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He held the top position at PCB through one of the most chaotic and tumultuous periods in Pakistan’s cricketing history

Danyal Rasool03-Aug-2023Former Pakistan wicketkeeper and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt has died at the age of 85 in Lahore.In 2008, he was appointed chairman of the PCB by then-president Asif Ali Zardari. He held that position through one of the most chaotic and tumultuous periods in Pakistan’s cricketing history. Just five months into his tenure, there was a terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and match officials that claimed the lives of eight people and stopped international cricket in Pakistan for the best part of a decade. It was followed by angry accusations of lax security by ICC match referee Chris Broad which Butt dismissed as “lies”.The Pakistan captaincy changed hands several times during his tenure, with Shoaib Malik famously described as “aloof and a loner” in a report, days after he was sacked. After a disastrous tour of Australia, the PCB hit back with huge sanctions against its own players. Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned “indefinitely” in 2010, Malik and Naved-ul-Hasan were handed one-year bans, while Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal were put on six-month probations. Yousuf and Younis were back playing Test cricket a few months later.Butt would also have to content with the fallout from the spot-fixing scandal that saw three Pakistan players – captain Salman Butt, and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – caught agreeing to bowl no-balls in a Test at Lord’s in exchange for money. The three players were banned, and relations between the PCB and England turned especially frosty, which Butt played a part in contributing to on at least one occasion.Butt was replaced by Zaka Ashraf, who is also the current PCB chairman, in 2011.He played eight Tests for Pakistan, making his debut in Karachi against West Indies in 1959 as a wicketkeeper-batter. His last match came at The Oval against England in 1962. He was the manager of the Pakistan team for a tour of Australia in 1982 and headed the selection committee a couple of times. He also served as the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan – the precursor to the PCB – from 1984-88.PCB management committee chairperson Ashraf said: “On behalf of the PCB, I want to express my deepest condolences on the sad demise of Mr Ijaz Butt.”I had the privilege of knowing him personally and I have nothing but utmost respect for Mr Butt. I offer my deepest condolences to Ijaz Butt’s family and friends, and assure them that he will always be remembered for the contributions he made to Pakistan cricket.”

Naseem Shah has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a viral infection

Andrew Miller27-Sep-2022

Big picture

The deafening acclaim within the National Stadium on Sunday night told the tale of the tour so far. Even allowing for the emotion and excitement of England ending their 17-year absence in Pakistan, there had been fears beforehand that a seven-match T20I series was simply too much to take in, but they were emphatically scotched by the denouement of Game Four in Karachi.Haris Rauf’s raucous, raw pace bowling, and Shan Masood’s dead-eyed underarm from mid-on, combined to square the series in a game that England won, then lost, then won and lost again – much like their record in the series as a whole, in fact. And the upshot is that part two of the tour, in Lahore, will witness at least two live games out of three, and maybe even the sort of winner-takes-all scenario in Sunday’s seventh game that can serve as the perfect preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup.That, at any rate, is the spin that England are already putting on a series in which they seem, on paper and even for long passages of each fixture, to be by far the better, more rounded outfit – particularly with the bat. Yet they have twice been pegged back in contrastingly remarkable fashions, by ten wickets on Thursday, and then by two runs in Sunday’s cliffhanger.”Yes, we would love to have won, but I think when you head into a World Cup, you want to play against good opposition in tough games and it’s been every bit of that,” Matthew Mott, England’s head coach, said on Sunday night. For his own peace of mind, however, Mott will want this week to be the one in which his white-ball team secures their first series win of the post-Eoin Morgan era, after being knocked down a peg by India and South Africa in the summer just gone.England are at least getting a better idea of where they need to tighten up their gameplans. For instance Moeen Ali, the stand-in captain, did not bowl a single over of his offspin on Sunday night, given that his 21-run over against Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in Thursday’s thrashing had been the moment in which their spectacular 203-run stand went into overdrive. And by the time their subsequent stand of 97 had been mitigated by Pakistan’s sub-par 20-over total of 166 for 4, it seemed that England had the game at their mercy.In response, however, their own batting proved a touch too loose for the occasion. It was to England’s credit that they could recover from a scoreline of 14 for 3 after 12 balls and take the game so deep – and with Harry Brook and Ben Duckett in such thrillingly free-flowing form, the likes of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes have not been greatly missed in the collective line-up. But equally, Pakistan’s strength remains in its fast bowling, and as Mark Wood proved for England in his solitary outing of the tour to date, genuine pace is not an attribute against which many liberties can be taken.Wood might well be back in contention for this contest, as England seek a balance between match fitness and workload as he continues to return from an elbow injury, but Buttler will not be risked. His calf tear, sustained during the Hundred, remains a concern with just under a month until the start of the World Cup, and with three T20Is in Australia to come before England’s opening night against Afghanistan on October 22, it may even be that he’ll remain a bystander until they touch down Down Under.For Pakistan, meanwhile, the challenge is much the same as it has been all series long. Find a means to make a virtue of their clear and obvious strengths, but avoid falling in a heap when Plan A lets them down. So far their batting and their bowling has proven irresistible in one game each. That ratio doesn’t make them favourites, but it does reinforce the sense that you can never, ever write them off.

