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Zimbabwe have openly conceded they are the ‘underdogs’ going into their one-day series against Bangladesh, and Julien Fountain, the Bangladeshi fielding coach, believes the visitors have every reason to be apprehensive

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2010Zimbabwe have openly conceded they are the ‘underdogs’ going into their one-day series against Bangladesh, and Julien Fountain, the Bangladeshi fielding coach, believes the visitors have every reason to be apprehensive as they prepare to face a side which has had the better of all the recent encounters between the two teams.”I think they are probably right, they are the underdogs,” said Fountain, who was appointed fielding coach in August this year and has previously filled that role for England, Pakistan and West Indies. “We are at home; it is our wicket, our conditions and our crowd. They should feel a little scared.”While for several years after their first meeting in 1997 Zimbabwe had the beating of Bangladesh, the Bangladeshis have proved utterly dominant dominant in recent times and have won 25 of the 47 matches between the two teams.Zimbabwe have identified Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan as a key player in this series, with captain Elton Chigumbura calling him “the main guy”, but Fountain suggested that the hosts did not regard any of the Zimbabwean players as particularly threatening. “To be honest, I haven’t really done much research on them,” he said. “I really don’t think we are looking at them as though they are dangerous.”

Nine English players will feature in the IPL auction on January 19 after league officials said a dispute over NOCs had been resolved. This takes to 60 the number of players who will be involved in the auction

Cricinfo staff07-Jan-2010Nine English players will feature in the IPL auction on January 19 after league officials said a dispute over NOCs had been resolved. This takes to 60 the number of players who will be involved in the auction.On Wednesday, the IPL had released what it said was the “complete” list of players who would be part of the auction; it featured none of the eight England players who were on the long-list drawn up at the beginning of the month. Those eight were Tim Bresnan, Anthony McGrath, Eoin Morgan, Monty Panesar, Adil Rashid, Jonathan Trott, Usman Afzaal and James Foster; with Graeme Swann now added to the mix in light of his outstanding international form.The point of dispute was the availability of English players outside the IPL season, Sundar Raman, the IPL chief executive, told Cricinfo. “We wanted clarifications specifically related to the availability of players outside of the IPL season so we don’t need to keep going back for the NOCs,” he said. “Franchises then can plan friendlies and practice games outside of the IPL season. That was one of the things that needed to be ironed out.”He also said that only those players available for the full season would feature in the auction. “That is not a condition, that is a preliminary requirement,” he said, adding that the ECB had cleared it.Raman said the IPL would release the names on Friday once it received the NOCs from the ECB. The delay, he said, was because some of the English players like Jonathan Trott were busy with the Test series in South Africa. He implied that the final call on the NOCs rested with the English board. “The ECB might want some of the players to be rested or available on tour or they might want to keep a check on any player who has suffered an injury,” he said.There were reports that the IPL had introduced new changes to the terms and conditions in the NOCs; that is reported to have become a sticking point with the ECB, which wanted to sign an NOC related to the terms negotiated in February 2009. Raman said the NOCs signed in February 2009 applied to “that set of players” at that time. “But our player contracts are undergoing some changes and the new NOCs should reflect those changes in terms of his availability, payment terms and things like that,” he said.

Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot in T20I batting by going up from third place to No. 2

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-20252:04

Buttler: ‘Rashid is the most important player for us’

England legspinner Adil Rashid has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC rankings for T20I bowlers, after his consistent performances in the first three games against India helped the visitors keep the series alive. Rashid starred with frugal figures of 1 for 15 from overs in the third game in Rajkot to register a 26-run win for his side. Prior to that, he had finished with 1 for 14 and 1 for 27 at the start of the five-match series.Rashid had first claimed the No. 1 ranking at the end of 2023 for about a year until Akeal Hosein had displaced him before Christmas in 2024.Varun Chakravarthy, who bagged a five-for in the third T20I on Tuesday, galloped 25 places to reach No. 5 place among the T20I bowlers whereas Jofra Archer went one place behind Varun by jumping 13 spots after taking five wickets in the three T20Is in India.Arshdeep Singh retained his ninth rank, Ravi Bishnoi slipped from fifth to 10th place whereas Axar Patel went up five spots to No. 11.

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Among T20I batters, Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot by going up from third place to second with scores of 18, 72* and 19* so far in the series, although Head still leads by 23 points. If Tilak manages to overtake Head with good scores in the remaining two games while Head plays a Test series in Sri Lanka, he will become the youngest-ever player to top the rankings. Abhishek Sharma went up as many as 59 places but is still ranked 40th.

