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England romp to first Test victory for ten years as wheels come off for SA in second innings

Firdose Moonda17-Dec-2024England 395 for 9 dec and 236 (Knight 90, Mlaba 6-67) beat South Africa 281 (Wolvaardt 65, Kapp 57, Luus 56, Bell 4-49) and 64 (Bell 4-27, Ecclestone 2-7) by 286 runsEngland have won their first Test in 10 years and as many matches by beating South Africa by 286 runs in Bloemfontein. They dismissed South Africa for 64 in their second innings, their lowest Test total after setting them a target of 351.Lauren Bell, who registered a career-best 4 for 49 in the first innings, rewrote her own record and picked up 4 for 27 to finish with a player-of-the-match haul of 8 for 76. Lauren Filer and Sophie Ecclestone were also among the wickets as England bowled South Africa out in 19.4 overs to win inside three days.South Africa’s dismal batting overshadowed the good work they’d done with the ball, particularly the performance of left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba. She became the first South African to take 10 wickets in a women’s Test and is now South Africa’s second-leading wicket-taker in the format. South Africa may have time to reflect on that once the dust has settled on their massive defeat. Theirs was the third-largest by runs in women’s Tests.England’s win was set up by a captain’s knock from Heather Knight, who scored her sixth Test half-century. She fell 10 short of a third hundred as she anchored an England innings in which most of the middle-order got starts but only she converted. Her most profitable partnership was a third-wicket stand of 67 with Nat Sciver-Brunt which was three runs more than South Africa’s second-innings total. They had only one partnership worth 20 and six in single figures, while only ten batters made it to the middle after Ayanda Hlubi was ruled out of the match with a torn hip flexor.By the time she would have been needed, all the damage was done. South Africa lost their openers in the 5.2 overs they faced before tea, both lbw. Laura Wolvaardt was caught on the back foot by a delivery that seamed in from Bell and, after being on the receiving end of a poor first-innings dismissal, she could not complain about this one.Anneke Bosch had slightly more reason to be unhappy. She was given out to Filer, to one that kept low and could have been missing leg. But the biggest talking point took place after the break when Bell appealed for a catch off Annerie Dercksen at short leg. It was not immediately given out and the umpires referred, despite the explicit absence of DRS for this contest, before Dercksen was sent on her way.Bell continued to find movement and bowled Sune Luus through the gate. Nadine de Klerk was run out for a pair, and when Chloe Tryon was lbw to an Ecclestone arm-ball, also for a duck, England were into the tail. South Africa’s starts with Sinalo Jafta at No.8 and she too went without scoring, pinned on the pads by Bell’s inswinger, to leave the innings in tatters at 44 for 7. Three overs later, Marizanne Kapp, their last remaining batter, was wonderfully scooped up by Beaumont at silly point without addition, and the end came quickly.Earlier, South Africa would have been fairly pleased with their work with ball in hand. De Klerk and Tumi Sekhukhune started well and were disciplined upfront. They gave away only 12 runs in the first six overs, with Sekhukhune removing Beaumont for 12, lbw to an inswinger. On this occasion, the absence of DRS proved no problem as she looked out, and was given.Nonkululeko Mlaba claimed the first ten-for by a South African in women’s Tests•Gallo Images/Getty Images

Sekhukhune was replaced by Dercksen, but then South Africa went for double spin with Mlaba at one end and Tryon at the other. Given the turn on offer and amount Mlaba gets, she was expected to be a threat and should have had a wicket in her fourth over when Sciver-Brunt edged as she lunged forward to block but Jafta could not hold on to the chance. Sciver-Brunt, on 19 at the time, went on to hit Mlaba for three fours in the over and the floodgates opened.Mlaba got Sciver-Brunt when she chopped on after a delivery kept low, but that only brought Danni Wyatt-Hodge to the crease, with her penchant for finding runs behind square on the off side. She rattled along to a run-a-ball 23, before slicing Sekhukhune to the fielder at deep third. Amy Jones then partnered Knight, who had reached her fifty off 99 balls, to lunch, to end a successful session. Despite England’s slow start to the morning session, they scored a total of 136 runs in the 27 overs bowled before lunch, at a rate of just over five runs to the over.Mlaba switched ends post lunch and had success from the Willows End. Amy Jones got a leading edge to Wolvaardt in the covers, minutes before it was announced that the South African skipper had earned a demerit point for expressing “excessive disappointment” when she was given out lbw in the first innings.She had reason to keep being pleased in the field though. Mlaba picked up a third when Charlie Dean flicked her to short mid-wicket, and though Knight moved into the 80s with a strong sweep off Sune Luus, that shot would prove her undoing. One over after Sophie Ecclestone had fallen in the same fashion to Mlaba, Knight was beaten by a ball that turned into her and struck her on the pad. Of course, she could not review.Ryana MacDonald-Gay was bowled through the bat-pad gap to become Mlaba’s 10th wicket. England’s innings ended with half an hour to go before the tea break. They only needed 69 minutes after that interval to end the match.

