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Jimmy Peirson struck a sparkling century as the home side cantered to their target

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2024Queensland stormed to their first One-Day Cup win of the season by nine wickets despite a masterclass century by South Australia captain Nathan McSweeney.Left-arm paceman Liam Guthrie set up the victory at Allan Border Field as the visitors were bowled out for 218 with McSweeney, who is a contender for the Test squad to face India, playing a lone hand with 137 off 131 balls.Related

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• Smith finds form, Cummins returns, Hazlewood ill, as NSW hammer Victoria

• Western Australia lose 8 for 1, all out for 53, Webster takes 6 for 17

The Bulls chased down the total with ease in the 33rd over to secure a bonus point with wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson middling an array of pulls, cuts and drives in a blistering unbeaten 100 off 98 balls.”Personally I am in a great spot with my technique and how I am going about my business and it was so nice to get a win,” Peirson told AAP. “I missed out on selection for the first couple of one-dayers and had real grit between my teeth to do the job today. It was so great to get it done.”Usman Khawaja played a key role early before Test hopeful Matt Renshaw found confidence and form with a whirlwind unbeaten 72 off 52 balls,.Earlier Guthrie bowled the dangerous Jake Fraser-McGurk with an inswinger and his three quick wickets in six pinpoint overs put the hosts on top.At the other end, Tom Straker got rid of the in-form Alex Carey and brought McSweeney to the crease at 9 for 2.South Australia were 29 for 4 in the 12th over and on the rack. McSweeney had initial support from Thomas Kelly in a 90-run stand for the fifth wicket.After that, wickets tumbled as McSweeney unfurled an assortment of sweetly timed cover drives both over and through the infield as the skipper made it appear as though he was batting on a different pitch to his teammates.”One of the finest knocks we have seen in one-day cricket,” former Australia coach and batter Darren Lehmann said in commentary.Lehmann is pushing for either McSweeney or NSW opener Sam Konstas to partner Khawaja at the top of the order in the Test series against India.McSweeney will captain the Australia A side against India next week in Mackay. Peirson will join the side for the second game in Melbourne.He is behind Alex Carey and Josh Inglis in the Australian pecking order and is close to national honours.”George [Bailey] has been very clear that is how they see things at the moment,” Peirson said. “Alex has been doing the Test job, Ingo is behind him nipping at his heels and I am behind Ingo. It is a healthy place to be. I am very clear about where I stand. You are always pushing to get yourself closer to play Test cricket.”Any game for Australia A is a massive honour and there is no doubt runs on the board get you talked about. I am glad to link up with Buddha [McSweeney] again, a good Queensland boy.”

Scott Boland will be favourite to come into the line-up for the day-night contest in Adelaide

Andrew McGlashan30-Nov-20241:21

Clarke: Australia has some work to do to keep Kohli down

Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the second Test against India with a side strain.Sean Abbott and Brendan Doggett, who are both uncapped at Test level, have been added to Australia’s squad although Scott Boland will be Hazlewood’s likely replacement in the XI for the day-night Test.Related

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• Labuschagne's batting mentor: 'Every batter goes through this'

A Cricket Australia statement said that Hazlewood had a “low grade left side injury” and he would remain with the squad in Adelaide to work through his recovery.Hazlewood was the pick of Australia’s bowlers in Perth with 5 for 57 across 34 overs. This will be the first Test that Hazlewood has missed since Headingley in last year’s Ashes which followed a period where he suffered a run of frustrating injuries – including two side strains – while he was also omitted due to conditions on various subcontinent tours. Between December 2021 and June 2023 he featured in just four Tests.Should, as expected, Boland return to the side it would be his first Test since he came in for Hazlewood in that Ashes game at Leeds. He has a stunning record at home with 28 wickets at 12.21 from six matches.Last season against Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand, Australia got through all seven Tests with an unchanged attack and last week’s Perth Test marked the 10th consecutive outing where Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc had lined up together.Abbott, a regular in Australia’s white-ball squads, has often been considered unfortunate not to have earned a Test cap. For Doggett, meanwhile, it has been a rapid return to national contention after he was previously selected for the series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2018. It comes on the back of taking a career-best 6 for 15 for Australia A against India A in Mackay having not been an original member of the squad before being called up as an injury replacement.Josh Hazlewood was impressive during the opening Test•Associated Press

