England name squad to face Ashes foes on Australian turf with Georgia Elwiss adding to all-round arsenal

Valkerie Baynes17-Jan-2020Contesting a global tournament is motivation in itself, but for England’s Women’s World T20 squad, their campaign on Australian soil will also carry an inevitable desire to make things right.It is a fact not lost on Natalie Sciver as she prepares for her fourth T20 World Cup with an England squad comprising vast experience and raw youth, a new coaching set-up and more than an notion of something to prove after a disappointing home Ashes defeat during the English summer.”A lot has changed since then for us really,” Sciver told ESPNcricinfo on Friday. “As a group we’re in a good space to put that series behind us and hopefully get a few wins.”Sciver and Katherine Brunt form not only part of England’s experienced core but two thirds of a triple all-round threat identified by new coach Lisa Keightley along with Georgia Elwiss, who joins the squad in place of spinner Kirstie Gordon as the only change to the England touring party which defeated Pakistan in three ODIs and two completed T20Is in Malaysia last month.During that series, Sciver struck an 85-ball century in the second ODI shortly after a successful WBBL season with Keightley’s Perth Scorchers where she made 342 runs in 13 appearances at an average of 38.00 and with a strike rate of 123.02.Sciver has enjoyed some personally satisfying moments in the shortest format, becoming the first English cricketer to take a T20I hat-trick, against New Zealand in 2013, and the first woman to hit a six at the inaugural WBBL in 2015, but to win the World Cup final on March 8 would be something else.”After the summer we had, I think it would be really special,” Sciver said. “To be able to keep putting ourselves out there as a team and compete and put ourselves out there to succeed or to fail, as a squad that’s all we can ask of ourselves, to be able to turn up and do the best that we can with the conditions that we’ve got, so looking forward to hopefully putting a few things to right.”Natalie Sciver talks with Lisa Keightley during a Perth Scorchers game•Getty Images

Sciver said going straight from their 12-4 defeat in the multi-format Ashes series into the Kia Super League, meant many players didn’t have time to deal with the disappointment until much later.”We probably put a few things on hold until after the KSL and really waited for that time off to kind of re-set and make sure that we’re fresh again to go in the winter,” she said. “It’s motivation in itself to be in a world tournament and on the world stage and hopefully show everyone what we can do again and just make sure that we’re kind of in our own bubble.”Elwiss returned to action during the drawn Ashes Test after a stress fracture in her back had put her out of the game for five months. She last featured at a T20 World Cup with a solitary match in 2016, scoring a duck and claiming 2 for 9 in England’s emphatic win over Pakistan in Chennai. But Keightley said it was her two years’ experience playing for Melbourne Stars in the WBBL that helped seal her place this year, with England to open their tournament against South Africa in Perth on February 23.”We looked at what we had and I thought we had probably too many spinners for what we need out in Australia so we’ve opted for a couple of seamers,” Keightley said.”For Georgia, she covers two skill sets with the ball and with the bat. Georgia has played in Australia in the WBBL and done really well out there so for me she was an important inclusion into our team to give us options and a player who’s got experience out on Australian pitches and her variations will come in handy out there.”England Women’s T20 World Cup squad•Getty Images

The England squad has four players aged 24 or under with Freya Davies, Sarah Glenn and Mady Villiers all set to make their T20 World Cup debuts and spinner Sophie Ecclestone somewhat of a veteran at the age of just 20, having been part of the side which finished runners-up to Australia in 2018.For 24-year-old Davies – who has played just five T20Is – it could be a baptism of fire if called upon as part of England’s pace attack at the WACA, but Keightley has every faith in her.”I think she’ll be fine because a lot of people don’t know what Freya Davies does,” Keightley said. “It’s quite nice to have a few players that are unknown and teams aren’t sure what they do. You have to take your time and have a look and in T20 you can’t do that for too long.”I’d be telling her to play how she’s played, that works, that’s got her here, and not to go too far away from that. If she can do that, I think she’ll go pretty well.”The squad leaves for Australia on January 22 for a warm-up T20 tri-series against Australia and India.Meanwhile, the ECB have announced that England Women will host India for two T20Is starting at Taunton on June 25 and four ODIs from July 1 in Worcester, followed by two T20s and four one-dayers against South Africa starting in Hove at the beginning of September.