Noman, Warrican rise in Test bowling rankings

Pakistan left-arm spinner Noman Ali, who took a hat-trick in the second Test against West Indies, jumped four places to move to No. 5 among Test bowlers although Pakistan lost the match to see the series being leveled 1-1. West Indies’ Jomel Warrican rose 16 spots to be ranked 25th after his match haul of nine wickets compared to Noman’s 10.Jasprit Bumrah still leads the Test bowlers’ rankings while Joe Root is on top of the batters’ list.

Veteran seamer to move into full-time coaching with Middlesex’s back-room staff

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2023Tim Murtagh, the former Ireland seamer and stalwart of county cricket for 23 years, has announced he will retire from professional cricket at the end of the season.Murtagh, 42, has been named in Middlesex’s squad to face Warwickshire at Lord’s this week, where the club will continue their fight to stay in Division One of the County Championship, with one final match of the season to come against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.If selected against Warwickshire, the match will be the 264th first-class appearance of his career, and his 91st at Lord’s, a venue where he confirmed his enduring class earlier this season by claiming the fifth ten-wicket haul of his career – including his 1000th wicket for Middlesex – in an emphatic nine-wicket win over Kent.However, having taken up a player-coach role at the start of the 2023 season, Murtagh is now set to move into coaching full-time, with a permanent role in the Middlesex back-room staff.”I’ve had these words mulling around in my head for around ten years, but now is the time to put them onto paper,” Murtagh said in a statement released by the club.”It’s with a great deal of pride and a tinge of sadness that I announce my retirement from cricket at the end of this season. Its finally time to hang up the speed menace boots (the irony is not lost on me) after an incredible 25 years of joy playing professional sport.”It’s been an incredible honour to have played for this great club since 2007 and I am grateful to everyone who made me feel instantaneously at home here. Right up to the present management in helping me transition out of playing this year. I still hope to play a big part in keeping us in Division One these last two weeks.”Moving forward I can’t wait to help the next generation of Middlesex cricketers live out their own dreams as I move onto the coaching staff and the next phase of my life.”Murtagh’s career wickets tally currently stands at 1341, including 951 in a first-class career that began at Surrey in 2000, before his switch to Middlesex in 2007.In between whiles, he played 75 matches across formats for Ireland, for whom he qualified thanks to his Dublin-born grandfather. His finest hour came in the last of his three Test appearances, on his home ground at Lord’s, when he secured the first-morning figures of 5 for 13 to bowl England out for 85, and book himself a place on the dressing-room honours board.Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s director of cricket, added: “Players like Murts come along so rarely … he is an absolute gem of a bloke, both on and off the field.”Whilst we’re sad that we won’t be able to call upon Murts’ skills on the field anymore, we’re thrilled that he will still be around the group and playing a leading role in continuing to develop the players we have here at Middlesex.”I’ve been hugely impressed with how quickly he has taken to coaching, and the impact he has had in a short space of time, and I am looking forward to seeing him develop these skills in the next chapter of his career.”

England opener will head back to boyhood club after five years in Birmingham

Matt Roller30-Jun-2022Dom Sibley will return to Surrey for 2023 after five successful seasons at Warwickshire which saw him win the County Championship and break into the England team.Sibley left Surrey under something of a cloud in 2017 after turning down a contract extension to join Warwickshire, who offered him “written assurances” that he would bat in the top three in all formats. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said he was “bitterly disappointed” to lose him at the time and has now brought him back to the Kia Oval.”I made no secret at the time that I didn’t want him to leave but the move to Warwickshire worked out well for him as he earned England selection,” Stewart said. “I truly believe his best years are still ahead of him and his proven run-scoring ability will add even more strength to our current group of players.”Related

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Sibley has thrived in first-class cricket for Warwickshire and retains ambitions of returning to the England set-up after losing his central contract at the end of last summer but has increasingly become a one-format player at Edgbaston and became frustrated with his lack of opportunities in their T20 side, last playing the format in 2020.While he is unlikely to find a place in Surrey’s full-strength T20 side, he will be a senior player for them in the Royal London Cup and said in a statement that it was “the right time… to return to London and Surrey”.”I will be forever grateful and thankful to everybody at the Bears who signed me and helped me achieve so much in my time here,” Sibley said. “I will always cherish the memories and friendships made on and off the pitch.”I’m really excited to be returning home after five years. It feels great and I’ll be hoping to make match-winning performances that contribute to success and trophies.”Sibley will be reunited with Rory Burns, his former England opening partner, at the top of the Surrey order. As a result, there is unlikely to be a regular first-team place for Ryan Patel, who has enjoyed a breakout season but is out of contract at the end of the summer.

