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A sickness bug in the camp and the odd niggle is about as troublesome as the World Cup campaign has been for New Zealand so far. Their final match against Bangladesh is about putting a convincing full stop on the long group stage of the tournament

Andrew McGlashan in Hamilton12-Mar-2015New Zealand have not been required to bowl their full fifty overs even once in the World Cup and their batting was under significant pressure only against Australia at Eden Park. The last few days is about as troublesome as the campaign has been for them, with the sickness bug in the camp, some concerns over Adam Milne’s shoulder and a disrupted practice session on Thursday as rain swept through Hamilton. Better now than next week in Wellington, but it isn’t exactly panic stations.Their final group match against Bangladesh is about putting a convincing full stop on the drawn out first phase of the tournament. The hustle of New Zealand’s opening three matches in a week feels a long time ago, for those watching and for those playing.As he has before every match, Brendon McCullum said he expected to be tested by Bangladesh but would not have any qualms if his side waltzed to another victory. However, he also insisted his team have been tested, in various ways, across all their games and the fact that three of the victories have been very convincing is a credit to his players.”You can argue we haven’t been tested but I’d argue we’ve come through those tests,” he said. “The scorelines may not suggest we have been pushed but sometimes they can flatter how hard a game can be as well. We’re going to be tested over the next little while but need to make sure we’ve gleaned confidence from what we’ve been able to achieve. We’re incredibly stoic in our self-belief in how we can play.”New Zealand’s top three are ticking along – Martin Guptill spent useful time in the middle against Afghanistan – but Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi have faced a combined 220 deliveries in the tournament. In comparison Williamson has faced 219 and McCullum just 129 for his 249 runs.”For us it’s just about winning and however you can get that job done is important,” McCullum said. “We’ve had the ability to bowl teams out for under 200 and when we have batted first we managed to get over 300. Yes, some guys may be a little bit light under hardened pressure in a game but that’s a by-product of the success we’ve been having.”Taylor’s lean run, which followed strong returns against a depleted Pakistan attack in the two-match series before the World Cup, has not been exposed due to the small nature of New Zealand’s chases or, in the case of the Australia match, because Williamson held his nerve. However, against Afghanistan, when he batted for more than an hour, his feet were not moving well and it was a scratchy innings.”It wasn’t so long ago that Ross peeled off three hundreds in pretty quick time,” McCullum said. “He has been short of opportunity, through the nature of us bowling as well as we have then chasing down the runs but I’m not worried about that at all.”I’ve said time and again that the No. 3 and 4 punch we have in our team, I wouldn’t swap for anyone in the world. They are class players and under pressure stand up. I expect Ross will be heavy on the runs if we continue to progress in the tournament.”This match is likely to provide New Zealand’s toughest examination by spin in the tournament to date. Seddon Park has a reputation for being the most spin-friendly surface in the country, although more so for Test matches than one-dayers. When they played West Indies in a Test in late 2013, the New Zealand players made it fairly clear they were unimpressed by a pitch that offered Sunil Narine considerable assistance.New Zealand’s previous ODI here was against Sri Lanka, in January, and they lost by six wickets. The visiting spinners sent down 37 overs and it is likely that Arafat Sunny will again partner Shakib Al Hasan in the Bangladesh attack even though the surface, under cover for most of Thursday, had a decent covering of grass which will please New Zealand.The pace attack could feature their first change of the tournament with doubts remaining over Milne’s right shoulder which was jarred when taking a catch against Afghanistan. McCullum said they would take a cautious approach, which opens the door for the recall of left-armer Mitchell McClenaghan who, with his extra pace compared to Kyle Mills, is considered the more like-for-like swap.McClenaghan has taken 66 wickets in 34 ODIs at 24.83 and can consider himself unlucky to miss out on the original side having taken 10 wickets in five innings against Sri Lanka. If he does play it will mean four left-arm bowlers out of five. They are very much the must-have asset and New Zealand are well-stocked.

