The Afghanistan legspinner and the Pakistan fast bowler were in unbelievable form

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jan-2020 10.5 Rashid Khan to Vince, OUT, that’s what Strikers needed! Length ball outside off, and a bit of turn away from Vince. He looks to defend, but it takes a big nick into the keeper’s glovesJM Vince c †Carey b Rashid Khan 27 (20b 4×4 0x6) SR: 135.0010.6 Rashid Khan to Edwards, OUT, two in two! First-ball duck. Good length on off, but the googly spins inwards. Edwards is caught on the wrong line, and the ball hits him in front of leg stump. Rashid’s massive appeal may have convinced the umpire, because that was sliding down leg for certainJ Edwards lbw b Rashid Khan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.0012.1 Rashid Khan to Silk, OUT, he’s got a hat-trick! Full on off, and the googly turns through Silk’s defense, and clips middle stump. The Strikers are now roaring! The BBL’s fifth hat-trickJC Silk b Rashid Khan 16 (17b 2×4 0x6) SR: 94.11 19.2 Haris Rauf to Gilkes, OUT, another slower ball on the legs, skies this flick aiming for midwicket but it sails toward Lamichhane at deep fine leg. He comes in off the rope 15 yards and judges it fairly well, lunging forward at the end to claim this. Give an assist to Zampa for cutting the previous ball to a single to put Gilkes on strike.M Gilkes c Lamichhane b Haris Rauf 41 (35b 1×4 2×6) SR: 117.1419.3 Haris Rauf to Ferguson, OUT, on a hat-trick! Another cutter at 125 kph on a fullish length. Ferguson hasn’t looked comfortable since being struck on the toe in Rauf’s previous over. Ferguson shuffles well across his stumps mistimes this off his thigh and ricochets into the stumps.CJ Ferguson b Haris Rauf 35 (27b 3×4 1×6) SR: 129.6219.4 Haris Rauf to Sams, OUT, a doubleheader double hat-trick! Good length ball skids on to beat Sams’ flick across and pinned lbw in front of middle. Replays indicate Sams was struck high on the back leg in front of middle and leg with the ball tailing in. Very favorable decision on height and line but he’s bowled very well today.DR Sams lbw b Haris Rauf 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Hosts post record chase at Newlands to take 1-0 series lead after Joe Denly’s half-century guides England to respectable total

The Report by Valkerie Baynes04-Feb-2020Is this a new South Africa? Regardless of how this series ends or the eventual outcome of the hosts’ substantial rebuilding project, the answer, today, was yes.Led by newly appointed captain Quinton de Kock and a resurgent Temba Bavuma, South Africa recorded the highest successful ODI chase at Newlands to claim a memorable victory.De Kock and Bavuma put on a 173-run stand which blew South Africa’s previous best second-wicket partnership against England away and delivered a huge confidence boost after a disappointing World Cup and, more recently, a 3-1 Test series defeat to England.South Africa lost opener Reeza Hendricks cheaply, but not until the seventh over as he and de Kock made a controlled start.Bavuma joined de Kock with their side 25 for 1 and the pair played with poise and sense, never letting the required run rate out of site, running well between the wickets and not succumbing to any rash shot-making of the kind that drew criticism towards de Kock during the Test series.Bavuma, who forced his way back into the Test side for the fourth and final match at Johannesburg with some scintillating form on the domestic circuit, fell two runs shy of a second ODI century in just his third appearance.De Kock’s 107 off 113 balls oozed composure but was not without excitement, such as the massive six off Tom Curran that landed on top of the sightscreen and stayed there, or the four thumped off the back foot through midwicket to bring up his 5000th ODI run. Then there were consecutive fours through the covers to bring up his 15th one-day century.It was only when Joe Root re-entered the attack in the 36th over that de Kock fell, bowled as he missed an attempted slog-sweep.Rassie van der Dussen, who made his Test debut against England in December and finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer of the series – and South Africa’s second-highest behind de Kock – entered with his side needing 61 off 89 balls.Even when Bavuma was trapped lbw by Chris Jordan, ending a wonderful knock on 98 off 103 balls, there was no sense of panic and van der Dussen and Jon-Jon Smuts guided South Africa to the target with 14 balls to spare.World Champions England doled out caps at opposite ends of the spectrum, handing debuts to Tom Banton and Matt Parkinson and marking Chris Woakes’ 100th ODI. But it was their team-mate with a curious mix of age and ODI inexperience, Joe Denly, who played the innings England needed after falling to 83 for 4 and then 131 for 6 as they battled the spin of Tabraiz Shamsi.Denly scored his third ODI half-century and his first in the eight innings he has played since his previous fifty, against Australia in September 2009.After being overlooked for the World Cup, Denly was given the chance to establish himself as a limited-overs player when he was awarded his first white-ball contract at the end of last summer. If his first innings since is any gauge, Denly has set himself on course to do so, with a fine 87 off 103 balls to help England to 258 for 8 from their 50 overs when a much smaller total had looked likely earlier.South Africa also had two debutants, batting allrounder Smuts and quick Lutho Sipamla, and it was in fact the spin of Smuts that made the breakthrough they needed.Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow brought up England’s 50 off 54 balls to set a strong foundation.Roy hit his stride by punishing Beuran Hendricks with three consecutive fours through long-on, long-off and extra cover but he also rode his luck, dropped on 24 by Andile Phehlukwayo off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi and barely evading the reach of van der Dussen as he cleared midwicket.As their stand reached 51, Roy lofted Smuts down the ground and found Reeza Hendricks at long-on to fall for 32 from as many balls. Bairstow followed his opening partner back to the pavilion a short time later, crashing a drive off Phehlukwayo straight to Sipamla at mid-off.A brilliant piece of fielding from van der Dussen broke a third-wicket stand worth 30 runs between Eoin Morgan and Root. Morgan swept Shamsi but van der Dussen was so sharp with his diving intercept at backward square he had all the time in the world to rise to his knees and take middle stump out of the ground with a throw fired in from nearly 30 metres away, as a sprawling Root was found well short of his ground.Shamsi removed Morgan just three balls later, edging to Bavuma who took a strong slips catch diving low to his left.Banton reached 18 off 23 balls but he was found wanting when he dropped to his knee looking to slog-sweep Shamsi and was struck high on his back thigh and given out lbw, failing to have the decision overturned on review when ball-tracking showed the delivery was headed for the top of off stump.Shamsi claimed his third wicket when he bowled Sam Curran round his legs.That brought Woakes to the crease and he joined Denly in settling the England innings, contributing 40 as the pair put on 91 runs for the seventh wicket.Denly accelerated through the closing overs, clubbing Ngidi some 87 metres over cow corner for six – the first maximum of England’s innings. He dealt out more of the same in Ngidi’s next over with a scornful smash over the fence at long-off.Denly was finally brought undone when he sent Beuran Hendricks to Reeza Hendricks in the deep with four balls remaining, his efforts at least giving England a fighting total – until de Kock and Bavuma played their part.

