Steve O’Keefe picked up 4 for 14, including two in the opening over to ensure Stars were never in the hunt

Andrew McGlashan05-Dec-2021Sydney Sixers laid down an early benchmark in their quest for a hat-trick of BBL titles with an utterly dominant display against an overwhelmed Melbourne Stars, who narrowly avoided the lowest total in the competition’s history but still crashed to the largest ever defeat.Sixers’ top three took charge after they had been put in with Josh Philippe and Moises Henriques launching powerful half-centuries in a second-wicket stand of 102 in 8.3 overs. They took Sixers’ to their highest BBL total during an innings that never lost momentum. They were 0 for 40 after the four-over powerplay, 1 for 92 after ten overs, took 33 off the two Power Surge overs and in total 121 off the last ten.Faced with an enormous chase, and without the injured Marcus Stoinis, Stars lost two wickets in the opening over against Steve O’Keefe who went on to claim career-best figures. A short while after Sixers had set a new high score, Stars subsided to their own record low. Games don’t come much more one-sided.Philippe starts with a bang
It was a rather chastening winter for Philippe in his first introduction to the international set-up. He got set twice against New Zealand, but then in the more unaccustomed conditions of West Indies and Bangladesh, his highest score was 13 in five innings to miss the World Cup squad. However, in the early part of the season, he has shown excellent form for Western Australia and back in Sixers’ colours he produced a superb display. He was lagging behind James Vince during the initial stages but was soon up to speed to bring up a 33-ball fifty. Then he really cut loose with a brace of sixes in the first of the Power Surge overs against Sam Rainbird, the first of them onto the roof of the pavilion. When he moved into the 80s in the 16th over, Sixers’ first BBL hundred was on the cards but he then lost the strike to Henriques and perished to a catch at deep midwicket. Still, he had set an early marker.Captain cuts loose
Henriques is one of the most impressive leaders in Australian cricket. He was restricted to five games last season due to being in Australia’s bio-bubble Test squad, but it’s unlikely he will feature this season so should have a full Sixers’ campaign. He had a fantastic platform to build on after the opening stand of 90 between Philippe and Vince. He certainly made the most of it after looking in good touch during a warm-up game against Sydney Thunder last week. His first boundary came off his fourth ball and he reached a 29-ball fifty with a mighty straight drive off Sam Elliott. He finished one short of his career-best.Stars’ bowling looks thin
Heading into the season, the major questions were around Stars’ attack despite the presence of Adam Zampa. Their side for this game also suffered the loss of Stoinis with a side strain. The pace bowling is especially stretched with Billy Stanlake and Liam Hatcher injured while Nathan Coulter-Nile is unavailable. Elliott and Brody Couch, on his birthday, made their T20 debuts as did Pakistan left-arm wristspinner Syed Faridoun who was playing the first professional match of his career. Couch’s two overs went for 15 and 13 although he did have Vince dropped off a skier that neither the bowler nor wicketkeeper Peter Nevill could cling onto. Couch did show good composure in sending down the final over and opened his wicket tally.Blown away
If this does prove to be O’Keefe’s final season, he has started in a grand manner by claiming Joe Clarke and Nick Larkin in his first over. Stars’ slimmest of hopes rested with Glenn Maxwell but he was cleaned up by Sean Abbott inside the powerplay to leave them 3 for 18. O’ Keefe could do no wrong as he claimed a spectacular catch at deep third to remove Nevill and a ball later Hayden Kerr found himself on a hat-trick. He was not immediately given the chance of his third, and instead, Abbott got the ball and claimed two wickets in three balls. In a final sign of how the game panned, O’Keefe bowled a hat-trick ball with two close catchers. Tournaments aren’t won and lost on the opening night but Stars will want to move on from this one quickly.