Trumper the cricketer was a genius, Trumper the man touched Australia’s collective soul

Ashley Mallett28-Jun-2013The cricketing gods must have shed a thousand tears that cold, grey Sydney Monday morning of June 28, 1915 when they knew the greatest batsman of cricket’s golden age was nearing his end.The much-loved Victor Trumper died that very morning, after battling a kidney disease, as the clock struck ten. It would herald a period of great sadness at a time when thousands of young Australians were being killed in the horrific Gallipoli campaign. Trumper’s death at the age of 37 stunned the nation. Australia’s most brilliant and charismatic batsman was gone. Within hours, news of his death was emblazoned on placards that read “Great Cricketer Dead” at news stands throughout Australia and in London.An illustrated weekly, the , was full of the news from Gallipoli, from the epic landing and subsequent operations in the Dardanelles. There were pages of photographs of gallant ANZACs who had given their lives or had been wounded. A single-column photograph and 19 lines was all Trumper was given, but it was a touching tribute:

“Victor Trumper was the greatest batsman Australia had produced and its most accomplished in the history of the game in any country. The solid qualities of Tyldesley and Hobbs, the magnificent skill of Hill and Darling, even the wizardry of Ranjitsinhji, paled before a wonderful grace and orthodox poetry of motion that lifted batting to a standard that had not entered into the dream of those who imagined they had seen all that cricket had to offer when Grace and Shewsbury or those already mentioned had been at the wicket. He was a modest, good-living young man. His courage in his illness was the natural revelation of the Christian character.”

A correspondent with the , “Not Out”, wrote:

“The war hits us hard; but this blow has a sadder touch than any we may have felt when other heroes of the athletic world have died on the field of battle. Trumper’s name in cricket will never perish. He was the artist of cricket from toes to finger-tips. He was a man of bright, winning personality, upright and generous to a fault, as was recognised by those responsible for placing the proceeds of his testimonial match under trustees, for himself, and after him for his widows and children. I cannot conceive of him having had any enemies, for he was a spotless youth in character and habits. May the turf rest lightly over his grave.”

Trumper’s funeral took place on Wednesday, June 30, 1915. It was one of the largest and most impressive ever afforded a sportsman in Australia. The cortège left Trumper’s Chatswood home. The Reverend EH Cranswick of St Paul’s Church of England, Chatswood, read the service and subsequently delivered a singularly appropriate eulogy at the graveside at Waverley Cemetery. Hundreds of cricketers past and present marched four abreast with Trumper’s body from Chatswood to Fort Macquarie, where it was met by hundreds more.The cortège comprised a four-horse hearse, four carriages, and a floral carriage. Victor’s body was placed in a solid oak casket with handles, after his remains were removed from St Vincent’s Private Hospital. He was interred in the Church of England section of the Waverley Cemetery.Neither his wife, Annie, or his mother, Louey, attended the funeral. They were far too distraught. The chief mourners were Victor’s father, Charles; his two brothers, Charles and Sid; his uncle Thomas; brothers-in-law W Briggs and George Smith; and T Love, James Kelly, G Love, J Kavanagh, V Kavanagh and H West.Thousands of people stood in silence as the cortège passed and hundreds of others – men, women and children – wept openly. Men from all walks of life joined the procession, sportsmen from throughout Australia journeyed to pay their last respects.

By a lovely mix of consummate skill and a humble nature, Trumper proved that a good guy could also run first. Trumper the man touched the collective soul of the Australia people

A veteran cricketer of Goulburn, William Walsh, was at Trumper’s funeral:

“The waters were calm, glorious sunshine overhead and the blue sky flecked by fleecy clouds. The coffin was borne from the hearse to the grave by Monty Noble, Tibby Cotter, Hanson Carter, Syd Gregory and another. I was subsequently informed it was Warwick Armstrong, although I failed to recognise him. They were all his worthy allies in the contests on the various cricket fields of the world, and it was fitting that the final post of honour should be allotted to them. Clem Hill was absent, but we all felt he was there in spirit, for he had a high regard for Victor. Hill, the world’s greatest No. 3 batsman of the time, said of Trumper: ‘As a batsman I was not fit to lick Victor’s boots.’As the coffin was lowered, Monty Noble showed much emotion, and so did Warren Bardsley. The scene was pathetic and I think appealed to most of us as a practical sermon of life. All the mourners have gone home and I am alone looking out over the ocean.”

