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Adam Gilchrist believes it would be “commercial suicide” for Cricket Australia to allow any of their contracted players to play in the UAE or South Africa T20 Leagues that are set to clash with the BBL in January.Speaking on SEN Radio on Wednesday, Gilchrist was discussing a report in that said David Warner was seeking a release from CA to play in the UAE league in January. Warner is contracted to CA, but Australia do not have any international cricket in the last three weeks of January following the completion of a three-Test series with South Africa on January 8.Related

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“This is the big kicker, isn’t it, of possibly the step towards being contracted to club before or over country for the predominant amount of cricket you play,” Gilchrist said. “I think it would almost be commercial suicide for them to allow a player like him to go head-to-head up against their own competition.”They can’t force David Warner to play in the BBL. I understand that. But to let him then go off, or another player, let’s not just single out Warner, because there will be other players on the radar, it’s all part of this, I guess, global dominance that these IPL franchises are starting to create.”David Warner, again using him as an example, we can’t question his commitment to Australian cricket over the years. He’s carved out one of the great careers. So if he rides off into the sunset and says, ‘sorry Australian cricket, I’m finished, I’m just going to become a gun for hire for my Indian franchise team in various tournaments’, you can’t question him on that. That’s his prerogative and he’s done everything he needs to, to get the profile and get that sort of market value. It’s the new younger player that comes in and starts to make those noises where it will be really challenging.”The hope was that Australia’s Test players would be free to play in the BBL after the South Africa Tests, but Warner does not have a contract with a BBL club, and hasn’t played in the competition since 2013. CA-contracted players do not have to play in the BBL as part of the agreement. BBL clubs negotiate with Australian-based players individually as there is no domestic draft or auction for the tournament. Clubs haven’t contracted players like Warner, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green or Steven Smith in recent years to avoid wasting large chunks of the salary cap on those players when they are not available to play because of international duty. But they are set to be available for the last three weeks of the upcoming season.Warner is contracted to Delhi Capitals in the IPL and their co-owners GMR Group now own the Dubai Capitals, which are one of the teams in the new UAE league [ILT20]. The ILT20 is scheduled to run from January 6 to February 12. The BBL is scheduled to run from December 13 to February 4.Despite not being required to play in the BBL, Warner would need a no-objection certificate [NOC] from CA to be allowed to play in another league. CA issues NOCs for players to play in the IPL.Gilchrist felt that a move where Warner, or other players, are allowed to play other leagues could completely change the face of how international players were contracted.CA is already facing that challenge with Tim David, who is on the cusp of Australia’s T20I side. David is contracted to Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL but does not have a state contract in the domestic system, which has allowed him the freedom to play in the PSL despite the tournament falling during Australia’s domestic season when the Marsh Cup and Sheffield Shield are played. There have already been informal discussions within CA’s high-performance unit about how contracting would work in the future to allow T20 specialists, like David, to play in leagues around the world while being able to represent Australia without a significant loss of potential franchise earnings.Gilchrist: “There will be other players on the radar, it’s all part of this, I guess, global dominance that these IPL franchises are starting to create”•Getty Images

Gilchrist suggested that if Warner were to play in the UAE, it could reshape how Australia representatives are contracted in Australia.”Perhaps it is the first example where David Warner doesn’t sign a contract with Cricket Australia at all, he just plays for a match fee,” Gilchrist said. “He goes and plays whatever he wants but says, ‘I’m available for every Test match, for every one-day international, every T20 international’ by way of example. ‘I’ll be there for you in national colours, but other than that I’m going to play my club, my franchise cricket wherever I want to’, knowing that none of those big tournaments will be clashing with international cricket. That might be an opportunity to explore that and see how it looks. It’s a tough one.”Gilchrist’s comments follow hot on the heels of Ricky Ponting and Usman Khawaja’s concerns last week about the BBL being left behind as overseas players favour other leagues such as the ILT20 in the January window because of larger contracts for shorter commitments. Only a handful of players in the new BBL overseas draft are set to earn over US$ 200,000. Some of the top-line overseas players who have already nominated for the draft may even go undrafted by BBL teams given a number of them are likely to only commit to the December period of the BBL before going to play in the UAE or South Africa.There were 70 Englishmen who nominated for the BBL draft on Wednesday, with Liam Livingstone and Alex Hales two of the biggest names among them. But both are likely to only be available for the first half of the BBL tournament.

