All posts by n8rngtd.top

Owen scored 89 and Gous 80 not out as Freedom chased down TSK’s 220 for 6 with two balls remaining

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jun-2025Washington Freedom pulled off the highest successful chase in MLC as they chased down Texas Super Kings’ 220 for 6 with seven wickets and two balls to spare. The previous record was 201, chased down by MI New York against Seattle Orcas earlier this week.Mitchell Owen (89 off 52) and Andries Gous (80 not out off 45) were the chief architects of Freedom’s win, ensuring TSK captain Faf du Plessis’ 69 off 31 went in vain.After TSK were sent in, du Plessis gave his side a flying start, hitting four fours and two sixes in the first four overs. Smit Patel had contributed only 8 off 11 balls till then. But when Owen came for the fifth over, he hit his first three balls for 6, 6, 4. Owen dismissed Patel on the very next ball but there was little respite as du Plessis finished the over with a boundary.Andries Gous hit six fours and four sixes in his innings•MLC

Du Plessis brought up his half-century off just 20 balls before becoming Owen’s second victim. Marcus Stoinis and Milind Kumar then took over and added 42 in just 26 balls for the fourth wicket. Shubham Ranjane applied the finishing touches with an unbeaten 26 off ten balls, with TSK ransacking 56 from the last four overs. For Freedom, Owen picked up 3 for 33 from three overs and Glenn Maxwell 2 for 35 from four.Owen and Rachin Ravindra gave Freedom a steady start of 38 in 4.3 overs. Following that, Owen and Gous took the side to 96 for 1 after ten overs. With another 125 required, TSK were still the favourites, but Owen and Gous turned the game around in the 12th and 13th overs, smashing Noor Ahmad for 22 and Donovan Ferreira for 24. In those 12 balls, Owen and Gous hit a combined five sixes and three fours to reduce the equation to 69 needed from seven overs.Owen fell to Adam Milne at the start of the 15th over but Gous carried on. With 20 needed from two overs, TSK still had a chance. Maxwell hit Milne for a six off the first ball of the 19th but the seamer sent Maxwell back two balls later. It came down to 11 needed from seven balls before Glenn Phillips’ six reduced the requirement to five from the final over.Bowling the final over, Stoinis conceded three singles off the first three balls before Phillips hit the next ball past backward point to seal the win.

Usain Bolt expects the T20 World Cup in June to go a long way in raising the status of cricket in the USA

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2024Usain Bolt, the fastest man on earth and a cricketer in his youth, has been unveiled as the ambassador of the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup, to be played in the West Indies and the USA in June.”Coming from the Caribbean where cricket is a part of life, the sport has always held a special place in my heart, and I am honoured to be part of such a prestigious tournament,” Bolt, who grew up playing cricket in his native Jamaica, said in an ICC statement. “I look forward to bringing my energy and enthusiasm to the World Cup and contributing to the growth of cricket globally.”Bolt said he expects “dancing, music and high energy” in the matches in the Caribbean, and also for the World Cup to go a long way towards making the USA a bigger cricket centre than it currently is.”America believes a lot in sport and high intensity and for me to get into that market is big,” Bolt said. “When they follow a sport, they follow a sport properly and they go all in and I feel like if they can crack into it, they will get into it the right way. If we bring energy like I know we will for the T20 [World Cup] it is going to be wonderful.”The T20 World Cup won’t be the end, of course. In 2028, cricket will make a comeback to the Olympic Games – it last featured in 1900 in Paris – in Los Angeles, with men’s and women’s T20Is.”If you listen to NBA players and the way they talk about winning a gold medal, they have won NBA titles, they have their rings, but they are like ‘we went to the Olympics’,” Bolt said. “That is how big getting a gold medal is. Every sport tries to get into the Olympics because it is such a big thing and it is such a great feeling to be on a podium winning that gold medal.”

