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Mitch Perry made 58 not out and took two wickets for Victoria, but neither side could take a stranglehold on day two

Alex Malcolm09-Oct-2024A fighting unbeaten half-century from Tasmania captain Jordan Silk has kept the visitors in the contest after Victoria threatened to take a massive first-innings lead on the back of a strong all-round day from Mitchell Perry at the Junction Oval.Silk and Beau Webster guided their side to stumps at 201 for 4 after Perry’s unbeaten 58 and two wickets had earlier put Victoria well on top. Following the opening-day centuries from Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb, Perry added a combined 116 with Fergus O’Neill and Todd Murphy for the eighth and ninth wickets, respectively, on the second morning, before Victoria declared at 428 for 9.Perry struck seven fours and a six in his knocj of 58* to register his third Sheffield Shield half-century, while O’Neill made 36 and Murphy 20 as Tasmania’s bowlers toiled on a Junction surface that flattened out significantly.Both sides have identified that the new ball is the key period, and Tasmania began cautiously in response to try and avoid the same fate that Victoria suffered against the new ball on day one. Opening batters Caleb Jewell and Jake Weatherald added 41 in 19 overs, before Perry broke through with an excellent delivery that just did enough off the seam to catch Jewell’s outside edge for 32.Charlie Wakim also got started, moving to 18, before trying to force Sam Elliott off the back foot. Some extra bounce caught the edge and Sam Harper took a classy diving catch.But catch of the day belonged to Ash Chandrasinghe at short leg. Todd Murphy’s offspin proved very difficult to get away despite very little grip in the surface. Weatherald’s painstaking and uncharacteristic 28 off 101 balls came to an end when Chandrasinghe plucked a stunning reflex catch close in.It left Tasmania 80 for 3 and vulnerable to conceding a big lead. Silk and Jake Doran steadied them with a 63-run stand. But like those before him, Doran failed to kick on, chopping Perry on to his stumps for 33. Silk dug in alongside Webster, as Victoria’s bowlers tried everything possible to create a chance. O’Neill bowled a spell late in the day with three catching midwickets and just two men on the off side at cover and mid-off to try and force a mistake.But Tasmania’s best two players did not take any risks, and guided the visitors past 200 on stumps without any further loss.

England MD optimistic that fast bowler will be ready to play ‘one or two’ Tests against India

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Dec-2024Rob Key has conceded that Jofra Archer’s decision to play in the IPL next year will put him “a couple of months behind” schedule in his attempted Test comeback. However, the league’s new rules left the ECB’s management feeling unable to deny him the opportunity to earn two seasons’ wages.Archer has not played a Test since February 2021 due to back and elbow issues, but has been injury-free in 2024. His chances of a comeback increased this week when he signed an extension to his central contract, which now runs beyond the 2025-26 Ashes, while Ben Stokes said that Archer remains “very interested” in returning to Test cricket.Key, England’s managing director, had initially planned for him to play for Sussex in the County Championship in April and May to build up his workload ahead of England’s Test series against India in June and July. But under new regulations, missing the IPL’s mega-auction would have rendered Archer ineligible for the subsequent mini-auction as well, at significant financial cost.Archer’s name was on the initial longlist of names circulated to IPL franchises before the auction but he did not feature on the shortlist, with the ECB making the case that they were still managing his injuries. But after clarification from the BCCI, he was added back to the shortlist and was bought for INR 12.5 crore (£1.18m) by Rajasthan Royals, following a bidding war with Mumbai Indians.”Jofra is always brilliant to deal with,” Key said, in an interview on Wisden Cricket Weekly’s Patreon channel. “We were like, ‘The best thing might be to miss the IPL this year and get yourself ready, and we’ll start building your loads up… if you can get through a bit of Championship cricket, and then you can start the Test summer. He was happy with that.Related

