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South African allrounder strikes 13 boundaries as The Blaze chase down 276 with 12 balls to spare

ECB Reporters Network08-May-2024South Africa all-rounder Nadine de Klerk struck a magnificent unbeaten 106 as The Blaze fought back to beat Western Storm by four wickets in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Trent Bridge.Chasing 276 for victory, the home side looked to be heading for a fifth defeat in six matches when they slipped to 137 for 6 following Natasha Wraith’s impressive career-best 73 in the Storm innings.But 24-year-old De Klerk turned things around in a superb unbroken 139-run partnership with 21-year-old wicketkeeper Ella Claridge (64 not out), whose half-century was her first in women’s regional cricket, as The Blaze won with 12 balls to spare.Earlier, wicketkeeper-batter Wraith had shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 93 with skipper Sophie Luff (37), who had earlier put on 66 for the second wicket with Fran Wilson (34) before useful lower-order runs from Chloe Skelton (29 not out) helped Storm made light of the absence of England duo Heather Knight and Danielle Gibson to total to 275 in 48.1 overs. Blaze captain Kirstie Gordon took 4 for 40 to lift her wickets tally to 11 for the campaign.England opener Tammy Beaumont, not selected for the forthcoming T20 series against Pakistan Women, hit 41, sharing an opening partnership of 52 with Teresa Graves (24), but The Blaze looked likely to suffer again in the absence of England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt and Scotland internationals Kathryn and Sarah Bryce until De Klerk and Claridge’s heroics won the day.The Blaze had won the toss and Sophie Munro removed Alex Griffiths with the second ball of the match courtesy of an edge to solitary slip Beaumont, but Gordon had to wait until the 14th over to see her decision to bowl first rewarded again, bringing about the breakthrough with her own left-arm spin as Wilson’s sweep flew off a top-edge to short fine leg.Gordon followed up by bowling Smale to leave Storm 70 for 3, after which the Blaze skipper looked to apply the squeeze with spin at both ends.But Wraith and Luff countered by going on the offensive, adding another 50 in just 40 deliveries, Wraith hitting a maximum down the ground off Gordon before knocking leg-spinner Josie Groves out of the attack with three fours in four balls.The fourth-wicket pair plundered more runs against the off-spin of Lucy Higham before Groves, replacing England’s Sarah Glenn in the one change to the Blaze line-up, returned to have Luff caught at long-off thanks to an excellent catch on the run by Munro.Wraith continued unchecked, passing her previous best of 68 when she pulled left-armer Ballinger for her 11th four.She fell in the next over, caught behind off a top edge, and when Gordon then dismissed Katie Jones and Niamh Holland in the space of four deliveries, the home side looked to be wresting back control with Storm 207 for 7.Yet Skelton, who hammered the unfortunate Ballinger for five consecutive fours, led the way as the Storm tail wagged vigorously, the last three wickets adding 68 vital runs, punctuated by a second success each for De Klerk and Munro before Graves ended the innings with her only delivery.In reply, The Blaze were going well until the last over of the opening powerplay, when Smale struck with her first ball as Luff turned to spin for the first time. The left-armer induced the thinnest of tickles as Graves, who had played nicely for her 24, was caught behind on the leg side.From 52 without loss, Blaze stumbled badly. Smale picked up the crucial wicket of Beaumont, whose swing and miss ended with her middle stump out of the ground, before leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington removed Marie Kelly with the help of an excellent catch by Griffiths at gully and had Beth Gammon leg before.Gordon perished for 16, adjudged leg before trying to work Skelton’s off-spin through the on side, and Munro was bowled through the gate by seamer Griffiths.Storm were now well on top with Blaze 137 for 6, but there was no shifting De Klerk, who pounced on almost any delivery that was short or wide, completing her second half-century for the East Midlands side off 62 balls with six boundaries.Having lost five partners before that milestone, she at last found one to stick with her in Claridge, who grew in confidence, her fifth boundary, forcefully driven through the covers off Skelton, bringing up a century partnership for the seventh wicket in 17 overs, with 37 needed from the final six overs.De Klerk brought up her hundred from 112 balls with 12 fours before winning the match with a six, slog-swept off Griffiths.