The fundraising match will now be played as a double-header with the Australia-England T20I

Andrew McGlashan05-Feb-2020The Bushfire Cricket Bash fundraising match will now take place at Junction Oval in Melbourne on Sunday as part of a double-header with the Australia-England T20I after it was relocated from the SCG due to the heavy rain forecast for Sydney over the weekend.Torrential rain, which the region desperately needs, is forecast for Sydney from Friday right through the weekend with up to 50mm predicted for Saturday, when the double-header was due to take place alongside the Big Bash final.While the forecast suggests there is every chance the BBL final will also be a washout – which would hand the Sydney Sixers the title – Cricket Australia wants to ensure that no damage is done to the SCG in case a match can be played. Five overs per side would constitute a game.”It’s been a whirlwind 24-hours, but we’re really proud to say that there will be four fantastic games of cricket held over the weekend of The Big Appeal,” Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts said. “We have moved the Bushfire Bash from the SCG because we want to provide every opportunity for the BBL09 final to be played on Saturday night. We have no doubt that the SCG pitch and outfield will be in great condition for the final.” The rescheduling of the relief match has required some changes to the squad with Shane Warne now no longer available to captain a team with Adam Gilchrist taking over. It has also been confirmed that Courtney Walsh will be involved in a playing capacity having originally been down to be a coach. Tim Paine will coach the Gilchrist XI.The match, which will be 10-overs per side due to start at 3.15pm, is still set to include Brian Lara, Wasim Akram and Yuvraj Singh among a host of names. The T20I will be brought forward to start at 11.40am.The fundraising weekend will now include four matches – two T20Is, the Bushfire Bash and the BBL final – with all profits going to the Red Cross appeal.There is no reserve day for the BBL final at the SCG, something that the Sydney Thunder captain Callum Ferguson said probably needed to be addressed. The Thunder will play the Melbourne Stars on Thursday and whichever team gets through would need the weather in their favour to have any chance of taking the title.”I absolutely believe there needs to be a reserve day,” Ferguson said. “At the moment it is what it is, and I believe we’ve got the right system barring maybe a reserve day, we need to make sure that we give it every chance of being played.”Bushfire Bash squad Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist (capt), Alex Blackwell, Brad Haddin, Brett Lee, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Dan Christian, Matthew Hayden, Luke Hodge, Justin Langer, Phoebe Litchfield, Andrew Symonds, Nick Riewoldt, Elyse Villani, Shane Watson, Yuvraj Singh and Wasim Akram.

Devine joins Kane Williamson as only players to win the top honour three years in a row

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-20202:16

‘Means a lot to be voted by peers and mates’ – Southee

Sophie Devine and Tim Southee were honoured by their peers for their performances in the 2019-20 season in an online ceremony because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the New Zealand women’s skipper receiving the Cricket Players’ Association Players’ Award and the men’s fast bowler getting the Players’ Cap.While this is the second time Southee has won the honour (after 2013), for Devine it’s an incredible three-in-a-row, helping her match Kane Williamson, who had won it from 2015 to 2017.Devine has been in fantastic form in the period under consideration, especially with the bat. At the recent women’s T20 World Cup, she finished seventh in the list of top run-getters with 132 runs from four innings. And prior to the World Cup, she was in stunning form at home against South Africa, scoring an incredible 54*, 61, 77 and 105 in the T20I series, while also picking up four wickets.”It’s certainly not about the individual, it’s about the team,” Devine said afterwards in a video chat. “It does really mean a lot to be recognised over the past 12 months by your team-mates, especially because we haven’t played a lot of cricket apart from the last month or two, but yeah, really special to be able to win this award.”It’s been a pretty busy couple of months. We didn’t have too much (cricket) last year, so we were working hard in Lincoln and we had a really good series against South Africa and obviously went pretty deep in the T20 World Cup last month. The quality of the side we’ve got, we’re obviously really disappointed with the way we didn’t manage to get out of the group stage at the T20 World Cup. As you saw, the two teams we lost to were the two finalists, and we lost by four or five runs [three runs to India and four to Australia] to both of them.”She called the results at the World Cup “really positive signs”, and hoped that once cricket resumes, the team can get together and build towards the 50-over World Cup, to be played at home in New Zealand next year.Southee, meanwhile, became the third to win the Cap more than once, joining Williamson and Ross Taylor, who had won it last year.It was a big season for Southee, too, especially in Test cricket, where he picked up 33 wickets in six games.”I was a little surprised. I think there’s a number of guys who would’ve been worthy runners-up of the award,” Southee said. “I think it just shows you that the type of cricket and the brand of cricket we have played over the last 12 months, a number of different guys have stepped up at different times.”Speaking about the season itself, especially beating England and India in Test series at home on either side of a poor tour of Australia, Southee said, “To finish the summer strongly after a disappointing tour of Australia was pleasing for the guys to be able to bounce back. The T20s, I guess, were a bit of a mixed bag [they lost 5-0 to India] but that can be the format at times. And the way we were able to beat a very good Indian side three-nil in the one-day series and finish the summer was very pleasing.”