The Sri Lanka offspinner was officially banned from bowling in international cricket in December last year

Madushka Balasuriya18-Feb-2019Spinner Akila Dananjaya has had his bowling action cleared by the ICC and has been included in Sri Lanka’s squad for the five-ODI series in South Africa.Dananjaya’s action had been reported during England’s tour of Sri Lanka late last year. He was then officially banned from bowling in international cricket in December after an independent biomechanics assessment found that he was flexing his arm beyond the allowed 15-degree limit, when bowling the offbreak, his stock ball.After working on his action, Dananjaya was tested in Chennai and the results declared his bowling action to be legal.The return of the 25-year old will be a major boost for a depleted Sri Lankan attack ahead of what promises to be testing ODI and T20I series against South Africa in the coming weeks.As the ban allowed him to bowl in domestic cricket, Dananjaya turned out for Colts CC earlier this year and the SLC has been impressed with what they have seen.Dhananjaya has been one of Sri Lanka’s main threats in limited-overs cricket in recent times, taking 28 ODI wickets at an average of 23 in 2018, and a further 27 wickets at 24.25 in Tests.

He was earlier replaced by Anamul Haque in the squad as he was down with fever

Mohammad Isam04-Sep-2023Litton Das has joined the Bangladesh side in Lahore ahead of the Asia Cup Super Fours. Litton, who was initially ruled out of the tournament due to illness, linked up with his team-mates on Monday evening after receiving medical clearance.Bangladesh chief selector Minhajul Abedin said Litton was added to the squad due to a number of injury concerns in the team. Najmul Hossain Shanto clutched his hamstring a few times during his century against Afghanistan. Mehidy Hasan Miraz suffered finger cramps during his century as well and retired hurt. Earlier, Mustafizur Rahman picked up a niggle in the Sri Lanka game in Pallekele on August 31 and could not play against Afghanistan.”The Asia Cup squad has a few injury concerns and the team management felt the need for an additional player going into the Super Four,” Abedin said. “We have received the BCB medical team’s clearance regarding Litton’s health and have decided to send him to Pakistan.”Bangladesh secured a spot in the Super Four following the 89-run win over Afghanistan in their last group match in Lahore on Sunday.

Given MI Cape Town’s strong bowling attack, Potgieter was not expecting to get a bowl

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2025Allrounder Delano Potgieter did not think he would be part of MI Cape Town’s (MICT) bowling attack on the opening day of SA20 2025. Yet, he was at the front and centre with his seam bowling, helping his team hand two-time defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape a 97-run drubbing in Gqeberha. That was in part because his “phenomenal captain” Rashid Khan backed him with the ball, a trust he repaid with a five-for.”Everyone’s got different plans, for different venues and all of that,” Potgieter said. “We have an amazing bowling line-up: KG [Rabada], Trent [Boult], Boschy [Corbin Bosch], with the spinners George [Linde] and Rash [Rashid]. They bowl the bulk of the overs. So there was no need for me to bowl. And, yeah, the captain threw me the ball tonight and I was extremely happy about it, and it turned out perfectly.”Earlier in the day, Potgieter had scored an unbeaten 25 off 12 balls to lift MICT to 174 for 7. In the second half of the game, coming in as the sixth bowler, he took 5 for 10 from three overs to give MICT their first win against Sunrisers in five outings.”I also looked at that stat this morning,” Potgieter said. “It’s only the first game of the tournament but it’s nice to start off with the win.”Before Thursday, Potgieter had 34 wickets in 64 T20 games. But this was the first time he was bowling for MICT across 12 matches in three seasons of the SA20.”I couldn’t ask for a better day for it,” he said. “It happened so quickly. I was standing at the top of my mark, and I just said, ‘I’m just going to try to hit the top of the stumps,’ and fortunate enough for me, it worked out perfectly.”

