PCA to appear before Parliament in wake of Azeem Rafiq's 'inept' claims

Fourth appearance for cricket at DCMS hearing in as many months

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2022The Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) has been called to give evidence next week to the parliamentary select committee looking into allegations of institutional racism in English cricket.The session, which is due to take place on Tuesday, comes in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s emotional testimony to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee in November, in which he laid bare his experiences as a Yorkshire player between 2008 and 2017, and claimed that, ultimately, “he had lost his career to racism”.In the course of that evidence, Rafiq also pointed the finger at the PCA, accusing them of being “incredibly inept”, and adding that their response to his claims of suicidal feelings – later expressed in an interview with ESPNcricinfo – had been an exercise in “box-ticking”.”The PCA kept telling me when the report comes out, they would support me,” Rafiq told the hearing. “Once it did, they said we have no powers, we can just push the ECB. An organisation that should have been there for me and supported me left me to fight on my own.”The PCA is set to be represented by James Harris, the current Glamorgan allrounder who is also the union’s chair, alongside Anuj Dal, the vice-chair, Julian Metherell, the non-executive chair, and Rob Lynch, the chief executive. It will be the fourth time that representatives of English cricket, including the recreational game, will have appeared before the DCMS committee in as many months.Last month’s appearance by county chairman was notable for the controversial claim, voiced by Middlesex’s chairman Mike O’Farrell, that Black people are more interested in football than cricket, and that Asian players put more focus on education than sport when they reach Academy level.Related

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O’Farrell’s comments were widely condemned for perpetuating stereotypes, including by Rafiq and Ebony Rainford-Brent, the former England cricketer and founder of the African-Caribbean Engagement (ACE) Programme, which helps to address the 75% decline in participation in the Black community.The situation at Yorkshire has escalated since the last DCMS hearing, amid allegations from Robin Smith, the former club chairman, that November’s appointment of Lord Kamlesh Patel as chair was unconstitutional. Following the cancellation this week of the club’s EGM, Lord Patel hit back, stating that Yorkshire’s bid to overturn its suspension from major-match status was at the mercy of individuals who believe the club is being “sacrificed on the altar of Black Lives Matter”.Addressing the issue on Friday during a press briefing at Lord’s, Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, said: “We had a board meeting on Tuesday and a delegation came down from Yorkshire to give us a very comprehensive presentation on the progress that Lord Patel and his team have made in the very short time that they have been in charge of YCCC.”The only reflection I would have on the stuff overnight – and believe it or not I haven’t spent a lot of time looking at it because there’s been a few other things going on – but I would just reflect on a broader note that any suggestion that there is not a problem with racism in Yorkshire is a cause for great concern.”

NZ trio of Gaze, Jensen, James ruled out of Sri Lanka T20Is

Wicketkeeper-batter Polly Inglis, left-arm seamer Bree Illing and allrounder Flora Devonshire are the replacements

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Mar-2025Injuries have ruled out wicketkeeper-batter Isabella Gaze (hip flexor), seamer Hayley Jensen (hip flexor), and batter Bella James (quadricep) from New Zealand’s three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Wicketkeeper-batter Polly Inglis, left-arm seamer Bree Illing and allrounder Flora Devonshire have replaced them.Inglis and Illing made their international debuts during last week’s ODI series while Devonshire is uncapped. Inglis took five catches in three games and scored 34 not out and 9 not out the two times she got a chance to bat. Illing took four wickets across three games, twice dismissing Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu. New Zealand won the series 2-0 after the first game was washed out.Gaze, who played the ODI series as a specialist batter, sprained her left hip flexor in the field during the third ODI. “Her rehabilitation timelines are being reviewed,” NZC said in a release. Jensen and James – both were ruled before the ODI series – are yet to recover full fitness.Related

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“We’re all feeling for Izzy, Hayley and Bella,” head coach Ben Sawyer said. “It’s disappointing for the team and the players, but I know those three have the determination and resilience to bounce back.”Bree and Polly had a really positive start to their ODI career. They both showed great intent and execution and I’m confident they’re ready to take on this next challenge. Flora’s shown a lot of all-round potential at the domestic level and is another exciting young player that has qualities consistent with what we’re looking for in the White Ferns.”The T20I series starts on March 14 in Christchurch. The second game will be played in Christchurch, on March 16, before the teams travel to Dunedin for the final T20I on March 18.