Car park to be used as drive-through test site by NHS

George Dobell02-Apr-2020Warwickshire have donated their Edgbaston stadium for the use of the NHS in a bid to help in the battle against COVID-19.The ground – more specifically, the car park – will be used as a drive-through testing centre for NHS staff. Those requiring tests will drive in through the Edgbaston Road entrance and undergo the procedure while remaining in their vehicle. They will then leave via the Pershore Road exit.Warwickshire also plan to offer NHS staff free entry to a Vitality Blast fixture later in the summer. Details of this offer will be released as and when the schedule for the 2020 season is announced.The UK has witnessed something of an outpouring of gratitude towards NHS staff in recent weeks. As details of the severity of the crisis have become clear, it has also become apparent that many staff – some of whom are not especially well paid – are working in desperately demanding conditions without adequate protective equipment or access to testing. Sam Curran and Jos Buttler are among the England players who have begun their own fund-raising efforts for NHS related charities.With little immediate prospect of cricket or any of the events that usually occupy Edgbaston, staff at Warwickshire have been looking for ways in which they could help the community through the pandemic. The offer to host a testing centre was gratefully accepted by the Department of Health and Social Care and will be utilised by staff throughout the West Midlands region.”With our county cricket programme and conference and events business closed until 29 May, our staff have been exploring various options which enable the club to keep supporting our local community during these difficult times, whether that be through making calls to our elderly members and ex-players, volunteering and by offering Edgbaston Stadium for use in the wider civil contingency effort,” Neil Snowball, the Warwickshire chief executive, said.”Whilst it is a small part to play in grand scheme of things, we are pleased that our stadium can be utilised to support the fantastic efforts being made by all of our NHS staff in response to the coronavirus crisis.”We are also very grateful for the support that we have received in delivering this project from Patrizia and Homes England, our development partners.”The NHS staff COVID-19 testing station will start operating within a few days and will remain at Edgbaston until further notice. While these are not the type of tests anyone expected to see at the ground, they will, at least, ensure Edgbaston continues to play some part in helping the local community.