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“But we had to look and see what India were going to do with [the IPL’s rules]. We thought that we could make the case that he’s still in part of a managed workload period. The problem with that was he was then bowling with two slips and a gully and bowling 90mph in the T20s in the West Indies, so it’s hard to make the case that he’s injured when he’s bowling like that.”They [the BCCI] came back after a bit of back-and-forth and said, ‘Well no, he won’t be allowed to go into this year, next year from then on. So then you start thinking that could be about $4 million that he loses out on there, and I don’t then feel… then it’s on him, really. You say, ‘Jof, what do you want to do? This is your career, your life. You’ll still be able to play Test cricket.'”We believe there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge for that, but we still think he’ll be alright. We’ll just be a couple of months behind… So then Jofra decided that he felt the best thing for him was to go into the IPL [auction], which we had no issue with, and then do that loading throughout the IPL and get himself ready for the Test series that way.”Key still believes Archer could be “one of the best bowlers” England have ever had and that he could play a role against India – though cautioned that he will not be an automatic selection. “The plan is that he’ll be ready to play,” he said. “He was only ever going to play one or two Tests this summer, probably – at a push, three.”He’s also got to get in the team now. I think he could be one of the best bowlers we’ve had, but he’s got to find form. He’s got to be able to show that he can sustain it through a whole four-day game. It’s not a case that he’s fit, so he just comes into play. We’ve got some very good bowlers around now… I don’t see any reason why he can’t [return to Tests].”Key admitted that his decision-making as managing director has been informed in part by his concern that franchises will offer England players year-round deals which are so lucrative that they opt out of their central contracts. “You don’t know what other governing bodies are going to do,” he said. “We’re very much in a new world.”I don’t think we want to be in a place where centrally-contracted England players walk away from English cricket… Let’s say a franchise signs someone for $2 million to play all year round: we won’t see them for England. These franchise owners, they won’t say, ‘Oh, that’s fine, we’ll pay them $2 million and you go and bowl them 20 overs a day in a Test match.'”

India’s wicketkeeper-batter was out playing high-risk shots at crucial moments in both innings at the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2024India captain Rohit Sharma has said that Rishabh Pant needs to figure out “the right way to do things” for himself and the team, while acknowledging that his high-risk methods had brought spectacular success in the past.Rohit was reacting to a question about Pant’s dismissals in India’s defeat at the MCG, where he was caught scooping to deep third in the first innings and pulled a long hop to wide long-on in the second when the team was fighting for a draw.”It’s [Pant’s dismissal] just happened, there hasn’t been any discussion about today,” Rohit said. “Obviously we’ve lost the game, everybody is disappointed about how things panned out … But again, look, Rishabh Pant obviously he needs to understand what is required from himself.Related

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“More than any one of us telling him, it’s about him understanding and figuring out what’s the right way to go about it. In the past, he has given us lot of success doing what he does. As a captain, there’s a kind of mixed reaction to that.”Sometimes you want to back that thought of him playing the way he plays, sometimes when things don’t look good, it frustrates everyone. That is what it is, that’s the reality. It’s the success and failure – need to be balanced about it. As captain, it’s hard to have a conversation when it has given him a lot of success as well. But it’s about him figuring out what is the right way to do things, it’s about situations as well. Certain situations of the game, if there’s a risk percentage, do you want to take that risk? Do you want to let the opposition come back into the game? Those are the things he needs to figure out himself.”I’ve known Rishabh for a long time, [I] understand his cricket as well … In terms of conversations, no way I can say I’ve not had a chat with him or he doesn’t understand what the team expects. He understands that. But things that he does give him results as well, just the fine line between telling him not to do those things or telling him to do those things.”Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was severely critical of Pant’s shot selection in the first innings of the MCG Test, when he holed out to deep third for 28 off 37 balls while attempting a scoop off Scott Boland. On Monday, Pant’s dismissal for 30 off 104 balls while attempting to pull Travis Head broke a resolute partnership with Yashasvi Jaiswal. India had batted through the entire second session without losing a wicket, but lost seven in the final session – beginning with Pant – to collapse for 155 in the last hour of the day.2:08

Manjrekar: India preferring Reddy over Gill not a great call

Gill ‘not dropped’

