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Mark Stoneman struck a century as Durham racked up a big total to take the lead on the third day at Taunon

08-Jun-2013
ScorecardMark Stoneman went past a hundred in 160 balls•Getty Images

With a day remaining the Championship match between Somerset and Durham at
Taunton looks to be heading for a draw after the hosts ended the day 28 runs
behind with all second-innings wickets remaining.Replying to Somerset’s first-innings total of 458, the visitors were all out
for 493 which included a century for Mark Stoneman, 70 from both Paul
Collingwood and Michael Richardson and half-centuries from Ben Stokes and Scott
Borthwick.At the start of the day, resuming on 163 for three off 44.3 overs, still 295
runs in arrears, opener Stoneman who was 78 not out overnight went to his second
century of the season when he took a single to backward point off the final ball
of the 51st over. His century arrived off 160 deliveries and included 16 fours.New batsman Stokes looked untroubled by the Somerset bowlers and pulled Hussain
to long-on to bring up the Durham 200.Stoneman had moved onto 122 when Peter Trego bowled a slower delivery which he
hit to short cover where Craig Meschede claimed the catch. The fourth-wicket
partnership added 73 runs in just over 20 overs.Stokes went to his half-century in style with a straight six off George
Dockrell but seven runs later he was caught at mid-off by Arul Suppiah as he
looked to drive left arm spinner Dean Elgar. Phil Mustard hit Elgar for consecutive boundaries to bring up the Durham 300
but after taking his score onto 30 at just less than a run a ball he was caught
at deep square leg by Suppiah off Hussain.Richardson joined Collingwood and both found batting easy in the sunshine at
Taunton. The new batsman went to his half-century with a boundary off Dockrell
to third man.But on 70 he pushed a ball from Dockrell to backward point, set off for a
single before realising that Overton had picked the ball up and returned it to
keeper Alex Barrow who removed the bails, before he could regain his ground.Collingwood and Richardson shared a partnership of 101 for the seventh wicket
in 39 overs. Collingwood remained at the wicket until he was the last man out for 70,
by which time the total had moved onto 493.Batting for a second time 35 runs behind Somerset had moved on to seven without
loss from the remaining four overs, Marcus Trescothick unbeaten on four and Nick
Compton two not out.

Sourav Ganguly may give up the Pune Warriors captaincy after this season and take up a mentoring role in 2013, franchise owner Subroto Roy has said

ESPNcricinfo staff10-May-2012Sourav Ganguly may give up the Pune Warriors captaincy after this season and take up a mentoring role in 2013, franchise owner Subroto Roy has said. Ganguly, 39, has been in indifferent form this season and his team is second last in the IPL.Roy said Ganguly had originally been interested in a role as mentor this year as well, before changing his mind. “Sourav will be the mentor next season,” Roy told news channel NDTV. “We rather pushed him to play in IPL 5 as he is such a fantastic captain.”Warriors have three matches remaining this season but are already out of the playoff race, having lost nine out of 13 matches. Roy suggested Ganguly, who has scored 261 runs at a sluggish strike-rate of 100.77 this year, would rest for the remainder of the season. “Sourav wants to give youngsters a chance in the last games,” he said. Ganguly has led Warriors in all 13 of their matches this season.Franchise sources, however, told ESPNcricinfo that Ganguly would not miss all three remaining matches, but might opt out of one or two of them. They said a final decision on Ganguly taking over as mentor of the franchise would only be taken after the season.

Sri Lanka Cricket is seeking government grants and a soft loan to meet part of the amount it spent on co-hosting the 2011 World Cup, according to sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2011Sri Lanka Cricket is seeking government grants and a soft loan to meet part of the amount it spent on co-hosting the 2011 World Cup, according to sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.”Sri Lanka Cricket ran out of funds after hosting the World Cup and sought government help to settle some payments,” Aluthgamage said. SLC has asked for a grant of two billion rupees ($18.35 million) and a loan of 1.5 billion rupees ($13.75 million) from the state-run Bank of Ceylon.Sri Lanka built two new grounds, one in Hambantota and the other in Pallekele, while the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo received an extensive renovation for hosting World Cup matches. “In total, we spent about five billion rupees ($46 million) to build the three World Cup venues,” Aluthgamage said.The board was forced to pledge the newly-built stadiums plus the income from upcoming tours as collateral to raise funds to pay for the World Cup. Sri Lanka hosted 12 games over the course of the tournament. SLC is expecting to get about $25 million from the ICC by way of hosting rights but will require government support to bridge the deficit.”It’s not a crisis situation yet. We are confident the government will help us out,” Aluthgamage said.

