All posts by n8rngtd.top

Seven-wicket win seals record ninth Finals Day berth as 161 target is hunted down

Paul Edwards08-Jul-2022Lancashire 162 for 3 (Croft 76*, Vilas 51) beat Essex 161 for 5 (Pepper 36) by seven wicketsI suppose it had to happen sometime. Perhaps it was written in the stars above Todmorden that it would be this year of all years. In little more than six days’ time Lancashire will play Yorkshire in the semi-final of the Vitality Blast at Edgbaston. They will do so partly thanks to the efforts of two cricketers who are divided by a county border yet share more than they might acknowledge.On Wednesday Jordan Thompson bellowed defiance and took Yorkshire to a victory over Surrey that made feeding the five thousand look no more miraculous than a trip to Sainsbury’s. Just two evenings later, Steven Croft strode to the wicket at Emirates Old Trafford when his side were 6 for 1 and left the great ground an hour or so later after his 48-ball 76 not out had helped Lancashire thrash Essex by seven wickets, the victory being achieved with 26 balls to spare.Croft is in some of the form of his life, a point Lancashire should note given that the 37-year-old is in the final year of his current contract. With Lancashire needing 162 to reach Finals Day – it looked six to five and pick ’em at half-time – Croft drove Dan Sams for a thunderous six and then top-edged him for an altogether jammier one. It set the tone for the rest of an innings in which the Essex bowlers got no rest. Indeed, they looked back fondly to the sixth ball of Lancashire’s reply when Sam Cook got a cuticle to a fierce drive from Salt and ran out Keaton Jennings for nought. That was as good as it got for Simon Harmer’s team, a fact the visiting skipper acknowledged later.Salt and Croft put on 73 runs in less than eight overs. Sams conceded 19 runs in his first over, Cook 14 in his second. Lancashire had 61 runs on the board when the Powerplay ended and not even the Essex spinners, Harmer and Matt Critchley could staunch the flow. True, Salt fell for 27 to a superb relay catch when a leaping Michael Pepper threw the ball back infield to Ben Allison but that only brought Dane Vilas to the wicket and he seemed in an even more violent mood than Croft, with whom he added 78.Lancashire’s skipper struggled for runs in the Blast last year but his return to form in 2022 has been clear. This evening it was plain in his 22-ball fifty and epitomised by the slog-swept six that went through the temporary wall separating the outfield from Lancashire’s latest building site. Vilas fell to Harmer for 51 when his side needed five to win but it was a footnote at best. Whereas Yorkshire needed to dig very deep to get past a Surrey side who were thinking about Edgbaston hotels, Lancashire motored home, Havana cigar in hand.But let us pause a moment and consider the poor bloody bowlers. Firstly, we should note that Richard Gleeson, Liam Livingstone and Matt Parkinson are all on white-ball duty for England and were unavailable for this game, although Salt was made available for the quarter-final this morning. Given the absence of this trio, the efforts of the seamers, Tom Bailey, Luke Wood and Danny Lamb, each of whom conceded 28 runs in their four overs, were particularly valuable. Lamb also had Critchley caught by Luke Wells at cover for 12 and Wood removed Adam Rossington and Dan Lawrence, both courtesy of catches by Tim David. The second of them, a two-handed job above his head at mid-on to a bullet of a drive, delighted the crowd and astonished the batter.Essex ended the Powerplay with 53 runs on the board and continued to score at eight runs an over throughout the innings. Yet their total seemed respectable on a used pitch that we thought might suit Harmer and Critchley. It did not turn out that way partly because Croft is enjoying his best-ever season in T20 cricket and now needs just 46 runs to beat Lancashire’s short-form record, which is held by Tom Smith, the Yorkshire coach. The veteran’s batting will surely have delighted Cartmel Cricket Club’s Barmy Army, who draped their banner over the balcony outside one of the rooms at the Hilton Garden Hotel. The catering at Emirates Old Trafford might not match that at L’Enclume, the restaurant in their Cumbrian village that boasts three Michelin stars, but they will have had a great night, too.And if a word of caution is needed, Lancashire might note that while they have reached their ninth Finals Day, a record matched only by their fellow semi-finalists Hampshire, they now need to improve their poor record on the big day in Birmingham, where they have prevailed in just three semi-finals and won the trophy only once. Steven Croft of Lancashire will note such things but he will probably observe that trends are meant to be bucked just as age is only a number. It is difficult not to be delighted for him, although Jordan Thompson of Yorkshire might manage it.

