All posts by n8rngtd.top

‘He is going to be resting for a week,’ says the Capitals’ captain Shreyas Iyer

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-20204:09

Moody: ‘Surprising to see Delhi not having a back-up Indian wicketkeeper in their squad’

Rishabh Pant will miss a week of IPL 2020 because of the hamstring injury he picked up during the Delhi Capitals’ game against the Rajasthan Royals on October 9.”I spoke to the doctor and he said he is going to be resting for a week,” the Capitals’ captain, Shreyas Iyer, told host broadcaster Star after the side’s loss to the Mumbai Indians. “Hope he comes back strongly after this break.”Pant was seen limping towards the end of the Royals’ innings, when he took Varun Aaron’s catch to seal a win for his side.He has been the second-highest run-getter for the Capitals this season so far, having scored 176 runs in six innings at an average of 35.20 and a strike rate of 133.33.Pant’s absence means Shimron Hetmyer may also miss the Capitals’ upcoming games as the only other wicketkeeping option they have is Australia’s Alex Carey. With Marcus Stoinis, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje almost certainties for three overseas spots, Hetmyer is most likely the one to make way for Carey, just like he did for Sunday’s game against the Mumbai Indians.On the positive side for the Capitals, they have five wins from seven games and currently sit second on the points table, tied with the Mumbai Indians on points.

Will Pucovski was finally dismissed – for 202 – then Shaun Marsh scored another hundred

Daniel Brettig09-Nov-2020Cameron Green appeared set to deliver a strong riposte to Will Pucovski’s second double century in as many Sheffield Shield innings for Victoria, before spinner Jon Holland intervened with a spell that demonstrated that assistance was in fact available from the pitch at Karen Rolton Oval, just not so much for the West Australian all-seam attack.WA’s captain Shaun Marsh, with his third century of the season, was left in the company of the nightwatchman Matthew Kelly after Holland’s twin strike in the final session, finding appreciable turn alongside admirable economy in the sort of display he had been unable to deliver first up against South Australia at Glenelg.Victoria’s skipper Peter Handscomb had set the game up nicely with an enterprising declaration before lunch, showing that he had perhaps learned from a couple of recent failures to defeat South Australia outright on flat surfaces when his team had run up enormous first innings tallies that had nonetheless eaten into the time available to bowl the opposition out twice.Handscomb fell short of his own century, having witnessed Pucovski make it as far as 202 before flicking a catch to midwicket, giving him a Shield average of 457 from his two innings so far – numbers of the sort the Australian team coach Justin Langer had demanded in order to force a change to a settled Test match batting line-up. He was the first batsman to make back-to-back double hundreds in the Shield since Dene Hills in 1997-98.The short session before lunch proved highly fruitful for the Victorians, as Scott Boland delivered a beauty from around the wicket to find the edge of a pushing Sam Whiteman, which Handscomb snapped up expertly in the slips. On the stroke of the interval, Cameron Bancroft was pinned lbw in front of all three stumps by the young paceman Mitch Perry, despite his apparent annoyance at the decision.Marsh and Green then accumulated soundly against the seamers, the latter commendably upright and straight as he has been in so many innings of his young career, and with their stand worth 141 inside the final hour, the Warriors looked set to be well established for day three.However, Holland had dropped onto a tantalising length that prevented free scoring while also teasing the outside edge of the bat, and after several of his left-arm orthodox deliveries spun nicely away from Green, the 21-year-old was eventually beaten by the perfect ball, pitching in line with middle and leg before turning enough to sail to slip off the edge.Hilton Cartwright, once considered a potential international allrounder in the manner Green is currently being feted, soon followed in more spectacular manner, playing back to a ball that popped and turned sharply, flying more or less straight up in the air off the shoulder of the bat for Handscomb to claim his third catch out of four.These wickets will have made a mark as much by their manner as by the changes to the scoreboard, after WA had named an all-pace bowling unit in their XI and then granted Victoria first batting use of a surface now clearly friendly to spin.