Form guide

Pakistan: WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)

England: LWLWL

In the spotlight

Buttler’s continued absence means an extended opportunity for Phil Salt to prove his mettle as a genuine frontline option in England’s World Cup ranks. As the heir apparent to Jason Roy, Salt has a number of compelling similarities – not least his endearing willingness to go hell for leather from ball one (and suffer the occasional indignity as a consequence, such as his first-over 8 from 4 on Sunday). And yet, the logic of Alex Hales’ recall – in spite of the line in the sand that his omission once entailed – proves that he will be the shoo-in come the main event next month, not least given his matchwinning half-century in the Karachi opener. Salt, by contrast, has 56 runs for the series from 47 balls so far. With Will Jacks another coming man at the top of the order, he needs to lay a marker soon.The Karachi crowd may have been starved of international cricket down the years, but to judge by the clamour for Asif Ali on Sunday night, their deep knowledge of the game has not been dimmed in the interim. The stadium was close to mutinous by the time Pakistan had held their heaviest hitter back until the final over of their innings, and sure enough his two sixes in three balls turned out to be the difference between the teams in the final analysis. Asif’s T20I average after 46 matches is an underwhelming 16.30, but few contemporary batters are better versed at smashing sixes to order – close to one in ten of his 353 deliveries have so far cleared the ropes. In a team that seems to be under perpetual scrutiny for its strike-rate, that’s a vital asset to have.

Pitch and conditions

Two strips have been prepared for the Lahore leg of the series, which implies that the surface for Wednesday’s match will be the same as the one for Game Seven, with the alternate used in between whiles. Heavy rain on match eve meant that both teams cancelled training and therefore a chance to gauge conditions at this stage, although the pitch currently seems dry enough to warrant an extra spinner.

Team news

Shadab Khan is in the mix for a recall, not least because his fellow legspinner Usman Qadir didn’t bowl a ball on Sunday, having injured his thumb while taking a spectacular catch off Hales in the powerplay. Pakistan have confirmed that allrounder Aamer Jamal, who had a strike rate of 194.11 in this year’s National T20 Cup, will make his debut, while Naseem Shah has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a viral infection.Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Shan Masood, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Khushdil Shah, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan/Usman Qadir, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Shahnawaz Dahani, 10 Mohammad Hasnain, 11 Haris RaufChris Woakes could be in contention for his first white-ball appearance since November, as he continues his rehab from knee surgery, while Richard Gleeson has recovered from the back issue that hampered him in Karachi. After a tough start to the series on surfaces that don’t suit his game, Dawid Malan made way in Karachi to allow Will Jacks a (short-lived) go at No. 3. But as England’s lock at first-drop for the World Cup in Australia, he’s likely to get first dibs at the new venue. From the perspective of sealing the series win, England may prefer to recall Wood for this game, with a view to having him available for a decider on Sunday if needs be, rather than hold him back for a solitary outing in Game Six.England (probable): 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Duckett, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood

Stats and trivia

• England have never yet played a T20I at the Gadaffi Stadium. In fact, there had been just three such matches globally when England last played any international fixture in Lahore, on the ODI leg of their 2005-06 tour.
• Babar Azam needs 61 more runs to reach 3000 in T20Is. If he does so in this next innings, his 80th in the format, he will beat the record of 81 held by India’s Virat Kohli.

Quotes

“When we lost in the summer we were playing poorly. You are a bit more down about those results. It was disappointing result the other night but it was a great game of cricket. Okay, we lost, but I feel we are playing good cricket. We lost a lot of wickets in the powerplay but we managed to stay in the game until the very end.”

Moeen Ali is upbeat about England’s progress as they build towards the World Cup.

Both sides have struggled with their opening combinations and will be looking to address it sooner than later

Shashank Kishore03-May-2023

Big picture – Can Brook rekindle Eden memories?

Two misfiring teams that currently make up the bottom half of the points table clash to keep their IPL campaigns alive. Kolkata Knight Riders need to win every game from here on to get to 16 points, which is generally considered a safe number. Sunrisers Hyderabad also have just six points at this stage but they have the cushion of an extra game in hand and the home advantage to boot for Thursday’s game.Another thing that’s common is that both sides have struggled with their opening combinations. KKR have tried six pairs so far, the most among all teams, while Sunrisers have shunted Harry Brook and Abhishek Sharma up and down based on conditions and match-ups.Brook, though, will have happy memories of hitting a hundred against KKR when they met at Eden Gardens earlier in the season. It was a high-scoring game that Sunrisers pulled off. It’s all the more significant for Brook given he has contributed precious little with the bat since. Abhishek came good as an opener in the previous game against Delhi Capitals, so he’s likely to continue there, and Brook in the middle order.Related

• Hamstring injury rules Washington Sundar out of IPL 2023

• Harry Brook: 'I think I've watched my hundred back about 25 times'

KKR are yearning for a good start from their openers. Jason Roy missed the Gujarat Titans game with a back niggle; his return could inject some positivity as he had scored two sprightly half-centuries in two games before that. Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana have been doing the heavy lifting in the middle order but Andre Russell has shown only glimpses of the destructive force he can is known to be.When two sides that have very little to lose compete, there’s often an inherent sense of freedom. And that could make this a compelling contest.

Form guide

Sunrisers Hyderabad: WLLLW (last five matches, most recent first)

Kolkata Knight Riders: LWLLL

Team news – Shardul available, Umesh to miss out again

Both sides have had players troubled by hamstrings injuries. Umesh Yadav will continue to sit out for KKR. Sunrisers haven’t replaced Washington Sundar, who is off to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to nurse his hamstring injury. But don’t have any other injury concerns. KKR have called up West Indies’ Johnson Charles to replace Litton Das.

Impact Player strategy

Sunrisers will possibly stick to what they did in the previous game – using T Natarajan as an additional seamer and swapping him with Abdul Samad in the batting innings.Sunrisers Hyderabad (probable XII): 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt), 5 Harry Brook, 6 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 7 , 8 Akeal Hosein, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik, 12 Jason Roy is set to return for KKR•AFP/Getty Images

Roy should slot back in to open with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who is likely to take over the wicketkeeping gloves from N Jagadeesan. Jagadeesan may be subbed out for either Harshit Rana or Vaibhav Arora when they bowl.Kolkata Knight Riders (probable XII): 1 Jason Roy, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 , 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Sunil Narine, 10 , 11 Varun Chakravarthy, 12 Vaibhav Arora

Stats that matter – should Russell bat higher up?