Chairman of selectors, Clyde Butts, has said that Jamaica batsman Marlon Samuels will be considered for West Indies selection if he performs at the domestic level

Cricinfo staff30-May-2010Chairman of selectors, Clyde Butts, has said that Jamaica batsman Marlon Samuels, who has finished serving his two-year ban, will be considered for West Indies selection if he performs at the domestic level.”We all know Marlon Samuels can play cricket,’ Butts told . “Certainly, for a man who has been out of cricket for two years, you
would allow him to play some cricket, develop his game again and get back into form and, of course, he will be available to West Indies then.”Marlon needs to come out and start playing some cricket, [and] we will probably see that in the regional T20 and the one-day series and who knows. If Marlon certainly shows that he still has it, I think he will be considered.”Samuels returned to action recently for Jamaica, playing in a 50-overs match and two Twenty20 games against USA in Florida. He had missed two seasons after he was banned in 2008 for breaching rules, relating to “receiving money, benefit or other
reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute”. Samuels was punished by a West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary committee for discussing team information with Mukesh Kochar and later approaching him to pay a hotel bill.Samuels has played 29 Tests and 107 one-day internationals for West Indies since making his international debut against Sri Lanka in 2000.

Ellyse Perry takes three wickets in six balls as Phoenix win first home game

ECB Media03-Aug-2024After losing 12 completed games in a row, Birmingham Phoenix, inspired by captain Ellyse Perry, made it two wins from two by squeezing the life out of Southern Brave to win by 16 runs at Edgbaston.With a hint of rain in the air, Phoenix were put in by Georgia Adams and a steady start was only interrupted when 16-year-old slow-left armer Tilly Corteen-Coleman struck with her first ball to have Sophie Devine lbw. She struck again, Rhianna Southby effecting a smart stumping to get rid of Sterre Kalis, forcing Perry and Amy Jones to consolidate.They added 23 for the third wicket before Perry holed out to Maia Bouchier at long-on. With the score 55 for 3 at the halfway stage, the Phoenix needed to accelerate and did through Jones, and a cameo of 22 in 12 balls from Emily Arlott that included two sixes.Jones’s half-century saw Phoenix reach 137 for 7, with Lauren Cheatle having conceded just 14 runs from her 20-ball allocation.After three boundaries from the returning Smriti Mandhana at the start of the Brave innings, it became the Perry show, as the Australia legend picked up three key wickets – Mandhana, Bouchier for a duck, and skipper Adams – in her first ten deliveries.Danni Wyatt and Freya Kemp steadied the ship, the former striking a typically belligerent 33-ball 43 before Charis Pavely got rid of Kemp and Hannah Baker induced an error from Wyatt.At 92 for 5 from 69 balls, the momentum was with the Phoenix, and all of their bowlers stuck to their task admirably, throttling the Brave innings as the required run-rate climbed and the visitors simply ran out of steam.”Emily Arlott’s innings was the difference, clearing the fence with ease,” Jones said. “And Pez’s start was unbelievable. When you have someone like that, who can deliver such performances, it is a huge lift for the team. We were really good in the field and backed up the bowlers.”