Trapdoor opens on visitors after crushing defeat at Chester-le-Street

ECB Reporters Network12-Sep-2024Durham’s Matthew Potts took a career-best nine for 68 to help his side complete their innings and 63-run thrashing of Lancashire in the Vitality County Championship match at The Riverside.Resuming on 155 for four and needing another 190 runs to avoid their their fourth innings defeat of the season, Lancashire lost their last six wickets in less than a session and were bowled out for 282. The only shred of comfort for the visitors was offered by 20-year-old Matty Hurst, who made 67, his second fifty of the match and fifth half-century of the season.At one stage of his devastating spell from the Lumley End, Potts was on a hat-trick but he had to settle for three wickets in four balls when Tom Bailey nicked his second delivery to first slip Scott Borthwick.The Durham spearhead, who hadn’t featured in the Championship since June due to his England commitments, finished his first spell on this final morning with figures of 10-1-30-5 and ended the game when he had Anderson Phillip leg before wicket to complete a match return of 12 for 126.”That feels really good,” Potts said afterwards. “It was great to come back and deliver for the boys at the end of the season. I felt that was only right that we turned up to do the job.”Scott Borthwick told me after my sixth over that it was time to put my feet on ice but I got a wicket and he said: “Okay, I’ll leave you on,” and I said “Good luck taking me off,” but after my tenth over I was absolutely goosed. I’d thrown everything I could at them.”I took the second new ball and threw the old one as far as I could off the field. It’s a disgusting thing, I’ve got it in my pocket and it looks as though I’ve been throwing it for my dogs for the past hour.”Durham take 24 points from the game, effectively ending any lingering fears of relegation, whereas Lancashire take one point, a return which keeps them in ninth place in Division One and deepens their anxieties that they will be playing in the second tier next April.”Ours is a very quiet changing room at the moment,” Keaton Jennings, Lancashire’s captain, said. “The players are hurting. It’s tough to take, you don’t want to turn up every week and get spanked around, it’s not why we spent months and months working in the winter.”We now have to make sure we turn up next week. We have two really big games ahead of us and it could come down to eight days of cricket.”Lancashire’s collapse began with the ninth ball of the morning when George Balderson was leg before wicket to Potts for 16 but it really moved into top gear about half an hour later when Venkatesh Iyer played on to the Durham fast bowler and Tom Hartley immediately lost his off stump when not attempting a stroke.Bailey prevented the hat-trick but nicked his second ball from Potts to Borthwick to leave yet another Lancashire innings in tatters on 195 for eight.Hurst and Anderson Philip delayed Durham for a few overs but Borthwick’s bowlers were not to be denied. Having made a fine 67 off 125 balls, Hurst hooked Potts to long leg where Callum Parkinson took an excellent tumbling catch a few inches from the boundary rope.After an entertaining last-wicket stand of 61 in 12 overs between Anderson Philip and Tom Aspinwall, the game ended when Potts was recalled and dismissed Phillip for 41. Aspinwall finished unbeaten on 26.The bad news for Durham supporters ahead of their final two Championship games is that Potts will now join England’s squad for the one-day internationals and will not be available to the county for the rest of the season.

