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Australia may be riding an 11-match unbeaten streak, but England believe that won’t count for much in a World Cup final

Vishal Dikshit02-Apr-2022Despite the whitewash in the recent Ashes, despite the loss in the league stage against Australia, and despite their contrasting runs to the World Cup final, England captain Heather Knight believes Sunday afternoon in Christchurch will be a “fresh slate, fresh day and a fresh game,” where both teams “go in as equals” to try and lift the trophy.As opposed to Australia’s domineering and unmatched march to the final with eight wins in the World Cup and 11 unbeaten ODIs this year, England have had to turn their fortunes around – big time – after starting 2022 with a winless tour of Australia across formats where they could not score 180 in any of the three ODIs. Their rut stretched into the World Cup too, where they lost three in a row.Since then, knowing they were facing a virtual knockout every single time, England won five in a row, including a 137-run victory over South Africa in the semi-final. Knight said there was no single moment where things just clicked into gear but it did help when the team realised that a lot of the stuff that was going wrong was within their control. Stuff like “fielding, bowling extras, poor shot selections”. So they could all be fixed, quickly.”The stage is set a little bit for us to write a remarkable story but like I’ve said previously, I think it’s a completely fresh slate,” Knight said a day before the final. “A fresh day, fresh game where both us and Australia will go in as equals and its who performs the most on the day, who deals with the pressure of a World Cup final and knowing what’s at stake. So yeah, it would be a great story [if we win] but we’re going to have to bring our best cricket to beat Australia who obviously are a very good side.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Yes, it’s obviously brilliant. To be in this position knowing where we were just a couple of weeks ago is remarkable. And it shows how things can change so quickly in sport. And just says a lot about the character in this group that we managed to obviously put ourselves in a position to be in a World Cup final and give us a chance to actually win that trophy. Remarkably proud of the group, proud of the staff that have been in the shift as well. So yeah, hopefully we can pay off all that hard work and all the lows I guess we’ve had over this trip and make winning if we do that even better.”Recalling the league stage loss to Australia, in which England very nearly chased down 311, Knight admitted they had to get better at finishing games off. She was, however, very pleased that her bowling attack has been picking up steam throughout the tournament, helped in part by adopting a “knockout mentality”.”I think, knowing the fact that we push them so close, I think is a really good sign,” Knight said of their rivalry with Australia. “I think in that first group game we pushed really hard, batted remarkably and actually I think our bowling’s starting to peak towards the back-end of the competition. I don’t think our bowling was quite on in that game, and the bowlers as a unit are working much better as a group now. So I don’t think it’s motivation [to do better]. I think it’s just remembering that we’re really not that far away from them. We obviously haven’t got the results against them recently. But on the day we definitely believe that we can beat them.”We’ve had that knockout mentality for a long time. It almost feels a little bit like another game. I’m sure there’d be nerves and dealing with that but the fact that we’ve been able to do that when we’ve been under pressure, it’s been very pleasing and hopefully we can do it against for one more win.”There is one variable in England’s favour on Sunday. Hagley Oval. The last time Australia played an ODI at the venue which is hosting the final, it was the year 2000. England, on the other hand, beat Pakistan here towards the end of the round-robin stage and knocked out South Africa here in the semi-final. They would have fond memories of another ODI victory in Christchurch last year as well, when Knight herself led the chase with an unbeaten 67.”Definitely, I think is a slight advantage, potentially,” Knight said. “We obviously know the conditions, we’ve played a few games here last year as well. We managed to play here before the World Cup. So yeah, we would definitely use that to our advantage, hopefully, it’s obviously going to be a fresh wicket, though. So both team have to assess quite quickly how it’s playing.”