Bracey combines with Ryan Higgins to lead recovery at Cheltenham

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2022Northamptonshire 30 for 0 trail Gloucestershire 317 (Bracey 79, Dent 54, Higgins 50) by 287 runsJames Bracey gave a reminder of the ability that earned him an England Test cap as Gloucestershire posted 317 all out on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Northamptonshire at Cheltenham College.The 25-year-old left-hander top scored with 79 off 137 balls, receiving excellent support from Ryan Higgins in a sixth-wicket stand of 110, which rescued their side from 167 for 5 after winning the toss.Offspinner Rob Keogh was the most successful Northants bowler with 3 for 61. By the close of a day packed with attacking batting and wickets aplenty for a sizable festival crowd, the visitors had replied with 30 without loss from 12 overs.Play began under heavily overcast skies and a disappointing festival for Marcus Harris continued when Jack White clipped the top of the Australian’s stumps with the total on 11.Related

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Ollie Price looked in good touch helping Chris Dent add 50 for the second wicket, but the 21-year-old departed in disappointing fashion having made 23, bowled off stump looking to hit a delivery from James Sales through midwicket.Dent was unbeaten on 49 when lunch was taken at 112 for 2. Rain delayed the resumption by 25 minutes before the experienced opener moved to fifty off 89 balls. Another poor shot cost Dent his wicket on 54, edging an attempted cut off Ben Sanderson to second slip where Will Young pouched a sharp catch.It was 122 for 3 and four runs later Miles Hammond fell for 25, nicking a defensive shot off Tom Taylor through to wicketkeeper Lewis McManus. Graeme van Buuren got off the mark with a sumptuous cover driven four off Taylor, but made only 14 before chasing a wide ball from Keogh and directing the ball straight to Simon Kerrigan at cover.Gloucestershire were in a hole when Higgins joined Bracey. The allrounder made a somewhat manic start to his innings, but gradually settled down to play some fine shots. Higgins lifted Kerrigan over long-on for six before the more studied Bracey reached only his second half-century in 16 Championship innings, having faced 82 deliveries.It was exactly the approach Gloucestershire required and allowed Higgins freedom to play his shots as they took the score to 250 for 5 at tea.Higgins went to fifty with a sweep off Keogh for his fifth four, but tried to repeat the shot next ball and was pinned lbw, having faced 79 balls.
Bracey, who had produced a string of elegant cover drives, continued to accumulate without alarm and Zafar Gohar kept the tempo of Gloucestershire’s innings high with a pulled six off Sales.Gohar was given a life on nine when top-edging a similar shot and dropped by Taylor at square leg, a tricky chance running away from the pitch. Having played with such assurance, Bracey fell to another ill-judged shot, aiming a big hit to leg off Keogh and miscuing a catch to cover. Gohar quickly followed, well caught by the diving Kerrigan at fine leg off Sales for a frantic 19.Tom Price hit Kerrigan for a straight six before the second new ball was taken at 317 for eight. He fell lbw to White in the first over with it and when Zak Chappell was bowled having a swing at Sanderson, Gloucestershire had lost their last five wickets for 40 runs in somewhat kamikaze fashion.By contrast, Northants openers Will Young and Emilio Gay adopted a no-risks policy to see out a potentially tricky period before the close.

