The USMNT star delivered a masterclass for PSV Eindhoven, scoring twice in a commanding first half
Anrich Norjte pointed out he may “never get to 50 Tests” given how few Test matches South Africa play
Firdose Moonda01-Mar-2023
Jason Holder: “The way world cricket is going now, apart from the big three, every team is barely playing any Test cricket”•Associated Press
Jason Holder became the second West Indies player after Sir Garry Sobers to take 150 Test wickets and score 2500 runs but does not think he will be able to break Sobers’ record because of the dearth of Test cricket facing teams like West Indies.”The way world cricket is going now, apart from the big three, every team is barely playing any Test cricket,” Holder said after the second day’s play between South Africa and West Indies in Centurion. “We average six to eight Test matches over the last three years. This year we’ve got six, next year around six. You have to be in the XI for every single game to get anywhere close to 100 Tests.”Holder is playing his 61st Test and with West Indies only due to play India (two Tests at home in July) this year, and 24 more Tests in the current FTP, even if he plays in all of them, he will not catch up with Sobers’ 93. Nor is Kraigg Brathwaite, who debuted in May 2011 and has 83 Tests, likely to catch up with Joe Root, who started playing Tests in December 2012 and already has 129 caps to his name.Related
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“We’ve seen Kraigg Braithwaite, for example, over the years he still hasn’t gotten to a hundred [caps],” Holder said. “Kriagg was playing long before Joe Root but Joe Root has probably gone 130 Tests. It just shows you the amount of cricket England plays in comparison to us.”Despite his concerns over the calendar, Holder was resigned to West Indies’ fate. “It’s beyond our control. We’ve just got to deal with what’s in front of us and try to make the most of it.”Like Holder, South Africa’s Anrich Nortje, who took his fourth five-for in his 19th Test, on Wednesday at SuperSport Park, also does not think he will earn as many caps as some of his former countrymen.”Playing four Tests in a year, you don’t think much about it (milestones). You just think okay there is a Test match somewhere. I probably will never get to 50 Tests. That will take me another seven years. Some countries in the next few months, they play 20 games. It’s hard,” Nortje said. “You can’t compare what the greats have done in the past, they played a lot of Test cricket. That’s the main format. We play four games, eight games or ten games over two years. It’s very limited and when we do get the opportunity, it’s nice to come out and focus on what we have to do.”South Africa play fewer Tests than everyone other than Ireland and Zimbabwe in this FTP cycle (May 2022 to April 2027) and, after this West Indies series, only have one more Test in 2023 – against India at home. That leaves little opportunity for Kagiso Rabada, currently their seventh-highest wicket-taker on 270 wickets, to go past Jacques Kallis, who has 291, or even think about topping Dale Steyn’s 439. It also leaves Nortje, on 69 wickets, unsure of when he may get to 100 but he admitted it’s not something that keeps him up at night.”I am not going to say I am dreaming about when I am going to get the next opportunity [to achieve a milestone],” Nortje said. “I’m just focusing on the cricket and when you get here [to a match] that’s when the switch goes on.”
After struggling with two “big” injuries last year, India fast bowler Deepak Chahar says he is fully fit and set to make his comeback with the IPL, starting March 31.Chahar, 30, has had a tough time recovering from a stress fracture and more recently a quad grade 3 tear. He last played for India in the second ODI against Bangladesh in Mirpur last December, where he broke down after bowling three overs.Chahar could only feature in 15 games for India in 2022, and was also ruled out of the T20 World Cup due to injury. Having done an extensive rehab at the National Cricket Academy, Chahar is now preparing for the IPL where he will represent the Chennai Super Kings.”I have been working hard for the past two three months on my fitness, I am fully fit and preparing well for the IPL,” Chahar told PTI. “I had two big injures. One was a stress fracture and one was a quad grade 3 tear. They are both very big injuries. You are out for months. Anyone who comes back after the injury it takes time, especially for the fast bowlers.”If I was a batter, I would be playing way back, but as a fast bowler, when you have a stress fracture, it is very tough to get back on track. You can see other bowlers struggling with the back as well.”Chahar made a return to competitive cricket with a first-class game against Services last month but that was his only appearance in the Ranji Trophy.Multiple injuries have pushed him down in the Indian pecking order but he hopes to be part of the team for the ODI World Cup at home later this year.”I have lived by one rule all my life. If I am fully bowling the way I want, if I am batting the way I want, there is no stopping me. That was the basic rule with which I started my career.”I don’t care who is playing, who is not playing , my motive is to get fully fit and perform with the ball and bat 100%. If I do that, I will get my chances.”The men’s IPL will be preceded by the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL), and Chahar could not be more excited for the new tournament.”IPL changed men’s cricket forever, people got a lot of opportunities. Same thing will happen with Women’s Premier League. Women’s cricket will grow very fast as they will face international players very early in their careers. It will also help a lot of women cricketers who have not been able to make money and will fuel competition.”