Adelaide and Perth may be able to host larger crowds than Melbourne

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2020Former Australia captain Mark Taylor has raised the prospect of the Australia-India Boxing Day Test being moved away from the MCG if other venues are able to host larger crowds.Although still six months away, the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Victoria – 75 were recorded on Monday – has brought into doubt when crowds will be able to return in the state.Adelaide and Perth have been talked of as alternatives for the Boxing Day encounter with both South Australia and Western Australia continuing to ease restrictions. Perth Stadium is set to be able to fill its 60,000 capacity for football matches from the middle of July while Adelaide Oval is able to host crowds of up to 25,000 – 50% of its capacity.”If you look at what’s happening around Australia, by Christmas time the MCG may only be able to host 10,000-20,000 people, which is not going to look great when you’ve got a real iconic Test match,” Taylor told Nine’s Sports on Sunday.”You move that match to Optus Stadium or even the Adelaide Oval, you’re going to get full venues. The Adelaide Oval and Optus Stadium will be working hard to try and get that game because they would look better with full crowds.”While the prospects of the Australia-India series taking place have been promising for some time, there had been a talk of the possibility that it would have to be played behind closed doors – as will be the case when international cricket returns with the England-West Indies series next month – with India potentially using a single venue as a hub.However, as the Covid-19 situation improved in the country so too did the hopes of a traditional schedule although the situation in Victoria is a reminder of how quickly things can change. The current schedule has the series being played in Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney with Perth hosting Afghanistan in late November but Cricket Australia had said all fixtures were subject to change. Western Australia though voiced their anger at not being given a lucrative India Test.Speaking last week, Australia captain Tim Paine said he hoped to be playing in front of crowds this season.”Given the current circumstances, I dare say everything is well and truly on the table. We are hopeful that everywhere we play come summer time, we would be able to have crowds,” he said. “How big they are, we don’t know, obviously. But it’s a difficult one for anyone to answer because there is so much changing week to week, day to day. Give it is three or four months, we just don’t know what it is going to look like.”Certainly, from a player’s point of view, we want to be playing in front of big crowds at the best venues and a big day like Boxing Day is something that everyone looks forward to and a big part of that is playing at the MCG.”Fingers crossed things are going well enough that we can do that but, as I said, we are spoilt for choice here in Australia with some world-class stadiums. If something had to change, then, again, we have plenty of options.”

Richard Gould believes many IPL franchises are “striving” to create such a healthy structure

George Dobell27-May-2020The much-derided ownership model of most county cricket clubs has given them the best chance of surviving the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Surrey’s chief executive.With some now advocating English cricket adopts a similar finance model to that seen in the IPL, Richard Gould believes that it is the continuing predominance of members’ clubs – where no shareholder claims dividends and all profits are invested back into the club – which has afforded them a chance to “weather the storm” of recent months.And he believes many IPL clubs are “striving” to create such a healthy structure.ALSO READ: County Championship could include Lord’s finalGould made his comments while unveiling record financial returns for Surrey. Against a turnover of more than £45m, Surrey declared a pre-tax profit of £6.3m. The profit is a 112% increase on the £2.75m made in 2018 and a 42% boost in year on year turnover. The club also has 13,500 members and a squad containing 13 England internationals, eight of whom developed through the club’s academy. The news comes days after Lancashire declared almost as impressive returns.While both clubs are benefiting from a 2019 season which included hosting an Ashes Test and numerous World Cup games, they are now heading into a season in which incomes are going to be hit severely. But Gould believes that Surrey’s survival through 175 years underlines the benefits of its ownership model.”I find it interesting to look at the ownership models of other sports,” Gould said. “With county cricket largely featuring members’ clubs, you know that in years when money is made, it’s not being taken out of the sport by shareholders or used to re-finance the purchase of the club, which seems to be the American way of doing things.”When cricket makes money, you know it goes right back into the sport. We build bigger capacities to get bigger revenues or we invest in developing players. So the money we’ve been making at Surrey has gone into cricket – men’s and women’s cricket – and we take a lot of pride in young Surrey players going on to play for England.”I’ve worked in football and I’ve seen the different models of team ownership. The issue for me is team versus club. Pop-up teams are all well and good, but clubs do so much more for their community and their environment.”Teams in the IPL are actually striving to get what we have now. Look at Rajasthan Royals trying to create its own academy set-up. We take it for granted we’ve got an academy we invest in heavily. That’s what you get with clubs.”There is a role for teams, even pop-up teams, but when it comes to it, celebrating our 175th anniversary this year, the long-term value both for the sport and the community rests with clubs.”Although the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will clearly be damaging to the club, the successes of last year have enabled us to approach the situation with confidence and resiliency. Our finances do give us a little bit of a cushion which should help us weather the storm.”Richard Gould, Surrey chief executive•Getty Images