Victor suffered from a condition that was called Bright’s Disease. Noted on his death certificate and under the heading, Cause of Death, are the words: “uraemic convulsions… nephritis”.Neville Cardus wrote: “The death of a cricketer before age has fallen on him is sad: it is even against nature. Well may he look down on the fields from his chill hall of immortality, far removed from the jolly flesh and blood of his life, and cry out: ‘Another day in the sun and wind and I am not there, I am not there.'”By a lovely mix of consummate skill and a humble nature, Trumper proved that a good guy could also run first. Trumper the man touched the collective soul of the Australian people. According to Cardus, Trumper was sheer beauty in full flight, whereas Don Bradman, who years after Trumper had passed, took over the mantle of Australia’s greatest batsman, was consumed by making runs and being ruthlessly efficient at his craft: Trumper the eagle; Bradman the aeroplane. Trumper could tear an attack apart but upon reaching a hundred he looked about for a bowler deserving of his wicket. Bradman was so ruthlessly different. He built his innings on the bones of an attack that was crushed and broken in spirit.We all know of Bradman’s amazing Test average, 99.94, and alongside Bradman’s figures Trumper’s statistics pale into seeming insignificance. In 48 Test matches Trumper scored 3163 runs at an average of 39.04. He hit eight centuries, with a high of 214 not out against South Africa at the Adelaide Oval in 1910-11, and 13 half-centuries. The figures don’t reflect Trumper’s mastery of batting on uncovered wickets which were laid bare to rain, then a searing sun. When those steamy, muddy surfaces started to dry out they were called “sticky dogs”.Bad pitches were a challenge and a joy to Trumper. In January 1904 he scored 74 out of Australia’s total of 122 against the wiles of Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst on such a sticky dog. Rain and sun had taken its toll on that MCG wicket. Rhodes took a match haul of 15 for 124, but it was Trumper’s genius with the bat on that wicket that enthralled everyone.Bradman never really understood Trumper’s genius. He would ask the likes of Alan Kippax and Arthur Mailey why they thought so highly of him. “How can you speak so glowingly of a batsman who averaged 39?”Cardus saw both Trumper and Bradman at their best, but he maintained that you could not compare a batsman or a bowler purely on figures alone. Perhaps it was Cardus who could have best answered Bradman’s question. “I am concerned with Trumper as an artist, not as a scorer of match-winning runs,” he wrote. “You will no more get an idea of the quality of Trumper’s batsmanship by adding up his runs than you will get an idea of the quality of Shelley’s poetry by adding up the number of lines written by Shelley.”It is now 98 years since Trumper was laid to rest. But his name lives on and will do so as long as the game of cricket is played. The cricketing gods loved Trumper above all others, for whenever he strode handsomely to the wicket the crowd rose as one to applaud and even the blades of grass seemed to bow respectfully in the wake of the great man’s entrance, becoming a rolling sea of green, nature’s own version of a Mexican wave.

Since playing as a batsman in 2010, Wriddhiman Saha has been a perpetual standby. But with MS Dhoni under pressure, and his peers failing to make an impact, Adelaide could be his chance to impress the selectors

Sidharth Monga in Adelaide 20-Jan-2012Wriddhiman Saha will not end up as just an answer to the trivia question: “Who is the Indian wicketkeeper who played one Test for no dismissals or byes, and scored 0 and 36?” Thanks to the slow over-rate ban on MS Dhoni, Saha will get a proper opportunity to play in a Test, in Adelaide.Record-books will tell you Saha has already made his Test debut, but this will be his first real Test match. He made his debut in bizarre circumstances. India’s squad for the first Test against South Africa, in February 2010, included – you better believe it – just six batsmen. A day before the Test VVS Laxman fell sick. Luckily Rohit Sharma was in town. He was asked to stay back. On the morning of what would have been Rohit’s debut, though, he injured himself while warming up.Without warning, Saha, in the squad as the reserve wicketkeeper, was thrown into the unknown, as a specialist batsman who would bat at No. 7. Like a ghost he walked into a red-hot Dale Steyn spell, and shouldered arms to a big reversing inswinger. Bang went the off stump, and you wondered if that would be the lasting image of Saha’s career. Laxman was sure to come back and reclaim his place, Dhoni would keep on keeping, but unwittingly Saha had become the face of the selectorial farce that played a part in that huge innings defeat.For almost two years since then Saha has travelled with the team without getting a second game. A chance at redemption seemed nowhere in sight. Apart from being standby keeper for home Tests, Saha has been to Sri Lanka, South Africa, England and Australia, getting a fielding session here, a net there. Now, though, he will play. And once again, for the sake of sameness, Rohit will still be waiting for his debut. Such is life.Back to Saha, though. He is rated highly as a wicketkeeper by those who have seen him in domestic cricket. Gautam Gambhir said two days after Dhoni was banned: “He is a very good wicketkeeper and hopefully he can contribute with the bat as well. I want to wish him good luck as playing in Australia is going to be tough. He is a gritty kind of player.”Saha said he has spent enough time on the sidelines, waiting for his chance. “I have been travelling with the team for a long period,” he said. “Now that I have got the chance I just want to do what I have learned right from my younger days.”Reminded of his debut, Saha didn’t sound bitter. “I remember that day,” he said, “but mostly because it was my first match. I remember the circumstances in which I debuted. But I had told myself I would try my best: be it batting, fielding or keeping.”Saha said there was no pressure on him because it was cricket he was going out to play after all. “I don’t feel any extra pressure. Right from my childhood I have played freely. Even when I play in India, be it a club game or state game, I take them similarly.”Saha said he had prior experience of keeping wickets in Australia so that should not be too much of a bother. “I have played here in the Emerging Trophy. I kept wickets in a lot of two-day games, one-day games and Twenty20s. It wasn’t a big problem keeping in Australia so I should be fine.”Wicketkeeping in India has led to a dead end for everyone other than Dhoni ever since he smashed that 148 against Pakistan in Vizag in 2004-05. Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik have had their chances, often as specialist batsmen in ODIs, but neither of them has been able to stake an absolute claim to being the second-best wicketkeeper in the country. Dhoni, to his credit, has shown he is better than them purely as a wicketkeeper too. All the while the selectors have earmarked Saha as the Test back-up.Now is Saha’s time – as Dhoni’s performance and captaincy in Tests comes under the scanner – to try to do better than Karthik and Parthiv, and possibly give the selectors an option that will help ease Dhoni’s workload.