Glamorgan struggle to push home their advantage as Australian defies them for the second time

ECB Reporters Network08-Apr-2023Marcus Harris produced a convincing early audition for a place in Australia’s Ashes side with a brilliant hundred against Glamorgan in Cardiff. Harris, who won an Australia contract this week, struck 148 as Gloucestershire had a near-perfect day with the bat after a poor showing in their first innings.Harris didn’t make any mis-steps on his way to his fourth first-class hundred for Gloucestershire. In the first innings he made 59 but in testing conditions he didn’t hit the ball to the boundary until the 92nd ball he faced. In the second innings he was markedly more expansive and reached his hundred with his 16th boundary from his 131st delivery.Starting their second innings 239 runs behind Glamorgan, a redoubtable display with the bat was essential, and the hundred from Harris and fifties from Chris Dent and Miles Hammond gave them hope of getting something out of a game that remains in the balance.Glamorgan struggled to find the control that they had shown in the first innings of this game on a pitch that appears to be flattening out as the match progresses. When bad light brought the day to a close Gloucestershire had reached 373 for 5, 134 runs in front.Glamorgan began the day on 388 for eight, 223 runs in front of Gloucestershire. They had added just 16 more runs when their last wicket fell with Joe Root not out on 117. This still represented a sizeable lead, and they would have been hopeful of making inroads in the morning session.That wasn’t to be, with Harris and Chris Dent progressing serenely on a pitch that has changed markedly from an opening day where batting demanded great care.There was clear intent from the Gloucestershire openers who made a large dent in Glamorgan’s lead in the opening session of day three. The fifty stand between Dent and Harris look just 53 balls and they had reached 133 without loss at the lunch break.It looked as if the opening pair would surpass Gloucestershire’s first innings effort of 165 but they came up just short. Dent chopped a ball from Timm van der Gugten onto his stumps when he was on 78 to leave Gloucestershire at 161 for one. They erased the first-innings deficit for the loss of just two wickets with Miles Hammond and Harris sharing a partnership of 111 either side of the tea break.Harris was dismissed when he attempted to reserve sweep a Kiran Carlson yorker and was trapped lbw, with Hammond departing 12 runs later when he missed a pull shot and was bowled by Dan Douthwaite.With Australia set to play the World Test Championship and the Ashes in England this summer this was a reminder of what Harris is capable of. Squads have yet to be selected, but with Harris already rewarded with an Australian central contract he is clearly in the selectors’ minds.

“The only way these Associate Nations are going to get better is by playing against the Full Member nations more often”

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2022After a gap 25 years, New Zealand will face Netherlands in an ODI and eight years after last competing against them in international cricket, when the two teams clash in a one-off T20I and three ODIs in New Zealand, starting March 25.The visitors are placed at the bottom of the ODI World Cup Super League table, but New Zealand’s Martin Guptill doesn’t want to “take them lightly” since a few of the Netherlands players have had the experience of playing in New Zealand in the past and are aware of the conditions.Related

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“Geez, it was quite a while ago,” Guptill said of the last meeting with the Netherlands. “I think it was years ago that we last played against the Netherlands. The last time we played in the [2014] T20 World Cup, it was a close game. We know a few guys from their side. [Logan] van Beek played for Wellington [Firebirds], Max O’Dowd played for Otago [Volts] and Fred Klaasen as well, he played club cricket here last year, and I was able to face a bit of them in the nets during the Super Smash last summer.”We can’t take them lightly. They have been here now, played a couple of warm-up games and are well acclimatised here. So, once we get a couple of training sessions under the belt, we will be able to get out and [we are] raring to go.”New Zealand are second from bottom in the table, but they have played only three ODIs so far in the Super League, and have won all three. Given the team’s limited experience with ODIs following the 2019 World Cup – they have played a total of seven matches in the two-year period, where they won six and lost one – Guptill sees the home series as an opportunity to build to the 2023 World Cup.”It’s going to be funny because we have played like seven ODIs since the 2019 World Cup,” he said. “It’s definitely three years. So, there’s been a little bit of a lack of ODI cricket but once we get to the first one, we will be ready to go and reacquaint ourselves with the one-day format and keep going.”Guptill also feels that it’s a “massive” opportunity for the Netherlands to get a full tour against the No.1 ODI team. The likes of the Netherlands usually play against Full Members only in the World Cups as bilateral series outside of it are limited. However, the Super League guarantees 24 ODIs against eight Full Members, with half the fixtures at home and half away.”The only way these Associate Nations are going to get better is by playing against the Full Member nations more often,” Guptill said. “This is the start for the Netherlands and hopefully, they can continue on. You know, we get to play them during the winter and looking forward to both the series.”The hosts will be missing 12 players, including their regular captain Kane Williamson, who will be taking part in the IPL, which will commence on March 23. However, the spotlight will be on Ross Taylor with the series set to be his international swansong after he retired from Test cricket last December. Guptill, who has played with Taylor for more than a decade, is hopeful of finishing the tour on a high.”It’s going to be pretty sad for us, it’s an emotional day. Hopefully, we can send him off with a good series and good night celebrating that.”

