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Keaton Jennings and Michael Richardson continued their superb form with a stand of 158 in to propel Durham to a 19-run Royal London Cup win against Northamptonshire

ECB Reporters Network07-May-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Keaton Jennings maintained his excellent run of form with another century•Getty Images

Keaton Jennings and Michael Richardson continued their superb form with a stand of 158 in to propel Durham to a 19-run Royal London Cup win against Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street.Northants’ challenge looked to have ended when a brilliant stop and direct hit from extra cover by Paul Collingwood ran out Richard Levi for 66. But at 124 for 5 in reply to 291 for 7, Adam Rossington and Steven Crook revived them with a stand of 99 in 16 overs.Rossington reached 50 off 43 balls and with 89 needed off ten the balance was tipping when he lofted the first two balls of a Chris Rushworth over for six over long-off and backward square. But on 69 he tried a scoop shot off Paul Coughlin and lost his middle stump, leaving Crook with too much to do. He holed out at deep midwicket for 48 in the 48th over and Northants finished on 272 for 8.Jennings’ second century of the competition took his aggregate to 403 from five games and Richardson boosted his tally to 351 by making 68.Durham wobbled when both fell in quick succession and from 186 for 1 in the 34th over they lost momentum and slipped to 227 for 5. But it was picked up brilliantly by Collingwood with an unbeaten 53 off 43 balls as the last seven overs yielded 64.Collingwood continued to have an impact as he bowled straight through his ten overs to take 1 for 47 and ran out Levi, who had slowed after bludgeoning a 45-ball half-century. His lack of fitness showed when he declined a second run the ball before he was out.Durham made a cautious start after being put in under heavy cloud and Stephen Cook fell lbw to Ben Sanderson, the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 36.The score had reached 79 after 20 overs when left-arm spinner Graeme White conceded only three in a tight first over. But his second cost 14 after Richardson picked him up him over the midwicket rope then pulled him for four. When Northants tried spin at the other end, Jennings on-drove Rob Keogh for his fifth four to reach 50 off 66 balls, one faster than his partner.On 52 Richardson uppercut Richard Gleeson over third man for his second six and, at 159 after 30, 80 had come off the previous ten overs.Jennings helped a poor ball from Sanderson to fine leg for his 13th four to reach his century off 105 balls. But then both batsmen departed. A firmly struck cut by Richardson lodged in the hands of White low down at backward point then Jennings tried to hit Sanderson down the ground and miscued to deep mid-on.

Nathan Lyon made his first mark in the County Championship on another frustrating day for Derbyshire and Worcestershire in the Division Two match at Derby

ECB Reporters Network20-May-2017
ScorecardNathan Lyon claimed his first Championship wicket•Associated Press

Nathan Lyon made his first mark in the County Championship on another frustrating day for Derbyshire and Worcestershire in the Division Two match at Derby.The Australian Test offspinner claimed his maiden first-class wicket for Worcestershire by removing Alex Hughes for 53 before a storm forced play to be abandoned at 5 o’clock.Luis Reece had top scored with 59 before he and Billy Godleman were dismissed in the space of 10 balls early on the second morning but Hughes and Daryn Smit added 78 in 21 overs to take Derbyshire to 200 for 6.Worcestershire bowlers could have taken more than three wickets on the first day and they soon had two more with Jack Shantry tempting Reece into pushing at a ball he could have left and Tom Kohler-Cadmore took a good low catch at first slip.Joe Leach claimed a second victim when Billy Godleman edged behind which left Derbyshire to regroup and Hughes and Smit showed good judgement to bat through 10 overs before rain held up play until early afternoon.The break appeared to have disrupted the Worcestershire bowlers who struggled for consistency and Hughes took advantage, cutting a short ball from Ed Barnard for his seventh four to move to 50 from 56 balls.Lyon had looked like a bowler whose last first-class appearance was in the fourth Test against India in the Himalayan city of Dharamsala in late March but he was celebrating before the rain returned.Hughes moved across to try and work him to leg but was pinned lbw and that was the last action of the day as a downpour left large pools of water on the outfield.”It’s tough to just try and block him because he’s so good he will get you sooner or later so you have to try and put a bit of pressure on him,” Hughes said.”I enjoy playing against spin and it’s a good test against someone you’re used to watching on the TV, especially in India, and do well against even though he’s now got me out twice in two games.”The action he gets on the ball is very different to the average spinner, he gets a lot of revs on it and a lot more bounce. He doesn’t bowl many bad deliveries and if this pitch gets dry and I think he could be a tough prospect if we have to bat in the third innings.”Leach said: “I don’t think we got our just desserts with the ball, I feel we bowled quite a bit better than 200 for 6 so hopefully that will change and we can knock them over really cheaply in the morning.”It was good for Nathan to get his first wicket, he bowled very well again today so it was a good reward for him to get off the mark and hopefully he will have a bigger part to play in the rest of this game.”

