Legspinner Cameron Boyce has moved from Queensland to Tasmania, signing with the Tigers for the 2016-17 season

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-2016Legspinner Cameron Boyce has moved from Queensland to Tasmania, signing with the Tigers for the 2016-17 season. Boyce, who has played for the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL for the past three seasons and played in Australia’s T20 side this summer, has completed the move south after being chosen for only one Sheffield Shield match for the Bulls in 2015-16.He will be joined in the move to Tasmania by allrounder Simon Milenko, who made his debut for Queensland in 2014-15 but did not play a Shield match last summer. Tasmania have also handed contracts to Cameron Stevenson, Jake Hancock and Andrew Perrin, all of whom have made the move from Victoria’s premier cricket in the hope of making their state debuts.Local fast bowler Cameron Wheatley has earned a state contract, while new rookies include Mac Wright, who has joined from the ACT, and local allrounder Corey Murfet.After a disappointing season in which the Tigers finished last in the Shield the selectors have cut several players. Allrounder Evan Gulbis, who won the Ricky Ponting Medal as Tasmania’s best player in 2013-14, has lost his contract after a summer in which he claimed eight wickets at 50.25 in the Shield.Wicketkeeper Tom Triffitt was also delisted despite playing eight of the state’s ten Shield matches for the season, while spinner Clive Rose and batsman Sean Willis were also axed. The Tigers have also lost allrounder Luke Butterworth and fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus to retirement.”We have some very new faces added to our list but also some familiar faces who have been a part of the Hobart Hurricanes squad and the Tasmanian cricket system,” Cricket Tasmania general manager Andrew Dykes said.”While there is plenty of youth, with Tassie having the third youngest playing list behind South Australia and Western Australia, we are confident we have signed a strong Tasmanian team full of new signings and some very positive re-signings.”Tasmania squad George Bailey (CA contract), Jackson Bird, Cameron Boyce, Xavier Doherty, Alex Doolan, Jake Doran, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner (CA), Andrew Fekete, Jake Hancock, Hamish Kingston, Ben McDermott, Dom Michael, Simon Milenko, Tim Paine, Andrew Perrin, Sam Rainbird, Jordan Silk, Cameron Stevenson, Beau Webster, Cameron Wheatley.
Rookies Gabe Bell, Caleb Jewell, Ryan Lees, Riley Meredith, Corey Murfet, Mac Wright.

Former India team director and allrounder Ravi Shastri has said Virat Kohli is ready to take over the captaincy from MS Dhoni across all formats, and this is the right time to make the switch “in the interest of Indian cricket”

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2016Former India team director and allrounder Ravi Shastri has said Virat Kohli is ready to take over the captaincy from MS Dhoni across all formats, and this is the right time to make the switch “in the interest of Indian cricket”.Kohli already captains India in Test cricket, from which Dhoni has retired, but Dhoni still leads in the shorter formats. Given India play a lot more Tests than limited-overs cricket in the coming months, Shastri said “the gaps” in play for Dhoni will be hard on him. He said he would “definitely be thinking” of naming Kohli captain across formats if he were a selector.”I definitely think so [Kohli should be given the job across formats],” Shastri told India Today Television. “You have to see where India is going to go three years down the line. There are no major events till about three years down the line when you are back with the World Cup. So, this is your best time to think and build.”India play hardly any one-day cricket if you see the next 18 months-two years, and the gaps between Tests and ODIs are massive. So, here’s your time to look ahead and see what you can do with an Indian side all-round three years down the line. If I am the chairman of selectors, I would be thinking in that direction, no question about it.”

‘Virat is a very thorough captain’ – Ashwin

Speaking to , India offspinner R Ashwin lauded Virat Kohli’s captaincy. “Virat is a very thorough captain. He does his homework before the game,” Ashwin said. “We do a lot of team meetings before the game, there’s a lot of honesty around. That gives me the confidence and interest while going out on the field. He gives me enough freedom to express myself and take control of what fields I want to set and how I want to bowl.”