The broadcaster is threatening to pull out of its deal due to anger at the proposed schedule for the summer

Daniel Brettig11-Sep-2020Refusing to blink in the face of increasingly fevered threats from Channel Seven, Cricket Australia’s leaders will wait to see whether the free-to-air network’s next broadcast rights instalment lands in its bank account on Tuesday before weighing up the true state of its A$1.18 billion deal signed with Seven and Foxtel in 2018.Seven and Foxtel are due to pay about A$50 million on Tuesday ahead of the season, while the former’s commitments to broadcast international cricket in Australia begin with a series between the Australian and New Zealand women’s teams in Brisbane from September 26 – the first top-level cricket in the country since the Covid-19 pandemic took hold. Operational planning between the governing body and the broadcaster have continued throughout the dispute over the past month.There were reports that the battle between Seven and CA had reached crisis point on Friday after the free-to-air broadcaster issued a notice to CA on Wednesday that they were in breach of their contract due to the nature of schedule proposed for the upcoming season. This was characterised as the start of a process for Seven to back out of their A$450 million deal entirely, after the debt-ridden network had been asking for a discount to its rights fee for most of the year, citing a range of issues.These have varied from a likely loss of content due to Covid-19, then a complaint that the quality of content would not be high enough, and most recently an accusation that CA had unreasonably delayed the start of Seven’s share of the international season by acceding to India’s request to play white-ball matches – exclusive to Fox Sports – before the start of the Test series broadcast by both networks, rather than after it.In all cases, CA is believed to be comfortable with the legal strength of its contract with Seven, should the dispute escalate to a court battle at the outset of the season.A greater issue would appear to be Seven’s capacity to pay its dues over the remainder of the deal, with its share price diving as a mounting pile of debts creep closer to maturing next year. In a statement on Friday, a CA spokesman said: “Cricket Australia remains in ongoing discussions with the Seven Network about delivering a compelling summer of cricket. CA is committed to fulfilling its contractual obligations to all its partners this season.”CA’s chairman Earl Eddings had on Wednesday discussed the matter with state chairs during the latest meeting of the Australian Cricket Council, where the head of commercial Stephanie Beltrame also updated the group. There is understood to have been a unified view that CA should seek to uphold its contract with Seven.The proposed fixture list now has the international season starting with white-ball cricket against India – which fellow broadcaster Fox Sports has the exclusive rights to – after the players have quarantined following the IPL, followed by four Tests from mid-December. The Afghanistan Test, which is slated for Perth and would be part of Seven’s package, may be under threat due to the Western Australian government’s hard stance on quarantine rules.Last month the Seven CEO James Warburton began the broadcaster’s attack by outlining his frustrations when reporting the network’s underwhelming financial results. “It’s been frustrating with Cricket Australia, that’s for sure,” he said on August 25. “Ultimately, when you look at the season, like the AFL and to an extent the NRL, they need to look at what is possible to deliver, stop talking about international borders being closed, or borders being closed, and start to look at what really is the season we are going to deliver.”You have got the Australian T20 and one-day captain saying one thing, you have got the coach saying another, you have got BBL franchises talking about no international players – or [having more] grade cricketers. We could send the cameras down for free to telecast grade cricket. We have paid a huge price for the rights and we need to understand very quickly what the season is.”Warburton was later to label CA a “train wreck” for the way they have gone about putting the season together. He was particularly scathing about the potential of the BBL losing extra star names due to their needing to be larger international squads because of travel restrictions, although it’s understood that CA are confident that a case against quality can’t be made by the broadcaster. There is also a view that Seven’s stance on the tournament missing a vast number of players has been overstated while there has been talk of allowing extra overseas names to be signed.”On the field, if I bring it back to the BBL, there’s a lot of commentary and speculation around who will and won’t play in the BBL, but one of the best features of the BBL is the surprise and delight element, you never quite know who is going to step up,” Anthony Everard, Cricket Australia’s head of fan engagement and one the original people behind the BBL, told ESPNcricinfo.”Whether that be Jofra Archer a few years ago at the Hurricanes, or in more recent times Josh Philippe and Riley Meredith are in the Australian squad now off the back of their BBL performances. I’m really excited about who is going to seize the opportunity to have their breakout year in the BBL.”