Leicestershire’s bright start undermined by dramatic afternoon collapse

Paul Edwards19-Jul-2023One can understand bowlers flinching a little at the prospect of playing cricket in a town where pies are not so much a speciality as an obsession. Oakham is only ten miles away from Melton Mowbray, after all, and spectators at this game who were tempted by the aroma from Piglets’ Pantry would have found steak and ale, chicken gammon and leek, and chicken balti, all stuffed under a thick crust that mocked thoughts of healthy eating. As things turned out, however, it was the bowlers who gorged themselves, almost all of them feeding greedily on a pitch that rewarded the ancient disciplines.It was a day on which even top-order, top-dollar cricketers could return to the pavilion after being dismissed and think themselves poorly used. They had played blameless forward defensive strokes to deliveries that required such careful treatment only to find the ball spitting away and taking the edge or jagging back and plucking out a stump. Seen in that context, Worcestershire’s opening stand of 48 between Jake Libby and Gareth Roderick and their last-wicket partnership of 33 between Adam Finch and Dillon Pennington were major contributions. Between those alliances Azhar Ali’s 34 was the innings of the day and his side’s total of 178 was somewhere near par. When Leicestershire batted, they could make little of Finch, Pennington and Matthew Waite and were eight down for 88 at the close. Unless we have rain, it seems clear there will be no cricket here on Saturday.And days such as this seem to concentrate spectators’ attention. Aware that every run matters greatly, they devote themselves to the particular intensity of a brief match, especially so, perhaps, when it takes place in a part of the kingdom that few people seem to know well and on a day when the world’s gaze is elsewhere. For Oakham is deep England; rich, dark-earthed farming country in Rutland, a county that many people outside its borders would struggle to locate. The locals sink their pints of Everards in The Wheatsheaf and the All Saints’ campanologists rang on throughout Tuesday evening, quite oblivious to the fact of their drowning out Stephen Hough’s performance at the Proms.Even the names of the ends at the Doncaster Close ground seem to have been forgotten since 1935 when the cracks of Kent were the first to visit this ground and were beaten by ten wickets. “Sports Hall” and “Nursery” insist some modernists but given a rich choice, we settled for “Allotment” and “All Saints” because they reminded us of timeless nourishment of one sort or another. Drought-stressed leaves fell from trees, which was ironic given the rain that Oakham’s head groundsman, Richard Dexter, has had to cope with when preparing the pitch for this match.The first hour’s play was all watchfulness. The Leicestershire bowlers stuck to their lines, and Worcestershire’s openers responded with little more than occasional pushes into gaps. Then Tom Scriven came on from the Allotment End and sprayed his first delivery down the leg side. Four wides. Then there was a delivery miles outside off before Scriven’s sixth ball surprised Libby with its accuracy and tempted him to nibble a catch to Peter Handscomb behind the stumps. It is so often the way. As though obeying some secret lore, a spinner bowled the over before lunch but Callum Parkinson made no breakthrough and Worcestershire came in prosperously placed with 74 for 1 on the board.Ah, but grievous penury lay in wait for them. Wiaan Mulder’s second ball after the resumption swung away from Roderick who snicked it to Handscomb. Mulder’s next delivery compelled a defensive shot from Jack Haynes, who also edged to the keeper. In the following over a straight one from Wright had Adam Hose leg before for 5 and the visitors had lost three wickets for five runs in ten balls.Respectability, threadbare as it was, was achieved through the efforts of Azhar, who continued to play the ball as little as possible and late when he did so. While three batsmen, Brett D’Oliveira, Waite and Joe Leach, all fell to slip catches by Ackermann, Azhar accumulated runs as if doing so in a gradual fashion pleased him somehow. He had made 34 in 153 minutes before his first misjudgement, a grope at a ball from Matt Salisbury, was his last. Mulder dived to his right from first slip to take the catch.Other games were taking place and some notice was taken of them. News came through that Stuart Broad had dismissed Usman Khawaja at Old Trafford and folk recalled that Broad had taken his first Championship wicket at Oakham, his old school, in 2005, dismissing Somerset’s Mike Burns in the first innings of the game and then repeating the trick in the second dig. No doubt the boyish joy was as great in Manchester as it was on this field some 18 summers and a thousand years ago.There was plenty of delight in the evening session here but it brought little comfort to the locals. A blameless Rishi Patel nicked Pennington to Roderick in the fourth over of the innings but half of the eight home batters to be dismissed were bowled, either by balls that straightened or by ones that jagged back. Mulder looked relatively comfortable in making 21 before becoming Leach’s only victim and he can look back on his day with some pride. And if Leicestershire supporters need a little encouragement to take into tomorrow, it was provided by Rehan Ahmed, who ended the day unbeaten on 25 off 39 balls and batted as if he wondered what the fuss was about.