A match that had appeared to be nip and tuck on Wednesday evening eventually proved to be neither. On a pitch that was drier and easier for batting than it had been earlier in the week, Hampshire’s batters strolled to their target of 214 to set up a second successive push for the County Championship in September, when their next opponents will be Northamptonshire at the Ageas Bowl.And if James Vince’s side do win their county’s third title in September, they will have conformed to the curious pattern whereby recent champions – Middlesex, Essex, Surrey and Yorkshire themselves – have all recorded victories at North Marine Road. Scarborough has always been the most hospitable of towns but rarely to this extent.Yet there was really no point in this day’s cricket when Yorkshire appeared likely to discomfit their opponents. Runs came easily in the cool morning as Jordan Thompson strayed down the leg side and Ian Holland tucked into a couple of pies. Then Ben Coad bowled too full, a rare error, and Felix Organ gave it the full diapason down the ground. Before we had finished our first coffees of the day, Hampshire had scored 30 runs and the shape of the game looked very different. Matthew Waite replaced Thompson but he went for runs as well. Hampshire’s fifty came up in 45 minutes and Dom Bess was bowling from the Peasholm Park End by noon.Even in late July we are at the stage when cricketers take notice of other teams’ progress. So the only sombre note in Hampshire’s morning came from the Kia Oval where Division One leaders Surrey were beginning what proved to be a serene run-chase against Warwickshire. Meanwhile, Holland and Organ continued to mind their own business, pushing singles and ticking things along “sensibly, steadily” much like the clock in .Holland showed himself to be as adept at the reverse-sweep as Alfred (Scarborough College Class of 22) had been before play started, when one of the youngster’s well-timed efforts clattered into a couple of spectators on the wooden benches high in this amphitheatre. But the ball was soft and no one objects to lads practising cricket in this town.The morning’s only alarm for Hampshire came when Jonny Tattersall missed a stumping when Organ was 37 but the ball had spun sharply out of the rough and down the leg side. Only the martinet Yorkshire coaches like Arthur “Ticker” Mitchell would have laid into the keeper for that one. At lunch, Hampshire were 121 without loss – just as everyone had predicted.The afternoon’s play brought a little comfort for Yorkshire supporters, although they might have seen Hampshire’s loss of three wickets in 5.4 overs as an irritating reminder of what might have been possible had their bowlers shaped themselves earlier. But Coad was playing his first match after four months out with injuries and he will have been encouraged to remove Holland for 71, when a little extra bounce induced an edge to first slip, and then Joe Weatherley, who was leg before wicket for nought. Those dismissals sandwiched the departure of Organ, who hit Bess for a splendid six over long-on, only to pull the next ball, a steaming long-hop, straight to Matthew Revis at deep square leg.The super-optimists at North Marine Road may have thought these wickets a prelude to the sort of fightback in which Steve Patterson’s team has specialised this summer. If so, they were swiftly disabused of this notion by the grace of Vince, whose cover drives off Bess and Patterson were of the highest quality. Hampshire’s skipper even managed to invest a slog-swept six with aesthetic value and he was unbeaten on 43 when the victory was confirmed and the red balls were put away for a month or so.Meanwhile, at The Oval Surrey’s progress towards victory was progressing smoothly and their victory over Warwickshire has extended their lead over Hampshire at the top of the table to 16 points, albeit Vince’s team look to have the easier final three games. And at least we should have yet another September to cherish through the autumn