Western Storm overwhelmed after conceding competition-record 334 for 6

ECB Reporters Network11-Sep-2022Northern Diamonds 334 for 6 (Armitage 131, Winfield-Hill 74, Heath 70) beat Western Storm 230 (Gibson 76, Smale 59, Levick 4-41) by 104 runsHollie Armitage registered her first professional hundred as Northern Diamonds beat Western Storm by 104 runs to secure their place in the knockout stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy on a record-breaking day at the Cooper Associates Ground in Taunton.Diamonds won the toss, elected to bat first and ran up a mammoth competition-best total of 334 for 6, eclipsing the previous record score of 224 for 7 achieved by South East Stars against Sunrisers at Chelmsford in May 2021.Armitage top-scored with a superb run-a-ball 131 not out, accruing 10 fours and a six and sharing in stands of 125 and 132 with Lauren Winfield-Hill and Bess Heath for the second and fifth wickets respectively as the visitors took full advantage of a flat deck to claim a bonus point win.England international Winfield-Hill contributed a fluent 74 from 77 balls, while Heath struck an eye-catching 70 from just 46 balls as Diamonds surpassed their previous highest 50-over score of 294, made against Thunder at Chester-le-Street in September last year.It was a chastening experience for Storm’s bowlers, only offspinner Chloe Skelton, who claimed 2 for 39 from 10 overs, emerging with any real credit on a day when bat dominated ball.Danni Gibson restored a modicum of lost pride in a defiant innings of 76 and Sophia Smale posted a gritty 59, but Katie Levick claimed 4 for 41 and Linsey Smith and the ubiquitous Armitage took two wickets apiece as Storm were dismissed for 230 in 45.4 overs.There was no sign of the onslaught to come when Smith clipped Claire Nicholas meekly to short third man and departed for a duck in the second over. But Winfield-Hill and Armitage quickly set about putting the record straight, their partnership yielding 50 from 48 balls as Diamonds posted 56 during the opening 10-over powerplay. Scoring freely either side of the wicket, Winfield-Hill raised 50 from 56 balls, pulled Lauren Filer for four to bring up the hundred partnership and looked set to realise three figures when she inadvertently holed out to long-on off the bowling of Skelton in the 23rd over, having helped herself to nine fours.Hitherto cast in the role of chief support, Armitage went to 50 via 69 balls, while Sterre Kalis and Leah Dobson came and went in quick succession at the other end as Storm worked hard to restrict the scoring and maintain a foothold in the game.But that all changed with the advent of Heath with the score at 169 for 4 in the 33rd over. Going on the attack from the outset, the 21-year-old from Chesterfield combined finesse with raw power to help almost double the score during a blistering 14-over sojourn which left Storm on their knees. Heath and Armitage added 50 from 31 balls as the home side came under sustained pressure, Skelton the only bowler to avoid a mauling.Once again playing second fiddle to a faster-scoring partner, Armitage went to a maiden hundred for Diamonds from 110 balls, while the century partnership occupied 66 deliveries, Heath finding the boundary with impressive regularity as Diamonds surpassed their previous highest score in the 50-over competition.Driving and pulling with intent, Heath had a century firmly in her sights when she drilled the ball straight to Nicholas at short fine leg in pursuit of a ninth boundary, permitting Lauren Filer a much-needed success. Thereafter, Armitage and Lizzie Scott combined forces at the death to usher Diamonds to a record-breaking total.Required to hit the ground running if they were to have any chance of discomfiting their opponents, Storm instead lost Alice Griffiths and talismanic captain Sophie Luff inside nine overs as the powerplay failed to ignite. When Fran Wilson drove Smith to cover in the twelfth over, the home side were 37 for 3 and in danger of running up the white flag.Levick then struck twice in as many overs with her leg-breaks to remove Nat Wraith for 19 and Emma Corney for 29, the latter at least making a decent fist of opening the batting for the first time at Taunton. But there was no way back from 80 for 5 and, an entertaining interlude in which Gibson and Smale added 106 for the sixth wicket apart, Yorkshire grit continued to hold sway.Gibson matched fire with fire and provided the home crowd with something to cheer in a knock that was illuminated by 9 fours and a six until, having garnered 76 from 59 balls, she hit Armitage to cover. Smale’s brave rearguard action yielded a 59-ball 50, but it proved no more than a silver lining.