Batsman says proactivity may be needed in conditions, but expects less trouble from red ball

Andrew Miller02-Mar-2021Zak Crawley admits that England may need to be more proactive as a batting unit to overcome another spin-friendly surface in Ahmedabad this week, but he’s confident that a reversion to red-ball cricket may remove some of the challenges associated with last week’s pink-ball Test – particularly those posed by the left-arm spinner, Axar Patel.Patel, who now has 18 wickets at 9.44 in his two-Test career, dismissed Crawley twice in the third Test, including with the first ball of England’s second innings, to set in motion a collapse to 81 all out and an eventual two-day defeat.Nine of Patel’s 11 wickets were lbw or bowled – and 20 out of 30 in the whole match – as batsmen on both sides were consistently beaten for pace off the pitch, as if the shiny lacquer of the pink ball was helping it to skid through more quickly than a conventional red ball might have done.And while Crawley expects few changes to the prevailing conditions at Ahmedabad – where anything other than an England win will secure India’s progression to the World Test Championship final – he believes that England must keep faith in the gameplans that earned them a memorable victory in the first Test in Chennai, even if they have then to adapt them as the match progresses.”I think it will be a very similar pitch this week. Why wouldn’t it be?” Crawley said. “It wasn’t easy to score, for sure. But it was the same for both sides and they played very well. We had our chance, we batted first and started well, but unfortunately we didn’t play as well as we needed to.”But if it’s the same pitch, I do think it will be slightly easier [this time],” he added. “I felt like the pink ball was a bit harder and therefore skidded on quite quickly, which is why both sides got so many wickets lbw and bowled.”[Axar] still has that ball in his armoury for sure and he’ll still be a massive threat with that one, but it might not skid on with the same pace as the pink ball, in which case we don’t need to change too much.”But if it looks like it’s going to be just as tricky, and it plays the same way with one skidding and one turning, then we may need to be more proactive, [otherwise] just play your natural game.”Crawley himself provided some of England’s most proactive batting of the winter on the first morning of the third Test, as he raced to a 68-ball half-century with ten fours, before England lost their last eight wickets for 38 to be bowled out for 112 midway through the afternoon session.Left-arm spin has been a consistent issue for Crawley this winter•Sri Lanka Cricket

And while he acknowledged that his strong start was made possible, in part, by an early diet of seam bowling, he said he would still take great confidence from that performance, particularly after making a top score of 13 in four innings on the Sri Lanka leg of the tour, prior to the wrist injury that caused him to miss the two Tests in Chennai.”I had the best of it facing the seamers but it was nice to score some runs nonetheless,” he said. “In these conditions, you need to have a clear gameplan before going in there, and you also need a lot of luck. But just spending time in the middle, and getting a sighter for their bowlers, I feel like I’ve got better gameplans now, and I feel confident going into this game for sure.”Patel’s left-arm approach, however, has been a consistent issue for Crawley all winter long. He was removed by left-armer Lasith Embuldeniya in all four of his innings in Sri Lanka, and has scored just 30 runs from the 73 balls he’s faced from both bowlers, for six times out.But, just as Patel’s offspinning partner, R Ashwin, has proven a particular challenge for England’s left-handers – not least Ben Stokes, whom he has now dismissed on 11 occasions in Tests – Crawley dismissed the suggestion that he is unusually vulnerable to the challenge of left-arm spin.Related

• Virat Kohli: 'The defensive aspect of the game has fallen behind'

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• How do you bat on pitches like Ahmedabad?

