Allrounder Nicola Carey declined the offer a deal and will instead focus on pre-season with Tasmania

Andrew McGlashan05-Apr-2023Phoebe Litchfield, Kim Garth and Heather Graham have been awarded Cricket Australia central contracts for the first time as part of a newly expanded list.Under the next MoU which was announced earlier this week, up to 18 contracts are now available and the selectors have opted to use 17 of them with the value of deals also significantly increasing.Fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck, who is set to make her return from a long-term injury on the Australia A tour of England in June, has retained her position. Grace Harris has also found a place on the list having been upgraded to a contract during the previous cycle.Related

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Opening batter Litchfield made her international debut late last year in the T20I series against India then impressed in the ODIs against Pakistan. Garth, the former Ireland allrounder, also made her Australia debut against India while Graham came back into the fold during 2022.”Kim Garth and Heather Graham have performed strongly at domestic level over the past 12 months, and both thoroughly deserve their spot on the list,” national selector Shawn Flegler said.”Phoebe Litchfield is a young talent who we believe has a big future, she’s built her game upon a very sound technique and we’re confident she can transfer those skills into international cricket.”We’ve had a core group of players performing well over the last 12 months which means some talented players have missed out, it’s certainly made selection tough but we’re in a fortunate position to have such depth across Australian Cricket.”Importantly, there is still the opportunity for players not offered contracts to earn upgrades through consistent performances, as we saw with Grace last year.”Allrounder Nicola Carey declined the offer of a contract with a preference to focus on pre-season with Tasmania having previously opted out of the Australia A tour of England. The retired Rachael Haynes is the other player to drop off the previous list.”Nicola expressed a desire to spend the winter in Tasmania to allow her to utilise a full preseason at home, focusing on using that time to develop skills in her game to push for international selection in the future,” Flegler said.”We offered Nic a contract because we believe she is a player of international quality, but we respect her decision to focus on a pre-season program with Tasmania and will continue to support her moving forward.”Australia’s next cricket is the multi-format Ashes tour which begins in mid-June. The players will have various camps in Brisbane during May to prepare.The next 12 months has three Tests in Australia’s calendar with away matches against England and India plus a home fixture against South Africa early next year.Australia women central contracts Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Mumbai’s captain made his first IPL fifty since 2021 to set up his side’s first win of the season

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2023Rohit Sharma’s match-winning 65 against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday night was an innings of two phases. He raced to 37 off 17 balls in the powerplay as Mumbai made a blazing start to their chase of 173, and slowed down thereafter, his last 28 runs coming at exactly a run a ball.Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said the two phases had worked out just as planned: he went out with the intention of maximising Mumbai’s run-scoring in the powerplay, keeping in mind the threat of Capitals’ spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav.Mumbai brought up their first win of IPL 2023, but it didn’t come easy. Rohit’s first fifty-plus score in the IPL since 2021 left them cruising towards victory, needing 34 runs off 27 balls, but they lost three wickets in six balls to bring Capitals back into the game. Mumbai eventually prevailed by six wickets in what turned out to be a last-ball thriller.Related

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“When I went to bat, I thought I need to make full use of the powerplay because as the game went on, I thought it is going to be tough with the couple of quality spinners they [Capitals] have,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “So it was there in my mind to keep attacking, take my chances in the first six overs, and then just see where the game is heading, try and knock the ball in the gap, try and create that partnership.”While Rohit finding form was a major positive for Mumbai, their headaches haven’t disappeared. Their campaign has been marred by injury, which has left them relying on a number of inexperienced players including Arshad Khan and Nehal Wadhera, who hadn’t played any T20 cricket before this IPL season.”We’ve got a lot of young guys, [some] haven’t played IPL before as well,” Rohit said. “But it’s all about giving them that confidence, showing them enough trust because they will get hit for runs, they will keep getting out, but it is important to keep backing those abilities and keep telling them, ‘it’s okay, you are the guys who are eventually going to do the job for us.'”So that’s exactly what the team talk is and that is what we are trying to create in our dressing room as well. We don’t want to make drastic changes looking at how the results come, but it’s important to stick to it and follow that process which I think we are doing really well.”