Rohit said Shubman Gill had not been dropped for the MCG Test but lost his place because India wanted to give themselves more bowling options while not sacrificing batting depth.”I had a chat with him [Gill]. There’s no way when you’re leaving someone out, for whatever reason it is, you will not have a chat,” Rohit said. “The chat with him was clearly he was not dropped. [We] just wanted to have extra bit of cushion in the bowling and we opted for an allrounder, which shouldn’t weaken our batting line-up.”Compromising a batter for a bowler is not something I wanted to do. We wanted to bat as deep as possible, along with that have a bowling attack which can take 20 wickets. We considered everything and we ended up compromising him, unfortunately.”With him [Gill], there was never a doubt that he wasn’t batting well or he was not scoring runs, or anything like that. Just to get that combination where we can cover both bases – batting and bowling, we opted for that [leaving Gill out].”Gill had missed the first Test in Perth with a hand injury, and scored 31 and 28 in the defeat in Adelaide and 1 in the rain-hit draw in Brisbane. In his absence at the MCG, India moved KL Rahul to No. 3, while Rohit took back his place as an opener after batting in the middle-order in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Shami opens up about his struggles and recovery after injuries and a surgery sidelined him from international cricket for over a year

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-20251:35

Who makes it to India’s pace attack against Bangladesh?

Mohammed Shami feared that his career was over when a lengthy rehabilitation kept him out of cricket throughout 2024. Now leading India’s pace attack in the Champions Trophy, Shami compared his comeback to “a toddler learning how to walk”.”I always wondered when I would be able to put my feet on the ground again, as someone who is used to running on the field constantly was now in crutches,” Shami, 34, told . “A lot of thoughts used to run through my mind. Will I be able to do it again? Will I be able to walk without a limp? For the first two months, I often doubted whether I would be able to play again as an injury like this followed by a 14-month break can pull you down.”My first question to the doctor was ‘how many days until I can be back on the field’. He said, ‘my priority is to get you to walk, then jog, and then run and thinking about playing competitive cricket is still a distant goal’.Related

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“After 60 days, when they asked me to put my feet on the ground, you won’t believe me, but I have never been more scared to put my foot on the ground. It felt like I was starting over, like a toddler learning how to walk, and I was worried about any complications.”After overcoming an ankle injury, Shami underwent surgery in March 2024. He subsequently faced issues in his knee, further delaying his return. After returning to the Bengal team for the domestic season, Shami rejoined India’s white-ball squad during the home series against England, and proved his fitness for the Champions Trophy.Shami was the highest wicket-taker of the last ICC tournament he played – the 2023 ODI World Cup – despite being on the field for only seven fixtures. He now finds himself needing to play another big role with Jasprit Bumrah out with an injury.”The desire to wear the India badge on my chest kept me going,” he said. “You endure the pain and take it one step at a time without complaints or bitterness. It was tough and there was pain, but with resilience and patience I made it through. My motivation has always been to serve my country for as long as possible. Because once you step away, you’re just like anyone else.”

