All posts by n8rngtd.top

Teams in the Hundred are looking very different with players off to the CPL and international duty

Jake Lintott29-Aug-2022It’s been a bittersweet week. We had two really good wins, against Welsh Fire and in a difficult game against Trent Rockets, and it’s still special to win, even if you’re not really in the running for the knockout stages. You want to play for personal pride through to the end, and to trip other teams up if you can.It’d be great to finish with a win against Northern Superchargers on Wednesday, but we’re still disappointed with the position that we got ourselves into at the start of the season. It’d be great for us to finish on a real high by winning at Headingley. It’s crazy how tight the table is and if we win, we wouldn’t end up missing out on the knockout stages by many points at all.The atmosphere at our home games has been great and the fans have really got behind Southern Brave. That’s not been the case at every venue we’ve been to so we’re pretty lucky in that regard. It still feels like there’s a real hype around the Hundred and it feels like the standard has gone to the next level this year.Related

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When you look through the squads, they’re much stronger than last season because of the number of top overseas players that have been involved. It’s been awesome to go up against some of the world’s best but some of the teams are looking very different in terms of personnel heading into the final stages with players leaving for international duty or other leagues like the CPL.There’s so much cricket being played at the moment, all around the world, and the schedules are carnage. I’d love competitions to try and work together a little bit more: when they go up against each other, you end up with worse availability in both, which obviously affects the standard.There’s been lots of chat about the schedule all summer and it has been interesting to hear about the high-performance review. I haven’t played much first-class cricket but I look at the guys who are playing four-day cricket week in, week out and it makes me tired just looking at them. There’s going to have to be some kind of compromise somewhere.Personally, I think you could have three groups of six in the Blast and play 10 group games each, rather than 14, and you could have a three-division County Championship too. That would make Division One really strong and we’d still have 10 first-class games in the season – the same number they play in Australia, for example.I don’t envy Andrew Strauss having to make decisions on it because it is so hard to please everyone involved in the game, but ultimately, I think they will have to cut things back a little bit. There’s just so much going on at the moment: if you play in the Hundred final this weekend, you might start a Championship game 36 hours later.You have to try and find a way of looking after players. People don’t always take travel into account and most of our training is geared towards preparation for the next game: finding time to do much technical work when you’re playing so often is really hard. Volume is a big concern from the players’ perspective.I made my List A debut while playing for England Lions earlier this year and I’m desperate to play more 50-over cricket. It should be a big part of the schedule, for me: if you have 50-over World Cups to prepare for, you have to be playing one-day cricket consistently. At the moment, because I don’t play much red-ball cricket for Warwickshire, I find myself training with them for most of the year, but I only play for them for about five weeks, in the Blast.There are some very good players who have missed out on Hundred contracts this year and in future, you could have more than one wildcard pick per team. I got wildcarded last year because Southern Brave needed a wristspinner and I had done well in the Blast. It would be great for other players to have the same opportunity after breakthrough seasons for their counties.We travel to Leeds on Monday and we have a team meal with our women’s team there. We’ve got a great relationship with them and do lots of stuff together. They’re a great team to watch and we always try to get there before we play to watch their games: it’s really impressive how Charlotte Edwards has got them playing.They’ve got all bases covered. Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt are a pretty formidable opening partnership and Amanda-Jade Wellington’s legspin has been huge for them. For me, they’re far and away the best team in that competition, so hopefully they’ll go all the way.

Colin Munro, the New Zealand allrounder, has become the latest international cricketer to shelve his red-ball career to focus on the white-ball