Mitchell Marsh and Matt Renshaw are the two players to miss out from the Ashes group

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2023Josh Hazlewood remains in contention to play the World Test Championship final against India after being included in Australia’s 15-man squad.Australia have pushed Mitchell Marsh and Matt Renshaw into their reserves from the 17 players that have been selected for the Ashes.Hazlewood returned early from the IPL with some side soreness but scans revealed no damage and he has since returned to bowling. However, speaking last week coach Andrew McDonald said everything would need to go perfectly for him to make the WTC final.He is one of four specialist quicks in the squad alongside captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland. Michael Neser and Sean Abbott will train with the team in the lead-up, with Neser a strong contender to replace Hazlewood in the main squad if required. Any changes from now on will require approval of the ICC’s technical committee.Josh Inglis, who is yet to play a Test, has found a place in the squad, as has Todd Murphy, who made his Test debut in India earlier this year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

As for India, there were no late changes apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, as reported earlier in the day, replacing Ruturaj Gaikwad in the list of stand-by players.Both the uncapped Ishan Kishan and Jaydev Unadkat, who had injured his left shoulder during the IPL and was ruled out of the tournament, figure in the squad of 15. Kishan, who came in after the injury to KL Rahul during the IPL, is likely to be back-up for KS Bharat, India’s first-choice Test wicketkeeper in Rishabh Pant’s absence.Related

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Also a part of the India squad is Shardul Thakur, who had missed three games in the IPL because of a niggle, and was not fit to bowl in a few games.India’s reserves are Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav and Jaiswal.The match will be played at The Oval from June 7 to 11, with June 12 pencilled in as the reserve day. The winners will earn US$ 1.6 million, while the runners-up will earn $800,000.Australia squad: Pat Cummins (capt), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Steven Smith (vice-capt), Mitchell Starc, David Warner.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).

Fast bowler says no single reason for mass Worcestershire exodus after signing Notts deal

Matt Roller22-Jul-2023Josh Tongue says he is leaving Worcestershire at the end of the season because he needs “a new challenge” but does not believe there is a smoking gun that explains the exodus of a number of homegrown players from the club.Tongue, who made his England debut this summer, will join Nottinghamshire at the end of his contract, with Dillon Pennington making the same move. Pat Brown, who has struggled with injury after playing four T20Is in 2019, is leaving for Derbyshire, while Moeen Ali and Ed Barnard joined Warwickshire last winter.A number of other Worcestershire players are also out of contract at the end of the season, with Ashley Giles taking charge of negotiations after starting his job as chief executive earlier this month. Giles made Rob Jones, the Lancashire batter, his first signing earlier this week, but Jack Haynes and Ben Cox are both expected to leave the club.Tongue held talks with a number of counties before settling on Nottinghamshire, who beat off strong interest from Lancashire to secure his signature on an initial three-year deal. He said that the opportunity to work with Notts bowling coach Kevin Shine again was a major factor in his decision, having previously been coached by him as part of the ECB’s pace programme.”I’ve been at the club since I was six years old and I’ve grown up playing for Worcester through the age groups and the academy and obviously signed my first pro deal there,” Tongue said, speaking at a #Funds4Runs session organised by LV= Insurance at Stockport Georgians Cricket Club. “I’ve got a massive heart for the club but I just feel like I’m at a time in my career when I need a new challenge and a new place to play.”I had a few meetings with a different number of clubs and Notts just really excited me with the way they play their cricket and obviously the squad is very strong. Peter Moores, the coach, and Kevin Shine, the bowling coach, really attracted me.”I’ve had stuff to do with Shiney in the past, growing up. I feel that’s going to benefit me, to have a different set of eyes on me to see how I can get better. If that’s more pace, or getting me in a better position at contact, we’ll see.”Josh Tongue at a #Funds4Runs session at Stockport Georgians Cricket Club•LV= Insurance/#Funds4Runs

