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Lancashire Thunder out of contention for knockouts after slipping to DLS defeat

ECB Reporters Network20-Aug-2019Loughborough Lightning 157 for 7 (Adams 50, Ecclestone 3-17) beat Lancashire Thunder 74 for 6 (Gordon 3-18) by 35 runs (DLS method)Loughborough Lightning secured a third successive Kia Super League win with a 35-run victory over winless Lancashire Thunder on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method at Old Trafford.The Lightning’s victory was underpinned by a superb recovery with the bat. Having lost early wickets they scored at more than 10 an over after the Powerplay to make 157 for 7 – Georgia Adams the standout with 50.After a bright start, the Thunder lost key wickets and were stifled by a strong bowling display and brilliant fielding by Loughborough, who eased to victory as the rain came. Lancashire are now mathematically unable to qualify for Finals Day.Tahlia McGrath set about trying to make light work of the chase of 158, and crucially getting Thunder ahead of the DLS rate, smashing two huge sixes into the stands off Kathryn Bryce in the fourth over.But Hayley Matthews hit back in the sixth over with two wickets. First McGrath fell for 26 to a superb one-handed grab by Chamari Atapattu at mid-off before Matthews took an equally spectacular caught-and-bowled effort to remove Sophia Dunkley for a duck.Thunder were 34 for 2 after the Powerplay. South Africa allrounder Sune Luus batted well to guide her side to 60 for 2 at halfway, but two wickets fell in consecutive overs as Harmanpreet Kaur was caught in the deep for 7 and Emma Lamb was bowled for a duck.As the rain began to pour down on Old Trafford, Lightning struck two decisive blows as Kirstie Gordon took wickets in consecutive balls with Luus caught for 30 and Sophie Ecclestone for a first-ball duck.Gordon was deprived a hat-trick delivery as the weather cut the match short with Thunder 74 for 6 after 13.4 overs of their innings.Having won the toss, Thunder enjoyed an excellent powerplay. Kate Cross trapped England team-mate Amy Jones lbw for a duck in the second over, before Ecclestone struck twice to remove Matthews and Atapattu.Loughborough were 18 for 3 after six overs but Mignon du Preez counterattacked, launching Alex Hartley down the ground for six. Forty-one runs came in four overs after the Powerplay, as du Preez and Georgia Elwiss put on a 47-run partnership in just 31 balls.Lamb struck to bowl Du Preez for 18 but Elwiss continued the aggression, smashing a huge six over midwicket. The England star fell for 38, brilliantly caught by McGrath as Cross claimed her second wicket to make it 72 for 5. But Loughborough’s recovery was not stalled by the loss of wickets as Adams and Bryce took up the baton, reaching their 50 partnership in 29 balls.Both were dismissed in the final over of the innings – Bryce bowled by for an 18-ball 32 and Adams run out for a superb 50 from 33 balls – but their partnership of 82 in 45 balls proved crucial.

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.

Shubman Gill departed for 8 on the fourth morning as Brydon Carse took his second wicket

