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Brooke Guest’s second hundred sets up declaration after stand with Wayne Madsen

ECB Reporters Network01-May-2022Glamorgan narrowly failed to pull off a thrilling run chase as the LV=Insurance County Championship Division Two match at Derby ended in a pulsating draw.Set 331 in 55 overs, Marnus Labuschagne with 85 from 87 balls and Sam Northeast’s 81 off 101 balls put Glamorgan on course before fast bowler Ryan Sidebottom raised Derbyshire’s victory hopes with 4 for 50.Sidebottom removed Northeast to reduce Glamorgan to 308 for 8 but James Harris and Timm van der Gugten, batting with a runner, held on for the draw.Derbyshire wicketkeeper Brooke Guest had earlier scored his second century of the game to equal a 126-year record when he became only the second Derbyshire ‘keeper to make two hundreds in a match.Wayne Madsen also scored an unbeaten 135, sharing a third wicket stand of 276 in 76 overs with Guest, before Derbyshire declared on 349 for 3.David Lloyd with 49 launched the chase with Labuschagne but the Glamorgan captain was issued with a Level One warning on the field for abusive language after he was given lbw by umpire Paul Pollard.Guest and Madsen batted through the morning to set up the drama that unfolded against an attack that was a bowler down after van der Gugten left the field yesterday with a hamstring injury.Guest reached his landmark when he cut the leg spin of Labuschagne for his ninth four to complete his second hundred and equal the record set by Bill Storer against Yorkshire at Derby in 1896.Madsen celebrated yet another century, his 33rd first-class hundred for the county, by cutting Andrew Salter to the boundary and the pair scored 117 runs in the session to take the lead to 268.Derbyshire made their intentions clear after lunch with Guest dispatching a Salter full toss over the ropes at long on and pulling Lloyd’s medium pace for another six.The declaration came when Guest was caught behind down the leg side, leaving Glamorgan to score at more than six an over to achieve victory.Derbyshire took only four balls to get their first wicket with Salter falling to a superb diving catch by Leus du Plooy at third slip off Suranga Lakmal.The big wicket was Labuschagne and Sam Conners twice found his outside edge only for the ball to fly wide of the slips.When he did offer a chance, Derbyshire failed to take it with Mattie McKiernan spilling an edged drive off Sidebottom at first slip on 27.That was always likely to prove costly and Labuschagne twice drove off-spinner Alex Thomson for six on his way to a 49 ball 50.Lloyd was one away from a half-century when he played across the line at Sidebottom and was lbw; he was clearly unhappy with the decision and was issued with the warning for swearing loudly as he marched up the pavilion steps.Labuschagne was dropped again on 74 by Guest but Sidebottom finally got him when he failed to clear cover.Kiran Carlson’s 37 from 35 balls and Chris Cooke with 32 from 25 gave Glamorgan the momentum but Sidebottom and Anuj Dal stemmed the run flow and, crucially, took wickets.Northeast pulled Dal for six but when he drove Sidebottom to third man in the penultimate over with 23 still needed, Glamorgan called off the chase with both teams taking 14 points after an enthralling final day,

The left-hander re-aggravated his quad injury on the opening day against Tasmania

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2019Kurtis Patterson’s hopes of forcing his way into the selectors’ thoughts for the opening Test of the summer have taken another blow after he re-injured his left quad on the first day against Tasmania.Patterson missed the opening round of Sheffield Shield matches after picking up the original injury playing grade cricket although his absence from the game against Queensland was viewed as precautionary.He replaced Nick Larkin in the New South Wales side to face Tasmania but limped off before lunch after chasing a ball towards the boundary. He was receiving treatment with the hope he would be able to bat later in the match.Patterson made a century in his second Test, against Sri Lanka in Canberra, last February but missed the cut for the Ashes after struggling on the Australia A tour.Of contenders for a middle-order position against Pakistan in Brisbane next month, Mitchell Marsh has already been ruled out after the self-inflicted broken hand from punching the dressing room wall at the WACA.Meanwhile, Aaron Finch has been left out of Victoria’s match against Western Australia a week before the T20I series against Sri Lanka starts following the back spasms he suffered against South Australia.Finch injured his back while running between the wickets during his half-century on the second day at the Junction Oval and did not field for the remainder of the match. He travelled to Perth but was left out of the XI as a precaution although is expected to play the Marsh Cup game against WA at the WACA on Wednesday ahead of leading Australia in six T20Is in the space of 12 days against Sri Lanka and Pakistan from October 27.Matt Short replaced Finch in the middle order. Peter Siddle returned for his first game since injuring his hip flexor in the final Ashes Test.