Everybody hopes that the next three matches go the full distance, but don’t rule out contingency plans for rain intervals being discussed in team meetings

Sidharth Monga in Wellington06-Mar-2009

So one-day cricket has become predictable, eh? It’s not the same old formulaic stuff when there’s rain around. With constant rain intervals, as at the Westpac Stadium tonight, teams have to keep thinking on their feet. Equations and circumstances keep changing with every drop that hits the green.Take a look at this scenario. Before the rain arrived the first time, India were 130 for 1 and looking at a 300-plus score. After two brief stints and three rain breaks, if the game had started, India would have had to defend 165 in 20 overs. On a pitch that Daniel Vettori said was much better than the one for the Twenty20 last week, with a wet outfield and ten wickets in hand, New Zealand would have fancied a win. So from being the favourites at one stage, India would be forgiven if they thought they escaped tonight. Such are the shenanigans of the Duckworth-Lewis system.It is always tricky to bat after a rain interval. All of a sudden the overs are reduced, the batsmen have to think of a target that is safe, and they have to change their style. Let’s not forget that they have to play themselves in before they can go for the big hits. Not to take the credit away from Vettori and Kyle Mills, but India came out a little distracted after the first rain break, and lost two wickets for 21 runs in five overs before rain struck again.The strategising for games when rain is forecast – and the forecasts in New Zealand have been fairly good so far – begins at the toss itself. Does a team want the runs on the board? Or does it want to chase a target? It is often tempting to go for the latter, but

Mahendra Singh Dhoni looked at the other side of it before he chose to bat.”If it rains for the amount that you lose eight, 10 or 15 overs, the side which has batted first has a bit of advantage,” said Dhoni said, “but in the same way for the side batting, if they are given a target in 20 overs, it becomes very easy. For New Zealand today, if it was a 20-over game, they would have required around 166-odd runs, but if it was a 28-over game they would have needed about 217-odd runs.”Also the side batting first stands to gain in terms of Powerplays from a situation when the game has been reduced. Today India got 15 overs of Powerplays before the rain interval, and with the game reduced to 34 overs, got three more overs of batting Powerplay. Had the rain not intervened, New Zealand would have got only 13 overs of fielding restrictions as opposed to India’s 18. It will be one complex system that takes all this into account and then reworks the target. In a similar scenario late last year, India got 18 overs of Powerplays as opposed to England’s nine, in the Bangalore ODI that had to be reduced to 22 overs a side.Generally the shorter the match, the more it favours the fielding side. But like Dhoni said, who can predict how much it will rain? It helps, though, to have a Virender Sehwag at the top of the order to take the pressure that the duo of Duckworth and Lewis put on a batting side.India knew it would rain in Napier and they knew it would rain in Wellington. Both times they decided to bat, so it seems like a policy decision. “It’s like a gamble because you don’t know how much it would rain,” said Dhoni. “That’s a gamble you take more often, and we are a good batting side so we back ourselves on that. If we get a good start we can get a decent score if the amount of overs are reduced by 15 or 20. And definitely, in 30 overs the opposition will get a big target to chase.”Vettori would have batted too if he had won the toss, but for a different reason. “The wicket was a lot better than it was for the Twenty20 game, so we wanted to make sure we could put a score on the board,” he said. “And in a way, try and put the pressure back on India because they have done so well with batting at the start.”India’s tour of New Zealand so far has been shorn of mind games and quotable quotes, but the rain breaks have added an interesting twist to both off-field planning and on-field implementation, especially when dealing with factors beyond one’s control. It is not always fair, but like the batting Powerplays they add a whole new dimension.Everybody is hoping that the next three matches will go the full distance, but you can be sure contingency plans for rain intervals will be discussed in team meetings.