Shastri admitted it would be a tough call to make, but said it would be for the good of Indian cricket. “It’s a catch 22, it’s a hard decision, but I would be thinking about it from now.”The game has to evolve, hard decisions have to be taken, such is life. And nothing wrong in that, it is in the interest of Indian cricket. If you see down the line and you think Dhoni is still the best captain, keep him as captain. But the issue here is the breaks [between Tests and ODIs], and do you have a guy ready [to succeed Dhoni]. My answer is you have a guy ready.”Shastri had worked with the Indian team as director for two years, from August 2014 till the 2016 World T20. Dhoni had captained the team across formats till December 2014, when he retired from Test cricket mid-series in Australia. Kohli took over as Test captain from the New Year’s Test against Australia in Sydney in January 2015. Shastri said Dhoni could still contribute in limited-overs cricket as a player, if he is freed of the responsibilities of captaincy.”By no stretch of imagination you are taking anything away from Dhoni [by making Kohli captain]. He can still contribute massively as a player. I think the time has come for to allow him to enjoy himself and enjoy the game.”End of the day, it is about how hungry Dhoni is, how passionate he is, whether the juices still go as in wanting to play for India. Also the time has come where you have a guy whom you have groomed over a period of time. Virat is ready.”

Richard Levi’s 28-ball half-century helped Northamptonshire to a second consecutive win in the NatWest T20 Blast and the highest successful chase at Wantage Road

ECB Reporters Network27-May-2016
ScorecardRichard Levi thrashed 58 off 37 balls•Getty Images

Richard Levi’s 28-ball half-century helped Northamptonshire to a second consecutive win in the NatWest T20 Blast and the highest successful chase at Wantage Road. Levi’s 58 gave Northants a quick start and Steven Crook smacked 33 in 24 balls finished the job.Requiring close to ten an over, Northants kept pace with the chase throughout with Jobb Cobb making 35 in 23 balls and Ben Duckett 29 in 15 balls. Only legspinner Matt Critchley found any control for Derbyshire, with 2 for 19 from his three overs.Levi was in belligerent mood once again after an opening-round 61 against Leicestershire. His second scoring stroke was a six – the trademark clip off the legs – and he added three more maximums, including a sweet straight lofted drive off Shiv Thakor before the Powerplay was complete. The first six overs were worth a healthy 77 for 1.Cobb found form in two second XI T20s earlier in the week and here began with a classic straight-drive before clearing his front leg to smear Alex Hughes over midwicket and pulling another wide of long-on.Duckett got his “duck-scoop” away to begin the 15th over that yielded 18 runs to bring the equation back to 46 required in 30 balls. But after an outrageous reverse sweep that flew straight into the burger van for six, he tried the same stroke and top-edged to Thakor at backward point.Crook helped reduce the target to 16 from 12 balls and then smashed Jimmy Neesham over extra-cover for four. Just five were needed from the final over but Rory Kleinveldt was caught at long-on trying to finish the game in style, before Andy Carter yorked Rob Keogh to still leave a single needed from two balls. But a no-ball from a high full toss sealed Northamptonshire’s victory.It was a mighty chase – the highest for Northamptonshire in T20s – after Derbyshire posted 195 for 7. Buoyed by an opening-round victory at champions Lancashire, the visitors were sent in and raced off to a great start thanks to Wes Durston. He took Crook’s first over for 19 – two heaved pulls flew towards the short boundary and a slammed uppercut for six over point to the long side of the ground.He helped the visitors to 65 off the Powerplay – Hamish Rutherford falling to a catch at extra cover for 10 – but they lost Durston on the cusp of a half-century before skipping down to Seekkuge Prasanna and being stumped for 47.It ended a stand of 74 for the second wicket in just 36 balls. Chesney Hughes played his part with 46 in 29 balls, having begun with three boundaries, all of them off the edge of the bat: two flashing past slip and a top-edge that Adam Rossington couldn’t take behind the stumps.But having been 110 for 3 after 11 overs, Northants hauled back the Derbyshire innings with four wickets in 11 balls. Cobb, the stand-in captain, was taken for four, six, four in successive balls by Wayne Madsen before gaining his revenge by trapping Madsen lbw trying to sweep. Hughes then missed a straight delivery and was bowled middle stump to give Cobb a second wicket in the over.Ollie Stone returned to have Neesham caught at first slip and when Graeme White claimed a return catch from Thakor, 140 for 3 had become 151 for 7. But Tom Poynton found two boundaries in the closing overs, coupled with some good running in his 37 in 21 balls, to put up a testing target. It proved not enough.