Asked if there was a single reason behind players leaving, Tongue said: “I don’t think so. I’m not sure about the other lads leaving, but at my stage of my career now, I just felt like I needed a change and to work with some different coaches and different players. Obviously that is hopefully going to benefit me in the future.”Moeen, whose brother Kadir is Worcestershire’s assistant coach, suggested that money was a motivating factor for some departures. “I think it could be financial – it probably is financial with a couple of players,” he said. “But I think some players probably feel like they want to play at a bigger venue or a bigger club. It doesn’t always work out, but good luck to them.”I love Worcester, I still love Worcester. Obviously my brother’s there and the coach, Richo [Alan Richardson], so I still follow their progress and stuff. It’s a shame, but it’s always been a club or a county that’s produced good players and I’m sure they always will.”Tongue and Pennington shared 12 wickets between them in Worcestershire’s win against Leicestershire at Oakham this week, leaving them third in Division Two of the County Championship and only two points off a promotion spot. Richardson admitted some mixed emotions, but said they would continue to be selected for the rest of the summer.”Obviously I’m disappointed that they are leaving,” Richardson said, “but at the same time they are still our players and they still want to perform for us for the rest of the season, to help us achieve our goals. Having them in the team makes us better. We aren’t going to change our opinion on that just because they are leaving at the end of the season.”Josh Tongue was speaking on behalf of LV= Insurance, title sponsors of this summer’s LV= Insurance Ashes Series. Head to https://www.lv.com/gi/cricket to find out more.

Ben Duckett and Harry Brook make first appearances following the Ashes

ECB Reporters Network03-Aug-2023Torrential rain brought an abrupt end to the Hundred match at Headingley between Northern Superchargers and Birmingham Phoenix with just 62 balls possible in Phoenix’s first innings. With puddles forming on the outfield the umpires were left with no choice but to call a halt to proceedings after a heavy shower engulfed Leeds.It was frustrating for the hosts who had got themselves into a decent position during the play that was possible with Reece Topley removing opener Jacob Bethell for 0 in his opening set of deliveries.That brought England star Ben Duckett to the middle and he introduced himself with a ramped shot for six before hitting an unbeaten 34 off 26 balls before the rain came.Spin also played its part with Matthew Short removing Dan Mousley and Shadab Khan in quick succession with England’s Adil Rashid claiming the wicket of Jamie Smith who was bowled for 13 with the visitors 84 for 5 at the close.England batter Harry Brook was also involved after making himself available for Superchargers’ opening fixture, following the conclusion of the Ashes on Monday.

He was granted strict conditional bail on the drug charge and has had to surrender his passport

AAP15-Sep-2023Former Australian Test bowler Stuart MacGill has been charged over the supply of a commercial quantity of cocaine that led to his purported kidnapping.Six men have been charged over the alleged kidnapping, which took place on Sydney’s lower north shore in April 2021.Police launched an investigation into an alleged drug supply operation after the incident was reported to officers and on Friday they confirmed MacGill, 52, was arrested on Tuesday at Chatswood.He has been charged with one count of knowingly taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.MacGill told police after the alleged kidnapping that he was repeatedly punched in the head during the incident, causing him to become concussed.He said he was forced into a car at Cremorne on Sydney’s north shore and taken to Bringelly, south of Sydney.Three assailants allegedly tried to extort money from him before dropping him at Belmore about an hour later.At a previous hearing for two of the alleged kidnappers, a judge said there was “some question” of whether MacGill got into the car willingly.MacGill has denied any involvement in the abduction, telling Nine’s A Current Affair in 2021 that he had done nothing wrong.The ex-spinner was granted strict conditional bail on the drug charge and has had to surrender his passport.He is due to appear at Manly Local Court on October 26.