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2025

KL Rahul reached his fifty on the fourth morning•AFP/Getty Images

Lunch A slow session for India but a successful one. Though they only managed to add 63 runs during day four’s morning session at Headingley, they survived 24.1 overs for the loss of just a single wicket. Even though it was their captain Shubman Gill who fell, a score of 153 for 3 and a lead of 159 has them in good shakes in the midst of a second-innings shootout in this first Test against England.KL Rahul’s dogged 72 not out, his 26th fifty-plus score in Tests, came amid a wave of outstanding bowling from England’s quicks, and a few pings on the top hand administered by Ben Stokes, as this pitch shows further signs of irregular bounce.Brydon Carse set the tone and the standard early with a six-over morning spell (1 for 12) from the Kirkstall Lane End that accounted for Gill. India’s No. 4 skewed on to the base of his off stump after deviation from a length delivery found an inside edge as he attempted to play through gully.That, however, was England’s only success in a session littered with beaten outside edges. It should not have been, of course. Harry Brook, the beneficary of three lives in his innings of 99, repaid the favour with a drop at gully when Rahul, on 55, attempted a second consecutive guide to the deep-third boundary off Josh Tongue.The strike was out of character from Rahul, who had shown great restraint with overcast, cooler conditions stacking the odds against the batters. By contrast, Rishabh Pant was his usual ball of chaos, charging Chris Woakes and skewing over the cordon from his second ball. He had done exactly the same in his first innings – charging Stokes second ball – but had made far better contact then.It was truly a comical start from Pant, who had to be calmed down by Rahul after moving to 15 with a mow across the line for a fortuitous boundary off Carse, with Shoaib Bashir at fine leg, and Joe Root running back from the cordon, desperate to meet it before it hit the ground. Three deliveries later, Pant was subject to a voracious lbw appeal as he fell away to the off side attempting his patented fall-away ramp.Umpire Paul Reiffel gave it not out and England’s review proved him right, with an inside edge. But it was enough of a warning for Pant to control himself a little more. His next 16 runs came from 36 deliveries, as he and Rahul managed to get to the break with their stand intact on 61.

IPL founder dismisses projected value of competition and eight teams in post on X/Twitter

Andrew Miller26-Sep-2024Lalit Modi, the founder and architect of the Indian Premier League, has accused the ECB of being “disconnected from reality” in their ambitions for the Hundred, after leaking the board’s confidential financial projections for the tournament, and its valuations of each of the eight teams.In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Modi published details from the prospectus that the ECB’s financial advisors, Raine Group and Deloitte, has sent out (under NDA) to its potential investors, alongside a lengthy post in which he dismissed their calculations as “dangerously overambitious and unsustainable”.Modi’s intervention is an awkward setback in the ECB’s bid to secure private investment for their tournament, and comes after Vikram Banerjee, the board’s director of business operations, admitted earlier this week that they could be forced to delay the Hundred’s equity sale beyond 2025 if the right investors cannot be secured in time for next summer’s competition.As recently as February, Modi himself was reportedly an interested party, telling The Telegraph that he had valued the Hundred at US$1 billion over a ten-year period, and that he had private investors ready to get behind an expanded ten-team tournament. However, his informal offer is believed to have been turned down by the ECB who did not want to sell the competition outright.Now, however, Modi has poured scorn on the tournament’s viability. Though he accepts it is “plausible” that the ECB’s domestic TV rights will rise in value as projected, from £54 million to £85 million annually, he issued a withering assessment of the Hundred’s place in the international market, where it faces particular competition from rival Northern Hemisphere tournaments such as the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket in the USA.Related

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“The ECB’s financial projections for The Hundred, particularly beyond 2026, appear overly optimistic and disconnected from reality,” he wrote. “The International TV rights figures make little sense, given the global competition from other cricket leagues like the IPL. It’s unlikely The Hundred will attract the necessary international audience to justify these inflated numbers.”The ECB is understood to have anticipated some pushback against its figures, with potential investors inevitably seeking a favourable deal, and point to Modi’s prior interest in the tournament as proof of concept.Nevertheless, his criticism is significant, because it was Modi’s establishment of the IPL in 2008 that unleashed the full potential of T20 cricket in the first place, a format that the ECB themselves devised in 2002, but failed to adequately market – an oversight that played a role in the board settling on 100-ball cricket as its new point of difference.Fifteen years later, the IPL’s media rights for 2023 to 2027 were secured for a record US$6.2 billion, cementing it as the world’s second-most valuable sports league on a per-game basis, behind only NFL. And, as Modi wrote in his post on X, each of the teams involved “are valued at US$1 billion based on 16 years of performance”.”By contrast, as per my analysis, The Hundred’s teams are projected to be worth a mere £5 million to £25 million in the best-case scenario in my MOST CONSIDERED #VIEW, with Manchester maxing out at £8.5 million,” he added.”Worse still, The Hundred struggles to match even the Caribbean Premier League’s profitability, a sobering indication of its financial frailty. The Hundred appears to be on shaky financial ground, with projections that fail to inspire confidence in its long-term viability as these look dangerously overambitious and unsustainable.”