Lord’s was forced to wait through the rain for Brendon McCullum’s first and last appearance at the ground this season

Will Macpherson at Lord's23-Jun-2016

ScorecardJohn Simpson applied a speedy finish to Middlesex’s innings•Getty Images

Until last Thursday, when Sussex came to town, Middlesex had never had a Twenty20 at Lord’s in which the weather had prevented a ball being bowled. For much of this Thursday, it looked as though they would be treated to two in as many games. Lord’s, fascinatingly, were not insured for the washout. With each fixture costing some £100,000 to stage, those refunds burned even deep MCC pockets.These, of course, were to be Brendon McCullum’s only two games at Lord’s. This place had waited long enough to see McCullum in Middlesex colours. Since arriving, he has given cricket’s most notable speech of the year – at this very ground, and played plenty of shots in the process. He has rung the five-minute bell to kick off the Saturday of a Test match. He has played at two outgrounds – Radlett and Merchant Taylor’s – and even appeared across town at The Oval, smiting at least one vast six at each.When the clouds did eventually part – with another hearty crowd of 10,000 in attendance – to allow a nine-over thrash, McCullum’s opening partner Dawid Malan gave the game away, saying: “I think with McCullum playing, the MCC were pretty keen to get us on.” No one was up for another round of refunds. Everyone wanted to watch McCullum bat.Few appreciate the effort it takes just to get McCullum on a cricket field these days. His back is in pieces, and requires as much as three hours with a physiotherapist before playing – for the first time ever, Middlesex’s physio has been travelling to away games to get him up and running. Recently, McCullum was able to do little more than smile when Lord’s filmed a rather nice little video in which Middlesex players tried to replicate Albert Trott’s achievement – unsurpassed since 1899 – of smiting a ball over the Pavilion. His back prevented him having a go.The Malan and McCullum partnership took 21 from Tim Groenewald’s opening over, all but three of them the captain’s, including a magical flick to midwicket for six off his first ball and a drive over extra cover for six more. Thereafter, though, things became sticky, and they did not double those 21 until the penultimate ball of the sixth over, and they had lost three wickets by then. McCullum was caught behind, a ball after smiting Lewis Gregory through the covers for four. The following two overs featured a wicket each, with Paul Stirling caught well at cow off Max Waller, and James Franklin bowled without scoring by Roloef van der Merwe.John Simpson joined Malan to bookend the innings. Simpson hooked a six, cracked a four down the ground then headed to wide midwicket for six more. In the meantime, Malan had contented himself with singles until launching into Jamie Overton’s final over, driving down the ground for six, then taking four more with the deftest, classiest ramp, and – from the final ball – going inside-out over extra cover for six, which brought up his 50 from 28 balls and, more importantly, took Middlesex past 90, which looked par.Allenby flew out of the blocks, pulling his first ball – from Steven Finn – to midwicket for six, before James Fuller did him for pace and he miscued into the offside and was caught. Two balls later, Finn’s quite brilliant catch – running 30 metres to his right at long-on and diving – did for Johan Myburgh. Next ball, bowled by James Franklin, Mahela Jayawardene drove hard and uppish through point, where Paul Stirling dived to his right and took another outstanding catch.There were to be cameos, but little more, from Somerset. The following over Nathan Sowter, a gangly legspinner with a deep box of tricks, bowled Peter Trego with his googly, and another fine catch – McCullum, straight, this time – sent Lewis Gregory on his way. Van der Merwe held Middlesex up, with a marvellous ramped four and a brutal cover-driven six off Fuller.With 13 required off the last, bowled by Finn, Jamie Overton was caught at long on – that man McCullum again – before van der Merwe appeared to be caught and bowled next ball, only for the delivery to be adjudged a waist-high no-ball and a free hit – scrambled for two – given. With six needed from two, Finn conceded just one.Off, then, McCullum trots from Lord’s, with a final appearance of the season in Canterbury to come – he says he wants to come back next year, and is already leaving behind a team batting and fielding in his image. It is only a shame he could not stay longer, and we all know why that is.