Adam Hollioake added to coaching staff after Covid-19 isolation rules hit tourists

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2021England’s batters have been given a “wake-up call” and an “education” by Australia’s bowling attack in the first three Ashes Tests. That is the view of Graham Thorpe, their assistant coach, who will stand in for the self-isolating Chris Silverwood in next week’s fourth Test at the SCG.The stats from the first three Ashes Tests make grim reading for England’s batters. Their highest team total is 297 and there have been no individual hundreds, while Dawid Malan and Joe Root are the only players to have made half-centuries, or to average more than 30 in the series. The three batters that England have used who are under the age of 30 – Haseeb Hameed, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley – have made 130 runs between them across 12 innings.Related

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Thorpe said that the lack of Lions tours and training camps over the last 21 months due to the pandemic meant that England’s young batters were learning “the basic skills” of Test cricket on the job, and suggested that county cricket was not providing adequate preparation.”With some players it’s a wake-up call,” Thorpe said. “It could actually kick-start their careers because they’ve started training in a very, very different way. They actually start to train smart. They don’t waste time hitting half-volleys.”I don’t mean that in a bad way but they actually deal with the actual nitty gritty side of international cricket, playing high-quality spin, high-quality pace bowling and learning how to put pressure back on. If a guy’s bowling well, [they have to] get through it for six, seven or eight overs.”County cricket is what it is. You’ve got to lift players out of there, then educate them into international cricket. There have been no Lions tours and no training camps for our younger players to actually learn the basic skills of the game as well. They’re trying to learn it in county cricket, but the truth is when they come out of county cricket, they have to learn it again, because Test cricket is 10 times harder.”We are still trying to educate some of the younger guys into the rhythm of Test match batting: playing situations in the game and doing it for long periods of time. Some of them haven’t been able to do it yet. Some of our young players are getting an education and if they didn’t know before, they understand how tough Test cricket is now.”Thorpe has been working extensively with Rory Burns, who was dropped for the third Test after making 51 runs across four innings on the tour – including being bowled round his legs by the first ball of the series. After 31 Tests, Burns averages 30.92 with the bat and his idiosyncratic technique has come under scrutiny in Australia.”I told him: ‘you’ve played 30 Test matches and you average 30, so we want you to be doing more, to be better than that as a player,'” Thorpe said. “So we’ve had discussions with him – does he need a major overhaul of his technique or just to tinker with things?”He needs to do the simple things better. So can he calm things down with his movements and everything? We’ve been talking him through that. It’s tough in competition. Everyone says do you work with them? Yes you do, but you can’t pick away at people’s brains too much walking into Test matches. Sometimes they have to come out and then you can reset a little bit.”When players get a little bit of success they then think, ‘My way is the right way’. And there’s a balance to it. You can see certain things. I said to him, ‘The best bowlers in the world are going to analyse your technique and the right-hand column is going to tell you whether you’re getting it right or not’.”We’ve seen he’s got a good fighting character, so I know that. But at the same time you need a technique and temperament at the highest level. I think he can come back again and play for England definitely but he’s very clear those little adjustments are going to help him to stay at the crease longer.”Thorpe is one of only three England coaches available to take training, alongside Ant Botha and James Foster, with Silverwood, Jeetan Patel and Jon Lewis all self-isolating. As a result, they have asked Adam Hollioake – the former England one-day captain and a team-mate of Thorpe’s at Surrey – to travel to Sydney from his home on the Gold Coast to support their coaching staff, though under Cricket Australia’s Covid protocols he is only allowed to work with the players outdoors.