Club stalwart and establishment fixture had long and varied career in cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2022Robin Marlar, the former Sussex captain, MCC president, and long-time cricket correspondent for the Sunday Times, has died at the age of 91.As an offspinner who claimed 970 wickets in an 18-season first-class career, Marlar came close to England selection on a number of occasions in the 1950s, but was kept out of the side by the great Jim Laker, not to mention Fred Titmus and David Allen, both of whom offered more with the bat than his average of 9.72.He did, however, play for the Rest of England against Surrey in the Champion County match in 1955, in which – as a nightwatchman – he achieved the rare distinction of being stumped second-ball for six, ostensibly as a protest after his captain Doug Insole asked him to change back out of his evening wear.”As I was saying,” he is said to have remarked to Insole on his return to the dressing room, “I am not a nightwatchman.”For Sussex, however, he was a stalwart, including a five-season stint as captain from 1955 to 1959, in which time Wisden declared his leadership “shrewd and skilful”. His finest hour with the ball came against Lancashire at Hove in 1955, when his match haul of 15 for 119 included 9 for 46 in the second innings, en route to a season’s best return of 139 wickets at 21.55.Educated at Harrow, Marlar was also a three-times Cambridge Blue from 1951 to 1953, and his establishment credentials were cemented when he served as MCC’s president in 2005-06, during which time he was instrumental in forging cricketing links with Afghanistan that would ultimately lead to the country attaining Test status.After retiring from cricket, his stint as Sunday Times correspondent spanned both Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket breakaway, and the emergence in the early 1990s of Shane Warne, of whom Marlar was the first to dub his dismissal of Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993 “the ball of the century”.Marlar was born in Eastbourne in January 1931 and made his debut for Sussex in July 1951 against Kent at Hastings. Away from cricket, he established a successful headhunting business, headquartered in Sloane Square and with clients around the world.He was Sussex’s chairman in 1996 and 1997, a period which helped lay the groundwork for the outstanding side that won the club’s first County Championship in 2003, and two further titles in 2006 and 2007.In a statement, Sussex confirmed that Marlar had died at Epsom General Hospital on September 30, surrounded by his family, and recalled him as “one of the most important figures in the history of Sussex Cricket”. He had attended a memorial for his fellow club legend Ted Dexter in the Long Room at Lord’s earlier this month, in which the statement added, he had been “in magnificent form, upbraiding Sir Andrew Strauss about the High Performance Review and holding court in the style as only he could.”He took a passionate and lifelong interest in the county club of his birth and visited the ground in August this year for a memorable day, in the boardroom, with Mike Griffith and Johnny Barclay, all three MCC presidents and Sussex captains,” the statement added.”Robin Marlar was a great man of cricket and will be deeply missed by all at Sussex Cricket and especially by his friends at the Sussex Cricket Museum which he supported passionately. Our thoughts are with his daughters Sarah, AJ, Kate and Tammy and his sons Algy and James.”

The visitors looked like they would defend a low total but ended with their third defeat

AAP20-Oct-2022Perth Scorchers maintained their unbeaten start to the WBBL season with a topsy-turvy two-wicket win over the Melbourne Stars at the WACA Ground.In reply to Stars’ meagre 9 for 110, Scorchers were in all sorts of trouble at 7 for 74 in the 16th over.Needing 37 off the last 27 balls and with their best batters already back in the shed, Amy Edgar (21 off 21 balls) and Piepa Cleary (13no off 11 balls) stepped up to the plate to guide the Scorchers over the line with just two balls remaining.The result improved Scorchers’ record to 3-0 in a perfect start to their title defence, while the Stars are 0-3 and face a huge challenge to claw their way back into the finals mix.Stars appeared on track for victory after dismissing Sophie Devine for a duck and ending the resistance of Beth Mooney.But the game was turned on its head when the Scorchers peeled off 26 runs off the two-over Power Surge in the 16th and 17th overs, with Edgar crucial during the counter attack.Stars were in danger of failing to surpass the WBBL’s lowest ever total of 66 after slumping to 7 for 55 in the 12th over.Some late heroics from Tess Flintoff ensured the Stars made it past triple figures, giving them a chance of posting an unlikely victory.Cleary and Lilly Mills caused plenty of damage with the ball for Scorchers, while Taneale Peschel was superb early before copping some late punishment from Flintoff.Peschel set the tone from the very first ball, catching the edge of Lauren Winfield-Hill to send the opener packing for a golden duck.Chloe Piparo dropped Alice Capsey at slip next ball to deny Peschel a chance at a hat-trick.She had her second wicket two overs later, though, when Jemimah Rodrigues tickled one behind. Annabel Sutherland put up some resistance, before Flintoff’s late blows.

Amanda-Jade Wellington and Megan Schutt put in key performances with the ball

AAP05-Nov-2022Madeline Penna’s composed knock was the difference as Adelaide Strikers inched past Melbourne Stars in a low-scoring WBBL clash in Perth.Chasing 113 at Lilac Hill, Strikers were 3 for 18 when Deandra Dottin, Katie Mack and Laura Wolvaardt all fell.Penna (56 not out from 50 balls) and Bridget Patterson (31 off 33) put on 44 to stop the rot before Penna kicked on to see Strikers home with five balls to spare.She latched onto one pull shot for a timely six and drove well, bucking the trend on a day dominated by bowlers to embed Strikers in the top four. Incredibly, it was the third time Penna had scored 56, her highest WBBL total.Earlier Annabel Sutherland played a lone hand with the bat for Stars, her 41-ball 47 coming while Megan Schutt and Amanda-Jade Wellington had tormented her team-mates.Sutherland also took 2 for 19 from her four overs, but her solo efforts weren’t enough for Stars