• Rahul Tripathi once shared the KKR dressing room with him but has now faced the second-most balls (48) without being dismissed by Sunil Narine in T20s. Tripathi has scored 71 runs off those balls at a strike rate of 147.91.
• Russell vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar in T20s has so far been a no-contest. Russell has walloped him for 72 off 34 balls for two dismissals. His strike rate of 211.76 is the second-best to Rishabh Pant’s 239.39 among those who have faced a minimum of 25 balls from Bhuvneshwar .
• Bhuvneshwar, however, has had the wood over Roy, having dismissed him three times in 11 innings while conceding just 64 off 70 balls. That could make KKR consider using Roy in the middle order, as they did against Chennai Super Kings when he made a bruising 26-ball 61 in a chase of 236.
• Since IPL 2022, Russell has performed better when has come in before the 13th over, scoring 348 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 171 with six scores of 30 and above. This is against the 129 he has made in ten innings at 152 when he has walked in after the 13th over. Maybe then, there’s a case to promote him a spot higher?

Pitch conditions

Hyderabad has been lashed by intermittent showers over the past three days. Cloudy skies are expected on Thursday. That means the surface, which has been under the covers for much of the build-up to the game, may have some moisture that fast bowlers could exploit. As such, spinners have been slightly more successful at this venue this season: an economy of 7.70 and strike rate of 19.3, compared to 8.18 and 19.7 respectively for fast bowlers.

The big question

Both teams were docked two points and fined 40% of their match fees as both sides were deemed two overs short of their targets

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2023Australia and England have both been penalised for slow over-rates in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston losing two World Test Championship [WTC] points each while players from both sides have been fined 40% of their match fees.Match referee Andy Pycroft ruled that both teams were two overs short of their targets after time allowances were factored in. Teams are docked one WTC point, and 20% of their match fee for each over they are short of their target. Both captains, Pat Cummins and Ben Stokes, accepted the sanctions.Related

• Shubman Gill fined for criticism of TV umpire's decision

There were just 82 overs bowled on day one of the Test, with Australia only bowling 78 before England declared and bowled four overs before stumps. England did bowl 90 overs on the second day, utilising the extra half-hour to do so. Rain affected both the third and the fifth day of the Test match, but England were deemed short of their targets on those days.The penalties mean England are on negative two points after losing their opening Test of the new WTC cycle, while Australia are on ten points, having accrued 12 for their dramatic two-wicket victory.Australia were fined 80% of their match fees in the WTC final at the Oval two weeks ago for slow over-rates. They also missed a spot at the 2021 WTC final in Southampton due to being docked crucial WTC points for slow over-rates in that cycle.

He and Graham Clark put on 181 together to break their own record for Durham’s highest T20 stand

