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England batsman Ian Bell expects the occasional flashpoint in the series against Pakistan which starts next month

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2011Ian Bell, the England batsman, expects the occasional flashpoint in the series against Pakistan that starts next month, but knows both teams have a responsibility to compete in the right spirit.Contests between England and Pakistan have a history of courting controversy and this tour takes place in the aftermath of the spot-fixing verdicts, with Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir given jail terms after being exposed by the in 2010.Relations between the teams became increasingly strained during the one-day leg of that series but Andrew Strauss has previously spoken about how it is time to move on from spot-fixing. For their part Pakistan have a new-look team which has enjoyed a very successful 2011 although a number of players remain from the England tour.”It’s a slightly different Pakistan squad to last year. They are trying to prove lots of people wrong,” Bell told the . “It will be a tough series and I am sure that at some point there will be an incident or two. But it’s important we ensure that this series is remembered for the right reasons not for anything controversial.”Bell is also aware that England didn’t cover themselves in glory during the one-day series against India in October when the team was criticised for their attitude in the field as they slumped to the 5-0 whitewash.”We didn’t put ourselves in a great light in the one-day series India with some of the stuff that was going on and we need to make sure that this series is played in the right way. Hopefully that will happen. It’s important for both sides to be ambassadors for the game and we need to make sure that it is played in the right way.”Pakistan have finished 2011 as one of the in-form teams in the world, which bodes well for a tight tussle against England who start the series as the No. 1 Test team. Pakistan will have the advantage of greater knowledge of the conditions, having played ‘home’ Tests in UAE over the last two years, but Bell thinks inconsistency remains a real possibility.”Pakistan have great individual players, they always have done, but they are unpredictable,” he said. “On their day they can beat anyone but they can always lose to anyone. You never quite know what you are going to get with them.

James Anderson insists that his mind and body are fully attuned to the challenge of leading England’s attack in the third Test at Perth

Andrew Miller in Perth14-Dec-2010James Anderson insists that his mind and body are fully attuned to the challenge of leading England’s attack in the third Test at Perth, despite the competing emotions generated by the birth of his second daughter Ruby – an event for which he flew halfway around the world in the immediate aftermath of England’s innings victory in the second Test at Adelaide, before rejoining the squad within hours of their arrival in Perth on MondayWhile Anderson’s trip was made with the full blessing of the ECB, who recognise the need to accommodate such life-changing events in the midst of an unrelenting international calendar, the timing was, in the words of the coach Andy Flower, “not ideal”. With one half of England’s new-ball attack, Stuart Broad, already ruled out with a torn stomach muscle, the last thing they need is for the other half to be jet-lagged and distracted going into the contest that could decide the outcome of the Ashes.Anderson, however, is adamant that as soon as he sets foot on the pitch on Thursday morning, his mind will be fully occupied by the task of beating Australia. “I don’t see why not,” he said. “I didn’t get into a sleep routine in England or acclimatise to English conditions. I tried to stay on Australian time and I think I’ve done that well. I had a good night’s sleep last night, I’ve got two days’ preparation before the Test, and I don’t see why they won’t go well. I feel fresh and probably happy for the rest from bowling after a tough first two Tests.”It was nice to go back for a few days, and be there for the birth,” he added. “In an ideal world I probably would’ve stayed a bit longer, but the nature of my job is I’ve got to be here and try to perform at my best for England. It’s something we’ve all got to deal with at some stage. Many people in whatever jobs they do have to deal with stuff like this. It’s another thing I’ve got to cope with and I’m sure I’ll be fine.”Anderson confounded many people’s expectations in those matches at Brisbane and Adelaide, during which he was consistently the most threatening seam bowler on either side. His efforts went under-rewarded at the Gabba but he made amends on the first day at Adelaide with a four-wicket haul that has to rank among his best performances for England, seeing as it limited Australia to an insubstantial, and ultimately decisive, first-innings total of 260.With a total of 48 hours’ travel either side of his five-day stop-over, Anderson had plenty time to mull over that performance, and his overall efforts on the first half of the tour, especially seeing as he set off for England within hours of the final Australian wicket falling in the second Test.”I feel like it’s part of my job as a bowler and I see myself as the leader of the attack here, so it’s important I think about what went right for us in the last two games and what we can improve on for this game,” he said. “I did plenty of that as did the guys who were still here. They’ve thought about things we can improve on, and we’ve spoken about it already.”It’s not the first time that Anderson has experienced the conflicting emotions of leaving behind a new-born to go and represent his country, following the birth of his eldest daughter, Lola Rose, in January 2009, although the timing is doubly unfortunate on this occasion, seeing as his return to the squad has coincided with the arrival of his team-mates’ families for the Christmas season. Anderson, however, insisted he was unfazed: “I quite enjoy seeing other people’s kids,” he said. “It’s quite nice having a family atmosphere around the team.”The whirlwind circumstances of an eventful week will need to be left behind quickly, however, if Anderson and England are to capitalise on the momentum generated by their victory at Adelaide. With Australia needing two wins from the last three Tests to have a hope of regaining the Ashes, the prospect of a fast and bouncy WACA wicket has got both sets of players salivating at the opportunities that lie in wait. Anderson, however, remained cautious about its reputation.”It’s nice to hear there might be some pace in the pitch, with a bit of grass left on it,” he said. “But we’ll have to see what sort of pitch we get. We’ve still got to prepare as if it’s not going to swing. If it does, then it’s a nice bonus for us. Our tour match here [in November] was a lot different to what I remember from four years ago, and how everyone talks about the WACA. It was very slow for what people say is a quick, bouncy pitch, so it will be interesting to see how different this one is.”England’s reserve seamers – Chris Tremlett, Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad – were certainly confounded by the conditions at the MCG this week, where they were limited to a solitary wicket in 76 overs of hard toil. But regardless of which of them he plays alongside, Anderson was confident of their abilities to fill the vacancy left by Broad.”Tremlett has a massive advantage with his height, and might get some bounce out of the pitch,” he said. “Bresnan is a very skilful bowler who can bat as well and he has made some valuable contributions with the bat in our one-day side. Shahzad bowled fantastically well in Hobart. All three guys could do a fantastic job. I’m not sure it’s that big a decision and luckily I’m not the one who has to make it.”I’m feeling pretty fresh. I feel fine, and whoever replaces Stuart, we’ve got three guys raring to go,” he added. “They’re all quality bowlers and I’m sure they’ll fill Stuart’s shoes as well as they can. We’re trying not to think about retaining the Ashes. We’re concentrating solely on this game, because we’ve worked really hard to get into this position and we don’t want to let that slip now.”

