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Trevor Bayliss will continue to be the team’s head coach in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2020Tom Moody is back with the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the franchise he coached from its inception in 2013 to 2019. Moody, however, will now join as the director of cricket while Trevor Bayliss – who replaced Moody as head coach for IPL 2020 – continues in his role.The Sunrisers reached the IPL playoffs in five years out of the seven Moody was in charge, including their only title win in 2016 and a runners up finish in 2018. They reached the playoffs in 2020 too, losing to Delhi Capitals in the second Qualifier, making it five consecutive years of progressing beyond the league stage. Moody, now 55, moved into coaching after retiring as a player in 2001. He had considerable success as a player, particularly in ODIs where he was part of two World Cup winning teams in 1987 and 1999 with Australia. Among his various coaching stints, he was the head coach of Sri Lanka when they reached the 2007 World Cup final, and has enjoyed success with English and Australian domestic sides, besides being among the most sought after coaches in T20 leagues around the world with stints in the CPL and PSL.In the IPL, he coached Kings XI Punjab from 2008 to 2010, but found sustained success with the Sunrisers, beginning with a playoff appearance in their first year in 2013. They finished sixth in 2014 and 2015, but since the title run in 2016, have consistently been among the best sides in the tournament.

The pair, who were standing below the England dressing room, are alleged to have shouted ‘Jofra, show us your passport,’ according to the Daily Telegraph

George Dobell at Old Trafford05-Sep-2019Two Australian supporters were ejected from Old Trafford on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test for using “foul and abusive” language towards England fast bowler Jofra Archer. The pair, who were standing below the England dressing room, are alleged to have shouted “Jofra, show us your passport” among other things according to the .Other spectators standing near the pair are understood to have complained to stewards but, as the abuse escalated, protested to the police which resulted in the two men being asked to leave the ground. A Lancashire spokesman confirmed the incident took place and insisted the club have a zero tolerance policy on abusive behaviour. While Archer was born in Barbados, he has long had a UK passport courtesy of his British father. Frank Archer was born in Catford and was a driver on the London underground before retiring to Liverpool.Archer did not respond to the abuse but was described by the Telegraph as looking “angered.””Jofra’s been coming here since he was two-years-old so you’ve got to ignore that stuff in the press about how he’s just popped up from nowhere,” Frank told the .

Even though Nazmul Hassan, the board chief, didn’t explain why exactly the players felt so, he said it was linked to the worldwide trend of declining interest in Test cricket shown by other boards, broadcasters and players

Mohammad Isam20-Jul-2018Bangladesh’s senior players, including Shakib Al Hasan, have become reluctant to play Test cricket, according to BCB president Nazmul Hassan. Even though the board chief didn’t explain why exactly the players felt so, he said that it was linked to the worldwide trend of declining interest in Test cricket shown by other boards, broadcasters and players.In his now regular post-series briefing, Hassan said that the future of the Bangladesh Test team depended on blooding in new faces to fill the gap that will be created when the senior players near retirement. But he also mentioned the task will not be easy as all of the established players have been performing for a number of years.Hassan also named Mustafizur Rahman among those reluctant to play Tests, although he stated that the fast bowler never told him so.”Even in the ICC, I don’t see any other country other than England and Australia showing interest to play Tests,” Hassan said. “As a board, they are not interested in Tests. The broadcasters are also not interested. They say they don’t have any interest where there is no audience.”We are seeing in our country that some of our senior players don’t want to play Test cricket. Shakib doesn’t want to play Tests. Mustafiz also doesn’t want to play, but he hasn’t mentioned it. He wants it to a point. Maybe since he is injury-prone, he feels he will get injured playing Tests? Maybe they feel Test is quite tough, say for someone like Rubel [Hossain]. Bringing in younger players is our only option.”The BCB had granted Shakib’s request for a break during the Test series in South Africa last year. Shakib has been the only Bangladesh player to have put in such a request.Hassan declared that Mustafizur, who missed the Afghanistan T20s and the West Indies Tests due to an injury he picked up while playing for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, will not be given any NOCs to play foreign leagues. “The saddest part is that he gets hurt playing franchise leagues, and then can’t serve the country. It is not acceptable. I have already told him that he can’t play outside for the next two years,” Hassan said.He said that the BCB was focused on finding more specialist Test and T20 players, but admitted it was hard for practical reasons to drop their core senior players. “We have to form a new set-up for Tests. I have been saying it for the last four years. We must have three or four players in common; all the international teams are doing this. Everyone has specialist T20 and Test players. We only have Mominul [Haque] for Tests. We need to develop five or six of them.”We have Tamim [Iqbal] and another opener, plus three pace bowlers and a spinner. You can’t change Shakib, Mushfiqur [Rahim] and [Mahmudullah] Riyad. Mominul plays at three. You can’t drop him for doing poorly in one series. So, for this No. 7 position we have Mosaddek [Hossain], Sabbir [Rahman], [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz, etc.”There will be a lot of talk if we leave out any of the seniors. We need to find new players for a time when Tamim, Shakib, Mushfiqur and Riyad won’t be around. We need to prepare the new players.”