Lancashire have been in the running for three competitions this season and have won nothing. Defeat in the Royal London Cup final followed an agonising near-miss in the T20 Blast final that Hampshire famously won twice, and a Championship challenge that was finally extinguished by a six-point penalty for disciplinary reasons.For Keaton Jennings, Lancashire’s captain in the 50-over competition, another disappointment was hard to take, and it was testimony to his good nature and maturity that he was able to smile in the face of failure.”I suppose one positive is we gave ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “We got into two finals and in the Championship we have played some really good cricket and had we been able to force a result in a couple of games it might have been different.”It is tough to take. You can look back on every bad moment and be incredibly hard on yourself but the fact is the guys have played some really good cricket.”Jennings had been one of the culprits in a surprisingly error-ridden Lancashire fielding display – Kent’s outfielding comfortably outdid them – and then was dismissed for 72 when an untroubled innings was promising to set up victory.”Our catching was a factor,” he said. “Our fielding throughout the competition has been a stand-out for me. I don’t want to say exceptional, but the guys have thrown their bodies around and caught some seriously good catches.”He must be in the running for the reserve opener’s position on England’s Test tour of Pakistan, but it was not the time for him to wonder about it.”I’m not particularly wondering right now,” he said. “As far as England selection is concerned it’s completely out of my hands. This defeat is hard to take and I don’t want to look any further.”Kent’s player of the match as they took their first List A title for 44 years, ending a run of eight consecutive defeats in final since then, was Joey Evison, who collected his award while chants rang around the ground for the allrounder he is earmarked to replace – Darren Stevens, 26 years his senior, and stricken by a groin injury which ended his spell after eight oversEvison struck 97 on his return to Trent Bridge – he was loaned out to Kent for this season ahead of a three-year deal – and he also bowled a decisive penultimate over with Lancashire 22 short and the last pair at the crease. He looked nerveless, but revealed that he was troubled by cramp.”I was cramping up a bit so I was a bit worried about that,” he said. “I obviously didn’t drink enough. I was stretching quite a lot. It could have gone the other way. Liam Hurt can be quite dangerous in those situations, but the final ball came out nicely.”If you’d have told me at the start of the day I would get 97, as well as two wickets and a catch, and I would have bitten your hand off.”I think we outfielded Lancashire. They dropped a few catches and we managed to take them.”If Stevens could be expected to limp happily around the bar throughout the evening, his season, his Kent career, his entire career perhaps now at an end, Kent’s celebrations would have to be tempered. They are still not clear of potential relegation and face a demanding penultimate match against Championship-chasing Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday.

Thailand pulled off one of the biggest wins in their still-young cricket history, beating Pakistan by four wickets in their Women’s Asia Cup match in Sylhet this morning. The stars of the win in a low-scoring game were Natthakan Chantham, who led their chase of 117 with a 51-ball 61, Sornnarin Tippoch, who returned 2 for 20 in a strong Thailand bowling performance, and, right at the close, Rosenan Kanoh, who held her nerve against Diana Baig in a nerve-wracking final over to take them over the line.Prior to this, Thailand’s biggest win had come in the 2018 T20 Asia Cup, when they beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in Kuala Lumpur. Against Pakistan, they would have fancied their chances after putting up 150 for 3 at a 2020 T20 World Cup match in Sydney, but the chase had been washed out. This time, Chantham ensured the result did go her team’s way, even though she couldn’t hang around to finish the job.The game appeared even at the midway stage of the Thailand chase. Thailand had lost a couple of early wickets to Tuba Hassan, but had then settled down, though there was no urgency in their run-scoring.After ten overs, they were 45 for 2, with 72 needed. Naruemol Chaiwai hit Tuba for four in the 13th, and then Chantham lifted Omaima Sohail down the ground for a six in the 14th, and suddenly, the equation was down to 44 from 36, and the momentum had clearly shifted.There had to be a hiccup, and it came in the form of Chaiwai and Tippoch falling in consecutive overs, to Kainat Imtiaz and Nida Dar respectively, but at the other end, Chantham went down the ground and over the fielder at long-on to get to a 45-ball half-century. It could have ended for her there, but Dar dropped a sitter in the deep off Nashra Sandhu’s bowling to give Chantham the break she needed.The Thailand players celebrate after pulling off the win over Pakistan•ACC

It became a bit of a scrap after that. Sandhu got rid of Phannita Maya, there was a lot of frenetic running, peppered by the occasional attempted big hit that didn’t go anywhere, and Chantham was lucky to avoid being run-out when Dar fumbled with the throw from the deep at the bowler’s end. Dar got her own back not long after, though, getting Chantham caught at deep midwicket, leaving Thailand with 11 to get from eight balls.That became ten from the last over, bowled by Baig. Wide. Single. And then the game-changer: a slog straight down the ground for four by Kanoh off a juicy full-toss. An inside edge to fine leg for two came next, then a scrambled single, and then the winning hit, a slog from Nattaya Boochatham over midwicket for a single.Earlier, after Pakistan chose to bat, they were kept in check by a disciplined Thailand bowling show.As such, with Sidra Ameen holding the innings together from the top with a 64-ball 56, Pakistan did put runs on the board, but the going was slow all along. Tippoch picked up the big wickets of Dar and Ayesha Naseem at a crucial juncture in the last quarter of the innings, while all the bowlers on view conceded runs at 6.50 or under.Despite the loss, Pakistan are placed second, behind India, with Thailand fifth in the seven-team table after registering their first win.

