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Jordan Cox 90, Joe Denly 63 boost hosts after Darren Stevens seals another five-for but draw looks likely

ECB Reporters Network05-Jun-2021Ollie Robinson hit a century and claimed the 100th catch of his career as Kent fought back on day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Northants at Canterbury.The wicketkeeper hit 120 from 119 balls, including 16 fours and three sixes as Kent reached 330 for 5 in reply to Northants’ 392 all out, a deficit of 62. Jordan Cox was Kent’s next-highest scorer with 90 and Joe Denly made 63.Simon Kerrigan claimed 2 for 80 as Northants took a cluster of late wickets but, barring a sporting declaration tomorrow, the match is almost certain to end as a draw.Related

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Earlier, Darren Stevens took five for 73, the 31st five-wicket haul of his career, and Matt Quinn claimed 4 for 86 as Northants added just 30 runs to their overnight score of 362 for 5, following a delayed start.Saif Zaib fell to the fifth ball of the day, edging Stevens behind for 21 and becoming Robinson’s 100th victim after a brilliant one-handed dive. Tom Taylor was lbw for 25 in Stevens’ next over and Quinn then took two wickets from three balls, getting Nathan Buck caught behind for 4 and removing Gareth Berg, caught by Jack Leaning at first slip for 10.Northants missed out on a fourth bonus point when Stevens had Ben Sanderson caught behind for 4 and Kent’s openers responded with their first century stand of the season.Robinson, dropped on 48 by Berg, reached his century when he steered Berg through point for four. He then hooked Berg for a third six over long leg and finally fell lbw to Buck, a split-second after a car alarm went off, although he didn’t appear to be distracted.Cox reached his third half-century with a glanced four to third man and subsequently smashed Kerrigan for a six into the top tier of the Frank Woolley stand.Denly was dropped on 38 when he edged Taylor to second slip, only for the ball to crash into Berg’s ribs. He passed 50 by smashing Kerrigan over the Woolley stand, before Kerrigan finally tasted success when he trapped Cox lbw.Rob Keogh had Denly caught at deep square leg by Zaib and Daniel Bell-Drummond was lbw to Kerrigan for 19. Zaib then had Leaning caught behind in the penultimate over for 24.

Storm Elsa is making its way north west through various parts of the Caribbean

Andrew McGlashan02-Jul-2021Australia’s preparations for the T20 series against West Indies are facing disruption with St Lucia bracing for the impact of a tropical storm over the next 48 hours.The island will go into a lockdown early on Friday morning with Australia forced to cancel their training session at Daren Sammy Stadium. The biosecure protocols for the tour already mean the squad are not allowed to leave their hotel except for training and matches.The storm, which has been named Elsa and has the potential to become a hurricane, currently has wind speeds of 45mph/75kph according to the St Lucia Meteorological Services, who issued a storm warning, and it is forecast to strengthen as it travels west-northwest.”On the forecast track, the system will pass near Saint Lucia or over the Windward Islands on Friday and move into the Caribbean Sea late Friday,” the advisory stated.”Elsa is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches or 76 to 152 mm with maximum totals of 10 inches or 254 mm across the Windward Islands on Friday. This increases the potential for landslides and/or flash flooding. Residents and motorists in areas prone to flooding and landslides are advised to take necessary precautions.”The predicted path of tropical storm Elsa•National Hurricane Center

Having had Wednesday’s training session called off due to a storm, Australia managed to practice for the first time on Thursday and are hopeful they will be able to resume their full preparations over the weekend although that depends on the impact of the storm.”I’m interested to see what is coming our way. There has been a release to the public here to lock down and be safe over the next 24 hours,” Alex Carey said. “Hopefully there’s not too much damage and everyone is safe around St Lucia. At this stage we’ll probably have the day off in terms of training and we’ll see what result comes post-storm in the next 24 hours.”A tropical storm watch, a lower level of alert, is also in place for Grenada where the West Indies-South Africa T20I series is currently taking place. Antigua, where the West Indies women are playing Pakistan, has a high wind advisory for Friday.Australia are due to have two intersquad matches next Monday and Wednesday ahead of the start of the T20 series on July 9.Related