BCB’s chief physician says he had subsequently tested negative ahead of tournament opener, so Covid-19 cannot be behind him missing the game

Mohammad Isam21-Jan-2022Fortune Barishal wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan, who did not play their opening game in BPL 2022 on Friday, was one of three people to test positive from the franchise in the lead-up to the opener.However, BCB chief physician Dr Debashis Chowdhury has said Nurul must have been kept out from the game for reasons other than Covid-19, as he had recovered and returned two negative tests, including on the morning of the match.Related

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According to the franchise, the other two members of the Barishal team to test positive in the lead-up to the tournament were batter Munim Shahriar and batting coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim.Nurul will be tested again tomorrow. “We tested Nurul Hasan thrice,” Chowdhury said. “He was positive in the first test, and then returned negative results in the next two tests. There’s no problem from our side, so he must be missing the match due to some other reason.”Barishal are the first team to make public details of the positive Covid-19 cases in their squad.There are, however, reports in sections of local media of six positive cases in the Khulna Tigers side, including that of Soumya Sarkar, and 12 positive cases overall among the BCB’s employees over the last four or five days.The BPL is being held in the middle of a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh, exacerbated by the Omicron variant. Confirmed cases crossed 10,000 on Thursday for the first time since August 2021, with positive cases growing to 29 times the number it was on January 1, 2022. The positivity rate in the country had reached 26%.

Call-up for the Brisbane Heat allrounder backs up selectors’ talk of specialist T20 players

AAP20-Jan-2022Grace Harris will replace injured batter Beth Mooney, called into Australia’s Ashes squad hours out from the series opener in Adelaide.Harris was confirmed as Mooney’s replacement on Thursday, added ahead of Elyse Villani and Georgia Redmayne for the T20 matches.Her call up is a further sign Australia will opt for a specialist opener alongside Alyssa Healy, after Mooney was struck in the jaw at training earlier this week.The world’s top-ranked T20 batter has since undergone surgery, with Australian officials unsure how long she will be out. Rachael Haynes had loomed as a likely option to replace Mooney, but selectors have indicated they want her to play in the middle order.Related

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If Harris does open in Thursday night’s T20, it will likely create a middle-order squeeze and result in superstar allrounder Ellyse Perry being left out.Haynes did not play in the most recent India series, but is a certainty to return against England at No.4 or No.5.Tahlia McGrath also stepped up in her absence, leaving Perry as the likely odd one out. Perry would likely still be in Australia’s best team for the Test and one-day components of the series.Meanwhile the hard-hitting Harris last played for Australia in 2016, and has since developed a cult-hero status at the Brisbane Heat. She made 50 and 15 in a warm-up match for Australia A against Australia earlier this week, convincing selectors she was the woman for the job.”Whilst the injury to Beth is unfortunate it does provide an opportunity for someone else to step in to the squad,” chief selector Shawn Flegler said. “Grace has a great skill set for the T20 format and has the ability to play multiple roles if required.”

Atleast 25 players are in Bengaluru to establish their baseline fitness levels before the IPL gets underway

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Mar-2022In a move to enhance and maintain peak fitness levels for the two World Cups in the next 20 months, the Indian team management – in coordination with the selectors and the National Cricket Academy – has asked a batch of shortlisted players to undergo a fitness camp in Bengaluru.ESPNcricinfo has learned that at least 25 players are right now at the NCA, currently midway through the camp which started on March 5 and will end on March 14 after which they will head to join their respective IPL teams. All the players will undergo a fitness test before they break out of the camp, but unlike last year when it was mandatory to clear the benchmarks, this time it is to record a baseline mark for every player.Among those who have already started with the camp include Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Harshal Patel, Venkatesh Iyer, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Prithvi Shaw and Umran Malik. Also joining the camp are a set of players who are doing rehabilitation for separate injuries: KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan. Several players, who featured in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy, which got over recently, also joined the camp this week.It is learned the camp was finalised recently by both the Indian team management led by head coach Rahul Dravid and had the backing of both the selection panel as well as NCA, which is headed by former India batter VVS Laxman. Both Dravid and Laxman want the NCA to function more as a high-performance centre and this camp was taking forward the initiative launched last year when a batch of white-ball only players – both contracted and otherwise – underwent fitness tests which were mandatory to be cleared. Players last year had to clear either the yo-yo test or run a 2-kilometre time trial.This year, though, the basis for the camp is to log in the fitness parameters for each player which then can be stored in a central database and can be accessed anytime by the Indian coaching staff including the physio, trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. Creating such a standardised structure, the BCCI believes, will prove vital as India prepare for the T20 World Cup (scheduled in Australia in October-November this year) as well as the ODI World Cup, which will be hosted in India in late 2023.Part of that process would be to establish a baseline fitness level for each individual which will then be monitored and updated frequently. The baseline is established by making a player undergo various fitness drills including performing standing long jump, 2 kilometre time trial, yo-yo test, Dexa body scan (to measure fat percentage and lean muscle mass) as well various other tests.While there are some markers put in place – like the 17:1 level for yo-yo tests and running the 2 kilometre time trial inside 8 minutes 30 seconds – players this time have been encouraged to push themselves if they want to without any pressure. The baseline figure will be recorded once the player takes the test before the leaves the camp. Thereafter the player’s fitness parameters would be measured against this baseline figure and how he is able to maintain under the workload.For example, someone playing in the forthcoming IPL, which will be played between March 26 and May 29, can compare his baseline figure before the tournament and at the end. That will allow the player to understand not just where he is good at in terms of fitness, but also vulnerable areas. It also helps trainers understand where the player is peaking and spot areas of improvement.