Only three of the eight players who won selection for the ECB’s North v South Series via the PCA MVP ranking system will take part in this year’s outing to Barbados in March

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2018Only three of the eight players who won selection for the ECB’s North v South Series via the PCA MVP ranking system will take part in this year’s outing to Barbados in March. The pre-season competition, first played in 2017, was originally conceived as a way to bring added relevance to the Royal London Cup and aid England selection ahead of the 2019 World Cup.Of the four South-qualified players, only Daniel Bell-Drummond will take up his place; Alastair Cook and James Vince will be unavailable, with England’s Test team touring New Zealand, while Ravi Bopara has a contract to play in the Pakistan Super League.From the North, Keaton Jennings and Sam Hain will be involved for the second year running. Gary Ballance, another automatic selection via the PCA rankings, will be away on tour to South Africa ahead of his second season as Yorkshire captain, while Shiv Thakor has been deemed ineligible after his recent criminal conviction, which lead to him being sacked by Derbyshire.Steven Mullaney, recently named as Chris Read’s successor as captain at Nottinghamshire, will lead the North, while Sam Northeast takes on the South captaincy.Ben Duckett, who fell foul of the ECB’s disciplinary procedures on the Lions’ tour of Australia, wins a chance to make amends with the North, alongside three other players who featured in 2017: Joe Clarke, Paul Coughlin and Saqib Mahmood. From the South squad who won the inaugural series 3-0, Northeast, Bell-Drummond and Liam Dawson return.The North will be coached by Paul Collingwood, with assistance from Nottinghamshire’s Paul Franks; while Mark Ramprakash will take charge of the South, backed up by Andy Flower. The squads were chosen by national selector, James Whitaker, after discussions with Collingwood and Ramprakash, as well as England selectors Angus Fraser and Mick Newell.”We believe these are two exciting squads which again underline the value of this North-South Series as an opportunity for us to see some strong contenders for white-ball cricket playing at a higher level of competition and intensity,” Whitaker said.”The unavailability of several of the players who had earned automatic invitations means the squads are tilted more towards youth and potential this year. The North squad has six players aged 21 or under, and the South squad includes four 20-year-olds plus Sam Curran, who is still only 19.”Some of the players we have selected have very limited List A experience with their counties. But in those cases their potential has already been identified with selection on the ECB’s International Pathway. For example Delray Rawlins is currently in Sydney on an overseas placement, and we have included three fast bowlers currently training with the Pace Programme – Zak Chappell in the North squad, and Paul Walter and Tom Helm with the South.”But it is also a good opportunity for more experienced players who have impressed in the county game, such as Steven Mullaney, Brett D’Oliveira, John Simpson and Sam Northeast, to show the selectors and England coaches what they can do at a higher level.”The North-South Series will take place at Kensington Oval, with fixtures on March 18, 21 and 23. A number of players will also be involved in the Lions tour of the West Indies that precedes it, while Essex will subsequently play MCC in the Champion County match at the ground – moving to the Caribbean after several years in the UAE – on March 27-30.North Squad: Steven Mullaney (Notts, capt), Sam Hain (Warwickshire), Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Brett D’Oliveira (Worcestershire), Alex Davies (Lancashire, wk), Paul Coughlin (Notts), Matt Fisher (Yorkshire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Richard Gleeson (Northamptonshire), Zak Chappell (Leicestershire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)South Squad Sam Northeast (Kent, capt), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Nick Gubbins (Middlesex), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Delray Rawlins (Sussex), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), John Simpson (Middlesex, wk), Sam Curran (Surrey), Paul Walter (Essex), Dom Bess (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Jamie Porter (Essex), George Garton (Sussex)