Newly promoted visitors fare well on blustery opening day against midlands rivals

ECB Reporters Network05-Apr-2024Kashif Ali scored an accomplished maiden century as Worcestershire made a solid 316 for 7 against Warwickshire on the opening day of the Vitality County Championship season at Edgbaston.Kashif struck 110 off 188 balls and Gareth Roderick added a nuggety 68 as the visitors returned to Division One with a strong day’s work following promotion last year.Warwickshire captain Alex Davies chose to bowl in his first game in charge but without Hasan Ali, whose arrival as overseas player has been delayed by a Pakistan training camp, and the injured Liam Norwell, his bowling attack lacked penetration on a good batting pitch.Kashif took advantage in composed fashion. Having ended the 2023 season with a career-best 93 against Yorkshire, he launched 2024 in similarly confident fashion to harvest a richly-deserved maiden ton.Warwickshire’s bowlers hoped to exploit early moisture in the pitch but barely a ball deviated off the straight during a morning session in which the only wicket fell to a long hop.Roderick flicked the first ball of the season to the midwicket boundary and, with Jake Libby, put 50 on the board in 12 overs as Olly Hannon-Dalby and Chris Rushworth found rhythm elusive in the strong wind. Hannon-Dalby and Rushworth between them took 51% of Warwickshire’s Championship wickets last season but got little past the broad bats of the openers.Libby made an assured 38 before departing in ire at gifting his wicket. He top-edged a pull to deep midwicket where Danny Briggs took a fine low catch to give debutant Michael Booth his maiden first-class wicket. Booth, who has emulated the great Bob Wyatt in making his debut in a Warwickshire-Worcestershire season-opener at Edgbaston, now sits just 900 first class wickets behind the former Bears and Pears skipper.While Roderick settled into the anchor role, Kashif batted fluently to score 39 of the first 50 added by the second-wicket pair. Roderick reached his half-century from 112 balls and Kashif followed to his from 92, then celebrated by hoisting Booth into the Family Stand for six.As Warwickshire went on the defensive, the second-wicket pair added 103 in 40 overs. Medium-pacers Ed Barnard and Will Rhodes made the batters work hardest for their runs and it was Rhodes who broke through when he prised some bounce from the pitch and Roderick edged to Rob Yates at slip.Rob Jones, playing his first championship match for Worcestershire, settled in calmly to add 55 in 19 overs with Kashif. Jones then tickled a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess off Briggs and Adam Hose soon edged Barnard to slip.Warwickshire’s bowlers had toiled on the placid surface but they kept going and were rewarded with two wickets with the second new ball. Kashif lifted Hannon-Dalby to cover and when Brett D’Oliviera edged Rushworth behind, the first six wickets had fallen to different bowlers.Matthew Waite’s lusty 37 from 42 balls restored Worcestershire’s momentum and though he edged the impressive Rhodes behind just before the close, with overseas allrounders Jason Holder and Nathan Smith making their debuts, Worcestershire have built a platform of promise in this match.

Dhaka Dynamites, banking on pure power hitting and a sensational trio of spin bowlers, reached the 2017 BPL final with a 95-run win over Comilla Victorians in the first qualifier in Mirpur

The Report by Mohammad Isam08-Dec-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRaton Gomes/BCB

