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Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas and Simon Harmer remain part of South Africa’s national plans despite all being dropped from the Test squad in the 2015-16 season, as they were named in CSA’s spin camp that will take place in Mumbai in May

Firdose Moonda10-May-2016Opening batsman Stiaan van Zyl, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas and offspinner Simon Harmer remain part of South Africa’s national plans despite being dropped from the Test squad at various points in the 2015-16 season. The trio, along with four other batsmen and seven other bowlers, will travel to Mumbai for CSA’s annual spin camp which will take place for a week from May 14.

SA spin camp

Bowlers: Bjorn Fortuin, Simon Harmer, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Tshepo Ntuli, Aaron Phangiso, Dane Piedt, Prenelan Subrayen
Batsmen: Temba Bavuma, Reeza Hendricks, Smangaliso Nhlebela, Hector Ngobeni, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas

Both van Zyl and Harmer have participated in previous editions of the camp and, given their uncertain place in the team, may view this as a lifeline, even though some of their competitors are accompanying them on the trip.Van Zyl was dispensed with at the top of the order after a series of low scores against India and England. He was replaced by Temba Bavuma – who is part of the camp – against India, and then by Stephen Cook. After van Zyl’s struggles against R Ashwin in particular – the offspinner dismissed him in all five innings in India – he was sent back to his franchise Cape Cobras, and moved down to a more familiar spot in the middle order. Despite that, van Zyl has indicated to the national selectors that he would like to challenge for a Test opening place again and could turn out in that position when the 2016-17 season starts.Vilas also paid the price for a poor India tour and lost his spot to Quinton de Kock, who appears to have established himself as South Africa’s long-term wicketkeeper in all formats. The importance of a back-up, however, has not been lost on the management. When de Kock was injured ahead of the Wanderers Test against England in January, Vilas was flown in as an emergency replacement and has since gone on to score big runs for Cape Cobras. He finished second on the run charts of the Sunfoil series first-class competition, scoring 761 runs in eight matches at an average of 69.18.Like Vilas, Harmer dealt with the disappointment of losing his Test spot with solid domestic performances. After playing two of the four Tests in India in November 2015, he returned home to take 31 wickets in nine matches at 22.41 for Warriors to finish as their leading wicket-taker in the Sunfoil series and eighth overall.Ahead of Harmer are three other spinners: chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who is currently with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL and is not part of the camp, offspinner Dane Piedt, Harmer’s replacement and South Africa’s first-choice Test spinner, and left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. Piedt and Maharaj have been picked for the camp, with Phangiso and Prenelan Subrayen, who had their actions declared illegal and then cleared in March this year. Among the younger talents is Cape Cobras’ left-arm spinner George Linde, who has been contracted to the franchise for the first time for the coming season.

Chadwick Walton returns to the West Indies Test side after a two-Test stint during the troubled times in 2009

Sidharth Monga06-Oct-2013Chadwick Walton has played two Tests for West Indies, but you probably don’t know. When he did play those Tests, you either didn’t care or were too disgusted with the way things were going in West Indies cricket. It was in 2009 when the first-choice West Indies players went on a strike, and a host of lesser players lost two Tests against Bangladesh. The crowds stayed away; at worst the team was seen as an establishment eleven, at best they were lambs to the slaughter. When the pay dispute was resolved, out went most of the replacement players, Walton being one of them, with 10 catches and 13 runs to his name.Four years on, Walton is back, not as a there-is-no-alternative. “I didn’t realise it was four years,” Walton says. “It’s always a good feeling. I have been doing a lot of work to come back to international level. I hope this time I can put up a better show.”Walton is a man of a few words. He doesn’t want to talk too much about those troubled days. He sees it as a case of selectors’ calling him up and his answering the call. He says it was all normal: the team atmosphere, and the relationship with players who had struck work. He admits to one thing, though – he probably wasn’t ready back then. And it wasn’t his age; he was 24. But it was the timing of the call.”It came as a surprise,” he says. “It was sudden. It was very shocking.” Was he ready for the Test debut then? “I would tend to lean to the no side.”Now Walton has enough time to be ready to be part of a normal Test squad. What do you mean normal, he asks. “I can’t compare with any other. I haven’t been there since. I have nothing to compare it with.”That Test series was an eye opener, Walton says. Now he can joke about it, though. “The most challenging cricket I have played? Has to be playing with my niece. She get me out all the time because she makes the rules as she goes.”Apart from trying to become more consistent with the bat, Walton has spent the last four years trying to add a masters in sports science and marketing to his undergraduate degree in accounting. If he doesn’t want to talk about if others were bitter towards him when he agreed to play for West Indies during the strike, he doesn’t betray a sense of hurt at being left out either. “I always support what the selectors put out. If the selectors say we want to go with the same players, I support what they put out.”Walton, now the understudy to Denesh Ramdin on the tour of India, clearly supports what the selectors have put out, but is he ready? “You never know if you are ready,” he says.