Gould also cautioned against simplistic valuations of the game. Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, recently used his Telegraph column to claim that County Championship cricket ran at a financial loss but, as Gould sees it, those games help create the Test team which contributes heavily to the broadcast deals.”People say the championship loses money but I don’t think it does,” Gould said. “Most of the value from the Sky broadcast deal is from Test matches which is fed by the county system delivering quality players. I can do you a P & L on a Championship match day and say it loses money but it doesn’t if you look at all of the money coming into the game.”Despite Gould’s long-term optimism, he has warned that county cricket has a “specific issue” which makes it even more important that play resumes this summer. For if there is no county cricket this summer, clubs would go into the 2021 season having not welcomed spectators for 18-months.”Cricket has a specific issue,” he said. “We’ve been talking about whether we can get crowds in towards the end of this year. We’re not going to be suggesting anything other than following very strictly the government guidelines. But we hope at some stage they will allow some crowds in.”If that doesn’t happen, we’re in a unique position. There’s no other sport, industry or leisure sector that has the risk of going a year-and-a-half without anybody in the ground.”Around 10 percent of our revenue comes from the Sky broadcast deal, 90 percent comes from people coming into the ground. It makes sense we’re protecting the Sky contract first. But our greater risk is going a very long time without people coming into the ground. There have to be baby steps at some stage to get back to some sort of normality.”Gould also suggested there would have to be a review into the spending involved in launching The Hundred. In particular, he cautioned against excessive spending in case it resulted in cuts to county staffs. Some 134 male county players are out of contract in October.”We’ve been told there are no sacred cows and all elements of the game are going to be evaluated in terms of costs,” he said. “Can we afford it? I don’t know what we can afford next year. Whether it’s The Hundred, county cricket or international cricket. I know the ECB are doing a lot of work on the finances to understand the options.”There are nearly 150 players out of contract at the end of the season. We have to make sure that there is enough money to keep every player in the game who is worthy of another year. We need to make sure money is used appropriately.”It would seem incorrect for clubs to have such money difficulties that they have to let more players go than they otherwise would when we’re creating another tournament where even more money is going in. But I’m sure that balancing act will be done over the next three or four months.”

Jamaica Tallawahs lose Andre McCarthy and Jeavor Royal, who had come into contact with a player who had tested positive for Covid-19

Shashank Kishore03-Aug-2020St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have had to rejig their backroom staffers’ line-up just two weeks before CPL 2020 after Simon Helmot, their head coach, and Malolan Rangarajan, the assistant coach, were forced to miss the tournament for different reasons. The franchise has brought in former West Indies captain Courtney Walsh and Mark O’Donnell from New Zealand, who had worked together with Jamaica Tallawahs in 2015, to fill the gaps.Helmot tested positive for Covid-19 on July 27, the day he was to fly out of Melbourne to the Caribbean, while Rangarajan is a talent scout at Royal Challengers Bangalore, and is expected to be involved in the team’s pre-season camp in the UAE from the end of August. Rangarajan will, however, continue to assist the Patriots remotely as a strategic consultant.Current CPL guidelines require all players and support staff to clear Covid-19 tests before they fly out to the Caribbean and fulfil a two-week quarantine period in Trinidad & Tobago, where the entire season will be played.”I tested positive five hours before I was to fly out, and I’m shattered that I won’t be able to be part of Patriots this season,” Helmot told ESPNcricinfo. “I was asymptomatic, and my second test has come back negative, but I’m still in home isolation until the department of health and human services give me a green signal.”Victoria is currently in stage four of lockdown, after a recent spike in cases. Because of my quarantine restrictions, I wouldn’t have been able to make it in time for the season owing to the quarantine protocols. I’m incredibly thankful to Mahesh Ramani, the franchise owner, and the CPL team of Pete Russell, Tom Moody and the others for working incredibly hard behind the scenes to put it together.”Helmot, who was coach when Trinbago Knight Riders won the title in 2015, has a multi-year contract with the Patriots, and is hoping to return to the Caribbean next year. He has also previously been involved with Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash league, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, apart from stints in Bangladesh as head of their high-performance centre.Patriots were also hit by the news, reported by , that 33-year-old left-arm spinner Dennis Bulli has also tested positive for Covid-19, and has been replaced in the squad by 36-year-old Trinidad & Tobago legspinner Imran Khan.Meanwhile, Tallawahs have been hit by the withdrawal of two squad members, Andre McCarthy and Jeavor Royal, who had come into close contact with another player who had tested positive for Covid-19. “To lose both players… it is a big blow,” Tallawahs CEO Jeff Miller told . “But at the end of the day, the safety of the players comes first.”Jermaine Blackwood, West Indies’ leading run-scorer on their Test tour to England, will come in as a replacement player, while young Australian allrounder Antum Naqvi replaces Tabraiz Shamsi, who has had to opt out because South Africa’s borders remain closed.