Dhaka Dynamites, banking on pure power hitting and a sensational trio of spin bowlers, reached the 2017 BPL final with a 95-run win over Comilla Victorians in the first qualifier in Mirpur.Evin Lewis gave them the perfect start with the bat, top scoring with 47 before Kieron Pollard and Shahid Afridi powered them to 191 for 7 in 20 overs. Comilla’s bowlers suffered greatly, except for Hasan Ali who took 3 for 16.Comilla’s hopes of chasing their target were extinguished quickly – they were six down inside 10 overs – and were eventually bowled out for 96. Afridi, Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine presented combined figures of 10-2-44-6.Dhaka now await the winner of Sunday’s second qualifier between Comilla and Rangpur Riders.Lewis revs Dhaka up earlyLewis, who survived a close leg-before shout in the first over, started off with three fours in the third over. Lewis hit Mahedi Hasan for two sixes in the sixth over, and a third off Shoaib Malik, all over long off. With Lewis off to a flyer, Dhaka were quicker to get off the blocks in the qualifier.Malik, however, had the last laugh, dismissing Lewis in the ninth over. Lewis had struck six fours and three sixes in his 32-ball effort before he was bowled. Joe Denly and Lewis added 69 runs for the second wicket, thereby building a perfect base for the oncoming big-hitters.Sixes galore from Afridi, PollardWhile Denly manned one end, Pollard and Afridi ripped into the Comilla bowlers from the other. Pollard struck three sixes – straight, over cover and over square leg – in his 18-ball 31. Afridi hacked four sixes in his 19-ball 30, hitting two slog sweeps, a pull and a swipe over long off.Dhaka spinners break Comilla’s backLiton Das drove back to Mosaddek Hossain in the first over of Comilla’s chase to start poorly. Shakib then bowled Jos Buttler for 5 after the Englishman missed a cut after backing away too much. Imrul Kayes was Mosaddek’s second wicket when the ball stayed low to go beneath his bat. And soon after, Abu Hider had Marlon Samuels caught behind and Comilla slipped far too quickly inside the Powerplay.Afridi’s double-wicket maidenIn the 10th over, Afridi struck twice: he dismissed Tamim Iqbal and Dwayne Bravo to reduce Comilla to 55 for 6. They had lost three wickets in a space of ten balls without adding a single run. Tamim made 31 off 28 balls, and was stumped trying to add a second six to his name. Off the over’s fifth ball, Bravo was adjudged lbw for a duck, trapped right in front of middle stump.Comilla surrender meeklyWickets came thick and fast for Dhaka towards the end. Mohammad Saifuddin was run out, caught short of the crease when he tried for a second run with Malik, who himself fell in the 13th over. Narine took a second wicket before Afridi added his third, as Comilla’s surrender was complete with the team all for their lowest BPL score ever.

While speaking of the respect the team has for Anil Kumble’s achievements as a cricketer, has offered little about the events that led to his resignation as head coach

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jun-20171:44

Sanctity of change room is paramount – Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli, while speaking of the respect the team has for Anil Kumble’s achievements as a cricketer, has offered little about the events that led to Kumble’s resignation as head coach on Tuesday, three days before the start of the limited-overs series in the West Indies.”Anil has expressed his views and taken a decision to step out,” Kohli said at a media briefing in Port-of-Spain, where India play the first ODI against West Indies on Friday. “We all respect that decision. It is something that has happened right after the tournament (Champions Trophy).”Even though he was pressed to reveal the differences with Kumble, Kohli maintained that he could not break the culture of not divulging dressing room details in public. “I’ve had 11 press conferences that have happened during the Champions Trophy… We have created a culture over the last three-four years that whatever happens in the change room, we’ve tried to maintain the sanctity of the change room throughout,” he said. “That is what the whole team believes in. For us that is paramount. I’ve always respected that and we have continued to maintain that as well.”While stepping down as head coach Kumble spoke about the reservations Kohli had with him, but Kohli refused to be drawn into the issue. “It’s his opinion, his point of view which I respect,” Kohli said about Kumble, India’s leading wicket taker in Tests and ODIs, going public with the differences between the two. “I have total respect for him as a cricketer and what he has achieved for the nation. All the years that he has played. There’s no taking away that aspect of him at all. And we all respect him totally.”On being asked whether Kumble’s approach affected the team (negatively), Kohli didn’t give a direct reply. “Like I said, for me what’s most important is to maintain the sanctity of the change room and what happens in the change room is something that’s very sacred and private to all of us, and something that I would not express in details in a public scenario. As I said, his point of view is out there and we respect that decision.”Hours after resigning as India coach, Kumble said he had been informed for the first time on the same day by the BCCI that “the captain had reservations with my style and about my continuing as head coach”. Kumble, whose contract ended with the Champions Trophy but had been given an extension to take the team to the West Indies, termed his working relationship with Kohli ‘untenable’. He announced his resignation while the squad was flying to the Caribbean.Two days before the Champions Trophy had kicked off in England, it emerged in the media that India captain Kohli had told BCCI officials that some players were uncomfortable with the “intimidating” style of Kumble’s man management. As a result, despite India’s success in Kumble’s year in charge, during which the team climbed to No.1 in the Test rankings, the board advertised for fresh interviews for the head coach’s position instead of extending his contract. Incidentally, Kumble did reapply for the job then.