Ross Taylor’s whirlwind half-century went in vain as New Zealand lost to South Africa by nine runs in their second warm-up match in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRoss Taylor blasted seven sixes in his 75•Associated Press

Ross Taylor’s whirlwind half-century went in vain as New Zealand lost to South Africa by nine runs in their second warm-up match in Colombo. Besides a big target, New Zealand also had to contend with several of their players falling ill* due to queasy stomachs. New Zealand weren’t able to field 11 fit men in the warm-up game, with bowling coach Damien Wright having to step in as a fielder.When Taylor arrived at the crease after the fall of Brendon McCullum, 160 runs were still required. Taylor immediately set the pace with a boundary off Dale Steyn and a four and a six off Morne Morkel to race to 17 off 7 balls. He then went into consolidation mode for the next eight overs before exploding as the pressure of the chase mounted. Taylor shared a 94-run stand with Rob Nicol and hit seven sixes in his 42-ball 75, which left New Zealand with 44 runs to get in the last 4.3 overs with six wickets in hand. However, the contest was closed by Steyn’s triple-strike in the penultimate over.New Zealand opened the bowling with two spinners after the start was delayed due to rain. But South Africa’s openers – Richard Levi and Faf du Plessis – took 19 runs off Ronnie Hira’s second over to inject momentum into the innings. New Zealand fast bowler Adam Milne then removed both batsmen in consecutive overs and when Nicol took Hashim Amla’s wicket, South Africa were in danger of ceding the early advantage.But AB de Villiers scored a 30-ball 54 and raised 62 runs in partnership with JP Duminy. A late assault by de Villiers, Farhaan Behardien and Albie Morkel shocked New Zealand as South Africa took 51 runs off the last three overs to end up with 186.* September 18, 0400 GMT This story has been updated with the news of New Zealand players’ illness

A round up of the first match day of the Quadrangular Under-19 Series in Visakhapatnam

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Sep-2011India Under-19s decimated Australia Under-19s in the first youth ODI of the quadrangular tournament in Visakhapatnam. They won by ten wickets and 38 overs to spare in what was the fastest chase of a total more than 100 in U-19 cricket.After choosing to bat, Australia folded for 163 in 41.1 overs. Only wicketkeeper James Peirson offered some resistance with a fluent 51. Offspinner Baba Aparajith claimed five middle-order wickets in 8.1 overs.The India openers, Manan Vohra and Unmukt Chand, were brutal in reply, scoring 167 in 12 overs at a run-rate of 13.91. Vohra’s 79 off 35 balls was studded with 15 fours and two sixes, while Chand made 72 off 40 with 11 fours and three sixes. Australia captain Cameron Bancroft employed five bowlers in the short chase, but none of them could manage an economy-rate of below 10. The opening pair was particularly harsh on spinners Ashton Turner and Shane Cassell, slamming them for 17.50 and 23 runs an over respectively.India take on Sri Lanka U-19s in their next game on September 29, while Australia play West Indies U-19s on the same day.Sri Lanka Under-19 began their quadrangular campaign by beating West Indies Under-19 in Visakhapatnam, a victory that was much narrower than India’s against Australia. Sri Lanka edged home by two wickets and needed their tail to rescue the chase after a top-order collapse.Chasing 147, Sri Lanka had crumbled to 71 for 8. Fast bowlers Justin Greaves, who took 4 for 26, Ronsford Beaton and Kyle Mayers had put West Indies two strikes away from victory. Those wickets, however, never came as Lahiru Madhushanka and Tharindu Kaushal added 76 runs for the ninth wicket. Madhushanka scored 42 and Kaushal 30 as Sri Lanka reached the target in the 47th over.West Indies’ top order had also failed in their innings. They were struggling at 42 for 5 before a steadying half-century from Kaven Hodge and 33 from Greaves led them to 146. Sanitha de Mel took 4 for 14 in 9.1 overs, and Gaurav Deva and Madhushanka claimed two each as West Indies were dismissed in 47.1 overs.