Pacer picks four wickets on debut while the opener scored his maiden ODI ton

Himanshu Agrawal29-Mar-2022New Zealand hadn’t played an ODI for over a year, had as many as 12 first-choice players plying their trade in the IPL, and were playing Netherlands in the format after 26 years. Still, debutant quick Blair Tickner, and top-order batters Will Young – who got to his maiden ODI century with an unbeaten 103 – and Henry Nicholls combined to ensure the hosts comfortably took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.After Tickner became the fourth New Zealand bowler to take four wickets on ODI debut to restrict the visitors to 202, Nicholls and Young kept New Zealand motoring along in a second-wicket stand of 162 before Nicholls fell for 57, as they completed the chase with more than 11 overs to spare.Young got to his hundred after dancing down the pitch to loft over mid-off in what turned out to be the winning runs for his side. He had reached fifty off 54 balls in the 19th over, by which time he had slammed five fours and two sixes. Three of those fours came off successive deliveries in the eighth over off Logan van Beek: first a pull behind square, then a perfectly-timed push between cover and mid-off, and finally another pull but this time in front of square.Related

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But the shot of the day came in the 18th over when Young skipped down the track to left-arm wristspinner Michael Rippon, and effortlessly lofted the ball for a big six over long-off. However, that remained the only boundary hit from the 11th to the 24th over, as Rippon and captain Pieter Seelaar kept things quiet.While Rippon sent back Nicholls to break the massive stand, he also got Ross Taylor with a beauty: he tossed the ball up from around the wicket, inviting Taylor to drive, but the ball landed right in between his bat and pad, and spun back in to hit the stumps.Earlier, it was the pair of Rippon and Seelaar that had rescued Netherlands with the bat after they were reduced to 45 for 5 by the New Zealand pacers at the end of the 13th over. Tickner had got two of those wickets, with one each having gone to Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry and Colin de Grandhomme.Jamieson was the first to strike when he had Max O’Dowd gloving down the leg side to wicketkeeper Tom Latham in the third over of the innings, while three overs later, Henry had Stephan Myburgh edging to Martin Guptill at gully, where the latter took a good low catch.
And while New Zealand’s debutant shone with the ball, Netherlands’ own debut batter Vikramjit Singh impressed with the bat, albeit only for a short while. Before becoming Tickner’s maiden ODI wicket, left-hand batter Vikramjit had shown signs of a young Darren Bravo with his compact technique, hitting four pleasing boundaries on his way to 19.He used soft hands to collect the first of those, before gently driving Henry down the ground and punching him with a short-arm jab through the covers for four. But from 41 for 2, Netherlands slipped further to lose another three wickets for as many runs as Tickner had Vikramjit caught at third man while Scott Edwards gifted a return catch to de Grandhomme, and Bas de Leede, whose father Tim was part of the only previous ODI meeting between the sides in 1996, also found third man off Tickner.That is when the union between captain Seelaar and Rippon began. Happy to nudge and tuck the ball to keep the scoreboard ticking, they slowly but steadily took their side towards hundred, as legspinner Ish Sodhi and debutant allrounder Michael Bracewell kept things tight. Seelaar swept them once each for four, but when on 43, ended up tickling down leg off Tickner to end the 80-run partnership.Rippon, who been pretty quiet until then, soon found the boundary and reached his half-century in the 45th over before being the last man out for 67. He kept dragging Netherlands by regularly running singles, and was involved in crucial partnerships with the tailenders to push his team to a respectable total. A cameo from van Beek and contributions from Philippe Boissevain took them past 200, but that would prove easily gettable for New Zealand in the end.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah among the premier players rested for the series