A fine display of death bowling led Delhi Daredevils to a seven-run victory at home over Rising Pune Supergiant

The Report by Alagappan Muthu12-May-2017

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details5:04

Hogg: It was a big choke from Rising Pune Supergiant

Delhi Daredevils have, over the years, perfected the art of the bizarre, and usually that leads them to lose unloseable matches. On Friday, however, they magicked a way to defend a total of 168 even though Steven Smith appeared in top form and Ben Stokes looked like he was one hit away from finishing the game.Rising Pune Supergiant needed 91 off 60 balls with seven wickets in hand. They brought that down to 52 off the last five overs, and then, were just shut down. Only three boundaries came in the slog overs as a disciplined bowling attack led by the street-smart Zaheer Khan secured a memorable victory and left the opposition unsure of their place in the playoffs.A Powerplay of two halvesAt the toss, both captains said they wanted to bat, even though only once in four IPL seasons has that led to a victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils’ efforts to defy those stats were off to a terrible start. Sanju Samson was run-out in the first over and Shreyas Iyer caught behind in the third. The score was 11 for 2.Rising Pune then turned to Washington Sundar because he has the second-best economy rate (7.35) among the spinners to have bowled at least 50 balls in the Powerplay. But those numbers meant nothing to Karun Nair. All he knew was he was a superb sweeper of the ball and fine leg was up inside the circle. That was the first of nine boundaries in 18 balls.Rishabh Pant, too, received preferential treatment from the bowlers. He had come into the match making 190 of his 321 runs this season on the leg side and that’s exactly where he found 32 of his 36 runs on Sunday, including four fours and two sixes.The squeezeWhile Nair and Pant were together, the lowest a full over went for was nine runs. But once the 74-run partnership was broken, Rising Pune regained control. The new batsman Marlon Samuels could make only three runs in his first 10 balls. He fell top-edging to MS Dhoni, who had to run back, jump up, extend his right hand as far as it could go. Such acrobatics weren’t necessary to stump Corey Anderson; just fast hands and a sixth sense for when the batsman’s back foot lifted up as he toppled over.All the while the set batsman Nair could only watch from the other end. He faced only 11 deliveries in five overs between the 12th and the 16th. He finished 64 off 45. His team-mates 97 off 75.The Supergiant’s supergiantIf Stokes raised eyebrows by becoming the auction’s costliest buy, his performance is making them disappear beyond people’s hairlines. Case in point was the catch he took in the final over. The ball was soaring over his head at midwicket, but he positioned himself on the edge of the boundary, leapt back, caught it in mid-air and threw it back up because he was going over the ropes and then came back to take the rebound.Aside from such remarkable athleticism, there is his power hitting. At 92 for 3, he ran at Daredevils’ fastest bowler Pat Cummins and pummeled a one-bounce four to midwicket, launched Marlon Samuels’ third ball of the match over long-on and nonchalantly flicked Mohammed Shami for a six over deep square leg.Peak DaredevilryIt was amid this carnage that a scorching yorker arrived. So good was it that Stokes, despite putting bat to it, had to worry about not being bowled. The next ball changed the game.Shami ran in looking for the blockhole again. Stokes took a shimmy down the pitch and was surprised by a low full toss. The bat turned in his hand as his loft ended up in long-off’s hands.By the time Dhoni was taking guard for his second delivery the required rate was 12. And before he could get set, he was caught short of his ground by a direct hit. It was only the seventh time in 141 IPL innings that he was run-out.As badly as Rising Pune choked, the Daredevils bowlers were remarkable. They bowled straight, gave no room and nailed the yorkers. The inherent risk in this plan is if the ball doesn’t land where it is supposed to, it can be launched halfway around the world. But the big-hitters were gone, and Manoj Tiwary, as well as he had played for his fifty, wasn’t really a threatening presence.He managed two sixes to start the last over to tempt the Pune fans, but Cummins closed the game out with a slew of 145 kph yorkers.