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Carey is among the players trying to force his way back into the side having lost his spot during the England series last year and then being unavailable for the New Zealand tour having been selected in the Test squad for South Africa. He is one of three specialist wicketkeepers in the squad alongside Matthew Wade and Josh Philippe while Ben McDermott can also take the gloves.”Think we’ve got some great options at the top of the order here and we’ve got some really good options through the middle so personally speaking I’ll play any role that that is thrown at me,” he said.”I think for me it’s not looking too far ahead and basically just looking forward to the next week’s preparation, leaving it up to the selectors whichever way that would like to go with the batting order. There’s a number of guys here who could play either role.”

Centuries by Shadman Islam and Nazmul Islam Shanto gave Bangladesh a hefty total to defend

Mohammad Isam10-Jul-2021
Bangladesh scented victory in their Test against Zimbabwe, having got rid of a rampant Brendan Taylor late on the fourth day, to take command of the game. The Zimbabwe captain smacked a 73-ball 92, keeping the visiting side on the back foot for much of the evening session. Eventually, the home side went to stumps at 140 for 3, still 337 runs adrift of the 477-run target Bangladesh had set them.Taylor ridiculously dominated the 95-run second wicket stand with Takudzwanashe Kaitano, who contributed just two runs. He struck 16 fours, plenty of them in the range between cover to right behind the bowler, with a few struck through the legside.Bangladesh had set up the target after Shadman Islam and Nazmul Islam Shanto added 196 runs, Bangladesh’s highest second-wicket stand against Zimbabwe breaking the 121 between Javed Omar and Habibul Bashar from 2001.Shanto made 117 off 118 with five fours and six sixes while Shadman struck nine fours in his 115 off 196 balls. Shanto hit the most sixes in an innings in Zimbabwe.The home side lost Milton Shumba before the tea break, when substitute Yasir Ali caught him at second slip off Taskin Ahmed. Yasir, who was fielding in place of the injured Mushfiqur Rahim, has now taken six catches without playing a Test yet.Taylor got into action almost immediately, cracking Taskin for two fours through the legside, before launching Shakib Al Hasan over mid-off with the full flow of the bat.Then came two Taylor specials, the first a punch off his toes through the covers, before going low, still creaming it through the covers. He ended the over with a ramp over the slips. Two more fours in the following over, off Mehidy Hasan Miraz, took Taylor to his fifty off 33 balls.Brendan Taylor ramps one over•AFP

When Taylor reached 57, Kaitano finally opened his account off his 39th ball, taking a single off Ebadot Hossain to fine leg. Taylor continued unabated at the other end, hitting the fast bowler for three more fours in his next two overs.Ebadot, however, dropped a catch that was reminiscent of Joe Denly’s drop in Sri Lanka last year. As Kaitano top edged Miraz, the ball looped over Ebadot who didn’t have to move, but it slipped through his reverse cup, much to everyone’s shock.Miraz however got the job done, getting Taylor caught and bowled almost against the run of play, the batsman falling eight runs short of a hundred.Kaitano fell a little while later, lbw to Shakib as he played back to an arm ball. He faced 102 balls, hitting one four, in a stonewalling display. Dion Meyers struck two sixes before Kaitano’s dismissal, the second of which was a nice clean straight hit.Shadman added 88 runs for the opening stand with Saif Hassan. The pair kept things quiet in the first hour with Saif’s hammer over the covers being their only aggressive shot. Shadman played couple of nice cover drives, but once Shanto came to the crease, business picked up.Saif meanwhile made 43 off 95 balls with six fours, getting out when Myers caught him at gully off Richard Ngarava.But that was the only wicket Zimbabwe took in the innings as Shadman and Shanto raced off. Shadman reached his century first, off 180 balls, an innings long time coming after he made his debut against West Indies in 2018.Shanto wasn’t too far behind, hitting Roy Kaia for five sixes, mostly straight down the ground and one through wide long-off. Two sixes in the same over got him from 85 to 97, before he took a single and ran for two more to get to his century off 109 balls.Shanto’s sixth six – pulled off Shumba – was when Mominul Haque called back the two batters.Zimbabwe’s bowlers didn’t have a great time, having conceded the most runs in taking one wicket in a Test innings. Their four-pronged pace attack bowled steadily at best, but since they were mostly waiting for Bangladesh’s declaration, Taylor employed Shumba and Kaia for 25.4 overs, going for 151 runs.