Four state associations objected to the short notice given for scheduling the SGM

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Jul-2017The BCCI has been forced to put off the special general meeting (SGM) scheduled for Tuesday to ratify the three Lodha Committee recommendations shortlisted for reconsideration by the Supreme Court.The postponement was because some state associations – Tamil Nadu, Saurashtra, Kerala and Goa among them – objected to the short notice given for scheduling the SGM, saying it did not comply with BCCI regulations. The BCCI will now issue a 15-day notice for the next date of the SGM; it is expected to be held between July 25 and 27. The minimum notice period for calling an SGM is ten days.According to a BCCI official, the delay will not hinder the decision taken by the special committee, which was appointed to shortlist which Lodha Committee recommendations to put forth for reconsideration. “The special committee had met twice and three points were finally shortlisted,” the board official said. “That was all communicated to the COA. It will file a status report in any case.”Tuesday’s postponement is another example of the delaying tactics used by a section of the BCCI’s members who are against implementing the Lodha Committee recommendations, ever since the Supreme Court of India approved them in an order on July 18, 2016.At the previous SGM on June 27, the BCCI members were made aware of the lack of time to finalise the recommendations ahead of the Supreme Court hearing on July 14. Former BCCI president N Srinivasan, who was not in favour of the BCCI adopting a new constitution as per the Lodha Committee’s recommendations, was present at that June 27 SGM as the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s (TNCA) representative.On July 8, BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary had said in an email that the SGM had been called on July 11 as per the instructions of acting board president CK Khanna, and that the short notice was subject to the approval of the members.On July 10, the TNCA was the first to lodge a protest against the two-day notice for the SGM; its secretary RI Palani said it was “illegal”. “The meeting, should it be convened on July11, 2017, would be illegal and all decisions taken there would be of no consequence.”According to Palani, it was a “critical requirement” for members to have enough time to discuss the recommendations and the implications of implementing them. “Curtailing this process is antithetical to the democratic principles on which the BCCI and its members are based.”

Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, has challenged his players to “look themselves in the mirror” and find a way to fight back into the series after crushing defeat at Edgbaston

Andrew Miller at Edgbaston19-Aug-2017Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, has challenged his players to “look themselves in the mirror” and find a way to fight back into the series, after being dealt a humiliating innings-and-209-run defeat in the first Investec Test at Edgbaston.West Indies lost 19 wickets in a single day, six of them in the final session under the floodlights, to lose a historic pink-ball contest inside three days, and now they face a massive challenge to recover their poise ahead of Friday’s second Test at Headingley.”It’s obviously very disappointing, we didn’t show enough fight,” Holder said after the match. “We were totally outplayed.”We’ve got to just believe, we have a few days off now, we have to use them wisely. We’ll sit and talk, and formulate some plans about how we are going to go, but it’s not impossible [to come back]. It’s just one game, the series is not lost, we have believe, regroup, and come back strongly.”Holder’s troubles, however, extend across every facet of West Indies’ game. Neither of their innings totals (168 and 137) came close to matching the individual contribution of England’s top-scorer, Alastair Cook (243), while Stuart Broad’s feat of overtaking Ian Botham’s Test wickets tally of 383 underlined the yawning gulf in experience between England and their opponents.”There’s inexperience in the side but we have to be professional and get over that,” said Holder. “I thought we were in the game for a session, but Cook and [Joe] Root put on a really good partnership and we were struggling in the end. We’re a young side with nothing to lose, we just have to believe and come back strongly.”The early finish to the Test does at least give West Indies the best part of a week to get over such a bruising defeat, but while Holder said that the coaching staff would do their best to formulate some plans to stage a comeback, it was up to the individual players to raise their games.”We can’t dwell on it, we have to critique each performance of each player, and look at ways we can move forward. But each player has to look himself in the mirror and see where they can improve.”West Indies lost 19 wickets on a day of abject batting at Edgbaston•Getty Images

