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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.

Hampshire crash and burn in reply as visitors secure points by convincing margin

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay17-Jun-2025Dom Sibley continued Surrey’s dominance at Utilita Bowl in the Men’s Vitality Blast with a crushing 70 against Hampshire Hawks.Former England Test opener Sibley’s breezy 46-ball knock provided the backbone for his side’s commanding victory on the south coast – Surrey’s sixth straight T20 win on the ground.Opening partner Will Jacks and Sam Curran whacked quick-fire runs to back Sibley up as Surrey reached 193. Despite short explosive cameos from South African duo Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius, two wickets apiece for the returning Reece Topley, Chris Jordan and Mitchell Santner, and 3 for 18 for Nathan Smith, gave the visitors a one-sided win.Having been put into bat, Jacks and Sibley seemed to amass runs without massive swings of the bat, with Sibley’s two sixes over midwicket anomalies in a 59-run powerplay.Jacks’ sweet timing had brought him 41 in a blink-of-an-eye 24 balls but Benny Howell’s introduction began a squeeze. Howell and Liam Dawson stopped the flow of runs with their off-pace deliveries, with Howell getting Jacks slapping to point and Jason Roy run out via a one-motion dive by James Vince.Sibley continued to turn over the strike, along with the odd boundary, as he found a tempo and stuck to it, reaching his ninth T20 fifty in 32 balls.He eventually fell for an impressive 70, but that only began the Surrey fireworks – with 51 runs coming from the last four overs. Sam Curran baseball-swatted Chris Wood and then swivelled James Fuller for sixes, and when he was out his brother Tom fired an outrageous six over extra cover.In the second half of the innings, Surrey only allowed 10 dot balls, with power-hitting interspersing smart running.In Hampshire’s reply, Pretorius almost monopolised the strike in the first three-and-a-half overs, but when he hit the ball, it stayed hit. His third-ball wristy flick off his pads cleared the ropes with ease, before one of three fours cannoned off the non-striker’s stumps and into the padding in next to no time.But Jacks stopped him in his tracks, when a reverse sweep went wrong, before Vince – who had only faced eight balls in 4.5 overs – spliced to mid-on.Toby Albert was caught behind by a tumbling Laurie Evans, but Brevis blew some life back into the innings with a six straight into a cameraman and then an audacious back-foot hammer for another maximum. But scoreboard pressure saw more and more desperate rash shots, and each seemed to be paired with a catch.Brevis, Joe Weatherley, Fuller, Dawson, Howell, and John Turner all took to the sky, while Wood was castled.

“I bowled almost 30 overs in that match [against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy]. So I never lost my rhythm”

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-20251:09

Jadeja: Rohit hundred ‘set the platform’ for India

Ravindra Jadeja has credited the domestic cricket he played for his rhythm in ODIs, the first he has played since the World Cup final in 2023. In two matches, against an explosive England side, Jadeja has conceded just two boundaries in 19 overs while also picking up six wickets. He has played a key role in India’s series win, which they achieved even before the final ODI, which will also be his 200th.”Feeling very good,” Jadeja said. “Especially playing ODIs after almost two years. You have to adapt quickly in this format. I believe that the domestic game that I played [against Delhi] helped me a lot. I bowled almost 30 overs in that match. So I never lost my rhythm. And I am trying to bowl Test lines and lengths in ODIs as well. What we call the rhythm, the continuity, was in place because my break from cricket wasn’t that long. So in my view, I have benefited from the domestic match that I played.”Jadeja retired from T20Is after India’s World Cup win in June last year, which left him with no cricket between the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which ended in the first week of this year, and this ODI series. Jadeja played two Ranji Trophy matches in this period but bowled in only one of them: 30 overs for 12 wickets across two innings.Related

• Jadeja and Axar give India a good headache to have

India’s domestic cricket, especially the Ranji Trophy, has been in the news because of the board’s edict to its players to not skip matches unless injured or having their workload managed. Virat Kohli turned out for Delhi for the first time in 12 years and Rohit Sharma for Mumbai for the first time in ten. The board also received some criticism for what was seen as headmasterly treatment, especially when the cricket India was expected to play after the break was a different format.Staying in touch with cricket doesn’t seem to have done any harm to Jadeja, which the decision-makers will take as vindication as they have maintained that the best way to improve as a cricketer is by playing matches.

