Batter added to long-list for Hundred draft, which takes place on Thursday

Matt Roller22-Mar-2023Laurie Evans has had his provisional suspension from all cricket lifted after a positive test for a banned substance caused him to miss the English winter.Evans denied any wrongdoing after failing a routine anti-doping test while playing for Manchester Originals in the Hundred last year, saying he was “shocked” at his positive result.But he was unable to fulfil his contracts in the Abu Dhabi T10 and the Big Bash last winter while charges hung over him, and has not played competitively since September 3.ESPNcricinfo understands that his suspension was raised in a ruling on Tuesday evening. Evans has not been absolved of the charges and will face a hearing later this year, but he is free to resume his career.He is on a white-ball-only deal with his county Surrey and could make his competitive comeback in the Vitality Blast in late May.Evans’ name has also been added to a revised longlist of players available in Thursday’s Hundred draft, which was circulated to teams on Wednesday afternoon.An ECB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo: “The National Anti-Doping Panel has ruled that a Provisional Suspension imposed on Laurie Evans on 1 November 2022, in respect of an alleged anti-doping rule violation under the ECB Anti-Doping Rules, is lifted with effect from 21 March 2023.”Consequently, Mr Evans is eligible for The Hundred Draft tomorrow and to play cricket pending the conclusion of the anti-doping proceedings against him.”As a short-form specialist, he could also make himself available for the inaugural season of Major League Cricket in the US.Surrey declined to comment.March 22, 2023, 1635 GMT – This story was updated to include comment from the ECB.

Asitha Fernando led a spirited Sri Lanka fight, but it all came down to a scrambled bye off the final ball under the floodlights

Madushka Balasuriya13-Mar-2023

New Zealand were on the end of yet another thrilling Test match finish as they secured a second straight final-ball victory, this time pipping Sri Lanka by two wickets to win the first Test at Hagley Oval. Kane Williamson, unbeaten on 121, was the hero of the day, though it was his 142-run stand with Daryl Mitchell that broke open the chase, on a day that had started with a literal dampener with rain washing out some one-and-a-half sessions of play.What that meant was that New Zealand were left needing to score the remaining 257 runs in 52 overs, while Sri Lanka had the same length of time to pick up the nine remaining New Zealand wickets and with it keep their hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship final alive.What proceeded over the next three and a half hour mega-session was a steady ramping of tension, ending up in a crescendo of chaos at the death.But before we get into that, here’s what the history books might not reveal when this match is recounted, in no particular order: Williamson making his ground by a foot to secure a win following a direct hit on the final ball of the day Neil Wagner, with a bulging disc in his back, one that had kept him from bowling for most of the second innings, haring to the danger end for the winning single – on his 37th birthday no less Niroshan Dickwella, who had dropped Williamson on 33, missing the stumps to dismiss Wagner, only for Asitha Fernando to gather and score a direct hit with Williamson marginally home This was the same Asitha whose three-wicket haul in the final hour almost singlehandedly dragged Sri Lanka back into the Test The entirety of India presumably celebrating more than the Kiwis at the ground, as the result means their team instead of Sri Lanka qualifies for the World Test Championship finalAnd those were just the highlights from the final day.It all began rather tamely enough though, with Williamson and Tom Latham playing cautiously, content to wait for the bad deliveries and knock around singles. In fact, it was Sri Lanka who would make the first bold play, bringing in the left-arm spin of Prabath Jayasuriya 10 overs into the day’s play – a move that would pay off almost immediately, with Latham chopping on.Related

If you need someone to scramble, who better than Kane Williamson?

Stats – Kane Williamson's fab fourth-innings feats

Williamson slides, Wagner hobbles, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka off the last ball

Reactions – 'Heart in the throat stuff!'

India qualify for WTC final after NZ beat SL in Christchurch

This brought the out-of-sorts Henry Nicholls to join a not exactly fluent Williamson. The pair though would somehow manage to keep things ticking over at a fair clip, Williamson in particularly growing in fluency as the partnership wore on. They would put on 40 off 50 deliveries, before Jayasuriya struck once more getting Nicholls to top edge a sweep to fine leg.It was at this point the complexion of the game began to change, with Mitchell signalling his intent early, coming down the tracking and lofting Jayasuriya back over his head first ball.Mitchell would continue in a similar manner, taking Jayasuriya for three more sixes over the course of his 86-ball 81. While he would also score a handful of fours, the hallmark of his partnership with Williamson was their running between the wickets. Having first forced Sri Lanka to spread the field by finding boundaries at consistent intervals, the pair would then work the fielders in the deep, running them ragged with constant ones and two – between them they would take 19 twos in total.Asitha Fernando took out Tom Blundell’s middle stump with a searing yorker•Getty Images

By the time Mitchell was dismissed, chopping on a wide yorker from Asitha, the chase had been whittled down to a very manageable 53 off 48. Much of this was also down to Williamson’s timely acceleration. After taking 120 balls to reach his fifty, he took just a further 57 to reach his century.Asitha would do his best to give Sri Lanka a lifeline, following up Mitchell’s scalp with a searing yorker to take out Tom Blundell before having Michael Bracewell hole out in the deep. He was in action in the final over too, helping effect the run out of Matt Henry and almost doing the same to Williamson.But with Williamson at the crease the chase was always in control, even with five needed off three you felt he had matters in hand, and when he pierced what looked an army of boundary riders in the covers, Sri Lanka too realised it was out of their hands. It was always Williamson’s chase to lose.