Andrew McGlashan08-Mar-2018Colin Munro, the New Zealand allrounder, has become the latest international cricketer to shelve his red-ball career to focus on the white ball saying that his “passion” for the longer format has diminished.Munro, 30, played one Test for New Zealand in 2013 but has now established himself in the ODI and T20 sides at the top of the order. He has scored three T20I hundreds, the most by any player.Despite holding a first-class average of 51.58, it was unlikely that Munro would have forced his way back into Test contention.He will continue to play 50- and 20-over cricket at both domestic and international level. Last year pace bowler Mitchell McClenaghan opted out of a New Zealand central contract so he was free to take up T20 deals around the world, but Munro remains committed to international cricket with the 2019 World Cup a particular focus.”It would be fair to say that my focus hasn’t been on four-day cricket this season and my passion for that format of the game isn’t what it once was,” Munro said. “I’m still 100% committed to playing for the Blackcaps and Auckland Aces in the shorter formats and have some big goals I’d like to achieve in the next couple of years.”Obviously with the World Cup next year I’d love to give myself the best chance of making that squad and that’s where my main focus is.”Munro admitted he would have liked to have played more than his one Test – which came against South Africa in Port Elizabeth – but he was starting to have issues with his body which made first-class cricket tough.”I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to play more Test cricket in that time but you look at the guys who have come and made a real go of it. I’ve given a fair crack to first-class cricket and now it’s a change of focus, I want to be part of that World Cup squad”Being classed as more a batting allrounder I don’t think the body is was it was a couple of years ago. I’ve carried a few niggles through this home summer. It wasn’t like I could run and bowl 15-20 overs, even though I’m medium-slow.”Munro put his thoughts past former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, now his mentor, but it was very much is own choice. “I had chats with him a little while ago and he said he can’t make the decision for me, it comes down to what’s best for me and my family.”Last month, England pair Alex Hales and Adil Rashid opted to take up white-ball only contracts with their counties.Meanwhile, Tom Latham and Martin Guptill will captain two New Zealand XI sides against England in their warm-up matches in Hamilton between March 14 and 17. The four days of cricket will be split between two with a pink ball under lights to prepare for the day-night Test at Eden Park and two in daytime conditions.New Zealand will use those matches as a chance for a number of their Test players to tune up ahead of the two-match series although the frontline pace bowlers will have a separate camp in Mount Maunganui. NZ XI squad – Two-day pink-ball match: Tom Latham (capt), Tom Blundell, Colin de Grandhomme, Kyle Jamieson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Henry Nicholls, Seth Rance, Jeet Raval, Mitchell Santner, Nathan Smith, Ish Sodhi, George WorkerNZ XI squad – Two-day red-ball match: Martin Guptill (capt), Logan van Beek, Tom Blundell, Doug Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Scott Kuggeleijn, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, George Worker

The news over recent days has focused on England players choosing to give up the first-class game, but Surrey’s Stuart Meaker has taken a step in the opposite direction

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2018The news over recent days has focused on England players choosing to give up the first-class game, but Surrey’s Stuart Meaker has taken a step in the opposite direction by signing to play for Auckland in the Plunket Shield during March, as part of his preparations for the Championship season.Meaker, who has been capped four times and toured New Zealand with England in 2013, has a reputation as one of the quickest bowlers in county cricket. He was approached after Surrey team-mate Sam Curran, who played T20 for Auckland during the Super Smash, recommended him, and could play in four rounds of New Zealand’s domestic competition.”Auckland came in on the recommendation of Sam Curran, who was out there,” Meaker said. “They said have you got anyone that bowls reasonable gas and can come and play a few first-class games for us towards the end of the season. So they asked me to pop down and looks like I’m going off there for the whole of March.”Meaker has been given permission to miss Surrey’s pre-season tour to Dubai in March, and hopes to benefit from playing first-class cricket in the run-up to the season. Surrey are not in action in the opening round of the Championship, waiting until April 20 before starting against Hampshire.With Adil Rashid and Alex Hales making headlines over the last week by opting out of Championship cricket for their counties, Meaker’s decision to go abroad to focus on his red-ball game is something of a counterpoint.”It’s a good build-up toward the start of the season,” he said. “Sometimes guys go away and play club cricket in Australia, this is just a step further than that, going off and playing some four-day games, getting some overs under my belt. That does unfortunately mean I miss out on pre-season tours and games, but there’s nothing quite like playing in an actual competitive four-day game to get you ready for the start of the year.”I’ve been out there before with the England team, quite few years ago. We were set up in Auckland and that was my first experience of cricket in New Zealand. They had a really good set-up, really good facilities. It’s just a chance to play some different cricket at a historic club.”Although his England prospects have receded, partly through injuries, Meaker is still only 29 and likely to be in contention across all three formats for Surrey.