Strong display with bat and ball drives impressive 59-run victory

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2021Glamorgan 295 for 6 (Rutherford 86) beat Northamptonshire 236 (Taylor 65|) by 59 runsVeteran seame Michael Hogan and promising young all-rounder Joe Cooke took three wickets apiece to knock the stuffing out of a strong Northamptonshire line-up as Glamorgan claimed their second Royal London Cup victory by 59 runs.Hogan turned in a hostile opening spell to claim two early scalps while Cooke, 24, followed up three wickets on List A debut against Warwickshire on Thursday by removing Northamptonshire’s middle order and hit an unbeaten 33 with the bat.Earlier an assured 86 from New Zealand international Hamish Rutherford provided the bedrock for Glamorgan, before some brutal hitting from Cooke and Tom Cullen pushed them to an imposing 295 for 6.Despite 65 from Tom Taylor, the target proved beyond Northamptonshire’s reach in their opening game of the tournament.Rutherford shared a 68-run opening stand with Nick Selman who offered a simple caught and bowled chance to teenage debutant, left-arm wrist-spinner Freddie Heldreich. The youngster picked up a second when he got one through Steven Reingold’s forward defensive and hit the top of off-stump.Rutherford combined a mixture of sweetly timed sweeps and cuts with some crunching boundaries and found an ally in skipper Kiran Carlson. The pair took the attack to the spinners, before Ben Sanderson removed both in quick succession.First Carlson top edged a bouncer straight to Heldreich at fine leg. Then just when Rutherford looked set for a century, he chopped on to his stumps. When Billy Root hooked a short ball from Tom Taylor to a diving Charlie Thurston at deep square leg, Glamorgan had lost had lost three wickets for 23 runs in 5.2 overs.Cullen broke the shackles with three boundaries off Heldreich before Callum Taylor hit namesake Tom over his head for six. After a stand of 60 in 10 overs, Taylor had a big swing at Taylor and was bowled.Glamorgan needed a big finish and Cullen and Cooke obliged by taking the attack to experienced seamers Sanderson and Wayne Parnell.The pair pummelled Sanderson for 23 in one over as the last five yielded 66 runs. Cooke hit Sanderson for a huge straight six into the pavilion and Cullen hit another maximum over long-on before running three to bring up his half-century off just 40 balls.Hogan struck in the first over of the chase, drawing the edge from Emilio Gay and later bowling Rob Keogh. It was not all brute force from 40-year-old Hogan though who used conditions to beat the bat repeatedly.Lukas Carey claimed the third wicket after an early mauling at the hands of Ricardo Vasconcelos, before the Northamptonshire skipper edged behind to leave the hosts 49 for three.Curran and Saif Zaib looked to relieve the pressure, scoring three quick boundaries against rookie duo spinner Steven Reingold and seamer Andrew Gorvin, but the pair, with just one List A appearance behind them, started to exert control, backed up well in the field.Curran kept busy with a run-a-ball half-century, after starting his account with two straight boundaries. He and Zaib added 65 before Northamptonshire lost three wickets for 18 in four overs.Curran skied a delivery from Cooke which was comfortably caught by the keeper. Then Hogan returned to pick up Thurston who chipped to mid-on before Zaib pulled Cooke to square leg. Despite some aggression from Tom Taylor, a jubilant Cooke bowled Wayne Parnell to end hopes of a late recovery. Northamptonshire were eventually all out for 236 with 5.4 overs remaining.