• Leach calls for better pitches … in England

“I don’t think it’s a big issue,” he said. “I’ve been bowled some good balls and faced a lot of left-arm spin. If I’m facing spin pretty much from both ends all the time, I’m going to get out to one of the spinners, unless I get 200 not out.”You have to get out some way, and one of them is going to be an offspinner and the other a left-armer. And for a right-handed batsman, the left-armer is going to be more of a challenge.”One ball is going to skid on and attack the stumps, and if I miss it I’m going to be out, whereas with Ashwin – unbelievable bowler as we all know – if one goes straight on, I’m going to miss it. Those are just the difficulties right-handers face and that’s why left-handers find it so hard against Ashwin.”It was a measure of the challenge that England faced in Ahmedabad that even their most accomplished player of spin, Joe Root, struggled to assert himself, making scores of 17 and 19 after opening the series with a matchwinning 218 in Chennai.Root was also England’s most effective bowler in the third Test, claiming the remarkable figures of 5 for 8 in 6.2 overs, but Crawley insisted that his captain was not feeling any burden of “carrying” his team-mates.”He’s an unbelievable player, but he loves all that,” he said. “I don’t think he feels like he’s carrying us at all. He’s loving being the best player in our side, and one of the best in the world, and contributing with the ball and as captain.”We all know how tough it’s been,” he added. “They’ve got great players in their side and they’ve struggled for runs as well, so it’s not like they’re scoring millions and we’re scoring none. It’s been a pretty low-scoring encounter, especially the last game. So, we’ve still got loads of confidence in our ability, and it’s all a learning curve.”There’s definitely a way back [into the series]. We’re only one game down, we won a great first Test match. It’s going to require us to get a good first-innings lead, and that’s going to require us to bat very well. Our bowlers have been doing nicely, getting them out for 145, so if we can replicate that, then get a nice lead, that will put them under a lot of pressure.”They would be very disappointed with a drawn series for sure, and we would be very happy with that. It’ll be unbelievable if we can pull off four out of six Test matches.”

Talented allrounder becomes the latest Australian cricketer to step away from the game citing mental health concerns

Alex Malcolm22-Nov-2019Australia and Melbourne Renegades women’s allrounder Sophie Molineux has become the latest cricketer to step away from the game for mental health issues.Molineux has played all 10 of the Renegades WBBL games so far this season, as she was pushing to return to the national side ahead of the T20 World Cup. But she has withdrawn from Saturday’s Melbourne derby against the Stars at Eastern Oval in Ballarat in order to focus on her mental health and wellbeing.This follows on from Victorian male trio Glenn Maxwell, Nic Maddinson and Will Pucovski all withdrawing from Australia and Australia A commitments for mental health reasons, although it is understood all three men were suffering from different mental health challenges.Australia and Perth Scorchers women’s batter Nicole Bolton stepped away from cricket last summer due to mental health issues.Renegades WBBL Head Coach Tim Coyle said they will give Molineux as much time as she needs away from the game.”Sophie knows her teammates and the Renegades coaches and support staff are always there for her,” Coyle said. “We’ll give Sophie the time, space and any support she needs.”Pip Inge, Australia Women’s Team Doctor, said that Cricket Australia will monitor Molineux closely.”Sophie has made the decision to take a break from cricket and we are providing her with the support she needs,” Inge said. “The welfare of our players is a priority and we are proud of the brave decision by Sophie to step away from the game.”CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver told ESPNCricinfo earlier this month that CA is working hard with both the men’s and women’s national squads to gain a better understanding of mental health issues.Australia’s male players spoke on the eve of first Test against Pakistan about the importance of monitoring their own wellbeing.Makinley Blows has been brought into the Renegades squad.

The allrounder is building on a strong T20 season with Somerset to make his way back into the ODI and T20I squads

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Oct-2018With the 2019 World Cup less than eight months away, allrounder Corey Anderson has decided to focus on white-ball cricket by opting out of the first-class format for the coming season. Anderson has been away from Test cricket since February 2016 and last played a first-class match in April earlier this year.Back from representing Somerset in the T20 Vitality Blast, Anderson will leave with the New Zealand A squad for the UAE to play against Pakistan A. That will give him a chance to slot straight back into the New Zealand ODI and T20I squads because the selectors had decided to keep two open slots in each of the limited-overs squads to pick players based on their performances in the A series.”I got a taste of [the World Cup] here four years ago and it was unbelievable,” Anderson told . “To try and give myself a chance to be involved in that again, that’s the driving force.”I really want to be in that side. I want to be in there right now. There’s still that dream and still that goal. I think it’s probably just making sure I’m doing it the right way as well. Trying to earn [my place] back and earn the right to be in the side. Performing at that level is the next biggest thing you have to try and achieve.”Anderson played as many as 16 T20 matches in the Vitality Blast and accumulated 514 runs but bagged only one wicket because he bowled only four overs. His last international match was an ODI in the Champions Trophy last year before he underwent a back surgery in September 2017. His career has been plagued with multiple back injuries and putting in several weeks of work in England gave him a “massive boost”.”It’s the first time I’ve got to the top of my mark and not had to be worried about if I was going to be sore or hurting in any different area,” he said. “It’s given me that little bit of love back in the game, which you tend to lose sometimes when you get bummed out with injuries. It’s nice to feel like I’ve got my body back and I can get stuck into it.”Although the surgery was 12 months ago, it’s probably just being cautious around those things. I had my 12-month scan last week to make sure everything was great and I got the all-clear to say everything was spick and span.”To have everything back and heading in the right direction gives your psyche a massive boost.”