Brutal innings of 98 and 74 from Lauren Winfield-Hill and Hollie Armitage led the Northern Diamonds to a record-breaking total of 218 for 3 in a landslide Charlotte Edwards Cup victory by 32 runs over Western Storm at Headingley.Never before in two years of regional cricket had a team posted more than the 186 for 1 Thunder scored against Sunrisers at Emirates Old Trafford in 2021, and the Diamonds sailed beyond that mark inside only 17 overs under the floodlights.They took advantage of a short boundary towards the Western Terrace side of the ground and a fast outfield, though captain Armitage hoisted five of her six sixes to the longer leg-side boundary in a 36-ball assault. Winfield-Hill batted with more poise, hitting 21 boundaries in 56 balls.The Storm, minus England captain Heather Knight – she was absent despite being named in the match-day squad, were spirited in response as they totalled 186 for 8. But no one could support opener Danielle Gibson’s 52 off 30 balls as debutant seamer Grace Hall, Lizzie Scott, Katie Levick and Abi Glen all struck twice.After inviting the Diamonds to bat in excellent batting conditions, the writing was on the wall for the Storm pretty quickly as Winfield-Hill took Lauren Filer’s seam for four fours in as many balls in the second over, moving the score to 21 without loss.That was the first of 13 double-figure overs, including eight in a row from the start of the 10th over and two of them over 20.Ireland all-rounder Orla Prendergast was the pick of the visiting bowlers as her seam returned 1 for 32 from four overs, with Armitage caught at deep midwicket late on.But the Storm, despite only conceding six extras, were unable to gain any control, and their ground fielding became increasingly ragged as the pressure increased.Winfield-Hill dominated a 58-run opening stand with Leah Dobson (25) before sharing 139 inside 12 overs for the second wicket with Armitage.Both Winfield-Hill, the beneficiary of a missed stumping chance on 49 as wicketkeeper Nat Wraith fumbled the ball, and Armitage posted their career-best scores in all T20 cricket.There is an argument to suggest that Armitage’s innings was the better of the two given Winfield-Hill was able to ride the wave after a good start in the powerplay. Armitage had to do all her work with the field set back.Unfortunately for the former, she fell agonisingly short of a maiden T20 century when holing out to deep midwicket off Chloe Skelton’s off-spin.In the opening six overs of the chase, Storm kept themselves up with the rate with 66 on the board, though new ball seamer Scott had struck twice to get rid of Wraith – well caught at deep midwicket by a diving Dobson – and Prendergast caught behind.That was always going to be the problem for Storm, keeping wickets in hand, and they weren’t able to do it despite the Diamonds not being at their best with the ball.Former England batter Fran Wilson was trapped lbw for 16 reverse sweeping at leg-spinner Levick’s fifth ball. Captain Sophie Luff skewed Levick to backward point shortly afterwards before the game-breaker came when Hall had Gibson brilliantly caught on the run by Chloe Tryon at long-on. At 121 for 5 after 13 overs, it was all but game over.Gibson had been strong through cover and midwicket to give her side a glimmer of hope. But it was extinguished with almost 100 runs still required.Alex Griffiths and Filer shared a consolatory 43 for the sixth wicket in entertaining fashion, with the former hitting two sixes in 31. But both fell to Glen and Hall in the closing overs.