Worcestershire have appointed former fast-bowling stalwart Alan Richardson as their new head coach. Kadeer Ali, who began his playing career Worcestershire in the early 2000s, will take up the role of assistant coach.Both are internal appointments, following Alex Gidman’s departure last month. Richardson, who took more than 250 wickets in four seasons with Worcestershire, started his coaching career with Warwickshire in 2014 before returning to New Road as bowling coach in 2018. Kadeer had been in charge of the 2nd XI since 2019.Worcestershire are also looking to bring in a director of cricket, with former captain Joe Leach – who is currently still on the playing staff – among those interviewed for the role.Related

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“On behalf of the Board, it’s a pleasure to welcome Alan and Kadeer into their new roles,” Paul Pridgeon, Worcestershire’s cricket steering group chair, said. “They both have a deep understanding of the club and are amongst the most respected and progressive coaches around, having excelled in their coaching roles here and in previous roles.”They deserve their chance to excel and build on our impressive foundations, and they will be further assisted by other important hires over the coming months. We wish them well.”Gidman stepped down after four years in charge, with Worcestershire failing in their promotion push in the Championship and finishing bottom of their group in both the Vitality Blast and Royal London Cup.Richardson and Kadeer will take charge with immediate effect, bringing the professional and academy squads closer together with the aim of “accelerating the development of younger players” over the winter.Richardson said: “I’ve been involved in the club for a long time now and know its rich history. It’s a proud moment for me to take on this role at Worcestershire. Kadeer and I always work hard to improve and develop players and we look forward to working more closely with our professional squad and the famous production line of talent from our academy.”All of our efforts will be on helping these players fulfil their potential, both individually and, most importantly, as a team.”I feel that we’ve already got a good relationship with our members and supporters, and we’ll be looking to build on that and look forward to sharing lots of memorable moments with them.”Kadeer added: “This is a wonderful opportunity for me and I’m really excited for the future of the club too. The members and supporters really know their cricket and have always been really welcoming to me, and I look forward to spending much more time with them going forward.”We’ve got a young, hungry squad, and everyone has their best days in front of them. I’m excited about working with the players on a full-time basis.”

Uncapped Bengal opener and captain Abhimanyu Easwaran is set to join India’s Test squad in Chattogram for the two-match series against Bangladesh, starting December 14.ESPNcricinfo has learned that the selectors are awaiting a final report from the BCCI’s medical staff on Rohit Sharma’s left thumb injury he picked during the second ODI. Rohit rushed back home to Mumbai on Wednesday and visited a BCCI-appointed specialist. The team management is optimistic about him getting fit before the second Test, which starts on December 22 in Mirpur. The two-match series is part of the World Test Championship.Easwaran is currently in Sylhet, where he led India A during their two-match red-ball tour against Bangladesh A. Against a line-up comprising several Test players, he made scores of 141 and 157 in his two innings. The 157 also earned him the Player-of-the-Match award as it helped India A carve up a lead big enough to seal victory by an innings and 123 runs.Easwaran is no stranger to Bangladeshi conditions, having been a regular participant in the Dhaka Premier League circuit. This year, he had represented Prime Bank in Bangladesh’s 50-over club competition. However, it was his performances for India A on the shadow tour that signalled his readiness.Easwaran was earlier part of India’s Test squad on their tour of England last year. Having made his first-class debut in December 2013, he has risen to be among India’s next-in-line as far as red-ball openers go over the last three years. His overall first-class numbers are formidable: 5576 runs in 134 innings at an average of 45.33, with a best of 233.He broke through into the India-A reckoning following a prolific Ranji Trophy season in 2018-19, when he made 861 runs at an average of 95.66. While his returns nose-dived in 2019-20, where he managed just 258 runs at 17.20, his potential helped him stay on the selectors’ radar.As things stand, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill are likely to open in the first Test in Chattogram should Rohit miss the bus. Easwaran, on current form, offers a viable back-up option.

