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While Gujarat finished at the top of the Group B table with a ten-wicket win over Jharkhand, Kerala thumped Haryana by an innings and eight runs

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2017Kerala picked up an innings-and-eight-run win against Haryana to join defending champions Gujarat as the two quarterfinalists from Group B. Kerala needed five wickets on the fourth day, having reduced to Haryana to 83 for 5 by the third evening. Haryana’s tail did not crumble, as Amit Mishra and Poonish Mehta resisted with knocks of 40 and 32 not out respectively, but seamer MD Nidheesh nipped out three wickets to earn Kerala a bonus-point win. Kerala finished second on the Group B table, while Haryana’s season ended with their fourth loss in six matches. This was the first time Kerala entered the quarter-finals since the introduction of the tier system in the Ranji Trophy format.Gujarat needed only ten balls to wipe out a fourth-innings target of 15, after Jharkhand imploded on the fourth morning in Ranchi. The ten-wicket bouns-point win ensured a top-of-the-table finish for Gujarat. Having been asked to follow-on on the third day, Jharkhand were always facing an uphill battle. They did not begin the fourth morning too well, losing two wickets in the first three overs. Virat Singh and Ishan Kishan resisted with a 48-run partnership for the fifth wicket, but Jharkhand crumbled once Virat was dismissed for 52, losing six wickets for 26 runs to be bowled out for 183. Left-arm spinner Hardik Patel had remarkable returns of 4 for 9 in six overs, all four of his wickets coming in Jharkhand’s collapse at the end. Gujarat’s openers collected all their runs in fours to breeze to the target.Saurashtra eventually finished a close third in the group, after they drew out their final game against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Three Rajasthan batsmen struck centuries after being asked to follow on, eventually overhauling the 259-run first innings deficit, before finishing the day on 394 for 7. Amitkumar Gautam (100), Chetan Bist (109) and Rajesh Bishnoi (103*) hit hundreds on the final day. Dhamrendrasinh Jadeja of Saurashtra finished with figures of 5 for 167.Even a win wouldn’t have taken Saurashtra through, since both Kerala and Gujarat won their games, but they were going after the bonus-point win when they asked Rajasthan to bat again yesterday. But the two Rajasthan openers Gautam and Bist put on a 205-run opening stand after which Bishnoi’s unbeaten 103 meant the game was destined for a draw. Saurashtra collected first-innings lead points, but eventually finished five points adrift of second place.

From the moment that a Derbyshire court found Thakor guilty of sexual exposure, Derbyshire were committed to only one course of action

David Hopps21-Nov-2017Derbyshire have terminated Shiv Thakor’s contract with immediate effect less than a week after he was found guilty of two accounts of sexual exposure.Thakor, who was granted unconditional bail, will be sentenced on November 24 and must fear that a career once predicted to end with England honours could now be at an end.Derbyshire were intent upon releasing Thakor, a former England Under-19 allrounder, from the moment he was found guilty at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court on November 15 in connection with two accounts of sexual exposure.The court heard how Thakor had been labelled as “Shifty Shiv” by one of the witnesses, having allegedly arrived on the housing estate in jogging bottoms with two buttons undone.A terse Derbyshire statement said: “The club expects the highest standards of behaviour from all its staff and is opposed to sexual harassment in any form.”Following last week’s court decision, the club has reviewed the case and Thakor’s contract has been terminated with immediate effect. The club will make no further comment.”Derbyshire’s response has also had to take into account that Thakor was in a relationship with an employee at the club.