Timm van der Gugten offers support with unbeaten fifty

ECB Reporters Network14-Jun-2023Chris Cooke defied Durham on the final day at Seat Unique Riverside with an unbeaten century to secure a draw for Glamorgan, maintaining their unbeaten record in the LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two this term.Cooke arrived at the crease after Kiran Carlson fell from the fifth ball of the day when the visitors were reduced to 159 for 5, staring down the possibility of an innings defeat.But, the wicketkeeper defied the home side with a brilliant performance, notching his second hundred of the season with a score of 134. Timm van der Gugten was equally impressive to record his seventh first-class fifty, sharing an unbeaten stand worth 153 with Cooke to earn a share of the spoils.Durham made the early breakthrough to dismiss Carlson and were seemingly on course for victory after reducing the visitors to 273 for 7. But they could not prise out the eighth-wicket stand on a pitch that offered little assistance for both pace and spin bowlers. The North-East outfit remain top of the Division Two table still comfortably ahead of their rivals at the halfway stage of the campaign.Durham did not have to wait long to earn the first breakthrough of the day as Bas de Leede claimed the vital wicket of Carlson for 35 when the Glamorgan skipper picked out Craig Miles at short mid-wicket. Still 81 behind, the visitors required a strong effort from their final five to fend off the Durham charge for victory.Cooke and Billy Root were disciplined to see off the remaining spells from de Leede and Ben Raine before settling in against the left-arm spin of Ajaz Patel. The batters put on a stand of 72 before Root had a waft a wide delivery from Raine to hand Durham their sixth wicket to present a chance to break into the Glamorgan tail.But Cooke led a counter after lunch, dispatching Miles for back-to-back boundaries to reach his fifty and he was far from done in a bid to defy the hosts. Although Andy Gorvin was bowled by Miles, van der Gugten joined Cooke, and was well up for the challenge, remaining solid in defence and taking his scoring opportunities when given.Durham tried an array of bowling combinations and tactics as Scott Borthwick threw everything at his disposal to break the partnership. The combination of outstanding batting and a lifeless day four pitch frustrated the home side. Cooke capitalised as the field spread to grind his way to a deserved century from 168 balls, which took the game away from Durham in the afternoon session. Van der Gugten also claimed his milestone to reach fifty before both teams shook hands on a draw in the final hour.

The MLS side launched a bold campaign ahead of their showdown with Miami, offering fans the chance to trade in Messi jerseys for Paul Rothrock ones

Fans can exchange any Messi Miami jersey for a free Rothrock kitPromotion designed to boost home-field advantage Exchange offer originated from fan suggestion in Sounder at Heart DiscordGet the MLS Season Pass today!Stream games nowGetty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED

Seattle Sounders have announced an unexpected promotion allowing fans to trade in any Lionel Messi Inter Miami jersey for a Paul Rothrock Sounders FC kit free of charge. The exchange will be available at the Lumen Field Pro Shop when gates opened at 3:30 p.m. PT while supplies lasted. The promotion deliberately contrasted the world's most famous player with a hometown talent who represents the Sounders' community-based identity ahead of Messi's first Seattle appearance since joining MLS.

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The jersey exchange represents the growing confidence and distinctive culture of the Seattle Sounders organization as they prepared to face the league's most glamorous team on their home turf. The promotion highlighted the different pathways to success in MLS: international superstars versus locally-developed talents.

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The Sounders host Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup final on Sunday evening before an expected record crowd, reportedly set to exceed 65,000 fans at Lumen Field.