Cummins and Green wipe out the deficit but hosts have just four second-innings wickets left

Andrew McGlashan27-Dec-2020India put themselves on the doorstep of one of their finest Test victories as the bowling attack again came to the fore at the MCG to dismantle an increasingly fragile Australia top order. The success was shared equally, but Jasprit Bumrah could easily have had more than the one wicket for his efforts, while the spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined with great effect.Ravindra Jadeja picked up a couple of wickets after scoring a crucial half-century•Getty Images

For the majority of the time, they were without Umesh Yadav, who, after removing Joe Burns early, limped off with a calf injury and has since been taken for scans. The decision to pick five bowlers, therefore, paid off handsomely for India with Jadeja, following his vital half-century in the innings-defining stand of 121 with Ajinkya Rahane, taking two wickets as he and Ashwin allowed Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj to not be overbowled.At the close of play, Australia had yet to score a half-century in the match. Steven Smith fell for his third single-figure score of the series – bowled behind his pads by Bumrah – and in a 66-over innings they had managed just seven boundaries. There was a dose of controversy thrown in for good measure when Tim Paine was given out caught behind by the DRS, which left the Australia captain fuming as he walked off. But the protocols were followed to the letter when Snicko provided a spike where Hot Spot had not shown a mark.Related

• Rahane builds his legacy by staying in the moment

• Warner remains doubtful for third Test against India

At that point, Australia had lost three wickets for one run in 23 balls and were lurching towards a three-day defeat, but that was at least avoided as Cameron Green and Pat Cummins ground out 34 in 18 overs to ensure India would need to bat again, although it remained a long way from being a recovery.A deficit of 131 was sizeable, but less than it might have been for Australia after they claimed India’s last five wickets for 32 – following the run-out of Rahane when Jadeja chanced a single for his fifty – amid a barrage of short-pitched bowling at the lower order. However, it was a hefty enough difference that they would need at least 300 to give themselves a realistic chance in the fourth innings but again they produced a limp performance that will leave much head-scratching ahead of the third Test.There will be increasing desperation that David Warner prove his fitness even though he would be coming in with very little cricket. The Burns Question will again loom large, as it did at the beginning of the series, with the opener failing for the third time in four innings across the two Tests. Burns lived on the edge even during a ten-ball stay; he would have been run-out by a direct hit getting off the mark and was nearly pinned lbw by a searing inswinging yorker from Bumrah before edging an excellent delivery from Yadav. To make things worse, he wasted a review.’What’s happening here?’ – Tim Paine seems to ask as he’s walking off•Getty Images

Matthew Wade battled against his natural instincts – impressively so – while Marnus Labuschagne scored most of the runs that were on offer but was undone by a wonderful piece of bowling from Ashwin, who slid one across him from around the wicket, which took an edge to slip.Ashwin, getting the ball to drift, bite and turn, nearly had Smith caught at leg slip in a repeat of the first-innings dismissal during another fascinating battle between the pair, but this time it was India’s other leading man – Bumrah – who pulled off a perfectly-worked plan when he bowled Smith behind his legs that many bowlers have tried before him. The ball just clipped the top of leg stump and Smith even set off for a run, scarcely able to believe what had happened. At 71 for 3, still 60 behind, with the two lynchpin batsmen gone, India had made their opening.Ten overs later came the clatter that will surely decide the game. Wade’s 137-ball defiance ended when he played back to Jadeja and was beaten by one that slid on. In another tick to Rahane’s captaincy book, Siraj struck with his first ball back when Travis Head edged to second slip to complete twin dismissals of much similarity in the game.Then there was the wicket that lit up social media, Paine playing a forcing shot off the back foot against Jadeja, which was given not out by Paul Reiffel with Rahane quick to review. The third umpire, Paul Wilson, gave Paine out based on the spike on Snicko, which matched with the ball passing the bat but Paine could not hide his anger.At 99 for 6, it was there for India to wrap up and they may have got close to doing so had Rishabh Pant gathered a thin edge off Cummins when he nicked Ashwin on 8. As it was, Cummins and Green clung on, taking Australia to parity but with just three bowlers left in the shed. What sort of target would make India nervous? It’s been a crazy year, but surely this will be their Test match.

