Kings’ forgettable season came to an end as Quetta finished with a win though they are unlikely to progress

S Sudarshanan20-Feb-2022The first match of Sunday’s double-header in the PSL in Lahore was an odd one; neither the winning team nor the losing one would have been happy at the end of it. Quetta Gladiators needed to win their final match of the league stage by a huge margin in order to keep their hopes of qualification alive, mathematically. Kings, who held the upper hand for most parts, skittled away a strong start with the bat to go down by 23 runs.It was a case of old habits dying hard for Kings as a forgettable PSL season came to an end with their ninth defeat in ten matches. Kings lost seven wickets for just 37 runs with Gladiators’ Khurram Shahzad picking four on T20 debut, turning the chase on its head. It meant Kings were restricted to 143 for 8 in their chase of the 167-run target.Gladiators chose to bat first and their openers struggled to get going. Will Smeed fell early while Jason Roy made use of the powerplay to get off to a fast start. However, Roy was far from his belligerent self, bringing the edges of his blade into play more often.Imad Wasim and Umaid Asif snuck in some economical overs as Kings captain Babar Azam rotated his bowlers quite regularly. That did not deter Roy and James Vince, who added 90 for the second wicket. Vince’s attempt at upping the scoring rate resulted in his dismissal, as he was bowled by fellow Englishman Lewis Gregory while trying to play a big shot across the line.Roy soon brought up his third half-century in the season but then fell in the final over, holing out to Mir Hamza. Thanks to Roy and Iftikhar Ahmed, Gladiators collected 41 off the last four overs to post 166.Kings were on course for overhauling the target and registering their second successive win when Babar and Joe Clarke, who had a forgettable outing with the gloves, were in the middle. The duo blazed through the powerplay, finishing 51 for none – Kings’ best this season – and added 87 for the opening wicket. Legspinner Ashir Qureshi was taken for 15 in his second over, which signalled the openers’ intent.Player-of-the-Match Shahzad, first got through Azam’s defense before castling Sharjeel Khan, who hit 16 off just seven balls. Clarke then completed his first fifty of the season before missing an attempted heave off Mohammad Irfan to be bowled.Kings never recovered from those setbacks as Gladiators tightened the noose to shut the game. Shahzad’s blows ensured a winning end to Gladiators’ campaign, even though they are likely to be knocked out.

Sheffield Shield’s leading wicket-taker Chelmsford-bound following Australia’s Pakistan tour

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2022Essex have signed long-term target Mark Steketee for the first six matches of the 2022 County Championship as they look to regain the title they won in 2019.Steketee, 28, is the Sheffield Shield’s leading wicket-taker this season and his career-best form earned him a call-up to Australia’s Test squad for the ongoing tour of Pakistan.He will link up with the rest of the Essex squad after that tour and is expected to be available for six games, starting with the season opener against Kent on April 7.Related

• Hasan Ali signs for Lancashire for six Championship games

• Bedingham: 'The main thing for me is to play Test cricket'

• Bird, Kelly sign early-season Championship deals

• Siddle joins Somerset on all-format deal for 2022 season

• Harmer signs new long-term Essex contract

“I’m really pleased to be joining up with Essex for the first half of the LV= Insurance County Championship campaign,” Steketee said.”I’ve always wanted to get over to England to play some county cricket. A lot of my team-mates in Australia have had the opportunity to play in the County Championship and all of them only have positive things to say.”Essex are expecting to compete for the title this season after a disappointing 2021 season in which they missed out on the six-team top division but won Division Two at a canter. They were champions in 2017 and 2019, and also won the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020.Peter Siddle, who had played for the club in three of the last four seasons, has signed for Somerset for 2022 and Anthony McGrath, Essex’s head coach, said that he was keen to sign a fast bowler to complement a seam attack featuring Jamie Porter, Sam Cook and Shane Snater.”I’m thrilled we’ve managed to secure Mark’s services,” McGrath said. “He’s someone we identified quite a while ago and his numbers for Queensland this year are phenomenal.”We were keen to bring in another seam bowler to complement our bowling attack and I’ve got no doubt he’ll be a great addition.”Simon Harmer will be Essex’s other overseas player in the early stages of the Championship season and signed a four-year, all-format contract extension at the end of last year – though his availability may be limited at times this summer following his surprise South Africa Test recall.