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja believes the PCB’s “big move” to call up Sarfraz Ahmed for the third Test, in all likelihood to replace a struggling Karman Akmal, is justified

Cricinfo staff08-Jan-2010Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja believes the PCB is justified in its “big move” to call up wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed for the third Test against Australia in Hobart, in all likelihood to replace a struggling Kamran Akmal. He has, however, advised that Sarfraz be given an extended run behind the stumps.”This change is justified even though some eyebrows will be raised by this sudden coup behind the stumps in the middle of a series,” Ramiz told Cricinfo. “Dispatching an unacclimatised player straight into a Test match, that too against Australia, can be fraught with risk.”The key to success behind the stumps, he said, would be to keep the position stable. “The removal of a keeper is a significant selection call, for he is as crucial to the team as its leader,” he said. “This [Sarfraz’s] selection has to a be well thought-out, crafted move and not just a mere flirtation with the post. A constant change behind the stumps can have an unsettling effect on the team and its leader. If Sarfraz has been penciled in as a Test wicketkeeper then his tenure should have a sensible stretch.”Akmal, he said, shouldn’t be “embarrassed” any more. “He needs time out, while some would say that his time is up.”Akmal dropped four catches during Australia’s second innings in the second Test at Sydney, including three off Mike Hussey, as Pakistan struggled to break the ninth-wicket partnership between Hussey and Peter Siddle. Hussey went on to score an unbeaten 134, and Australia set Pakistan a target of 176. The visitors were bowled out 36 runs short, handing Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in three-match encounter.Events on that final day, and Mohammad Yousuf’s captaincy and defensive tactics, have drawn sharp criticism from Pakistani observers and Ramiz joined in. The tactics, he said, mirrored the quality of captaincy in domestic cricket. “He [Yousuf] entered a fresh day trying to execute a plan that had already been neutralised by the same pair a night before,” Ramiz said. “It was a crazy piece of planning. Why would you want to put the shutters down so early on a brand new day when the second new ball is still in its infancy and just two wickets needed to take the team home.”How could the think tank, boasting of bowlers with more than 500 Test wickets, allow the fresh cherry to rot? The pattern to sit in against a set batsman [Hussey] and give him an easy passage to the non-striker’s zone, while trying to knock over the tail-ender [Siddle] is straight out of our first-class cricket. That the strategy got badly exposed at the top level only provides a stark reminder of how poor our first-class system is.”Other key lessons from the defeat, he said, included Faisal Iqbal’s ill-suited role at No. 3 and the end of Misbah’s dream run. He said the board needed to “change its avatar and win over a dejected nation.””Also, pressure can impair our openers to think straight. The PCB needs to think straight now…it’s time to revitalise a flagging club system, make selections transparent, especially at the grassroots level, assemble a lean and intense first-class format based on cities, install a cricket committee to look after cricket affairs and free itself of petty association politics.”