Namibia’s JJ Smit and Zimbabwe’s Raza have also made significant gains following their performances in the T20 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Oct-2022Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has moved up one spot to become the No.1-ranked allrounder in T20Is – going past Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi – following his superb outing in the recent tri-series against New Zealand and Pakistan.While Bangladesh did not win a single match in the series, Shakib was the player in form for his team, scoring 154 in three matches at a strike-rate of 150.98. He made a 44-ball 70 in the match against New Zealand and followed up with a 42-ball 68 against Pakistan. He now has 266 rating points, 20 ahead of Nabi.Namibia’s JJ Smit broke into the top five allrounders while Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza entered the top ten following their impressive starts in the first round of the T20 World Cup. Smith moved four places up to fourth following his 1 for 16 – in addition to scoring 31* – and 2 for 24 against Sri Lanka and Netherlands respectively. Raza, who’s been in superb form lately, scored a 48-ball 82 and picked up one wicket against Ireland.Among the batters, New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips jumped 13 spots to No. 10 after scoring 130 runs in four innings – including a 24-ball 60 – in the tri-series.In the bowling charts, Afghanistan offspinner Mujeeb ur Rahman moved up two places to fifth position, while South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj went one spot up to No. 8.Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan, on 861 rating points, further extended his lead at the top of the batting rankings after another consistent showing during the New Zealand tri-series, while India’s Suryakumar Yadav is behind him on 838 points.

Qualifier 2 and the final will be played in Ahmedabad

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Apr-2023The MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai will host Qualifier 1 of IPL 2023 on May 23 and Eliminator on May 24. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will be the host for Qualifier 2 on May 26 and the final on May 28.Last year too Ahmedabad had hosted Qualifier 2 and the final. In the final, Gujarat Titans beat Rajasthan Royals to lift the trophy in their inaugural season. The 2023 season too kicked off in Ahmedabad, where Titans beat Chennai Super Kings.Currently, Royals are at the top of the points table with four wins from six games. Just below them, and separated only by the net run rate, are Lucknow Super Giants. Titans are fourth with six points from five games.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

This year, the competition is being played in the home-and-away format for the first time after a gap of three years. In 2020, the tournament had to be postponed from the March-May window to September-November and moved to the UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic.In 2021, there was an attempt to play in the Indian summer but a breach of the biosecure bubble led to the season being interrupted midway, and the second half of the season resumed in the UAE in September. In 2022, the tournament was played in the March-May window in India, but the entire league phase was played at venues in Mumbai and Pune, and the playoffs and final in Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

Solid fifties from both openers, and Siddle’s four-for, paved the way for Hurricanes’ exit as they fell well short of a 189 chase