ECB confirms Joe Root will miss warm-up game and first Test in order to attend birth of child

Matt Roller30-Jun-2020Ben Stokes will captain England for the first time in the first Test against West Indies starting next week. Joe Root, England’s permanent red-ball captain, will miss the first Test and warm-up match to attend the birth of his second child. Root’s wife, Carrie, is due to give birth later this week.The ECB confirmed that Root will have to self-isolate for seven days at home once he leaves hospital with his family. He is expected to be available for the second Test of the series, which starts at Emirates Old Trafford on July 16, and will join up with the squad at the ground on July 13.ALSO READ: Stokes promises to take ‘positive route’ as captainStokes said in a virtual press conference on Monday that he will look to take the “positive route” as captain, and Root has previously backed him for the role, saying that he would be “fantastic” at leading the Test team.Stokes is likely to become England’s least-experienced captain in their history, never having captained a first-class, List A or T20 game in his career. According to the , the only other man to captain England in Test cricket in the last 50 years without having captained in a first-class game was Kevin Pietersen, who had previously led in an ODI.Stokes admitted on Monday that he was “not one of those people you would necessarily think of as the next England captain”. He was initially awarded the vice-captaincy in 2016 before losing the role a year later following his involvement in the Bristol incident that overshadowed the 2017-18 Ashes series. He won the role back ahead of last year’s Ashes after making a personal plea to Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, following the World Cup final.Jos Buttler will be Stokes’ vice-captain, in a move that hints he will take the wicketkeeping gloves in the first Test. The pair will each lead one side in the three-day warm-up game at the Ageas Bowl.Confirmation that Root will miss the first Test leaves England with an interesting selection dilemma. Dom Sibley and Rory Burns are expected to open the batting, with Zak Crawley and Joe Denly seemingly competing for one spot at No. 3. Root’s absence could mean both play, or that there is an opportunity for Dan Lawrence to bat at No. 4. Alternatively, either Ollie Pope or Stokes himself could move up to No. 4, opening up a spot in the middle order for Jonny Bairstow.

The Bangladesh bowling coach doesn’t see Mortaza in head coach Domingo’s plans for the 2023 World Cup