Michael Neser would have been firmly in contention for a call-up but suffered a hamstring injury in the second Australia A match at the MCG and is unlikely to be fit until the start of the BBL.Western Australia duo Jhye Richardson and Lance Morris, who are both centrally contracted, have recently made their returns to Sheffield Shield cricket for the first time this season.Australia’s selectors had previously added uncapped allrounder Beau Webster to the squad amid concerns over Mitchell Marsh after he pulled up sore following Perth. Josh Inglis, originally selected as the spare batter, remains in the squad but could be leapfrogged by Webster if Marsh is unavailable for Adelaide.The loss of Hazlewood adds to the uncertainty around Australia heading into the second Test after their 295-run thrashing in Perth. There are question marks over the batting line-up, with Marnus Labuschagne the most under pressure after his twin failures in Perth including 2 off 52 balls in the first innings.Australia will be begin training in Adelaide on Monday, a day earlier than originally scheduled. India are due to play a two-day game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Saturday and Sunday although heavy rain has put that in doubt. Boland is part of the PM’s XI squad with a view to getting some overs under his belt having played just two first-class games this season.

WI assistant coach James Franklin, meanwhile, wants his batters “to look at small milestones”

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2025In their quest to spin oppositions out, Pakistan ended up with a pitch that produced 20 wickets on day one. Against West Indies in the second Test in Multan, Noman Ali bagged 6 for 41 and on the way became the first Pakistan spinner to bag a Test hat-trick. West Indies were bowled out for 163, and in reply, Jomel Warrican and Gudakesh Motie shared seven wickets to roll Pakistan for 154.Speaking after play on Saturday, Noman said “such a match was bound to happen”, given the extreme conditions that were on offer.”We will try our best [to bowl West Indies out quickly] because it is [now] a one-innings match,” Noman said after Pakistan fell nine runs short of the visitors’ total. “In the first innings, for their last-wicket partnership, the runs that we gave away were a little extra. So we will try not to give such runs again.”Related

• Brathwaite: West Indies had to be 'brave' on pitch where 'you are going to get out'

• Brave Brathwaite and West Indies stand up to Multan demons

• Stats – Noman Ali first Pakistan spinner to take a hat-trick in Tests

• Spin runs riot again as Noman, Warrican lead way on 20-wicket day

The pitches have been in focus, with Pakistan making it a point to go spin-first in every home Test since losing the first Test to England last October. The first Test against West Indies also lasted only three days despite fog eating into the first day’s play. Pakistan ended up winning by 127 runs.Noman said this is not something on the team’s mind, since it faced criticism even when Tests went all the way. “Even when we used to have a full five-day match before, fans criticised us a lot,” he said. “We were criticised saying the results are not coming. [But] now the results are coming. If the results are coming in two or three days, then I think [it is fine]. The results have been positive so far, and we’ll try that this match also has a positive result.”Pakistan had West Indies at 54 for 8, before the tailenders pushed them to 163. In the first innings of the first Test, West Indies had recovered from 66 for 8 to 137. Noman said Pakistan “made some mistakes”, which they will try to avoid in the second gig.”There’s a lot of spin, [and] a lot of bounce – sometimes it’s inconsistent as well” – James Franklin•PCB