The Tridents’ batting woes continued as they slumped to 89 for 9 followed by curious tactics in the field

Peter Della Penna04-Sep-2020A year ago when their season was on the line in danger of missing the playoffs, the Barbados Tridents rallied with a string of stirring performances spearheaded by a canny bowling attack to propel them not only into the playoffs but to the tournament title. But in 2020, the Tridents arsenal of big name bowlers could not cover up a patchwork batting order in another must-win situation at Brian Lara Academy as they completed a hat-trick of sub-100 batting totals, including back-to-back displays against the Guyana Amazon Warriors who knocked out the defending champions by six wickets with 34 balls to spare.The Amazon Warriors were playing their third match in three days, two of them against the Tridents. But the defending champions could not find a solution to improve upon their 92 all out performance from 48 hours earlier, somehow faring worse off by three runs. The lack of spirit with the bat spread to the field as an absence of slip fielders meant two possible catches went unclaimed.After an expensive first over in the third, marquee spinner Rashid Khan was not brought back until the target was down to 23. Fellow legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr, the 2019 CPL Player of the Tournament, grazed the boundary for the entirety of the chase despite having figures of 4 for 28 in six overs bowled across the Tridents’ previous two matches.Shepherding the wickets columnTraditionally held back until the death by captain Chris Green, Romario Shepherd was given a chance in the Powerplay and the move paid off almost immediately to spark another top-order slide. Shepherd conceded a first-ball boundary cracked through point, but when Johnson Charles tried to repeat the shot next ball, the delivery didn’t come onto the bat as cleanly and wound up fluttering to Ross Taylor at point. Khan was promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter in an effort to shake up a slumbering line-up, but it had no impact. A top-edged pull first ball found the hands of Brandon King diving spectacularly on the square-leg rope to put Shepherd on a hat trick.Green and Imran Tahir continued to chip away at the middle order before Shepherd came back and struck two balls after the drinks break for his third wicket as Jason Holder’s ill-advised heave down the ground found Green at long-on to make it 39 for 6. Though not as dire as their position of 27 for 8 from two nights earlier, it was still too steep to climb out of.Just like Tuesday night, it was left to Mitchell Santner to perform CPR on the innings, teaming with Nyeem Young for a 30-run stand as both men jointly top-scored with 18. But after Santner fell the Tridents tail could manage just 20 runs off the last 25 deliveries in the innings as Shepherd and Naveen-ul-Haq kept them off balance with regular changes of pace.Where’s the desperation?Based on some of the field settings and bowling choices, a viewer would have a hard time believing that the Tridents were fighting to keep their season alive. After a first ball wide, Santner claimed Brandon King for a golden duck by slipping an arm ball through the gate. Three balls later, Santner appeared to have Chandrapaul Hemraj trapped for another duck with one that straightened to beat the bat, but his lbw shout was denied.Luck deserted Santner and the Tridents again when Hemraj was dropped on 14 at deep midwicket by Walsh Jr on a difficult lunging chance along the rope after having covered 25 yards running left. Hemraj finally fell for 29 in the fifth, as another heave for midwicket off Holder’s medium pace resulted in an edge that flew to Young at deep third man. Holder then induced an edge behind to start the seventh to claim Sherfane Rutherford.But with the Tridents needing to push as hard as possible for wickets, Holder curiously opted to not give Raymon Reifer a slip when bowling to Shimron Hetmyer at the start of the eighth over and an edge flew past wicketkeeper Charles’ diving effort for four. After Reifer dismissed Pooran with a skied chance in the ring, Young similarly induced an edge off Hetmyer in the ninth which would have carried comfortably to slip, had there been one in place.Their most expensive overseas player and the No. 1 bowler on the T20I rankings, Khan was kept out of the attack after some early punishment from Hemraj and wasn’t given a chance to attack any incoming batsmen until the match was nearly finished. Walsh Jr had it even worse. After dropping the early chance on the rope, he was never brought into the attack. It was a stark reversal of fortunes for the leading wicket-taker from the 2019 tournament and symbolised the wayward 2020 campaign for the Tridents as a whole.

ECB redundancies overshadow final ODI as central contracts loom for England players