Coach of Team Abu Dhabi opens up on a successful foray into franchise cricket

Aadam Patel23-Nov-2021Team Abu Dhabi have got off to a flyer in the Abu Dhabi T10, winning four games out of four. Paul Farbrace’s side are the only unbeaten side left in the tournament and he puts that down to a clear strategy which has worked wonders thus far.”I’ve said to the bowlers that their focus is taking one wicket in each over that they bowl. So if Fiddy [Fidel Edwards] swings the ball, and he goes one for 16, I’m happy with that because if we keep taking wickets all the way through, then that puts pressure on the opposition and it slows the scoring rate down. So for me, don’t worry about how many runs you go for. If you’ve got that skill to get a wicket and you take wickets, it puts the opposition under pressure.”T10 is a format where it’s as straightforward as taking wickets and scoring boundaries and it’s no surprise to see a team captained by Liam Livingstone and including the likes of Chris Gayle and Paul Stirling stand clear at the top of the sixes list, with 40 in their first four matches alone.”Our batting philosophy is very simple. Let’s look to hit as many fours and sixes as we can. Our view about batting is that maybe one night we might get bowled out for 50 in six overs, but we’d rather that than getting ourselves to 72 for seven off ten overs.”There’s a story about Farbrace emailing Jason Gillespie, then Yorkshire first-team coach, shortly after a Sri Lanka side coached by Farbrace won the T20 World Cup in 2014 simply quoting, ‘ruthless simplicity’. Farbrace was the second-team coach at Yorkshire just four months earlier and that mantra is something that is still visible in his teams.In his short time with the Abu Dhabi outfit so far, Farbrace mentions how he is trying to drill in the idea of imposing themselves on the opposition, which was an integral aspect of the England white-ball revolution in which Farbrace played a key part.With Chris Gayle and Paul Stirling firing, Abu Dhabi are on top of the sixes chart•Abu Dhabi T10

“It’s about being on the front foot every ball that you’re involved with. Take the positive option. Don’t take a backward step. If you keep doing that and you stick to that process, you’re going to enjoy your skills. And really, that’s our brand. That’s how we want to play and we’ve been adamant from ball one that’s how we’re gonna play. So far, it seems to be going okay.”For all his wealth of cricketing knowledge, it’s Farbrace’s first experience of working in franchise cricket and a first taste of the 10-over format. Contrary to popular belief, the former England assistant coach reckons that T10 is actually a harder format for batters as opposed to bowlers.”It’s really interesting, because I came into this thinking actually, this is quite a brutal game for bowlers. And that bowlers are under severe pressure. Actually in this first week, the one thing that I think I’ve learned is that it’s actually the other way around. I think it’s harder for the batter’s than it is for the bowlers. Because the expectation level is that the batter can hit every ball for four and six.”Working alongside former England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, the assistant coach for Team Abu Dhabi and the second female coach in men’s professional franchise cricket, is something else that Farbrace is evidently enjoying.”She’s been excellent. She has worked a lot with Phil [Salt] in the past, she’s worked brilliantly with him and his keeping has got better as the tournament has gone on. Her intensity in practice and her work rate is excellent,” Farbrace said. “She’s got good knowledge. She’s a good communicator, and she understands people and I think that’s what coaching is about these days. Understanding people and finding out what you can do to help them. I’ve always said that players learn from players, they don’t learn from coaches. Our job is to facilitate that learning.”And judging by his initial experience so far of the competition, the former T20 World Cup winning coach genuinely believes that T10 could be the route for cricket to have a seat at the Olympics.”I honestly think this could be the way to get cricket into the Olympics. It would be a brilliant way to showcase to the world this great game of cricket and it would be a brilliant fit. It’s a shorter competition. It’s all action. It’s brilliant to watch, the players enjoy it and they love playing it,” Farbrace said. “It probably is the vehicle to get cricket into the Olympics, because I think it would attract a lot of people to the game who perhaps don’t watch the game of cricket.”