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP questions chair’s intentions in open letter from CMS committee

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2024Colin Graves, Yorkshire’s chair, has come under renewed scrutiny from the chair of the parliamentary committee that oversees sporting bodies, following his recent claims that a process of demutualisation could prove to be “essential” to the long-term future of the club.Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, queried the timing and content of Graves’ remarks, made in a letter to Yorkshire’s members on Monday, which she felt contradicted his previous assurances that the club would remain a members-owned institution under his leadership.Graves appeared before the CMS select committee on February 20, after his return as Yorkshire chair had been ratified at an EGM earlier that month. Yorkshire claimed at the time that it had engaged with more than 350 interested parties, including the former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, but had deemed his offer was the only one capable of retaining the club’s existing status as a mutual society.”Your return to the club was predicated on your financial support not being contingent on demutualisation of the club, in contrast to alternative bids discussed by the board,” Dinenage wrote in a letter to Graves on Thursday, which was also posted on X (formerly Twitter). “We are therefore concerned that you have now decided that converting the club to a private structure is now ‘essential’?””Prior to your bid’s approval, you reassured the members of the club on 16 January that ‘there are no discussions or plans to change the mutual status of YCCC.’ This claim was made despite your September 2023 offer to the YCCC board, which you initially denied any knowledge of to us, which was contingent on such a demutualisation.”Dinenage also queried the nature of Graves’ relationship with the family trust, overseen by independent trustees, which is a legacy of his original bail-out that saved Yorkshire from bankruptcy in 2002, and still constitutes some £15 million of the £20 million of the club’s “long-term borrowing” that Graves outlined in his letter to members.Related

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Graves’ proposed process of demutualisation would unlock those loans and open the club up to private investment – a prospect that has already be raised among county clubs via the ongoing discussions over the future of the Hundred.In his update to members, he pledged that any potential windfall “for either myself or my family trust … would be donated in full into a charitable trust supporting Yorkshire recreational cricket, both men’s and women’s”. Dinenage, however, requested more information on that commitment, and set a deadline of May 31 for a response.”You have previously told the Committee that you have no role in your family trusts,” Dinenage wrote. “We would be grateful for clarity on the following points: Whether the trustees of the Graves family trustees have agreed to the commitment to donations, and your role in securing this agreement? Whether the ‘financial upside’ referred to in your 20 May update includes the interest rates of 4% above base rate, which will be returned to you and your family trusts as part of the repayment of debts? The proposed governance arrangements for any new charitable trust for Yorkshire recreational cricket.”It is the second time in as many months that Yorkshire have come under parliamentary scrutiny. In April, the committee released its “Equity in Cricket” report, in which the ECB was urged to closely monitor the club in the wake of the racism scandal, to “ensure that there is no return to the ‘business as usual’ that allowed a culture of discrimination to take root and thrive at the club”.

Will Williams’ late double gives Lancashire a shot at victory on day four at the Utilita Bowl

ECB Reporters Network14-Apr-2024Keaton Jennings quickly disproved a Utilita Bowl jinx with a fine century to ease Lancashire into a large first-innings lead over Hampshire.Five batters – Nick Gubbins, James Vince, Tom Prest, Liam Dawson and Luke Wells – had scored fifties without converting to three figures in the first fixture at the newly renamed ground. But Jennings turned his overnight 85 into 172 with barely a moment out of shape, 21-year-old George Bell brilliantly accompanied him – but he was left cursing himself after running himself out for 99, with a maiden first-class century at his fingertips.Lancashire were eventually bowled out for 484 – with Liam Dawson picking up 4 for 156 – boasting a 117-run lead. Hampshire lost two wickets to Will Williams before the close as they reached 39 for 2. Neither the pitch nor the Kookaburra ball have assisted the bowlers in any way shape or form, but batters have been able to make hay at the Utilita Bowl.The only time Jennings had looked at ease during his seven-and-a-half-hour vigil had been on day two when he was dropped at point, when on 36, by Nick Gubbins. Otherwise, it was a 360-degree showcase of his skills, with the lack of movement from the fast bowlers not troubling him, and his renowned brilliance against spin made threats low.The former Test opener reached his 28th first-class century in 234 balls with an effortless cover drive as he and Bell eased through the morning session. In fact, Hampshire’s solitary moment of joy came when they thought James Fuller had produced an edge out of Jennings, but their celebrations were cut short by the lack of the umpire’s finger.Jennings moved through 150 – something six of his last seven red ball centuries have done – with Lancashire reaching 350 before the bonus points ended. That point will mean Lancashire will take one extra point if this ends in a draw.The 40th over of the day finally ended the 166-run stand between Jennings and Bell, as Dawson pinned Jennings while he played a reverse sweep.Bell was largely risk-averse throughout his innings but showed he was capable of driving attractively and adeptly finding gaps.He wouldn’t be rushed with his 50 coming in 132 balls, with a century seeming inevitable – despite seeing Dawson have Matthew Hurst caught at first slip and Tom Bailey leg before, having previously stood his ground after James Vince wrongfully claimed a catch.The only time he looked skittish was in the 90s and taking off for a single – when one was needed for a fine first ton. A run was never really in the offering, something Jack Blatherwick recognised and sent him back but too late for Ian Holland to directly hit from point.It was the second time that Bell had fallen in the 90 – having hit 91 against Middlesex last September – with a century surely not far away.Dawson’s tireless twirling away for 49 overs concluded by bowling Will Williams, before Fuller claimed his second of the innings when Blatherwick edged behind.In 21 twilight overs under the lights, all of the visiting bowlers beat the bat countless times, but were rewarded with a pair of wickets. Williams tickled a defending Fletcha Middleton’s outside edge and a swishing Ali Orr to give Lancashire a slight hope of forcing an unlikely win.

