous spell from Stokes to ensure Bangladesh’s progress would not be completely unfettered.It was Stokes who thought he had broken through, too, when Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger for a catch down the leg side. However, DRS quickly confirmed that the ball had flicked Tamim’s thigh pad rather than glove, the procession of successful reviews growing longer. Tamim then took a blow to the ribs from a Stokes short ball before Mominul stroked the 15th boundary of the morning sessions to ensure Bangladesh went in to lunch far the happier of the two sides. Then things got a lot more complicated.

Twelve hours after his career-best 3 for 36 in his first ODI at home, wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi was named in South Africa’s Test squad. And he wasn’t letting much on

Firdose Moonda10-Oct-2016Twelve hours after his career-best 3 for 36 in his first ODI at home, wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi was named in South Africa’s Test squad. And he wasn’t letting much on.”Test cricket is one of my aspirations so if I get an opportunity, I will take it on board and see how it goes,” Shamsi told reporters in Port Elizabeth.The next morning, Shamsi’s dream came true. As one of two uncapped spinners in the squad and the one with international experience, Shamsi is more likely to debut in Australia than Keshav Maharaj, Dolphins’ left-arm spinner who is also in the squad. His first-class numbers suggest that he could be successful both as a wicket-taker and as a holding bowler if needed.Statistically, Shamsi has managed to combine the roles well. In the 2013-14 season when playing for Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland, Shamsi was the third-highest wicket-taker in the provincial three-day competition. He took 47 wickets at 20.02 and at an economy of 3.20. Last season, his breakthrough summer in franchise cricket, he finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Sunfoil Series, South Africa’s first-class competition, with 41 scalps at 19.97 and an economy of 3.29.Shamsi’s variations caught the eyes of the IPL, the CPL and the South African selectors who included him in a triangular series in the Caribbean in June. There, he played alongside Imran Tahir, who has become a mentor of sorts.”Having Immi around is a blessing in disguise for me. There’s a lot I can learn from him,” Shamsi said. “He is trying to pass on the things he has learned to me, so that I can get it quicker than he did, because to know those things can take a good few years. He is the best guy to have around me. We speak quite a lot, about game plans and field placings, and all kinds of things.”Another talking point could be Tahir’s underwhelming Test career, which reached its lowest point in Australia. Tahir conceded 260 runs without a wicket in Adelaide and could not properly re-establish himself in the longest format. While South Africa’s strong pace pack was one of the reasons Tahir struggled to find his place, his own enthusiasm also undid him. He was criticised for trying too hard and not being discerning enough in making use of his repertoire. Shamsi, who also has several variations in his skill-set, may look to learn from the Tahir lesson.Both wristspinners have more in common than ability though, which may be why they get on so well. Tahir and Shamsi have both made names for being expressive on the field, with Tahir’s sprint celebrations and Shamsi’s bus-driver impression becoming YouTube hits. And Shamsi has shown he can go the other way too. He had a fiery exchange with Matthew Wade during the fourth ODI and could have a laugh about afterwards.”It (banter) does get me going,” Shamsi admitted. “There wasn’t any fight. We were just discussing where we were going to have dinner and we couldn’t come to an agreement. I enjoy that kind of stuff, it gets me going and it gets the team going.”A Test series in Australia is certain to require more of that and South Africa may feel they have the earned the right to engage in on-field chatter. Even though Kyle Abbott played down an advantage the ODI series win will give the Test side, South Africa’s dominance will not go unnoticed but Shamsi confirmed they are wary of being overconfident. “Winning and losing is a habit. We are winning now. The guys are confident. The group has a brilliant work ethic but we haven’t ever felt like we’ve done the job.”

Comilla Victorians put together their highest total of this season’s BPL, allowing their bowlers enough cushion to set up a victory that came after five successive losses

Mohammad Isam19-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNazmul Hossain Shanto struck four boundaries in his 40-ball 41•BCB