Amite Hasan sets a new record; Ebadot Hossain makes comeback after 16 months out; Farhad Hossain finishes up after 161 matches

Mohammad Isam12-Nov-2024Amite Hasan’s maiden double-hundred kept Sylhet Division unbeaten in the NCL after they drew against Khulna Division at the academy ground in Cox’s Bazar. According to ESPNcricinfo’s records, Amite’s ten hours and 38 minutes at the crease is the third-longest individual innings in first-class cricket in Bangladesh.Amite struck 18 fours and a six in his 455-ball stay, as he continued on an impressive conversion rate in first-class cricket. He shared a 251-run fourth wicket stand with Asadulla Al Galib, who also scored his maiden century. The end of the partnership, however, became viral content.Late on the second evening, the ball slipped out of offspinner Mahedi Hasan’s grip. Galib advanced towards it as it parachuted down from well above the eyeline, but then he lost balance and mistimed the hit right down long-on’s throat, much to the amusement of the Khulna fielders. It was one of Mahedi’s four wickets. Zia ur Rahman took three.Khulna replied with 273 in their first innings, with captain Anamul Haque and Afif Hossain hitting fifties. After being asked to follow on, the veteran Mohammad Mithun struck his 16th century. Anamul, Imrul Kayes and Nurul Hasan also scored fifties to get Khulna to safety, as they finished the game on 296 for 3. This was also the match in which Ebadot Hossain returned to competitive cricket after July 2023, as he rehabilitated from a long-term injury.Rangpur Division beat Rajshahi Division by 101 runs to take themselves to second position on the points table.Farhad Hossain finishes his 161-match first-class career•BCB

Batting first, Rangpur were bowled out for 189 runs with Ariful Haque’s unbeaten 103 the top score. It was the allrounder’s ninth first-class century. Rajshahi’s Sabbir Hossain took a six-wicket haul. But Rangpur fought back by bowling out Rajshahi for the same score.Rangpur then posted 262 runs in their second innings with captain Akbar Ali making 77. Rajshahi, however, were bowled out for 161, with Ariful this time starring with the ball, taking three wickets.This was also Farhad Hossain’s final first-class match as he announced his retirement. The 161-match veteran made 26 and 9 in his final outing.Chattogram Division picked up their first win of this season when they beat Barishal Division by eight wickets at the main stadium in Cox’s Bazar. Nineteen-year old Ashraful Hasan Rohan took ten wickets in the match, becoming the youngest from the team to get a ten-for.Batting first, Barishal made 318 runs with fifties from Moin Khan and Tasamul Haque. Left-arm spinner Ashraful took four wickets while Enamul Hoque picked up three.In reply, Shahadat Hossain’s century got Chattogram within five runs of Barishal’s total, finishing on 313 all out. It was his third century, as he struck ten fours in his 249-ball stay. Chattogram could have had two centurions in the innings but Yasir Ali got out on 99. The pair added 176 runs for the fourth wicket.Ashraful Hasan took a ten-for against Barishal Division•BCB

Ashraful then took six wickets to complete his ten-for, as Barishal were bowled out for just 77 in their second innings. Chattogram took just 11.3 overs to complete the 83-run chase.Defending champions Dhaka Division salvaged a draw against Dhaka Metropolis in Sylhet. Dhaka Metro came within two wickets from a victory, but Ripon Mondol and Nazmul Islam survived at the end of the fourth day.Batting first, Dhaka Metro made 304 all out with fifties from Shamsur Rahman and wicketkeeper Tahjibul Islam. Anamul Haque and Shuvagata Hom took four wickets each.Dhaka took an 11-run lead as they reached 315. Hom and Rony Talukdar made fifties, while Abu Hider took three wickets.Dhaka Metro then were bowled out for 267 runs with Aminul Islam scoring 82. Anamul completed his ten-wicket haul with 6-81. Dhaka then just about survived after 43 overs. Left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan took four wickets while Abu Hider took three.