His three wickets in four balls extends tally in this year’s competition to 17

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Jun-2025Ben Sanderson sealed an historic, unprecedented sixth straight Vitality Blast victory for Northamptonshire Steelbacks with three wickets in the penultimate over against Birmingham Bears at Wantage Road. Sanderson finished with figures of 3 for 31 as the hosts wrapped up a dramatic 10-run victory.With Moeen Ali well set on 31, the Bears needed 24 off the last two overs before Sanderson broke through, collecting three wickets in four balls, including the dangerous Moeen, to extend his tally in this year’s competition to 17.Justin Broad had smashed 60 off 35 balls to help propel Northamptonshire Steelbacks to 184 for 6. Matthew Breetzke also struck 53 off 36 balls, his first half-century of the season, during a partnership of 59 in six overs with skipper David Willey (34).Birmingham’s Pakistan international Hassan Ali finished with figures of 3 for 42 including two wickets off consecutive deliveries in the Steelbacks’ final over.Dan Mousley led the charge for the Bears with a brilliant 68 off 42 balls, with Tom Latham contributing 34. George Scrimshaw backed up career-best figures at Derby with 2 for 25, while Willey also claimed two.The Steelbacks reached 52 for 1 in the powerplay, losing Ricardo Vasconcelos early, bowled by Hassan before Breetzke went on the charge against George Garton, hitting consecutive boundaries and pulling square for a huge six.Breetzke reached his half-century by swinging Moeen for four and six off consecutive balls but skied another attempted pull off Moeen’s next delivery, Kai Smith running in from deep midwicket to take the catch.At first Willey and Broad found it difficult to force the ball away before Broad broke the shackles, sweeping Moeen for four before Willey swung high over deep midwicket for six. Broad then took three consecutive boundaries off Danny Briggs on both sides of the wicket.Garton finally accounted for Willey who was brilliantly caught by a tumbling Jake Lintott at fine- leg, but Broad continued to play shots before ramping Hassan to bring up his half-century.Saif Zaib (15) smashed a slower ball from Hassan down the ground for six but was caught and bowled by Mousley soon afterwards.Broad pummelled Hassan over deep midwicket but was bowled attempting another big shot. Lewis McManus top-edged Hassan’s next delivery, keeper Alex Davies taking the catch before Luke Procter sent the final ball to the boundary.Chasing, Birmingham lost Davies in the third over off a top-edge against Willey, Scrimshaw holding a diving catch at fine leg.Mousley used his feet well, coming down the wicket to hit boundaries off the seamers and continued to accumulate against the slower bowlers, reverse sweeping Lloyd Pope for six.Latham fell to a well-judged boundary catch by Zaib when he clipped a Scrimshaw delivery off his legs, before Sam Hain gloved the fast man through to the keeper as he backed away.Moeen hooked Scrimshaw high over fine leg for six, but the pacer responded brilliantly, conceding just three runs off his next over.Mousley garnered two boundaries off Procter and with the Bears needing just 53 off the last five, the momentum looked firmly in their favour. But Northamptonshire skipper Willey made the vital breakthrough when he had Mousley caught behind off an attempted hook.Broad was pulled over fine leg for six by Moeen, but he removed Barnard through a dazzling boundary catch from Willey running backwards at long-off.
The ever-dependable Sanderson then bowled Garton, trapped Moeen lbw and had Hassan caught at long-on to all but seal victory.

Ben Kellaway attempted to bowl Glamorgan to victory in the absence of the injured Mason Crane with a career-best 6 for 111

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay02-Jul-2025 Gloucestershire 380 (Bracey 133, Akhter 58, Bancroft 50) and 255 for 7 (Hammond 84, Kellaway 6-111) drew with Glamorgan 528 (Kellaway 139, Ingram 117)Gloucestershire batted all day to complete their day four task and ensure a draw with Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens.Miles Hammond led the way with 84, remaining at the crease for 55 overs of the final day as the draw was settled after just three innings, the visitors ending on 255 for 7 with a lead of 107.Ben Kellaway attempted to bowl Glamorgan to victory in the absence of the injured Mason Crane and continued to show signs of promise with career-best figures of 6 for 111, adding to his century from day three.With Leicestershire and Derbyshire recording defeats earlier in the day, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire closed the gap on the promotion spaces with their high-scoring draw.Starting the day wicketless after 11 overs survived overnight, Gloucestershire needed 136 to make Glamorgan bat again. The equation for the hosts was simple – bowl the opposition out inside a day and see how much time was left to chase whatever was set.Joe Phillips was the first of a series of starts for Gloucestershire throughout the day, although balls were the crucial figure with time taken up the only aim. After nine overs of the day, Glamorgan struck – Cameron Bancroft adjudged lbw off James Harris setting Glamorgan on their way for the day.An over later, Kellaway removed the other opener with Asa Tribe completing an excellent short-leg catch off the face of the bat.Ollie Price and later Graeme van Buuren stalled Glamorgan in support of Hammond, the latter pair putting on 56. However, with three wickets at lunch, the Welsh county had more hope than initially thought.An afternoon session drifted by, Glamorgan trying all the tactics seen by Gloucestershire a day prior, plus the additional trick of Kellaway’s left-arm-orthodox, one of which a head-high beamer sent for six. James Bracey and Hammond batted time, not always convincingly, combining for 45 although that wasn’t important either. Gloucestershire losing just one wicket in the session was crucial, they now had a 46-run lead for Glamorgan to negotiate with just 34 overs left in the day.With an early handshake the expectation from the afternoon of dryness, the tale twisted again. Hammond was dropped on his first ball after tea, only to be dismissed in the same over. Then Bracey’s long, circumstantial knock ended in Kellaway’s next over, giving the 21-year-old a second career five-for, Colin Ingram receiving a second-slip catch for an early 40th birthday gift.Another period of eight overs went by which Glamorgan couldn’t afford, 30 runs added, Kellaway claiming a sixth.Eventually hands were shaken with 12 overs left in the day, at 5.24pm, the Kookaburra ball claiming a win, Glamorgan only wondering what could’ve been had Crane’s side-strain not restricted him from taking part in the final day’s proceedings.