Matt Walker, the Kent coach, is to join the England management team for the T20 tri-series involving Australia and New Zealand in February

George Dobell18-Aug-2017Matt Walker, the Kent coach, is to join the England management team for the T20 tri-series involving Australia and New Zealand in February.An England team spokesman confirmed a report in the stating that Walker made a good impression on the England management team when he was invited to join a couple of training sessions earlier in the summer.His Kent team are currently placed fifth in Division Two of the County Championship and go into the final round of NatWest Blast games with a chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.Walker, now aged 43 and a veteran of almost two decades as a batsman in the county game, will replace England assistant coach Paul Farbrace for that section of England’s winter schedule. But while Farbrace will be allowed a month to rest, the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, is currently planning on taking charge of the entire five-month tour.

Despite their struggles in South Africa, Dhananjaya de Silva has said Sri Lanka are well placed to challenge the hosts at one of the bounciest venues in the world

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Johannesburg10-Jan-2017There is something quietly magnetic about Dhananjaya de Silva, and here I am not referring to those velvet legside flicks, or the sleepy six to get his first Test runs, though all of that help. There is an understated confidence about him – the way he slouches at the crease, the lateness of his strokes against even screaming pace, the simplicity of his defence. This is not a man easily ruffled, you think. He doesn’t subscribe to the tattoos-and-hairdo school of millennial self-belief, for now, but the self-belief, nevertheless, is there.Maybe this is why – or maybe it’s plain old youthful naivety – but where others are sensing a whitewash, de Silva is smelling opportunity. Two days out, there is less grass on the Wanderers pitch than there had been at a similar stage at Newlands or St. George’s Park. This is one of the fastest, bounciest venues in the world, but so what? If there is less seam movement, it might actually suit Sri Lanka, de Silva thinks.”At Wanderers I think there’s extra pace and bounce, but as a subcontinent nation it’s the seam movement that makes things difficult for us,” he said. “I think we should be able to improve on the batting side, since the pitch doesn’t seam as much, from what we know. You can’t tell until you play, but I’m hopeful this will be more suited to us.”Though he does self-belief, Dhananjaya has so far resisted self-delusion, and while there is hope about the conditions, he is aware of the gaping batting flaws that require addressing. On the team front, six out of seven batsmen were out playing attacking strokes on a difficult track at Newlands. At training on Tuesday, most batsmen were seen practicing the defence or the leave.Dhananjaya de Silva was promoted to No. 4 at Newlands in a bid to find a decent No. 3•AFP

“I don’t think we need to make huge changes to the way we bat or bowl, but we do need to adjust to the situation better – we need to limit our shots,” de Silva said. “We can’t hit shots all around the ground like in Sri Lanka, or even Zimbabwe. We’ve got to set limits for ourselves about where we are not going to score and which balls we aren’t going to go after.”We do all have that confidence with the bat, but we need to fine-tune our approach. If someone starts getting a big innings, we all need to rally around him. We need to get a big enough total to give our bowlers something to defend. But I think we can give them a fight.”De Silva must be foremost among those switching to a more survivalist mentality, because seven Tests into his career, he has a new role that demands of him patience and responsibility. Although he averaged 60.60 at positions 5, 6 and 7 – where he had batted in most of his first six Tests – he was shunted up to no. 4 at Newlands thanks to a top-order reshuffle aimed at finding a decent no. 3.”When I batted seven, a lot of the time, my job was to bat with the tail,” he said. “I often try to score quick runs because the tail is vulnerable, and we need to get as many as possible for the team. When I go second drop, sometimes I can’t play my strokes, because I’m trying to play a long innings. I have to stay at the wicket to get runs. I think I prefer no. 7, but this is my role.”