Comilla Victorians ended a string of five successive losses with a 32-run victory over Rajshahi Kings. The defending champions scored their highest total while batting first in this season, to give their bowlers enough of a cushion to bowl in a match that took more than four hours to finish.Sohail Tanvir’s four-wicket haul paved the way for Comilla’s successful defence as Mashrafe Mortaza relied heavily on pace bowlers because of dew on the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium outfield.Rajshahi’s 153-run chase was derailed as early as the fifth over when Tanvir removed Junaid Siddique and Sabbir Rahman off successive deliveries. Mohammad Saifuddin then removed Umar Akmal and Nurul Hasan, while Mominul Haque battled to time the ball at the other end.Mominul started off with a six over long-on, the first of the match, before hitting four boundaries until the end of the ninth over. His fifth four brought up his half-century in a chaotic 11-ball over from Ryan ten Doeschate that cost 19 runs. Mominul fell at the end of that over, having made 53 off 43 balls.Khalid Latif ran out Sammy off the next ball, and Rajshahi were left panicking without their main hitter. When Mashrafe Mortaza bowled Samit Patel in the 17th over, Comilla finally began to smell a win.Tanvir completed his four-wicket haul with two dismissals in the 18th over before Saifuddin finished off the game with a yorker.Earlier Nazmul Hossain Shanto top-scored for Comilla with 41 off 40 balls, a knock that included four foursImrul Kayes’ 25-ball 34 looked promising as he was timing the ball better, but a direct hit from substitute fielder Nazmul Islam had him inches short of the crease in the 15th over.Comilla struck only two fours in the last five overs, despite the fact that Rajshahi were not at their best with the ball, giving away extras. However, Rajshahi did prevent Comilla from hitting a single six in the innings, only the fourth such occasion in the BPL.

Sydney Thunder, the defending champions, picked up their first points in the 2016-17 Big Bash League with a six-wicket win over Melbourne Stars that was achieved on the back of Eoin Morgan’s unbeaten 71

Will Macpherson in Sydney04-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEoin Morgan made amends for a slow start to deliver Sydney Thunder their first win of the tournament•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

The defending champions are still alive – mathematically at least. Eoin Morgan crunched a last-ball six straight down the ground to give the Sydney Thunder a famous six-wicket win – their first of the season – in his last game for them before he flies to India with the England team.The Thunder required five to win from the final ball, and as the smite – off a half-volley from Ben Hilfenhaus – flew into the sightscreen, Morgan dropped his bat and leapt. Pat Cummins, the bowler who reinvented himself as an allrounder at No. 6, and who had already hit a huge six earlier in the over (from which the Thunder had required 16), gave him a bearhug.Earlier, Morgan’s former England team-mate Kevin Pietersen had guided the Stars, who were invited to bat, to 8 for 166. But his dismissal sparked a dismal collapse in the final five overs, and it came back to haunt him.KP’s backWithout the middle-order ballast of Peter Handscomb – who should return for the latter half of the pool stage – the Stars’ batting line-up looks rather top-heavy. Over 70% of Stars’ runs this season have been scored by their top three – if they are to make the finals again, this needs addressing.And so it proved here. Glenn Maxwell and Luke Wright had given Pietersen a punchy platform in the Powerplay, but he got off to a slow start. There was the standard Red Bull run to get things going, but he could barely manage more than a single, moving to 28 from 27. From there, he flew, taking 32 from his next 10, with Chris Green reverse-swept, then tonked over midwicket, for four and six, and Gurinder Sandhu ripped to shreds.Watson stalls the StarsAfter Sandhu leaked 21 from the 15th over, Stars looked set for a huge total. Pietersen was on 60 and had shared 55 with Faulkner for the fourth wicket. Shane Watson appeared to be running out of bowling options; Russell had pulled up lame, Sandhu and Cummins had been too costly, and he had just one over of spin – from Green – up his sleeve.So Watson turned to his own bowling, which had looked in fine fettle earlier on. Pietersen drilled one back to the left of Watson, who took a magnificent caught-and-bowled in an over that cost just five. With the partnership broken, it was the perfect time to reintroduce the hitherto expensive Cummins. He sent down the 17th, which cost just seven, before Green bowled Faulkner and Sam Harper in consecutive balls with his skiddy offbreaks in the 18th over that went for just one. He nearly had Adam Zampa, too. Never mind, Watson brought himself back, dismissed Zampa and conceded two.With Cummins’ last yielding just five, the final five overs had been worth 20 runs for the loss of five wickets. With rain tumbling, the Thunder had hauled themselves back into the game.Morgan’s innings of two halvesThunder found themselves in a spot of bother early. Aiden Blizzard had played out eight dots in the 11 balls he had faced when he fell. Kurtis Patterson’s fast start fell to nothing. Watson was brilliantly caught by Harper. Morgan and Ben Rohrer, realistically, were the last hope. Russell was carded to come in at No. 6, but his left hamstring injury ruled that out, so Cummins was promoted. Against the likes of Zampa, who bowled beautifully, Morgan looked horribly scratchy at first. He managed just 15 runs from his first 28 balls.But then, Michael Beer – very tight until then – returned for the 15th over. Thunder needed 72 off 36. Beer’s first ball was whacked down the ground for four, before he was slog-swept for six. Morgan was away, and he didn’t look back. On a pitch favouring spin, Morgan realised that seamers were to bowl each of the last five overs. When they dropped short, he pulled, and he flat-batted over long-on too. By the time his winning six had sailed into the night, he had taken 56 off his last 22 balls to finish with 71. Finally, Thunder had a win.Legspin it to win itAs Morgan recognised, pace off was the order of the day, and two legspinners were to the fore. In the chase, Beer’s first two overs cost just seven, while Zampa’s four excellent overs cost just 19, with a wicket, 10 dot balls and one boundary. The blueprint had been set earlier, however: Thunder’s three best bowlers were the variations in pace of Watson, the darts of Green and particularly the dangerous leg-breaks of Ahmed, who wasn’t afraid to give the ball some flight and rip, notably when bowling David Hussey. The trio’s 12 overs cost 79 and resulted in seven of the eight wickets.