A limping Hasaranga claimed four wickets after a sparkling innings but it was all in vain

Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Jun-2022Sri Lanka put up a commanding score, got early wickets, were decent through the middle, and looked for much of the chase like they would defend the rain-adjusted 282 off 44 overs. But then, Glenn Maxwell, pulled the rug from under them with 80 not out off 51.He arrived with Australia needing 93 off 84 balls, with five wickets remaining, and immediately took on the role of aggressor, on a Pallekele surface offering significant turn. Clearly he loves this ground, since he’d also struck a 49-ball T20I hundred here in 2016.But this innings was more methodical. He waited for errors in length, and used the reverse sweep to good effect, to keep Australia’s requirement at roughly a run-a-ball. He trusted the lower order up to a point, but then was also good at farming the strike towards the close. He faced 15 of the 18 balls in the ninth-wicket stand with Jhye Richardson. And when he got balls in his area, he struck successive sixes off Dushmantha Chameera to win the match with nine balls to spare.Wanindu Hasaranga, who was limping for much of the match, claimed four wickets to keep Sri Lanka in the hunt as well. Debutant left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage also contributed two wickets, including that of Steven Smith. But Maxwell took both for plenty of runs, hitting 20 off 12 against Hasaranga, and 18 off 10 against Wellalage. That, essentially, is where he won the match.Maxwell dominated the legside. All but one of his six sixes came in the arc between backward square leg and wide long-on. Only once did he seem slightly uncomfortable, and that was against the pace of Chameera, who by the end he had walloped for three sixes.Wanindu Hasaranga worked through injury to produce a fine all-round performance•AFP/Getty Images

Earlier in Australia’s chase, Smith had hit 53 off 60, Finch made 44 off 41, and Marcus Stoinis provided the middle-order impetus following a long rain break, with his 44 off 31 balls, which featured four fours and two sixes. In all this, the highest partnership was the 67-run stand between Finch and Smith, and there was only one other fifty-plus stand. Sri Lanka kept taking wickets, but never in serious clumps.Through Finch, Smith, Stoinis, Maxwell, and even Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey – who both got scores in the 20s – Australia kept pushing themselves closer, and crucially, puttered along at a good run rate. Rains came down when Australia were 72 for 2 in the 13th over, clipping six overs from the chase. Perhaps the slightly slippery ball and deliveries skidding on to the bat helped Australia somewhat. But there was rarely a point at which their batters did not look composed.When they had begun the chase, the target was 301 off 50 overs, and Sri Lanka had mounted a score of 300 for 7 thanks to their openers, who put on 115 together, and Kusal Mendis, who hit 86 not out off 87. For the hosts, Pathum Nissanka made 56 off 68, and Danushka Gunathilaka hit 55 off 53, surging through the first 19 overs, before their wickets in quick succession slowed Sri Lanka’s progress. Mendis massaged them through that period however, with no little help from Charith Asalanka, with whom he forged a 77-run stand.Sri Lanka seemed headed for a score of around 280 off their 50 overs, which seemed pretty good on a slow track, until Hasaranga crashed five successive fours off Jhye Richardson in the 49th over, and put Sri Lanka in the vicinity of that 300 mark. Hasaranga’s 37 came off 19 balls.It seemed at that point that Sri Lanka had a fantastic chance of defending this total, because they had three frontline spinners in the XI, and Australia’s best bowler had been Ashton Agar, who took 2 for 49 from his 10. But these predictions clearly didn’t account for Maxwell. Sri Lanka will feel like they should have won this one. Maxwell’s hitting was just a little too good.

“One of my goals and dreams the last year was to break into England’s top four”

Valkerie Baynes14-Jul-2022No sooner had Sophia Dunkley established herself in England’s middle order, she set her sights on making a place in the top-four her own. No sooner had England switched focus to the next Women’s World Cup cycle, she is doing just that.In her first international outing at No. 3, Dunkley scored 22 from 24 balls as England convincingly beat South Africa in their first of three ODIs at Northampton. The knock was in keeping with her proactive batting style, which Dunkley said she was reluctant to give up heading into the second match at Bristol on Friday. It was also a key part of England’s bid to shake up their batting line-up, with the successful addition of new opener Emma Lamb and Danni Wyatt shuffling back down into the middle order.”One of my goals and dreams the last year was to break into England’s top four,” Dunkley said. “So the fact that I have an opportunity now to bat at three, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s something I’ve done in regional cricket for the last two years, so not completely new, but obviously a different level in internationals.”Naturally the bowling’s a little bit tighter, you don’t get as many bad balls, and you get a lot of pressure built on you in the powerplay, so it’s about learning how to deal with that and how I want to go about it. It’s probably not going to come overnight, and the next two games might not go as well as I’d like, but it’s about building for the future, how I see myself doing that role in the long term.”Dunkley’s first knock as England’s No. 3 included three powerful fours, driven through cover and twice hammered past long-on before she fell lbw to Nadine de Klerk.”I don’t want to take away too much of my natural aggression and intent because I think that’s still really important to push us on as a team,” she added. “So it’s finding the balance really and just doing the low-risk things for longer. I’ve had some good practice in the nets so I’m feeling good.”Related

