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BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bears and Blaze tie as Hampshire and Surrey get off to winning starts
The Blaze were held to a thrilling tie by Warwickshire Bears at Trent Bridge but there were comfortable Women's T20 Blast wins elsewhere for Hampshire Hawks and Surrey. Georgia Elwiss' Blaze side, who represent Nottinghamshire but kept their regional name after winning the Charlotte Edwards Cup last season, were set 161 for victory by the Elwiss's 38-ball 52 was ended by Charis Pavely who had earlier top scored for the Bears with 46, sisters Kathryn (60) and Sarah Bryce (27) looked set to bring home the win, taking the chase into the final over with nine runs off the first four deliveries from Issy Wong put them on course but with two needed from two, Sarah Bryce holed out at mid off. New batter Maddy Green managed a single off the final delivery but was run out going for the second as the two sides shared two points a piece in their opening Boucher starred with a 53-ball 92 as Hampshire Hawks got their campaign off to a flier beating Essex by 25 Hampshire opener's effort built a platform for the home side to post 215-3 after being put in to bat by the visitors. On-loan Yorkshire star Lauren Winfield-Hill (69) made a decent stab at chasing down the total but Bex Tyson's 3-40 took crucial wickets in the chase including Essex's Australia international Maddie two-time Big Bash winner with Adelaide Strikers hit a rapid 17-ball 38 but was the second of three to fall to the left arm Surrey posted a thumping eight-wicket victory over a target of 132 for victory Danni Wyatt-Hodge (53 not out) and Paige Scholfield (63) put them within touching distance with a 112-run partnership for the second Chathli brought home the win with 27 balls to spare with a power-packed finish, hitting 12 in four balls and a six to secure victory.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Have bat, will travel: Raza and cricket's wanderers follow in footsteps of WG Grace
Do you remember the first of Zimbabwe's three ODIs against Bangladesh in 2022? No? Let me refresh your memory. Bangladesh's batters had racked up 303 for two. Zimbabwe had lost both openers by the end of their second over. They were 62 for three when Sikandar Raza came to the crease. He scored 135 of the 240 runs the home side needed and Zimbabwe won with nearly two overs to spare. Raza rescued them in the ODI that followed, too – another century – and ended up top-scoring in Zimbabwe's first series win in three years. The then 36-year-old put his determined spirit down to his training in the Pakistan Air Force: 'I couldn't become a fighter pilot,' he said, 'but I think, as a person, I will always be a fighter.' Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion There's plenty of dash about him – but this week it was literal. On Saturday afternoon he was scoring a half-century for his country in a Test match against England at Trent Bridge. Twenty-four hours later he was hitting the winning runs at the Pakistan Super League final in Lahore. The journey – he flew economy – included a near 100-mile drive between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports. Next time he should borrow an F-16. Raza's feat has raised cheers and eyebrows in equal measure. For some – especially delighted Lahore Qalandars fans – it is the ultimate heroic expression of club commitment. For others it is one more harbinger of a cricket calendar ready to collapse from franchise overload (it's worth noting that the all-rounder had already forgone this year's Tests against Ireland and Bangladesh for his PSL commitments). Imad Wasim, who played for more franchise teams than any other player in 2023 and 2024, summed up Raza's decision thus: 'If you're getting paid, you'll go.' Concerns are understandable. The fixture crush (and sums on offer) leave players subject to temptation and the matches themselves open to abuse. Sri Lanka Cricket were certainly unimpressed earlier this year by the behaviour of Dasun Shanaka, whose first-class side, Singhalese Sports Club, had recalled him from the ILT20 league in Dubai. You might argue that the all-rounder had done all he could on his mercy mission to help them avoid relegation, hitting 123 off 87 balls at No 7. By the time he was out, mid-morning on day three, he'd dragged SSC back into contention. And then, at lunchtime, he vanished from the ground. A concussion substitute had been agreed after he was hit playing a sweep shot, which made it even stranger when he showed up that night in Dubai, a four-and-a-half-hour flight away, batting for his ILT20 team. His 34 off 12 deliveries helped Dubai Capitals to victory and never has a doctor's note seemed more convenient. Shanaka insisted that he had told SSC he was leaving early, but Sri Lanka Cricket still fined him $10,000. But it's easy to shake heads, wag fingers and ignore that this dilemma is as old as the sport itself. Overlapping obligations are baked into cricket's history, including one of its greatest origin stories of all. WG Grace did not live in an era when he could jump in a jumbo and race above the clouds to his next fixture, but he did a good job of maximising the rail and stagecoach routes. On Friday 11 August 1876, MCC had been asked to follow on in their second innings against Kent and Grace's next game for Gloucestershire was already in the back of his mind. 