Hobart Hurricanes stayed alive in BBL6 with a last-ball win and a record run chase against Melbourne Renegades

The Report by Will Macpherson at Etihad Stadium12-Jan-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBen McDermott led Hurricanes’ rip-roaring retort•Getty Images

On a night when the BBL record books were ripped to shreds by half-time then rewritten and burned by the close, Hobart Hurricanes – needing a win to stay alive in BBL6 – chased down the highest score in BBL history to beat Melbourne Renegades at Etihad Stadium.A spellbinding knock of 114 from 52 balls from Ben McDermott, the 22-year-old son of Craig and the man stepping into Kumar Sangakkara’s shoes, gave the Hurricanes hope in their chase. By the time he fell, lbw to Sunil Narine in the 16th over, he had not faced a dot ball in 27 deliveries, in which time he had racked up 85 runs. He put on 151 with George Bailey, who made his second consecutive 50, but whose dismissal appeared to have effectively sealed a Renegades win.The pair had come together at 19 for 2 in the third over, and equally barmy was the manner in which the game ended. Hurricanes need 14 from the final four balls, with Stuart Broad and Sam Rainbird at the crease. Broad scrambled his way to levelling the scores with a ball to go, so Aaron Finch donned the helmet and fielded at silly point. Broad calmly sent a leading edge off Thisara Perera down the ground for one.It was a truly remarkable ending to a truly remarkable game of cricket.Renegades’ romp
The weight was spread pretty evenly by Renegades’ top six, with all of them making it to 15, and none striking below Marcus Harris’s 131. Harris and Finch set things up, picking their targets: they allowed each of Broad’s first two overs to go for just four, but went after Rainbird at the other end, with his first two costing 29. Harris was caught at long-on, but Cameron White joined Finch and they carried on their merry way until the former was taken at deep square-leg at the end of a Jake Reed over that had already cost 18.The platform had been set, and Tom Cooper kicked on, ending unbeaten on 53 off 24 balls, while Perera provided some grunt at the death. Their 222 for four took them 10 past the previous highest score in the BBL, made by Hurricanes against Brisbane Heat in December 2013. Renegades had hit 21 fours and nine sixes; who could possibly have thought that at times in the chase it would look 20 runs short? Or that an opposition batsman could smash nine sixes all on his own? Or that they could lose?Spun to a slow death… or not
It’s no secret that Hurricanes’ breakout star D’Arcy Short likes pace on the ball, so Renegades went straight for the spinning squeeze. Cooper cannot be far from shedding his part-timer tag, and once again he bowled the first over of the innings and snared Tim Paine, slogging in the first over. Cooper’s opening over record this season is 3 for 25 from six overs, so Finch trusted him with a second. Sure enough, he dismissed Short – although only after being pumped for six. From there, Hurricanes were treated to spin throughout the Powerplay (which ended 48 for 2), with Xavier Doherty bowling three and Sunil Narine one over. It seemed a long way to win from there.Staying alive
Given the inauspicious start to the Hurricanes innings, McDermott and Bailey’s partnership was truly remarkable. The young Queenslander scored one run from his first five balls, but remained patient. He ended up reverse-sweeping, cover-driving, cutting, pulling, but most impressively pumping hard over cow, where the majority of his sixes came.Bailey happily played the role of junior partner, running hard for McDermott and feeding him the strike. They took at least 11 from all seven of the overs before McDermott fell, and they targeted the pace of James Pattinson, off whom McDermott took consecutive sixes to move to his 47-ball ton.Last-ball drama
Dan Christian smote a four and a six, but fell to Narine in the over after McDermott. Next ball, Jono Wells was bowled. Another two overs on, Beau Webster’s 20-run stand (of which he scored zero) with Bailey ended, and the senior man went to Narine two balls later. At the start of the final over, Narine ran out Cameron Boyce, and it looked over. Enter Broad, never shy of an occasion like this. He provided a fittingly mad ending.