Aaron Finch marked his Surrey debut by hitting his first ball for six and going on to complete a brilliant 90-ball hundred

ECB Reporters Network02-Jul-2016
ScorecardAaron Finch anchored Surrey with a first-day hundred•PA Photos

Aaron Finch marked his Surrey debut by hitting his first ball for six and going on to complete a brilliant 90-ball hundred on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Guildford.The powerful 29-year-old Australian slog-swept former New Zealand offspinner Jeetan Patel over midwicket and out of the compact Woodbridge Road ground, and later drove legspinner Josh Poysden high over long off for another six as he led Surrey’s progress to 273 all out.Patel got Finch in the end, smartly held at slip by Rikki Clarke, but by then he had also struck 16 fours and reached 110 from 98 balls. Strangely, one of Finch’s previous four first-class hundreds was another innings of 110 against Warwickshire, for Yorkshire at Edgbaston in 2014.Finch will play all formats in a five-week stint as overseas player at Surrey while Kumar Sangakkara takes part in the Caribbean Premier League, and he has certainly made a big initial impression in front of an appreciative and good-sized crowd.One straight driven four off Boyd Rankin was a high-class stroke which belied Finch’s reputation as a limited-overs specialist who is in just his 55th first-class match but has almost six times that number of List A and T20 appearances worldwide.Finch came in at No 4, when Rory Burns fell for a solid 45 to the second ball after lunch. Pushing out at Patel, left-hander Burns was lbw after including seven fours in a fine 95-ball effort. Patel finished with figures of 5 for 62 after helping to polish off the Surrey tail.Keith Barker, the left-arm seamer, had struck an early blow for Warwickshire by having Arun Harinath caught at the wicket by a tumbling Tim Ambrose for 15, leaving Surrey 35 for 1 after they had won the toss and chosen to bat.But Burns was then joined by Zafar Ansari in a second-wicket stand of 44 before a short rain shower forced the players off at 12.45pm. An early lunch was taken at 12.50pm.Ansari, 11 not out at lunch, had, like Burns, not added to his interval score when Barker pinned him lbw with a fine delivery which pitched on middle and leg and straightened to peg Surrey back at 95 for 3.There was no play between 2.20pm and 4pm, following a heavy downpour and mopping-up operations which carried on into the tea interval, but Finch was soon into his stride again as he cover drove and back cut Barker for fours to get a 42-over final session under way in style.Steven Davies nicked Clarke to Ambrose on 13 and Sam Curran departed for 15 when Rankin, bowling with pace, made one lift to have the teenager caught at third slip off an inside-edge on to his hip.Ben Foakes began fluently, however, clipping Barker to the midwicket ropes before driving him through extra cover for another four. He then produced a lovely back-foot force to the boundary past cover’s right hand off Rankin, a stroke suggesting he was too low in the batting order at No 7, and at 243 for 5 it seemed as if the day would be Surrey’s.Finch had dominated a sixth-wicket stand of 63 in just ten overs with Foakes, but after his dismissal the innings fell away disappointingly with Patel bowling Tom Curran for 1 and then having Gareth Batty caught at short point for 4.Foakes, jumping to avoid Andy Umeed’s direct hit, failed to ground his bat and was run out for 23 and Surrey’s first innings ended when last man Mark Footitt, returning from a two-month side injury absence, was stumped off Patel for 16 soon after clubbing a big six over long on.In six overs’ batting in early evening sunshine, Warwickshire replied with 12 without loss with Varun Chopra on 7 and Umeed on 3.