'As I had to play at Bristol the following Monday, and did not think we could save the match, I meant to get home as soon as possible. Consequently I opened my shoulders to the bowling.' Talk about unintended consequences: hHe had hit a hundred by the close and spent Saturday racking up the first triple-century in first-class cricket. It took him most of Sunday to get back from Canterbury. He opened the batting against Nottinghamshire on Monday morning and scored 177 (including an all-run seven). After taking eight wickets on the Wednesday he headed out to bat the following day at Cheltenham, and finished with another triple-century. Those 839 runs in eight days were the beginning of his legend. In 1962, Garry Sobers was determined to squeeze in every innings he could as South Australia's 'guest player'. Due to play in West Indies's first Test against India on Friday 16 February, he spent the Monday compiling 251 in a Sheffield Shield match against Richie Benaud's New South Wales, and the Tuesday taking six for 72 to secure the game. The 55-hour journey from Adelaide to Trinidad was one of the longest flight routes in existence – and Sobers just made it on to the field. And what of Graham Gooch? He, too, was determined to give his all both to club and country in 1988, when the fifth and final day of the Sri Lanka Test clashed with the opening day of Essex's title-chasing match against Surrey. Happily, both matches were in London. Unhappily, England failed to wrap up their game at Lord's before lunch as they should have done. Essex, fielding only 10 men, watched Darren Bicknell and Alec Stewart put on a century partnership at the Oval as Gooch sweated in the Lord's turret. Even worse, when England did finally get the single run they needed for victory, the presentation was delayed because the BBC, who insisted on showing it live, was waiting for Neighbours to finish. It just goes to show that – to paraphrase St Paul – while all things are possible, they're not all profitable. That was certainly the conclusion Sunil Narine came to when contemplating the 9,000-mile round trip between Dallas and Birmingham required to get him from Major League Cricket to the Vitality Blast finals day two summers ago. Perhaps Shakib Al Hasan learned it too, after flying all the way to the UK for a single championship game last September and finding himself with a ban for an illegal bowling action. Time to think global, play local …
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Jacob Bethell gets Harry Brook era off to a flying start... and gives England a selection headache as he shows his class in crushing West Indies win
The prospect of omitting Jacob Bethell from next month's first Test against India was already looking awkward for England's selectors. After his scintillating 82 from 53 balls in the first one-day international against West Indies, it felt downright perverse. Almost exactly a decade since the white-ball reset under Eoin Morgan began with a total of 400-plus and a crushing win at Edgbaston, the reign of Harry Brook got going in almost identical fashion, with Bethell central to an all-round effort that included half-centuries for Ben Duckett, Joe Root and Brook himself. It added up to a 238-run triumph, by 52 their biggest against West Indies. Amid the satisfaction and relief at ending a run of seven ODI defeats, Bethell's brilliance confirmed the tangle England have got themselves into by allowing him to stay at the IPL, rather than insist on his return for last week's Trent Bridge Test against Zimbabwe. In his absence, Ollie Pope apparently made himself undroppable by scoring 171. And while success in one format does not guarantee it in another, the class of Bethell's innings — careful at first, then casually dismissive — recalled his debut Test series in New Zealand before Christmas. As he crashed 63 off his last 27 balls, it was hard to avoid a suspicion: if England don't pick him at No 3 against India, they will be delaying the inevitable. With the Ashes round the corner, it is a luxury they can scarcely afford. The situation has been complicated by Ben Stokes 's praise for Pope after Trent Bridge, and his insistence that when he said Bethell would return to the Test team, he meant to the squad, not necessarily the playing XI. Whether Stokes feels quite so definitive now is another matter. Neither will Bethell's chances have been hurt by the fact that Brendon McCullum — now head coach in all formats — had a ringside seat, nor that he took a wicket with his left-arm spin. 'We were well on top when I walked out,' said Bethell modestly. 'When I'm in, I can hit a lot of balls to the boundary, so I'm not too fussed about taking a few balls at the start.' As for the IPL, he had only praise, despite playing only twice for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. 'I learned a lot,' he said. 