Two nights after defending 118, Sunrisers Hyderabad defended 132 to snap Kings XI Punjab’s four-match winning streak

The Report by Deivarayan Muthu26-Apr-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details3:43

‘Kings XI too dependent on Gayle and Rahul’

No Billy Stanlake and Bhuvneshwar Kumar? No problem, again. Two nights after pulling off the second-lowest successful defence in the IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad defended 132 to snap Kings XI Punjab’s four-match winning streak. That they could pull off another coup seemed improbable when Ankit Rajpoot’s 5 for 14 – the best figures in IPL 2018 and the sixth best overall – pinned Sunrisers down to 132 for 6. It seemed as improbable when KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, the most prolific opening pair this season, raised their fourth fifty-plus stand in as many innings opening together.Enter Rashid Khan, the No.1 T20 bowler right now, and the experienced Shakib Al Hasan. They ran rings around Kings XI’s line-up and threatened both edges. Sandeep Sharma did his bit with knuckle balls. And, just like that, there was a slip breathing down the batsman’s neck. Just like that, Kings XI’s chase unravelled: from 55 for 0 they imploded to 101 for 9. Mujeeb Ur Rahman then hacked and reverse-swept his way to 10 off five balls – his first runs in T20 cricket – and reduced the equation to 15 off the last over. The first ball of that from Basil Thampi was a sharp inswinging yorker, which thudded into the pads of Mujeeb, who sneaked in a leg bye. Thampi then nailed the base of Rajpoot’s middle stump to cap Sunrisers’ comeback and move them to second on the points table.Bouncing ’em out
The ball was bursting off a length and zipping through to the keeper in Hyderabad. The conditions here might have reminded Rajpoot of his stint in South Africa earlier this year as a net bowler. He bounced out Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan in the Powerplay before returning in the last over of the innings to floor Manish Pandey’s middle stump with an inch-perfect yorker from wide of the crease.Rajpoot had shown signs of his hit-the-deck bustle against Delhi Daredevils on Monday, when he claimed 4-0-23-2 in an uninterrupted four-over spell with the new ball. But this pitch had more grass and offered more bounce. Rajpoot exploited it in his first over and had Williamson splicing a catch to mid-off for a duck. This was the reason why he was picked ahead of the more experienced Mohit Sharma.Barinder Sran, at the other end, also found extra bounce but lacked enough discipline. He had Shakib top-edging a cut to third man, but replays indicated that Sran’s front foot had strayed. At that point, Shakib was on 0. Sran came close to a wicket on another occasion, when he had Pandey skewing one over mid-off. R Ashwin ran back but he could not cling on.Squeezing ’em out
Pandey had two more lives, but he could not break out of the funk. Ashwin and Mujeeb did not make his life easier with their bag of tricks. They kept batsmen guessing with offbreaks, legbreaks, googlies, carom balls, and front-of-the-hand sliders. Andrew Tye’s knuckle balls ensured there was no escape against him either. The three bowlers had combined figures of 12-0-79-1. The 52-run partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Pandey, which came at just 5.88 runs an over, was the slowest stand of 50 or more this season. Pandey’s fifty, off 48 balls, was the slowest this season, but it hauled Sunrisers past 130 and gave their bowlers a sniff.Sunrisers’ attack bosses it, again
A sniff was all that they needed. Rahul and Gayle had just seen off Sandeep’s opening spell and shaved 53 runs off the target in seven overs. Rashid, though, provided the breakthrough in his first over, with a perfectly pitched legbreak, which turned just enough to beat the outside edge and clatter into off stump. Rahul did not read it: he was playing inside the line, searching for a googly. In the next over, Thampi rushed Gayle for pace and pouched a return catch. Two set batsmen gone in four balls.Karun Nair and Mayank Agarwal nervously knocked the ball into the gaps to leave Kings XI needing 56 off 48 balls. Then, instead of continuing to find the gaps, Agarwal hared down the track to Shakib, but did not meet the pitch of the ball and holed out to wide long-on. That set in motion a terminal collapse.Mujeeb gave Sunrisers a late scare but the spinners and Sandeep had done enough to help them survive it. Rashid and Shakib combined for figures of 7-0-37-5. Then there was the reserve quick Thampi providing the finishing touches and highlighting the depth in the attack. He had been named the emerging player of the year last season, but could not break into the team in 2018 until Stanlake and Bhuvneshwar sustained injuries. That’s how good this attack is.

Chelsea have now made an approach to sign a “powerful” striker as a replacement for Nicolas Jackson, who could still exit Stamford Bridge this summer, despite a late twist.