Holder, whose own performance was well below the spirited standards that he has so far set in his Test career, singled out the efforts of Jermaine Blackwood and Kemar Roach for particular praise. Blackwood, who made a century against England in their last Test series in the Caribbean in 2015, top-scored with 79 not out in the first innings, having been recalled to the team for the first time since last year’s tour of the UAE.And Roach, whose first-morning extraction of Mark Stoneman was as good a delivery as was bowled all match, fought a lone battle to lift the standards of a seam attack that could yet be reinforced by a recall for Shannon Gabriel at Headingley next week.”I was really appreciative of the way Blackwood played,” Holder said. “He was his normal self after coming back into Test cricket. I want to keep encouraging him to be selective but play his natural game. And I thought Kemar Roach toiled and bowled well, he gave a tremendous effort every time I called on him.””Not an easy job but it’s not impossible,” he said of captaining West Indies. “We’ve got to stay in the game and stay in the fight. Only a couple of Tests ago, England were beaten by South Africa, and we’ve competed really well in the last few Tests we’ve played. We beat Pakistan [at Sharjah in 2016], and they beat England here last year. So it’s important for us to stay with it, and come back strongly.”

David Hopps at Grace Road26-Sep-2017
Ben Raine is a combative soul, a sort of Ben Stokes type without the England caps, the headlines and the penchant for street theatre. Almost single-handedly, he has challenged the notion that Northants are about to pip Nottinghamshire for promotion and that Leicestershire are condemned to a winless season.Raine played age-group cricket with Stokes at Durham. Even on such days like this, he will probably insist that he would love to be compared to him. He struck 59 to prevent a rout and then took four wickets to invite hopes of a transformation beyond belief. Hopefully he followed up with an early night and a cocoa.Until Raine’s intervention, it had taken less than 17 overs for two facts to be gleaned from an extraordinary first session at Grace Road: firstly, Leicestershire, barring miracles, were likely to endure a winless season, and Northants’ promotion challenge was still very much alive.Or, as their former England batsman Ben Duckett neatly put it on Twitter, as he missed the match through injury: “COME ON THE CHUBSTERS!”After little more than an hour of coming and going, Leicestershire were 26 for 7. You don’t want a home match in late September, with the toss regulations as they are, when you are adrift at the bottom of the table.Leicestershire avoided a historic low as Raine rallied but even he could not entirely offset a day that ended with Northants leading by 71 with two wickets remaining. But he certainly irritated a side that had anticipated far greater riches.Now for the arithmetic, sort of. Northants, third, have Nottinghamshire, in second, in their sights. A Notts win would end Northants’ challenge, but Notts are in disarray at Hove. If Notts escape with a draw, that will probably suffice for them. If Notts lose and Northants beat Leicestershire, the Chubsters are First Division-bound.This, it should be stressed, is the same Northants side which Peter Moores, the Notts coach who has led the county to both limited-overs trophies, and who had reason to anticipate a treble only a few weeks ago, would issue with lifestyle sheets and impose punishment runs if they were ever caught watching The Great British Bake Off. This is also the Northants side which, according to the analysis favoured within the Test match counties, supposedly just concentrates on T20 and doesn’t care two hoots for the Championship. There’s that theory gone then.Leicestershire’s flimsy resistance will doubtless attract criticism. Their very name invites greed among some business types who just want to close them down and divide out the proceeds. Their recent record is not much of a case for the defence. But the ground itself is much improved – quietly attractive on a decent autumn day – and there is a yearning for self-improvement. What’s not to like?What was not to like was Leicestershire’s batting, even allowing for a humid morning during which the ball swung persistently, if not extravagantly. From the moment that Michael Carberry was struck in front by Ben Sanderson’s outswinger, they were up against it, Sanderson and Richard Gleeson going on to take five wickets apiece.The debutant, Sam Evans, got the most savage delivery – one from Gleeson that jagged back ferociously to take the inside edge – Ned Eckersley and Aadil Ali missed inswingers from Sanderson to be lbw and Mark Cosgrove played on as he drove at a full-length ball from Gleeson. Add Lewis Hill’s curious walking shot and the best delivery of the lot, which left Neil Dexter to uproot his off stump as he played to leg, and 26 for 7 it was.One of Duckett’s fellow chubsters, the veteran South African allrounder, Rory Kleinveldt, had given Northants a fighting chance of promotion when he took a career-best 9 for 65 against Nottinghamshire at Wantage Road last week. Kleinveldt must have sensed a further bounty on a bowling morning at Grace Road, but perhaps he was over-ambitious because he was stretching gingerly in the warm-ups and then broke down with a side strain after only 11 deliveries.That left Northants’ resources under strain – Luke Procter, on loan from Lancashire, was third seamer and was to bowl four overs for 27 as Raine joined Zak Chappell in a facesaving stand of 68 for the eighth wicket. No repeat then of Leicestershire’s 25 against Kent in 1912, their lowest Championship score, or more recent embarrassments – 34 against Essex on a dodgy park pitch at Southend or 43 against Worcestershire last season.Things might have been worse for Leicestershire. Raine was dropped on 15 at second slip by Richard Levi, off Gleeson, and Chappell should have been comfortably run out on 5, only for wicketkeeper David Murphy to fumble a gentle throw from the bowler’s end.Northants looked solid shortly after tea, 90 runs to the good, Procter and Rob Newton well set. Raine removed them both, Procter for 82, had Simon Kerrigan lbw for nought, second ball, and ensured no act of courage from Kleinveldt, whose appearance at No 9 lasted four deliveries. Not for the first time, he looked full of competitive edge.Poor lad. All his career, Raine has probably wants to be compared to Stokes and it had to happen on a day like this.