Andrew Miller15-Sep-2020Chris Woakes has admitted that the England team cannot be “exempt” from the cost-cutting measures that the ECB have been forced to implement, after extending his sympathies to the 62 board employees who have lost their jobs due to the financial impact of the the Covid-19 pandemic.However, speaking on the eve of the final international fixture of the summer, Woakes added it was too soon to speculate on how the pandemic would impact on the next round of ECB central contracts, which are up for renewal at the start of October.Instead, he reiterated just how important it had been that West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan and Australia all agreed to tour to prevent the board’s financial losses from being even worse.ALSO READ: ECB announce 62 job cuts as Covid realities hit home“It’s incredibly sad news, really,” Woakes said, after it was confirmed that the ECB would be reducing its workforce by 20 percent, in a bid to mitigate projected losses of £200 million if Covid continues to disrupt the sport in 2021.”There’s a lot of people behind the scenes at the ECB who work incredibly hard, important cogs in the wheel,” Woakes added. “In the current climate, these sort of things are bound to happen in cricket, and in all sports around the world.”Of course it’s a sad time, and it does resonate with the players, but we’re also very fortunate that cricket has gone ahead this summer, [because] that figure of £200 million could have been a lot worse. I suppose that is the only positive outcome, really.Victory over Australia in the third and final ODI would complete England’s unbeaten record in international series across formats this summer, and defend a perfect record in bilateral ODI series at home that dates back to 2015 and the start of their emergence as a force in white-ball cricket.But more importantly, the mere fact that the fixture is taking place means that England’s men will have completed their full roster of 18 international fixtures for 2020, an achievement that seemed unthinkable back in April, when the ECB projected worst-case losses of £380 million if the full season had been wiped out.”The fact that we actually got some cricket on this summer is just a bonus,” Woakes said. “At one point it didn’t look like there’d be a ball bowled, so credit to everyone who made that happen.”West Indies and Pakistan, in particular, went to extreme lengths to make the Test leg of the summer, happen, with each team spending two months in lockdown to complete series that were worth in excess of £120 million to the ECB’s coffers. Ireland and Australia’s visits have been less extreme, but undeniably valuable in the current climate.”We thank them greatly, really,” Woakes said. “They took the effort to come across when no-one really knew what cricket was going to look like in a bubble. We’re really thankful because getting cricket on our shores has been really important.”But the England players themselves have had to play their part in arduous circumstances. Speaking on Monday, Jofra Archer told of the mental toll that life in the England bubble had taken on him, after 87 days in the bio-secure environment, the longest of any of the players. And Woakes agreed that it had been a challenge over and above the usual touring lifestyle.Woakes’s comeback spell sparked England’s win in the 2nd ODI•Pool/AFP via Getty Images

“There’s been times when it’s been brilliant, particularly when you are performing well and we’re winning. And there’s times when it’s not gone quite so well, and when you have a bad day, it’s hard to get away from. You’re constantly looking at the pitch, which can be tough at times, and you’re obviously away from friends and family, which also makes it hard.”So there’s definitely periods where you wish you could get away from the game and get back home and see friends and family, but I think we’ve all stuck to the task really well. It’d be nice for us to finish on a high, but I think everyone has done a great job.”In ordinary circumstances, such over-and-above efforts might qualify England’s players for hardship bonuses, rather than the prospect of pay cuts. But, with the Team England Player Partnership group beginning their negotiations for 2020-21, and with the top multi-format men’s players earning close to £1 million before bonuses, Woakes was realistic about the prospect of further financial sacrifice.ALSO READ: Covid resurgence could leave global game ‘in crisis’, says new ECB chairman“It is a situation where we have to sit down as players and see what happens with regards to these contracts coming up,” he said. “We’ll know more in the next few weeks. We’ll reassess at that point.”At this moment of time, it is hard for me to say ‘we’re going to take X cuts, and there are going to be donations here, left right and centre’. Until we’ve seen what happens from above we’ll then get more of a feel for it. I certainly wouldn’t rule that out.”As Woakes pointed out, the England players have already made a voluntary contribution to the cause, donating a combined sum of £500,000 back in April when the pandemic’s impact was first felt.”That hasn’t really been discussed since and we haven’t been spoken to by the hierarchy of the ECB,” he added. “In the current climate, with contracts around the corner, you have to expect anything. We have to wait and see. as players, you can’t say we’re exempt from it.”In the meantime, however, there’s a series to be won on the field against Australia.”The environment that we’re in certainly has had its tough times,” Woakes said. “But the team has pulled together and played some really good cricket, and that’s obviously the most important thing for us when we’re out there, performing as well as we can. And we’ve certainly done that, which has been brilliant.”