David Warner believes his gutsy MCG double century, coming in his 100th Test, was probably the best knock of his glittering career.Warner produced a stunning turnaround against South Africa on Tuesday, ending an-almost three-year century drought by smashing 200 in oppressive conditions.The 36-year-old opener retired hurt after reaching his milestone, suffering heat stress and full-body cramps, and was assisted from the field by medical staff.Related

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Warner returned to bat on Wednesday, but lasted just one ball after being bowled by South Africa quick Anrich Nortje, but reflected on his extraordinary innings before play on day three.”I was going through that [his best knocks] the other day with a couple of the journos and that definitely is up there now,” Warner told . “To go out there, a lot of pressure, I don’t generally feel the pressure, I don’t get nervous.”But walking out here and telling my friends, ‘I’m going out to play the way I want to, looking to score and have intent’, and to deliver that in a Boxing Day Test which is the pinnacle as a kid…to go out and execute that emphatically was awesome.”Warner had been under immense pressure entering the final Test of the year, after averaging just 20.61 from 10 matches in 2022. The decline in Warner’s red-ball form had been so sharp he had failed to pass 50 since the third Test against Pakistan in Lahore in March. Warner has hinted about retiring from Tests in the near future but is desperate to tour India and England. He has never won a Test series in either country.”When your back’s against the wall, you can only look to move forward, that’s how I’ve always been,” he said. “It was emotional, it was hard out there, it was draining.”The build-up, the articles…but to come out here and just back myself and look to score, have that intent, which was probably missing from the last 12 months. It was a magical moment and so proud to do it in front of my family and friends.”Warner was the 10th player to score a century in his 100th Test and only the second Australian, after Ricky Ponting smashed twin centuries in 2006.Steven Smith, who was himself battling flu, subbed in for a weary Warner during the post-play press conference on Tuesday.He was confident the opener’s 25th Test century was not a one-off, believing the innings can set Warner up for success in blockbuster tours of India and England next year.”He’s doing pretty well and played exceptionally well [on Tuesday],” Smith said. “I don’t see any reason why he can’t continue playing. Fingers crossed he can keep playing well, and he can play for as long as he likes, I’m assuming.”

Ollie Robinson has been likened to Glenn McGrath for his height and metronomic bowling style, and the England man seems keen to fulfil a similar pantomime villain role when it comes to the Ashes.Having suggested a couple of weeks ago, in an interview with BBC local radio, that England could give Australia “a good hiding” this summer, Robinson was happy to once again talk up his side’s chances while on pre-season media duties for Sussex at Hove. “The way we’re playing cricket, we feel like we can really stick one on them and win the series comfortably,” he said with a smile.For Robinson, who ended the previous Ashes in Australia under scrutiny about his fitness levels, having been last man out at Hobart to complete a 4-0 drubbing, this summer’s contest also represents an opportunity to atone – albeit 11 wickets at 25.54 put him second on the England averages in 2021-22.Related