The CoA felt such a blunt measure was necessary only because the three office bearers – president, secretary and treasurer – had failed to ensure the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s reforms

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Aug-2017In another damning indictment of the BCCI, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) has asked the Supreme Court to remove the three office bearers of the board with immediate effect.The CoA felt such a blunt measure was necessary only because the three office bearers – CK Khanna (acting BCCI president), Amitabh Choudhary (secretary) and Anirudh Chaudhry (treasurer) – had failed to ensure the implementation of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations despite having given a written undertaking in January.The CoA said the court had already set the precedent in January when it had removed the two senior-most BCCI office bearers – Anurag Thakur (president) and Ajay Shirke (secretary) – after the pair had failed to implement the reforms, thus violating the court’s order delivered on July 18 last year. Simultaneously, the court stated that if Khanna, Choudhary and Chaudhry wanted to continue as office bearers, they would need to make written submissions saying they would help the BCCI implement the reforms. The CoA said that it has been more than six months and the three office bearers are “not in a position to make good” on their undertakings and hence should be sacked.”The current office bearers of the BCCI have demonstrated scant regard for the directions issued by the Committee of Administrators and continue to flout the same with impunity,” the CoA noted in its fifth status report, which is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court on August 18. “There is a need to direct that the existing office bearers of the BCCI shall forthwith cease and desist from being associated with the working of BCCI.”The report also said that with fresh BCCI elections scheduled for September, the running of the board should be entrusted “exclusively” with the COA, which would work closely with the board’s professional management led by its CEO Rahul Johri. “The governance, management and administration of the BCCI may be entrusted exclusively in the hands of the Committee of Administrators along with the professional management of the BCCI headed by the CEO until elections are held in accordance with the New BCCI Constitution and a new set of office bearers take charge.”The stonewalling by the BCCI and majority of the state associations against implementing the reforms has finally started to test the patience of the CoA. Vinod Rai, the committee’s chairman, admitted in an interview last month that his “consensus-building” efforts paid no dividends. Disappointed but not disheartened, the CoA asked the court in the fourth status report to issue an order under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution that would enforce the implementation of reforms.Without mincing words, the CoA has once again said unless the court did not issue the directives as requested in last two status reports, its judgment would never see the “light of the day”. “The Judgment of this Hon’ble Court will remain a writ in sand and the implementation of reforms mandated by this Hon’ble Court will never see the light of the day.”In its latest status report, the CoA presented various examples, which exposed the “willful disobedience” and the “resistance” put forth by majority of the BCCI members, which are the state associations. The CoA was annoyed that the three office bearers had just remained ineffective, instead of imposing themselves.The latest instance, the COA said, came around the BCCI’s last special general meeting, on July 26. Two days before the SGM, the court, responding to the “urgent” intervention sought by the COA, had directed that only qualified office bearers/representatives from state associations could attend the meeting.The CoA’s fifth status report is likely to be heard by the Supreme Court on August 18•AFP

In an interim order on July 24, the court had also indicated that it was willing to reopen debate over some of the reforms. “All concerned (BCCI and state associations) shall implement the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee Report as far as practicable, barring the issues which have been raised pertaining to membership, number of members of the selection committee, concept of associate membership, etc.”At the SGM, the BCCI agreed unanimously to implement all but five broad reforms: membership status which includes the one-state-one-vote reform, disqualification of office bearers, ministers and government officials based on eligibility criteria such as the age cap, tenure and cooling off period, the strength of the Apex Council – which replaces the existing working committee, the division of powers between the office bearers and the professional management, and strength of the national selection committee.Barring the recommendations concerning one-state-one vote and the strength of the selection panel, the other three “identified” by the BCCI form the “fundamental core” of the reforms that were approved by the court in its original order last July. “Describing these issues as ‘impracticable’ or ‘difficult’ is nothing short of gross abuse/contempt,” the CoA said. “It is obvious that the whole idea was to stonewall the fundamental core of the reforms mandate by this Hon’ble Court and make the same a dead letter.”The CoA was disgruntled with the office bearers also because they did not send it the minutes of the July 26 SGM despite being asked to. The CoA also took strong exception to the BCCI’s decision, asking Johri and the BCCI administrative staff, including the board’s legal team, to leave the SGM, which it said was “pre-planned and orchestrated.”When the CoA checked with the office bearers as to why they did not “reprimand” the BCCI members who asked Johri to leave the SGM, their response was “ingenious”, saying he had “left of his own accord.” “The conduct of the office bearers is such as to demonstrate that they are unfit to continue and ought to removed.”