Nevill captained NSW in a record 43 Shield games and played 17 Tests and 9 T20Is for Australia

Alex Malcolm01-Apr-2022Former Australia Test and T20I wicketkeeper Peter Nevill has announced his retirement from all forms of professional cricket after 13 years at the top level.Nevill, 36, played 17 Tests and nine T20Is for Australia but last played international cricket in 2016. Since then, he has completed a distinguished and record-breaking career with New South Wales. He retires having captained the Blues in 43 Shield matches, more than any other player in history, and as one of just four men to have played more than 100 Shield matches for NSW.Nevill played the last of his 101 matches in February against Tasmania, with a shoulder injury ending his season prematurely. He also holds the record for the most catches for his state with 310, and is second on the Blues’ all-time dismissal list behind Phil Emery.Nevill played in two Shield titles and two Marsh Cup titles with New South Wales, leading them to their last Shield triumph in 2019-20 which was won in unusual circumstances.Nevill played 17 Tests for Australia during a transition period in 2015-16. He replaced Brad Haddin for the Lord’s Test on the 2015 Ashes tour when Haddin withdrew for personal reasons and kept his spot when he became available again which effectively ended Haddin’s distinguished international career.He played 17 consecutive matches and kept impressively throughout but averaged just 22.28 with the bat and made only three half-centuries, which belied his first-class batting record given he finished with 5927 runs at 36.81 and 10 first-class centuries. Nevill lost his place to Matthew Wade in the selection purge that followed Australia’s disastrous loss to South Africa in Hobart.Peter Nevill looks out over the SCG after announcing his retirement•Getty Images

His nine T20 internationals included the 2016 T20 World Cup, when he played as a specialist wicketkeeper batting as low as No.10 in one match.”I’d say [I was] someone who got the most out of the ingredients they had,” Nevill said. “I’ve been fortunate to have played for as long as I have. It is hard to condense [my career] into something short and sweet. However, there’s the opportunities I’ve had, the experiences, the people I’ve met, being able to travel the world, the ups and downs. Something that stands out is the very special people I’ve met, and there was no shortage of them at the Blues.”Nevill finishes a proud Blue despite having grown up in Victoria. He played underage state cricket for Victoria but was forced to move when Wade arrived from Tasmania to become Victoria’s wicketkeeper in all formats. Wade ironically had left Tasmania due to the presence of Tim Paine. All three traded places as Australia’s Test wicketkeeper in the period between 2015 and 2017.”What struck me is I was made to feel welcome by the group [in NSW],” Nevill said. “I was also impressed by how well the senior players communicated to the group what it means to play for NSW: the tradition, the history, and the pride people have in wearing the Baggy Blue.”Hopefully, we’ve continued to pass that message down the line, and that the young players understand the honour of what it means to be a Baggy Blue – representing yourself and those who’ve gone before you.”What stands out is the talent. Talent can sometimes be a dirty word, but we now have an incredibly talented bunch of young players. It is now up to them to take the next step and to really understand their games and how they’re going to be successful.”Thankfully, there’s a good group of senior players and coaches who will help them do that. Hopefully, they go on to dominate world cricket.”Nevill will spend time with his family but has expressed an interest in doing some coaching after a brief coaching/playing stint with Melbourne Stars during the recent BBL, although the experience was curtailed by the Covid outbreak that ravaged the tournament. He is also close to completing a Masters degree with a view towards a new career as a financial advisor.

Opener’s 69-ball effort, only marginally slower than his more celebrated team-mate, leaves Worcestershire clinging on

David Hopps07-May-2022Two centuries in the match for Sean Dickson, the second of them a rip-roaring affair made at a pace that only Ben Stokes has ever outdone in Durham’s history, and then only on the previous day, have prepared the ground for Durham to secure their first win of the season at the fifth attempt, an overdue reward for a county that was strongly fancied to be contesting the promotion places at the beginning of the season.Durham need eight wickets on the final day to beat Worcestershire, who are still 357 runs adrift, but any regular county cricket observers who have alighted on the competition for the first time this summer need to be brought up to date: that task is no longer as straightforward as it was once.Durham’s task is also compounded by the fact that the workload of Stokes, England’s new captain, their champion allrounder and therefore a tough guy who is regarded as vulnerable as porcelain, must be managed on his first appearance of the season. “Put overs into the legs of the Durham bowlers,” was the understandable policy of the Worcestershire dressing room. It was just that… there’s a tough England summer ahead, can’t you go a little easy?Related

• Stokes brutalises Worcestershire with record-breaking century on Durham comeback