• Sophia Dunkley sets sights on top-four batting spot for England

• Danni Wyatt set for return to middle-order despite World Cup semi-final century

• Lamb's maiden ton, all-round Sciver, fiery Brunt help England go 1-0 up

• Emma Lamb seizes England's opening vacancy on 'amazing' day in Northampton

• Nadine de Klerk: Ismail available, South Africa must up intensity

When opener Tammy Beaumont fell in just the third over of the match, Dunkley had the best view in the house as Lamb carved out a maiden century in just her fourth international appearance.Lamb had opened alongside Beaumont in the drawn Test which kicked of the multi-format series between the sides in Taunton last month and took a massive step towards establishing herself at the very top of the order in the ODI format with her knock.”Emma batted outstanding in the last game,” Dunkley said. “I’m so pleased for her. I’ve played a lot of cricket with her growing up, and grown up with her in the academy, so when we were batting together we were joking about how it was like the old times and it was nice that we could do that in an England shirt together.”It was amazing to watch her do her thing and show the world that she deserves to be an England opener, so I’m sure it’s the first of many for Emma.”It will be one day shy of 13 months since Dunkley made her Test debut against India – also in Bristol – where she notched up an unbeaten 74 in a keenly contested draw.She went on to play an important part in the white-ball part of India’s tour before finishing the English summer playing in all five ODIs against New Zealand. A trip to Australia as part of England’s ill-fated Ashes tour was followed by the World Cup, where she made a couple of half-centuries, including in England’s semi-final defeat of South Africa.”Personally it’s been a pretty crazy year and there’s been a lot of different cricket, playing in an Ashes and a World Cup was a surreal experience,” she said. “Now coming in batting at three is something different so yeah, it’s been lots of experiences, ups and downs, but a great year of cricket all round.”And she was expecting South Africa to come back fighting after a muted display in the first ODI, when their batting failed to fire. Katherine Brunt returned to international action with an imposing first spell and figures of 3 for 18 from nine overs before Chloe Tryon’s 88 gave the tourists some hope. Then their bowlers struggled against Lamb’s accomplished display and a brutal 55 off just 36 balls from Nat Sciver, who had also taken four wickets.South Africa’s bowling could be boosted by the return of Shabnim Ismail, who is available for selection in what would be her first appearance of the tour after recovering from a calf strain, with England leading four points to two.”We bowled really well in the first innings last game and it made it really hard for them to get a big score on the board,” Dunkley said. “Credit to our bowlers and Katherine up front bowling in that amazing spell, five overs for five runs.”We’re just really clear as a batting unit that we want to go out and be positive, so it was a great to be able to put that into practice and we definitely put pressure on their bowlers so I’m sure they’re going to come back hard at us in the next game.”

