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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.

Sourav Ganguly has put down Kolkata Knight Riders’ comprehensive defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings to poor bowling at the death and the loss of early wickets in the chase

Cricinfo staff16-Mar-2010Sourav Ganguly has put down Kolkata Knight Riders’ comprehensive defeat against Chennai Super Kings to poor bowling at the death and the loss of early wickets in the chase. Kolkata, playing at home, were in a strong position after taking three wickets – Matthew Hayden, M Vijay and Suresh Raina – in the first 10 overs. But MS Dhoni and S Badrinath retaliated with an unbeaten 109-run stand to push their team to 164, which their bowlers defended with ease.”We were not up to the mark in last five overs, gave away 60-odd runs. Then we kept losing wickets in run chase. We have to address that. Last four-five overs (of the Chennai innings) took the game away from us,” Ganguly said after his team’s first defeat in the tournament.Dhoni and Badrinath began their surge in the 15th over, when Angelo Mathews was struck for a boundary over short fine leg and a massive six over long-on. The last six overs of the Chennai innings yielded 83. “We’ll talk about our death bowling, but you have to give credit to Dhoni for the shots he played,” Ganguly said.When asked if Kolkata missed a fifth bowler, he said: “We have five bowlers with Brad Hodge and Laxmi Ratan Shukla. Probably we could have bowled Hodge a few more overs.”The Kolkata reply, too, was lacklustre. They lost their two star batsmen from the previous game, Brad Hodge and Manoj Tiwary, within the two overs, and their middle order, including Ganguly, offered little resistance as Kolkata were shot out for 109. “We played too many shots up the order and kept losing wickets. Hopefully, we’ll learn from this and come back a better team,” Ganguly said.Dhoni, despite the thumping win, expected more from his bowlers in the games to follow. “We were worried about our bowling both with the new ball and at the death,” he said. “I still think a couple of our bowlers were a little short with their length and on a slow track like this you can be punished. It’s an area which needs improvement, but it feels good to have a victory under the belt.”The slowish nature of the track, Dhoni said, ensured a score of above 150 was going to be difficult to chase. “You are always under pressure in this format of the game, but we always felt a total of 150 would be a good score on this wicket because it was on the slower side.”

It was Seattle Orcas’ second win of the season, and lifted them to No. 4; Los Angeles Knight Riders, meanwhile, have now lost six of their seven games

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2025For the second game in a row in MLC 2025, Shimron Hetmyer took charge of the Seattle Orcas innings at a critical stage and smashed his way through to victory.He did it off the last ball against MI New York just about 24 hours ago even as he cramped up, but didn’t show any signs of discomfort when he did it again. This time, against Los Angeles Knight Riders, who were on top at different stages of the game but came unstuck in the end.The base for Hetmyer had been set by Aaron Jones.After Josh Brown had been sent back for a two-ball duck by Jason Holder in the first over, Jones and Shayan Jahangir put together 119 for the second wicket in 11.1 overs. Jahangir’s contribution was 42 from 29 balls, while Jones scored 73 in 38, a strike rate close to 200.But the innings needed something more if Orcas, after losing their first five games of the season, needed to make it two in two. That came from Hetmyer, who walked out at No. 5 with 77 still needed in just under eight overs.Two fours came off Ali Khan in the 14th over. Tanveer Sangha was then sent for two sixes in the 15th, and 48 from 30 balls looked very gettable for Orcas. There was a little blip as Andre Russell, who had earlier smashed 65 not out from 39 balls, bowled a five-run over, but it was business as usual for Hetmyer after that, as he took two more sixes off Holder in the 17th, and another off Ali Khan in the 18th.Andre Russell smashed 65 not out in 39 balls to lead Los Angeles Knight Riders’ batting charge•Sportzpics for MLC

Still, after Russell had bowled an eight-run 19th over, Hetmyer had a bit left to do. And when the fifth ball of the last over, bowled by Shadley van Schalkwyk, went straight down the ground, it was all done and dusted.Orcas have now risen from the bottom of the six-team table to No. 4, while Knight Riders have taken their place.After being asked to bat, Knight Riders stuttered to 41 for 1 in the powerplay, and then 66 for 3 at the halfway mark, with none of Andre Fletcher (strike rate 113.04), Unmukt Chand (84.61) and Sherfane Rutherford (125.00) able to get a move on.Russell, promoted to No. 3 and having reached 15 from 13, took off at that point. With Saif Badar for company, Russell took 16, 15, 10 and 21 runs off the next four overs, and suddenly Knight Riders were in business.Even after Badar fell for a 21-ball 41, Waqar Salamkheil getting his second wicket of the game, the big-hitting didn’t stop. In fact, the entry of Rovman Powell made it worse for the Orcas bowlers. Russell, not as belligerent as he usually is, ended with 65 from 39 balls with six fours and four sixes, but Powell was another story. All Powell’s four sixes came against medium pace – three off Jasdeep Singh. and one off Ayan Desai. He ended with 43 not out in 21 balls, with two fours to go with four sixes.Orcas didn’t help themselves with a couple of dropped catches, both off Powell, while captain Sikandar Raza’s decision to not bowl himself and leave the last few overs to Jasdeep and Desai didn’t come off. Hetmyer made sure it didn’t matter.