Fast bowler adds to Durham’s growing squad ahead of maiden season as Tier 1 county

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2024Lauren Filer, the England fast bowler, has joined Durham on a three-year deal, ahead of the club’s maiden season as a Tier 1 women’s county in 2025.Filer, the fastest bowler in England’s current ranks, follows her international team-mate Mady Villiers as another significant signing for Durham, who have taken over from Headingley-based Northern Diamonds as the northern-most representative in the new women’s domestic set-up.Now aged 23, Filer made her mark on the international game during last summer’s Ashes, including a memorablly hostile debut in the one-off Test at Trent Bridge. To date, she has played 17 matches across formats for England, but was overlooked for this month’s T20 World Cup in the UAE.She heads to Durham after coming through Somerset’s pathway, having made 41 appearances for Western Storm since signing her first professional contract in 2020, with her best figures of 3 for 8 coming in this season’s Charlotte Edwards Cup.She has also appeared for Welsh Fire, London Spirit and Manchester Originals in the Women’s Hundred, and claimed an England-best haul of 3 for 10 during the recent ODI series against Ireland in Belfast.Related

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“I’m super excited to make the move up north,” Filer said. “Durham is a great place where I share some very happy cricketing memories.”The values the club holds as a whole were extremely important to my move up to the North East and they hold everything I think is necessary for a successful and healthy environment.”After the change to the women’s structure, it’s important to keep the women’s game moving in the right direction, and I believe Durham has the support and infrastructure to do that. With this vision and the extremely talented group of girls we have, it’s very exciting to see what we can do.”Marcus North, Durham’s Director of Cricket, added: “We are delighted to have signed one of the most exciting young fast bowlers in England.
“Lauren is already regarded as one of the fastest bowlers in the women’s game since bursting onto the international scene during the Women’s Ashes last year and we cannot wait to welcome her to Durham.”Our squad is coming together nicely and with the addition of Lauren she adds a huge point of difference with her pace and quality.
“We look forward to supporting Lauren’s ambitions on the field for England and in playing an integral part in establishing a successful Women’s Team at Durham.”

Starc revealed words from a former Australia coach spurred him to push through pain barrier as he closes in on Dennis Lillee’s tally

Alex Malcolm05-Mar-20241:39

Clarke: Marnus needs to believe in himself

Mitchell Starc has the strong words of former Australia coach Tim Nielsen still ringing in his ears as he stands on the brink of a remarkable achievement.If he takes two wickets at Hagley Oval this week against New Zealand in the second Test he will surpass Dennis Lillee on Australia’s all-time leading Test wicket-takers list and move to fourth behind Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Nathan Lyon.Related

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As impressive as that is, Starc is arguably prouder of the fact he is set to play his seventh straight Test of a southern hemisphere summer. It is something he has not done in his 14-year international career. The closest he has come was 2017-18, where he missed one Test out of eight when Australia played five against England at home and three against South Africa away in the span of four months.A once fragile Starc has become Australia’s iron man, pushing through pain to play game after game for his country. He distinctly remembers a conversation on one of his early tours with Australia in 2010, that led him to realise that pushing through pain was part of the job.”I was still learning what all those pains were and obviously the reports get around from physios to coaches and I sort of got told to harden the f*** up a little bit,” Starc said. “Timmy Nielsen probably made me aware that early doors. Obviously, there’s plenty of times you need to be honest with the medical staff but other times you got to know when to push through things.”The last 12 months has been one of those times. Starc was Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the away Ashes last year despite only playing four Tests.He was supposed to go on the limited-overs tour of South Africa before the ODI World Cup but was withdrawn due to lingering groin soreness. Starc has never revealed the exact details of the issue nor has he outlined the pain he was in. He remains tightlipped on both.Mitchell Starc has often pushed through the pain barrier•Getty Images