Tristan Lavalette21-Jan-2022Alex Carey starred with a half-century in his BBL return as in-form Adelaide Strikers ended Hobart Hurricanes’ season to start the finals with a 22-run victory at a barren MCG.In the Eliminator, a must-win match between the fourth- and fifth-ranked teams, Carey smashed 67 off 45 balls in his comeback from Ashes duties and combined brilliantly with opening partner Matthew Short, who made 89 of Strikers’ 6 for 188.Their strong attack then nullified Hurricanes, whose inconsistent season finished on a sour note.Strikers have stormed into unlikely title contention after their fifth straight win to book a clash with third-placed Sydney Thunder in the Knockout on Sunday.Carey and Short destroy HurricanesAshes heroes Carey and Travis Head returned for their first BBL matches of the season to significantly bolster Strikers’ batting order. Carey stole the show early with a calculated assault on the smaller boundaries down the ground.He showed his intent with a powerful straight blow off Test team-mate Scott Boland and stormed to 20 runs off his first 10 balls in an impressive switching of gears after playing in the long format.Carey’s fast start eased the pressure on Short, who, for most of a breakout season, had provided the fireworks during the four-over powerplay. He had a back seat to Carey before notching his half-century with a huge six off speedster Riley Meredith in the 12th over during the Power Surge.He then put his foot down just as a bogged-down Carey holed out in the 15th over to end the 145-run partnership. Short smashed spinner Wil Parker for consecutive sixes in the next over but his dismissal snuffed Strikers’ momentum at the death.Boland returns but Hurricanes struggleBoland was back in the BBL after playing his sole game this season in mid-December just before he became an Ashes cult hero. But this MCG deck was nothing like the green top he decimated England on during the Boxing-Day Test, with Boland suffering against a red-hot Carey.Hurricanes mostly struggled and badly missed frontline spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who has left the BBL due to national commitments with Nepal. Parker, his replacement, was on a hiding to nothing and promptly smashed for 42 runs off four overs although picked up Short with his final ball.Hurricanes weren’t helped by ragged fielding marked by several dropped catches, with Tom Rogers’ sitter to reprieve Short on 15 particularly costly. Their sloppiness seemed to suggest the wheels were falling off but Hurricanes fought back late to give them some hope.Peter Siddle celebrates after sending back Tim David•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Strikers impress with ball and in the fieldShort’s terrific game continued with the key wicket of Ben McDermott as he bowled four overs of his handy offspin on the trot. Peter Siddle, who took the most wickets in the BBL’s regular season, then claimed opposite number Matthew Wade to tighten Strikers’ stranglehold and he finished with four wickets to lead from the front.Strikers have not missed a beat since losing talisman Rashid Khan late in the season with veteran spinner Fawad Ahmed proving a more than useful replacement.They’ve also been rejuvenated by the inclusion of quicks Harry Conway and Henry Thornton, whose fast and straight bowling has been a revelation after playing just one BBL game before this season for Sydney Sixers five years ago.The duo claimed four wickets between them with Thornton holding his nerve against a rampaging D’Arcy Short, who briefly rattled Strikers.In a major contrast to Hurricanes, Strikers were sharp in the field to underline their remarkable resurrection, having spent most of the season in the bottom two.Short fires in vainHurricanes’ batting oozes with firepower on paper but hasn’t quite clicked all season. They’ve been reliant on McDermott, whose terrific tournament ended when he fell in the first over. A failure from Wade made their chase particularly grim and they needed Short to recapture his belligerent best from his heyday.He responded with his best knock of a sluggish season to give Hurricanes a flicker of hope. He smashed 22 runs in the Power Surge but his wicket in the 15th over triggered a collapse.Big-hitter Tim David, who has been their designated finisher all season, showed off his prowess but it was too late. Perhaps Hurricanes’ brains trust will rue once again not allowing the Singapore national player more time at the crease.There was much hype over Hurricanes heading into the season but their early finals demise should be considered a disappointment.

Usman Khawaja scored another hundred before Pat Cummins made a positive declaration to leave a target of 351