ESPNcricinfo previews the first World T20 semi-final between England and New Zealand

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando in Delhi29-Mar-2016

Match facts

March 30, 2016
Start time 1900 local (1330 GMT)3:15

‘Both teams will be going in with confidence’

Big Picture

Where other teams have looked upon surfaces and made vague guesses at how they might play, New Zealand have read pitches like a soothsayer would tea leaves. Empowered by this clairvoyance they have picked boldly: three spinners to embarrass the hosts in turning Nagpur, Mitchell McClenaghan to rattle Australia in Dharamsala, Adam Milne proving handy in relatively quicker Mohali, before the trio of spinners were reunited for slow-and-low Kolkata.New Zealand had not played in Asia since late 2014, but they are here at the semi-finals now; the only undefeated side. They have not just been clever with the ball. Batting first in each group match, competitive scores have been worked out and achieved. Kane Williamson has been described by team-mates as a “great captain”. Behind the scenes, Mike Hesson’s wit has sharpened New Zealand.England, meanwhile, have been tempered in three scrapes, since losing their first match to West Indies. The chase of 230 against South Africa was a triumph of the batsmen’s making. Then the bowlers held their nerve as Afghanistan made a late charge at England’s low total at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Finally, just as Sri Lanka appeared to be stealing away the must-win match, Joe Root completed an outstanding take at mid-off to turn the match his team’s way. England haven’t been pretty or dominant, but they have found ways to win. There is a spine to this campaign that hasn’t always been the case with England’s limited-overs teams.They have also played two matches at the Kotla already, and have a batting order that goes deeper than a Barry White “oh yeah”. England only lost four wickets in the victory against Sri Lanka, but the men at the top of the order appear to be more likely to take risks while so many hitters sit in the dugout. Their bowling appears to be the weaker discipline. But then, New Zealand don’t have daunting batting form coming into this game either – Martin Guptill has struck their only fifty in the tournament – and they have not yet been tested chasing.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)


England WWWLL
New Zealand WWWWW

In the spotlight

With New Zealand sure to shake up their XI, and their strategy to suit the tournament, Eoin Morgan has the job of driving his side to adapt to the opposition’s adaptations. What if New Zealand have decided 140 is a good total and are pushing the singles to get themselves there? Does Morgan bring in the field, and hope to force a mistake? And does he shake up his own top order to spoil New Zealand’s bowling plans? Also, as the most experienced man in that middle order, Morgan must also assess the pitch himself if England are batting first. His form has been moderate through the tournament, having produced two duds, as well as two decent finishes.Mitchell Santner has a front arm like a T-Rex when he bowls, but in this tournament he has also been taking tyrannosaurus-sized bites out of the opposition top order with his left-arm spin. Of players who have only bowled in the Super 10s, he has the equal highest-wickets (nine), as well as an economy rate of 5.73. He might have floated into the tournament a little incognito, but he can be assured now that England will have spent time analysing videos of his bowling and working out a plan to him. Will he be able to adapt to England adapting to his own excellent adaptations to Indian surfaces?