• Robinson five-for, Pujara hundred maintain control for Sussex

Stokes has set up their victory push, alongside Dickson, with his breathtaking 161 from 88 balls on the second day, which delighted all who saw it, apart from Kevin Pietersen, who demanded the emergency introduction of franchise cricket, but it is questionable whether he will be able to finish off the job with the ball.England’s official instructions to their pace attack on the rare occasions they play county cricket are apparently not quite as prescriptive as once they were. Either they have happily adopted a less authoritarian approach or they just know that the likes of Stokes, James Anderson and Stuart Broad have the strength of mind to prepare themselves for Test cricket much as they see fit. But everybody knows there must be limits.If there is no likelihood therefore that Stokes’ phone will ping at breakfast on the final day advising him to bowl 12 overs in three four-over bursts, unless the wind is from a northerly direction, in which case the number of overs allowed should be divided by the moisture content of the pitch measured at hourly intervals, they may prefer instead to send an ambitious middle manager, armed with a Bluetooth-enabled microphone, to yell in his direction if he gets carried away.Such a recourse may be necessary because Durham could face an exacting day to force victory at New Road and confirm themselves as worthy promotion challengers. The pitch showed signs of unevenness for the new ball, and Chris Rushworth, who has had a tough season, took advantage by removing both Worcestershire openers, but it could easily go flat. With respect to Liam Trevaskis they do not have a spinner of repute, and the workhorse seamer – Ben Raine – stood down for Stokes in this match.At 169 for 6 when play resumed, the arrears still a monumental 411 runs, Worcestershire’s second innings might have been expected to run aground fairly quickly. But this is 2022, where batters have strutted their stuff and even the tailenders have done a good impression of the same. Joe Leach’s defiant 62 was the main component as Worcestershire batted the same amount of time again and, after a best-ignored but professionally-impressive sequence when the last pair blocked for 40 minutes without a run, their stand worth 29 in 19 overs, they were only one ball short of 100 overs when they were dismissed for 309.Matthew Potts finished with 6 for 62•Getty Images

Matthew Potts tacked on the wicket of Ben Cox to register 6 for 62 in a season where he has been one of the standout quick bowlers on predominately benign pitches. It should be conceded, however, that the number of quality fast bowlers jostling for attention would barely fill a phone box, especially as these days most of the room is already taken up by defibrillators or Ken Follett novels.In the circumstances, Scott Borthwick’s decision to give his bowlers a breather, and bat again, made sense and he could no have been happier with the outcome as Dickson recorded his second hundred of the match, Alex Lees (with less of the strike) added an unbeaten 60 and Durham declared after 21.3 overs at 170 for 1.Worcestershire spent much of the time employing white-ball tactics, to no great effect as Durham scored at a rate that they only manage occasionally in T20 itself. They also got Josh Baker, their 18-year-old left-arm spinner, back into the game as early as the seventh over after his 34-run mauling from Stokes on the previous day. Dickson reverse swept his first ball for four and later deposited a full toss so far that the ball was never found. After a lengthy delay, Baker bounced back with the replacement, beat the outside edge but Cox missed the stumping. Character-forming stuff, which is always a disturbing phrase.Dickson’s century rattled along in only 69 balls, which would have been the fastest hundred in Durham’s history had not Stokes managed one in 64 balls in the first innings. “I did realise when I was on about 60 that I was in with a chance of the fastest century for Durham but they kept bowling really wide down the leg side. I was going for it. It wasn’t to be.”Stokes’ hundred gained widespread media attention, whereas Dickson (and this report is culpable) will do well to get a nod of recognition. Such is the life of the respected but largely unsung county pro. He struck eight sixes on his way to his fourth century of the season and third in successive innings. He is having an outstanding season with this hundred giving him 729 runs at an average of 81 and taking him beyond Derbyshire’s Shan Masood as the leading run-maker in either division of the Championship.He will doubtless feel miffed that runs are so plentiful that his efforts may not receive the notice they deserve. That’s county cricket, but on a golden Spring evening at New Road it was still a wonderful place for any person of imagination to be.

Both teams opt to retire out batters in eight-over thrash at wet Edgbaston

ECB Reporters Network05-Jun-2022Birmingham Bears returned to winning ways with a thrilling one-run Vitality Blast win over Notts Outlaws at Edgbaston. Needing three to win and two to tie from the last ball, Outlaws batter Tom Moores could only scuff Craig Miles for a single.It rounded off a stunning Bears fightback by after Outlaws, chasing 98 for 5 in an eight-overs-per-side contest, charged to 55 for 1 after 20 balls as Alex Hales thrashed 30 from just nine balls. Spin bowler Jake Lintott turned the tide with a superb over which saw him dismiss Hales and Ben Duckett while conceding just two runs.Outlaws needed 15 from the last over but could find only 13 as Miles held his nerve.The game also featured two batters opting to retire out. With one ball to go and six runs needed, Samit Patel walked off from the non-striker’s end to get Calvin Harrison, a faster runner, to the crease. Earlier on, in the Bears’ innings, Carlos Brathwaite had retired out, in the belief that Sam Hain would be better-equipped to score quickly off the spinners.Put in on a relentlessly damp, grey afternoon, the Bears made 98 thanks largely to Chris Benjamin, who hit 36 off 17 balls. Patel bowled with his customary nous and control for 2-0-12-2.England paceman Olly Stone then marked his return to the first team after long-term injury with a wicket first ball but Notts were on course for victory until Lintott’s brilliant analysis of 2-0-6-2.Bears lost Paul Stirling to the first ball of their innings, but the wicket came at a cost for Notts as Joe Clarke fell awkwardly, taking the catch at long leg, and limped from the field. Benjamin then improvised effectively, hitting four fours and two sixes. He was supported by lively cameos from Jake Bethell, with 17 off nine, at the start and Alex Davies, 14 from four, in the final over.Outlaws also lost a wicket first ball when Clarke slashed Stone to short third man. Duckett and Hales hit immediate overdrive to heave the match their side’s way but they fell in the space of three ball from Lintott, the former slickly caught at deep extra by Hain and the latter driving a sharp return catch to the bowler.The potential match-winners keep on coming in Outlaws’ batting line-up but Dan Christian holed out to Brathwaite and Moores and Patel failed to find the requisite 15 from the final over.