'I found that experience very beneficial. I feel a better player than I was two months ago.' That, at least, was music to the selectors' ears. West Indies, in fairness, were a good fit for English hopes of rejuvenation, having arrived on the back of an underwhelming 1-1 draw in Ireland. Even so, Brook and McCullum will be thrilled to have hit the ground not so much running as sprinting. 'It's a new era,' said a grinning Brook. 'We're trying to forget about the past.' As for the future, thoughts turned inevitably to Bethell: 'He's going to have a very long England career if he keeps on batting the way he does. He can bowl, he can field. To have a player like that in our side who is only 21…' After England were put in, the early skirmishes included a powerful 24-ball 37 for Jamie Smith in his first innings as opener, a 10-over powerplay score of 90 for one, and a 34-ball half-century for Duckett, who is in the form of his life. Root eased to 50, before edging a drive off Jayden Seales, while Brook hit Justin Greaves over mid-off, then scooped his next ball over fine leg for six more, only to carve Seales to deep point. When Jos Buttler – back in the ranks for the first time since his resignation – fell for 37 and Will Jacks for a murderous 39, England seemed determined to do it in cameos. All the while, Bethell took stock, nurdling 19 from his first 26 balls. Then he took West Indies down, swinging left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie over midwicket for six, pulling Alzarri Joseph for six more, then clubbing Matthew Forde over long-on. As the bowling disintegrated, he pulled Joseph for his fourth six and plonked Seales down the ground for his fifth. A first senior hundred beckoned, but he lost the strike, then edged a slash at Seales, pausing only to acknowledge the applause of a full house. England's total was, by 39, the biggest in an ODI not to include a century. West Indies' pursuit of 401 was a shambles, after Saqib Mahmood struck three times in his first six overs, including the prize wicket of Shai Hope, brilliantly caught one-handed by Brydon Carse as he backpedalled at square leg. That was part of a superb fielding display in which Brook moved his men around cleverly and held five catches – equalling South African Jonty Rhodes's ODI record for an outfielder. Jamie Overton picked up three wickets after briefly leaving the field with an injured finger, and it said everything about the tourists' haplessness that Seales top-scored from No 11.
Arab News
7 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Signs of hope for a cricket nation in transition
On May 23, a one-off, four-day Test match began at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, between England and Zimbabwe. It was the first match in any format between the countries since 2007 and only the seventh Test match played between them. The last meeting was in 2003 when England hosted two Tests, winning both by an innings. Overall, England has won four of the seven Tests, with three drawn. Two of these were in December 1996, the first time England toured Zimbabwe, which was granted full membership of the International Cricket Council in 1992. Zimbabwe's playing performances over the last three decades have fluctuated drastically. In the first 30 Test matches, only one was won, at home to Pakistan in early 1995. This prompted discussion that the granting of Test status had been premature. However, a talented group of players emerged to provide the basis for a Test team that became one of the hardest to beat in the late 1990s. It won a one-off Test against India in October 1998, following up on this by beating Pakistan 1-0 in a three-match Test series in November and December 1998. The one-day international team qualified for the 1999 World Cup, narrowly missing out to New Zealand on a semi-final place because of an inferior net run-rate. These golden years were ended by political turmoil. The 2003 World Cup was jointly hosted by Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Africa. Concerns over security of players caused England to forfeit a match scheduld to be played in Harare. A desperate shortage of food, a deteriorating economic situation and violent clashes between rival factions led two Zimbabwean players, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, to stage a protest. In a long statement they said that they could not 'ignore the fact that millions of our compatriots are starving, unemployed and oppressed … that thousands of Zimbabweans are routinely denied their right to freedom of expression.' They wore black armbands, 'mourning the death of democracy.' Unsurprisingly, the government was embarrassed, both players were dismissed from the team and felt compelled to leave Zimbabwe. Team harmony, already affected by government involvement in selection, was further disrupted, with a succession of players deciding to end their international careers prematurely. In 2004, the team captain, Heath Streak, was sacked by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, prompting 14 other players to walk out. Despite attempts at rapprochement, results failed to improve in an environment of mistrust. Another bout of player resignations led the cricket board to voluntarily suspend the team from Test cricket in late 2005. After a