India batter to play the remainder of the County Championship and also the Royal London One-Day Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2023India batter Prithvi Shaw has secured a deal with Northamptonshire to play the remainder of the County Cricket season in England and also be a part of the Royal London One-Day Cup which starts in August. The 23-year-old is expected to join them at the end of the Duleep Trophy.Shaw is part of a strong West Zone side which is tipped to make it all the way to the final of the Duleep Trophy scheduled between July 12 and 16. He may have fallen down the pecking order for India but remains a prolific run-scorer for his state side, Mumbai, in all formats of the game. Shaw hasn’t played any first-class cricket for six months but he did make a career-best 379 off just 383 balls in a Ranji Trophy game against Assam in January 2023.The ability to score runs quickly is a big reason for Shaw’s rise through the ranks since winning the Under-19 World Cup for India in 2018. He had a stunning introduction to Test cricket, scoring a century on debut, but has since then struggled to deal with the quality of bowling on offer in international red-ball cricket. He played his last game as a first-choice pick for India in 2020 and only managed to get back when they had to send a second-string side to Sri Lanka in 2021.Most recently, Shaw was part of the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023. He went through a six-game stretch where he was unable to score more than 15 runs which led to his being dropped there as well. He did return later in the tournament and immediately struck a half-century.Northamptonshire play in Division One of the English County Championship. They have won just one out of seven games so far and have seven more until the end of the season.This will be Shaw’s first time playing domestic cricket in the UK. He will become the fifth Indian to be part of the 2022-23 season following Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Ajinkya Rahane (Leicestershire), Arshdeep Singh (Kent) and Navdeep Saini (Worcestershire).Shaw is a very attractive package in white-ball cricket, where hitting through the line of the ball is much easier. He is approaching 3000 List A runs at an average of 52.54 and a strike-rate of 123.27 with eight centuries, one of which is a double. Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, in 2022, had even tipped him to lead the country at some point in the future.

Increase in WBBL salary cap, 25% hike for centrally contracted players could see multiple Australian women break the million-dollar bracket

Andrew McGlashan03-Apr-2023Cricket Australia (CA) has poured money into the BBL and the WBBL under the new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed on Monday to try and ensure both leagues remain competitive in the changing global landscape.In a deal where the women’s game was the huge financial winner, the WBBL salary cap has been doubled to AU$732,000 per team amid the increased competition from the Hundred and most significantly the WPL.It comes as part of an MoU that could see multiple female Australian stars break the million-dollar bracket over the coming years alongside overseas earnings, with the top centrally-contracted player now able to earn AU$800,000 when a national deal and WBBL are combined. Domestically, the average earnings for a player with a WBBL and WNCL contract – which is around 75% of cricketers – will be A$151,000.Related

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“I think we’ll have a few of them [earning a million] in the next few years,” Todd Greenberg, the Australia Cricketers’ Association CEO, said. “Some of our girls who are playing in India earn significant amounts of money in the WPL, and on top of this deal now, they will become million-dollar athletes. And so they should because they’re the best in the world at what they do.”Unashamedly we stand here and want them to be remunerated at the levels that we are talking about. That is a wonderful thing, not only for those athletes but for every girl who wants to make a choice of what sport they want to play. Cricket is that choice and it’s where you can achieve those things.”