Gloucestershire opener adds unbeaten fifty second time around as hosts follow on

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay24-Jul-2025Gloucestershire 381 (Charlesworth 160, Phillips 64, Hartley 6-116) and 98 for 0 (Charlesworth 61*) trail Lancashire 557 by 78 runsTom Hartley produced another stellar performance to put the skids under Gloucestershire as Lancashire made the running on day three of the Rothesay County Championship match at the College Ground, Cheltenham.Having posted a career-best innings of 130 with the bat on day two, the England slow left-armer returned notable figures of 6 for 116 – his best for Lancashire – to again steal the Festival show. Replying to Lancashire’s mammoth 557, the home side were dismissed for 381, conceding a first-innings deficit of 176.Ben Charlesworth staged an outstanding season’s-best knock of 160 and Joe Phillips weighed in with 64 as Gloucestershire advanced confidently to 296 for 3. But Hartley then induced a collapse which saw the hosts lose their last seven wickets for 85 runs in 26 overs.Lancashire captain James Anderson enforced the follow-on and Gloucestershire made a better fist of things second time around, Cameron Bancroft and Charlesworth safely negotiating 30 overs to stage an unbroken opening stand of 98. Gloucestershire still trail by 78 runs and Bancroft (35 not out) and Charlesworth (61 not out) will be called upon to muster further resistance on a pitch offering some assistance to spin when they return in the morning.The day had begun full of hope for Gloucestershire. Resuming on 179 for 1, Charlesworth and Phillips set a new county record partnership for the second wicket in matches against Lancashire, eclipsing the 160 registered by Bill Athey and Paul Romaines at Bristol in 1984. Phillips perished soon afterwards, superbly held at short square leg by Keaton Jennings off the bowling of Chris Green as Lancashire effected an early breakthrough and terminated a profitable alliance of 171 in 47.3 overs.Charlesworth and Ollie Price applied themselves diligently to the task of cussed defiance and, in between performing the hard yards, these two took advantage of sufficient poor balls to post a half-century stand from 104 balls. Desperate to make something happen, Lancashire were indebted to Hartley, who persuaded Price to slice a cut shot to Luke Wells at backward point in the 72nd over. Price had contributed 31 to a stand of 58 for the third wicket, and Gloucestershire were 249 for 3, still 308 runs behind and with further graft required. Charlesworth was joined by Cheltenham-born Miles Hammond and these two advanced the score to 259 for 3 by lunch.With the new ball available upon the resumption, Anderson returned at the Chapel End, only for Hammond to greet him with an off-driven four and another boundary behind square. Charlesworth then crunched the former England man through the covers off the back foot to bring up his 150 from 233 balls with his 20th four.But Charlesworth’s resistance ended soon afterwards, the 24-year-old left hander inexplicably advancing down the pitch to Hartley and being stumped by Phil Salt with the score 296 for 4. His dismissal sparked an alarming collapse in which the home side lost six wickets for the addition of 62 runs in 21.1 overs.Hammond had traded almost exclusively in boundaries, his brisk 36 including six fours and a six, when he miscued an attempted drive and offered a return catch to Hartley. On a roll by now, Hartley struck again in his next over, dismissing Graeme van Buuren lbw without scoring, before persuading James Bracey to pop a catch up to short square leg to complete a remarkable five-wicket haul.Having seen their middle order blown away by Hartley, Gloucestershire’s tailend fared no better against Lancashire’s back-up spinners. Zaman Akhter fell lbw to Green and Ajeet Singh Dale succumbed in near-identical fashion to Wells’ legbreaks. Hindered by a hamstring strain, Marchant de Lange emerged with Phillips as a runner and the big man suggested a possible escape route for Gloucestershire by smiting two huge sixes. But Hartley returned to have the South African held in the deep, leaving Todd Murphy high and dry on 22 not out, as the hosts fell 27 short of saving the follow on.Bancroft and Charlesworth restored calm during a final session that, in stark contrast to what had gone before, failed to yield a single dismissal. Watchful in the face of a new-ball examination at the hands of Anderson, Gloucestershire’s openers initially focused their efforts on occupying the crease and taking up time. But as Lancashire’s bowlers began to tire, so the opening partnership flourished.Picking up where he left off in the first innings, Charlesworth went to 50 from 64 balls with seven fours and a six, his antics causing the threat of further collapse to recede into the distance. His captain proved rock-solid, Bancroft chiseling an unbeaten 35 from 86 balls to serve notice that Gloucestershire remain in the fight.