Kyle Coetzer, the former Scotland captain who led his side to famous victories over No. 1-ranked England in 2018 and into the Super 12 stage of the 2021 T20 World Cup, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 38.Coetzer, who was born and raised in Aberdeen, had stepped down from the captaincy in May 2022 at the end of Scotland’s ODI tour of the USA and also retired from T20Is, but he has now called time in all formats to take up a role as assistant coach with Northern Diamonds for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and Charlotte Edwards Cup.”I don’t ever think there’s a perfect time for a decision like this, but I’ve been considering my options for some time, and an opportunity came up which was too good to turn down,” Coetzer said in a retirement announcement through Cricket Scotland. “The balance that the Scotland team need at this time was outweighed by the opportunity for me to move into coaching, and I’m extremely excited about the chance to work with such a high-profile team.”Having come up through Scotland’s Under-15 and Under-19 pathway, Coetzer made his initial appearance for Scotland as a 19-year-old in an unofficial UK tour warm-up match for Pakistan at Glasgow in 2003. A year later, he made a full-fledged international debut against Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup, the ICC’s first-class competition for Associates, in which he made an unbeaten 133 in the second innings to help claim enough points in a draw that put Scotland into the final, where they beat Canada a week later to claim the title.Though the Intercontinental Cup is no more, his performance in that match was a harbinger of things to come in a far more illustrious ODI and T20I career. Coetzer leaves the game as Scotland’s all-time leading scorer in ODIs with 3192 runs in 89 matches at an average of 38.92 as well as ending up second overall in T20I runs for Scotland with 1495 runs in 70 matches.Coetzer’s individual ODI zenith came during the 2015 World Cup in Australia when he made 156 against Bangladesh, one of five ODI centuries during his career. However, it was another century he made in 2017 in a win against Zimbabwe during his second stint as captain that left a far bigger imprint on his Scottish cricketing legacy and paved the way for the team to reach even greater heights.It was their first-ever win over a Full Member and came a year after Scotland had finally broken their World Cup curse by defeating Hong Kong at the 2016 T20 World Cup to register their first win at a major ICC global event.Scotland memorably beat England at the Grange in 2018•Peter Della Penna

With Coetzer as captain during the coaching tenure of Grant Bradburn, the belief was instilled that those would not be Scotland’s last major achievements either. That same summer of 2017, he produced a century in an unofficial one-day win over Sri Lanka ahead of the Champions Trophy. A year later, his 58 off 49 balls as part of a century partnership with Matthew Cross laid the platform for Scotland to defeat England by six runs in an epic match at the Grange in Edinburgh.”I’ve been so lucky throughout my Scotland career that it’s tricky to pick out a highlight,” Coetzer said. “Getting our first win in the ICC T20 World Cup against Hong Kong in 2016 was special… but then so was the whole of 2018. The victory against England at The Grange was just amazing. That whole year – Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, England – just felt like a change of momentum and belief amongst the players about competing against the best teams in the world.”Another feather in Coetzer’s cap came in 2021 when he captained Scotland to three wins from three in the opening round of the T20 World Cup in the UAE. That included a win over group favourites Bangladesh and helped propel them into the Super 12 stage for the first time.”Reaching the ICC T20 Super 12s in 2021, having never achieved it before, and being the captain of that squad, will always stay with me,” Coetzer added.His last ODI century came in his penultimate match as captain against the UAE on Scotland’s tour of Texas in 2022. His form waned in the final year and a half of his career after relinquishing the captaincy, crossing 50 just once in his last 16 ODI innings while making 315 runs at an average of 22.50, well below his career mark.Related

• The ride hasn't been easy, but it's time now for Scotland's greatest moment under the sun