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-202211:36

Shastri: On current form, India might just play Malik against SA

Rohit Sharma, the designated all-format captain, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are among the senior players to be rested for India’s five-match T20I series at home against South Africa next month. KL Rahul has been named the captain of the 18-man side, which welcomes back Hardik Pandya, and has maiden call-ups for Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh.Also missing from the squad are Deepak Chahar, Ravindra Jadeja and Suryakumar Yadav, who are all carrying injuries. Chahar, of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, has a back injury, and played no part in the tournament. Jadeja, also of Super Kings, left the IPL with a bruised rib that he picked up earlier this month, while Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar also left the IPL earlier this month because of a left-forearm injury.Related

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From the squad that took on Sri Lanka in their T20I series, also in India, in February this year, Mohammed Siraj and Sanju Samson have been left out. Kohli, who last played a T20I in February, against West Indies, had been rested for the Sri Lanka series as well. In fact, since stepping down as India’s T20I captain after the 2021 T20 World Cup, Kohli has played only two T20Is.As such, both Kohli and Rohit have been in patchy form at the IPL. Rohit, whose Mumbai Indians finished last on the points table, had a best score of 48 and tallied 268 runs overall from 14 innings, scoring at an average of 19.14 and a strike rate of 120.17. Kohli’s run was arguably even poorer, but he has shown signs of returning to form of late, hitting 73 in 54 balls in Royal Challengers’ last game, against Titans, which gave them an eight-wicket win and helped them stay in contention for the playoffs. Overall, Kohli has 309 runs from 14 innings, at an average of 23.76 and a strike rate of 117.93.IPL form is likely to have played a part in the Hardik and Dinesh Karthik recalls too.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Karthik, one of the top finishers in the competition this year, last played a T20I – or a match in any format for India – in 2019, but forced the selectors to turn to him after hitting 287 runs at a strike rate of 191.33 in the IPL 2022 league stage. He has also been the best Indian batter in the death overs this season [min 30 balls faced], striking at 226.37.Hardik, meanwhile, last turned out for India at the 2021 T20 World Cup, but played primarily as a batter, bowling only in a couple of games in the group stage. But he has bowled a lot more in IPL 2022 – 24.3 overs across eight innings – where he has led Titans to the top of the points table. With the bat, he had an excellent start to the tournament, but then tapered off before smashing 62 not out in 47 balls in their last match, against Royal Challengers Bangalore.His international appearances have been sporadic of late, especially since back problems, which necessitated a surgery, cropped up in 2019. But Hardik has always remained a part of India’s plans, which was evident when he was asked by the BCCI to take the fitness tests at NCA days before the IPL began. It is understood that the national selectors wanted to be sure that Hardik can consistently bowl at least a couple of overs in every match.Arshdeep and Malik, meanwhile, have been among the most exciting young Indian quicks at the IPL. Malik has consistently bowled at speeds upwards of 150kph, and has 21 wickets to show for his efforts even while he has, at times, been expensive. Arshdeep has been the go-to bowler for Punjab Kings at the death, his yorkers reaping great rewards for him on most occasions. He hasn’t always been a big wicket-taker, though, with ten strikes in 13 outings, but has an overall economy rate of 7.82 this season, and an impressive death-overs economy of 7.31, the best among all bowlers to have sent down at least 50 balls in that phase.The players to retain their places in the squad were Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Iyer in the batting line-up, wicketkeeper-batters Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan, allrounder Venkatesh Iyer, spinners Yuzvendra Chahal, the Purple-Cap holder at the IPL at this stage, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi, and seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan.But two of the names that had been discussed during IPL 2022 after making big impressions – batter Rahul Tripathi and quick bowler Mohsin Khan – didn’t get a look-in.