Franklin: Both batting orders finding it difficult

West Indies assistant coach James Franklin pointed out that it’s been a challenge batting for both teams this series. In the first game, only once did a team breach 200, with Pakistan making 230 in the first innings. And today, 20 wickets…”I don’t think it’s just the West Indies top order; I think both batting orders are finding it very difficult on this pitch,” Franklin said. “There’s a lot of spin, [and] a lot of bounce – sometimes it’s inconsistent as well. So when you go out there as a batter, I think the first 20-30 balls are very challenging to adapt to the wicket. I think you’ve seen batters that can get through the initial 20-30 balls and get 15-20 runs under their belts in their innings, the game all of a sudden looks a bit more comfortable from a batting point of view.””We’ve seen that a bit from [Mohammad] Rizwan over both Test matches, we’ve seen that a little bit from Saud Shakeel, [and] we’ve seen it from some of our bottom-order batters being able to do that. We saw that from Alick Athanaze in the first Test.”Franklin is looking to set small targets for his batters, as they go into their second innings with a slender lead. He said it would be “very competitive” if West Indies end up posting a score in the “high hundreds, 200, [or] 200-plus”. Franklin just wanted his batters “to look at small milestones”.”You know 30, 40-run partnerships can be quite significant in these Test matches here in Multan,” Franklin said. “We saw that in the first Test, we’re seeing that today. I think if we reflect over the three-and-a-bit days of this Test series so far, there’s only been one huge difference – and that was a 100-run [141] partnership on day one of Test one. Apart from that, it’s been very even-stevens between both sides.”

Hurricanes have stamped themselves genuine BBL title contenders with a fifth straight win courtesy of a brutal unbeaten 68 from Tim David

AAP10-Jan-2025Tim David fired for the second time in as many matches to steer Hobart Hurricanes to a convincing win over Sydney Thunder and top spot on the BBL table.Hurricanes ran down Thunder’s 164 for 6 at Ninja Stadium on Friday night with 19 balls to spare, with David finishing unbeaten on 68 from 38 balls.David, elevated to No. 5 after Ben McDermott suffered hamstring soreness while fielding, came to life in the two-over power surge, hitting 26 from six balls. David iced the win with a six off Wes Agar, his sixth six of the match.The 28-year-old played an almost identical hand in Hurricanes’ win over Adelaide Strikers in their previous match with an unbeaten 62 from 28 deliveries.Hurricanes have won five matches in a row to stamp themselves as genuine title contenders with three games remaining before the finals. They have missed the finals in the past two seasons and are one of two teams yet to lift the BBL silverware.They overcame an injury scare in the field when skipper Nathan Ellis crashed head-first into an advertising board in the 15th over when diving trying to stop a boundary. He was assessed by medical staff and remarkably returned to the field soon afterwards and continued to bowl.Thunder drop from first to third on the ladder with four wins from eight games. Earlier, David Warner top scored for them with an unbeaten 88 off 66 balls in an innings that took time to get going.Thunder didn’t hit a boundary until the fifth over and grafted to 85 for 3 after 13. But they picked up the pace towards the back end, with Sam Billings contributing 28 from 15 balls.Warner, who snapped his bat early on, looked more comfortable the longer he went and took the long handle to Ellis in a final over that went for 17 runs.Young gun Sam Konstas failed to fire for Thunder after a whirlwind two Tests against India and was out for 4 from nine balls, gloving a short ball from Riley Meredith.Openers Mitchell Owen and Matthew Wade got Hurricanes off to a flying start in the chase with the latter hitting George Garton out of the ground.Hurricanes lost three wickets to keep Thunder somewhat in the hunt before David and Chris Jordan steered them home.

Australian also expected to be available for County Championship window

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2025Lancashire have signed Australia allrounder Ashton Turner for the Vitality Blast group stage. Turner will also be available for Lancashire’s two County Championship fixtures at the end of June.Turner, 32, has been capped 28 times in in limited-overs internationals but his most recent appearance for Australia came in 2023. He spent the last three seasons playing county cricket for Durham, averaging 33.00 with a strike rate of 148.07 in the Blast, as well as making an unbeaten century in one of his two first-class outings.He also featured in the Hundred in 2022 and 2023, making 13 appearances for Manchester Originals, whose home ground is Emirates Old Trafford.”To have the opportunity to join one of the biggest county cricket clubs in England is a really exciting one for me,” Turner said. “Emirates Old Trafford is a stadium that I know well, following my two years with Manchester Originals – I am looking forward to making it home again this summer and pulling on the red rose for the first time.Related