South Africa lost their eighth successive Test in the subcontinent

Danyal Rasool29-Jan-2021It took about three hours of near-perfect cricket, but Pakistan eased the pressure on themselves and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq, cruising to a seven-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The win, Pakistan’s only fifth in Test cricket over South Africa, looked a very distant prospect when the visitors sat pretty at 175 for 1 on Thursday evening, but a spectacular collapse supercharged by a five-wicket haul for debutant Nauman Ali saw the game ripped from their grasp.After a flurry of wickets last evening, South Africa failed to arrest the slide as Yasir Shah and Nauman made hay. The visitors managed just 58 on top of overnight’s score, and aside from a brief wobble after lunch that saw Anrich Nortje remove both openers in an over, the 88 Pakistan were set was achieved at a canter.Hasan Ali began proceedings by getting rid of nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj off the day’s first ball, one that kept slightly low to breach Maharaj’s defence. Captain Quinton de Kock, who looked unlike himself during his scratchy little stay at the crease, became yet another victim to Abid Ali at short leg off Shah.South Africa will likely be left to rue two batting collapses this Test, but the manner in which Temba Bavuma, who has had his struggles of late, dug in, there is encouragement to be found. On a raging turner, he found a balance that allowed him to score while neutralising the threat. Alongside George Linde, he struck up another handy little partnership to go with their 42-run stand in the first innings. The sweep shot was used cleverly, pushing back the close-in fielders, and it was to Bavuma’s credit that Shaheen Shah Afridi looked somewhat flat with the new ball for a change. Slowly the lead pushed past 75, and South Africa sniffed hope once more.It was, though, extinguished by another rush of breakthroughs as the second collapse of the innings was initiated when Linde’s inside edge was plucked superbly by Imran Butt at leg slip. The batsmen that followed put up little resistance. Nauman spun one through the gate when Kagiso Rabada tried an extravagant cover drive, and completed his five-for – the seventh-oldest debutant to do so – when he trapped Bavuma in front, the sweep for once failing him.It was never going to be enough, even if Pakistan have produced some legendary fourth-innings collapses in the recent past. For that reason, when Nortje knocked back Abid’s stumps first ball after lunch, and had Butt nick off in the same over, a ripple of anxiety must have trickled through the Pakistan dressing room. It didn’t help that variable bounce had come into the game again, and Babar Azam had his defence seriously tested by Nortje.Once a couple of boundaries had been struck and the runs required came swiftly down, the fight began to sap out of South Africa. Azam shook off a failure in the first innings, demonstrating his touch with some luscious drives through the offside, while a handy cameo from Azhar Ali sat nicely alongside his half-century in the first innings. The last 46 runs came in 47 balls as Pakistan ended proceedings in a hurry, even if Maharaj claimed a moral victory when he snared Azam lbw for the second time in the game with two runs required. In the wider picture, though, South Africa were decisively condemned to their eighth successive defeat in the subcontinent.

“It is difficult. The team sacrifices a lot. They sacrifice family time, and there is a lot of alone time”

Firdose Moonda01-Mar-2021Zimbabwe are hoping to begin the process of rebuilding their national side, with at least two confirmed Test series in the next two months, and several white-ball fixtures in the lead up to the 2023 World Cup. The windfall of matches, which starts with two Tests and three T20Is against Afghanistan in the UAE, comes after a lean year for Zimbabwe in which they only played six internationals, none of them Tests. This return to the rigours of the longest format is what captain Sean Williams says his team needs to improve across the board.Related

• Rashid Khan set to miss Zimbabwe Test with finger injury

• Afghanistan, Zimbabwe look to flex Test credentials in maiden meeting

• Rashid Khan: Afghanistan need 'more than three to four Tests a year' to become a stronger team

• No Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine in Zimbabwe squad for Afghanistan Tests