Former club captain retires from first-class and List A cricket to join coaching staff

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2023Former Lancashire captain Steven Croft has signed a T20-only playing deal for 2024 and will move on to the club’s coaching staff full time.Croft, 39, will embark on a 21st season as a player while continuing his transition into a coaching career, having been part of the staff for last season’s One-Day Cup.He has also officially retired first-class and List A cricket, bringing down the curtain on a red-ball career that included hitting the runs to secure Lancashire the County Championship title in 2011. In 212 first-class matches, Croft scored almost 10,000 runs, while adding another 4800 in one-day cricket.”This is something that has been an ambition of mine for a while, when I started to think about my post playing career, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to start my coaching career with Lancashire – a club which has given me and my family so much over the last 20 years,” Croft said.”The timing feels right to call time on playing first-class and List A cricket, especially with the number of talented players we have in contention for places, but I will also be ready and looking forward to helping the team in T20 cricket again next season.”I have some amazing memories from my playing career – topped by winning the County Championship in 2011 – and it was an honour to captain the Red Rose for a couple of seasons too.”Croft, club captain between 2016 and 2018, also led Lancashire to the T20 Blast title in 2015 and most recently helped the club to Finals Day in 2022. He has scored more than 5000 runs in the format, to go with 78 wickets.Lancashire director of cricket performance, Mark Chilton, said: “Steven has been a wonderful servant to Lancashire Cricket for over 20 years now and we are delighted that will continue, albeit in a different capacity, as he moves into a coaching role with the club.”This is something that Steven has been working towards for a while and he has coached with our Academy and age group players in recent years before joining the coaching staff during this summer’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup.”He will also continue to be available in T20 cricket next season and I know that he will be keen to continue contributing towards wins as a player.”

Keemo Paul three-for helps limit UAE, who were led by teenager Ali Naseer’s debut fifty

Srinidhi Ramanujam04-Jun-2023A classy 112 from Brandon King and a three wicket-haul from Keemo Paul powered West Indies to a resounding victory as they chased down 203 with 88 balls to spare against UAE, in the first of the three-match ODIs in sultry Sharjah on Sunday. While Paul was playing an ODI after almost a year, King marked his promotion to vice-captaincy with a match-winning performance.Kicking off a new era for West Indies under new captain Shai Hope and new head coach Daren Sammy, the visitors looked untroubled chasing in testing conditions, on a pitch offering turn and uneven bounce. The win comes as a boost to West Indies as they prepare for the ODI World Cup Qualifier later this month in Zimbabwe.King’s maiden ODI hundred came off 107 deliveries and he also stitched a crucial 91-run match-defining stand for the second wicket with Shamarh Brooks to crush UAE. Highlights of his innings included his three clean sixes against legspinner Karthik Meiyyappan in the 34th over of the innings. Overall, he hit 12 fours and four sixes.West Indies started the chase on a brisk note with five runs an over and maintained the run rate throughout their innings. Though it was not a difficult target on paper, West Indies had to play on a tough pitch in humid conditions. After losing Johnson Charles early for 24, Brooks played a supporting role with his 44 off 58 deliveries. Left-arm spinner Aayan Khan was able to keep West Indies at bay for some time, but it wasn’t enough to stop King. With Keacy Carty, he put on 54 runs with 47 of those runs coming off his bat.Hope hit two consecutive sixes off Meiyappan in the 36th over to seal the deal for his side.

Debutant Ali Naseer’s fifty steers UAE to 202

A fighting fifty from teen debutant Ali Naseer helped UAE put 202 on board after a collapse in the middle order.Winning the toss and opting to bat, UAE lost both openers inside the first three overs. Paul struck in his second ball when he bowled the home captain Muhammad Waseem for a duck. Left-arm pace bowler Dominic Drakes, who made his West Indies debut alongside spin allrounder Kavem Hodge on Sunday, then picked up his first ODI wicket by breaking through the defence of Aryansh Sharma in his second over.Vriitya Aravind took his time but stabilised the innings with a 70-ball 40, assembling a partnership of 31 off 54 with Rameez Shahzad for the third wicket. The stand was broken when Rameez had to retire hurt in the 12th over following a blow on his helmet off Odean Smith’s bowling. Aravind hit a few elegant cover drives and put on 44 runs with Asif Khan for the fourth wicket before being dismissed by legspinner Yannic Cariah when he nicked the ball to the wicketkeeper. He also became UAE’s highest run-getter in ODIs with this knock.From 100 for 2, UAE suffered a collapse of four wickets for 29 runs. This included the wicket of Rameez, who returned to bat after retiring hurt. Cariah was tough to score off in the middle overs and conceded just 26 runs in his seven overs. UAE, though, bounced back in the final phase of the innings, courtesy of Naseer.Coming in at No. 7, the left-hand batter provided the late push needed to cross the 200-mark. Naseer, 19, showed determination with little support from the other end and went after the left-arm spinner Hodge, hammering two sixes in the 41st over, one over midwicket and another – a slog sweep over wide long-on en route his half-century. Smith, Drakes and Hodge then kept him quiet for a few overs before Naseer holed out to long-off – Paul’s slow offcutter from outside off stump doing the trick. His 52-ball 58 knock consisted of five fours and two sixes.For West Indies, Drakes, Smith, and Cariah ended with two each and Roston Chase took one.