Draft conducted online – and with the odd hiccup – ahead of November tournament

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Oct-2020Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Shahid Afridi, Faf du Plessis and Carlos Brathwaite are among the high-profile foreign players that have been drafted into Lankan Premier League teams for the tournament that is set to begin on November 21.Although the draft, held on Monday, was carried out in incredibly haphazard fashion over the internet, with team owners unclear on the draft rules and protocols, SLC has nevertheless taken another step – however unsteady – towards hosting its own T20 franchise tournament.Wasim Akram was among those present at the draft, in his role as Galle Gladiators’ mentor. The Galle side shares the same owner as PSL franchise Quetta Gladiators. Also in attendance were former Sri Lanka players Hashan Tillakaratne (who will coach Kandy Tuskers), Thilina Kandamby (who will coach Jaffna Stallions), and English coach John Lewis (who is involved with Dambulla Hawks). Dav Whatmore, the former Sri Lanka coach who led them to the 1996 World Cup victory, was not seen at the draft, but is linked to the Colombo Kings franchise.Each team had two foreign marquee picks – players whom each franchise approaches individually and signs up. There was one local marquee pick as well. The remaining players will be paid according to the value determined by the category they were chosen in in the draft. Players drafted earlier are generally paid more.Given the disorganised nature of the draft, there was frequent backtracking and repeated misunderstandings, with selectors dropping in and out of the video call, and constant back-and-forth between owners and SLC, which was ostensibly running the draft process. The biggest hiccup came when Lewis had seemingly picked New Zealand legspinner Todd Astle for the Dambulla side, but then received a message several minutes later to suggest that Astle had in fact withdrawn two weeks ago.Nevertheless, the draft juddered to a conclusion, with the teams having picked between 16 and 20 players. Some slots were deliberately left open, with teams essentially backing themselves to persuade overseas players to play in the tournament and fill that position.The LPL is set to run from November 21 to December 13, and will be played initially in Sooriyawewa stadium, before moving to Pallekele for the latter stages of the tournament and the knockouts. The Sri Lankan government has not approved lenient quarantine measure for those coming into the country for the tournament, but SLC insists that the foreign players and officials taking part have all agreed to the strict 14-day quarantine, in which arrivals are not allowed to leave their rooms.The final squads are as follows:Jaffna Stallions Thisara Perera, Dawid Malan, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shoaib Malik, Usman Shinwari, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Suranga Lakmal, Binura Fernando, Asif Ali, Minod Bhanuka, Chaturanga de Silva, Mahesh Theekshana, Charith Asalanka, Nuvinidu Fernando, Kanagaratnam Kapilraj, Theivendiram Dinoshan, Yiyakanth YiyaskanthDambulla Hawks Dasun Shanaka, David Miller, Carlos Brathwaite, Samit Patel, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lahiru Kumara, Oshada Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Paul Stirling, Lahiru Madushanka, Upul Tharanga, Angelo Perera, Ramesh Mendis, Pulina Tharanga, Ashen Bandara, Dilshan Madushanka, Sachindu ColombageKandy Tuskers Chris Gayle, Kusal Perera, Liam Plunkett, Wahab Riaz, Kusal Mendis, Nuwan Pradeep, Seekkuge Prasanna, Asela Gunaratne, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Kamindu Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Priyamal Perera, Kavishka Anjula, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Samarakoon, Nishan Fernando, Chamika Edirisinghe, Ishan JayaratneColombo Kings Andre Russell, Faf du Plessis, Angelo Mathews, Manpreet Singh Gony, Manvinder Bisla, Isuru Udana, Dinesh Chandimal, Amila Aponso, Ravinderpal Singh, Ashan Priyanjan, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Thikshila de Silva, Tharindu Kaushal, Lahiru Udara, Himesh Ramanayake, Kalana Perera, Tharindu Rathnayaka, Navod ParanawithanaGalle Gladiators Lasith Malinga, Shahid Afridi, Colin Ingram, Mohammad Amir, Hazratullah Zazai, Danushka Gunathilaka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Akila Dananjaya, Milinda Siriwardana, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Azam Khan, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Nuwan Thushara, Mohomed Shiraz, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Chanaka Ruwansiri, Sahan Arachchi

All the action and talking points around England’s IPL contingent after the second week

Andrew Miller05-Oct-2020Another week of action in the IPL has flown by, with England’s contingent once again in the thick of things. Here’s a rundown on how they have fared to date. Click here for last week’s update.Archer in silken form, but little to show for itRajasthan’s hot form from the first week of the tournament has somewhat frittered away, but there’s not much more that Jofra Archer could have done to keep them competitive in consecutive defeats to KKR and RCB. With the ball he has been a dementor, sizzlingly quick and with such command of his variations, and with the bat he just keeps landing his punches – maybe not with quite the alacrity of week one, but he’s still got eight sixes to show for 25 deliveries in the tournament, a higher ratio than any other player. Talking of ratios, Archer has so far served up 51 dot-balls in the competition, the most by any bowler – 29 of which came from this week’s 48 deliveries. At one stage against KKR, he had figures of 2 for 4 in three overs. Who knows what might have happened had his last ball of the night, an uppercut from Eoin Morgan, not been palmed over the ropes by Tom Curran for six.Sam Curran, the finisher with unfinished businessWhat are we supposed to make of a world in which CSK’s best chance of pulling off a stiff run-chase is to get the GOAT of finishing off-strike, and hand the cudgels to England’s pint-sized pugilist, Sam Curran? For the umpteenth time since India’s World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, MS Dhoni’s wonky pace-maker has cost his side dear, but when Curran strode to the crease in Dubai on Friday night with 51 still needed from 14, and deposited his first ball high over midwicket for six, the prospect of another miracle was revived. Curran had, after all, been rattling along at a strike-rate of close to 300 in the first week of the tournament, but alas for CSK, he only faced two of the last 11 balls of the innings – including a last-ball lump down the ground for another six. With the ball, Curran had a bit of a mixed bag this week. One disastrous over against Sunrisers ruined an otherwise good impression with the new ball, but he did the needful in their ten-wicket stroll against KXIP.Morgan’s wise old head keeps KKR competitiveThat post-World Cup glow continues to radiate from the bat of Eoin Morgan, who is playing with a freedom that he probably hasn’t known since the earliest days of his cross-over from the Ireland to England camps more than a decade ago. He played two vastly contrasting innings this week, each of them an unflappable display from a player who’s come through the pressure cooker and now is ready to savour any situation – whether it’s Archer hunting for his head in Dubai, or an asking rate of 16 with wickets running out in Sharjah. In the former, he kept his cool (and rode his luck) to make a vital 34 not out from 23 balls; in the latter, he watched three wickets fall before he’d faced his first ball, and promptly lumped Anrich Nortje for the first of five sixes in an 18-ball 44. It wouldn’t be enough, but it took his side closer than they could realistically have hoped.Eoin Morgan hit three sixes in a row off Kagiso Rabada•BCCI