“I’ve been learning on the job in Test cricket. I feel like I’m getting better and better,” says the left-arm spinner

Vithushan Ehantharajah10-Dec-2022A humble Jack Leach was in disbelief at achieving 100 Test wickets, regarding the feat as more than he felt he’d ever achieve and something he did not think “would ever happen” on the day he became the 49th England bowler to pass the milestone.The left-arm spinner took 4 for 98 on the second day of the Multan Test, as Pakistan were dismissed for 202 in their first innings. Having taken the first of those on the first evening, he arrived on Saturday with 99 dismissals to his name. A dragged heave from Saud Shakeel, caught brilliantly by James Anderson running back from mid-on, took him to three figures.Related

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The celebrations said it all: jubilation from the Somerset spinner matched by that of his teammates, particularly captain Ben Stokes who was the first to embrace the 31-year-old as he wheeled away with glee.”I did know coming into the game I needed a couple of wickets,” Leach said at stumps, with England’s lead at 281 with five second-innings wickets remaining. “It was a nice feeling. The boys were always really happy for me. I was just pleased to get a wicket in that situation of the game, really.”I just felt like, I don’t know, 100 wickets feels like quite a lot. And it’s more than I felt I’ll ever achieve. I need to remember that. As sportsmen and as people, it’s easy to just push on to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and nothing’s ever enough.””But if you told me that when I was a kid that I’d take 100 wickets, I would have laughed at you. So yes, it is special.”He became the 13th left-arm spinner to register 100 wickets for his country. But most impressively of all, the 50 innings it took to get here puts him in elite company: Wasim Akram, Chaminda Vaas, Shoaib Akthar, Rangana Herath, Mitchell Starc and Keshav Maharaj to do it in as many.While Shakeel’s wicket took him to 100, it was the next wicket of Mohammad Rizwan that was the most spectacular. Having been struck over his head for four, Leach got one to dip and spin off a leg-stump line and strike middle as the right-hander hung back and was beaten on the outside edge. A chip from Mohammad Nawaz to Stokes in close gave him four for the innings and took him to 102 across his career, at an average of 33.75.That Leach has achieved all this, not to mention playing in his 31st Test, is an indication of his resilience. He suffers from Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, that was first diagnosed at the age of 14. It is managed with immunosuppressant medication, which weakens the immune system and thus leaves Leach prone to other ailments that could be life-threatening.During a tour of New Zealand at the end of 2019, he was hospitalised with a life-threatening bout of sepsis after suffering from food poisoning. It meant he did not feature on that tour, and the knock-on effects into South Africa meant he did not play any of England’s four Tests there at the start of 2020, leaving before the third after his struggles became insurmountable. He would later have to shield himself during the Covid-19 pandemic because he was regarded as medically vulnerable.He almost missed the first Test of this series in Pakistan with illness, falling victim to the virus that affected the majority of the playing squad and staff ahead of the opening match in Rawalpindi. He pulled through, taking three in the match, including the winning wicket at the end of day five to secure one of England’s most audacious victories in the format.”I wouldn’t think it would have been possible, just probably health-wise more than anything. I was quite close to not playing the first Test. There’re lots of different challenges. I’m aware everyone has their challenges, I’m aware mine have been quite out there. That’s good because I want to be open and honest with people. There’ve been some definite lows along the way, but it does sort of make it all worth it.”Leach picked up the final wicket in the first Test to seal a memorable win for England•Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