“I would love this team to play Tests as often as possible. It’s the ultimate,” Williams said. “And having the opportunity to play in Covid-19 times is massive. It’s character building. The challenges you face in Test cricket are huge and if you can overcome those challenges, it prepares you for ODI and T20 cricket. I am very excited to see the Tests against Pakistan (in April) are on, and the Ireland (white-ball) tour and then the qualifiers next year leading into the 2023 World Cup.”Though looking forward to the opportunity to get on the field again, Zimbabwe, like many other teams, are finding that playing during the pandemic brings challenges of its own.”It is difficult. The team sacrifices a lot. They sacrifice family time, and there is a lot of alone time,” Williams said. “The mental aspect is big. The time you spend in the room, with quarantine and testing, over and over and over – it’s extremely tough. You spend a lot of time on your cellphone and your screen time goes up. You spend a lot of time on social media and social media can play mind games with you, especially when it comes to international sport.”The squad have moved from a biosecure environment in Harare, where they were training, to a bubble in Abu Dhabi, their base for the entire Afghanistan series. Although they are no longer confined to their hotel rooms, there are still restrictions on their movement and how much they can interact with each other.”You’ve got trackers around your neck so you can’t spend too much time with each other. After 15 minutes, the beeper goes off and you’ve got to head off,” Williams said. “We are separated a lot of the time. It’s tough. It’s not for the faint-hearted.”But it’s the only way to ensure they get the game time Williams is so desperate for to prompt an upskilling of their players.Zimbabwe have to go back more than two years to remember their last Test win, against Bangladesh in Sylhet in November 2018, and more than a year for the last respectable performance in the format, when they drew against Sri Lanka in Harare. For that reason, the goal for this series is simple: “I want to win. I just want to win. Simple,” Williams said. “And we need to have team goals hour by hour like we had in the Sri Lanka Test match. And make decisions collectively as a group. There will always be a guy that struggles and someone else will have to step up and carry him along.”Williams has backed Prince Masvaure to step up in the absence of several key players•AFP

The emphasis on the collective is in part a response to the number of players Zimbabwe are missing for this series. Six first-choice players – Brendan Taylor, Craig Ervine, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhabha and PJ Moor – are out of the tour through illness or injury, putting more pressure on Williams and other senior members of the side, like Sikandar Raza.”Missing them is huge. We need them in Test cricket but at the same time, we have a young bunch coming through. We are in a rebuilding process again,” Williams said. “Missing them is huge not only for the juniors but for guys like Raza and myself as well. They are support for the group but they are not here so we have got to get on with it.”The absence of Taylor, Ervine, Chibhabha and Moor, which leaves Zimbabwe with an inexperienced middle-order, will not be used as an excuse for below-par batting. In fact, Williams is specifically targeting improved first-innings scores of “450-500 plus which is what’s expected in a first innings total Test cricket nowadays,” which is much more than Zimbabwe’s recent average of 280 across their last nine Tests.It will be up to Prince Masvaure and Kevin Kasuza, who are established as the top two, to step up and Williams believes they are more than ready for the task. “Their characters speak volumes on them. If I had to pick a team on character and not on talent, they would both be there,” he said. “They have that sacrificial mindset and that makes a big difference when it comes to Test cricket. They are opening doors for themselves and for us. I am extremely happy to have them and I value them massively. The workload that they do and the work ethics they have is massive.”Zimbabwe have several options in the bowling department, particularly when it comes to spinners, but that’s not where Williams’ focus is. Although conditions are expected to favour slower bowling, he wants his quicks to come to the fore against the Afghan line-up. “Pace against them is a big thing so we are hoping our bowlers get an opportunity to have a crack at them,” Williams said.That means Donald Tiripano and Victor Nyauchi will have a big job to do, as will Blessing Muzarabani, who returned to Zimbabwe last year after a Kolpak stint, and will play his first Test since 2018. “It’s a huge thing to have him back. His height, his pace, the bounce that he gets is a big thing for us, especially against a team like Afghanistan,” Williams said. “His leadership skills coming from the county scene is also a big thing for us and our bowling unit.”Both Tests and all three T20Is will be played in Abu Dhabi.

“Making T20 cricket the priority in the short-term” keeping in mind the two World Cups, he says

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2021Faf du Plessis, the former South Africa captain, has retired from Test cricket after 69 appearances in the format. With no Test cricket in the immediate future for South Africa, du Plessis wants to “walk into a new chapter” and focus his energies and attention primarily on T20 cricket, keeping in mind the two World Cups scheduled in 2021 and 2022.”It has been a year of refinement in the fire for us all. Uncertain were the times, but they brought clarity for me in many respects. My heart is clear and the time is right to walk into a new chapter. It has been an honour to play for my country in all the formats of the game, but the time has come for me to retire from Test cricket,” du Plessis said in a statement posted on his Instagram account. “If someone had told me 15 years ago, that I would play 69 Test matches for South Africa and captain the side, I wouldn’t have believed them.Related

• Faf du Plessis says breakdown in relationship with coach Mark Boucher pushed him into Test retirement

• No central contract for Faf du Plessis; Heinrich Klaasen and Lara Goodall get maiden deals