Star seamer leaves Southampton after four fruitful seasons, and heads for club he originally signed for in 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2025Mohammad Abbas, the Pakistan seamer, has swapped Hampshire for Nottinghamshire, where he will be available for six fixtures in the forthcoming Rothesay County Championship.Abbas, who has claimed 758 first-class wickets at an average of 20.66, will begin his stint in May, following the conclusion of Fergus O’Neill’s month-long spell with the side. He will then return to the club in September for the closing stages of the County Championship season.Abbas joins fellow seamer O’Neill and South Africa international Kyle Verreynne in agreeing terms as an overseas player for the upcoming red-ball campaign, with Conor McKerr (three-year contract) and Daniel Sams (Blast) having also joined the club ahead of the new season.He had originally agreed to join Nottinghamshire for the 2020 season, before his stint was curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic. He subsequently starred for Hampshire, claiming 180 wickets at 19.07 across four summers, with successive 50-wicket seasons in 2022 and 2023.In a statement, Hampshire explained that they had released Abbas due to a need to “rebalance their squad”, with James Vince’s retirement from first-class cricket meaning they are exploring options for an overseas batter.”Mohammad has consistently been one of the top performers in the County Championship and has unfailingly produced his very best for Hampshire time and time again,” Giles White, the men’s director of cricket said. “His character will be sorely missed in the dressing room and on the pitch, and everyone at the Club wishes him the very best in his career.Abbas’s first-class form earned him a recall to the Pakistan Test side against South Africa this winter. In total, Abbas has 101 international wickets in 30 matches across formats, while his domestic record also includes 79 wickets for Leicestershire between 2018 and 2019.”Trent Bridge is a special place to play cricket, so it will be great to call the ground home this summer – especially after not being able to come over and play for Notts five years ago,” Abbas said.”I’ve really enjoyed my time in the English game, and the squad at Notts is in an exciting place. There’s a good blend of young talent and senior players who’ve been around for a while and know their game really well, and I’m looking forward to contributing in any way that I can to their success.”Nottinghamshire’s head coach Peter Moores said: “Players of Mo’s experience and track record don’t come around all that often, so we’re really excited about what he can bring to us this summer.”His control and his ability to find a way of getting wickets on any sort of surface make him extremely valuable; he’s certainly been a tough opponent for us to face over the years.”We’ve already got an exciting group of bowlers at our disposal for the summer, and the addition of Mo’s craft and subtlety will add a different style of bowling to the rest of our attack.”

Tim Southee takes two on final Test outing as New Zealand wrap up consolation win

Alan Gardner16-Dec-2024 • Updated on 17-Dec-2024England produced their second ignominious collapse of the match as New Zealand marked Tim Southee’s Test retirement by equalling their biggest Test victory by the margin of runs. Jacob Bethell and Joe Root put on a century stand but the innings unravelled in a flurry of shots thereafter, New Zealand barely detained beyond lunch on day four.With Ben Stokes opting not to bat after injuring his hamstring, New Zealand only needed to take seven wickets to seal a crushing win. Mitchell Santner pocketed four of them, while Southee dismissed England’s top-scorer, Bethell, to finish with 2 for 34 on his final outing. He led New Zealand from the field at Seddon Park, his home ground, to bring down the curtain on a storied Test career – England’s rapid demise meaning extra time to toast his departure.It continued New Zealand’s remarkable recent record in Hamilton, where they have won eight of their last 10 Tests going back to 2012, and put a stop to a run of four consecutive home defeats stretching back to Australia’s visit in February.England had already claimed the series – their first in New Zealand since 2007-08, when Southee made his debut – but ended a bumpy 12 months in Tests on a low note. Defeat by 423 runs was only their second-heaviest this year, after a similar thrashing in Rajkot, and meant they ended 2024 with a record of P17 W9 L8.The performances of Bethell at No. 3 were a bright spot throughout, and he added a third half-century in as many Tests. His partnership with Root suggested England were keen to make New Zealand work hard for the win, but both were dismissed before lunch and there was scant resistance from the rest of the batting order beyond Gus Atkinson thumping eight boundaries in 43 off 41. The wicket of Ollie Pope, bowled by Matt Henry while attempting to reverse-ramp in the fourth over after lunch, suggested they had little appetite to hang around.England had resumed in the morning on 18 for 2, notionally chasing 658 to win. If that was an unlikely target, then so too was batting out two days for a draw – but Root and Bethell made positive progress, bringing up a 50 partnership inside the first nine overs.Both rode their luck at times. Root was badly dropped at second slip by Tom Latham off Southee when he had made 20, while Bethell chopped Henry past his stumps attempting to drive. Will O’Rourke gave Bethell, in particular, a torrid time from round the wicket, pushing his pace up to 153kph/93mph in his second spell.After setting off at a run a ball, Bethell slowed down as he approached a 60-ball fifty. He brought up the mark with a single off Santner, who was then repeatedly picked off by Root to raise his own half-century a few overs later, their partnership reaching 100 at the same time.But it was Santner who made the breakthrough, Root missing the ball as he looked to sweep to be trapped in front. It was given not out by Ahsan Raza, but New Zealand’s review was shown to be an astute one, with the ball dipping under the bat before straightening down the line of middle and off stumps.O’Rourke then bagged the reward his bowling had deserved when he dismissed Harry Brook cheaply for the second time in the match. Brook, who made a golden duck in the first innings, had attempted to charge his fourth ball and then was dispatched by his sixth, a snorting short delivery that he could only fend to slip.Ollie Pope was struck on the arm in the same over as he ducked into a bouncer, but Bethell continued to attack, taking three fours off O’Rourke in the space of five balls. However, having earlier smacked Southee’s first ball of the day over the head of mid-on for four, he fell trying to repeat the trick in the retiring seamer’s second spell, as he sliced a drive out to Glenn Phillips at deep backward point.The fall of the fifth wicket brought Atkinson to the crease, with Stokes still in his training kit, and he hit four of his first nine balls for four to hint at England’s mindset going into lunch. He resumed in the same vein, hitting Santner for 6-4-4 the over before Pope’s ugly swipe, before eventually trying one slog too many. Santner then wrapped up the innings in the space of five balls as New Zealand matched their margin of victory over Sri Lanka at Christchurch in 2018.