As his sixth, and final, season for Essex draws to a close Grant Flower – who has played 195 games for the county since arriving in 2005 – has the chance to bow out on a high in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition

Cricinfo staff11-Sep-2010As his sixth, and final, season for Essex draws to a close Grant Flower has the chance to bow out on a high in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition. Essex will go into the tournament semi-final as clear underdogs against an intimidating Somerset line-up that includes the likes of Marcus Trescothick, Craig Kieswetter, Peter Trego and Jos Buttler, and Flower, who has played 195 games for the county since arriving in 2005, is realistic about his team’s chances. “It will be very tough to overcome them,” he said. “But if we get to Lord’s it would be a great way to end.”Essex have sunk without a trace in the County Championship but have fared far better in the domestic one-day tournaments this season. Flower has been key to that success and has been by some distance their leading runscorer, averaging 69.71 with two centuries. His unbeaten 81 against Middlesex in his final home game at Chelmsford sealed their semi-final spot and left Essex fans – some of whom had booed Flowers arrival under the controversial Kolpak ruling – cheering the veteran batsman from the field.”I think over the years I have shown my commitment to the county and to the country,” Flower told . “I could understand it [the booing] and the Kolpak thing was controversial and I was taking an English person’s spot in the side.”But I think good performances and the commitment I have show has helped a great deal. I’m quite emotional about the send off I got, I’m not the sort of person that likes a big fuss, but six years is a long time.”Flower will be returning to Zimbabwe at the end of the season and though there have been several positive developments in the country’s cricket infrastructure recently he describes his decision to take up a position as the national side’s batting coach as “a huge risk”.”You never know what is going to happen in Africa and what the situation will be like and whether or not the contract you sign actually means what it’s supposed to, the organisation isn’t very good.”I was offered the role of second team coach here at Essex and you know that’s a solid job, so going back to Africa is a huge risk, but you have to do that in life, it’s a wrench to leave because I have some great friends here at Essex so there are obviously pros and cons.”

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.

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.

Allrounder will miss New Zealand Tests, while Chris Woakes also in doubt for first Test

ECB Reporters Network10-May-2022Surrey head coach Gareth Batty has confirmed that Sam Curran’s return to full bowling fitness is on track despite the England allrounder’s limited workload.Curran has sent down just 10 competitive overs since his Surrey return three weeks ago, following six months out with a stress fracture of the back.Those overs all came on the opening day of Surrey’s LV= Insurance County Championship match against Somerset at the Kia Oval on April 21, meaning that Curran did not bowl in the subsequent matches Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire.Curran has already been ruled out for England’s upcoming three-Test series against New Zealand, which begins on June 2, while Chris Woakes is also an injury doubt for that first Test at Lord’s after struggling with injury – particularly to his shoulder and knee – since the end of an arduous winter campaign.Batty has confirmed that Curran is still fully engaged in his recovery programme, which is being managed and monitored by the county in direct consultation with England’s medical and fitness staff.”Sam is centrally-contracted by the ECB so England are ultimately responsible for the detail of his return to bowling fitness work,” Batty said. “But despite not bowling in the last couple of matches he is doing his overs behind closed doors and that continues to go well.”What we all have to remember is that Sam is still a young player, and sometimes it’s hard to think he’s only 23. And the real positive for him at the moment is that he has been able to concentrate more on his batting and, during these early-season Championship matches, to approach them mainly as a top-six batter.”He’s already shown, in his first three games of the season, just what a good player he is by the manner in which he has scored his runs. Sam is also the sort of cricketer who always wants to get better, be that with bat or ball, and I think he’s still improving all the time.”Related

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Curran has made scores of 80 and 33 against Somerset, 64 against Gloucestershire and 73 against Northants. All of his four Championship innings this season have been skilful and attacking knocks showcasing his shot-making ability and underlining a widely-held opinion in English cricket circles that he will eventually develop into a top-order batter who bowls relatively little.With three half-centuries and a top score of 78 from his 24 Tests, moreover, Curran has already highlighted his run-scoring abilities at the highest level, and it remains one of the curiosities of the modern game that after 118 first-class innings – and another 121 in List A and T20 cricket – Curran has yet to reach three figures. That first hundred cannot be too far away.Surrey, meanwhile, sit proudly atop Division One after the first five rounds of the Championship campaign and Batty – who took over as head coach from Vikram Solanki during the winter – could not be more pleased with a start of three wins and two high-scoring draws.Victories against Hampshire and Somerset were gained too despite the loss to injury in those games of, respectively, Kemar Roach and James Taylor, while Ben Foakes, Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope have all been forced to miss a match through injury or illness.Surrey’s strength in depth, though, has already allowed them to rotate quick bowlers Jamie Overton and Reece Topley from certain fixtures while the latest addition to their seam battery, Dan Worrall, has impressed everyone at The Kia Oval since arriving at the club in mid-April.Worrall, a 30-year-old Australian with three one-day international caps, has previous county experience from 2018 and 2021 with Gloucestershire and, as a British passport holder, is now a home-registered player.After taking five wickets in last week’s crushing innings win against Northamptonshire, Worrall said: “This is a great club to be a part of and everyone has been so welcoming to me and my family. I’ve signed for three years but let’s hope I can be here longer than that!​”I am excited to be here and I know what my role is in what is a terrific bowling attack. My time at Gloucestershire gave me valuable experience of English conditions and what I most learned there was the need to be adaptable on different pitches.”Sometimes it swings more and sometimes it seams more, so you have to adapt your bowling to whatever is in front of you.”