Captain Hayley Matthews has promised her team will take an aggressive approach

Andrew McGlashan30-Sep-20231:09

Healy: Build-up to the next T20 World Cup starts now

There will be an Australian influence on West Indies as they aim to topple the world champions on their home soil over the next two weeks with Shane Deitz taking charge for his first series as the new head coach.Deitz, the former South Australia wicketkeeper-batter who has previously coached the Bangladesh and Netherlands women’s sides, took up his role last month but this tour has been the first chance for him to get the squad together.Although Australia stumbled in the Ashes, losing both white-ball series to retain the urn with an overall draw, they will start strong favourites against West Indies, for whom this is a first bilateral tour of the country since 2014. They have won their last five T20Is, following a run of 15 consecutive defeats, but the end of the losing streak came too late to save their T20 World Cup campaign in South Africa.Deitz has a simple message for them ahead of the opening T20I in Sydney: play with freedom and have fun.Related

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“Got out there and enjoy it. Enjoy the challenge and play with freedom,” Deitz told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got nothing to lose. Australia is the world’s best team for a long time now. We’ve got to find an identity for how we want to play. Using that natural ability and talent and letting that flow is the way I’m looking to do it. Play with a smile on your face, have fun.”It’s a philosophy that captain Hayley Matthews, who will join Melbourne Renegades for the WBBL after this tour, is fully onboard with as the pair look to build towards next year’s T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.Matthews made her ODI debut as a 16-year-old on the 2014 tour and scored half-centuries in each of the three ODIs. She was elevated to the captaincy last year to replace Stafanie Taylor.”We are definitely up for the challenge,” she said. “At the end of the day if we are going to compete with the best teams in the world that’s the brand of cricket we are going to have to play. Teams are now scoring 160-170 runs in T20 games and don’t reckon anyone’s going to score or win games by just nudging it around.”Not only the younger players, but everyone within the team has to have freedom to go out there and push their boundaries, push their limits and that’s what we are encouraging.”Matthews, who is averaging 43.33 with the bat 15.78 with the ball in T20Is this year, having been West Indies’ leading run-scorer and wicket-taker at the 2022 ODI World Cup, will be pivotal to what they want to achieve. She comes into the tour after a player-of-the-match performance in the WCPL final.Hayley Matthews comes into the tour with some good form under her belt•CPL via Getty Images

“Her performances over the last 12 months or longer have been unbelievable,” Deitz said. “She’s one of the best in the world, for sure. I’ve been so impressed with her leadership and captaincy within the group. It’s amazing for her age to be such a great leader. We are enjoying our time working together, we think along the same lines. Think the team’s in good hands with her.”Matthews added: “He’s gelled really well with the group and tried to get into the culture of the girls a little bit. At the same he’s spoken a lot about us progressing in the right direction and getting the youngsters to a certain standard and becoming a more consistent team.”West Indies warmed-up for the T20I series with a four-wicket win over New South Wales although they slipped to 8 for 3 in their chase. The experienced Shemaine Campbelle top-scored with 33 while 18-year-old Zaida James, one of a group of young players included for the tour, helped complete the chase.”There’s definitely a lot of youth coming through, [it’s about] harnessing that talent and putting in a world-class high-performance programme around them to produce international standard players,” Deitz said. “There’s definitely lots to work with. We want to win every game, but you have to have a longer-term vision to develop players and allow them to make mistakes along the way.”We want to find a nucleus of players for that [T20] World Cup, it’s a year away now, we are definitely building towards that, so we have to work with the players to get them ready.”Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who is continuing in the role in the absence of Meg Lanning and plays her 250th international on Sunday, is wary of West Indies’ threat.”I think they are a really damaging side,” she said. “Maybe the results over the last 12 months don’t quite represent the side they are and how much damage they can do. They’ve got two of the best players in the world at the top of the order and some really damaging new-ball options as well. If Hayley Matthews gets going at North Sydney Oval it will be really hard to stop.”We aren’t taking them lightly at all, don’t think you can take any team in world cricket lightly at the moment, everyone is beating everyone which is great for our sport, so we’ll have to put our best foot forward.”