Significant blow to club in wake of racism scandal as senior batter decides to move on

David Hopps20-Jun-2022Yorkshire are bracing themselves for a potential exodus of leading players after the announcement that Tom Kohler-Cadmore has been released from the final year of his contract and will join Somerset at the end of the season.Kohler-Cadmore’s departure comes less than a week after their England all-rounder and T20 captain, David Willey, abruptly broke off contractual negotiations to rejoin Northamptonshire, complaining that the racism furore within the club had made his “work environment unsettling”.Yorkshire will stage the Headingley Test this week after a reconstituted Board convinced the ECB that they were taking their responsibilities on diversity seriously following the furore caused by Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations.But despite the unceasing efforts of their interim MD of cricket, Darren Gough, and head coach, Ottis Gibson, to create a positive environment, resentment still runs high within the dressing room about the manner in which the entire coaching staff were sacked en bloc when the public outcry was at its height.The need for Yorkshire to win hearts and minds – not within the ECB, nor with public opinion, but within the confines of their own dressing room – could not be starker. The need is to sell the idea of a New Yorkshire and what that culture looks like. If that proves to be impossible then there could be considerable transfer activity around the club, both in and out, over the next year or so.Kohler-Cadmore, who has joined Somerset on a three-year deal, was always one of the likeliest to depart. His father, Mick, acted as a Headingley dressing room attendant, and he walked out in protest at the mass sackings. He has missed much of the season because of delayed concussion after being struck in the nets by his team-mate Pat Brown, during the Pakistan Super League.Gough said: “Having been in discussions with Tom over the last few months, it has become clear that this opportunity for him to join Somerset is one he would very much like to take. I’d like to thank him for his significant contributions to the Club over the last six years and wish him all the best for his future.”Unlike Willey, Kohler-Cadmore did not depart with a barb at the club – as he has been released from his contract, that was never going to happen. “I’m very grateful to Darren Gough for his understanding in allowing me to pursue an opportunity elsewhere and have enjoyed my time at Headingley,” was his official remark.Kohler-Cadmore is a big loss. A former Wisden Schoolboy cricketer of the Year and England Lions batter, he has developed more successfully in the white-ball formats, where he has been in global demand, and a first-class average of 32 is respectable enough, although declining. He also keeps wicket – and Somerset’s options in this area are uncertain with Tom Banton out of contract at the end of the season and Steve Davies’ deal ending a year later. The England U-19 batter/keeper, James Rew, is also highly thought of.Somerset director of cricket, Andy Hurry, said: “We are delighted to have been able to secure the services of such a talented batter who is driven to playing at the highest level. His record speaks for itself across all formats, and he will bring a wealth of experience from his time within the English domestic game plus from the time that he’s spent in global competitions around the world.”Related