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay18-Jul-2025Durham secured a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast as a record-breaking partnership from centurion Alex Lees and Graham Clark led them to a resounding nine-wicket win over Northamptonshire Steelbacks.Steelbacks won the toss and batted first and David Willey (62) exploited a platform set by Matthew Breetzke (52) with some destructive hitting, but an excellent spell from Matthew Potts helped reel Northants in late on as they finished on 203 for 5.Lees and Clark made an excellent start to the Durham chase as they raced to 100 within eight overs and they continued the charge as they broke the record for Durham’s highest T20 partnership, previously held by the same pair against the same team.They made the chase look easy, hitting 12 sixes between them in a partnership worth 181, while Lees reached his maiden T20 century as he steered his side home with plenty of time to spare.Northants started well, but there was a big let-off for them early on as Will Rhodes dropped Breetzke on 10 when the South African opener mistimed a pull shot off Potts. He made Durham pay for that mishap as he heaved a Codi Yusuf ball over the legside boundary for six to continue his positive start.Breetzke continued his onslaught as he smashed three consecutive balls from Yusuf for six, but Durham struck through Callum Parkinson as Ricardo Vasconcelos tried to smash one down the ground but he could only find Potts at long-off.Breetzke continued his side’s charge and he passed fifty from 31 balls, his fourth in the competition, but he then fell for a swashbuckling 52, with Nathan Sowter picking up the wicket as the opener holed out to Rhodes on the boundary.Willey then made the most of some short-pitched bowling from Parkinson as he smashed back-to-back sixes down the ground.The Northants skipper then reached his fifty from 25 balls with a six off the bowling of Sowter to continue his team’s charge towards a massive total.Willey then continued his devastating display of hitting as he smashed a Raine ball over the long-on boundary for six.Potts removed Ravi Bopara for a tidy 33 to halt the Northants charge, with a jumping David Bedingham taking a nice catch, and Willey’s excellent knock ended as he feathered a Potts ball through to Ollie Robinson for 62.Potts struck for a third time in the final over to remove George Bartlett, but the Steelbacks finished on a total of 203 for 5.In pursuit of 204, Lees and Clark got off to a solid start, with the former clubbing a Ben Sanderson delivery down the ground for four.Lees then pulled off an inventive shot as he scooped a Willey ball for six and he backed that up with one that he whipped away for four.The Durham skipper sent George Scrimshaw’s first ball into the stands as he produced an excellent pull shot and he did the same thing with the following ball.Clark then pulled a Luke Procter ball for six as the hosts raced to 78 without loss in the powerplay, while Lees reached his half-century from 23 balls at the other end.Clark then heaved a Sanderson ball for six to reach his half-century from 26 balls as Durham continued their charge.Clark pummeled a Lloyd Pope delivery down the ground for six and Lees followed that up with two more blows over the long-on boundary.Lees then hit a beautiful cover drive off the bowling of Procter for four, but the partnership was finally broken by Procter as Clark went for 79 as he miscued a ramp shot and was caught behind.Lees then reached his century from 48 balls and guided his team home with 21 balls to spare.

“Women’s cricket is very much on the map. People want to invest in it and I hope it continues.”

Firdose Moonda01-Jun-2022Women’s domestic cricket in India has already benefited from franchise T20 cricket to the point that Indian “domestic players can walk into the South African side any day,” according to South Africa’s captain Sune Luus, who played for the Supernovas.Luus, who has featured in both the FairBreak Invitational tournament and Women’s T20 Challenge last month, said while the overall standard of women’s cricket has improved across nations, India have fast become among the leading nations in the shortest format and have a steady supply for players and strong support for the game to thank for their progress.Related

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“Being at FairBreak and being in India for the IPL was a massive opportunity and an awesome learning curve. Both are T20 cricket – the changes are in the conditions and the opposition you are playing against,” Luus said, on arrival in Ireland, where South Africa’s winter tour begins.”The IPL was a bit of a better standard. With FairBreak there are a lot of girls from the Associates, some girls who used spikes for the first time, who played on a turf wicket for the first time so it was a whole different experience. The most surprising thing for FairBreak was the standard of cricket. You don’t really know about Austrians playing cricket or countries like that. But to see the standard they are at and the love of the game, it was exceptional to see. You can’t compare it to India. They are fanatics of cricket. They absolutely love it. And even the domestic players can walk into the South African side any day. The standards were a bit different but overall it was good cricket.”Luus was part of the winning team in both competitions and had ample opportunity to test herself against the best. She hit the winning runs for the Tornadoes in the inaugural FairBreak tournament in Dubai, in what was a fairly one-sided final, and made a crucial decision in the field for the Supernovas in a tight final against Velocity in India. Chasing 166, Velocity needed seven runs to win off the last two balls and Laura Wolvaardt, unbeaten on 64, was facing strike. Given that Luus captains Wolvaardt at international level, Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur had a question for Luus.Sune Luus, Alana King, Sophie Ecclestone, and Pooja Vastrakar ahead of the Women’s T20 Challenge final•BCCI