Moeen Ali complained of a sore left side, while Steven Finn hurt his left knee during England’s training session in Perth on Thursday. Both players underwent scans on Friday

George Dobell in Perth02-Nov-2017Injury concerns to Moeen Ali and Steven Finn overshadowed England’s first attempt at middle practice at the start of their Ashes tour. Both players underwent scans in Perth on Friday after reporting discomfort during the session at Richardson Park. Results of the scans are expected later in the day, but talk within the camp suggests Moeen should be fine in a few days but Finn may have sustained a more serious injury.*Both players have been ruled out of England’s opening warm-up match on Saturday. Finn’s injury was sustained while batting in the nets. He either hit his left knee with the bat or squeezed the ball into the knee and was forced to hobble out of the training session.But it is the prospect of injury to Moeen that will most concern England. Moeen complained of a sore left side and, as a consequence, did not take part in the training sessions and was immediately ruled out of the two-day game against a Western Australia XI over the weekend.With Ben Stokes also out of action, England can ill-afford to lose another of their allrounders.While it is premature to suggest Moeen could be an injury doubt for the Brisbane Test – there are more than three weeks until the series begins and the whispers around the tour party suggest the scan is largely precautionary – it does enforce the suspicion that England’s squad may require more depth in spin-bowling before the series is over.The only other spinner in England’s Ashes squad is Mason Crane. While he is highly rated and showed impressive composure in his first couple of international matches (two T20s against South Africa), England may well be reluctant to give a 20-year-old legspinner his Test debut as the only spinner in the opening encounter of an away Ashes series.That could mean the England management may consider calling up reinforcements. Jack Leach, the Somerset left-arm spinner who has been named in the Lions squad that arrives in Australia in two weeks, would probably be the most obvious candidate, though he does not come close to replicating Moeen’s ability with the bat. Liam Dawson, who has played three Tests over the last year, might be considered a more like-for-like replacement, while Samit Patel continues to excel at domestic level and could be considered.The loss of Moeen will complicate matters ahead of this weekend’s warm-up game. England had been keen to field a team – or a 12, anyway – as close as possible to the side they will put out in Brisbane with the only issues to resolve the identity of the No. 5 batsman (either Dawid Malan or Gary Ballance) and the fourth seamer. In the absence of Moeen, though, Crane is likely to win greater opportunity and Craig Overton’s batting (and his ability to field at slip for the spinners) could earn him an advantage over Jake Ball.*06.15GMT, November 3: The article was updated with the latest from the England camp.