Tim Southee and Tom Latham take first-class honours at NZC awards

Devon Conway took the men’s domestic title for the second year running

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2020Tim Southee and Tom Latham bagged first-class awards while Devon Conway and Katie Gurrey were recognised for their domestic performances in the New Zealand Cricket annual awards.Southee took the Winsor Cup for first-class bowling after claiming 41 wickets at 22.31 over the voting period with eight of his nine matches being Tests where he claimed 40 scalps.Latham scored 875 runs which included centuries against Sri Lanka and England plus 224 for Canterbury against Wellington in the Plunket Shield – the same match where Conway scored an unbeaten 327.ALSO READ: Ian Smith honoured by NZC for ‘outstanding services to cricket’“It’s a great honour,” Southee said during the awards which are being presented virtually throughout the week due to the coronavirus pandemic. “When you see the great players who have won the award in the past it’s pretty humbling to see my name on it.””The Test win in Colombo was really special as we were able to bounce back from a defeat in Galle in challenging conditions. The way we played our Test cricket at home this summer was especially pleasing. To beat England first up was a great effort and then to perform so well against a very good Indian side was immensely satisfying.”On the domestic front Conway, who was born in South Africa and becomes eligible for New Zealand in August, made it back-to-back player of the year titles following a prolific season for Wellington where he became the first player to top the run-scoring across all three formats: Plunket Shield 701 runs at 87.72, Ford Trophy 553 runs at 55.30, T20 Super Smash 543 runs at 67.87.”It was a brilliant season for the Firebirds,” he said. “We’ve got a great culture in the team and to claim two of the three trophies was a huge effort; especially winning the Plunket Shield after something like 16 years which was really special.”I didn’t ever expect to win this award two years in a row so it’s certainly something I’ll cherish and it’s a pretty awesome feeling to be honest. I’ve got to say thank-you to the team management, support staff and my team-mates – I couldn’t have achieved these awards without their help so I’m really grateful to them.”Gurrey was named women’s domestic player of the year and also took the domestic batting honour after compiling 992 runs in the one-day and Super Smash tournaments. “It means a lot,” she said. “To win any award at this level is a great honour. It’s one of those awards that you hope you may win one day – and now to have achieved it is an amazing feeling.”Jess Kerr, who made her ODI and T20I debuts earlier this year and was part of the T20 World Cup squad, took the domestic bowling prize after claiming 20 wickets in the Super Smash – the most across the men’s and women’s tournaments.The international segments of the awards will take place on Thursday and Friday along with the announcement of the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal.