West Indies captain happy to close out the chase, but says lacklustre performance in the field was “a bit disappointing”

Mohammad Isam08-Jul-2022Nicholas Pooran might have won the Player-of-the-Match award for his unbeaten 39-ball 74 in the third T20I against Bangladesh, but he feels Kyle Mayers’ 55 off 38 balls at the top of the West Indies chase made his job simpler than it might have been otherwise.Set 170 to win the three-match series, West Indies were 43 for 3 just after the powerplay, and Mayers, who had opened the batting, was on 18 from 16 at that stage. But with Pooran for company, Mayers opened up, and the next 22 balls he faced went for 37 in an 85-run stand for the fourth wicket.”I was telling Kyle how well he was batting out there,” Pooran said afterwards. “It was a top innings. He was putting away the loose balls. The bowlers were under pressure even though they were on top of the game. We want to continue to do that as a batting unit. He made my job easier, to build the partnership with him.Related

• Hosein, Motie and Seales among notable talents who could challenge India

• Pooran, Mayers fifties hand West Indies 2-0 win

“Our template was always to put the bowlers under pressure early in the over. Kyle put away anything loose from their offspinners. I think I fed off that today. In T20s, a partnership is the most important thing.”Faced with a lot of spin up front, Mayers said he needed to balance aggression with good decision making when approaching the chase. The first eight overs were bowled by spinners: Nasum Ahmed and Mahedi Hasan sent down three each in the powerplay, and Shakib Al Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain bowled the next two before the first sighting of a quick bowler in Mustafizur Rahman in the ninth.It was the first time Bangladesh had bowled spinners in the first eight overs of a T20I innings. And it worked, keeping West Indies down to 56 for 3.Kyle Mayers: “I thought we made some very good decisions in terms of shot selection. It was crucial”•AFP/Getty Images

“I thought we approached it very sensibly,” Mayers said. “But still we were aggressive. We needed to put pressure on the bowlers. I thought we made some very good decisions in terms of shot selection. It was crucial. We closed out the overs very well [the win was achieved with ten balls in hand].”I just tried to put away the loose deliveries. It didn’t matter who was bowling at the time. Just staying in the moment and choosing the right deliveries to go after.”Pooran rated his own innings highly, because, as he said, he managed to close out the game. But he wasn’t pleased with the effort in the field earlier – the stump mics caught him expressing his frustration more than once.”It is one of the best innings I have played for West Indies just because of the fact that I was there till the end,” he said. “It is something that I have always wanted to do.”I just felt like we didn’t come out with the right attitude [while fielding]. It was a bit disappointing. We will definitely have a chat about it. We will have a better attitude in our next game. That’s the only thing we can control. We will definitely work on it.”

MCC clarify that the ball was considered dead after McDermott broke the stumps at the keeper’s end

Matt Roller16-Jul-2022 • Updated on 18-Jul-2022Lancashire believe that they should have been awarded a second run off the last ball against Hampshire, rather than just a single bye, and therefore won the T20 Blast title on Saturday night after a chaotic final over at Edgbaston.After a dramatic no-ball call forced Nathan Ellis to bowl an extra delivery at the end of the 20th over, Lancashire were two runs short of Hampshire’s total. Under the Blast’s playing conditions, tied knockout games are won in the first instance by the team that has lost fewer wickets (they had both lost eight), then the team with the higher powerplay score (Lancashire made 60 to Hampshire’s 48).As a result, Lancashire needed two runs to win the title. Richard Gleeson played and missed at a slower ball, and Tom Hartley ran a bye through to wicketkeeper Ben McDermott, who ran to the stumps and dislodged the bails at the keeper’s end, at which stage the umpires determined that the ball was dead.Gleeson, meanwhile, was coming back for two having grounded his bat at the non-striker’s end, and Hartley set off once he saw Gleeson running towards him. McDermott ran to the bowler’s end. He was handed a stump that had been removed in celebration by Mason Crane but did not appear to break the wicket at all as Hartley scampered back to make his ground. One bye was awarded, which meant Hampshire won by one run.