England and Sussex team-mates set to link up with England this weekend ahead of seismic summer

Valkerie Baynes at Hove24-Apr-2019Chris Jordan says he has a dream road trip planned this weekend with his “little brother” Jofra Archer, as the pair prepare to link up with the England squad ahead of what could be a seismic international summer.Having found form with the ball after going wicketless in Sussex’s winning sides for the first two Royal London Cup matches of the season, Jordan claimed 2 for 42 in a losing cause on Wednesday at Hove, where Somerset won a rain-affected match by 68 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.He will now turn his attention to England’s one-dayers against Ireland and Pakistan, revealing that he and Sussex team-mate Archer, who is yet to feature for the county this year after his stint in the IPL, would likely drive to Cardiff together on Saturday to join the national squad for a training camp.Archer has yet to make his international debut after recently completing his England qualification, while Jordan – who was Player of the Series on the T20I leg of the recent tour of the Caribbean – has not played an ODI since September 2016.Neither man was named in England’s preliminary 15-man squad for the World Cup. Instead, they were included in an extended 17-man squad for the six lead-up matches, and have been handed an opportunity to change the selectors’ minds ahead of the showcase starting on May 30.”I’m quite looking forward to joining up with the team and getting back in the environment and keep improving on the little bit I did today,” Jordan said. “The first couple of games of the [Royal London Cup] tournament haven’t really gone my way.”It’s tough to put a finger on it really because I’ve felt in good form mentally, technically, physically, feels great to be honest with you, the best I’ve felt in a while, but that happens sometimes.”It’s more about how you can come back from it and keep building on it and just try and stay as relaxed as possible and keep taking the positives and keep trying to perform, try and peak at the right time.”Aged 30 and 24 respectively, Jordan and Archer have followed very similar career paths. Both left behind their native Barbados to pursue county careers at Sussex and, from there, each has enhanced his reputation on the T20 franchise circuit. And now, England have come calling for both men at the start of a World Cup year.ALSO READ: Jofra Archer exclusive: ‘It’s humbling how far I’ve come’“I’m excited to be back in the 50-over fold after quite some time but more so to be with my team-mate, my little brother Jofra, as well,” Jordan said. “I’m looking forward to it. I speak to him most days really. He’s overjoyed as well, it’s a dream come true for him. I’m so happy for him and I’m sure he’ll fit right in when we join up with the team.”Much has been said – negative and positive – about the prospect of Archer breaking into the England one-day squad. Those against cite his potential to upset a largely settled team, with some of the fast bowlers who have helped the team become No.1 in the world fearing they may have to make way for him. Those in favour of Archer’s inclusion highlight his undeniable talent.For his part, Archer has said he doesn’t “want to step on anyone’s toes”.Asked whether he felt it was unfortunate Archer felt the need to say that, Jordan said it was testament to Archer’s character.”Whether it’s unfortunate or not, he decided to say it, he’s his own man, but equally I just think you should view it as the sort of humble person that he is,” Jordan said. “That’s just the humility in him, the innocence in him.”All he wants to do is give his best every day and I am sure when he puts that England shirt on he’ll give 150 percent.”Jordan also expected Archer to stay the same person, regardless of the attention he receives.”To be honest, I won’t allow him to change personally,” Jordan smiled. “It’s not really the time to do it and he’s not that type of person anyway. He’s a very humble kid, puts his work in and deserves every single opportunity and every single accolade he’s getting at the moment because he’s a real high quality cricketer but also a high quality human being.”Every single thing that’s been put in front of him he just seems to rise with it to and it’s testament to his character, his mindset, his skill. It’s something to be admired.”While Archer is regarded as the man most likely to force his way into the World Cup reckoning and has therefore received the most attention, Jordan is determined to seize the opportunity presented to him. However, he is also wary of placing too much expectation on himself.”The mere fact that you’re involved in the squad always presents an opportunity, I guess it’s down to me to take it but I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself,” Jordan said.”Obviously you do set high standards for yourself and you do have ambitions and you do aim high and you try to look forward as much as possible.”But it’s an everything-to-gain-and-nothing-to-lose sort of mentality for me. I’m just going to try and have as much fun as possible, try and perform when given the opportunity and see what happens from there.”