Vernon Philander has recovered from the illness that affected him during the third Test and hopes to bring his ability with bat and ball to bear on leveling the series in Manchester

Firdose Moonda02-Aug-2017If Vernon Philander could do The Oval Test all over again, he would. And he would do it feeling the way he does now because that is infinitely better than the way he felt last week.Philander spent most of the third Test in the toilet, “losing quite a lot of fluids, top and bottom”. The same could be said of South Africa’s performance.The top order was guilty of not posting enough runs, especially in the first innings, and the bowling lacked the discipline required to contain England. Philander’s all-round ability was missed and he knew it. “In any bowling line-up, if there’s a link missing, you feel it and I’m quite an important part in that line-up,” Philander said. “I could feel my intensity was missed.”Don’t read that as a man talking himself up, read it as an international sportsperson speaking from a place of professionalism. Philander was picked to play – and the merits of including someone who was obviously ill have already been discussed on these pages – so that is what he wanted to do.He fronted up on the first morning and took the new ball even though South Africa’s initial hope was that they would bat first and he would have some extra time to recover. That day, Philander bowled 12 overs; in the innings, he bowled 17; and in the match, 32, which amounted to 17.4% of the total overs South Africa sent down. It cannot be a coincidence that at Lord’s, where Philander was coming back from an ankle injury sustained in a county stint and where South Africa also lost, he only bowled 13% of the total overs whereas at Trent Bridge, where Philander was Man of the Match, he delivered 23.9%, almost a quarter.Perhaps the more telling impact of Philander’s absence was that the most he could provide in a single spell at The Oval was five overs. While he could create pressure early on, he was unable to sustain it and neither was anyone else in the attack despite tailor-made conditions. Under thick cloud and in humidity, Morne Morkel turned in one of his best performances for little reward but Kagiso Rabada struggled for rhythm and Chris Morris with inconsistency. All Philander wanted to do was get better enough to get in on the action. “It was frustrating not to be out there or to bowl longer spells,” he said.It was even more frustrating watching the chance to win the series slip past South Africa, especially as Philander knows what victory in England tastes like. He is one of only three members of the current squad who played in the 2012 matches and took the Test mace off England at Lord’s. Philander had one of the most important hands in that victory after scoring fifty and taking a five-for. Then, a South Africa side that shone with superstars like Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn may not have realised how much they relied on Philander. Now, they know exactly how much they do. It is more than they should be comfortable with because, as demonstrated last week, if Philander is unavailable, South Africa need to have other options.It may be something that comes up in their team talks, which Philander explained involved severe self-reflection. “We’ve had a few hard chats,” he said. “We have an honesty policy and we all admitted it wasn’t our best Test match. We let ourselves down with the bat in the first innings and that’s something we would like to correct.”Philander will have a role to play in that regard because he has been promoted to No. 7 and, now that he is healthier, he can show why he has long wanted to bat higher up. “I think No. 7 is ideal for me. I enjoy having to bat longer periods,” he said. But his main role will remain with the ball in hand.With heavy cloud hanging over Manchester, rain in the week prior to the team’s arrival in the city hampering pitch preparation and drizzle expected throughout the final Test, Philander may get the chance to do at Old Trafford what he would have done at The Oval. And this time, he thinks, “there’s everything to play for”.

CoA chief Vinod Rai has said the ACU will now have a ‘presence in every zone’

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Aug-2018Corruption remains a challenge in Indian cricket, and to counter this the BCCI will beef up its anti-corruption unit (ACU), the CoA chief Vinod Rai has said. A new possible avenue of corruption is the introduction of new states to first-class cricket. Many of these states don’t have a settled feeder system, and there are fears that fringe players from outside these states could use unfair means to play for them.Rai said it was important that the ACU be reinforced to tackle any such issues. “We don’t want to single out any state or a group of states,” Rai said. “As far as the BCCI is concerned, we have an ACU, which we are now beefing up. That is one of the very important mandates which has been given to us.”It used to be only one plus two persons, but now we are ensuring they will have presence in every zone. That presence will be of people who would have worked in that zone, have some idea about that zone, so that they can interact. The idea is to not set up an entire police force on its own but have people who can monitor and provide an intelligence network through which this kind of activities can be looked into, can be addressed, and preventive action can be taken.”The ACU has had its hands full of late. BB Misra, the Supreme Court-mandated lead investigator into the IPL corruption case, has recently red-flagged the player-agent nexus and also brought to light a World Cup-winning player’s phone calls with a bookie in the lead-up to international matches. In an interview with the , Misra said he didn’t get enough time to probe that particular case. This was followed by Justice Lodha’s comments that a probe be re-opened.Rai said a probe has been commissioned, but he also said the BCCI was not aware of any such incident. “We saw the report [in the newspaper],” Rai said. “We looked into it. We entrusted the chief of the ACU in the BCCI to look into it. We found that in the BCCI we have no records at all about any of these issues. Maybe there are some records which are available to him but we are not aware of that. Anyway, the chief of the ACU has been entrusted to make an enquiry into it. He will take the steps, he is best qualified to try and enquire into it.”