Buttler finds his range in low-key weekNothing much to write home about from Jos Buttler just yet. However, this week’s scores of 21 from 16 against KKR and 22 from 12 against RCB suggest that most aspects of his game are in good working order, and his usual full-throttle service should only be a matter of time. Certainly, his solitary six in the latter match – an effortless front-foot pick-up off an Isuru Udana slower ball – was a remarkable feat of timing and wristwork. But as his England team-mates discovered against Australia this summer, Buttler’s serenity can at times give a misleading impression of the pitch conditions, and without him on hand to power through the middle overs, Rajasthan are leaving themselves with too much catching-up to do at the death.Hard yakka for Tom Curran as Rajasthan stumbleIf Tom Curran was relieved to escape the six-hitting slaughterhouse of Sharjah – the scene of some uncomfortable moments in his opening two games of the tournament, then his bowling figures didn’t get much of a massage on the friendlier surfaces at Dubai and Abu Dhabi – 1 for 77 in 7.1 overs all told, including a bit of a schooling from a revitalised Virat Kohli against RCB. In mitigation, Curran has regularly been handed the toughest overs at the back-end of the innings – ones in which his team-mate Buttler said that conceding 15 was a win if it meant you weren’t clattered for 20-plus. His appetite for the scrap has been undiminished in the circumstances, as exemplified by his hard-earned half-century in a losing cause against KKR. In a tight table, who knows how crucial that salvaging of RR’s net run-rate may be.Bairstow proving it’s tough at the topIt’s all gone a bit Test-match for Jonny Bairstow this week – for better and for worse. An uncomfortable grind against Delhi Capitals was amply justified in hindsight, as he resisted some tight bowling on a two-paced deck to make 53 from 48 and give Rashid Khan more than enough runs to defend. But three days later against CSK, he fell victim to an outstanding opening gambit from Deepak Chahar – length ball, outswinger, savage inswinger, the latter uprooting Bairstow’s off stump for a duck as his initial plans for a cover drive were contorted into a wretched hack across the line. His week was completed with 25 from 15 against Mumbai, an innings which was arguably undone by David Warner’s lack of fluency at the other end. Their bromance is still smouldering but it’s not quite igniting the passions as it did last year.Johnny Bairstow drives on the up•BCCI

Chris Jordan’s birthday bumpsIt was Chris Jordan’s 32nd birthday on Sunday, but it wasn’t a very happy return to the Kings XI side. After conceding 30 runs in the final over of his previous appearance against Delhi, Jordan was pumped for a further 19 in his comeback over against CSK, with Faf du Plessis cashing in on his variations with four fours in five balls at the end of the Powerplay. It got no better as he returned for the 11th over, Shane Watson this time dispatching him for consecutive fours to bring up his first fifty of the tournament. By which stage the game was long gone. You can’t pin a ten-wicket defeat on the travails of one man, but Jordan’s lack of confidence epitomises a team with one win in five to date.Stokes primed for action; Banton, Moeen wait for the callBen Stokes has landed in the UAE after his compassionate leave in New Zealand, and could be ready when Rajasthan return to Sharjah for their rematch against KXIP, assuming he comes through his six-day quarantine period. Meanwhile, Moeen Ali (RCB) and Tom Banton (KKR) are still itching for their first outings of the competition – Banton could conceivably get a trial run at the top of KKR’s order this week, following a run of misfires from Sunil Narine.