He is locked in to face Melbourne Renegades before the Pakistan Test series and could also come up against David Warner

Andrew McGlashan26-Nov-2023Steven Smith will make a brief return to Sydney Sixers for this season’s BBL 2023-24 after being made available for their opening match against Melbourne Renegades on December 8. The club are hopeful he will also feature in the Sydney derby after the Pakistan Test series.Smith had a huge impact for Sixers last season when he scored 346 runs at a strike rate of 174.74 in just five innings including two blistering centuries – the first by a Sixers batter in the BBL. It put him just outside the tournament’s top ten leading run-scorers despite a handful of appearances.The international schedule will limit his outings this summer, but Sixers have signed him onto their list and he is locked in to face Renegades at the SCG before flying to Perth ahead of the opening Test against Pakistan which starts on December 14.Related

• Izharulhaq Naveed returns to Sydney Sixers as Rehan Ahmed withdraws

• Green, Harris, Renshaw, Bancroft named in PM's XI to face Pakistan

• Rashid Khan withdraws from BBL 13 with back injury

• Khawaja, Labuschagne cleared for BBL opening night amid fixture squeeze

Smith could appear at the SCG for a second time, against crosstown rivals Sydney Thunder on January 12, which has the potential to be a head-to-head with David Warner who is set to retire from Test cricket after the Pakistan series and therefore be available for the BBL.It is unlikely Smith will be available for any other matches, including the finals, due to Australia commitments.”The impact that Steve was able to make in such a short time last season is testament to the kind of player he is,” Rachael Haynes, the head coach of Sydney Sixers, said. “We have no doubt Sixers fans can expect the same level of entertainment when he takes to the field again this summer.”Smith opened the batting for Sixers last season and it is a role he is currently taking on in the T20I series against India where he made 52 in the opening game. He had been due to open in South Africa earlier this year before a wrist injury ruled him out of that tour. It is a position he is keen to continue in with an eye on next year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA although there will be plenty of competition for opening spots in the Australia side alongside Warner, Travis Head and Matt Short.”Anyone would want to open in T20 cricket,” Smith told AAP at the start of the summer. “It was cool to be able to show what I could do in the Big Bash. Hopefully I can replicate that internationally as well.”Confirmation of Smith’s availability for the opening match follows Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne being freed to play for Brisbane Heat on the first night of the competition with an outside chance they could also play a second game before the Tests begin. Heat have been badly hit by call-ups to the Prime Minister’s XI side to face Pakistan in Canberra which will see them lose four players for their opening two matches.Melbourne Stars will also be without Mark Steketee and Beau Webster for the opening-night game against Heat while Sixers won’t have Todd Murphy available against Renegades.Former Sixer Nathan Lyon has indicated his desire to play for his new side Renegades before the Test summer which would pit him against Smith on December 8.Other clubs will also hope there is a chance of briefly seeing their Test players during the eight-day gap between the Sydney Test, which ends on January 7, and the opening game against West Indies from January 17.Australia’s three frontline multiformat quick bowlers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – are not yet attached to any BBL teams and are unlikely to play given their workloads.Recent World Cup winners Adam Zampa (Renegades), Glenn Maxwell (Melbourne Stars) and Marcus Stoinis (Melbourne Stars) should be available for the entire tournament.The BBL has been hit by two significant withdrawals from their overseas names in recent days with Harry Brook (England duty) and Rashid Khan (injury) ruled out of the tournament.