• Tour postponement: CSA lodges official complaint against CA

• du Plessis steps down as Test and T20I captain

• du Plessis misses a double but proves he's still the daddy for SA

“I stand in a place of utmost gratitude for a Test career full of blessings bestowed on me. Every high and low has shaped me into the man I am proud to stand up as today. In all things, those instances worked towards the good of who I believe I am today.”du Plessis, now 36, made his Test debut in Adelaide on South Africa’s 2012-13 tour, and was named the Player of the Match for his 78 and 110 not out in a memorable draw – du Plessis’ stonewalling helped South Africa bat out four-and-a-half sessions on a wearing pitch. He went on to hit ten centuries and 21 half-centuries in Tests, ending with 4163 runs at an average of 40.02.He became the Test captain, succeeding AB de Villiers, in 2016, and led South Africa in 36 Tests, before stepping down in February 2020 after the home series against England, which South Africa lost 3-1. du Plessis finished with a decent Test captaincy record, with 18 wins and 15 losses, the defeats piling up more towards the latter bit of his stint after South Africa had won 17 of the first 27 Tests he had led in. Between the start of 2019 and the end of his tenure, South Africa lost eight Tests, a run that began with the 2-0 home defeat to Sri Lanka in February 2019.du Plessis, a veteran of 143 ODIs and 50 T20Is, will continue to be available for selection in both the limited-overs formats, and has said that he is keen to be a part of the action at the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held later this year in India.”The next two years are ICC T20 World Cup years. Because of this, my focus is shifting to this format and I want to play as much of it as possible around the world so that I can be the best player I can possibly be,” he said. “I strongly believe that I have a lot to offer to the Proteas in this format. This does not mean that ODI cricket is no longer in the plans, I’m just making T20 cricket the priority in the short-term.”I will be in conversation with CSA over the next couple of months on what the future might look like for me over the next year to find a solution that works for both of us.””To lose him in this format is going to leave another big gap in the team,” Smith said of du Plessis•Getty Images

Despite his emphasis on the shortest format, du Plessis is not part of the any of the six squads that will compete in a South African domestic T20 tournament starting Friday. Earlier in the week, CSA’s director of cricket Graeme Smith had said all nationally contracted players would be obliged to play in the competition as South Africa do not have any international fixtures scheduled until April. Apart from du Plessis – no reason has been given for his absence – national all-format captain Quinton de Kock will also miss the tournament after being granted a mental-health break.”Faf is a shining testimony of what one can achieve if they commit to it. His patriotism to cricket, impeccable leadership qualities, coupled with his insatiable commitment to imparting knowledge to budding cricketers speaks volumes of the rich legacy that he leaves behind,” Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s acting chief executive, said in a statement. “Much as CSA is saddened to see him retire from the longest format of the game, we are however comforted by the fact that he will still be part of our system, where his immense contribution awaits.”CSA would like to thank Faf for dedicating the better part of his life to cricket and making South Africa proud on and off the field. He has certainly earned himself a special place in our hearts and a favourable chapter in the ledgers of history.”Smith, the former South Africa captain, played his last Test in March 2014, the last bit of his international career overlapping with the start of du Plessis’. “Faf has been a prolific Test cricketer for the Proteas for a number of years now and to lose him in this format is going to leave another big gap in the team,” Smith said. “His commitment to the team has always been undoubtable and his transparency with Cricket South Africa about his plans has always been appreciated and we respect his decision, knowing he would not have come by it easily.”I would like to thank Faf on behalf of CSA for his years of service and dedication to the Proteas’ Test team and we look forward to engaging further with him on how he can continue contributing to the team in a meaningful way.”

“Going ahead, we would like to have about ten days of net sessions before going into a series”

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Mar-2021The top Indian women cricketers “need to improve on all fronts” and “a long camp will pave the way for this”, according to WV Raman, the head coach of the national team, who recently oversaw ODI and T20I series defeats at home to South Africa in India’s first bit of international cricket in a year.South Africa, who had played Pakistan at home in January-February, looked the better – and fitter – team, and topped India on all counts over the eight-game tour in Lucknow in what was the first time India hit the field in any format since the T20 World Cup final on March 8 last year.”We have to start from scratch. A long camp will pave the way for this,” Raman told News18.com. “They have had a long break. The girls need to improve on all fronts. The girls themselves want these camps. They need to top up on their fitness and fine-tune their skills as well. To achieve certain goals, we need to have camps on a periodic basis.Related