Tristan Lavalette24-Mar-2022Openers Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique made a confident start in Pakistan’s daunting chase of 351 to leave Australia anxious and the series deciding third Test tantalisingly poised ahead of the final day.The historic three-Test series is headed for a gripping finish after Pakistan reached stumps on day four at 73 for 0 with Imam 42 not out and Shafique unbeaten on 27. They survived 27 overs as Pakistan requires another 278 runs for victory with a minimum of 121 overs to be bowled in the innings.Shafique had a major scare on the second last day when he edged legspinner Marnus Labuschagne only for a wrong footed Steve Smith at first slip to desperately snatch his left hand out in vain. It continued a torrid time for Smith at slip and heightened Australia’s nerves in the series finale after draws in Rawalpindi and Karachi.Captain Pat Cummins had ended Australia’s second innings at 227 for 3 shortly after tea in a bid to ensure plenty of time for his bowlers on a pitch playing tricks but is not a minefield. The declaration dangled a carrot to Pakistan, who defied the odds during their remarkable chase of 506 in Karachi when they finished at 443 for 7 from 171.4 overs.This looms as another formidable challenge on a slow Lahore surface marked by low bounce with reverse swing and occasional sharp turn evident. History is against Pakistan with 208 runs being the highest successful fourth innings chase in Lahore while no team has survived more than 110 overs.But Pakistan made a strong start after surviving a couple of close calls. Nathan Lyon, targeting the rough patches, had a huge shout for lbw turned down against Imam in the eighth over and reviews confirmed there was an inside edge. The offspinner then had Shafique caught behind in the 16th over only for Pakistan to successfully overturn the decision with replays showing the opener had missed a delivery that skidded on.Lyon, who has traditionally struggled bowling Australia to victory on the final day, looms as a key figure particularly with legspinner Mitchell Swepson, in his second Test, looking ineffective so far this match.Australia, however, should remain confident with the knowledge that batting has been harder in this match against the old ball, which Cummins and Mitchell Starc memorably reverse swung in Pakistan’s first innings.Another day, another hundred: Usman Khawaja celebrates again•AFP/Getty Images

Up until Pakistan’s response, Australia had dominated day four after taking a first innings lead of 123.Usman Khawaja capped a series for the ages in his country of birth with an unbeaten 104 to notch his 12th Test century and second in the series. The remade opener has now scored fourth tons in nine innings since being recalled in January and has been the dominant batter in this series with 496 runs at 165.33. He was the only Australia batter to score a century in this series, the first between the teams in Pakistan since 1998.Just before tea, in more celebrations for Australia, Smith smoked a boundary to become the quickest to 8000 Test runs in his 151th innings – one faster than Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara.Khawaja was earlier well supported by an aggressive David Warner, as the openers batted almost through the first session albeit aided by a sloppy Pakistan who appeared to be going through the motions.Pakistan finally received a spark just before lunch when Shaheen Shah Afridi unleashed a spectacular delivery to uproot Warner’s off stump in an unplayable ball leaving the opener to shake the bowler’s hand on his way off.Leading by 220 runs at lunch with nine wickets in hand, there was an expectation Australia would put the foot down in a bid to force an early declaration. As has been the case throughout the series, runs were hard to muster against the older ball although Australia didn’t particularly look in any great hurry.With wickets hard to come by for Pakistan, dashing their hopes of a fightback, a stalemate ensued for much of the second session with attention turning to when Cummins would declare.Labuschagne, who had made two ducks twice in his last three innings, avoided a pair and made 36 before holing out attempting to lift the rate. It finished a relatively lean series for the No.1 Test ranked batter Labuschagne, who averaged 34 and remained without a Test century away from Australia.The acceleration was left to Khawaja who memorably reached his ton just before tea to trigger jubilant celebrations.After a disastrous final hour on day three, where they collapsed to lose 7 for 20, Pakistan were relatively toothless with the ball and in the field but there might be one last twist left in this long-awaited series.Aided by a sporting declaration, Imam and Shafique have made the first steps in Pakistan’s bid to conjure their second heroic fourth innings performance in just over a week.

Hard-hitting century proves too much in spite of Scott Steel’s doughty 64 in reply