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“The Blast is a competition that I have loved playing in, while testing myself in the County Championship is something I have always wanted to do, so I can’t wait for that.”Turner will join fellow Australians Marcus Harris, who has signed a season-long deal, and Chris Green (T20 Blast), as well as West Indies quick Anderson Phillips (first 11 rounds of the Championship), in the overseas contingent at Old Trafford.Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket performance, said: “We are really pleased to get the signing of Ashton over the line for the full group stage of the Vitality Blast, while he will also provide another high-quality overseas option for the County Championship matches throughout that period.”Ashton fits the role of a powerful middle-order player that we have been looking to add into our T20 side, who also provides another spin bowling option. He knows Emirates Old Trafford very well following his time with the Originals, which means he will feel at home with conditions right away.”From my conversations with Ashton, I got the impression that he was very keen to come and play for Lancashire. He is a strong leader who has captained Perth Scorchers for a number of the years in the Big Bash and his experiences around the world will serve our dressing room well.”

Sherfane Rutherford’s 44-ball 86 was the only bright spot for Los Angeles Knight Riders, whose MLC 2025 campaign is now all but over

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2025Trent Boult set up the demolition job for MI New York but Sherfane Rutherford put in a solo show to keep Los Angeles Knight Riders in the game, but their 154 for 8 was never going to be enough to test the strong MINY batting. Monank Patel and Nicholas Pooran hit half-centuries in reply, and the target was crossed with 13 balls in hand.LAKR are now all-but out of the race to the MLC 2025 playoffs, while MINY have just about kept their flagging hopes alive.Things happened in a bit of a rush after MINY opted to field upon winning the toss, with Boult bowling three overs inside the powerplay and picking up a wicket – all bowleds – in each of them.Monank Patel and Nicholas Pooran put up a century stand for the second wicket•Sportzpics for MLC

The first wicket came off the first ball, with an inswinger going past Unmukt Chand’s attempted drive to hit timber. In his next over, Boult got one to shape in – and keep low – off a good length and took care of Andre Russell. And in his third, with Andre Fletcher coming down the track, Boult sent in a cross-seam delivery on a length and got it to deviate enough to pick up his third.Boult came back for the 19th over to remove Rutherford to complete his haul, but only after Rutherford had created a bit of a flutter in the MINY camp. Walking out with the scoreboard reading 29 for 3, Rutherford took control of the innings – with almost no support from any other batter till No. 8 Matthew Tromp got into double-digits in a stand of 30 for the seventh wicket – and dragged LAKR to a semblance of respectability. His 86 came off 44 balls, and included five fours and six sixes.The reply was fairly straightforward. Sunil Narine removed Quinton de Kock in the third over, but then LAKR got their next wickets only after 13.4 more overs as Monank (56 in 44 balls) and Pooran, scratchy to start with before getting a move on, added 112 runs for the second wicket. The partnership lasted 84 balls, with Pooran contributing 58 off 46 balls and Monank 46 off 38.When Russell finally removed Monank, MINY had 20 runs to get from 3.2 overs, and needed only a fraction of those as Pooran and Kieron Pollard rushed them to the target. Pooran finished on 62 not out off 47 balls with six fours and two sixes, while Pollard hit two sixes in his six-ball 14 not out.

The former Sri Lanka cricketer will be at the helm of the men’s side, with his first major assignment being the Asia Cup in September

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2025Former Sri Lanka Test cricketer, Kaushal Silva has been appointed the new Hong Kong men’s head coach.His appointment comes ahead of Hong Kong’s Asia Cup campaign, where they will play the tournament opener on September 9 against Afghanistan.Silva played 39 Tests between 2011 and 2018, and has had coaching stints in Sri Lanka, England and Australia since 2019, when he finished up as a player. But this will be the 39-year-old’s first time at the helm of an international side.Related

• Shubman Gill returns to India's T20I squad as vice-captain for Asia Cup

• Asia Cup 2025 in UAE starting September 9; India vs Pakistan on September 14

He was a prolific wicketkeeper-opener in first-class cricket: in 209 matches, he scored 13,932 runs with 41 hundreds, three of which were for the Test side.Burji Shroff, the chairperson of Cricket Hong Kong, China, said in a press release that the appointment aligned with the board’s plans: “Kaushal’s dedication to nurturing and developing talent resonates with our vision for the future of cricket in Hong Kong. We believe that under his guidance, we can not only elevate our competitive standing but also promote the sport within our community.”Silva said his “focus will be on instilling a strong work ethic and a winning mentality amongst the senior squad and working to identify and nurture fresh talent for continued growth”.Hong Kong’s last assignment was the recent Asia Pacific Cricket Champions Trophy, played in Singapore, where they lost to Malaysia in the title round.With Silva’s appointment, they will be looking to further their credentials in Group B of the T20 Asia Cup, where they will also face Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the first group stage.