Lauren Down unavailable due to family reasons; Hayley Jensen recovering from knee surgery
ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jun-2023
New Zealand Women haven’t played any games since the T20 World Cup in February•ICC/Getty Images
Isabella Gaze and Rosemary Mair return to the New Zealand women’s team as they embark on their first bilateral series in Sri Lanka. The tour begins on June 27 with the first of three ODIs in Galle, and then moves to Colombo for three T20Is.Gaze, the 19-year-old wicketkeeper, and Mair, the 24-year-old fast bowler, were not part of New Zealand’s most recent assignment, the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa four months ago. They won two out of four matches in that tournament but missed out on a place in the semi-final due to net run rate.The selectors have kept faith with the same squad and have high hopes for a young spin group comprising Amelia Kerr, who is coming off 15 wickets in the inaugural WPL where she helped Mumbai Indians win the title, and also Fran Jonas and Eden Carson, even though all of them will be playing in Sri Lanka for the very first time. In fact, only the captain Sophie Devine and senior batter Suzie Bates have ever played any cricket there.”This is the first time almost all of the squad will have experienced playing in Sri Lanka, so it’s a good opportunity for our players to develop their game in testing sub-continent conditions,” head coach Ben Sawyer said in an NZC press release. “Sri Lanka will pose challenges with the unfamiliar conditions out in the middle, but also with the heat and humidity, so we will need to be able to adapt quickly both on and off the field.”The group has been really fortunate to have experienced some unique conditions with the recent trips to Antigua [where they beat West Indies 2-1 in ODIs and 4-1 in T20Is] and South Africa. We adapted to similar heat and conditions in the West Indies, so that experience should bode well in Sri Lanka. We also have a handful of players who have played in similar subcontinent conditions in India, so that experience will be valuable for us to adapt.”Lauren Down and Hayley Jensen, who were with New Zealand at the T20 World Cup, are unavailable. Down is absent due to family reasons, while Jensen is recovering from knee surgery. Kate Anderson, who has been involved in winter training plans, is sidelined with a finger injury.New Zealand haven’t played an ODI since December last year when they beat Bangladesh at home 1-0 after two of the three matches were washed out.NZ ODI and T20I squad to SLSophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze (wk), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Melie Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea TahuhuTour scheduleJune 27 – 1st ODI, Galle International Stadium
June 30 – 2nd ODI, Galle International Stadium
July 3 – 3rd ODI, Galle International Stadium
July 6 – Warm-up T20 v Sri Lanka President’s XI, Colombo
July 8 – 1st T20I, Colombo
July 10- 2nd T20I, Colombo
July 12 – 3rd T20I, Colombo
The Australia wicketkeeper will hope to finish his red-ball career with another title next week
AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2024Former Test wicketkeeper Matthew Wade will retire from first-class cricket after playing the Sheffield Shield final for Tasmania.The 36-year-old has announced the title decider starting on Thursday against Western Australia in Perth will be his 166th and final first-class match. Wade opted to delay his arrival at the IPL in order to be available for the Sheffield Shield final.Related
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He will continue playing white-ball cricket and is likely to be part of Australia’s squad for the T20 World Cup in June.Hobart-born Wade has won four Shield titles with Victoria, including two as captain, but hasn’t tasted success with his home state.”Firstly, I would like to thank my family, my wife Julia, and kids Winter, Goldie, and Duke, for the sacrifices they have made throughout my career, as I travelled Australia and the world as a red ball cricketer.” Wade said in a statement. “I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges that the long-form game provides, and although I will continue to play white ball cricket, wearing the baggy green while playing for my country remains a highlight of my career.”I am grateful to all of my team-mates throughout my career, along with Cricket Victoria for providing me with the foundations to grow as a first-class cricketer, and Cricket Tasmania for supporting me in finishing my career as a cricketer in my home state.”Wade played 36 Tests for Australia, averaging 29.87, in a career spanning from 2012 to 2021.He lost his Test wicketkeeping spot to fellow Tasmanian Tim Paine for the 2017-18 Ashes series, but returned to play against England in 2019 where he scored two centuries in the series. He briefly opened the batting for Australia in the 2020-21 series against India.Ahead of the Shield final, he has scored 9183 runs at an average of 40.81 and picked up 463 dismissals in a first-class career that began in 2007.”Red-ball cricket has always been my number one and favourite format,” Wade said at a press conference in Hobart. “What I’m going to miss is sitting down after four days of really grinding it out in a first-class game and having a beer with your teammates. I’ve played franchise leagues around the world and you don’t get that feeling.”Jeff Vaughan, the Tasmania coach, said: “I would like to personally thank and congratulate Matthew for all he has done for Tasmania and Australia in red ball cricket, he was always professional, and never shied away from the contest”While his career with our Shield squad may be coming to an end, we look forward to still having him around our group in white ball cricket for the coming years playing for the Tigers, and in purple for the Hurricanes.Matthew Wade will continue to play for Hobart Hurricanes for at least another two years•Getty Images”We hope that we can help send him off with a win in the Sheffield Shield Final next week, and we know that he has given his all for our badge every time he played for Tasmania.”Wade told team-mates of his decision before Tasmania’s loss to South Australia in their final Shield game of the regular season, partly citing the effects of back problems which have sidelined him this season. Tasmania had been on track to host the final, but the heavy defeat in that match – and WA’s victory over Victoria – means they will have to travel west.”The last Shield I managed to win was the first time an away team had won in a long time so hopefully I can wind back the clock and get it done again,” he said.Wade has developed into a finisher in the shorter formats in recent years, and posted a match-winning knock in the 2021 T20 World Cup semi-final on Australia’s path to the trophy. He is contracted for another two years with Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL.”I want to be at my best for white-ball cricket, especially BBL,” he said “I feel like the squad we’ve got with the Hurricanes should be, it is spoken about every year…pushing for finals if not contending for titles.”Not playing the longer format of the game will give me an opportunity to get stronger, get in the gym a bit more and have some longevity in that format. I’ve got two years [with Hurricanes] but I’d love to play longer if I could. I feel fresh.”There certainly isn’t [an element of] ‘I’m not playing well enough or I don’t feel I can contribute enough’. It’s more the younger players have managed to shove me out the door.”