He will take over the position from Jon Lewis at a franchise that has struggled since reaching the playoffs in WPL’s inaugural season

Nagraj Gollapudi and Ashish Pant25-Jul-2025UP Warriorz (UPW) have appointed former India allrounder Abhishek Nayar as their head coach for the next edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Nayar’s appointment comes after the franchise parted ways with Jon Lewis, who had been at the helm for the last three seasons.Nayar comes to the set-up with an extensive coaching background. A Mumbai stalwart in first-class cricket, Nayar also played three ODIs for India before his retirement in 2019. Since then, he has transitioned into coaching. He was the lead coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders academy in 2018 and then joined the KKR support staff as assistant coach. Nayar also served as the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) head coach in CPL 2022.While Nayar has never coached a women’s team, he oversaw a week-long off-season camp with UPW in August 2023 in Bengaluru. He has also worked on a one-on-one basis with several international and uncapped Indian players over the years.”I really enjoyed my time working with the UP Warriorz before and I’m thrilled to take on this new role,” Nayar said. “WPL is a fantastic platform for women’s cricket and I’m looking forward to working closely with the management to build a strong team for Season 4. UP Warriorz already have a strong foundation in place, and I believe we can build something truly special. There is incredible potential and I will give it my all to help win their first-ever title this season.”During his stint at KKR, Nayar built a rapport with mentor Gautam Gambhir, and their partnership helped the franchise lift their IPL third title in 2024. When Gambhir was appointed the head coach of the Indian side the same year, Nayar joined it as assistant coach, but his contract was terminated less than a year into the job. He subsequently returned as KKR’s assistant coach for IPL 2025, having been a part of their backroom staff from 2018 to 2024.Related

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“Bringing Abhishek Nayar on board as head coach feels like a natural and exciting step forward for UP Warriorz,” Kshemal Waingankar, COO and director of cricket UPW, told ESPNcricinfo. “When someone of Abhishek’s calibre became available, it was a no-brainer. Few in Indian cricket bring the same depth of experience when it comes to shaping players and shaping winning cultures.”In just the past 18 months alone, Abhishek has been part of three championship-winning campaigns, each in a different role, each leaving a lasting impact. We are thrilled to have him lead a Warriorz side that’s united, fearless and hungry to grow. With Abhishek at the helm, we believe this group can do something truly special.”Nayar played a crucial part in unlocking Dinesh Karthik’s potential as a finisher in T20 cricket. At various times, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer and Angkrish Raghuvanshi have also credited Nayar for their batting resurgence.More recently, KL Rahul also thanked Nayar: “I’ve worked really hard on my white-ball game the last year or so. Big shoutout to Abhishek Nayar. I’ve worked a lot with him ever since he’s come into the Indian team.”UPW haven’t had the best of times at the WPL so far. They made it to the playoffs in the inaugural season in 2023, where they lost to eventual champions Mumbai Indians in the eliminator. Since then, they have finished second to bottom and bottom of the five-team points table, in 2024 and 2025 respectively.UPW have played 25 matches in the WPL across seasons, of which they have lost 15 games and won ten. Deepti Sharma was named their captain for WPL 2025, after Alyssa Healy was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.

Patriots have lost six of their last eight matches and are in fifth position, while Knight Riders have extended their lead at the top

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2025Kieron Pollard and Nicholas Pooran’s whirlwind half-centuries helped Trinbago Knight Riders extend their dominance at the top of the points table with a 12-run win against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Tarouba on Monday.Sent in, Knight Riders found themselves in early trouble, reduced to 27 for 2 in the fifth over and then 78 for 3 in the 11th. But Pollard and Pooran launched a massive counterattack, adding 90 runs in 8.1 overs to take them to 179 for 6. Patriots started the chase strongly, but soon withered away with seamer Nathan Edward picking up 3 for 30 in 3.2 overs and Mohammad Amir returning 2 for 29.