England cricketers prepare for New Zealand tour with Crystal Palace

Joe Denly, Sam Billings join full training session with Premier League club

George Dobell16-Oct-2019England cricketers Joe Denly and Sam Billings joined in a full training session with Crystal Palace FC last week, as the batsmen prepare to travel to New Zealand with the national side for a T20 series and two Test matches.Palace manager Roy Hodgson and right-back Joel Ward also visited Kent County Cricket Club’s indoor Academy after training, with Ward taking on a bowling machine.Both Denly and Billings play for Kent, whose indoor academy facility in Beckenham borders onto the Palace training ground. Denly, who was an integral part of England’s drawn Ashes Series last summer, and Billings, who is Kent captain and an explosive top-order batsman, both have football pedigree with Billings once offered trials at Spurs’ Academy and Denly playing age-group football for Charlton Athletic as a winger.The duo were invited to take part in the Premier League club’s warm-up game of ‘rondos’, where a player is placed in the middle of a group and tasked with intercepting the ball from the outer ring, who are entitled to one touch of the ball only. The pair did enough to impress and were duly invited to take part in most of the the full session led by Hodgson, where they were largely employed to receive long balls from the Palace goalkeepers, before feeding the central midfield players, before attacking play commenced.”We may have passed that [first] test, but I’m not sure we passed when the keeper was pinging it to me,” said Denly. “It makes you realise – I thought I was a decent footballer coming here today – but I go away thinking rather differently!”We play football in the warm-ups, but this is different level. The speed and pace they play the game is phenomenal, it was great to witness.”Billings said: “I enjoyed the session far more than cricket training! It’s great always to see other sports teams train at the top level, there’s always things you can learn from yourself.”The pair were given rare access to Hodgson’s group huddle with the squad, where he outlined his expectations for the upcoming drill. Billings said the manager’s briefing was “very relaxed”.”It was good,” Billings said. “It was exactly how you think it would be. Straight to the point and the detail of what they need to do and get out of it. The lads just crack on.”That’s the similarity with all sports at the top level, the work ethic. He was saying to us that with some of the guys, you need to take down the intensity if you’ve got a game the next day. When we’re training, you can probably put that into some of us as well. It was really interesting. They’re all seriously talented blokes, the speed – and how they move the ball so quickly was the most impressive thing for me.”Hodgson and Ward then walked over to Kent’s indoor net facility, with Hodgson feeding balls to Denly on the bowling machine at around the 78 miles per hour mark – a good 15mph slower than the Australian attack the opening batsman faced during the summer. Denly had a solid season and was tasked with occupying a number of positions in England’s batting line-up, with an undoubted personal highlight his 94 at The Oval in the final Test, which helped secure a drawn Ashes series for the hosts.Hodgson said: “I’m amazed by the courage these guys take – the incredible technique and concentration that they have. I often use cricket as an example to football players – that degree of concentration that they have is nothing compared to the concentration that we have to show – because so many things go on around and protect us. But a cricketer, if you lose concentration for a second your game can be over for a long period of time.”Hodgson recalled that his last game as a cricketer himself was around 1970-71, for Streatham Cricket Club – a club he shared with Palace legend Steve Kember. “I thought I was a batsman, but I wasn’t,” Hodgson joked.Ward strapped the pads on, as well as Denly’s England helmet, with Billings observing his technique whilst feeding the bowling machine. After a few false starts, with Ward poking nervously outside his off stump, Billings ordered: “Just smash it!”That approach appealed to the defender, who proceeded to middle a series of off drives and straight drives. Ward reflected on Billing’s advice: “Just grip it and rip it! It was easier – the tempo of your swing and position you end up, is far better than being defensive and make contact. It’s one of those things, until you’ve faced it – when you’re facing a ball swinging here, or bouncing there – it’s a completely different ball game. The reactions and the speed they can process the ball is phenomenal.”It’s been a good few years since I picked up a cricket bat, so I needed a bit of time to adjust to the ball and the flight. I think I got it towards the end. It was quick. It was only 70-75mph, which isn’t that quick by their standards, but certainly is when you don’t do it on a regular basis – the ball comes at you a lot quicker than you think.”Billings was suitably impressed: “Once he got the hang of it, I just told him to smack it – and he couldn’t miss it after that.”

Moody's future with Western Australia uncertain

The future of Tom Moody as Western Australia’s coach will be decided after Christmas as his team continues to struggle in his third year in the job

Cricinfo staff17-Nov-2009The future of Tom Moody as Western Australia’s coach will be decided after Christmas as his team continues to struggle in his third year in the job. However, the state’s chief executive Graeme Wood has guaranteed Moody, whose three-year contract expires at the end of the season, will coach out the summer.The recruitment of Moody for 2007-08 was seen as a major coup for Western Australia as he was fresh from a successful period in charge of the Sri Lanka team. Other international sides were keen to sound out Moody, but he preferred to head home to Perth to make life more stable for his young family.But with the exception of being Twenty20 runners-up in 2007-08, Western Australia’s results haven’t been impressive during the Moody era. They have finished third and fifth in their two Sheffield Shield campaigns, have come no higher than fifth in the FR Cup and so far this summer they have one set of first-innings points from two four-day games.”Tom’s in his last year so post Christmas we’ll have a look at where the side is and address the situation post Christmas,” Wood told AAP. “Tom is guaranteed [to coach out the season]. In the four-day game I think we’ve shown big improvements, so I think the group’s starting to learn there. But there’s room for improvement in the short form of the game.”I think our four-day cricket has been quite good but our one-day cricket has been ordinary, and not just this year. I think we’ve only won three of our last 13 or 14 games and that’s just not good enough, so we have to make amends for that and start playing a little bit differently, because the way we are doing it at the moment isn’t good enough.”

BBL: Jimmy Neesham signs with Hobart Hurricanes

“A lot of people say Tasmania is a bit like a mini NZ, so I’m looking forward to getting over there”

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2022New Zealand allrounder Jimmy Neesham is set for his Big Bash League (BBL) debut after having signed with Hobart Hurricanes as a replacement player for Pakistan allrounder Faheem Ashraf who is set to be part of Pakistan’s Test series against England and New Zealand.In September earlier this year, Neesham had turned down a New Zealand central contract, committing to various T20 tournaments. Like Neesham, Trent Boult had also stepped away from his national contract to play T20 tournaments around the world, with Martin Guptill recently joining them as a T20 freelancer. A day after being released from his New Zealand contract, Guptill was announced as a replacement player for Melbourne Renegades in the upcoming BBL season. Boult (Melbourne Stars) and Colin de Grandhomme (Adelaide Strikers), who had recently retired from international cricket to pursue T20 opportunities, will also be in action in the BBL.Neesham brings with him rich T20 experience, having already played in the IPL and CPL, and recent form. He has struck at almost 185 at the death (between overs 17 and 20) in T20 cricket this year.Related