• Mithali Raj: 'I know the 2022 World Cup is my swansong'

• India Women's international calendar on BCCI Apex Council's agenda

• Goswami: 'Very excited' at opportunity to play Test cricket again

• India women just lost a year, but not all the blame goes to Covid

• India to play Test against England this year

“What we had in Lucknow cannot be dubbed as a camp. We had three to four days of nets. But this happened probably due to the fact that everything was arranged in the eleventh hour. A lot of protocols had to be followed. But going ahead, we would like to have about ten days of net sessions before going into a series.”The series against South Africa was mired in confusion, as Raman hinted there. The series was originally supposed to be hosted in Thiruvananthapuram, but had to be shifted after the ground in the city had to be handed over to the Indian military for a recruitment drive. Then, before the BCCI made anything official, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association announced that the series would be played in Lucknow. Then, the two squads were announced only after both the Indian and South African contingents had arrived in the host city.Despite the hiccups, the series still took place, and ODI captain Mithali Raj felt that that in itself was the biggest gain for the women.”If we don’t have to stress more on the result of the series, I think the greatest takeaway is the game time,” Raj told the same website. “Having five ODIs is very important. Earlier, we used to have three ODIs in a series. Having five ODIs gave me an opportunity to try new players. It gave me a fair idea as to what I was looking at, what the team requires, where we need to work on. All the players required game time.”Am sure each one of us will go back, work on what we need to do as individuals so that when we meet again, we have a different set of plans, we work on different things like training, fielding sessions, running between the wickets.”Another takeaway for the Indians was the new and improved version of Punam Raut, who not only scored 263 runs in five innings, but scored them at a strike rate of 71.66 – a marked change in her approach.”I had a chat with her. I told her to be a lot more positive,” Raman said. “The reason I told her was that the average score in women’s cricket has spiked a bit. We need to become a side that can get to 260 on a bad day. For that to happen, the batters have to learn to manage 50 overs. The top six is tightly packed.”During the course of the series, on March 8, Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, also announced on Twitter the addition of a Test match during India’s upcoming tour of England, most likely in June. It came somewhat out of the blue as India haven’t played a Test match since November 2014. Not many teams have played Test cricket in recent years, and the last six fixtures in the format, since August 2015, have all been between Australia and England. On the domestic circuit, the BCCI discontinued the senior women’s multi-day tournaments a few years ago. As for the England tour, no press release regarding it has been issued yet by either the Indian board or the ECB.It is exciting for the players, but the preparation for it will need additional attention.”We would need to try and have a preparatory camp or even before that, a fitness and skills camp for a few weeks,” Raman said. “It would give the girls a good opportunity to improve upon not only the physical fitness and endurance but also work on the skills part when it comes to handling Test cricket.”It’s making the girls extend what they do in the other two formats. It’s also a question of change in mindset required for duration cricket.”

Steven Mullaney’s unbeaten fifty has Nottinghamshire 89 in front at 188 for 4 in reply

David Hopps06-May-2021If you had to nominate a player who exemplifies the beating heart of county cricket, Luke Fletcher would be high up the list. That heart has rarely pumped as merrily as it did against the champions, Essex, as he turned in the most successful shift of his career.It was a grand day for Fletcher, a day when this stalwart Nottinghamshire servant got a bit of a sweat on. Presented by a cloudy day and a green Trent Bridge surface, he bowled with exemplary accuracy and skill, moved the ball both ways in the air and off the pitch and collected six for 24, the first six-for of his career.Conditions were in his favour. According to a “colour expert”, Sage Green harnesses the calming energy inherent in green, but anchors it with earthiness and depth. Not when Fletcher is bowling on it, it doesn’t. By the end of Essex’s innings, Sage Green was not remotely calming. What’s more, it had been combined with Desire, one of the pinker, and lesser-known red tints, but suitably conveying not just Fletcher’s colour as the overs totted up, but his wholehearted commitment to the cause.He rounded things off with a triple-wicket maiden – and came close to a hat-trick in a four-wicket maiden, only to stifle his appeal against the last man, Jamie Porter. As Porter took a while to appear, the Essex dressing room presumably a chaotic picture of discarded pads, Fletcher had chatted contentedly to the umpires, a convivial guy in a largely convivial competition.It is too early to predict a shock result with confidence, but Nottinghamshire, who ended a winless Championship run of 1,043 days last week by thrashing their East Midlands rivals, Derbyshire, are perfectly positioned to follow it up with an even more startling win. They will begin the second day on 188 for 4, a lead of 89, and threaten to throw Group One wide open.Related