Brendan Nash managed only 18 in his first game at the Gabba since being dropped by Queensland in 2006-07

Peter English at the Gabba27-Nov-2009Out walks Brendan Nash, the West Indies No. 6, for his first game at the Gabba since he was dropped by Queensland in 2006-07 and the man holding the ball is Mitchell Johnson. Nash’s former house-mate is a sensitive brute but was not being friendly.”They are booing you mate,” Johnson said sneakily before following up the verbal welcome with a slightly misguided bouncer. “It was always going to happen, bowling a short one first up,” Johnson said. “I think he expected it as well, but I probably wish it was a bit more towards his helmet.” Johnson is smiling but that doesn’t mean he won’t repeat the method again the next time he runs in. Nash knows it too.As Nash took guard Shane Watson, another former team-mate, was standing in the slips and Nathan Hauritz was hovering in the field. Nash and Hauritz, the offspinner, went to school together at Brisbane’s Nudgee College and played together for the Norths club. The reunion of the quartet is even stranger considering none of them live here anymore.Johnson and Watson followed their girlfriends interstate while Hauritz and Nash realised their cricketing lives lay elsewhere when squeezed out by Queensland. Hauritz followed the spin to New South Wales and Nash returned to his family roots in Jamaica, with both embarking on amazing journeys that earned them international status and a life of perks.All four achieved something on the second day of the first Test but the three Australians were in the better place. Johnson’s two wickets helped reduce West Indies to a wobbly 5 for 134 at stumps. Nash struck a couple of cut boundaries before edging Watson behind on 18 after Hauritz’s unbeaten 50, his maiden half-century, had pushed Australia to a formidable 8 for 480 declared.The brief battle of the housemates was the most fun. It’s always awkward when friends oppose each other and the bond between Nash and Johnson was strong during their lives sharing washing up duty and fighting for the best spot on the couch. Both were on the outer with their states and Johnson appeared to be in a lost battle with his fragile back. Nash, who was then working as a mortgage broker, was one of those who assisted Johnson on the journey from delivery driver to the ICC’s Cricketer of the Year.”I was walking back to the top of my mark and it was quite strange,” Johnson said. “The first couple of balls I was laughing on the inside to myself that I was bowling to him, but after he cut me I wasn’t too happy. I thought I have to get a bit more serious about this.”Denesh Ramdin, the West Indies vice-captain, felt Nash was more worried than usual as he went out to face his old team-mates in front of small group of supporters wearing “Team Nash” shirts. Nash’s parents still live in Brisbane and his wife Hannah grew up here too.”I’m sure he went out there today with a few nerves,” Ramdin said. “He hit a couple of boundaries there and I’m sure he wanted to press on and get some runs in front of his people and his fans. Unfortunately that’s cricket. Hopefully he gets another chance in the second innings.”

Both teams will face each other on the back of comprehensive wins in their opening games

Vishal Dikshit07-Oct-2024

Australia vs New Zealand

Sharjah, 6pm local timeAustralia squad: Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia WarehamNew Zealand squad: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea TahuhuTournament form guide: Both teams started their campaigns with emphatic wins. Defending champions Australia handed Sri Lanka a six-wicket loss and New Zealand stunned India by 58 runs.News brief: These two teams had just met for a three-match T20I series in Australia, who won 3-0. New Zealand also came into the tournament with a winless streak of 10 straight games but the manner in which they took on India, from ball one, belied their recent form and was the best kind of start they could have had before running into their trans-Tasman rivals. The toss many not be as crucial in Sharjah for the evening game because not as much dew is expected there, proven by the wins registered by the teams batting first there in the evening games. The pitches there have kept low, turned, and not offered much for the batters, with not even one team crossing 120, before the England vs South Africa clash.Player to watch: Amelia Kerr is a top allrounder, but it’s her T20I record against Australia that doesn’t do justice to her reputation. Her batting strike rate against them is under 96 with an average of under 18, and her economy rate is over seven an over even though she has picked 16 wickets – the joint-most for her against any opponent – against them. She would want to leak fewer runs on Tuesday in spin-friendly conditions while continuing to take wickets, and also show her technique against spin while batting whether her team requires quick runs or a more watchful approach, depending on conditions and match situation.