With Australia heading into the final day of the Pallekele Test needing 185 runs, and Sri Lanka requiring seven wickets, Australia’s batting coach Stuart Law believes the dry, hard surface could aid his batsmen

Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Jul-20162:10

‘We won’t play to draw’ – Law

In four completed Tests at the Pallekele Stadium, Sri Lanka have never been winners. In the only matches that reached a fourth innings, chasing sides have found no terrors on the pitch, particularly when Pakistan ran down 377 in the most recent Test at the venue.With 185 more runs to get and seven wickets in hand, Australia batting coach Stuart Law is hoping the trend continues. Both teams were shot out for relatively modest first-innings totals, but counter to what is usually believed about Asian surfaces, Law said batting had become easier since then.”It’s not going to be a day-five pitch,” he said. “We have played like three days thanks to the rain and light interruptions. History says that teams have chased big totals here before. Those pitches might have been prepared differently than for us, coming in.”This pitch doesn’t look like deteriorating a great deal. If you look at the footmarks, big Mitchell Starc has been bowling left-arm over, and has hardly broken the surface. It’s hard as concrete and it’s very dry. Overnight these conditions do tend to get the moisture back up into the surface. The first half-hour to an hour, can be tricky. But the wicket drying up shouldn’t be a problem. The first two days it was tacky in the mornings. But it’s progressively dried out, and is probably at its driest now.”But it is exactly that lack of moisture that Sri Lanka will hope their spinners will be able to exploit on day five. Several deliveries took sharp turn on day four – particularly Lakshan Sandakan’s stock ball to dismiss Joe Burns – and with three frontline spinners in his XI, Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford hoped the seven wickets would be forthcoming.”I think we’ve fought really hard to get ourselves into a situation when we can win this Test match,” he said. “Pleasingly, a few balls started to turn quite sharply before the players came off for bad light. Hoping tomorrow that a few things will go our way, and we’ll be able to press home.”Ford also said Sri Lanka would have been “in the driving seat” had the lbw decision against Adam Voges been upheld. Voges had been given out when rapped on the pad first ball by Dilruwan Perera, but projections showed that ball to be missing leg stump. Voges remains at the crease with Steven Smith, and the two are reputed to be Australia’s best players of spin.”They are class players and their records are outstanding,” Ford said. “The partnership is crucial and if we can break it in the morning – who knows what can happen? Day-five pitch – I know it hasn’t had a full four days on it, but it is a wearing wicket. One just has to misbehave, and that can break a partnership.”Law agreed that the overnight stand was a crucial one. “The two guys who are batting at the moment need to put up a good partnership,” he said. “Everyone else has to chip in where they can. We are still confident. We always want to play to win and not to draw.”

Jeetan Patel was hailed as ‘one of the best overseas players Warwickshire have ever had’ by Ian Bell a match-winning five-wicket haul

George Dobell at Edgbaston29-Aug-2016
ScorecardJeetan Patel claimed a five-wicket haul – all lbw – as Warwickshire earned a trip to Lord’s•Getty Images