The India quick admitted to bowling an “Indian length” on the opening day of the Cape Town Test, a tactic that hurt the visitors

Sidharth Monga in Centurion11-Jan-20182:42

Any wicket in Test cricket makes me happy – Bumrah

Bowling an “Indian length” in the first innings in Cape Town, on Test debut, is an error Jasprit Bumrah has admitted to. In a low-scoring match that featured no centuries, just three half-centuries, and assistance for seam bowlers throughout, India conceded 286 in the first innings after having reduced South Africa to 12 for 3. After that India were left to play catch-up, which they did with an improved performance with the ball in the second innings, but the damage had already been done on the first day.Bumrah himself was the main culprit, the only bowler to bowl half-volleys in the first session, which Faf du Plessis drove at with relish. “In the first innings we thought we bowled a little fuller than the normal because in India the wickets are different where we have to pitch fuller to get the swing and to get the batsmen on the front foot,” he said. “Over here there is bounce, there is a little bit of difference. We analysed that and tried to adapt in the second innings, and as a unit we were able to create pressure, so that was the basic plan going into the second innings. That worked well. So hopefully, we will see videos of these wickets, what happens over here and we plan according to it.”India didn’t train at all on the day before the first Test, and at the end of the match the visiting captain Virat Kohli said there was nothing wrong with the preparation. However, this is not the first time that India’s fast bowlers have failed to adjust to conditions, and it cannot be all down to preparation. What happens out in the middle is completely different.Bumrah is reputed to be a quick learner, which has already made him one of the best – if not the best – bowlers in limited-overs cricket. To his credit, Bumrah showed that ability to learn quickly and did not repeat the mistakes in the second innings. He was driven 28 times in 19 overs in the first innings, but once he realised the mistake, he pulled the length back and was driven only 12 times in the 11.2 overs he bowled. He began to hit the pitch hard on that heavy in-between length, and bowled a brute to dismiss du Plessis.”We realised what mistakes we made in the first innings, so we were trying to create pressure from both ends and focus on our lengths, which were wrong in the first innings,” Bumrah said. “We just tried to correct them and not overdo things because over here, when there is help from the wicket, you try to do extra but that won’t help. So we were just trying to be disciplined and stick to basics.”Jasprit Bumrah’s pitch maps•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The Cape Town Test was Bumrah’s first first-class match in a year although he did have 89 first-class wickets from 26 matches. Not having played the format for this long, he said, was not on his mind as he prepared for his debut. “Not nervousness, it’s not like in my life I was playing a first-class game for the first time, I have played a lot of four-day games,” Bumrah said when asked if he felt nervous when he was told he was going to play.”There was a discussion that I would play the match, so I was talking to our bowling coach on what kind of things I should do, what kind of wickets are over here or what should I expect. You can think ‘this is going to happen’ and ‘that’s going to happen’ but as soon as you’re in, things are different. My basic plan was to go inside and have a feel of the wicket and changes should be made accordingly.”The performance on the first day, and the part it might have played in the eventual result, didn’t hurt Bumrah’s confidence. “Confidence doesn’t dent after one match,” Bumrah said. “If it happens, then you don’t deserve to play. Learn from the mistake you made, and go forward. There is not a single cricketer who has not made a mistake. You keep learning and you keep improving all the time. We are trying to rectify our mistakes and move forward.”The team management seems to be impressed with how quickly Bumrah made amends to his lengths. Indeed, in admitting a mistake is the first step to rectifying it, but in a tight series such as this, India can’t afford to have a whole session of ordinary bowling because as Newlands showed us, the visitors only played catch-up thereafter.