Mohammad Isam18-May-2020Bangladesh bowling coach Ottis Gibson has urged Mashrafe Mortaza to retire from international cricket as he doesn’t see the bowler in head coach Russell Domingo’s plans for the 2023 World Cup. Mortaza, who stepped down from captaincy during Bangladesh’s last home series, against Zimbabwe in February, hasn’t made any announcements about retirement despite being constantly questioned about it since December 2018.Gibson, who joined Bangladesh in January this year, said that Domingo has to look at several younger bowlers to build a team in the next three years, which would mean having to look beyond Mortaza. Gibson suggested that Mortaza, Bangladesh’s leading ODI wicket-taker, can advise the young fast bowlers in a different capacity.”I think he has had an outstanding international career,” Gibson told the Bengali daily on Monday. “He has done himself and his country proud. With the next World Cup in 2023, any international coach will now start to build a team. I am quite sure that’s what Russell will be thinking. So he would want to see players like young Hasan Mahmud, [Mohammad] Saifuddin, Shafiul [Islam] and Ebadot [Hossain]. We haven’t seen Ebadot in white-ball cricket yet. There’s Taskin [Ahmed] and Khaled [Ahmed] gets fit again. We have Hasan and [Mehedi Hasan] Rana. So there’s a lot of young cricketers in the country.”I think if Russell is now trying to build a team for the future, then I don’t know what part Mashrafe will have to play in that. Perhaps now is his time, with all that’s going on in the world, to move on. He can find other ways to pass on his vast knowledge and experience to the young guys. I don’t think he has to be on the field to be able to pass on what he has learned over his career. He needs to find other ways to pass on that message.”This is the first time a coaching staff member has explicitly asked Mortaza to retire from ODIs, the only format he plays currently. Mortaza is currently on 269 international wickets from 218 matches. Despite his long absences due to mostly leg injuries in the first 10 years of his career, he has only missed five ODIs in the last five years, two of them to over-rate suspension. However, he only took one wicket in the 2019 World Cup, which brought into question his place in the team, notwithstanding his new role as a member of parliament after the 2019 general elections.Gibson said he is pinning his hopes on 20-year-old quick Mahmud who recently made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe, after impressing in domestic and A team competitions.”I have really been impressed with Ebadot who can clock 140kph,” Gibson said. “There’s Taskin who is still there. I have had some time to chat with him. He is still hungry to get involved. Khaled has been injured for a while.”Young Hasan Mahmud has really impressed me too. I have a lot of faith on him. He can really break through and become a top international Bangladeshi fast bowler. I have high hopes from him. He is very hungry to learn. He has a fantastic action that can only get better, so it will be interesting to see how he goes over the next few years.”Gibson, however, said the attitude towards pace bowling has to change in Bangladesh, if they are expected to do well at home or overseas. “The bowlers genuinely have a lot of skill but they lack in experience. They only get one spell in domestic cricket. Even if they pick two fast bowlers, the captain generally tends to go to the spinners if there’s a crisis. The fast bowlers never really get to bowl in pressure situations.”It is a very different story when we go abroad. We are relying on the fast bowlers to do the job away from home but they lack in experience in closing out games, even back home in domestic cricket. We must look at the way we play domestic cricket.”

Australia’s visit makes for the perfect dessert after a slap-up cricketing feast

Andrew Miller03-Sep-2020

September is upon us, schools are going back, nights are drawing in, but the cricketing treats just keep on coming in this most delayed gratification of a summer schedule.There was a time, not so long ago, when the prospect of this many white-ball games against Australia this deep into an English season would fill most of the home contingent with dread – the most damning example coming in Australia’s 6-1 filleting of Andrew Strauss’s sated side in 2009, although the same autumnal fate awaited England’s Ashes winners in 2013 and 2015 too.Right now, however, what would any of us rather be tuning into? Having waited so long for this season even to begin, and having doubted for longer still that Australia would actually show up for their share of the action, here we are, with the prospect of six more contests to round off the summer and give the impression, statistically speaking at least, that 2020 was actually a fairly standard season after all – blighted by English rain, obviously, but nothing else untoward, surely?As Mark Wood put it in his typically effusive tones on Wednesday, and Eoin Morgan reiterated on Thursday, there’s something special about an Anglo-Aussie clash, regardless of context. It’s England’s biggest rivalry, and the oldest, and the fact that Australia come in as the No.1-ranked side in T20Is merely adds to the two team’s desires to, on the one hand defend that status, and on the other to knock them down a peg.Australia arrive with a quietly formidable side, powered by a pair of quicks in Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins who would grace any team in the world, backed up by the established twin-spin pairing of Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, and with Aaron Finch and David Warner leading off a batting line-up that will feature the unfettered talents of Glenn Maxwell for the first time in 2020, following his decision to take a break for his mental health last October.England’s T20I squad pose for a socially-distanced team photo•Getty Images