Stars were in the game at various points, but Murphy first and then Vince and Hughes took the game away from them

AAP06-Jan-2024Opener James Vince and No. 3 Daniel Hughes were dominant, leading Sydney Sixers to an easy BBL win over Melbourne Stars. Chasing Stars’ 156 for 4 on Saturday night at the MCG, Sixers got past the target with 11 balls and seven wickets left.The result lifted Sixers to second place, and broke a run of rain-affected games and Stars’ four-game winning streak. It’s an important result, with Sixers third and Stars fourth on eight points apiece going into the game.Vince and Hughes put on 99 for the second wicket off 67 balls to take the game away from Stars. Vince top-scored with 79 from 57 balls, with 12 fours, while Hughes made 41 from 32 balls four fours and a six.The game was evenly poised midway through the Sixers’ innings, at 68 for 1 in comparison to Stars’ 81 for 3 at the same stage. But Sixers were 128 when Hughes was dismissed at the end of the 15th over and the match was as good as over.Scott Boland returned for Stars and took 2 for 38 from his four overs.Earlier, Sixers won the toss and after Glenn Maxwell threatened one of his special innings that would have torn the match apart, Todd Murphy responded with an outstanding spell in which he claimed the crucial wicket of the big-hitting Stars captain.Todd Murphy was outstanding, keeping things tight and picking up the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and Beau Webster•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Maxwell came to the crease with his side in early trouble at 41 for 2 in the sixth over.He quickly went on the warpath and belted four fours and two sixes in his 31 from 14 balls before Murphy struck – Murphy enticed Maxwell with a wide ball and Sean Abbott caught him at deep cover.Murphy was outstanding, also bowling the in-form Beau Webster for a duck in his 2 for 15 from four overs.After opener Dan Lawrence was dismissed for 36 in the 14th over, Marcus Stoinis and Hilton Cartwright struggled to find the boundary with any regularity in their 56-run partnership. Cartwright hit a six into the second tier of the Shane Warne Stand off Abbott at the end of the 19th over, before he and Stoinis added some much-needed meat to the innings with three fours in the last over.Stoinis scored 34 from 30 balls and Cartwright made 29 from 22.Stars were without wicketkeeper Sam Harper, who was hit on the head while batting at Friday training, but is now out of the hospital. Peter Handscomb took his place behind the wickets as Stars also welcomed back Boland, while Sixers brought back Hughes to great effect.

Former England batter left head scout role at ECB in June

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Oct-2022James Taylor has been appointed batting coach at Leicestershire, his first role in professional cricket after losing his job at the ECB in June.Taylor, 32, was forced to retire from the game six years ago after he was diagnosed with a rare heart condition, and joined the ECB as a selector in 2018 after short-term coaching roles with Northamptonshire and in the England pathway.He spent three years working alongside Ed Smith and another year as head scout after Smith’s national selector role was axed in 2021.Taylor spent four seasons playing for Leicestershire before moving to Nottinghamshire, winning the Friends Life T20 in 2011, and will now work under his former captain Paul Nixon, who has been the club’s head coach since late 2017.”I’m delighted to be back with Leicestershire,” Taylor said. “I’ve got so many fond memories here and I can’t wait to add to those.”A real passion of mine is helping people and coaching is something where I can do that. I’ve got a wide range of different experiences and hopefully some of that knowledge can transfer to the players.”There are some hugely talented players here at Leicestershire, and I can’t think of a better place to come and work to try and make a difference. I want to help take the club forward in any way I can.”Related

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Leicestershire had a disastrous red-ball season in 2022, picking up the County Championship’s wooden spoon after a winless campaign, but reached the knockout stages of the Royal London Cup and would have progressed to the quarter-finals of the T20 Blast but for a points deduction.They announced a significant squad clear-out last month, with allrounder Ben Mike joining Yorkshire and the following seven players all released at the end of the season: Hassan Azad, Sam Bates, Nat Bowley, Alex Evans, Gavin Griffiths, George Rhodes and Abi Sakande.Sol Budinger has been brought in from Notts, while the club are expected to announce the signing of Matt Salisbury, the Durham seamer, in the coming weeks.Claude Henderson, Taylor’s team-mate during the 2011 T20 triumph, was appointed director of cricket on a permanent basis last week after filling the role on an interim basis this season.