Newell’s Old Boys were asking for $3 million for the 38-year-old goalkeeper — a price Pumas were unwilling to meet
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The allrounder tweaked his back during against West Indies and will miss the final series before the World Cup
Alex Malcolm17-Feb-2024Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of Australia’s three-match T20I series in New Zealand due to a back issue with fellow West Australian allrounder Aaron Hardie called in for Australia’s last series before the T20 World Cup in June.Australia vice-captain and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade is also set to miss game one of the series on Wednesday in Wellington due to the impending birth of his third child but is expected to be available for the final two games in Auckland on Friday and Sunday.Stoinis tweaked his back in the warm-up of the second T20I against West Indies in Adelaide last Sunday but was still able to play. He made 16 off 15 with the bat but played a role in feeding the strike to Glenn Maxwell in an 80-run stand before picking up 3 for 36 to continue his excellent bowling form.Related
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But after the long flight to Perth, he missed Tuesday’s third match against West Indies and has subsequently been ruled out of the T20I series against New Zealand having not fully resolved the back complaint. Stoinis is expected to be fit for the IPL which begins in late March.Hardie is currently playing for Western Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in Hobart and did not travel with the squad on Saturday but will join the squad before the opening match.Stoinis remains a key figure in Australia’s T20I set-up despite losing his place in the ODI side for the World Cup semi and final last year. He was one of Australia’s most important players in the T20 World Cup triumph in 2021, playing match-winning hands against South Africa and then Pakistan in the semi-final. He also made a stunning half-century against Sri Lanka in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. His bowling has been important for Australia as well, having become a key wicket-taker over the past year in both the powerplay and middle overs.But his injury issues remain a concern for both he and Australia’s hierarchy. Australia have been reluctant to bowl him in back-to-back games due to his history and he missed games in the lead-up to and during the ODI World Cup because of several different soft tissue injuries.Australia’s other allrounders also have their bespoke injury concerns with captain Mitchell Marsh’s ankle requiring ongoing management as does Maxwell’s previously broken leg.Spin bowling allrounder Matthew Short also has an injury cloud heading to New Zealand after suffering a low-grade hamstring injury in the ODI series against West Indies which forced him to miss the T20Is.Hardie gets his chance to put forth a case for the T20 World Cup as a back-up allrounder who can bat in the middle-order if Stoinis has more injury trouble at the tournament proper. Cameron Green was not considered to be called into the New Zealand series with Australia’s selectors preferring him to remain red-ball focussed ahead of the New Zealand Test tour. Green will then play a full IPL with Royal Challengers Bangalore to push his case for the World Cup squad.Fast bowler Nathan Ellis returns from a rib injury and looms as Australia’s preferred back-up quick behind Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who will all play in the New Zealand series.Sean Abbott and Jason Behrendorff are on standby for the New Zealand series although Abbott is still managing a shoulder issue that ruled him out of the final two T20Is against West Indies.Steven Smith and Travis Head both return to the T20 side for the New Zealand tour after resting from the West Indies series and look likely to be given several opportunities each in the top three as Australia tries to bed down their best side for the World Cup.
Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of Mumbai’s upcoming Ranji Trophy quarter-final with back spasms, ESPNcricinfo has learnt. Mumbai will also be without the in-form Shivam Dube because of a side strain for the knockout game against Baroda starting February 23 at home.Iyer played one round of the Ranji Trophy this year to warm up for the Test series against England, as he was picked for the first two games. He was, however, left out of the remaining three Tests after scores of 27, 29, 35 and 13 in the Tests in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad. Iyer had experienced back spasms soon after the second Test, but had been cleared for selection for India.It was a back injury that had kept Iyer out of the entire IPL 2023 and beyond until he returned for the Asia Cup in September, just before the ODI World Cup at home. He batted just once in the Asia Cup before smashing 530 runs in the World Cup while averaging 66.25 and striking at 113.24, with two centuries and three half-centuries. He soon returned to the Test side too, for the South Africa tour, before being retained for the first two Tests against England at home.Related
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Fitness permitting, Iyer will return to lead his IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders after missing the last season with a back injury, and he has just over a month to recover for that.Apart from injuries, the absence of India’s centrally-contracted players will be closely watched by the BCCI as the board secretary Jay Shah sent a letter to them last week, warning them to not prioritise IPL over domestic cricket.Mumbai will probably miss Dube more in the quarter-final because he had struck two attacking centuries and two half-centuries in his six Ranji innings this season. Dube picked up the injury in the last league game against Assam and had gone for scans on the second day, when Mumbai trounced the visitors by an innings and 80 runs. It was Mumbai’s third innings win of this Ranji season.Shivam Dube has averaged 67.83 this season•PTI
Dube has averaged 67.83 in this Ranji campaign while striking at 82.38. His 117 off 130 had saved Mumbai from 86 for 6 in the second innings against Uttar Pradesh, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a two-wicket loss. Last week he hammered an 87-ball century with the help of five sixes against Assam to help script Mumbai’s fifth win of the season from seven league games and top the Group B table. He has also bowled 67 overs in seven innings this season for 12 wickets at just 12.08, while delivering 23 maidens.Mumbai’s 16-man squad announced on Tuesday included allrounder Musheer Khan, brother of India’s recent debutant Sarfaraz Khan, who missed most of the Ranji season because of the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa where India finished runners-up to Australia. Musheer struck two centuries there to end with a tally of 360 runs from seven innings, the second-highest on the charts behind his team-mate Uday Saharan.Mumbai will be led by Ajinkya Rahane with Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni as the other international players in the side.Mumbai squad: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Roystan Dias
Debutant produces key innings as Jamie Porter’s four-for goes vain amid bad weather
ECB Reporters Network15-Apr-2024
Jamie Porter broke through for Essex but was thwarted by Jaydn Denly’s rearguard•Getty Images
Essex 530 for 7 dec (Critchley 151*, Elgar 120, Cox 67) and 257 for 4 dec (Cox 116*) drew with Kent 413 (Compton 165, Bell-Drummond 135, Critchley 5-105) and 164 for 7 (Jaydn Denly 41*, Porter 4-20)A combination of Kent’s 18-year-old debutant Jaydn Denly and bad weather scuppered Essex’s hopes of recording back-to-back County Championship wins.The all-rounder joined forces with uncle Joe in a sixth-wicket stand that took 16 overs and contributed 51 runs after Kent had been on the ropes at 65 for 5.Jaydn Denly stood firm for 128 balls on a rain-interrupted final day at Chelmsford, finishing on 41 not out in Kent’s 164 for 7, Jamie Porter taking 4 for 20.Essex had declared for the second time in the match on their overnight 257 for 4, with Jordan Cox unbeaten on 116 after his fireworks of the previous evening.That set Kent 375 to win, initially from 76 overs, then 64 after the morning session was abandoned following another downpour.Kent’s batters donned black armbands to mark the death of their former England spinner Derek Underwood at the age of 78.Essex’s quest got off to a flying start in Porter’s second over when Tawanda Muyeye edged an inswinger to the wicketkeeper and the seamer then had Ben Compton lbw for six.Simon Harmer dropped Jack Leaning first ball but made amends when Daniel Bell-Drummond went to sweep and was lbw for 18.Leaning soon lost his off-stump to Shane Snater before Harry Finch was lbw to Matt Critchley, his sixth wicket in the match.That saw Joe Denly, who twice advanced down the wicket and hit Harmer over long leg for six, joined in the middle by his nephew.The younger Denly rode his luck early on against Harmer and Critchley before rocking on to the back foot to ease the latter through the covers for his first four.When their partnership reached 50, from 88 balls, there was an equal split in contributions, but almost immediately Porter had Joe Denly whipping the ball off his legs and into the hands of Feroze Khushi at bat-pad.Wes Agar drove Porter to Snater to become the seventh wicket to fall.