How Australian women’s cricket is winning

• Top women’s CA contract holder with a WBBL deal now able to earn AU$800,000

• Next six contracts potential to earn on average AU$500,000

• Minimum and average CA women’s contract increases 25%

• Number of contracts rises from 15 to 18

• Average domestic earnings for a player with WNCL and WBBL contract now AU$151,019

• WBBL salary cap doubles to AU$732,000

• Top WBBL player can earn AU$133,000; average retainer doubles to $54,200

• Two additional state (and ACT) contracts per team

BBL boost to ward off new leagues

In the BBL, the salary cap has risen from AU$2 million to AU$3million with the top bracket of players now earning A$420,000 for a season in the competition. That money will also come across a shorter tournament after it was trimmed to a 10-game season under the new broadcast deal which begins in 2024, although it has yet to be confirmed if a reduced competition will start with the 2023-24 edition.It is hoped that the new schedule will entice big-name overseas players to sign tournament-long deals, rather than start the BBL and then fly to either South Africa or the UAE as happened last season, while also ensuring more local players do not look to take the route of Chris Lynn who negotiated to split his time between the BBL and ILT20. The average BBL retainer will be worth AU$167,000.The average BBL retainer will be worth AU$167,000•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“We’re prioritising to make sure playing in the Big Bash is the destination for them,” CA CEO Nick Hockley said. “We are excited about the fact that the BBL going forward will be that tighter 43-game format. Overall, the players on a played-match basis are more than doubling. With those levels, we think it makes it a really competitive proposition for domestic and overseas players.”

Increased central contracts

CA will also increase the women’s national contract list from 15 to 18, with a 25 percent pay increase for those players.”Cricket now clearly offers the best earning opportunities of any team sport for elite female sportspeople,” Hockley said. “I am particularly pleased that this MOU represents another major step forward in the rise of women’s cricket with significant increases in remuneration for the inspirational role models of the world champion Australian women’s team and the WBBL, who are driving substantial growth in female participation.”Centrally-contracted Australian male players will have their pay increase by 7.5 percent to an average of AU$ 951,000 before match payments, while the squad will increase to 24 players. That average figure will cross AU$ 1 million during the lifetime of the MoU.

South Australia have called up left-arm spinner Tom Andrews, along with fast bowler Kane Richardson, for the Sheffield Shield final against Victoria in Alice Springs

Daniel Brettig22-Mar-2017South Australia have added left-arm spinner Tom Andrews and fast bowler Kane Richardson to their squad for the Sheffield Shield final against Victoria in Alice Springs.The pitch at Traeger Park has traditionally taken spin, meaning Andrews is in with a chance of joining Adam Zampa in a spin bowling pair for South Australia as they seek to defeat Victoria in the decider, having lost to them in the final last season. Andrews has played three first-class games and taken seven wickets. His last Shield match was against New South Wales in February 2016.”We’ve heard that it is a good cricket wicket and that it tends to spin a bit later in the game, but we think we have the squad to take advantage of the conditions and put our best foot forward,” South Australia high performance chief Tim Nielsen said.”We need to play positively and aggressively and back ourselves in and make sure that we give ourselves the best chance of winning the game. Unlike last year, we have to win to hoist the Shield in the air so there’s no second option.”Two players who missed out last season, Callum Ferguson and Tom Cooper, are set to take part and will both be playing in their first Shield final after long domestic careers. Ferguson, a Test debutant earlier this summer, was waylaid last year by a serious knee injury, while Cooper was dropped due to a lack of runs. Both have been firm contributors to South Australia this season. The final commences on Sunday.South Australia squad: Travis Head (c), Tom Andrews, Alex Carey (wk), Tom Cooper, John Dalton, Callum Ferguson, Jake Lehmann, Joe Mennie, Kane Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Jake Weatherald, Daniel Worrall, Adam Zampa

Ben Duckett says England “could have easily had five or six [wickets] tonight”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2023Ben Stokes made the second-earliest first-innings declaration in Test history on the first day in Mount Maunganui, a decision vindicated when England reduced New Zealand to 37 for 3 under floodlights.England were 325 for 9 after only 58.2 overs when Stokes called time on their innings, a move that his team-mates explained owed to the challenge of facing a new pink ball under lights in a day-night Test.The move was not without precedent: South Africa have twice declared nine-down on the first day of a day-night Test to enable them to bowl under floodlights, against Australia in 2016 and against Zimbabwe in 2017.Related