• Nottinghamshire near end of three-year drought as Derbyshire are batted to the brink

• Rob Yates showing plenty of promise for Warwickshire and beyond

• Zak Crawley's old-fashioned elegance belies the ambition of youth

• James Anderson vs Marnus Labuschagne ends in early knockout blow for the bowler

Until Steven Mullaney (63 not out from 69 balls) and Lyndon James took the initiative for Notts late in the day with an assertive, unbroken partnership of 104, only two batters had played with any authority,Nick Browne’s excellent 53 for Essex, full of solid drives and purposeful shorts of his legs, will gain little attention. Haseeb Hameed’s excellent 49 at the top of Notts’ order brought purrs of pleasure and rightly so because after a horrendous few years, his moving parts appeared to be well oiled again. His chin-length haircut might owe much to lockdown but it feels like a symbol of his move into adulthood. But this is three good weeks after three traumatic years, he is enjoying his cricket and vice captaincy and England should have the resolve to leave him to it for the summer.But back to Fletcher because it is rightly his story. If Notts are the Outlaws then he is surely the epitome of Little John, a formidable figure – 6ft 6ins tall, born in the county, and as loyal to the cause as they come. His great champion, the BBC radio commentator, Dave Bracegirdle, told that nobody has taken more red-ball wickets for Notts this century. Lissom he is not (Fletcher, not Bracegirdle), but he has rarely looked fitter and his stamina is proven; he is one of the county game’s great character cricketers.His first wicket, and the only one he took all morning, was that of the Essex captain, Tom Westley, who was unhinged by a superb delivery that left him to hit off stump. “A dream ball,” Fletcher said – his definition of a dream ball simply being an occasional and deserved reward for doing good things.In the afternoon, Essex lost six wickets for 28 and Fletcher’s share of that was five for 11 in seven overs. He began with Ryan ten Doeschate, swinging one back to have him lbw, and Adam Wheater, strangled down the legside as Fletcher lost control of the swing. Then came three in an over: Browne, who until then had been unperturbed, well caught at deepish backward point as he was drawn into a drive at a swinging delivery; Shane Snater, bowled by another ripper which pitched and left him; and the Australian, Peter Siddle, who nodded that he was ready to receive his first ball then mentally nodded again as he missed it and fell lbw.Fletcher braved the drizzle and falling temperatures, hoodie obscuring his face, to consider his great day. He does not crow on such occasions, has no great ambitions, so he shared that the he had taken confidence from the team win at Derbyshire and had been in good rhythm all season.Far more revealing was the feedback from the outer. The disappointment of Fletcher’s six-for was that it came in an empty stadium, because he is a Fan’s Cricketer. But social media can assuage that to some degree.Chris Nash, a former teammate, messaged in to say that Fletcher was fast becoming his 27th favourite cricketer. “That’s good from him – he played with Bradman,” Fletcher said. Another onlooker suggested that he should be given the Freedom of Nottingham. “That could be dangerous,” he ventured, imagining a beer or two, and ensuring that a day of serious endeavour ended with bursts of laughter.

Marketing agency Ban Tech won the bid after quoting an offer just above the floor price