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Yorkshire have adopted a softly-softly approach with their playing staff, hoping that wounds will heal and that they will begin to appreciate the broader perspective: that the club had to change its approach to protect its reputation, respond to the errors of the past and ensure a supportive environment and fair development pathways for players of all races.But personal relationships, especially for young players, are often more powerful. The sackings of some lesser-known figures not centrally involved in the debate, such as Kunwar Bansil, a highly-popular physio, who is now at Nottinghamshire, and Peter Sim, a former strength and conditioning coach, are thought to have left Willey and Kohler-Cadmore particularly aggrieved.Yorkshire will take comfort from the fact that the first two players to leave are imported players, not developed within the county pathways, and they will hope to build a more powerful sense of loyalty elsewhere. They are also primarily white-ball orientated, by accident or design, so have had limited value in the Championship.That said, it remains an enormous challenge for Yorkshire, and their chairman Lord Patel, to plot a route out of the biggest crisis in Yorkshire’s history and the danger is that a newly-constituted independent Board, whilst offering an impressive array of talent across a variety of fields, will not be close enough to the day-to-day tensions to find a remedy.There is also no certainty about how long Gough will remain at Yorkshire. He suspended a lucrative career as a talkSPORT pundit to come to Yorkshire’s rescue and has thrown himself into the role with huge enthusiasm, but his appointment was initially presented as a temporary solution.With at least two other influential players uncertain where their future lies, and rival counties jostling to make offers, Yorkshire’s attempts to build something better, and more enlightened, from the wreckage, remains a colossal undertaking.While they set their mind to that, Yorkshire, along with seven past players and coaches, also face ECB charges of bringing the game into disrepute. They are likely to plead guilty, at least largely so, to what a new regime regards as historical failures, but the affair could hang over them all winter.

Aaron Beard four-for seals victory after Paul Walter’s 49 helps lay foundation

ECB Reporters Network24-Jun-2022Michael Pepper continued his Vitality Blast love affair with the Cloud County Ground before Aaron Beard returned career-best figures as Essex Eagles condemned Surrey to a second straight loss.Pepper took his Chelmsford tally to 304 in six innings – and 386 in total – with a tubthumping 48 as Paul Walter continued his fine form with 49 as the Eagles soured to 198 for 7 before fast bowler Beard, making just his second appearance of the season, removed openers Will Jacks and Jason Roy to eventually pick up 4 for 29 – as Surrey fell 43 runs short.Essex boosted their hopes of securing a home quarter-final to move to seven wins out of 12, while Surrey remain top and will host a home knockout game but having been previously unbeaten in all competitions until Thursday night have lost momentum.On a fixture celebrating Essex Pride, Surrey stuck the Eagles in to bat and had Adam Rossington caught behind in the second over, with the first two overs only going for six before Pepper went ballistic.He struck 30 from the first nine balls he faced, with just a dot and a single punctuating his boundary blitz. The South African-born batter began by scooping a six, something he replicated in the following over between a bullet cut shot and followed by four consecutive boundaries off Dan Moriarty.His hitting paused after a strike to the box, which he never really recovered from as he limped to five more runs before he reversed straight to third – the second wicket in three balls for Sunil Narine.Essex’s rebuild and second 10 overs were a textbook display of accumulation – with only seven dot balls, along with four wickets coming in the second half of the innings for 110 runs.Walter was the chief architect of the scoring with his 49, which included four towering sixes, as he put on 51 with Dan Lawrence and 44 with Simon Harmer.Reece Topley made sure his former county didn’t get to 200 as he chipped away throughout and added Walter, Daniel Sams and Harmer to his earlier Rossington dismissal to end up with 4 for 37.Beard made an electrifying start as he picked up both a yorked Roy and Jacks, brilliantly caught at short fine leg by Tom Westley.Smith and Rory Burns put on 57 with a low-risk approach, while still keeping up with the rate before Dan Lawrence stuck one through Smith. Burns followed by skewing Beard to mid-on and Narine fired back at Harmer as Surrey lost their way.Laurie Evans continued the slump when sub fielder Ben Allison produced a spectacular solo relay catch at wide long-on – Harmer grabbing two wickets in the over to return two for 20. Beard had debutant Tom Lawes skying to mid-on for his fourth.Sams pilfered Chris Jordan and Sam Cook had Conor McKerr as Surrey could only reach 155 for 9.