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“I haven’t played many pink-ball games, but by the looks of it, it’s the hardest time to bat when it’s under lights, and obviously we had the new ball as well,” Harry Brook told talkSPORT. “I think it was a great declaration. To get three wickets there is vital and hopefully we can force a few more early tomorrow.”Speaking at the end-of-day press conference, Brook added: “The best time to bowl is under these lights. You can extract the most amount of swing and seam so why not try and expose their top order to that? It’s the hardest time to bat and we’ve got three of the best bowlers to ever play the game. And thankfully we got three wickets.”It just happened like that, to be honest. There was no plan at dinner to declare. Me and Foakesy [Ben Foakes] were still batting together and if I hadn’t got out, the plan would’ve been the same. But because I got out the plan changed, and Stokesy said if there’re two bowlers in at the same time, give them a couple of overs and we’ll try and utilise the lights.”Ben Duckett, England’s other half-centurion, told talkSPORT: “We knew the conditions under lights tonight were going to suit us with the ball and that was the reason for the declaration.”We could have easily had five or six [wickets] tonight. Stick two on that in the morning and suddenly they’re a long way behind the game and we’re in a very good position.”

Wagner – New Zealand ‘expected’ declaration

Neil Wagner, who took 4 for 82 and then saw out the day as nightwatch, said that New Zealand had “sort of expected” England to declare.”After that dinner break we thought they might come out a little harder, get to the point where they were really trying to up the ante, score as quick as they can and just get us in there,” he said.”We tried to stem the run rate a little bit and eliminate them getting too far ahead of us. We kept trying to take wickets, which brought it back for us at the back end.”

Ireland batter admits first-innings total below par but encouraged by fall of late wickets

Mohammad Isam04-Apr-2023Before the Dhaka Test, Harry Tector played just a single first-class match in four years. He didn’t feel too nervous coming into this game, admittedly not as much as he thought he would, but enough to keep him awake to the challenge at hand.Ireland’s long gap from Tests was the overriding theme on the first day at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. The batters needed a lot of adjustment as a result. While 214 is a below-par score at this venue, Ireland certainly had their moments.Tector became the first Ireland batter to score a fifty in his first Test innings. He played some great drives, particularly one through the covers off the back foot that stood out. But he said that controlling his urge to loft the flighted delivery was probably the hardest part of the innings.”[Scoring a Test fifty] is very different [to scoring white-ball fifties],” Tector said. “I think in one sense it is a lot easier because there’s a lot more gaps. You can hit the ball and get it away for four. But there’s a lot of challenges with different fields. The ball does a bit more. I think this was only my 11th first-class game. I think I played one first-class game in the last four years.Related

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“It certainly takes a lot of adjustment for a lot of us to shift back into red-ball cricket. Trying not to hit the ball that loops up for a six, it is quite a challenge. You are trained to do that, because you play so much T20 and one-day cricket. Big shift in mindset. We have to learn from today.”Tector said that his dismissal – bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz shortly after reaching his half-century – was avoidable had he tried to defend the ball. The dismissal cut short a promising fourth wicket stand between him and Curtis Campher.”It felt good for all of it until I got out,” he said. “It was a poor decision in the shot I played, not so much a decent ball. I think if I defended that, it wouldn’t have got me out. [There is] a lot of learning to do across the board. I put on a good partnership with Curtis Campher. We thought we could certainly put up a good total. We probably were a bit shy of where we wanted to be with the bat.”Tector praised the lower order, particularly Lorcan Tucker, for adding 90 runs for the last four wickets. It got Ireland past the 200-run mark from 124 for 6 in the second session.”You need the lower-order to put on runs in these conditions. The big challenge here is to not lose wickets in clusters. I think we lost three for two. You can’t really afford to do that. We built a nice partnership and then to go bang-bang-bang, it kills you. The guys certainly did very well. They batted nicely, nice and positive, played their shots.”But it would be Tamim Iqbal’s wicket off the last ball of the day that spurs them on for the second day.”[The Tamim wicket] was huge, unbelievable,” he said. “I think it makes the day a bit more even. We are shy with the bat but getting two wickets tonight is huge. It gives a lot of momentum for us tomorrow. I think that dismissal in particular, the way the ball spun, it is a good sign for us on this wicket. It was amazing.”It was an exciting day all around for Ireland. It in fact started on the eve of the match when the team management decided to do the usual cap ceremony in the team hotel. There were so many to hand out – seven in total – that they couldn’t do it on the morning of the match.Tector, who said that it was a highlight of his short career, was informed that he is the 706th player to appear for Ireland at every level. This count goes back to the 19th century.”It was pretty cool. We had a bit of a ceremony last night. There was seven of us, so presenting seven individual caps on the morning of day one would take a bit of time. It was really special.”I am the 22nd Test player for Ireland but I am something like the 706th player to play for Ireland overall. It is a very special achievement. We are a lucky group of player to play Test cricket. It was an amazing feeling to play Test cricket for my country.”