“She ran to me and she was like, ‘Do we bring square leg up and keep deep extra out or do we take square leg out and bring deep extra in?’ It was a very short conversation.”Knowing Wolvaardt’s strength on the cover drive, Luus, who was stationed on the boundary, told Kaur, “You cannot bring deep extra cover in. You are going to have to keep me out and we are going to have to gamble with square leg being in the circle.”England international Sophie Ecclestone, the left-arm spinner, was bowling and delivered a flatter, faster ball that Wolvaardt could not get under and inside-edged to long-off for a single. Luus was more relieved than excited at first, as she helped mastermind a title-winning fielding strategy.”Luckily Sophie, the competitor that she is, executed her ball perfectly and the game plan worked,” she said. “If it had been the other way around, she (Kaur) would have probably been on my case for that one.”It’s instances like that, where national team-mates are pitted against each other and international competitors are made to combine, that has underpinned the success of various franchise men’s T20 leagues around the world and Luus hopes it can do the same for women’s cricket.”It’s an opportunity for some of the domestic players within countries to play with international players from around the world and obviously gain experience and learn from them,” she said. “It’s important to have T20 leagues across the world to get to know different players and play in different conditions.”Just like the men’s game, as franchise tournaments grow and the calendar is squeezed, Luus recognises that international cricket may suffer. “It’s just a case of finding the balance with international cricket and finding the time to get enough international cricket in the calendar,” she said.Already, the likes of Luus, Wolvaardt and Ayabonga Khaka have only had a couple of weeks between the Women’s ODI World Cup, which ended in April, and the FairBreak and Women’s T20 Challenge. The trio have now traveled to the UK, where South Africa will be on tour until mid-August, playing in six T20Is against Ireland and England. Also on the calendar are the ICC Women’s Championship ODIs against Ireland, a one-off Test against England (South Africa’s first since 2014), ODIs against England and the Commonwealth Games. Luus said they would have to be smart with switching between formats and keeping players in form as the weeks roll on.”It’s a very difficult thing because we have ICC points up for grabs, we have a Test match coming up which is quite new for a lot of the players and in-between that we have to focus on T20 cricket for the Commonwealth Games,” she said.But, Luus agrees that it’s better than the alternative, especially as women’s cricket continues to make big strides.”Women’s cricket is becoming big in a lot of the countries and we are making our case for it to become professional in many of the countries and some of the Associate countries as well,” she said. “Women’s cricket is very much on the map. People want to invest in women’s cricket. I hope it continues. Women’s cricket deserves that.”

Architect of 100-ball cricket will depart ECB role after 2023 competition

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2023Sanjay Patel is to leave his position as managing director of the Hundred following the conclusion of this year’s competition.Patel, the man behind the ECB’s introduction of 100-ball cricket, was previously chief sales and marketing officer before taking charge of the Hundred when it was unveiled as a concept in 2018.His departure comes at a time of uncertainty over the future of the competition, with newspaper reports in recent weeks suggesting the ECB could drop the format and refocus attention on its T20 offering.”I’d like to thank Sanjay for all his work and dedication at the ECB over many years, and wish him the very best for the future,” Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive officer, said.”There’s no doubt that the Hundred has been a success, helping cricket reach new audiences, bringing in important revenue and propelling the game forwards. It plays an important role in our game and I’m looking forward to a very long and successful future for the Hundred.”The Hundred has been controversial from the start, with the ECB accused of alienating cricket’s traditional fanbase in pursuit of new audiences. Its launch was pushed back a year to 2021 by the Covid-19 pandemic, while a recent report by Fanos Hira, Worcestershire’s chairman, suggested the competition had made a £9 million loss in its first two seasons.However, the return of cricket to free-to-air TV, via the BBC, and its role in giving the women’s game a higher profile have been credited with creating a more diverse appeal.Patel said: “I would like to thank Sky, the BBC, and all our commercial partners for their support.”I would also particularly like to thank my whole team for their hard work and dedication in launching the competition. I will always be grateful for their support and friendship. We have come a long way in a short space of time and it is down to their brilliance.”I will miss this job and the people immensely but once we’ve completed the third season of the Hundred I believe the time will be right for me to look for a new adventure.”