ECB Reporters Network01-Jun-2022Northamptonshire 227 for 1 (Lynn 106*, Neesham 75*) beat Leicestershire 185 for 9 (Steel 64) by 42 runsChris Lynn played another destructive, big-hitting innings for Northamptonshire Steelbacks, posting the third T20 century of his career as he put Leicestershire Foxes bowlers to the sword in this Vitality Blast clash.Amid an onslaught of boundaries at Wantage Road, Lynn bludgeoned 106 from just 66 balls with 12 fours and three huge sixes as Northamptonshire closed on 227 for one.Lynn picked up where he left off against Durham on this ground last Friday, sharing another century opening stand with Ben Curran (31). He was then joined by New Zealand international Jimmy Neesham who made a blistering 75 off just 30 deliveries featuring six enormous maximums on Steelbacks debut. The pair put on 118 in just 53 balls of mayhem in front of a near-capacity crowd who gave both batters a standing ovation.In reply, Foxes opener Scott Steel hit 64 from 45 deliveries. His stand of 65 in seven overs with skipper Colin Ackerman offered a glimpse of hope, before young left-arm wrist spinner Freddie Helreich came back from an early mauling to take three wickets for the second time in a week.The Steelbacks’ total was all the more notable given some sharp Foxes bowling and fielding restricted them to 48 in the powerplay. Naveen-ul-Haq was particularly impressive, beating the bat on several occasions.But Lynn soon found his stride targeting all the Foxes bowlers, clubbing them straight down the ground and over deep midwicket. He also found plenty of runs through the covers and past backward point.Not to be outdone, Neesham, fresh from a stint in the IPL, was soon into the fun, adding five fours to go with his six-hitting.The Steelbacks struck early when Ben Sanderson removed Hamish Rutherford. The bowler followed that by taking a running catch off Tom Taylor when Arron Lilley could not quite clear the infield.It left the Foxes in real trouble at 8 for two, but Ackerman led a fightback, cutting Neesham for successive boundaries and then swinging Sanderson over midwicket for another. He took four boundaries off Heldreich’s first over to take the Foxes to 50 for two at the end of the powerplay.Heldreich finally got his man when Ackerman hit straight to Graeme White on the long-leg boundary. Rishi Patel then fell to a stunning one-handed leaping catch by Rob Keogh on the deep midwicket boundary to give Heldreich his second scalp and leave the Foxes at 87 for four.Steel was joined by Ben Mike who struck some lusty blows off the slower bowlers but despite that, the Foxes were left needing 94 off the final five overs. When Mike offered a tame catch in the ring and departed for 30, the end was nigh.Steel continued his aggression, surviving one dropped catch off Heldreich before falling to an excellent catch from Curran at point off Neesham who finished with two wickets.The Foxes went down in a flurry of wickets, Sanderson also collecting three scalps in the process as the visitors closed on 185 for nine.

Selectors name 16-man group including seven pace options for first two Tests

Vithushan Ehantharajah03-Jun-2023England have announced an unchanged squad for the first two men’s Ashes Tests. The 16-man party, which includes Worcestershire seamer Josh Tongue who was drafted in as bowling cover for the one-off Test against Ireland currently taking place at Lord’s, will report to Birmingham ahead of the Edgbaston Test starting on June 16.The announcement comes as no surprise, particularly with James Anderson (groin) and Ollie Robinson (ankle) progressing well in their respective recoveries from injury. The pair have been bowling at Lord’s, where England were pushing for a three-day victory over Ireland having registered a 352-run first-innings leads following a mammoth 524 for 4 declared.Both are likely to return to the XI for the first Test against Australia, along with Mark Wood who missed the Ireland Test to spend time with his second child born last week. Chris Woakes has also been retained, giving Ben Stokes seven pace-bowling options to pick from.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The majority of the group are due to head to Loch Lomond in Scotland next week as part of a team-bonding trip ahead of the five-match series with Australia. A number of players are heading up at the start of the week before a more official gathering at the weekend. While essentially a golf trip, the getaway is geared towards giving the players more time together, building on a successful week reestablishing the connections and frame of mind that has been a huge part of life under Brendon McCullum and Stokes.They will be in situ for the first Test the following Monday, before their first training session at Edgbaston on Tuesday, June 13.England men’s Ashes Test squad: Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Broadcaster set to move across from President role in October, following Bruce Carnegie-Brown’s tenure