Oshane Thomas and Johnson Charles have been called into the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Dec-2023

Shimron Hetmyer has been dropped from West Indies’ T20I squad for the final two matches against England while fast bowler Alzarri Joseph is rested.Hetmyer has struggled for form over the last few weeks with scores of 1 and 2 in the first two T20Is against England, and was left out for the third game in Grenada, which followed 32, 0 and 12 in the three ODIs. He is replaced by Johnson Charles who played the most recent of his 44 T20Is against India in August.Related

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Phil Salt and Harry Brook announce themselves as England's next gen

Joseph, meanwhile, has been given a break ahead of West Indies’ tour of Australia next month which includes two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is with the fast bowler likely to feature across all three formats. That tour begins with the opening Test in Adelaide on January 17.Joseph put in a key display in the second T20I with 3 for 39 – claiming the wickets of Phil Salt, Will Jacks and Sam Curran – as West Indies won by 10 runs but went for 50 in the third match when England pulled off a chase of 223.Fellow fast bowler Oshane Thomas comes into the squad for the final two matches of the series in Trinidad. West Indies currently lead 2-1 having claimed the ODI series by the same margin.West Indies squad for last two T20Is vs England Rovman Powell (capt), Shai Hope, Johnson Charles, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas

Tasmanian Beau Webster’s all-round excellence was instrumental in his side’s seven-wicket Sheffield Shield win against South Australia.Webster took a career-best 4 for 32 as the home side folded for just 157 in their second innings at Adelaide’s Karen Rolton Oval on Thursday.The meagre total left Tasmania needing 84 runs to win, achieved just after tea on day three.SA posted 307 in their first innings and in reply Webster made 62 as the visitors compiled 381.SA resumed in trouble on day three at 47 for 3, and any hope of setting the Tasmanians a challenging target vanished early.Captain Jake Lehmann was soon out for 8, trapped lbw by paceman Gabe Bell. And a brief Jake Fraser-McGurk cameo of 29 from 20 balls ended when he shouldered arms to a Lawrence Neil-Smith ball, which slid off the bat-face to his stumps.Webster, 29, once a potential AFL draftee from the Tassie Mariners who opted for cricket, soon captured the big wicket of Nathan McSweeney.McSweeney had anchored SA’s innings, striking eight fours in making 48 from 97 balls, but edged to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.Webster’s impact heightened in the next over when, at second slip, he grasped a sharp catch, diving low and forward, to dismiss Harry Nielsen as Bell struck again.Webster then mopped up the SA tail, taking the last three wickets for his best bowling figures in 72 first-class matches.In the run chase, Tasmanian opener Caleb Jewell, after making 87 in the first dig, was trapped lbw for a second-ball duck by paceman Wes Agar.First-innings centurion Charlie Wakim and ex-Redback Jake Weatherald both fell to SA quick Jordan Buckingham.Captain Jordan Silk was unbeaten on 24 when the Tasmanians secured a comprehensive win to open their Shield campaign.