Blues make approach for new striker as Jackson saga takes twist

All the indications were that Jackson was set to complete a loan move to Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, but the Blues cancelled the deal before the Senagelese forward was able to complete a medical, given the recent injury to Liam Delap.

Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Delap could be set for a relatively lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a hamstring issue, saying: “Hopefully it’s not long, but this kind of case, this kind of injury, it always can be six, eight weeks.”

Understandably, Jackson is frustrated with the move not going through, having fallen down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge, and there have even been recent reports suggesting the 24-year-old is now refusing to fly back to London from Munich.

Chelsea working tirelessly to sign star with £433m exit clause after Buonanotte

Enzo Maresca’s side are surprisingly not done with their incomings.

By
Emilio Galantini

Aug 30, 2025

As such, in a new update, David Ornstein has revealed that Chelsea would be willing to sanction a permanent departure before the transfer window closes, and they have now started running the rule over potential replacements.

Given a lack of loan options, permanent deals are being explored, with Ornstein revealing the Blues have now made an approach to sign Sporting CP striker Conrad Harder, having lodged an enquiry.

Harder is attracting widespread interest from across Europe, with RB Leipzig and AC Milan recently being named as potential suitors, and the Italian club reportedly even agreed a deal worth €27m (£23m) earlier this week.

However, it seems as though a move could be contingent on getting Jackson off the books, which could be difficult, given that Chelsea are only willing to sanction a permanent exit at this stage.

Harder would be risky signing for Chelsea

The 20-year-old is yet to prove himself in a major European league, having started his career at Nordsjaelland, before moving to Sporting, where he chipped in with a solid, if not spectacular, number of goals during the 2024-25 campaign.

As such, the youngster could be a risky addition to Maresca’s squad, and the manager already has Delap on the books as an up-and-coming young striker, so there may be issues surrounding a lack of game time for one of the forwards at a later stage this season.

That’s not to say the Sporting starlet isn’t an exciting young striker, with scout Jacek Kulig praising him for his “powerful finishing”, while also claiming the Dane is a “counter-attacking threat”, who has a very good work-rate.

However, it would perhaps make more sense to hold onto the more established Jackson until the January transfer window, at which point Delap should have returned from his hamstring injury.

We’ve got used to floods of runs, but low-scoring T20 games can often be engrossing, as the World Cup has showed

Sambit Bal20-Jun-20242:48

Stephen Fleming: ‘I’ve morbidly enjoyed watching batters struggle’

Gifts are sweeter when they arrive in unexpected ways. There were so many imponderables about this T20 World Cup that it was hard to anticipate which way it would go. A new host country, new venues, unused drop-in pitches, a new format, and so many new teams: it was always going to be the biggest World Cup, but what if it turned out to be the dullest?Some of the worst fears did come true. There were a few one-sided games. The England-Oman match lasted 99 balls, with England knocking the target over in 3.1 overs. Lockie Ferguson thundered to a world record by grabbing three wickets in four overs without conceding a run against Papua New Guinea. New Zealand also smashed Uganda with 88 balls remaining, and West Indies beat Uganda by 134 runs.The pitches in New York – assembled in Adelaide, incubated in Florida, and finally bedded into the ground at the freshly minted venue in Nassau county – were not quite Adelaide, where batters usually go to dine. The playing surfaces went from being an ally and abettor for batters, as in so much of T20, to a challenging adversary.Related

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Strokeplay, long thought of as an entitlement in the format, became an occupational hazard on wickets that were two-paced and afforded uneven bounce and some seam movement and swing when the ball was new and there was moisture in the air or in the surface. Hitting though the line became fatal, and setting up one’s stall and muscling the ball away became impossible. Runs had to be earned, boundaries became rarer, and sixes became events.Consequently, phase one of this World Cup turned out to be the slowest-scoring in history, going at barely over a run a ball, and yielding the fewest boundaries per match (26.39) in the history of the tournament. It was a staggering fall from the batting mayhem that had preceded it in India and built exaggerated expectations.The average boundary count at this year’s IPL was 48.36 per game, with one being hit every 4.76 balls. The six count: 1260, at over 17 a match. What drudgery, then, for that to be nearly halved (8.7 per match) and for six machines to be reduced to plodders. Heinrich Klassen, who blitzed 38 sixes at the IPL, including eight in one game, has managed only seven so far from five matches at this World Cup.Think again.