A number of county cricketers named in a list of players who could be called upon to travel to Pakistan for the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) remain unsure about whether they will go

Vithushan Ehantharajah22-Feb-2017A number of county cricketers named in a list of players who could be called upon to travel to Pakistan for the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) remain unsure about whether they will go. Earlier this week, the PSL decided to go ahead with staging its final in Lahore, despite a recent series of attacks across Pakistan that have claimed over 100 lives.The five franchises were presented with a list of 54 foreign players whom the PCB claim are willing to travel to Lahore for the final. Fifteen are contracted to counties, including former England internationals Jade Dernbach and Phil Mustard. Owais Shah, who played for Hampshire in 2015 and whose last competitive match came in February 2016 in the Masters Champions League, also features. Most of the overall list is made up of players who went unsold in the first auction held in October of last year. Only Middlesex’s Dawid Malan is currently playing in the competition, for Peshawar Zalmi.

County players on PCB list

Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Alex Wakely (Northamptonshire), Josh Cobb (Northamptonshire), Azeem Rafiq (Yorkshire), Phil Mustard (Gloucestershire), Fidel Edwards (Hampshire), Max Waller (Somerset), Darren Stevens (Kent), Peter Trego (Somerset), Richard Levi (Northamptonshire), Azharullah (Northamptonshire), Jade Dernbach (Surrey), Owais Shah (Unattached), Brendan Taylor (Nottinghamshire), Ryan ten Doeschate (Essex), Sean Ervine (Hampshire)

The PSL had previously considered holding another draft before the final, only for foreign players who are willing to travel to Lahore, in order to buffer against the absence of those who do not want to go. But that plan has been shelved as franchises first look to convince their own overseas players to make the trip, at least until closer to March 5, for when the final is scheduled.One such player – Kevin Pietersen, who is playing for Quetta Gladiators – has said he will wait to see if Quetta made the final before making a decision. But in the event that some or most refuse, teams will now be allowed to dip into a common pool of players, nominated by the franchises from the main list.However, despite the PCB’s claim that those on the list are ready to go, a number of the English contingent are noncommittal about travelling to Lahore if they are picked up to replace those overseas players who opt out. One player, approached for comment by ESPNcricinfo, was unaware he had even been named on the list.Even for the other would-be alternatives, the reservations over security are still great. Many say they put themselves forward under the proviso that security can be guaranteed in writing. After Tuesday morning’s suicide bombing outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan – the tenth incident of terrorist violence in little over a week across Pakistan, which includes a bombing in Lahore – one player contacted had all but ruled himself out.Both the PCA and FICA have advised players against making the trip to Pakistan ever since a Lahore final was mooted last year. This, in turn, led to a retaliatory PCB statement in January, which chastised FICA’s stance as being “careless and cavalier”.In an email sent to players and agents last week, and passed on to ESPNcricinfo, the PCB sought to allay fears of what is described as “the occasional incident across the massive expanse of Pakistan”. The email states that ECB president Giles Clarke, who visited Lahore in January as head of ICC Task Force for Pakistan, will send representatives from the ECB “to review preparations already in place”. Clarke gave an update to members at the ICC board meetings in Dubai recently in which he recommended that all members take the opportunity to send their own security experts to Pakistan to assess the current situation.However, the ECB, Clarke’s own board, denied the claim in the email and stated that they will not be sending anyone to review matters in Lahore. ESPNcricinfo understands that Reg Dickason, who advises the ECB on security matters on a consultancy basis, will visit Lahore ahead of the final, mostly likely on behalf of FICA, along with ICC security manager Sean Norris. The ECB also confirmed that they are not currently involved in any discussions about creating a “Commonwealth team” to tour Pakistan later in the year – another claim made in the email.Foreign players who do end up going will be paid separately for playing in the final, on top of business class travel and expenses, at four different rates: Platinum ($50,000 USD), Diamond ($25,000 USD), Gold ($15,000 USD) and Silver ($10,000 USD).The likes of Pietersen will find themselves in the Platinum category. Only six English players – Malan, Alex Wakely, Josh Cobb (both Northamptonshire), Darren Stevens (Kent), Dernbach and Shah are Gold, meaning they would make just over £12,000. Some classed as Silver have told ESPNcricinfo that they will require a higher grade if they are to commit. It is understood a number have stipulated that the money be paid upfront if they are to travel to Lahore.