First series win in England since 1999 was firm focus, says vice-captain

Matt Roller13-Jun-2021New Zealand’s series win in England is their first since 1999 and they have an opportunity to add the inaugural World Test Championship title next week when they play India at the Ageas Bowl.Which is the bigger prize? “Both sounds pretty good,” Tom Latham, their vice-captain, grinned after leading them to victory at Edgbaston. “From our point of view, it was about coming here and focusing on these first two Test matches against England and trying to continue doing what we’ve been doing over a couple of years now. Now that we’ve ticked them off, it’s important that our focus shifts to India in a couple of days.”It’s a fantastic achievement from the group. I think it’s important that we celebrate with each other. It hasn’t been done since ’99. For us to come here as a group, it was about trying to play our brand of cricket and I thought we did that really well over the four days and got our rewards at the end.”While New Zealand’s recent record against England has been excellent – they have won four and drawn three of their last seven Tests against them, dating back to 2015 – their away record against the big three of India, England and Australia had been poor since that 1999 triumph, with just two victories in their previous 39 attempts. Latham said that his memories of seeing teams struggle on previous tours made the victory even better.”I certainly remember staying up late, watching teams come over to England and playing Test cricket – at Lord’s, and all these iconic grounds. For us to come here and put a performance on the board that was true to us was really important.”It was about trying to do what we do really well and I thought we did. [It’s] well documented that ’99 was the last time we’d won here and we have been here a couple of times in recent years and haven’t quite got the rewards. It’s certainly an achievement that’s worth celebrating.”New Zealand’s series win also took them back to No. 1 in the ICC’s Test rankings, leapfrogging India, their upcoming opponents. They reached the summit for the first time earlier this year after beating Pakistan, before India nudged past them following their 3-1 series win against England in March.Related

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They made six changes from the team that drew at Lord’s, with Kane Williamson, BJ Watling, and Mitchell Santner suffering elbow, back and finger niggles respectively, and Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson all rested ahead of the main event.Latham said that New Zealand expect to have a clean bill of health leading into that final, and paid tribute to the strength in depth within the squad.”It was amazing from a personnel change of six guys. That hasn’t happened for a long time in this group and it has been a hard team to crack into. For all those guys to get that opportunity – Will Young, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel – was fantastic. They performed their roles really well.”[Watling and Williamson] are travelling reasonably well. It was important for them to get a little bit of rest in order to be fully fit heading into next week. Fingers crossed we’ll have a fully-fit squad.”As for the challenge India will present, Latham said that their performances on their tour of England in 2018 – albeit in a 4-1 series defeat – demonstrated that they would be tough to beat at the Ageas Bowl.”They’ve got a fantastic set of bowlers, [and] a lot of quality batsmen that have scored runs in different conditions all round the world. They were over here a few years ago and played really well, so we know we’ll have to play well to beat them.”Our focus will shift to them in a couple of days. The preparation has been great but it’s important that we do shift our focus and adapt to a completely different side.”

New data reveals rapid growth in number of drug tests administered on cricketers

Matt Roller11-Mar-2020The number of out-of-competition drugs tests administered on cricketers by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has grown tenfold in the past five years, according to new data obtained by ESPNcricinfo.The new figures, revealed via Freedom of Information requests, demonstrate an increase in the total number of tests administered annually on cricketers under the ECB’s jurisdiction from 126 in 2013-14 to 315 in 2018-19*, and confirm the governing body’s increased efforts to ensure cricket remains a clean sport.ALSO READ: Fines doubled, 21-day ban scrapped as ECB update recreational drug policyFrom 2013 to 2017, cricket was not considered a high-risk sport by UKAD, the national anti-doping body, but discussions two years ago and an increase in UKAD’s capacity due to additional government funding led to cricket receiving a free ‘public interest’ test allocation. No player tested positive for any performance-enhancing substance in 2019.Increased professionalism and an awareness that the proliferation of T20 leagues has enhanced the potential benefits of doping have both prompted the extension of the ECB’s programme. This year, short-form cricket makes up a greater proportion of the English summer on account of the Hundred’s inaugural season, suggesting that the number of tests administered will continue to grow.