Ajaz Patel could be in contention for the Pakistan Test series after recovering from a calf injury

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2020Colin de Grandhomme will play no part in the upcoming Test series at home against Pakistan as he isn’t yet back to running, and recovers from a foot injury, while the wait for Kane Williamson to return to the set-up continues. New Zealand coach Gary Stead said that the all-format captain, who took leave to be with his partner Sarah Raheem for the birth of their first child, is expected to join the team before the second T20I against Pakistan, but that it’s still a waiting game at this stage.”There’s no update on baby news at this stage, so we’re just going to let them carry on as is,” Stead said of Williamson, three days out from the first T20I against Pakistan in Auckland, at a press interaction. “The plan at this stage still is that he will join the team for T20s two and three.”Related

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The first Test starts on Boxing Day after the last T20I on December 22, and Stead said de Grandhomme is expected to return to domestic cricket around mid-January. “Colin’s unfortunately going to be ruled out of the two Tests against Pakistan,” Stead said. “He’s got a stress reaction in his right foot; we haven’t at this stage been able to get him up to running stage and then ultimately bowling as well, so unfortunately for Colin, he’s out. Looking like, hopefully, a mid-January return to play in the Super Smash for him.”There was no major update on Lockie Ferguson’s injured back either, with the team management waiting for reports of the scans, but the latest on left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel was encouraging. “Ajaz Patel will travel up with the ‘A’ squad this week [to play Pakistan A in Whangarei]. He is going to be part of their preparations,” Stead said. “We are hoping that he’s going to be in contention for the Test match; in terms of the selection side of things it’s still a bit wait and see to see where he’s at with that.”De Grandhomme and Patel had also missed the two-Test series against West Indies, which New Zealand swept 2-0 with innings wins in both games. Williamson was the Player of the Match in the first Test for a career-best 251, and though he missed the second game as he had gone on paternity leave by then, Will Young, who had debuted in the first Test, slotted in at No. 3 and scored 43.Kyle Jamieson, meanwhile, was the main allrounder for New Zealand in the two Tests, and emerged with the Player-of-the-Series award after picking up 11 wickets – with a best of 5 for 34 in the first innings of the second Test – and scoring 71 runs in two innings, including an unbeaten 51 in the first Test.

With a busy summer to come Australia will be looking to expand the pool of players they can select from

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Sep-2019Australia’s tour of the West Indies, which begins with the opening ODI in Antigua on Thursday, is a chance for them to explore the depth they have available ahead of a home season which will place significant demands on the players.Though the core of the squad is similar to the one that retained the Ashes, there are new faces in Heather Graham and Erin Burns while there will be an opportunity for those who had a fringe role in England to have more game time with 14 players on the trip.This tour, which includes three ODIs and three T20Is, continues a hectic period for Australia’s women cricketers coming just a month after they completed the Ashes tour and is followed shortly after they return home with ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka.They will then be involved in the first standalone WBBL, running from mid-October to early December, before international cricket resumes at the end of January with a T20I tri-series involving England and India which acts as preparation for the T20 World Cup in late February. The season then concludes with a tour of South Africa.It all adds up to an unprecedented workload for the players – something coach Matthew Mott has acknowledged is likely to require rotation – and this series in the Caribbean will be an opportunity to further expand the pool of players Mott and captain Meg Lanning feel comfortable calling on.With Nicole Bolton and Elyse Villani out, there are also fewer top-order batting options than were available in England which will put more onus on the likes of Lanning and Alyssa Healy while also allowing the allrounders to play a leading role with the bat.”We’ll definitely need to have another allrounder given the balance of the squad but those players can be genuine bats at times; Nicola Carey, Heather Graham, Jess Jonassen, they can all bat extremely well and would fit into our middle order really well,” Lanning said. “We aren’t too worried about that, we think it’s a great opportunity for them to come in and play some good cricket but at the same time it’s important our top order will do the job.”While there are Women’s Championship points on offer for the ODIs – which go towards qualification for 2021 World Cup – the T20Is, which follow are a further opportunity to hone skills ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup where Australia will be defending champions on home soil.