No.3 scores 101 off 44 balls to feast on a below-par Middlesex attack

ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2024Michael Pepper led the carnage with a hard-hitting century, spiced with six sixes, to get Essex’s Vitality Blast campaign up and running with a four-wicket victory over Middlesex at Chelmsford.Last year’s finalists had lost their opening two matches down in the West Country against Gloucestershire and Somerset, but bounced back with a vengeance as Essex’s batters feasted on a below-par Middlesex attack.Pepper came in at 14 for 1 and was finally out for 101 with just 15 runs required. He put on 83 with Dean Elgar (32) for the second wicket to spark the run chase into action. Jordan Cox hammered 22 from eight balls, Matt Critchley 16 from 11, but they were merely supporting players as Essex got home with 14 balls to spare.Middlesex’s innings was underpinned by an unbeaten 85 from 42 balls from Max Holden and set in motion by 49 from 31 balls by opener Martin Andersson. But they have now lost their first two games of the season.Middlesex, put in, overcame the loss of Stevie Eskinazi to the seventh ball of the innings when he feathered Aaron Beard to a flying leg-side catch by wicketkeeper Adam Rossington. A second-wicket stand of 65 in six overs between Andersson and Ryan Higgins set the platform for the visitors to post 203 for 7, a significant improvement on their 107 all out against Kent on Friday.Higgins survived a dropped catch by Pepper at point on 5 and had advanced to 27 from 23 balls when he misjudged one from Matt Critchley and was stumped.Andersson hit five fours and three sixes in almost doubling his previous highest T20 score of 25 to be third out with the score in 93. However, the ball after he had pulled Luc Benkenstein over midwicket for six, his attempt to cut the same bowler ended up in the hands of backward gully.Holden was also given a life on 10 when Beard rushed in from deep square leg and failed to hang on, and he made Simon Harmer pay with two sixes in an over lofted straight down the ground. A single cut off Walter took him to a 26-ball fifty.But he lost fourth-wicket partner Joe Cracknell after the pair had put on 62 runs. Cracknell had just scooped Beard for six over square leg when he was caught at the second attempt by Daniel Sams. Two balls later Josh de Caires was cleaned out swishing at a full-length ball from Paul Walter.Jack Davies followed soon after, lobbing the ball into the covers off Sams, who in his next over accounted for Luke Hollman, caught on the deep point boundary. But Holden remained and he hit the Australian for his fifth six and eighth four in the last over to take Middlesex past 200.In reply, Rossington eased Tom Helm over square leg for six, but then fell to a spectacular grab high to his right by Davies. That brought in Pepper, who smashed Blake Cullen for four blistered boundaries in an over and added two more off Helm in the next to accelerate the Essex scoring rate.Elgar could only watch and admire at the other end but joined the party with a swept six off Noah Cornwell to bring up 50 inside five overs, with the half-century stand taking just 22 balls. A second six from the South African cleared a sightscreen and Pepper deposited another into the Pavilion seating before another took him to his own fifty from 20 balls.The partnership was worth 83 when Elgar departed for 32 to a catch at deep extra cover off de Caires. It did not stop the agony for Middlesex as Cox’s brief innings included two sixes that sailed out of the ground, before he picked out an in-rushing deep midwicket to give Higgins a wicket.Pepper had not finished and ramped Higgins effortlessly over fine leg for another maximum and lofted Cullen for another into the Pavilion. A sixth over midwicket took him to a 43-ball century that ended next ball when he was lbw to Hollman.