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“I’m really excited to be involved with the Big Bash for the first time this year,” Neesham said.”I’ve heard great things about the Hurricanes set up, and the list this year looks incredibly strong, so to be able to play even a small part in what I hope will be a successful tournament for the franchise is a really great opportunity for me.”A lot of people say Tasmania is a bit like a mini New Zealand, so I’m looking forward to getting over there, meeting the guys, and playing the role that is asked of me for the team.”The BBL, which will run from December 13 to February 4, will clash with the Super Smash, New Zealand domestic T20 competition, and the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL).

Suryakumar helps India draw level in Lucknow spin-fest

Defending a mere 99, New Zealand’s bowlers stretched the game to its penultimate ball

Hemant Brar29-Jan-2023In a low-scoring thriller in Lucknow, New Zealand almost defended 99, but with three needed from two balls, Suryakumar Yadav swatted Blair Tickner over mid-off to help India level the series 1-1 with one match to go.Before Sunday, the Ekana Stadium had hosted five T20Is, with the team batting first winning on all five occasions. Keeping that in mind, Mitchell Santner opted to bat after winning the toss. With the red-soil pitch at the Ekana Stadium expected to help spinners, India brought in Yuzvendra Chahal for Umran Malik. That gave them four spin-bowling options, including Deepak Hooda.All of them troubled New Zealand and restricted them to a mere 99 for 8. It was New Zealand’s lowest total against India in a full-length T20I. Still, it was far from a cruise for India.New Zealand used five spinners – and eight bowlers in all – and they were as effective as their India counterparts in strangling the scoring rate. India, though, had the advantage of knowing their target. They took the game deep and crossed the line with one ball to spare.In all, spinners bowled 30 overs in the match – the second-most in any T20I, and the most in a game involving Full Member teams.

New Zealand lose three to reverse-sweep

Finn Allen looked to take the attack to the opposition straightaway. He was lucky to collect streaky, back-to-back boundaries off Hardik Pandya but was at sea against spin.Introduced in the fourth over, Chahal found turn straightaway. His first delivery pitched on the leg stump, beat Allen’s outside edge, and missed off stump. Allen tried to counter him with the reverse sweep, only to be bowled via a deflection off his right leg.After Chahal’s wicket maiden, Devon Conway attempted a reverse sweep against Washington Sundar in the next over. The ball, though, brushed his wrist and lobbed to Ishan Kishan. Glenn Phillips too found it difficult to score against spin and resorted to the reverse sweep. In the process, he ended up exposing nearly all three stumps to an innocuous Hooda delivery and was bowled, leaving New Zealand 35 for 3 in the seventh over.Yuzvendra Chahal set the tone for India with a wicket maiden inside the powerplay•BCCI

Kuldeep dents New Zealand further

If New Zealand had any hopes of a recovery with Daryl Mitchell, the Player of the Match in the previous game, and Mark Chapman in the middle, Kuldeep Yadav shattered them. The wristspinner got one to turn back in sharply from outside off to breach Mitchell’s defence and hit the off stump.Chapman and Michael Bracewell tried to revive the innings. Their stand was worth 20 when Bracewell reverse-swept Hooda uppishly towards short third. Kuldeep slipped and couldn’t go for the catch but his quick throw to Kishan meant Chapman, who had taken off for a single, couldn’t retrace his steps in time.Till the 17th over, Hardik was the only seamer India had used. In the death overs, he and Arshdeep Singh used the bouncer to good effect to pick up three wickets between them. The New Zealand innings featured only six fours and no six. There would be no six in India’s innings either.