Teams news

England may think about switching one of their spinners for a seamer, but will likely abandon the thought. The XI that defeated Sri Lanka is likely to take the field again.England (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Jos Buttler (wk), 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 David Willey, 11 Liam Plunkett.Almost no one would have expected New Zealand to leave both Trent Boult and Tim Southee out for the entire group stage, yet it has seemed, at times, that the only way they would get a game is if the Delhi matches were moved to Wellington or Christchurch. Hesson and Williamson were seen taking a close look at the Kotla surface on the eve of the match, and as the pitch has not been particularly conducive to seam bowling, they may be out of the XI again.New Zealand (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Colin Munro, 4 Corey Anderson, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Grant Elliott, 7 Luke Ronchi (wk), 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Mitchell McClenaghan

Pitch and conditions

The pitch prepared for this match appears to have a little grass, but given the venue’s history that does not mean it will be quick, nor does it suggest the ball will seam around. The two previous games on this square have been played on slowish surfaces, but these have not offered much turn. The weather is not expected to impede play. Temperatures are forecast to hover around the 30 degrees Celsius mark.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand have won 10 of their 13 T20 matches in the past year.
• England had beaten New Zealand in six consecutive T20Is between February 2008 and February 2013.
• Root is the second-highest run-scorer of batsmen who have only played the Super 10s stage of the tournament, with 168 runs at a strike rate of 150.
• New Zealand and England have each been to the World T20 semi-finals on one previous occasion – New Zealand in 2007, and England in 2010. England went on to win the 2010 tournament, while New Zealand were defeated by Pakistan in their semi-final.

Quotes

“I can’t quite believe how far we’ve come overall in our white-ball cricket. The guys that we’ve selected have done outstandingly well and shown a great amount of attitude in learning. It’s not always easy to come up against very strong sides who knock you back on a day-to-day basis, but every question that’s been asked of us we’ve come back with either a counter-answer or a more aggressive option.”
“In terms of Mike Hesson’s and my perspective, we will pick horses for courses against the opposition. That philosophy won’t change.”

Stuart Law has been appointed coach of both Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat for the next three seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2013Stuart Law has been appointed coach of both Queensland Bulls and Brisbane Heat for the next three seasons, roles which had fallen vacant when Darren Lehmann was named Australia coach before the Ashes. Law, one of Queensland’s most prolific batsmen in a decorated career that ended in 2004, will take over on August 27, once he completes his stint as High Performance coach at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence.Law, 44, has built up plenty of coaching experience since his retirement in 2009, having been in charge of the Bangladesh national team and, briefly, Sri Lanka after the 2011 World Cup. He was also coach of the Australia Under-19 side that reached the finals of the World Cup and batting coach of the senior team last year, and was assistant coach of the women’s team that won the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.He will oversee a Bulls outfit that had plenty of success last season, winning the Ryobi Cup and finishing runners-up in the Sheffield Shield. His other team, the Heat, also had a great year, taking the Big Bash League title.”I’ve very excited to again be involved with cricket in Queensland, which is where I got my start,” Law said. “Hopefully I can help the next generation to achieve all they can in the game and play it at the highest level possible.”The Champions League starting next month in India will be Law’s first assignment and he is confident he has enough time to prepare the Heat for the tournament. “We’ll pull things together pretty quickly. Darren had plans in place already for the season and the coaches and players have been working very well in that framework during the off-season. I’ll be looking to slot in with minimal disruption and get on with things.”