Lees makes 94 before Porter’s three-wicket burst redresses the balance in evening session

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay08-Sep-2025Ben McKinney played with textbook orthodoxy and mature assurance in helping Durham to frustrate Essex for much of a sun-kissed day at Chelmsford with the second first-class century of his burgeoning career.The 20-year-old left-hander, so strong in the V between mid-on and mid-off where a large proportion of his 18 fours and two sixes were caressed, faced 228 balls in compiling an elegant 121 to help Durham to 316 for 8 at stumps in the battle to avoid relegation from Division One of the Rothesay County Championship against their fellow candidates.McKinney was joined by captain Alex Lees, who made 94 from 152 balls, in a 134-run second-wicket partnership that looked to have laid firm foundations for a commanding score on a lifeless Chelmsford pitch.But a new-ball burst from Jamie Porter saw three wickets fall in five balls, starting with McKinney’s departure, in the middle of an evening collapse in which Durham crashed from 240 for 3 to 291 for 8 in 22 overs. Porter finished the day with 3 for 63, backed up by New Zealander Doug Bracewell, who took 2 for 67 at the start of his second spell with Essex.Durham’s decision to bat on the green-tinged wicket was justified for a large part of day one. Apart from a bit of nip and spite in the first couple of overs, it became a batsmen’s paradise and Lees and McKinney in particular took full advantage in laying down a solid platform.Lees lost opening partner Emilio Gay with 55 on the board. Lees had just welcomed Bracewell back to Chelmsford for his second stint by taking 13 from his first five balls. But with delivery No.6 Bracewell had Gay flicking the ball off his legs into midwicket’s hands. It was redemption of a kind for Bracewell, who had dropped a regulation chance early on that reprieved Gay in the same spot where the wicket fell.Lees adopted the anchor role initially as McKinney contributed 35 of the partnership’s first fifty, but only 20 of the second. Though McKinney was outwardly the more aggressive, with two notable firmly-struck straight drives for four off Bracewell and Simon Harmer, it was Lees who clocked marginally the quicker half-century.Lees reached the milestone when he drove Noah Thain for his eighth boundary from 75 balls. McKinney needed three more balls to pass his fifty for only the second time this season, though he did it with his 11th four, a well-placed drive off Porter through mid-off.The partnership was finally broken when Lees played down the wrong line to Harmer and was lbw. David Bedingham followed almost instantly, run out to a throw from mid-off by Porter as he looked to get off the mark first ball. McKinney, at the other end, recognised there was no possibility of a run and barely moved a muscle.Harmer thought he had McKinney on 83 with a sharp caught-and-bowled low down, even throwing the ball to the umpire as he celebrated prematurely with team-mates. However, the umpires conferred and confirmed the ball had not carried. To rub salt in the wound, McKinney reached three figures from 156 balls with a four and a six from successive balls off Harmer, both crossing the long-off boundary.Shane Snater switched ends for the first over after tea and induced Colin Ackermann into an inside-edge to the fifth ball to be caught behind. And when Bracewell replaced Snater he had Ollie Robinson strangled down the legside with his third ball.Essex took the second new-ball after 80 overs and required a third one immediately: the original one lasted just two deliveries after Graham Clark pulled Porter’s loosener over square leg for six and knocked it out of shape.The change of balls finally paid dividends as Porter struck in short order, ending McKinney’s stay by bowling him, then having Ben Raine trapped lbw before disturbing Matthew Potts’s stumps