The opener’s 41-ball 102 set up Sunrisers Hyderabad’s record-breaking 287 for 3 at the Chinnaswamy

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-20242:47

Head: Impact Player rule has helped us push the boundaries

After helping Sunrisers Hyderabad amass 287 for 3 with a 39-ball century and break the IPL record for highest total for the second time this season, opener Travis Head said his side would fancy targeting 300 as their next challenge. He also credited the captain Pat Cummins and head coach Daniel Vettori for pushing the openers to keep being aggressive in the first six overs.”[Our total] needs a three in front of it, does it now?” Head joked, when asked between innings about the benchmarks Sunrisers are setting for themselves, after the first innings against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday. “It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on, and Pat and then Dan have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the powerplay and then keep going.”We’ve got guys like [Heinrich] Klaasen, [Abdul] Samad and Nitish [Kumar Reddy, who] didn’t even get a hit today. We’ve got some power through the middle, and we want to keep just putting the foot down as much as we can. We know that’s not always guaranteed, but at the moment I think we’re setting it up really well in each game and getting to the score that we need.”Related

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• Shock and awe all around at Head's hair-raising hundred

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• Stats – Sunrisers Hyderabad break their own record for highest-ever IPL total

• Head, Klaasen play decisive hands in Chinnaswamy big bash

Sunrisers smashed 22 sixes, the most in IPL history, and Head hit nine of them. Along with Abhishek Sharma, Head helped Sunrisers race away to 76 for 0 in the powerplay while also getting to his fifty. After the game, Head said he was enjoying batting with Abhishek. “We complement each other really well. He’s a young player and pretty fearless. There was a little bit of spin in the powerplay and he was so dominant against them. I’m loving it.”Head was eventually out in the 13th over for a 41-ball 102. His wicket brought zero respite though, as Klaasen pumped a 31-ball 67 from No. 3. Klaasen too was full of praise for his team-mate for setting up the match and making his job easier. “Unbelievable start there from Heady. It’s a special knock that. Puts the bowler under a lot of pressure,” Klaasen told the broadcaster after the game. “[I] came in and wanted to be very sensible and knock it around and make sure he faces majority of the balls. It is difficult to out-hit players like that so when it’s his night, make sure I’m on the other side and wait for a couple of bad balls. And then I should take over when he gets out.”It was nice batting out there, the wicket was nice and good but the tempo was set there upfront. Its nice to have bowlers under pressure when you come in.”

Teenage batter following in footsteps of father Andrew, who spent his career at Lancs

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jun-2024Rocky Flintoff, son of former England allrounder Andrew Flintoff, has signed his first professional contract with Lancashire at the age of 16.Flinfoff, who was earlier this week named in the England Under-19s squad to face Sri Lanka, joined the Lancashire academy last year. He has featured four times for the 2nd XI this season, hitting a half-century against Durham and a hundred against Warwickshire.Clips of him batting went viral on social media due to the similarity of his technique to that of his father.”I’m very happy and excited to have signed my first professional contract with Lancashire,” Rocky Flintoff said. “It’s something that I’ve been working towards since I started playing cricket, so to sign for my home county is a dream come true.”I’ve been with the club since I was 8 years old, so to have the opportunity to keep representing the Red Rose is a big honour. I have loved playing for the Second XI so far this season and I’m looking forward to continuing to work hard on all aspects of my game.”Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket performance, said: “I would like to congratulate Rocky, his family and everybody who has been with him on his journey in cricket so far.”He has impressed the coaching staff with his performances and determined attitude for the Second XI already this season. He is a grounded individual and knows the work starts now for him to fulfil his potential in the years ahead.”Rocky will be away with the England U19s for the next couple of weeks, and we look forward to welcoming him into the professional squad after that.”Andrew Flintoff made his Lancashire debut in 1995 before going on to become one of England’s most-pivotal allrounders, playing more than 200 times across formats and famous for his role in helping to regain the Ashes in 2005, after 16 years in Australian hands.