The fast bowler hopes to feature in Sussex’s opening fixture against Glamorgan on May 26

ESPNcricinfo staff05-May-2022Jofra Archer hopes to make his return to first-team cricket later this month and has admitted that his elbow injury left him fearing for his England central contract.Archer, 27, has not played for England since their T20I series in India last March and has undergone three bouts of surgery in the last 14 months: one on his hand to remove a shard of glass, and two on his elbow.He made an aborted comeback after the first elbow surgery, playing one T20 Blast game and one Royal London Cup warm-up match for Sussex, before his second operation in December. He has since trained with England in Barbados as part of his rehabilitation, during their T20I and Test tours to the Caribbean.After missing the ongoing IPL – where he was signed for INR 8 crore (GBP 800,000 approx.) by Mumbai Indians – he hopes to make his comeback for Sussex in their opening Blast fixture against Glamorgan on May 26.”In a situation like this, when you are forced to have operations, you do think about whether you are going to play cricket again, whether you’re going to play all formats even,” Archer wrote in his column. “But the ECB gave me the assurance and peace of mind that they wanted me around for a long time.”At one point I thought I was going to lose my [England central] contract when things weren’t going well, but now I have confidence about what the future holds. Part of that is down to them not rushing me back.”After my first operation last May, my right elbow felt no different at all. Obviously, I wasn’t going to fully know whether it had been successful until I started bowling, but what I can say is that things immediately felt different after my second one in December. Now, nearly five months down the line, it’s a relief the way things are.”Yes, there have been two surgeries but honestly, I couldn’t have written my rehab comeback any better. Now, I just need some game time to be able to put my trust in the elbow. I’ve not trusted it supporting me for a long period, so it’s going to take a little bit of work to do so and bowl at full tilt.”Archer says he has not had any indication that he will only be considered a white-ball player going forwards•Getty Images

Archer plans to play “a couple” of Sussex’s second XI T20 fixtures over the coming weeks and said he is focused on regaining enough confidence in his body that he won’t be focused on his elbow alone when he makes his first-team comeback.”A lot of guys, when they have a niggle, will not push themselves because they know if they give that extra 5-10% it’s going to hurt,” he said. “Instead, they live inside their comfort zone.”That’s the hurdle I am trying to get over now, to get myself out of that zone and to full capacity; to have the confidence to play without thinking about the injury. What I can say is that I’ve been building up really nicely and bowling some really quick balls, so there’s no doubt I am not far away.”It has been reported that Archer is unlikely to play Test cricket this summer with the ECB wary of rushing him back from injury. But Archer insisted that, following a recent phone call with Rob Key, the ECB’s new managing director of men’s cricket, he has not had any indication that he will only be considered a white-ball player going forwards.”As for Test cricket this summer, I simply haven’t thought that far ahead,” he said. “I’ve not had any prompts from anyone, telling me I’m a one-format player as yet.”I still want to play everything, but my first task is the Blast and if I don’t play that properly, then I won’t be able to play Test cricket. So the focus needs to be on the cricket I’ve got lined up and we will see from there.”I am not setting ambitious targets just yet. All I want is to stay on the park for a full year without any more setbacks. I am aware there is a Twenty20 World Cup this coming autumn but I just want to be out there, having a good run.”

The Breakers failed to make the WNCL final for the first time in history this season

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2021Dominic Thornely will leave his role as head coach of New South Wales Breakers and move into the male pathway with the state.Thornely had been in the job for the last two seasons during which New South Wales failed to win the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL).They finished as runners-up in the 2019-2020 season, losing to Western Australia in the final, only the fourth time they had not won the title, then in the recent campaign finished fourth which meant they missed the decider for the first time.”Like we do every season we have reviewed all of our elite programs and as part of that concluded that it was important that Dom’s expertise was not lost to the organisation, and that his skillset is best suited to contributing in the Male Pathways area,” Greg Mail, New South Wales’ head of cricket, said.”He may not have achieved everything he set out to do with the Breakers but his coaching career continues to develop. Dom will start his new role with a focus on developing young talent in Country NSW and we are really excited to see the impact he can make.”Leah Poulton, the head of female cricket, praised Thornely’s work with the younger players.”Dom has worked as both an Assistant and Head Coach over the past four seasons and over that time he has overseen the development of our next generation of athletes,” she said. “He leaves the program with strong foundations and I wish him well in his future endeavours.”Thornely said: “As a coach, it is important to experience a broad range of coaching opportunities. I have really enjoyed my time in the female programme but the one area I haven’t had an opportunity to explore is the male pathway.”I believe my playing experiences will compliment my coaching background in this role and I look forward to the challenge of developing future Test cricketers.”