The game is a must-win fixture for both teams, sitting fifth and sixth on the points table

Matt Roller11-Aug-2021Northern Superchargers men’s fixture against Manchester Originals is set to go ahead as scheduled on Thursday night, despite two players testing positive for Covid-19.All players in the Hundred are required to take regular lateral flow tests before training and matchdays, and two unnamed Superchargers players returned positive results on Monday, as ESPNcricinfo revealed.Related

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The results were subsequently confirmed by PCR tests and the affected players have been self-isolating away from the rest of the squad.The players are not expected to be named until Thursday’s toss. The fixture is a must-win for both sides: with two group games remaining, Originals are fifth and Superchargers are sixth, with the top three qualifying for next week’s knockout stages.If the fixture had been cancelled, the final group table would have been decided on points-per-game, which would have dealt a severe blow to both teams’ knockout hopes.”Two Northern Superchargers men’s players have tested positive for COVID-19 and will be unavailable for tomorrow night’s fixture against Manchester Originals at Emerald Headingley,” a statement confirmed.”After returning positive tests, they have been isolating as per the government guidance. No other members of the squad have been impacted and the group continue to undertake daily tests as per the competition’s guidelines.”A spokesperson also confirmed that the players would be ruled out of Northern Superchargers’ final group fixture, against Birmingham Phoenix on August 17.The players are the first to test positive in the Hundred. Four members of coaching staff – three at Trent Rockets, including Andy Flower, and Shane Warne at London Spirit – have previously been forced to self-isolate after positive tests.

After suffering a knockout at the hands of England, Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann denied that the ongoing pay dispute involving Cricket Australia and the nation’s cricketers played any role in his team’s performance