Since they last won the title, Sydney Sixers have consistently reached the finals but stumbled short of the prize

Andrew McGlashan25-Jan-2025Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques has called for the club to take a hard look at why they have stumbled in finals over recent seasons after falling to crosstown rivals Sydney Thunder in the Challenger on Friday, but he refused to blame the absence of key players on Australia Test duty.Sixers had given themselves a double chance of reaching Monday’s final by finishing second in the regular season but lost to Hobart Hurricanes in the Qualifier before coming up short against Thunder at the SCG.It meant that since winning the second of back-to-back titles in the 2020-21 season, they have won just two out of nine matches in finals series.Related

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“Unfortunately we’ve saved our worst two performances for the last two games of the year,” he said. “We do have to have a look at how we’ve performed in finals the last three years because I don’t think our record is great now. We gave ourselves two chances this year because of how well we played throughout the year. We had two chances last year as well and two chances the year before.”I am proud that we’ve got a group that consistently puts us in a position to win the tournament and gives us the very best opportunity at the end of the league games to go on and win but unfortunately this year we weren’t good enough.”Henriques said the debrief on the season would start straightaway. After the final there is a ten-day trade window where out-of-contract players from other clubs can be signed. Sixers head into that period with ten on their list – the maximum permitted – leaving Jackson Bird, Daniel Hughes, Hayden Kerr, Ben Manenti and Kurtis Patterson as those who are free agents.”It’s the high pressure nature of sport that you can’t always perform when you want to,” Henriques said. “Why we’ve been not able to play our best in these games is something we’re going to have to have a look at and definitely discuss for a while after the game because we’re not rushing off to anywhere. There’s a lot to learn from the last couple of days.”Some of the best learnings are in these situations because a lot of that group is going to be around again next year and hopefully we can put ourselves in a position next year to challenge again.”Steven Smith was available for three matches this season where he made a spectacular 121 not out followed by 52 but, along with Todd Murphy and Sean Abbott, left after the regular season for Australia’s training camp in Dubai ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.When Sixers won the first of the back-to-back titles in the 2019-2020 season, they had Smith, Nathan Lyon (who is now with Melbourne Renegades) and Josh Hazlewood (currently recovering from injury) available for the finals along with their regular key names.”It’s a really tough one,” Henriques said when asked about the overlapping schedules. “I think the pinnacle of cricket is playing international sport for your country and we’re very proud of the three guys that get selected. That’s obviously not including Starcy and Josh Hazlewood.”That’s a feather in our cap as a squad that they want to play cricket for our team and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I still feel like we’ve got players that can win us the match when they go away.”I said before the last game to the group, even though we only had 12 players, somehow it was still a headache to try and pick 11 because of what I believe to be the quality of this group and the quality of players that we have.”In the 2020-21 final, James Vince produced the match-winning hand of 95 against Perth Scorchers and has remained a regular with the club but left early for the ILT20, as did West Indies left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein. The other draft signing was young English legspinner Jafer Chohan who stood out when he came into the side, returning 2 for 28 and 2 for 22 the two finals, conceding just one boundary in each game.”He’s been really impressive,” Henriques said. “He sat patiently waiting for a game. I think through the four matches that he played, I couldn’t remember one bad ball, which, for a wristspinner, is just extraordinary. I think he’s got a big future ahead of him.”