Jeetan Patel was hailed as “one of the best overseas players Warwickshire have ever had” by Ian Bell after his career-best one-day bowling performance guided his side to the final of the Royal London Cup.Patel, with the first five-wicket haul of a limited-overs career that stretches back to the previous century, expertly applied pressure on a Somerset batting order chasing a testing target on a slow, used surface. With some balls turning and some skidding on, Patel claimed all his dismissals with leg before shouts, punishing Somerset’s habit of playing across the line. Warwickshire will play Surrey in the final at Lord’s on September 17.When Patel signed for Warwickshire in 2009, he looked a modest addition. He was not the sort of star name that increased the gate and did not have the sort of record – he had a first-class bowling average above 40 – that suggested he would prove a match-winner.But a star he has been. He has taken at least 50 wickets in each of the last five first-class county seasons – he is the leading wicket-taker in Division One of the County Championship this year – improved his batting to the point where he averages 26.69 for Warwickshire in first-class cricket (with two centuries and 11 half-centuries) and proved himself indispensable. He deserves to be rated, alongside Allan Donald, Brian Lara, Rohan Kanhai and the rest, as the best Warwickshire have had.He has already agreed to return in 2017 and, if the club ask, will sign for 2018 as well. He insists he has not thought about qualifying for England (“wouldn’t I just be holding back a young fella?” was his typically no nonsense response to that question) but admitted it was an intriguing idea. Nobody in England bowls spin anywhere near this standard.Or New Zealand for that matter. But Patel turned down the last approach for a recall a couple of years ago reasoning that leaving in the middle of a county season may compromise his relatively secure day job with Warwickshire for two weeks of modestly-paid international cricket. He is, though, a far better bowler – and batsman, actually – than the man who last played international cricket in January 2013.He did not play a lone hand here, though. Oliver Hannon-Dalby, bowling with control and skill, produced his best Warwickshire performance of the season and gained movement off the seam that was largely absent to other seamers, while Warwickshire’s top three all batted with maturity and skill. Both teams felt their final total – 284 – was about 20 above par on this surface.The Warwickshire method is not fashionable. Whereas conventional wisdom insists that modern batsmen must blast the ball into the stands, Warwickshire have several accumulators who are more adept at finding gaps, rotating the strike and playing the percentages.Perhaps, on the perfect batting tracks that currently prevail in ODIs, such a tactic might be passé, but on county surfaces (this pitch had been used on T20 Finals Day) it is highly effective. You pretty much know what you’re going to get from them: they scored 283 in both their previous List A games and 284 here.Sam Hain, now the leading run-scorer in the competition this season, set the tone in an opening stand of 90 with Jonathan Trott. While Trott, who looks in sublime form, was deceived by a fine slower ball from Roelof van der Merwe, Bell judged the conditions expertly and produced his highest score in any format since the second week of April in ensuring they set a testing target. “You’re going to see a lot of Hain in the future,” Bell said afterwards.Warwickshire only managed one boundary from the end of the 33rd over to mid-way through the 45th (and only hit three fours in their last 10 overs) and, from a base of 149 for 1` after 30 overs, may have felt they finished 20 or so short of the total they wanted.But Bell provided some late acceleration. He took 16 off van der Merwe’s final three balls, rather denting his figures in the process, with one of the two sixes driven into the third tier of Warwickshire’s new pavilion. It is hard to recall a bigger hit since the redevelopment.With Tim Ambrose injured while batting – he appears to pull a hamstring, though Warwickshire say they are confident that he will be fit for their Championship match against Middlesex in mid-week – Somerset sportingly allowed Warwickshire to bring in Alex Mellor as a specialist substitute with the gloves.Mellor, who has been on loan with Derbyshire and had never before kept for Warwickshire in first team cricket, was just settling down for an afternoon in the sun of his Staffordshire garden when the phone went demanding his presence at Edgbaston, but he made good time and took the gloves a few overs into the Somerset reply.He took a key catch, too. Tom Abell, had batted beautifully in adding 75 with Peter Trego and appeared to have put Somerset on track. But with Hannon-Dalby’s tight first spell increasing the pressure, Abell attempted to hit one from Chris Wright through mid-on and somehow edged a high catch to young Mellor.When Trego missed an attempted pull off Patel, it precipitated a decline that saw four wickets fall – all to Patel and all leg before – for the addition of just 16 runs. Warwickshire supporters started booking their trains and hotels.But Ryan Davies, hitting the ball with a crispness that belied a previous List A best of just 14, had other ideas. He added 71 in 10 overs with James Hildreth, who survived a missed stumping off Josh Poysden when he had 17 and, even after the latter drove to mid-off and Davies became Patel’s final victim, Tom Groenewald and Max Waller continued the charge.But Hannon-Dalby wasn’t going to allow 16 required off the final over and it was Warwickshire who progressed to Lord’s.It is to be hoped it raises spirits around Edgbaston. There have been faces as long as Livery Street – as they say locally – round here of late with a disappointing T20 campaign followed by a decline in the Championship. This cup run does not make everything better – there were only three locally developed players in this Warwickshire side (Somerset fielded six) that remains uncomfortably reliant upon cricketers in their mid-30s – but it will perhaps prove enough of a boost to end talk of a clear-out.”We showed some character,” Matt Maynard, the Somerset coach said afterwards. “We looked dead and buried a few times there. But we let the rate get up when we batted and we let them score 20 too many when we bowled. It was only the second game we have lost all competition, but it’s in a semi-final.””Our fielding standards can improve,” Bell said. “But I’m very proud of the way we’ve played. Jeetan goes under the radar a bit, but he is one of the best overseas players Warwickshire have ever had. We’re lucky to have him.”

Rain caused the abandonment of the second match at Harrup Park in Mackay, between South Africa A and India A, giving the teams two points each

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2016Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:56