Only 57.4 overs could be played and Northamptonshire have set themselves up nicely to pass Yorkshire’s first-innings total

Jon Culley at Northampton02-Aug-2012
ScorecardAdil Rashid, here during his only other appearance of the season, believes he is finding form again•Getty Images

On the face of it, this was not a helpful day in Yorkshire’s pursuit of promotion. Only 57.4 overs could be played and Northamptonshire have set themselves up nicely to pass Yorkshire’s first-innings total, thanks to an unbroken partnership of 69 between Stephen Peters and Rob Newton. But in a season during which they have spent almost as much time in the changing rooms as on the field, they are used to finding a positive nuance in an unpromising script.On this occasion, they did not have to look very far. Adil Rashid, whose prowess as a legspin bowler had waned so severely he was dropped from the Yorkshire team before these sides met at Headingley in May, has been recalled for only his second Championship match since. In what was, in effect, his first proper bowl in that time – he had just one over in a rain-wrecked contest at Colwyn Bay in June – he looked in surprisingly good order.In two spells totalling nine overs, he gave the ball a loop, found some turn, conceded only one boundary and claimed only his 10th wicket of the season with a delivery that spun and bounced and had Alex Wakely caught at second slip. If lack of confidence had been a problem to him during a difficult 12 months, it did not seem to be a handicap this time.Indeed, he confirmed afterwards that something of the old Rashid, the one that was picked to tour India with England in 2008, was beginning to resurface.”I felt good, my areas felt good, I felt I was threatening, I didn’t bowl many bad balls,” he said. “There is still a long way to go and I need to get a lot more overs under my belt to get some real rhythm but once I get a few wickets I will come back into my own again.”Rashid’s form had been on the slide since early last season, when an 11-wicket haul in the opening match against Worcestershire proved something of a false promise. By the end of the summer he had taken only 28 more in first-class games. This season, he has found no momentum at all.”It has been difficult to get that confidence back and the lack of bowling has not helped,” he said. “And when I have come back into the side I have put myself under a lot of pressure.”But they have told me to relax, to see my role as a wicket-taker, and that if it goes round the park, so be it. And that mindset helps take the pressure off me.”I can only take one match at a time but I felt as good today as I have in a while. I have been out of the side for a couple of months so I have had a long time to work on my action and on the mental side of things and now I just want to have the match practice and basically to bowl and bowl.”It is getting there slowly and hopefully I can get more overs under my belt in the next month or so. With where we are in the season it would be a good time to get back into form.”Every player, even the best players in the world, go through bad patches. I’ve been up and down and hopefully I can come back on a high.”An effective Rashid would clearly be a boon to Yorkshire in their efforts not to blow their chance of going back up at the first attempt following last summer’s relegation from Division One.If there are question marks over whether they have what it takes, they concern their bowling. Steve Patterson, their leading wicket-taker in the Championship with 29, has been asked to carry a heavy burden of responsibility and has done so pretty well but the support for him has been a little lightweight.Richard Pyrah is a solid, well-organised seamer but has no history of bowling sides out. Strike bowler Moin Ashraf and offspinner Azeem Rafiq, meanwhile, are young men with their best years ahead of them. Ryan Sidebottom will be back soon, assuming his recovery from a calf muscle injury is not set back when he plays for the second XI next week, but it would be useful and timely if Rashid could re-emerge now as a force.His first priority, along with Patterson and company, is to ensure Northamptonshire do not build a substantial advantage from the platform built by Peters and Newton. Rafiq, into the attack in the first hour, had Kyle Coetzer well caught at backward point cutting, and Pyrah found the edge to have David Sales taken at second slip by a tumbling Adam Lyth just before lunch, but the fourth-wicket pair looked well set when rain swept in at tea.

It is fashionable for those who rarely bother to attend such fixtures to suggest that the quality and entertainment offered by Division Two cricket is of little value

George Dobell at Southend-on-Sea29-Jul-2011
ScorecardRavi Bopara was a class apart on a unforgettable day of cricket•Getty Images