But there were grave concerns for him during the World Cup, where he hardly trained and had to make slight changes to his run-up to mitigate against long-term injury.That he got through the tournament without issue was impressive. That he has been able to back up and play seven Tests in a row since is even more so.”I think a lot of work goes into that a lot of work that people don’t see or whether it be the rehab or the handling of niggles or there’s certainly sore mornings for a lot of people,” Starc said. “But I think that comes down to experiencing and knowing how to deal with certain things and finding ways through them to still make an impact with a team or perform and carry out your role.”Surpassing Lillee will be a monumental achievement. He is the only bowler in Australia’s top eight wicket-takers with a strike-rate under 50. Of the 27 men who have taken more than 350 Test wickets, only Dale Steyn, Waqar Younis and Malcolm Marshall have a better strike-rate than Starc.”It’s cool. It’s humbling,” Starc said. “It means I’m old. I’ve played a little bit of cricket.”Starc also has another landmark in sight. Tim Southee will become the latest pace bowler to bring up 100 Tests in Christchurch this week and Starc is 12 away. If his body and form hold up, he could join the club in 2025.”To play 100 Test matches as a fast bowler is a huge achievement for [Southee],” Starc said. “If I can get that far, that’d be nice as a bowler and again that’s probably showing a bit of age and experience but a bit of longevity as well and then the work to become resilient and to push through a few things. So if I can get that far it’d be a nice touch but at this stage, it’s one week at a time.”

South Africa were on a downward slide until de Swardt and von Berg stood tall in a defiant partnership

Ekanth13-Feb-2024Ruan de Swardt and Shaun von Berg dug deep to pull South Africa out of a hole on a typically attritional day of Test cricket. New Zealand’s seamers prised out the top-order batters and were economical. Rachin Ravindra found purchase and dismantled the middle order but the numbers 7 and 8 were resilient saw off 27 overs in the extended final session.The day started with captain Neil Brand springing a surprise at the toss by batting first on a grassy pitch and going with two spinners. “All the wickets have been green and it tends to burn off after a couple of days,” he said. South Africa, repeating their feat from 2017, are the only side to have done it in the last ten years at Hamilton.In contrast, New Zealand went with four seamers, including captain Tim Southee, who said he’d have bowled first if they’d won the toss. The hosts brought in Will Young in place of the injured Daryl Mitchell. Neil Wagner came in for Mitchell Santner, and William O’Rourke was handed a debut as Kyle Jamieson pulled up sore after the first Test.Related

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Clyde Fortuin’s promotion to the top didn’t pay off as he bagged a golden duck. He flashed on the up against Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips took a one-handed stunner at gully. Henry troubled the batters with seam movement and Southee found swing but Brand and Raynard van Tonder left the ball confidently and weren’t bogged down by the ball occasionally beating them.Brand capitalised on overpitched balls with aesthetically pleasing punches through the offside. O’Rourke, the debutant brought on in the ninth over, was at the receiving end a couple of times, but he got a length ball to nip back past the inside edge and pin the skipper in front of middle.Zubayr Hamza started cautiously and was given lbw when he shouldered arms to a length ball angling in Neil Wagner’s first over. Hamza reviewed successfully with ball tracking suggesting that it would go over the stumps.Hamza was resolute in defence but couldn’t rotate strike. Southee and Wagner held onto their discipline and gave away just five runs between the 21st and the 25th over. Wagner then telegraphed the short-ball plan by pushing the fielders to the deep on the leg side. He hit the deck, angled it outside off and got spongy bounce off the pitch but van Tonder couldn’t ride the bounce and ended up fending it to Tom Latham at gully. The third wicket tilted the session in the hosts’ favour.The second session played out like an exercise in psychology as David Bedingham and Hamza were ready to blunt out the bowling despite the runs coming to a standstill. Henry and O’Rourke held their lines and lengths, Ravindra, brought on in the 36th over, started his spell with four maidens.The ball was beating bat every now and again and the shots, when middled, went straight to the fielders. From overs 31 to 44, South Africa scored 12 runs and the duo collectively had 33 runs in 154 balls.However, two overs later, Hamza’s patience was swiped across the line, as was the loopy wide ball from Ravindra, and – out of nowhere – Hamza holed out to backward point for a 99-ball 20. Ravindra then extended Keegan Petersen’s poor run of form by having him push out at a length ball and caught at slip.It was a case of dots or boundaries from then till tea but de Swardt’s proactivity followed by solidity in defence was a rare positive that South Africa could take from a frustrating session.At the other end, Bedingham looked assured and even capitalised on a couple of rare instances where Ravindra dropped it short. The action-packed 62nd over took South Africa to 150, brought Bedingham two fours, but also ended with his freak dismissal. He flicked a full ball seemingly onto the ground and straight into the hands of Young at short leg. Young tossed the ball to the keeper, who dislodged the bails. An appeal for run out was sent upstairs by the umpire only for the spin-vision replay to reveal that the ball never hit the ground, and went to Young off Bedingham’s boot. So, Bedingham had to walk back after another start.Von Berg, the fifth-oldest player to make a Test debut for South Africa, was particularly tentative at the start of his innings. He looked for a couple of sharp singles to get off the mark but was sent back. He survived a close lbw call in the 68th over off Wagner, where the third umpire felt the ball hit bat and pad simultaneously.His confidence grew gradually, dispatching a couple of short balls from O’Rourke to the boundary and settled in as the soft, old ball lost its spite. De Swardt, at the other end, was steady.New Zealand took the new ball right after the 80th over. Southee induced an edge from von Berg but the ball went over the slip cordon for four and brought up South Africa’s 200. Southee and Henry were taken for boundaries on the odd occasion they went too full but they hit a good length more often than not.Southee hit von Berg’spad with no shot offered in the 85th over. It was given not out and the skipper ended up burning a review as Hawk-Eye showed that the ball would comfortably go over the stumps. In his next over, Southee hit de Swardt in the box. The batter was down but that was all the blows South Africa would face for the rest of the day.The green on the pitch had gotten significantly lighter by the end of the day. The visitors will be happy that their inexperienced line-up clawed back despite having their resistance shaken. But the hosts ensured the scoring was always in check and will be pleased with spinners being among the wickets at home in successive Tests.