six-year exile, Test cricket returned to Zimbabwe in August 2011 when Bangladesh was beaten in a one-off match in Harare. In subsequent years, off-the-field issues continued to dominate, whilest performances on the field were patchy and disappointing. In July 2019, the ICC voluntarily suspended Zimbabwe Cricket from ICC tournaments because it had failed to ensure that it was free from government interference. This meant that ICC funding was frozen and that neither men's nor women's teams could compete in T20 World Cup preliminaries and qualifiers, despite a lifting of the suspension three months later. It is only recently that greater optimism for the future of cricket in Zimbabwe has emerged. Control over finances seems to have been established, ICC funding of $13.5 million being used to support a five -team domestic structure, national sides and the expensive business of hosting Test matches. Since 1992, the men's Test team has played 124 Test matches, winning only 14, drawing 30 and losing 80. It would be easy for ZC to downplay Test cricket at a time when its relevance is being questioned. The stance of ZC's chair, Tavengwa Mukhulani, is diametrically opposite. He wants to see all Full Member teams play each other on a home and away basis, believing that the way for Zimbabwean cricketers to improve is by playing the stronger teams. Consequently, Mukuhlani is not in favor of a two-tier Test system. It is also an issue for him that Zimbabwe is not part of the World Test Championship, for reasons which are not clear to him. Zimbabwe's commitment to Test cricket is clear. In 2025, it will play 11 Tests, joint highest with Australia. The issues for Zimbabwe at Test level were illustrated at Trent Bridge. England was invited to bat first and raced to score almost 500 runs on Day 1, against bowling that betrayed a lack of knowledge of how to perform on an English pitch. In reply to England's 565 for six, declared, Zimbabwe's batters attacked, none more so than Brian Bennett, 21. He wrote himself into the history books by scoring the fastest Test century for Zimbabwe. Although England ultimately won by an innings and 45 runs, it was clear that Zimbabwe has talent to nurture. Some of this nurturing will fall to experienced team members. One of them, Sikandar Rasa, has played for Zimbabwe since 2013. Prior to the Test at Nottingham, he was playing in the Pakistan Super League for Lahore Qalandars. Once the Test, in which he bowled 25 overs and batted for 20 overs, had finished a day early, he flew back to Lahore via Birmingham, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, arriving minutes before play started. Lahore was set 202 to win. When Rasa went out to bat, 57 runs were needed from 3.2 overs. He immediately hit a four and six and, in the final over, repeated the feat to secure victory with one delivery remaining. Zimbabwean cricket has suffered tough times over the past 20 years. Superhuman feats such as Rasa's and the individual performances witnessed at Nottingham, where the team enjoyed colourful and musical support, provide hope for a brighter future. In Zimbabwe's first World Cup match at Trent Bridge in June 1983, when Australia was dramatically beaten by 13 runs, a bright future was suggested. Then, the team consisted almost entirely of white players, Ali Shah being the exception. Fifteen years later, nine of the team were white. At Trent Bridge last week, seven of the team were black, including the 6 foot, eight inches tall fast bowler, Blessing Muzarabani, who had claimed 26 Test wickets in 2025 prior to Nottingham. Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2017, is attributed with saying that 'Cricket civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe. I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen.' Noticeably, there was no mention of women. Zimbabwe's women's team made its international debut in 2006 at the ICC Africa Regional Qualifier for the Women's Cricket World Cup. The team has yet to reach the final stages of a World Cup although it did win a gold medal at the Africa Games in 2023. Currently, the team consists entirely of black players. In the past two decades, a transformation has taken place that has turned the men's national cricket team into one that more closely represents Zimbabwe's demographics, in which white Zimbawean's make up less than 1 percent of the 17 million population. The women's team is totally reflective of that fact. Zimbabwean cricket needs an era of stability and support to allow its new generation of cricketers to mature.
CNA
27-05-2025
- General
- CNA
England bowler Atkinson ruled out of West Indies ODIs
England seamer Gus Atkinson has been ruled out of the three-match one-day international series against the West Indies after suffering a hamstring strain in their test win over Zimbabwe last week, the country's cricket board (ECB) said on Tuesday. "Atkinson sustained the injury during England's test victory over Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge last week... No replacement will be added to the ODI squad," the ECB said in a statement. England will play three ODIs and three Twenty20 matches against the West Indies between May 29 and June 10.