It’s an uncomplicated formula that has reaped rich rewards in the format – they’ve won four series in a row since the start of 2019, and Morgan intimated that Australia would begin this campaign as favourites given that his own side are still rather more pre-occupied with broadening their base than sharpening their first XI. It’s unfortunate on several levels for Australia that this winter’s T20 World Cup has been postponed. Going into that campaign on home soil, in ordinary circumstances, they would surely have been overwhelming favourites.Then again, England have had the better of Australia in white-ball cricket for quite some time now, and while Aussies don’t scare easily, they’ll doubtless have one or two painful memories of their last few clashes in coloured clothing – the World Cup semi-final at Edgbaston, for starters, where England produced their most complete evisceration of a somewhat erratic campaign, and atoned for their group-stage loss at Lord’s. And if that doesn’t spook them, there’s the memories of 481 for 6 and all that from the summer of 2018 – the apogee of England’s 5-0 ODI thrashing with which they confirmed their readiness for the challenges ahead.That said, England are far from the finished article in T20Is. That much is clear from this week alone, after they were outmuscled in the third and final contest by a fervent Pakistan, in the Powerplay with the ball, and in the death overs with the bat, where it is so hard to hit the ground running when wickets start to fall, and equally hard to get the match practice required to be the hero that the team needs as such moments. The timely return to form for Moeen Ali may be a huge boon on that front – the one thing that can be said for his recent abject run of batting form is that he has never died wondering in his brief stays in the middle. Sam Billings can also face an important audition in the coming days, as England are starting to expect a return on the investment that’s been put in him in recent times.Whatever transpires, if the weather stays remotely clear, the next fortnight of action promises a fitting send-off to a summer that has been like no other in living memory – and that more than anything is the message to absorb in the coming days. As recently as July, we were still hoping against hope that something, anything, could be salvaged from the English cricket season. Irrespective of the setbacks along the way, the fare on offer so far has been beyond anyone’s realistic expectations. A visit by Australia makes for the perfect dessert.

England LWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)

Australia WLWWW

Welcome back to the white-ball world, Jofra Archer. For myriad reasons – injury, rotation and bio-bubbles among them – the hero of England’s World Cup Super Over has not been seen in coloured clothing since that extraordinary climax at Lord’s last July. But here he is, back in the format that – for all his promise across every length of the game – he has truly made his own with his world-beating exploits on the T20 circuit for Sussex, Rajasthan, Hobart, Quetta and wherever else he may have roamed. And you sense that, after cutting a somewhat peripheral figure during an arduous Test leg of the summer, he’ll rather relish getting back to delivering short, sharp shocks of his extraordinarily versatile skills. Raw pace, pinpoint yorkers, unfathomable slower balls. No time like the present to remind everyone why he was the point of difference in that run to glory last year.Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer in the nets with England•Getty Images

And welcome back to England, David Warner, the pantomime villain de nos jours. As if the idea of England and Australia battling it out behind closed doors isn’t strange enough already, imagine how eery the echoing environment of the Ageas Bowl will feel for Warner in particular, without a packed English crowd taunting him about sandpaper or Stuart Broad at every turn. On his last visit to England, he famously signed off with 95 runs at 9.50 in the Ashes, with Broad cramping his style time and time again with seven dismissals from that round-the-wicket line. But let’s not forget he had been a different beast in the preceding World Cup, with three hundreds and 647 at 71.88 in Australia’s run to the semi-finals. Somewhere between those two contrasting memories, he’ll doubtless find equilibrium for the challenge ahead.

Plenty to ponder for England as they rebalance their line-up after the experimental outings against Pakistan. Jos Buttler is back, and in the absence of Jason Roy, he will be partnered at the top of the order by Jonny Bairstow, all of whom were described by Morgan as “three of our greatest white-ball players”. That will leave an interesting decision at No.3, where Dawid Malan is the incumbent, having produced an important half-century in England’s second T20I win over Pakistan, but where Tom Banton might feel he deserves an opportunity, following his full-throttle displays at the top of the order last week. Sam Billings should get another chance to prove his finishing credentials in the middle order, while Sam Curran might get a go to prove his versatility at No.7 after cutting his international teeth in the Test arena. With Archer back in harness, Mark Wood’s absence of subtlety might be vying with Tom Curran’s death-over wiles for the final bowling berth.England (possible): 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Jos Buttler (wk), 3 Tom Banton / Dawid Malan, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Moeen Ali, 6 Sam Billings, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood / Tom CurranDespite his burgeoning reputation across formats, Marnus Labuschagne won’t be inked in for a T20I debut just yet, with Steve Smith preferred as the tempo-setter at No.3, and Glenn Maxwell back as the man who makes things happen at No.4, in place of Matthew Wade. Mitchell Marsh and Alex Carey look set to be given the mid-innings roles at 5 and 6, while Kane Richardson is the likeliest candidate to complete the five-prong attack that has done as much as any unit to lift Australia to the No.1 ranking.Australia (possible): 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 David Warner, 3 Steven Smith, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Mitchell Marsh, 6 Alex Carey, 7 Ashton Agar, 8 Adam Zampa, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Kane Richardson