Seamers share eight wickets as table-toppers face awkward final day at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay10-Sep-2025If Leicestershire’s vision was to clinch promotion to Division One with a resounding victory, it looks unlikely to come to pass this week after a truncated third day of their Rothesay County Championship match left them trailing Gloucestershire by 150 runs.Shan Masood compiled a typically elegant 111 to mark his first-class debut for the county with the 30th hundred of his career but Leicestershire then lost their last six wickets for 22 to trail by 140 on first innings, bowled out for 342 as Gloucestershire seamer Matt Taylor finished with five for 70, backed up by new-ball partner Ajeet Singh Dale’s three for 78.Gloucestershire – who need a victory to keep their outside chance of promotion alive – were eight without loss from four overs in their second innings before a three-hour interruption due to rain, adding just two runs before a resumption at 5.30pm was curtailed after just 13 deliveries due to bad light. With earlier rain having delayed the start by 70 minutes, just 30 overs and one ball were bowled in all.Even if a win eludes them, Leicestershire’s lead in the division is so large that a top-two finish can still be confirmed this week if this match ends in a draw and the clash between third-placed Derbyshire and fourth-placed Middlesex at Lord’s is also drawn.Masood faced 176 balls and hit 13 fours on the way to his eighth first-class hundred in county cricket, having previously made them for Derbyshire and Yorkshire. The left-hander will be 36 next month but retains the capacity to produce moments of sublime skill at the crease, which he underlined with some beautiful strokeplay in this innings.After his 152-run partnership with Lewis Hill on Tuesday had seemed to set up Leicestershire for a substantial reply, there seemed little to suggest that would not happen as a second batting bonus point was secured in a morning session reduced to 50 minutes with Masood and Steve Eskinazi, also making his Championship debut for a new county, having added 82.But that all changed with the last delivery of the session, which resulted in Masood being given out leg before, the former Pakistan Test captain’s body language leaving no doubt that the decision did not meet with his approval.Masood’s dismissal was the catalyst for an unseemly collapse from 320 for four to 342 all out, with the follow-on only just avoided.Having put off taking the second new ball until after lunch, Gloucestershire took it immediately after the break and needed only 10 overs’ use of it to claim the remaining five Leicestershire wickets.Taylor, who had three wickets overnight, beat Ben Cox for pace and had Ben Mike nicking behind to complete his first five-wicket haul in two years.New-ball partner Singh Dale, bound for Lancashire at the end of the season, gained deserved rewards as ex-Middlesex batter Eskinazi’s county debut innings ended on 34 with a catch at second slip. Logan van Beek and Chris Wright became the fourth and fifth batters in the innings to fall leg before, Wright having at least hung around long enough to ensure that the visitors would bat again after the ninth wicket had gone with still one run needed.

West Ham United’s 3-0 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday evening was again a sign of the inconsistency the club has been playing with this season.

A win over Arsenal two weeks ago has been overshadowed by a FA Cup defeat to AFC Wimbledon last weekend before surrendering to Nuno Espirito Santo’s men at Molineux.

And these two defeats have again put pressure on manager Manuel Pellegrini as he continues to struggle with finding and building his ideal starting lineup.

But one player that the former Manchester City manager should highly consider making a regular starter is centre-forward Lucas Perez.

Pellegrini’s decision to partner Michail Antonio with Marko Arnautovic on Tuesday backfired completely and the Hammers lacked creativity going forward.

Perez, though, has proved in the couple of games he’s featured this season that he offers a bit more variety as a striker and if played as a wide attacker, he can be quite lethal to opposition teams.

But, Perez had reportedly (as per Sky Sports) been on the radar of German side Schalke though a move failed to materialise, so this could prove to be a second chance for the former Arsenal man over in East London.

He has particularly formed a good combination with Felipe Anderson on the left flank of the field and the pair had a good run of form in the games they played together.

A lack of game-time and some injury trouble have halted the former Arsenal player’s fight to break into the first-team and claim his place as a striker.

Given West Ham’s recent form, the time could be ideal for Pellegrini to do exactly that and let Perez show his worth over the course of a few matches and hopefully bring the club some success.

He could also be just the player Arnautovic needs next to him to improve his own form in front of goal.

Together, Perez and Arnautovic could bring some attacking consistency to Pellegrini’s team, which could see the club break into the top ten of the Premier League before the end of the season.