Jackson Bird made early inroads for the home side in what remains a very even contest on a helpful pitch

AAP29-Nov-2023Lawrence Neil-Smith took seven wickets for Tasmania in a rollercoaster of a Sheffield Shield match with New South Wales, whose own bowling attack inspired an early collapse in reply on day two.Bad light and rain prevented play from going ahead in the third session after Mitchell Owen helped Tasmania recover to 166 for 6 at the SCG.Neil-Smith picked up where he left off following a rain-affected first day, dispatching of veteran quick Jackson Bird to break a 52-run partnership with unbeaten Ollie Davies (81).Related

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The Tasmanians made light work of the Blues from there and when he bowled Chris Tremain for a duck, Neil-Smith had career-best bowling figures with the hosts bowled out for 224.In a sour note for NSW, and potentially also the BBL’s Sydney Thunder, batter Davies suffered a hairline fracture in his left little finger while fielding on day two but could appear further down the order in the second. The 23-year-old came off after suffering his injury and did not return to field.”I don’t think he’ll take any part in fielding for the rest of the game,” NSW captain Moises Henriques told AAP. “I don’t think he can come in before seven, but from there he’s going to be OK to bat. I don’t know how long after this game [he might be sidelined].”Neil-Smith’s figures were the sixth-best in a first-class match for Tasmania since the turn of the century and the best since fellow paceman Sam Rainbird took 8 for 21 two summers ago.But just as their NSW counterparts did on day one, the Tasmanian batting order misfired early. Bird took the first three wickets against his former team-mates as the visitors fell to 30 for 3 on a tricky deck, having survived a dropped catch and appeal on their way to 29 without loss.Things threatened to spiral further out of control when Moises Henriques, enjoying a great summer with the ball, had rival captain Jordan Silk caught behind in the over before lunch.In at No. 8, Owen inspired a fightback, partnering with Jake Doran (42 not out) in an unbeaten 96-run stand that helped the visitors bounce back from 70 for 6.When the covers came on, 22-year-old Owen was four runs shy of equaling his best first-class score.

He will play multiple roles in the franchise’s set-up, including that of a talent scout