Mohammad Isam17-May-2021The BCB has sold its 2021-23 TV rights to marketing agency Ban Tech for a reported price of BDT 161.5 crore ($19.07 million approx). The company won the bid after quoting an offer price just above the $19 million floor price set by the board last month. The Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ODI series, to be held in Dhaka next week, will be the first home series under this deal, which runs up to October 2023.The amount is 5% less than BCB’s previous long-term broadcast deal with Gazi TV, which was $20.02 million for six years. It is understood that the BCB is pleased with the deal, and will make a formal announcement on Tuesday.”We will disclose the deal after the board’s approval tomorrow. It is definitely a good thing, given the circumstances. They were the only bidders, and they met the floor price,” Jalal Yunus, BCB’s media committee chairman, said.Ban Tech had previously bid successfully for the Bangladesh-West Indies home series in January-February this year, for a reported $2.12 million (approx.) price, bidding $620,000 more than the floor price on that occasion. One major difference between previous TV deals and the new one is that BCB will produce the home series during this period after they also separately advertised for offers from production companies. This is the first time that the BCB will produce the broadcast on their own.ESPNcricinfo understands that both Gazi TV and T-Sports, the two major sports channels in Bangladesh, will be buying the rights from Ban Tech. T-Sports had previously shown the Bangabandhu T20 Cup and this year’s Bangladesh-West Indies home series.The new TV deal includes ten home series including tours of Australia and England this year, and India’s tour next year. Australia are supposed to play only T20Is (the number of matches are not yet confirmed) and according to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, England have three ODIs and three T20Is scheduled just before the World Cup T20 this year.India are scheduled to play two Tests and three ODIs in November 2022. Apart from these teams, Sri Lanka (twice), New Zealand, Pakistan, Afghanistan and West Indies are also scheduled to tour Bangladesh till January 2023. In the previous six-year cycle that contained 80 international matches, India toured Bangladesh twice, in 2014 and 2015, while England and Australia toured once each.

Mickey Arthur reveals mixing with England after Bristol ODI with India series due to start in a week

Matt Roller06-Jul-2021Sri Lanka’s ODI squad face an anxious wait for the results of their PCR tests on returning home, following a Covid-19 outbreak in the England squad after the final match of their tour in Bristol on Sunday.England’s entire ODI squad and backroom staff were forced into self-isolation after a number of positive Covid tests, with an entirely new 18-man squad called up ahead of the first ODI against Pakistan on Thursday. Sri Lanka’s upcoming ODI series against India starts next week, on July 13, and while they returned negative lateral-flow tests on their arrival in Colombo, they were awaiting the outcome of their PCR tests on Tuesday night.”We had to divert to India because we lost fuel,” Mickey Arthur, Sri Lanka’s head coach, told talkSPORT’s Following On. podcast. “When I landed in India, I switched my phone on and I had a couple of messages from Wayne Bentley [England’s operations manager] who updated on the situation and that was a really nerve-wracking time for all of us.”We arrived here [in Colombo] and we haven’t been allowed to enter our rooms without the result of a rapid antigen test, which luckily, I think most of our squad have got through. We’ve done another PCR where the results come out tomorrow [Wednesday]. At the end of that ODI there was a fair amount of banter between the two teams – quite a lot of chat and quite a lot of talk – so it did bring about some anxious times.”I feel so desperately sorry for that England team because they’re a hell of a good cricket side at the moment. They were on a roll, they were playing really well and they just looked the part. For them to have to go and self-isolate now is really, really tough. And the cheeky part of me said, ‘jeez, why couldn’t we play against the 18 that have just come in?'”Related

• Does it make sense for cricketers to be locked down in a country where the public at large is free?

• Arthur: They're No. 1, we're No. 9, and you can see the difference

• Curran claims four-for but rain saves Sri Lanka after latest collapse

• England squad forced to self-isolate after positive Covid-19 tests

Arthur also hinted that Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka could face long-term suspensions from international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary hearing, and admitted that the tour to England – in which Sri Lanka lost five games and had one no-result – was “one of the toughest” he had been on as a head coach.”I know there is a disciplinary panel that’s been set up and I think those players will get a severe penalty,” he said. “What that is, I don’t know. I’ve seen one year being mooted and it almost kind of reminds me of Sandpapergate, where you crash to the lowest point and then try to build it up again. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that [but] we’re obviously keen to get [numbers] one, four and five back as soon as possible with a T20 World Cup in mind.”[It was] one of the toughest tours I’ve been on in my 12 years as an international coach, just in the sense that there was so much going on around the tour. There was obviously still the stand-off between the players and the board around contracts which hasn’t been resolved. Not wanting to make an excuse around that, there was a lot of instability there.”We took a very, very young squad that we wanted to build with for the next couple of years but the three batsmen central to that unfortunately went walkabout in Durham and we lost our number one, four and five. That didn’t help either. It was really tough.”The positives I’d take out of it, I thought Kusal Janith [Perera] led the team very, very well in very trying times and I thought our quick bowling attack was fairly good which was great. We know we’ve got the spinners but to see some of our quicks come through was really, really exciting.”