The South Africa batsman put some of the side’s problems down to conditions, which he expects to become more difficult to bat on as the game goes on

Firdose Moonda in Durban02-Mar-2018AB de Villiers has defended his team-mates, whose nine wickets fell for 91 runs, leaving his contribution of 71 not out as the only score of significance on an otherwise humbling scorecard. While de Villiers conceded that “the deficit (of 189) looks really bad,” he maintained that South Africa were “not far off,” matching Australia’s skill set and hoped they can pull off “something special,” in the days to come.”There were a couple of softies (dismissals) today but also some really good bowling,” de Villiers said. “Australia had a really good intensity about them and they seemed to be clear with their plans. We could feel that they seemed to know what they were doing.”But it’s not all lost. Some guys looked really good out there and we just didn’t convert. We just didn’t cross that line today. If you cross that line with two batters out there, things change very quickly. We came up just short. The wicket is getting harder by the day and it won’t be easy for them to bat out there tomorrow. It’s up to us to make sure we have the right game plans in place. We are not out of it.”De Villiers’ generous assessment did not reveal any secrets towards explaining his own ability but he put his own success down to good preparation. “I just felt really good leading up to this Test in the nets, did some really good things in the nets, and I felt confident going into the Test,” he said. “You don’t always feel that way in Test cricket. And I was very motivated to score some runs for the boys.”While the rest of the South African line-up struggled against movement from Mitchell Starc and spin from Nathan Lyon, de Villiers felt the hosts allowed Lyon, in particular, to gain the upper hand because they were unable to form partnerships. South Africa’s highest stand was worth 42 runs – between de Villiers and Quitnon de Kock for the sixth wicket – and their lower order had no partnerships in double figures. Contrastingly, Australia’s eight-wicket stand was worth 49 and their ninth-wicket pair put on 41, which helped take them past 350 in the first innings.”Starc was swinging the ball one way and I felt I had him covered,” de Villiers said. “He bowled a couple of good deliveries and there’s not much you can do about that. Swing is one thing but when it’s moving a bit off the deck, it’s really difficult to cover that. Lyon did a really good job from the other end more often than not. We had him under pressure at times but kept losing wickets. That allowed him to bowl with more freedom.”As for South Africa’s age-old problem against spin, de Villiers put some of that down to conditions, which he expects to become more difficult to bat on as the match goes on. “We play spin well but it didn’t show today. I played spin well today,” de Villiers joked. “There’s no one with a flaw in their game when it comes to spin. Obviously the results don’t say the same thing. Lyon is the top wicket-taker in the world for this season and he is bowling well. He is a confident guy. I don’t think we played him badly. There’s a bit of rough out there, it’s a dryish Kingsmead surface, and he got a bit of assistance.”De Villiers was hopeful South Africa’s attack could rescue the situation on the third day, as they chase an elusive Test series win over Australia at home. “We’ve got our work cut out tomorrow. But we still believe we can turn this around.”