Australia have been more than happy with the warm-up surfaces for their intra-squad contests at the Ageas Bowl, and Aaron Finch said he was expecting decent scores on a strip with good carry. A bright Friday evening is in prospect in Southampton, which augurs well for another entertaining clash.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have won nine of their 16 T20Is against England since their first encounter in 2005, including seven of their ten meetings this decade.
• However, England won their most recent engagement, at Edgbaston in 2018, where they posted 221 for 5, their highest T20I total against Australia.
• Finch needs 11 runs to become the second Australian after Warner to reach 2000 in T20Is.
• Australia have won just one of their 11 scheduled T20Is in England, but it did come at the Ageas Bowl in 2013, where Finch posted a remarkable 156 out of 248 for 6.
• Australia have lost eight of those games with two no-results – a run that includes five successive losses against non-English opposition, at the World T20 in 2009 and the neutral series against Pakistan the following year.

“For the first time this summer we’re seeing a majority of our best team on the park [but] I don’t think we have to go out and pick our best XI every series, because we can’t put all our eggs in one basket. You need 16 or 17 players in the lead-in to World Cup selection that are all vying for a position in the best 15.”
“The England-Australia rivalry is always huge, regardless of who you’re playing in front of or where you’re playing, I think you could play it in the street and it’d still be there. It’s just a great rivalry.”.”

Garton leads recovery from 59 for 5 after taking four wickets to restrict Essex

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2020Sussex secured a home Vitality Blast quarter-final against Lancashire when they beat last season’s winners Essex by six wickets with 10 balls to spare.Replying to a modest Essex total of 136 for 9 they recovered from 59 for five to claim a victory inspired by a partnership of 73 in 10 overs between George Garton and Calum MacLeod.Garton hit an unbeaten 34, and earlier claimed figures of 4 for 21 as Essex, apart from Paul Walter, struggled to make progress in the way they wanted. Walter struck 76 with the help of nine fours and three sixes after arriving with his side 18 for 3.Essex got off to a disastrous start; losing two wickets in the opening over from Garton without a run on the board. Cameron Delport was caught behind by Phil Salt while Feroze Kushi was bowled trying to turn the ball to leg.Varun Chopra lightened the Essex gloom by driving Ollie Robinson for six but in the same over was bowled to leave Essex 18 for 3 in the fourth over. Worse was to follow when Mitchell Claydon joined the attack to breach the defences of Michael Pepper four runs later.That left Simon Harmer and Walter attempting to repair the damage but they found it difficult to make progress against bowlers who gave nothing away, so much so that the halfway point of their innings arrived with only 47 on the board.A reverse sweep to the boundary off left-arm spinner Danny Briggs brought up the 50 and in the same over Walter unleashed a superb drive for six.A couple of boundaries by Walter off former Essex paceman Tymal Mills improved fortunes for the home side before the introduction of David Wiese ended the partnership after it had yielded 43. Harmer was the man to depart as he skied a top edge which Salt accepted with ease.Much then depended on Walter if Essex were to post any sort of challenge and he responded by punishing Briggs for six and a four as he moved towards his half-century.He reached it with a leg glance to the fence but immediately afterwards he lost debutant Robin Das who was caught at square leg to provide Garton with success in the 16th over.While Walter continued to impress with two more boundaries he was to lose Jack Plom with the total on 109 as he was bowled by Garton to provide the seamer with his fourth success.Following the departure of Aron Nijjar, a victim of Claydon, Walter’s fine innings came to an end in the final over when he was bowled by Robinson for 76. This effort spanned 44 balls and included nine fours and three sixes.Sussex did not embark upon their target in a blaze of glory. Luke Wright’s stumps were left in disarray by Plom with the total on nine and Delray Rawlins provided Ben Allison with his first wicket at senior level when he was caught by Shane Snater.Snater then joined the attack to have former Essex man Ravi Bopara caught on the square leg boundary by Allison to spark a collapse and leave Sussex nerves jangling.Salt, having struck seven fours and a six in his 22-ball 42 was caught in the deep by Harmer, who then made an impact with his offspin by trapping David Wiese leg before to leave the visitors 59 for 5.The total moved into the 70s in the tenth over to leave MacLeod and Garton to put the innings back on even keel.Both were to collect boundaries at the expense of Harmer before the pair carried the total into three figures in the 15th over.The next landmark was the 50 stand, it arriving in the same number of deliveries and the sixth wicket pair continued to keep pace with the required run rate until MacLeod departed for 40, made from 40 balls, with the score on 132 in the 18th over. He was caught in the deep off Plom.Garton then square cut Delport to the boundary in the next over to carry his score to 34 from 30 deliveries and take Sussex to victory.

Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry missed the third ODI as stand-in captain Haynes and Healy set-up a 232-run victory

Daniel Brettig07-Oct-2020That Australia would conclude a domineering home series against New Zealand with their second highest ever ODI total on home shores, on the way to a record-setting 21st consecutive ODI victory, was startling enough. That they would achieve those feats with a 232-run win, without their captain Meg Lanning as well as their famed allrounder Ellyse Perry in the XI, was downright unnerving for the rest of the world.Lanning’s absence, due to a right hamstring strain sustained during her unbeaten century in the second of three ODIs on Monday, was the talk of Allan Border Field on Wednesday morning, giving New Zealand a chance to pressure a batting order shorn of its most vaunted name. Certainly it was enough to encourage Sophie Devine to send the hosts in upon winning the toss despite a slowing and ageing surface.But the response was that of a team far more enthused than overawed by such challenges. The acting captain Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy combined for a commanding opening stand worth 144 in a little more than half the available overs, before Haynes and the middle order accelerated fearfully to take the Australians to 325 – only a gargantuan 397 against Pakistan in the amateur days of 1997 surpassed it among matches at home.ALSO READ: How Australia made it 21 wins in a rowIn the midst of the punishment, including 104 from the final 10 overs as Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney and Lanning’s replacement Tahlia McGrath made merry, there was also room for development: an occasionally halting but equally promising stay at No. 3 from the 18-year-old allrounder Annabel Sutherland, as she added 78 in 87 balls with Haynes. Asked to chase a distant 326, the touring side were in trouble virtually from the start, as Devine was cramped into pulling Megan Schutt into the trap of two midwickets placed for her, departing the scene for a disconsolate first-ball duck. There onwards, the Australian bowlers did not relent, as Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham particularly enjoyed the expansive spin occasionally on offer.There had been far more optimism for New Zealand early on, as an overcast morning offered the chance for swing, and the knowledge that Healy and Haynes were to be followed by the callow Sutherland rather than the hamstrung Lanning.ALSO READ: Meg Lanning interview – On leading superstars, legacyBut they were unable to find a way through, allowing Healy and Haynes to punish any errors in line and length, and build with something approaching impunity as both passed 50 and Healy reached the outskirts of a century. Thirteen short of a century, she skied wristspinner Amelia Kerr, clearing the way for Sutherland’s entry.The next period saw New Zealand regain some control of the scoreboard as Sutherland struggled to rotate strike with her correct and upright technique, only for Haynes to intervene with some aggressive blows to get the run rate going again. With time, Sutherland began to join in, but was bowled behind her pads attempting to sweep Kerr just as the final 10 overs began.Haynes’ steadfast display merited a century, but was ended on 96 by a marginal lbw call when she, too, knelt to sweep Kerr. Mooney might also easily have followed lbw, saved only by a little doubt over whether the ball had pitched outside leg stump before looking likely to crash into middle. Kerr’s wristspin skills had again been very evident, but upon the conclusion of her spell, having seen Gardner wretchedly dropped by Natalie Dodd, the Australians freed their arms. Eight sixes for the innings were the joint-most for Australia in a women’s ODI.New Zealand’s pursuit was never more than a cursory one, save for Amy Satterthwaite’s 41. On a slow and spinning surface, against bowling options ideally suited to the conditions, they were completely overwhelmed. The evenness of Australia’s display was underlined by the fact that wickets were shared among every member of the attack, rounding off a massive victory without their two biggest names.Twenty-one ODI wins in a row equalled the record set by the Australian men’s team in the 2000s; seldom if ever were Ricky Ponting’s side quite as dominant as this.

All the buzz from the IPL 2020 game between the Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in Dubai

Alagappan Muthu05-Oct-2020