Brydon Coverdale11-Jun-2017Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has denied that the ongoing pay dispute involving Cricket Australia and the nation’s cricketers played any role in his team’s early exit from the Champions Trophy. Having had their first two group matches washed out, Australia needed to win against England on Saturday to progress, but instead suffered a 40-run defeat via the DLS method.Australia will now head home to begin preparations for their tour of Bangladesh later this year, but they will do so against the backdrop of employment uncertainty. CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association have until the end of this month to reach a consensus on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or risk an ugly situation in which players may find themselves uncontracted.The pay standoff has been going on for many months now and Australia’s vice-captain David Warner last week expressed his disappointment that CA had distributed an information video stating their case for MoU changes while Australia’s players should have been focusing on the Champions Trophy.Warner said at the time: “If CA were trying to help us win, I don’t think they’d be trying to release videos like that”. However, after the loss to England in Birmingham on Saturday, Lehmann said he did not believe the pay dispute had played any part in Australia failing to progress to the Champions Trophy semi-finals.”No excuses from our point of view on the MoU,” Lehmann said. “That’s going on behind the scenes – it can probably come to the forefront now that we’ve finished. They’ll get down to that and sort that out. No excuses from our end on the MoU.”It’s always there. It’s the elephant in the room. It’s always going to be talked about. But from a playing point of view, you’re out there, surely you’re not thinking about the MoU when you’re batting or bowling. I wouldn’t think that would have affected the players’ performance at all.”Australia’s preparation for the tournament was not helped by a washed out warm-up game, and their first two matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh were also rained out – they were on track to beat Bangladesh in the second game when it started pouring heavily, but New Zealand had the upper hand in the first match. Lehmann said Australia’s preparation had been adequate, but they had not been up to the task in the critical match.”We were just outplayed,” Lehmann said. “We were probably 30 or so short with the bat. We needed some of those guys to go on and get hundreds. [Aaron] Finch and [Steven] Smith played well, but we needed the top four to get a hundred. And then we bowled pretty poorly after the rain break. Disappointing result.”Just disappointing, I think we lost 5 for 15 at one stage. Credit to England, they bowled well, but I think we helped them a bit in the back end of our innings. We were sitting reasonably well at one stage but once you lose wickets you’re always in a bit of trouble. I think it was 4 for 240 odd when Maxi got out. You’d hope to get close to 300, but we didn’t.”Australia’s cause was not helped by a let-off for England captain Eoin Morgan, who was dropped down the leg side by Matthew Wade early in the chase. Morgan was on 12 at the time, and pressed on to make 87.”It was disappointing. He should grab them, but nobody means to drop them, either,” Lehmann said. “Disappointing part of the game, especially at that time. But again, they played really well. Morgan and Stokes were very good today.”Australia’s own batting set-up did not work as they hoped, with the addition of Moises Henriques at No.4 proving ineffective. Henriques scored 18 and 17 in his two innings in the tournament, and his presence in the side meant there was no room for fellow allrounder Marcus Stoinis, who struck a stunning 146 not out in an ODI in Auckland earlier this year.”We’ll have to sit back and have a look at that, moving forward, what we do there,” Lehmann said. “Marcus was very good in New Zealand so it’s a tough selection call. You take advice from everyone and you make a call and the skipper was quite keen for him to bat four. He [Henriques] looked good but probably didn’t capitalise.”Lehmann said Australia would need to find a way to return to the “brave” style of play that they displayed at the 2015 World Cup. It is an approach that he believes England and New Zealand have now adopted, and Lehmann bristled somewhat at the suggestion that Australia could learn something from the way England and New Zealand were currently playing in the ODI format.”I think England and New Zealand took the way we played in the last World Cup,” he said. “We played with bravery and we smashed every side, bar obviously New Zealand in Auckland. They’re starting to take the way we played, not vice-versa. When they win a World Cup, then we can take the way they play.”We certainly want to get back to playing brave cricket. I don’t think we were brave enough or smart enough in this tournament. I would have liked us to play with a lot more freedom or bravery.”

Trent Woodhill appointed as consultant as ECB finetune plans for new competition in 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2018The latest plans for the ECB’s new 100-ball competition, due to be introduced in 2020, could involve 20 five-ball overs, instead of the traditional six, to be bowled in blocks of ten deliveries from each end.The reports of a rejigged format come after the ECB were forced to ditch their original notion of 15 six-ball overs and a single ten-delivery final over following strong opposition from the Professional Cricketers’ Association.Instead, the fielding captain could now be given the option to retain a given bowler for ten deliveries in a row if they are performing well.The proposals are being fine-tuned by an ECB steering group, chaired by Clare Connor, with the reduction in end-changes allowing the game to be further sped up – a significant factor in the original framing of the competition, with ECB research suggesting that new audiences are put off by the length of time that matches take to be completed.Under these revised regulations, all matches can be expected to fit comfortably into a two-and-a-half hour window from 6.30pm to 9pm.The notion of bowling consecutive overs from the same end, while radical, is not unheard of in English cricket, with many parks leagues in England and Wales adopting such a policy to hasten the progress of evening matches.According to the , trial matches for the new competition are expected to take place in September, with Trent Bridge earmarked for the men’s teams and Loughborough for the women. Nottinghamshire have no home fixtures scheduled between September 14-23.To help lay the groundwork from a playing perspective, the ECB have hired Trent Woodhill, the general manager of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Melbourne Stars, as a consultant on a one-month contract.Renowned as an innovative thinker, Woodhill has previously worked as a batting coach with Pakistan and was John Wright’s assistant with New Zealand between 2010 and 2012. His varied career also includes stints as an analyst at Surrey and working in junior cricket in New South Wales, and his input will be sought on the operational elements of franchise cricket.Woodhill met with England Lions players at New Road on Wednesday, and is expected to speak to county directors of cricket over the next few weeks.