Ngidi says both teams will be equally under pressure if they are looking to win the World Cup

Mohammad Isam26-Oct-2022Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan has deflected attention, and some of the pressure, towards South Africa, their opponents on Thursday at the Sydney Cricket Ground. South Africa had to contend with just one point after rain halted their chase against Zimbabwe in Hobart earlier in the week.Although T20 is a volatile format, recent form and results tell you that South Africa are competing against Pakistan for the second semi-final spot from Group 2, with India favourites to take the other one. Shakib, therefore, didn’t miss the opportunity to remind his opponents what is at stake for them. He also said that Bangladesh’s ODI series win against South Africa earlier this year will give them confidence ahead of the game.”It is a very important match for both sides but for South Africa, who would have expected two points from their first game, this is a do-or-die match,” Shakib said. “They will be under some pressure. We have a win under our belt, and now we will be playing at a ground that normally aids the spinners. The ICC usually tries to produce true wickets in the World Cup so that everyone gets help.”They have a number of world-class players in their side, but we will try to the best of our ability. We have some good memories against them recently, albeit in another format. It will certainly help us mentally. We want to be clear-minded and enjoy the game. We are hopeful of a big crowd since Sydney has a huge Bangladeshi population.”But according to South Africa seamer Lungi Ngidi, both sides will be equally under pressure. He also said that South Africa would look to attack Bangladesh with their seamers.”Think everyone is under pressure in this tournament if you are looking to win,” Ngidi said. “Their claim that we will be hungry to win, that’s definitely true. Obviously, we would have loved a win in the first game and we know now what pressure we have in terms of going forward in the tournament. But to say we are under pressure, I would say it’s pretty equal if you are looking to win the World Cup.”At the moment we are just playing to our strengths. From the games we’ve watched, we have seen that pace has been the most successful, so we are going with our strengths. We would like to attack the Bangladesh side with our strength and that is the pace. Depending on how they handle that, guess we’ll see tomorrow, but all in all we are running with what we are good at.”Bangladesh didn’t fare that well against Netherlands in their nine-run win, with their fast bowlers bailing them out after yet another indifferent batting performance. Shakib, however, said that Bangladesh have the personnel to produce another “heroic” effort against South Africa.”T20 is a game of momentum, so it is important to maintain it,” he said. “T20s also don’t allow you to have a number of performers like Tests and ODIs. But the performance has to be a big one. Tomorrow is going to be another opportunity for one of our 11 to be a hero.”I believe our openers can bat for 20 overs. Or, why can’t our bowlers again take ten wickets? We will go with an open mind. We want to enjoy the match. We want to be aggressive. We want to end the game with a smile on our faces.”Shakib is hopeful that Bangladesh can take down South Africa’s pace attack, especially after openers Soumya Sarkar and Najmul Hossain Shanto gave them a brisk start against Netherlands, adding 43 in 5.1 overs for the first wicket.”The opening stand will give us confidence. Both openers were quite positive [against Netherlands], which was more important than the runs they scored. We should play with more freedom now.”We have played against the South African pacers recently. We know what they can do, and we have been successful in ODIs. I think we can counter their plans and have the upper hand.”He also lauded the Bangladesh pace attack, particularly Taskin Ahmed for his strong showing against Netherlands. It has been one of the better years for Bangladeshi fast bowlers, having led from the front in wins in New Zealand and South Africa.”[Taskin] is one of the leaders now after Mashrafe’s exit. He has done tremendously well in the last two years for Bangladesh. He is leading by example.”We have a very good fast bowling group in all three formats. I can’t be more proud of how they have improved themselves and come this far, and it is showing in the results. I hope they continue their form in this World Cup.”