India hobble to the target

It was never going to be a cakewalk for India. Jacob Duffy bowled the first over of the chase but from there till the 18th over, New Zealand bowled only spin from both ends.Shubman Gill fell for 11, top-edging Bracewell to deep square leg. Ishan Kishan struggled and was run out for 19 off 32 balls by an excellent piece of fielding. Kishan got an inside edge towards midwicket against Phillips and looked to collect two. The bowler sprinted towards the ball, put in a slide and fired the throw to the non-striker’s end. In the meantime, Rahul Tripathi had sent Kishan back and his bat was on the crease when Santner broke the stumps.Ish Sodhi dismissed Tripathi soon after, reducing India to 50 for 3 in the 11th over. Suryakumar and Washington, promoted to No. 5, calmed the Indian dugout somewhat. The pair largely dealt in ones and twos to take the side to within 30 runs of the target before a mix-up resulted in Washington sacrificing his wicket.In the end, it came down to 13 required from 12 balls. Lockie Ferguson conceded only seven off the 19th over despite Hardik finding a boundary. Suryakumar, though, ensured Washington’s sacrifice didn’t go in vain.

ICC chair Barclay on Arthur remark: 'Will review all criticisms'

“We will just take it as it plays out, get to the end of the event. I’m satisfied that it will still be an outstanding World Cup”

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Oct-20232:35

Arthur: Pakistan were ‘timid’ with their performance

The ICC will review the criticism by Pakistan team director Mickey Arthur that the India vs Pakistan World Cup match on October 14 in Ahmedabad felt more like a “bilateral series” game, though it remains confident that the tournament will be remembered as an “outstanding” one once it’s over.Arthur admitted after his side’s seven-wicket loss that with barely any Pakistan presence at the packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the team was affected by the partisan crowd. Pakistani fans were conspicuous by their absence at the ground, with no fans having received visas to travel across the border. Only a handful of Pakistani journalists made it in time to cover the match, and a small number of Pakistani-origin fans who are residents/citizens of other countries.”Look, I’d be lying if I said it did [not affect us],” Arthur said after the match. “It didn’t seem like an ICC event, to be brutally honest. It seemed like a bilateral series; it seemed like a BCCI event.”Related

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Asked to respond to Arthur’s comments, ICC chairman Greg Barclay seemed to downplay them as the kind of criticism that is par for the course at such tournaments. “Every event that we have, there’s always criticisms from various quarters,” Barclay was quoted as saying by AFP in Mumbai, where he was attending the International Olympic Committee Session, which voted for T20 cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”Things that perhaps we’ll take away and try to work on, try to do better… so this event’s only [at] the start. Let’s see how the whole thing plays out and we’ll go away and we’ll review what could change, what we can do better, how we can improve World Cups and the general offering around cricket.”We will just take it as it plays out, get to the end of the event. I’m satisfied that it will still be an outstanding World Cup.”While the India vs Pakistan contest was watched by a record crowd – both at the ground and globally – the organisers have not yet put out the official attendance.The Ahmedabad venue is the largest ground in cricket in terms of capacity with over 110,000 seats.ESPNcricinfo has sent a query to both the ICC and the BCCI, the tournament hosts. There has also been no response from ICC and BCCI to a query on to how many seats were officially put on sale for the marquee contest. When the plan for ticket sales for the tournament was released in late August, the BCCI had said September 3 was slotted solely for the India vs Pakistan game tickets. On October 8, the BCCI announced it was putting a further 14,000 tickets on sale for the match. Three days later, the BCCI put out a post on X (formerly Twitter) announcing that another set of tickets – no numbers revealed – originally meant for its official partners, was being sold.There have been numerous complaints from fans about the online ticketing system in place and the early part of the tournament – excluding India games and games held in Delhi – has been marked by low attendances.

Justin Ontong named head coach of Paarl Rocks

He is the team’s third coach in as many seasons, and will take over from JP Duminy

Firdose Moonda14-Jun-2023Justin Ontong, the former South Africa batter and most recently national men’s team fielding coach, has been named as the new coach of the Paarl Rocks provincial side.Ontong succeeds JP Duminy, who was in charge for a season and is now the South African men’s white-ball batting coach. This is Ontong’s first position as a head coach.”I am honoured to be given this opportunity to lead the Rocks team. I have worked with several different teams and understand what it takes to build a winning team,” Ontong said. “My focus will be to ensure that all the players are working towards the same goal and remain motivated.”Related