There have been professional battles too, from struggling for first XI cricket at Somerset to biding his time with England since making his debut in March 2018. But since Stokes took over under head coach Brendon McCullum, Leach has enjoyed a renewed sense of purpose and drive as the number one spinner. He credits both with the comfort he has in his role at the moment. He has been the only bowler to play in all nine Tests since their stewardship began at the start of the summer.”Ben and Baz [McCullum] have a lot to do with that,” he said when asked of his surer footing at international level. “But I think also just I’ve probably been learning on the job in Test cricket. I feel like I’m getting better and better, and learning more and more. It’s nice to feel like I’m in control of what I’m doing. It feels good. Because if we’re winning lots of games, then everything kind of takes care of itself.”I feel like I’m just loving playing for England, the most I’ve ever loved it. And it’s because it’s all about the team, it’s not about me. And that’s a special feeling.”In the immediate future, he will have to play a prominent role in the ongoing second Test in Multan. The tourists boast a 281-run lead going into day three on a pitch spinning and now exhibiting indifferent bounce. Any victory, which would seal a famous series win with a match to spare, rests on him. For now, however, he is still coming to terms with breaking the 100-wicket barrier.”I can’t really believe it. I didn’t think that would ever happen, so it’s a nice, big milestone to get to.” As for where he goes from here: “Just try and get another 100 now, I guess?”

The Under-19 world champion is one of the young Indians who could attract a lot of interest during the WPL auction

Rajan Raj13-Feb-2023Titas Sadhu is strong and fast, already a world champion, getting better, and one of the young Indian players to keep an eye on at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction. On January 29, she returned 2 for 6 and bagged the Player-of-the Match award at the Under-19 World Cup final as India beat England with some ease. After coming home, she has gone back to training, trying to become more accurate and remove niggles like bowling full-tosses when attempting a yorker.”We sometimes see fast bowlers trying to bowl yorkers but end up bowling full-tosses. That’s one of the things we are working on now,” Titas’ father and primary coach Ranadeep Sadhu tells ESPNcricinfo. “At the same time, we are trying to get more control and accuracy in her bowling. She is also working on her batting.”Ranadeep comes from a sporting background and was an athlete in his younger days. He also runs a cricket academy in his hometown of Chinsurah, around 50 kilometres from Kolkata. Titas was a sprinter and swimmer when she was younger – she is still only 18 – but became more interested in cricket after starting to train at the academy, slowly spending more and more time trying to perfect her game. And then came the usual, big question: studies or cricket? In her case, the matter was complicated, because she was a good student. It reached a stage where the family considered moving out of India and making a home in a place where she could focus on both equally.Related

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“She was quite good at academics – she got 93% in her school-leaving exams,” Ranadeep says. “But she couldn’t continue because of her cricket. Her mother and I once thought we could settle somewhere else, where she could play for a local team and not lose touch with her studies. But she said, ‘If I am to play cricket, it has to be for India; if I can’t play for India, what’s the point of playing?’ That aside, it wasn’t easy for us to leave everything and relocate anyway.”Fortunately for Indian cricket, that didn’t happen. She became a cricketer, and in 2023, the ICC hosted the first Under-19 World Cup for women, where Titas was a star. With a little help from her father.”Before the final, when she called me, I told her just one thing: ‘You have reached the final, now your work is over’,” Ranadeep recalls. “She was a little surprised and asked me what I meant. I said, ‘Getting to the final is the main thing, don’t think about what will happen in the final; it doesn’t matter if you win the final or not, you have already made us proud. Now just go out and do what you have trained for all these years’.”Now, there’s the WPL auction, where, with 60 spots available for Indian cricketers, Titas could well be in demand.”You play for your country and, in tournaments like these, you play for your franchise. The player’s skill level is key in both,” Ranadeep says. “But at the WPL, she will be able to play alongside cricketers from other countries and learn from them. That’s what I really want for Titas. I want her to be part of a good team, a balanced team, where she can show everyone what she can do.

Mumbai had bought Harmanpreet for INR 1.8 crore, the third-most expensive for them after Nat Sciver-Brunt and Pooja Vastrakar

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2023India captain Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the Mumbai Indians franchise in the inaugural edition of the WPL, set to begin on March 4 in Mumbai. Harmanpreet was not the most expensive player bought by Mumbai at the auction last month but she was expected to lead the side, which will feature other top international names such as Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews and Amelia Kerr.”As the national captain, she has led the Indian Women’s team to some of their most exciting wins,” Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani said in a statement. “And I am sure that with Charlotte [Edwards, head coach] and Jhulan’s [Goswami, bowling coach and mentor ] support, she will inspire our MI women’s team to play their best cricket, display a sense of pride, and bring even more glory to women in sports.”Related