Did Babar not say he wanted to lead Pakistan’s rebuild? Does the PCB’s interim committee have the power to take big decisions? And what does all this mean for the coaching staff?

Danyal Rasool16-Nov-20233:16

Hayden: Pakistan’s issues are never to do with leadership group

First things first, why did Babar Azam resign?

Well, some degree of change invariably tends to follow poor ODI World Cup campaigns. When Pakistan failed to make the semi-finals in 2019, head coach Mickey Arthur and batting coach Grant Flower were sent packing. Within a year, Sarfaraz Ahmed was gone as ODI captain.Related

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Pressure had begun to mount on Babar’s captaincy, and lingering concerns about his decision-making, particularly when it came to in-game situations, never really went away. When Babar was appointed Pakistan captain, it wasn’t for technical astuteness; that was widely believed to be a weak spot in his game. Rather, he was the best batter in the side, and the only guaranteed all-format starter at the time.He oversaw a poor run of late with the Test side, including home defeats against Australia and England, the latter Pakistan’s first ever home whitewash. A home series draw against New Zealand was followed by an impressive 2-0 away win in Sri Lanka, but those were Pakistan’s first Test wins in a year. Aside from his first series as captain in January 2021, Babar never oversaw a Test match win at home.The 2023 Asia Cup was viewed as a disappointment, with Pakistan finishing fourth and, at the 2023 World Cup, they lost five of nine games, including one against Afghanistan, which sent them tumbling out in the first round.

Reluctant resignation, you say?

There is limited evidence Babar truly wanted to step aside. Following Pakistan’s final match at the World Cup, he told Michael Atherton at the post-match presentation that he wished to lead the rebuild, and he reiterated that at the press conference. The PCB said it told him yesterday it had decided to remove him as white-ball captain, and offered him the chance to keep the Test captaincy. Babar appears to have seen the writing on the wall after that, and decided to resign across formats.While still key to Pakistan’s fortunes with the bat, Babar Azam has not had a good time of it as captain of late•ICC/Getty Images

Wait, this is an interim management committee. Can it really sack a captain?

Almost certainly not. The PCB chairman has the authority to appoint and remove captains, and while Zaka Ashraf is currently performing that duty, he is the head of the PCB management committee on a temporary basis, a role he had extended for three months by the Pakistan caretaker prime minister. A court in Pakistan ruled the committee did not have the power to make significant changes during its tenure, and was to operate only on a caretaker basis.So to get rid of Babar as captain, it needed Babar to offer his resignation himself. Theoretically, had he refused, he would have remained Pakistan captain in all formats, and the PCB would have no mechanism for removing him.Well, it would still have one avenue: simply not selecting him. But for obvious cricketing reasons, that always seemed untenable.

So who replaces him? Is it one person across formats?

We know the answer to that is no. The PCB seemed extremely prepared for his resignation, some would say suspiciously so. Within an hour, it appointed Shan Masood, summoned to PCB headquarters in Lahore – even though the committee had ostensibly offered Babar the option to continue as Test captain – as the new Test captain. Shaheen Afridi is the T20I captain. In a moment that perfectly encapsulates the workings of this PCB administration, it also announced Shaheen as ODI captain on social media, before that graphic was swiftly deleted. It later said the ODI captain would be announced “in due course”.

You mentioned Mickey Arthur was sacked after the 2019 World Cup. What’s his deal now? Is he still with Pakistan cricket?

Well, yes and no. The PCB announced team director Mickey Arthur, as well as head coach Grant Bradburn, have had their roles “reassigned”. There is no information on what they have been reassigned to do, but ESPNcricinfo understands this means neither will travel to Australia next month for Pakistan’s next assignment, a three-match Test series.Mickey Arthur: to stay or not to stay?•Getty Images

So if coaches won’t travel with the team, why not remove them?