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“There’s definitely a desire there still, a hunger to put it right,” he said. “I felt when I got back from that trip I didn’t leave it all out there and I’d let myself down and the side down a little bit. So it’s definitely something I want to put right and there’s a few fellas in that position as well. So there’s a lot of hungry boys this summer to beat the Aussies again.”Of his recent comments, he said he was happy to have fired the first shots in the 2023 Ashes phoney war: “I was talking to local radio but I was happy that it got out. I mean it’s been happening in every Ashes series for years – Glenn McGrath says 5-0 every Ashes. We say 5-0 every Ashes. It’s one of the biggest series we play, it only comes around every four years in England, so why not talk it up? Get it going, get it big and give the fans what they want.”I think the cricket we’re playing at the moment makes it such an exciting time to play them. We’ve been dominating teams in all conditions for 12 months now. In England we dominated, in Pakistan we dominated and in New Zealand we played most of the cricket for nine days and lost on the last day because we probably weren’t quite there. But I think the way we’re playing cricket, we feel like we can really stick one on them and win the series comfortably.”Robinson is currently No. 6 in the world on the ICC’s bowler rankings, and looks a leaner, fitter presence after heeding the advice of his Test captain, Ben Stokes, last year. He is set to play “three or four” of Sussex’s opening six County Championship games, as part of his preparations for the Test summer, and said that he had already begun to focus his training on pitching the ball up again, after feeling that he had slipped into bowling “pretty” lengths during England’s 1-1 draw in New Zealand last month.He will also be able to practice his Ashes smack talk in the dressing room in a few weeks, with Australia’s Steven Smith due to arrive for a three-game stint with Sussex in May.”It’ll be good to have him here,” Robinson said. “For county cricket it’s great to have Steve Smith at Sussex. For myself, it’s not going to change a huge amount. I’ll prepare the same way. I might get a better look at him in the nets.”I might not bowl at him to be honest. We’ll see how it goes. But we had [Cheteshwar] Pujara here last summer and we played India and I bowled at him a lot. I don’t read too much into it. He’s a good player, he’s going to get runs whether I bowl at him here or not. It’s one of those things.”The signing of Smith, who will be looking to attune himself to English conditions ahead of Australia’s appearance in the World Test Championship final against India, and then the subsequent Ashes, prompted familiar questions about whether the county system should be providing such a service for England’s great rivals.But Paul Farbrace, Sussex’s new head coach and England’s assistant the last time they won the Ashes in 2015, argued that the presence of Smith could potentially be of benefit to Stokes and Brendon McCullum in the long run – with Tom Haines, who scored a century on debut for England Lions over the winter, foremost among a crop of young batters at Hove who will be looking to learn from the way Smith goes about his business.”We want to keep county cricket strong and we want the best players coming to play county cricket,” Farbrace said. “In Tom Haines we’ve got a player who could very much be playing for England in the next 12-18 months. If he spends a month with Steve Smith, batting in the middle and learning about international cricket from him, then Steve Smith is doing English cricket a huge favour.”As long as we can remember, county cricket has been the finishing school for cricketers from all over the world. I was lucky enough to play against Viv Richards and Richard Hadlee and people like that. These players came over and enhanced county cricket. Either we want county cricket to be the best version of cricket in the world it can be or we want it to be second-rate where we don’t want overseas players.”If you ask members and supporters, they want to watch the best players. We moan when we can’t see our own international players, so let’s get the best internationals we can over here and make county championship cricket the best it can be. If it means Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne come and get an opportunity before the Ashes, why not? Absolutely why not?”

England have fired the first shots, or attempted to, in time-honoured fashion ahead of the men’s Ashes, now Issy Wong has joined in the salvo, saying it’s not a bad time to take on Australia Women with their multi-format series beginning next month.Wong made her debut in all three formats during South Africa’s tour of England last summer and is hoping to be part of the England side kicking off their Ashes campaign in a five-day Test at Trent Bridge from June 22.”I think it’s a pretty good time to play them, you know, just quietly,” Wong said. “They are undoubtably, in my opinion, one of the greatest sports teams in history, of any sport, of any gender. Their record over the last 10 years is absolutely outrageous.Related

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“But it feels like that kind of golden era they’ve had is… you’ve had Rach Haynes retiring, [Meg] Lanning stepping away, obviously coming back in ridiculous form, but there’s a lot of new faces in that group that are unbelievably talented but haven’t necessarily played the biggest part for them over the last couple of years. I think it’s a really good time to actually go at them and say, ‘right, you are the best team in history, but you’ve a couple of new faces in here and let’s see if you’re as good as you were five years ago.’ I think it’s great time to play.”I’ve never played them though,” she added, bursting into laughter. “I’ve watched them on the telly a lot, they look great.”Wong wasn’t part of England’s T20 World Cup squad which fell to hosts South Africa in the semi-finals before Australia won the title for the third time in a row, captained by the returning Lanning after five months away from the game last year. But Wong did return to action in the inaugural WPL, winning the trophy with Mumbai Indians and finishing as the third-highest wicket-taker with 15 at 14.00, which included a hat-trick in the eliminator against UP Warriorz.Part of her reasoning about the Australians relates to her experience in India, having played against a number of her potential Ashes foes there, believing that also playing with and against them at the WBBL and in the Hundred – where she will again represent Birmingham Phoenix when the 2023 edition commences in August – demystifies them somewhat.”I’ve never played them but I don’t view them as ‘the Australians,'” Wong said. “They’re going to have Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy opening the batting, Meg Lanning’s going to bat at three, then in that middle order you’re going to have [Tahlia] McGrath, [Phoenix team-mate Ellyse] Perry, [Grace] Harris. You’ve played against these guys so much that you get to know them and, not necessarily even know their games, but they’re humans at the end of the day and humans do good things and humans do bad things.”That landscape changing, the more franchise stuff, is actually going to even out the playing field on an international level because people are playing against each other a lot more.”People say, ‘Oh, don’t you think it’s going to make international cricket less good if David Warner’s best mates with Jonny Bairstow because they open the batting for Sunrisers Hyderabad?’ I think that’s rubbish because actually it’s going to make the competition a lot better. You’ve got these guys playing against people that they know and those are the best battles because each person’s having to adapt their game and do things a little bit differently. When they’ve played against each other a lot, they’re working each other out and that’s how the game is evolving.”Wong celebrates after dismissing Alyssa Healy in the WPL eliminator•Getty Images