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has told Sri Lanka Cricket he does not wish to renew his contract when it expires in January

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Sep-2013Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford has told Sri Lanka Cricket he does not wish to renew his contract when it expires in January, an SLC statement has said. Ford came aboard for two years after Geoff Marsh was sacked in January 2012, and unless SLC convince him to stay, Sri Lanka’s tour in the UAE from December will be his last with the team.”Mr. Graham Ford has intimated that he would like to be released from his duties at the end of his contract due to his family commitments,” the release said. “Sri Lanka Cricket intends to discuss this matter with him further and obtain his thoughts and take the process forward.”Ford has been linked to the vacant coaching position at Surrey, which is expected to be filled over the English winter. Ford had said in August that he has already been informally approached by Surrey’s CEO regarding the position, but that he would not consider it until after his contractual obligations to the Sri Lanka team were fulfilled.Ford has strong ties with Kevin Pietersen, who plays for Surrey, and was the man the latter endorsed to take over the England coaching job after Pietersen’s turmoil with Peter Moores ended with Moores’ sacking in 2009. A move to Surrey will also strengthen the county’s South African connection, with Graeme Smith having signed on as captain until 2015.Sri Lanka won their first Test series in almost three years (against Pakistan), and progressed to the final of the World Twenty20 during Ford’s tenure, but were also whitewashed 3-0 in a Test series in Australia.

James Anderson has praised Kevin Pietersen as “an extraordinary player” and a “vital” part of the England dressing room

George Dobell06-Jul-2013James Anderson has praised Kevin Pietersen as “an extraordinary player” and a “vital” part of the England dressing room.At the height of the unrest in the England dressing room in 2012, Anderson was believed to be one of those opposed to the manner in which Pietersen conducted himself. While there was never any doubting Pietersen’s ability with the bat – he scored a century of rare class and skill in the Headingley Test before England dropped him – there had been persistent murmurs of discontent behind the scenes and the suggestion that the disruption he caused within the team compromised his worth as a batsman.But whatever issues there may have been, Anderson confirmed they have been consigned to the past and provided an unmitigated show of team unity as England head into the Investec Ashes series.”We’re definitely a better team for Kevin’s inclusion,” Anderson said. “He’s just an extraordinary player. There’s not really any down side at the minute.”We saw it this week in the match at Chelmsford. I know he only got 49, but it just seemed far too easy for him. He seemed in great form. An in-form Kevin Pietersen is vital to our team going forward.”We had a really good week at Essex. The dressing room was relaxed when it could be and switched on when it needed to be. On the field I thought we were very professional. But generally there is a really relaxed feel in the camp and real excitement of what is about to come.”Perhaps due to issues in the dressing room, England failed to do themselves justice in the key series against South Africa last year. That manifested itself, among other things, with some poor catching in the slips. They were errors which were severely punished by South Africa’s batsmen.While Anderson accepted that England had produced a disappointing display against South Africa and, more recently, in New Zealand, he hoped that such memories would spur them on to do better this year.”I don’t think we played as well as we could have done against South Africa,” Anderson said. “Actually, we didn’t play anywhere near to the level that we know we can. If you do that against the top team in the world then you’re going to struggle. And we struggled.”We’re aware of what that slip in form did to our standing in the rankings and that’s something we’re going to try and put right. We showed determination when we got there a couple of years ago, a lot of determination, hard work and a lot of skill and quality, and that’s what we’re trying to get back to is get our standards back up to where we know we can get them. And I think we’ve come a long way in doing that the last 12 months.”Slip catching has not really been an issue for us. We are generally pretty good there. It might just have been one of those series where we were not quite on the ball. We’ve tried to constantly improve. We had a great result in India and a good result at home against New Zealand, so we feel like we’re in good shape.”Anderson agreed that Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, was a daunting opponent, but suggested that Jonathan Trott, not Clarke, was currently the world’s leading batsman in Test cricket. Both men have scored two centuries and three half-centuries in their last 10 Test innings and both have Test averages in excess of 50. Clarke, however, scored successive double-centuries against South Africa in 2012, while Trott failed to register a century in England’s series against the same opposition.”Clarke is right up there among the best,” Anderson said. “He’s been in great form and scored lots of hundreds over the last year. But the best in the world? That’s a bit harsh on Jonathan Trott. I’d say Trotty is at the minute.”But Shane Watson is as good an opening batter as I’ve bowled at in international cricket and Chris Rogers is an extremely experienced cricketer. So we’ll have to try and figure out some plans to and execute them well. If we don’t play well there’s a very good chance we’ll lose.”Hundreds of local cricket clubs will #RISE for England by holding open days over the five Investec Ashes series weekends. Find out about your local club and their event at ecb.co.uk/clubopendays