The medium-pacers helped pull things back for Comilla Victorians after Chittagong had put on 80 in eight overs, before Jos Buttler and Marlon Samuels helped them chase 144

The Report by Mohammad Isam07-Nov-2017

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dwayne Bravo’s celebrations were catchy as ever•Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

Comilla Victorians inflicted a collapse on Chittagong Vikings, before an efficient chase took them to an eight-wicket win. Mohammad Saifuddin and Dwayne Bravo starred with the ball for Comilla, before Jos Buttler scored 48 to help them chase 144.Chittagong would rue giving away a good start, having reached 91 for 1 in the 10th over, but hardly making any noise in the final half of the innings – making only 52 runs and losing six wickets.After Buttler had set up Comilla’s chase, Marlon Samuels and Imrul Kayes finished the job with efficiency as the Chittagong bowlers couldn’t quite force the issue.Soumya’s reverse-sweep headlines fast startLuke Ronchi had struck a six off the first ball of the third over but when Soumya timed his reverse-sweep to perfection, Comilla knew they were in trouble. The left-hander had been in woeful form for much of Bangladesh’s tour of South Africa, except for the two T20Is at the end.The switch-hit was followed by Ronchi striking Al-Amin Hossain for consecutive fours in the next over. He then went on to hit twin sixes off Dwayne Bravo, the first one a fantastic piece of timing despite being beaten by the slower ball. Soumya struck two more fours in the sixth over before Ronchi fell for 40 in the same over, having struck three sixes and four fours in his 21-ball knock.Dilshan Munaweera tried to keep up the pace while Comilla also erred in the field. Having dropped Ronchi when he was on nine in the second over, Al-Amin’s movement at deep midwicket was astounding as he didn’t get under a Soumya mis-hit. He signalled that it was the sun but he was wearing a cap; Bravo, the bowler, was unhappy. Chittagong reached 91 for 1 after 10 overs, with one eye on a 200-plus score.A stuttering collapseComilla’s fightback began in the 12th over, when Munaweera needlessly scooped one to Marlon Samuels at short fine leg. Saifuddin then got into the game with two consecutive wickets in the 14th over. Sarkar missed a paddle sweep to be bowled before Anamul Haque was caught at long-on for three. After three more wickets fell, Sikandar Raza struck two fours in the last over – there were three in the last 10 overs – to take them past the 140-mark.Buttler gets underwayLiton Das and Jos Buttler let fly from the second over of the 144-run chase, hitting a flurry of fours and sixes. Liton struck Shuvo for a four through the covers and a swept six over fine-leg. Taskin Ahmed was hit through point over mid-on for a four and six respectively by Buttler. Sunzamul Islam was given the triple treatment – a four through midwicket, a blast over long-on for a six and a chip over midwicket for another four.Subashis Roy trapped Liton leg-before in the fifth over, after which Buttler and Imrul Kayes added 57 runs for the second wicket. Buttler was caught behind off Subashis too, after making a 42-ball 48 with three fours and two sixes.A well-orchestrated finishSamuels and Kayes, didn’t allow any more hiccups in the Comilla chase, adding the remaining 44 runs in just 3.4 overs. Samuels struck four boundaries and a six in his unbeaten 18-ball 35, while Kayes struck a four and a six in his 31-ball 33. Comilla won with 16 balls to spare.What they said“Sometimes it happens when you have 80-odd runs and you are going ten an over, you starting thinking ahead to 200-plus. I think in the coming games we need to be very careful about that in the middle overs, even if we are playing a T20 game. We need to be sensible.”