• Coetzer calls for 'bold and brave' moves to push Cricket Scotland forward

• Kyle Coetzer steps down as Scotland captain

• Kyle Coetzer announces T20I retirement after giving up Scotland captaincy

Yet his contributions were still significant enough over the last three years to help Scotland finish as the champions of the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two ODI tournament for top-ranked Associates, and in the process helped Scotland clinch a spot in the 2023 ICC World Cup Qualifier later this year in Zimbabwe.Aside from his lengthy career with Scotland which spanned two decades, Coetzer was also a regular on the county circuit, having started at Durham Academy in the early 2000s before making his senior debut in the County Championship against Glamorgan in 2004. His last match for Durham came in 2011 before a move to Northamptonshire, where he stayed through to the end of the 2015 season, before a brief cameo for three matches in the 2018 T20 Blast.Between the Intercontinental Cup and his county career, Coetzer made 4404 runs across 94 first-class matches at 30.37 with eight centuries and a best of 219. His decision to take up a role in women’s cricket coaching with Northern Diamonds in England follows up his role as a consultant coach with the Scotland Women’s team in September 2022 during their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier tour of the UAE.His retirement continues the changing of the guard within the Scotland set-up. Fellow batting stalwart Calum MacLeod – player of the match in that England victory – announced his retirement in November following the conclusion of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

ICC chairman Greg Barclay and CEO Geoff Allardice are set to visit Pakistan on Tuesday, with the country’s participation in the World Cup in India in October-November this year expected to be the main part of the discussions. The trip is part of a series of regular visits to Full Members.Given the tense relations between India and Pakistan, PCB head Najam Sethi suggested there is a “distinct possibility” that the Pakistan government will not allow Pakistan to travel to India. The World Cup schedule is to be announced during the World Test Championship final which starts at The Oval from June 7, although there continues to be uncertainty over Pakistan’s participation in the tournament.That arose when India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup to be held in September, and neither agreed to the PCB’s proposed hybrid model that will see only four out of 13 Asia Cup matches to be played in Pakistan. As per that proposal, the remaining nine matches – including the final – will be played at a neutral venue.Related

• PCB unhappy with ICC's proposed revenue distribution model

• ICC meeting set to discuss India-Pak situation, Afghanistan question

• World Cup 2023 likely to start on October 5 and end on November 19

Although Pakistan are officially the hosts of the tournament, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is yet to give a green signal for the tournament to be held as proposed by the PCB. However, heads of the India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan boards are to meet during the IPL final in Ahmedabad for informal discussions on the Asia Cup.Wasim Khan, the ICC’s general manager of cricket, said on Monday that the discussions between India and Pakistan on this matter are still “ongoing”.”That’s something that is ongoing at the moment. Greg and Geoff are in Pakistan at the moment (landing Tuesday morning), discussing a number of areas with the PCB hierarchy,” Wasim said. “That is certainly up to the two countries and the hierarchy within the ICC to discuss and come to some conclusions.”Barclay and Allardice’s visit to Pakistan will be the first by high-ranked ICC officials since the then-president Ray Mali’s visit in 2008. They will be in the country for two days, during which a range of topics will be on the table, including the ICC’s finance model and deliberations around Pakistan hosting the Champions Trophy in February 2025. It is understood that Barclay also visited India before his trip to Pakistan.Last year, Pakistan had earned the right to host their first ICC event since 1996 when they had co-hosted the World Cup along with India and Sri Lanka. While Pakistan was initially supposed to host the Champions Trophy in 2008, the tournament was postponed to 2009 for security reasons, only for South Africa to eventually host it in September-October that year. Thereafter, an attack on the visiting Sri Lanka team in early 2009 then took away Pakistan’s hosting rights of the 2011 World Cup.However, Pakistan have been back to staging international cricket over the last few years and have hosted South Africa, Australia, England and New Zealand for full tours, even as matches against India have taken place only across ICC and ACC events.Meanwhile, the PCB is also likely to take up its concerns with the ICC regarding the latter’s proposed revenue-distribution model. Although the model is yet to be finalised, it is expected to be approved by June, before being formally adopted at the ICC’s AGM in Durban in July.But Sethi said his board will not approve the model unless it is presented with more details of the workings behind it. From the proposed model, the BCCI is expected to receive 38.5% of the ICC’s annual projected earnings of US $600 million, with the PCB to get a much lower share of only 5.75%.

England captain shares partnership of 101 off 41 with Liam Livingstone to down Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network23-Jun-2023

A blistering 83 off 36 balls by England captain Jos Buttler clinched two precious points for Lancashire Lightning as they improved their chances of securing a place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a 27-run win against Derbyshire Falcons.Buttler hit six sixes in his knock as he and England team-mate Liam Livingstone constructed a devastating second-wicket partnership of 101 runs off just 41 balls, with Lancashire reaching an intimidating 177 for 4 off 15 overs in a game delayed by 80 minutes due to rain.In reply, Falcons reached 150 for 7 with 45 from Harry Came the only real highlight on a chastening night for Derbyshire, who drop to seventh.Lightning began their innings relatively conservatively, scoring 23 off their first three overs before Phil Salt fell in the fifth, caught at point by Zak Chappell off Mattie McKiernan for 16.With Livingstone joining Buttler at the crease, the fireworks began with the white-ball specialists targeting Chappell, whose second over went for 20 runs and included a towering six from the skipper that landed on the roof of Emirates Old Trafford’s newly-constructed hotel.