Because at this point the board probably can’t. It also likely falls outside the scope of what this PCB management committee can do. In the absence of Arthur or Bradburn offering their resignations, as Babar did, the PCB has to keep them on. It is understood that resignations from either are not expected anytime soon.

So who’s going to coach in their steads in Australia, then?

Zaka Ashraf met, among others, Mohammad Hafeez on Tuesday, and it seems that meeting went rather well, because he offered him Arthur’s job. Hafeez will take over as team director, and it is understood he will go to Australia and New Zealand with the side. Hafeez will also take over as head coach, effectively ending the practice of appointing two separate people as team director and head coach. The practice only started with Mickey Arthur’s ascension to team director while grant Bradburn was already in situ.

Well, all this seems quite chaotic. When will we get a PCB administration that is allowed to make actual decisions?

We thought we’d have one by now when Ashraf came into the role, but with Pakistan’s caretaker government having stretched its role beyond the constitutionally allotted three months, the caretaker prime minister also handed Ashraf and the management committee a further three months.That should take us through to February, when Pakistan is due to hold general elections. Any prime minister that emerges out of those will have the authority to nominate a PCB chairman, and once PCB elections are held, a full PCB administration will have all the powers they have traditionally possessed.Shan Masood takes charge of Pakistan in red-ball cricket – for now at least•Getty Images

What does this mean for Babar, Arthur, Bradburn, Masood and Shaheen?

Simply that any developments that have occurred in the past 24 hours are liable to be reversed. If Najam Sethi returns as chairman in February, a definite possibility, it could mean good news for Arthur and Bradburn. He had made clear his desire that Pakistan hire foreign coaches, and publicly pursued Arthur for months before landing a deal for him to return. He would also have the authority to appoint or remove any captain or coach.

So these changes are only going to be in effect for the tour of Australia?

That, and the following five T20Is in New Zealand, yes. After that, as ever in Pakistan cricket, all bets are off.

Heavy hitter managing expectations after learning of ECB central contract omission via social media

Cameron Ponsonby02-Dec-2023Will Jacks was not told by the ECB that he had missed out on a central contract, saying “I just ended up seeing it on Twitter like everyone else.”Jacks, 25, has played in all three formats for England over the past 12 months and was a surprise omission from the ECB’s list of 29 players to receive a contract offer.”It was a bit of a difficult one,” Jacks said on the eve of England’s ODI opener against West Indies. “I didn’t really find out at all. I knew everyone was hearing and I was waiting to hope that I would find out and then I didn’t. I just ended up seeing it on Twitter like everyone else did and that was obviously disappointing. I was hoping to get one.”Jacks is in high demand on the T20 franchise circuit, with contracts to play in the SA20 in January and the IPL in March. As a result, the omission has been a double edged sword, with Jacks now able to pick and choose his winter commitments as he builds to his number one priority: making the squad for the 2024 World Cup.”The last two World Cup years I’ve just narrowly missed out on selection, so making the World Cup squad is a massive goal of mine and playing T20 cricket in South Africa against some of the best players will be perfect for that.”Related