Jack Taylor half-century not enough to prop up hosts as Warwickshire ease to victory

ECB Reporters Network07-Aug-2023Gloucestershire’s flying start in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup came to a crashing halt with an eight-wicket defeat to Warwickshire at Edgbaston. The west country men had won their first two games but surrendered their 100% record to a Warwickshire side which retained theirs after a ruthless display of bowling supported by brilliant catching.Gloucestershire were skittled for 120 with only Jack Taylor (55 off 65 balls) able to resist an attack led by the excellent Olly Hannon-Dalby whose 3 for 14 included the wickets of three of the top five batters.Warwickshire then eased to 123 for two from 25.5 overs as Ed Barnard added a fluent 36 from 39 balls to his two wickets, Will Rhodes struck an unbeaten 36 and Michael Burgess an unbeaten 33.After choosing to bowl, Warwickshire made lavish use of the new ball. Gloucestershire were 10 for 4 after Barnard took wickets with his second and 11th deliveries and Hannon-Dalby struck with his seventh and ninth. All were caught behind the wicket as Barnard induced fatal edges from the Price brothers and Hannon-Dalby had Chris Dent and Graeme van Buuren taken in the cordon.When Danny Briggs started with a wicket-maiden, James Bracey chipping back a return catch from the sixth ball, the visitors were 35 for 5. Taylor and Ben Wells added 29 but the edges continued to come. Wells nicked a perfectly-shaped outswinger from Craig Miles and Zafar Gohar left in high dudgeon after being adjudged caught behind off Hannon-Dalby.Taylor and Anwar Ali constructed the best stand of the innings – 38 from 42 balls – but then fell to brilliant catches. Anwar tickled Miles down the leg side and wicketkeeper Burgess dived low to take his fourth catch of the innings. Taylor passed 50 for the 18th time in List A cricket but is still to turn one of those fifties into a hundred after he thrashed Jake Lintott to extra cover and fell to a stinging catch from Ethan Brookes.When Lintott spun one on to Ajeet Singh Dale’s stumps, Gloucestershire were 120 all out and their strong start to the campaign seemed a distant memory.It grew increasingly distant as Warwickshire openers Barnard and Rob Yates added 46 in 12 overs. Barnard batted attractively before falling lbw when he missed a reverse sweep at Ollie Price.Captain Will Rhodes arrived in no mood to hang about, moving from 1 to 15 with two fours and a six in four balls from Ollie Price and lifting Gohar into the Hollies Stand. Tom Price rattled Yates’ off stump with a jaffa but Gloucestershire’s batting implosion meant that jaffas had to arrive on a conveyor belt to rescue them and Rhodes and Burgess steered the Bears to the most straightforward of victories with 145 balls to spare.

A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to southern Florida, including to Broward County, where the matches are scheduled

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jun-2024The weather may have a big part to play at the T20 World Cup 2024 over the coming days in Florida, where three Group A matches are scheduled over the next three days. A tropical disturbance has brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida, including in Broward County where the venue for the matches – in Lauderhill – is located.The first World Cup match at the venue – Nepal vs Sri Lanka – was washed out, and three more fixtures – USA vs Ireland, Canada vs India and Ireland vs Pakistan – could also be affected, with the forecast suggesting heavy rain all through.According to the US National Weather Service (NWS), a “flood watch” remains in effect for all of southern Florida through Friday evening. The matches are set to be played at 10.30am local time.”Heavy to excessive rainfall over southern Florida may continue to bring areas of flash and urban flooding, with locally considerable urban flooding possible, at times into this weekend,” the NWS posted on X.