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Ontong is the third Paarl Rocks head coach in as many seasons. Adrian Birrell headed up the province in the 2021-22 summer, when the Paarl Rocks won the T20 Challenge, before Duminy got the job. Duminy was in charge in the 2022-23 season during which time he also held the position of Paarl Royals coach in the SA20. It is not known whether he will continue in that role in the coming season. Paarl are yet to add to their sole trophy but have maintained their position in the top-tier of South Africa’s domestic structure.CSA revamped the domestic cricket system three summers ago in which they did away with the six franchises and introduced two divisions, with eight teams in tier one and seven in tier two, and a promotion-relegation system. The first movements from that came after two complete seasons, and saw Bloemfontein’s Knights drop down to division two, while the Pietermaritzburg-based Tuskers earned promotion. Paarl, who did not have its own franchise in the previous system, achieved a respectable fourth-place finish on the combined log.Paarl Rocks have proven themselves to be strong contenders in white-ball tournaments, but have only won one red-ball match in the new era, something they would like to change. “Having Justin Ontong on board as the head coach of the Rocks is an immense addition to our organisation,” James Fortuin, Paarl Rocks CEO, said.While Ontong is mostly known for his white-ball numbers – he played 42 white-ball internationals for South Africa – he was capped twice in Tests and finished his career with a first-class average of 41.87 which makes him the ideal candidate to turn Paarl’s red-ball form around.When his playing days ended in late 2017, Ontong moved straight into coaching. He was appointed South Africa’s fielding coach under Ottis Gibson in the 2017-8 season and remained in that role when Mark Boucher took over in December 2019. Boucher resigned the post after last year’s T20 World Cup and has been succeeded by Shukri Conrad in Tests and Rob Walter in ODIs and T20Is, each of who has their own support staff. The white-ball fielding job has been given to Lions’ coach Wandile Gwavu.

Martin Andersson hundred sets up crushing Middlesex win over Notts

Ryan Higgins scores 88 and takes three-for as visitors crash to 134-run defeat

ECB Reporters Network15-Aug-2023Middlesex’s Martin Andersson hit a maiden career century to help his side register their first victory of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup by routing Notts Outlaws at Radlett.The 26-year-old allrounder, promoted to bat at No. 6, produced a knock of exactly 100 from 81 balls to put the Seaxes back on track alongside Ryan Higgins, whose 88 from 58 was also a career-best performance in 50-over cricket. The pair’s effort enabled Middlesex to post 365 all out after being put in – and that target proved far too steep for the Outlaws, who could only muster 231 from 40.1 overs in reply.Higgins and Ethan Bamber picked up three wickets apiece and the 134-run victory margin – Middlesex’s highest against Notts in limited-overs cricket – would have been greater but for a spirited eighth-wicket stand of 74 between Tom Loten and Calvin Harrison.Asked to bat first, Middlesex skipper Mark Stoneman set off at a brisk pace, driving Brett Hutton over the top for six and finding the boundary regularly as he dominated an opening stand of 40 with Joe Cracknell, reaching 35 from 27. However, Hutton had the last word, breaching Stoneman’s defences with a straight one and the Outlaws seamer also picked up the wicket of Sam Robson, who dragged a ball back onto his off stump.Cracknell targeted left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White immediately with two successful sweeps to the fence, but a third attempt proved his undoing as Dane Schadendorf took a tumbling bat-pad catch behind the stumps.When Jack Davies was caught at cover, the home side had slumped to 136 for 4 – but the decision to move Andersson up the order paid off as he and Higgins shared a partnership of 129 from 78.Higgins was productive against seam and spin alike, looking well set for a maiden 50-over hundred until he skied Lyndon James to mid-off, but Andersson took full advantage of being dropped when he sliced to deep third on 18.He progressed to his half-century with a boundary, punching Patterson-White off the back foot through cover and, aided by Luke Hollman (35 from 34) steered Middlesex beyond the 300 mark. On 90 at the start of the final over, Andersson carved James for successive fours and then scrambled two to reach his milestone before being caught on the fence next delivery as the Seaxes posted 365.In reply, Notts lost three wickets during the powerplay overs, with both openers falling to Bamber – yet the most eye-catching dismissal was Stoneman’s stunning one-handed catch at midwicket to intercept James’ full-blooded pull off Ishaan Kaushal.Outlaws captain Haseeb Hameed, who dispatched his first ball from Kaushal to the cover boundary, had begun to repair the damage when Bamber uprooted his middle stump to leave the visitors reeling at 60 for 4.Andersson was unlucky not to add his name to the list of wicket-takers when Patterson-White’s edge narrowly eluded John Simpson and, when Montgomery cut him to gully later in the same over, Higgins spilled the catch.Higgins made amends as he whizzed through the middle order with three quick wickets, including the scalp of Montgomery, who was caught at backward point for 40 – but Notts’ eighth-wicket pair thwarted any hopes of a swift finish. Loten struck a career-best 44 before Robson had him caught behind and the legspinner finished proceedings when Harrison, chasing a maiden half-century, was taken at long-off for 41.

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