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Mumbai had bought Harmanpreet for INR 1.8 crore (US$ 220,000 approx.), the third-most expensive for them after Nat’s INR 3.2 crore ($390,000 approx.) and Pooja Vastrakar’s 1.90 crore ($232,000 approx.).Harmanpreet has led India to the knockouts in the last three T20 World Cups, including the final of the 2020 edition in Australia. In the recent T20 World Cup that finished in South Africa last month, India narrowly missed out on the final berth when they lost to eventual champions Australia by five runs after Harmanpreet’s 52 off 34.Harmanpreet is the only player in the world – in men’s or women’s cricket – to have played 150 T20Is, with her Indian counterpart Rohit Sharma, who leads Mumbai Indians in the IPL, second with 148 games to his name.Harmanpreet will be in the team management with Edwards, Goswami, and batting coach Devika Palshikar. The squad also includes Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia and Amanjot Kaur as the other international India players.Mumbai will take on Gujarat Giants in the WPL opener on March 4 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

The Delhi Capitals head coach, however, expects Mitchell Marsh to play a big part in the upcoming season

Shashank Kishore24-Mar-20231:36

Tom Moody: Impact Player rule might make it harder to develop Indian allrounders

The new Impact Player rule at IPL 2023 could well mean curtains for “bits and pieces allrounders”. This is the view of Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting, who spoke of the several possibilities this could open up in terms of team combination and strategy. As things stand, the Impact Player can only be an Indian unless there are fewer than four overseas players in the starting XI.Related

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“It [usage of Impact Player] depends if you bat or bowl first,” Ponting said at an event in New Delhi. “So at the toss, we will be putting in a bowling-first team and a batting-first team. And obviously if you bat first, you’re probably going to sub in a batter. Or if you bat first and lose an early wicket, you might want to bring in a batter straight on top of that. So there are a number of different ways to use it.”It actually almost negates the role of allrounders in the game now. So unless they’re absolutely world-class and they’re getting picked either as a batsman or as a bowler, not sort of a bits and pieces guy, then I don’t think you’ll see many, many teams this year actually use the guy that might bat at seven and maybe bowling over or two. Because you don’t need those guys anymore.”The one allrounder who Capitals will definitely be keeping an eye out for, though, is Mitchell Marsh. He has just finished an ODI series in India, which Australia won 2-1, where he played as a specialist batter due to his ongoing recovery from a keyhole surgery on his left ankle. Come the IPL, he is expected to ease himself back to full tilt.Marsh had a decent IPL 2022 at the top of the order, scoring 251 runs in eight games at a strike rate of 132.80. He only bowled sporadically, though; his 12 overs fetching four wickets at an economy of 8.50. Ponting is confident Marsh will have a bigger role to play this season.1:27

Ponting: No Pant leaves big hole, still undecided on wicketkeeper

“He’s had three or four months off in Australia; he’s recovered from an ankle surgery that he had, I think back in November,” Ponting said. “He hasn’t bowled in the games yet, but he’s been bowling for the last five or six weeks. So by the time he gets here with us, his role in our team will be to bowl some overs as well. He knows that and understands that.”And I think we saw in this one-day series [against India] how destructive he can be [at the top of the order]. But we also saw on a couple of occasions last year for DC [Delhi Capitals] at the No. 3 slot he played some match-winning roles there as well. So he’s a really important player for us. World-class international allrounders are not easy to come across and not easy to find. So are hoping that he has his best IPL season till date as well.”The biggest concern at the moment for Capitals is filling in the void left by Rishabh Pant, who continues to recover from injuries sustained in a serious car crash in December last year. David Warner has been named as stand-in captain for the season, but the team management is yet to decide on who will be taking the wicketkeeping gloves.They have just one frontline option at the moment in England’s Phil Salt, but are readying a couple of makeshift options in India’s Manish Pandey and Sarfaraz Khan. Both players are being put through the paces, should the need arise.In addition, they have also called up four uncapped Indian wicketkeepers – Luvnith Sisodia, Sheldon Jackson, Abishek Porel and Vivek Singh – to their training camp. It’s likely one of them will be signed as a replacement shortly. All said, Ponting believes it will take multiple players to fill the hole Pant has left behind.”So when we are talking about losing some power in middle-order, Aman Khan, Rovman Powell and someone like Axar Patel, whose batting has improved a lot in last 12 months, we will find ways to cover for Rishabh, but we will not get same quality player,” Ponting said. “Aman Khan is one that has really impressed us and we traded Shardul (Thakur) with KKR [Kolkata Knight Riders] to get him in and he has been ultra-impressive and I don’t know how much you have seen of him and his last couple of days at training has been pretty special.”