A hurricane century off 60 balls for Adam Lyth set up Yorkshire for victory by two wickets over Northamptonshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup at sunny Scarborough

ECB Reporters Network14-Jun-2016
ScorecardAdam Lyth’s rapid century helped Yorkshire chase down a stiff target•Getty Images

A hurricane century off 60 balls for Adam Lyth set up Yorkshire for victory by two wickets over Northamptonshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup at sunny Scarborough.Lyth thrashed eight fours and seven sixes in completing the second List A century of his career and he went on to make 125 off 78 deliveries with ten fours and eight sixes before thumping Graeme White to Richard Gleeson at deep mid-on.Yorkshire were then 189 for 3 in 25 overs as they chased 311 and although Lyth was the first of three wickets to go down in nine balls for three runs, they still made it to their first one-day win of the season after four consecutive defeats and two ‘no results’.It was a hard earned win against plucky opponents who were splendidly served by a belligerent Ben Duckett, who hit 121, and Alex Wakely with 71.Lyth totally dominated an opening stand of 106 in 12 overs with his captain, Alex Lees, who had contributed 20 when he played Steven Crook to square leg where Ben Sanderson took the catch after not holding it cleanly at the first attempt.Lyth’s fierce blows early on included two consecutive sixes off Azharullah, the second of them crashing into the mobile fish and chip van.New Zealand captain, Kane Williamson, in his first innings of the season for Yorkshire, played Gleeson into his stumps for 10, and after Lyth had gone, Jack Leaning was caught and bowled by Josh Cobb without scoring and Adil Rashid drove White gently to mid-on.But Gary Ballance and Bresnan steadied Yorkshire with a 58 stand which closed when Bresnan became White’s third victim, caught on the cover boundary for 38.Ballance’s nicely judged 50 came off 62 balls and David Willey soon made an impact against his old club with a couple of big sixes but as Yorkshire were approaching the winning line, Azharullah shook them by bowling Ballance and Liam Plunkett in the space of three balls to leave them on 303 for eight in the 47th over.Willey kept his nerve however and he blasted Crook for six to win the game with 15 balls remaining.Put in to bat on a greenish pitch and soft outfield, Northants batted with positive intent from the onset of their innings and although luck was sometimes with them they thoroughly deserved their competitive total of 310 for 7.Duckett’s maiden century in List A cricket – his previous best score was achieved only last week when he struck 98 against Lancashire at Northampton – contained cleanly timed strokes of the highest quality.He was joined by Wakely after openers Cobb and Rossington had gone with 35 scored and the pair brought momentum to the innings with a 166 stand in 27 overs.It was Northamptonshire’s highest third wicket stand against Yorkshire in List A matches, overtaking the 131 by Rob Bailey and Allan Lamb at Headingley in 1995.Whereas Duckett was virtually faultless, Wakely had two escapes, first on three when Plunkett failed to hold on to a sharp return chance low to his right and then on 38 against Bresnan when Ballance got underneath the ball at deep square leg but the catch dropped out of his hands.Neither batsman wasted scoring opportunities as Northants cruised in into three figures in the 25th over and Duckett hurried to his third consecutive one-day half-century from 61 balls with six fours.Their century stand arrived in 18.5 overs, the second 50 taking them only 32 balls, and Wakely celebrated by smacking Rashid through the leg side for six to register his 50 from 60 deliveries with four fours and two sixes.Yorkshire were forced to bring Lyth into the attack with his offspin and it was he who made the breakthrough. Wakely, in two minds over what stroke to play, gave a gentle return catch and was out for 71 from 79 balls with five fours and two sixes.Rob Keogh fell to Plunkett without scoring but Duckett swept Rashid for two to complete a run-a-ball century which contained 11 fours and two sixes and he added a couple further boundaries before skying the leg-spinner to Leaning just inside the midwicket rope.Northamptonshire were 246 for 5 in the 43rd over and they remained in control as Rob Newton hit 26 from 15 balls with a four and two sixes and Crook went in unbeaten on 46 from 41 deliveries with three fours and a six. It was a particularly expensive day for Bresnan whose ten wicketless overs cost him 76 runs.