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The difficulty for England and Jacks, is that the SA20 clashes with England’s Test series against India where, given the explosive batters’ ability with the ball and his strong performances in Pakistan last year, he would be a likely candidate for selection in the squad, if not the playing XI.”I wouldn’t say it’s changed my motivation to play for England,” Jacks said in regards to whether the snub has led to him re-jigging his priorities. “Obviously England is the pinnacle and I want to play as much as I can, but what it has done is managed my expectations.”The India Test matches have obviously been in the back of everyone’s mind for the recent period – it’s such a massive series and there’s all the talk about spin and the need for allrounders and having a deep squad. So it’s probably just that instead of me thinking that I was going to be picked I’m now thinking okay, if they wanted to pick me then realistically, I would have been given a contract. So the fact that they haven’t given me one, probably says something.”Where Jacks is definitely wanted, however, is here and now. Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott have confirmed to him that he will open in all three ODIs alongside Phil Salt, as they look to give their high-risk, high-reward openers as much opportunity for success as possible.”That [backing] is huge for everyone,” Jacks said. “If you bring in a fear of failure or worry about if you are going to play or not, obviously that hinders your performance and you won’t be able to go out there and play with 100 percent confidence. That is really important in any team you play for and especially for England. Everyone knows how high the competition is for places.”England are not expecting the three-match ODI series to be a high-scoring encounter, with the training wickets at the Sir Vivian Richards stadium taking a lot of spin and scores in and around the 250-300 mark assumed to be closer to par.”It’s going to be a bit more – not a grind – but you’re really going to have to think your way through an innings and treat it like it is a longer format…there’s no worries of it becoming an extended T20.”Sunday’s match kicks off at 9:30am, a non-issue for a group still just about on UK time and waking up at 6am naturally. But, on Saturday, the squad had an earlier wake up call than normal when an earthquake registering 5.2 on the Richter scale struck Antigua. No major damage on the island was experienced, but for a group of lads from Shires, Manchester and Surrey, it was a new experience.”We’re all claiming that we’re earthquake survivors now,” joked Jacks, who slept through the whole thing. “I woke up at about six, saw the messages on the group and couldn’t really believe it. Some of the guys said their whole room was shaking and everything.”With England staying at a resort on the south-east corner of the island that looks straight out across the ocean, some players were more concerned than others.”Brooky [Harry Brook] messaged me saying: ‘Is there going to be a tsunami?’ Jacks quipped at his mate’s expense. “That was the first thing we thought but it’s all good now.”

Captain Wolvaardt’s unbeaten 49 drove the chase after Bangladesh were kept to 94 for 6

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Dec-2023A sensational opening burst from debutant Ayanda Hlubi coupled with Masabata Klaas’ discipline set South Africa up for a series-levelling win in the last women’s T20I against Bangladesh in Kimberley. South Africa restricted Bangladesh to 94 for 6 and then romped home by eight wickets, thanks to captain Laura Wolvaardt’s unbeaten 49.Opting to bowl first, Hlubi struck on her fourth ball in international cricket, getting Murshida Khatun caught behind in an attempted drive. On the very next ball, she had Sobhana Mostary caught at slip, courtesy late outswing off a full ball outside off.After Shamima Sultana also fell inside the powerplay – leaving Bangladesh reeling at 17 for 3 – Bangladesh almost shut shop. They added only 12 runs in the next 29 balls to be 29 for 3 at the ten-over mark. Lata Mondal and Nigar Sultana added 29 runs off 55 balls before the latter fell.Shorna Akter then injected momentum into the Bangladesh innings as they scored 26 in the 16 balls after Nigar’s dismissal. Shorna, who picked up a five-for in Bangladesh’s win in the opening T20I, scored 23 off 16 in the 31-ball 46-run stand for the fifth wicket with Mondal. She was run-out in the last over before Mondal, who top-scored with 42, was bowled on the final ball of the innings.In the 95-run chase, Tazmin Brits attacked spinner Nahida Akter by using her feet even as Wolvaardt began steadily. The pair added 35 inside five overs before Brits was adjudged lbw off Marufa Akter, even though the ball appeared to be heading down leg.Offspinner Shorifa Khatun then got one to spin back in sharply to trap Anneke Bosch, who hit a half-century in the first T20I, lbw for nine. But Wolvaardt and Sune Luus ensured South Africa faced no further hiccups in their bid to square the series. Wolvaardt was only helped by Shorna bowling three loose balls, including a no-ball, all of which she despatched to the ropes to hasten the end.The hosts had lost the opening T20I and the second one was washed out.