David Lloyd at Taunton05-Apr-2012
ScorecardCounty Championships cannot be won in the first month of the season but, as Somerset know only too well, you can go a long way towards messing up your title chances by losing too many early matches. Cast as favourites last year, they started that campaign with a couple of thumping defeats, to Warwickshire and Lancashire, and never threatened to make amends.One weather-hit day, limited to 36 overs by morning rain and post-tea bad light, provided insufficient evidence to predict with any degree of certainty how this contest will work out. Indeed, Middlesex in general and Joe Denly in particular should not feel dejected after a battling effort in testing conditions. Put in, they could have crumbled against the new ball but were guided to a far from disastrous 118 for 4 by Denly’s excellent unbeaten 64.What can be said with plenty of conviction though, is that Somerset have signed a belter of a fast bowler in Vernon Philander. And while he is only with the county for a couple of months ahead of South Africa’s tour of England, the 26-year-old should do enough damage during that period to keep Marcus Trescothick’s team firmly in the title hunt.When Brian Rose, Somerset’s director of cricket, recruited Philander during the winter the seamer was still ‘promising’. But 51 wickets in seven Tests, at a shade more than 14 runs apiece, has made him a red-hot property – so hot, in fact, that South Africa would prefer him to be wrapped in cotton wool this spring rather than making hay on the county circuit.They have urged Somerset to treat Philander with care and consideration, a request which the county will no doubt honour with the future in mind. But, on the basis of 12 high class overs, which yielded figures of 3 for 21, the bowler has every intention of making each delivery count whenever Trescothick throws him the ball.Despite heavy cloud and damp conditions, three Somerset pace bowlers – Steve Kirby, Craig Meschede and Peter Trego – were kept at bay without huge difficulty. It was a different matter, though, when Philander took centre stage.His third ball had to be played by Sam Robson but resulted in a thin edge behind while a second spell, after tea, saw Dawid Malan pinned lbw and Neil Dexter bowled off stump by one that appeared to keep a little low. But above and beyond that the new recruit asked a question with almost every delivery – against a county he briefly represented in 2008.Denly deserves great credit for denying Philander. He is Middlesex’s one major signing following their promotion as Division Two champions and he looked in terrific touch from the outset.Middlesex have been tipped by many to go straight back down. And maybe that is the way it will work out. But there was enough backbone about their batting to suggest they plan to fight mighty hard to stay where their supporters believe they belong.”People are entitled to their views,” said Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s managing director of cricket. “Yes, I suppose sides who have come up have tended to struggle in the past but I believe we have a squad that can be competitive if we play as well as we can.”

Middlesex’s pursuit of the County Championship Division Two title was put
on hold as no play was possible on the opening day of their clash with Glamorgan
at Cardiff

07-Sep-2011
ScorecardMiddlesex’s pursuit of the County Championship Division Two title was put
on hold as no play was possible on the opening day of their clash with Glamorgan
at Cardiff.From their last two games of the season Middlesex need a further 22 points to
go up to Division One as champions. However, it proved a frustrating day of persistent showers for the visitors.The umpires – Neil Mallender and Paul Baldwin – had an inspection after lunch
but further rain forced the officials to call it off for the day at 2.50pm.