Nagraj Gollapudi23-Oct-2024Former India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel is set to join the Gujarat Titans coaching staff. ESPNcricinfo has learned Parthiv will perform multiple roles including that of assistant coach in the support staff led by Ashish Nehra as well as being one of their talent scouts.This is the first coaching role in the IPL for Parthiv, who retired in 2020. Immediately after that he was a talent scout for Mumbai Indians for three seasons until 2023, and also the batting coach for MI Emirates in 2023, the inaugural season of ILT20. Incidentally, Parthiv is the second former India wicketkeeper, after Dinesh Karthik at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, to join an IPL team’s coaching staff ahead of the 2025 season.Parthiv, 39, played for six IPL franchises between 2008 and 2019, winning the title three times: in 2010 with Chennai Super Kings and twice with Mumbai in 2015 and 2017. In 139 matches, Parthiv, scored 2848 runs primarily as an opener at a strike rate of 120-plus.At Titans, who finished seventh in 2024 after winning the title in 2022 and were runners-up in 2023, Parthiv will play a key role in the think tank which includes Nehra (head coach), Vikram Solanki (director of cricket) and Aashish Kapoor (assistant coach). Former South Africa batter Gary Kirsten, who shared the coaching duties with Nehra at Titans between 2022-24, left after IPL 2024 to take over as Pakistan’s white-ball coach.

Opener’s 89 holds her side together before Katie Levick, Phoebe Turner defend modest total vs Thunder

ECB Reporters Network13-Sep-2023Northern Diamonds gave their chances of qualifying for the final stages of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy a massive boost with a comprehensive 48-run victory over cross-Pennines rivals Thunder at Sale Sports Club.Lauren Winfield-Hill continued her brilliant white-ball form for Diamonds with a barnstorming 89, before Katie Levick with four wickets and Phoebe Turner with three, sealed the win in a game which the hosts looked to be in control of at the interval after bowling out the visitors for a below-par 196.Diamonds got off to a quick start with Winfield-Hill beginning where she left off against Western Storm by hitting a trio of boundaries in the first few overs as the score raced along in the early morning sunshine.But Thunder hit back when Phoebe Graham produced a cracking delivery which nipped back and removed Sterre Kalis’s bails for eight.Winfield-Hill continued to dominate the bowling, hitting fours at will as Graham and fellow opening bowler Tara Norris proved expensive with the visitors reaching the end of the powerplay on 63 for 2.With Hollie Armitage departing just before that in the ninth over for nine, attempting to reverse sweep Hannah Jones, Diamonds gave a hint of the trouble that was to come as Thunder successfully introduced the spin of Jones, Fi Morris and Olivia Bell to brilliant effect.Jones had Emma Marlow trapped in front for nine before Bell ripped out Diamonds’ middle order with a succession of wickets which dragged the home side back into a game Winfield-Hill had threatened to take away from them.Rebecca Duckworth played well for her 27 off 54 balls as she and Winfield-Hill put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket before she was bowled by Bell leaving the former England opener struggling to find another partner of note.The pressure of carrying the innings eventually became too much for Winfield-Hill. who was bowled by the returning Norris for 89 off 90 balls including 14 fours. It was a superb knock but her departure hastened the end for Diamonds who quickly lost Leah Dobson and Turner to the rampant Bell before Levick became the Thunder off-spinner’s fourth wicket.By then the score was 169 for 8 and Naomi Dattani mopped up the tail’s dogged resistance with the wickets of Grace Hall and Jessica Woolston to leave Diamonds posting an underwhelming 196 all out off 46.4 overs.With both sides desperate for the win, nerves were jangling as Thunder began their innings with one delivery from Lizzie Scott’s first over going for five wides.Runs flowed for the first five overs until Liberty Heap was bowled by a fine delivery from Woolston for 14 to leave Thunder 27 for 1.Dattani looked to rebuild and the hosts passed 50 before she was brilliantly caught down the leg side by Winfield-Hill off Levick’s third ball with the spinner’s fourth ball trapping Morris in front without scoring to leave Thunder suddenly up against it at 54 for 3.A captain’s innings was required and Ellie Threlkeld looked up for the challenge as she and Seren Smale began to build a fourth-wicket partnership which slowly pulled Thunder back into the contest.A wicket looked vital for Diamonds and Turner obliged as she began a spell that would turn the match the visitor’s way with Smale top edging a delivery to depart for 33 before Threlkeld’s vigil ended slightly unluckily when she found Marlow on the leg side boundary for 31.With that the stuffing was knocked out of the Thunder reply and Turner took another one to claim Daisy Mullan without scoring with Levick accounting for Norris lbw for one.Graham quickly followed the same way to the same bowler for a third-ball duck and despite some resistance from Laura Delaney and Bell the game was up when the latter was run out for eight and Jones fell the same way as Thunder were dismissed for 148.