Wong’s comments come within a week of Stuart Broad’s contention that Australia’s 4-0 victory over England Men in their ill-fated Ashes tour of 2021-22 didn’t count as “a real Ashes”, with the Covid-19 restrictions it was played under making it a “void series” in his view, and six weeks after Ollie Robinson said the side which has reinvented itself under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes since could “give Australia a good hiding” this time around. But they are no less bold against an Australia Women’s side which lost just one match – to India in a Super Over – in 2022, also holds the ODI World Cup and has not lost an Ashes series since 2013-14.Asked whether now was a good time for her to play against the Australians in the Ashes personally, Wong responded: “My opinion, yeah. I also think it’s a great time for me to play up front for Liverpool. Does Jurgen Klopp share that opinion? No. There’s some things that you’ve got power over there’s some things that you don’t. I’m always going to be up for it, that’s my personality, but I’ve got to control those things that are in my control. I’m in control of if I’m up for it. I’m up for it. But you never know I guess.”Wong earned her first England cap in the drawn Test against South Africa in Taunton last June. She ended the match with three wickets, including two in two overs on a rain-affected penultimate day. She also featured in the white-ball section of South Africa’s tour before playing all of England’s matches at the Commonwealth Games, where the hosts finished a disappointing fourth.She sat out the most recent WBBL with a minor back complaint and amid ECB concerns over workload management before a quadriceps injury forced her to miss England’s tour of the Caribbean and therefore a chance to press for T20 World Cup selection in front of new coach Jon Lewis. In terms of the WPL providing a platform to prove a point after her omission, Wong agreed that it did, although not in the way one might expect.”They picked their squad and unfortunately for me this time I wasn’t in those plans,” Wong said. “I probably had a half-hour of sulking, or not sulking but feeling sorry for myself, licking my wounds, then I had to get up and go to training. So there’s not a whole lot I can do about it now and that period before the WPL I had probably three weeks at home where I could put in some good yards, come on a bit in training hopefully and then fly out to India.”I was keen to show the progress I’d made, not necessarily that I should have been out there because if I’d picked the squad, I’d have been out there and probably my 14 best mates would have been because that’s just how I’d pick the squad, isn’t it? But it was very much show the progress that I’d made over the last four months and hopefully the potential of progress that I’ve got for the future.”

Ashley Giles will return to professional cricket as Worcestershire’s new chief executive, 16 months after he was sacked as England’s managing director following their 4-0 defeat in the 2021-22 Ashes series.Giles was linked with the county when they advertised for a director of cricket last year but will instead take on the top job from July 3. The position has been vacant since 2019, with chair Fanos Hira taking an active role in the running of the club.Worcestershire face a fight to keep hold of several key young players who are out of contract this year – including recent England Test debutant Josh Tongue, who has attracted interest from Lancashire – and will hope that Giles’ appointment signals their ambition to those who are considering leaving.Related

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Giles spent his entire playing career with Warwickshire, Worcestershire’s local rivals, and also had two stints as director of cricket at Edgbaston – but has emphasised his desire to “make a meaningful contribution” to his new club.”Having resided in Worcestershire for 25 years, having married and raised my children here, I have developed a deep appreciation for the club’s rich history and recognise the immense potential for an exciting and promising future,” Giles said.”I am eager to make a meaningful contribution to the club’s growth and success and am looking forward to the opportunity to connect with our passionate members and supporters, and collaborate with the entire club community to ensure exceptional performance both on and off the field.”Hira said that the club’s board – who approved Giles’ appointment unanimously – were “delighted” to announce his arrival. “His unparalleled expertise and exceptional track record in cricket administration make him the definitive choice to lead our organisation into a transformative era,” Hira said.”We possess utmost confidence that his dynamic leadership and unwavering passion for the sport will serve as indispensable assets in propelling us towards success on and off the field.”A club statement said that Giles would provide support to Worcestershire’s coaching teams as well as overseeing the management of the club more widely.