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2024Mark Nicholas is set to take over as MCC’s chair when his one-year term as President expires in October, after being recommended as Bruce Carnegie-Brown’s successor in the role.Nicholas, 66, will be recommended as the new chair at the club’s AGM in May, working in conjunction with the chief executive, Guy Lavender. He has been a member of MCC since 1981, and has served on the club’s Cricket, Marketing and Main Committees since the 1990s.In his playing days, Nicholas scored over 25,000 runs and took 173 wickets in a professional career spanning over two decades. As captain of Hampshire, he guided the side to four trophies between 1986 and 1992, including three victories in Lord’s finals, and he also captained England A.The position of MCC chair has existed since 2000, and Nicholas is set to become its seventh incumbent, but the first former professional cricketer in the role. In the course of his presidency, he has expressed the opinion that MCC should take over the ownership of the Lord’s-based Hundred team, London Spirit, and this move may be an indication of the club’s ambition on that front.Nicholas is currently chair of the Hampshire-based Southern Brave team; a non-executive director of the media rights agency, River Media Partners, and co-founder/director of Century Cricket which runs IPL-style T20 tournaments for club and junior cricketers in Australia.In 2005, he co-founded Chance to Shine, the cricket charity that has helped to re-introduce the sport to 4,000 state schools in England and Wales, and given 6 million children a chance to play the game. His long and successful media career is synonymous with the Ashes summer of 2005, for which he anchored Channel 5’s coverage. He has worked extensively with Channel 9 in Australia, Supersport in South Africa, and also writes columns for The Telegraph and ESPNcricinfo.”The role of MCC chair is a huge responsibility and I am honoured to have been named as the Committee’s recommendation to the membership,” Nicholas said. “Amongst many aspects of the club’s immediate future, is the need to engage more with Members. In addition, we are embarking on many new projects and opportunities as we look to embrace this ever-changing game. I hope to ensure that we can play our part in cricket’s development over the coming years.”Chris Rogers, MCC Treasurer, said: “The Nominations committee found that Mark was the outstanding candidate for the role, noting that he has a deep and personal knowledge of the game. In making its recommendation, the MCC Committee feels that his experience, as a player, broadcaster, journalist and administrator, would be of huge benefit to MCC.”

Cricket PNG said in a press release that he had been recruited because of his extensive experience of local conditions

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2024Phil Simmons, who coached West Indies to the 2016 T20 World Cup title, has joined Papua New Guinea as a ‘specialist coach’ ahead of the 2024 edition of the tournament in June.Simmons’ second stint as West Indies coach ended soon after their group-stage elimination at the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia and he has worked extensively in franchise cricket since, coaching Trinbago Knight Riders, LA Knight Riders and Karachi Kings. He will support head coach Tatenda Taibu, the former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper, and Cricket PNG said in a press release that he had been recruited because of his extensive experience of local conditions.”My role here is as a consultant coach and [will be about] how I put across my experience, not just playing in World Cups but playing in the Caribbean and the things that we should be looking at to make sure we do it right in the Caribbean and especially the venues that we play at.Related

• Assad Vala to lead PNG in T20 World Cup, Charles Amini to be vice-captain

“As a player internationally, for fourteen years and then as an international coach for eighteen years, it’s been a long time in the game. It’s always brilliant to come home, always brilliant to come back to any part of the West Indies. You know how beautiful it is here. I’m looking forward to getting home, which is Trinidad.”PNG arrived in St Kitts at the end of last week after a four-day journey from Port Moresby. They are due to train and play various unofficial warm-up matches over the coming days before facing Oman and Namibia in official warm-up fixtures in Trinidad and Tobago next week.They have been drawn in Group C of the World Cup itself. They will face co-hosts West Indies in their opening match in Guyana on June 2, then play Uganda four days later at the same venue. They will then travel back to Trinidad to face Afghanistan on June 14 and New Zealand on June 17.Simmons said: “Their energy is unbelievable: their warm-up alone yesterday got me tired. The guys look like they have settled in really well… I’ve known the head coach for a long time and he’s always energetic. There is always a lot of energy, but the players seem to be pushing him where that is not so, and I like that atmosphere in the team.”Batter Assad Vala will lead PNG, who will be playing their second T20 World Cup, after a winless campaign in 2021.