It is fashionable for those who rarely bother to attend such fixtures to suggest that the quality and entertainment offered by Division Two cricket is of little value.But, in the unlikely setting of Garon Park in Southend, a hardy bunch of spectators were treated to outstanding performances by two fine cricketers, which underlines the counter-view: that quality and skill continue to run deep into the county game. This was an unforgettable day’s cricket.Perhaps the most eye-catching performance came from David Masters. The 33-year-old seamer, a journeyman pro if ever there was one, returned the exceptional figures of eight wickets for just ten runs as Leicestershire were blown away for only 34 in their second innings.It was the lowest score this season and the lowest Leicestershire total since 1965.But, just as impressive, was the batting of Ravi Bopara. There may be a temptation to overlook his contribution in favour of Masters’
excellence but, on a pitch where all other batsmen struggled to even survive, Bopara provided a remarkable demonstration of temperament and technique that should serve as a reminder of his enduring class.The pair combined to sentence Leicestershire to a crushing 280-run defeat in just three days. It’s a result that leaves them rooted to the bottom of Division Two and raises serious questions about the recent management of the club. They finished last season in a
creditable fourth position, after all, but after losing their
chairman, chief executive and head coach at the end of the campaign, have clearly lost their way. It is, it should be noted, barely six weeks since they were dismissed for 48 by Northants.For Essex, however, this is a result that revives their promotion hopes. They still have ground to make up but they have the talent – and, it would seem, the spirit – to do so.Leicestershire were never likely to reach their fourth-innings target of 315. The pitch was simply too demanding. But to subside so feebly was testament not just to Masters’ excellent bowling, but to their own spineless batting. Masters, gaining movement in the air and off the pitch, would have troubled any batsman in these conditions, but the tentative prods and the gaps between bat and pad that Leicestershire exhibited made life too easy for him.Still, he took advantage of the helpful conditions and dispirited opposition superbly. Bowling gun-barrel straight, he simply allowed the conditions, and the flimsy batting, to do the rest. He was twice on a hat-trick as he dismissed Matt Boyce, James Taylor and Wayne White in the same over and Nathan Buck four balls later. Then, the over after that, Josh Cobb and Jigar Naik followed to successive balls. That meant he had taken six wickets
in just 16 deliveries; all but one of them a batsman with a
first-class century to his name.But, as a modest Masters admitted afterwards: “Ravi’s batting set it all up, really. It was a good pitch to bowl on – it was seaming and
swinging – so his innings was outstanding. It’s an unbelievable day
for me, too; the sort of thing you dream about as a kid.”With the dramatic fourth innings, it would be easy to overlook the effort from Bopara. Some will point to the modest opposition and the lack of intensity in the fixture and conclude that such a performance bears little relation to the rigours of the Test arena.But that would be wrong. 26-year-old Bopara was forced to utilise
every ounce of his technique and temperament to survive on this
surface. What is more, he produced this performance on his maiden appearance as a captain in the Championship and with his team’s whole season in danger of fading away.After all, when he came to the crease on the second day, his side were two down and ten in arrears. Even when Adam Wheater, driving loosely to cover, was the sixth Essex man out, his team were only 127 ahead and Bopara was left with just the tail to accompany him.Yet Bopara scarcely played a false stroke. His defence was superbly solid, his concentration utterly unwavering throughout his seven-and-half-hour vigil and, when the opportunity arose, he showed he could still time the ball with a sweetness granted to very few.The successive pulls to the boundary off Nathan Buck were imperious; the on-driven four off Nadeem Malik simply beautiful. Surely Bopara is young enough to come again at Test level?Masters showed some skill with the bat, too. The pair added 111 in 40 overs for Essex’s seventh wicket, with Masters contributing his highest score since April 2010 and Bopara going on to register his highest score since August 2009; the month he was dropped by England.It was, in all, his 20th first-class century and his third of the
season. Tellingly, however, it was his first since he was omitted from the Test squad in May.He did survive one moment of fortune. When he had 80, he played back to a delivery from Wayne White only to see the ball roll back off the face of the bat and on to his off stump. Somehow, however, the bails remained unmoved. He didn’t give another chance until he had 172.Indeed, it was an innings of which Trevor Bailey would have been
proud. Bailey, the Essex legend who was famous for his obdurate
batting, lived just down the road until his untimely death in
February, and was a regular visitor to this festival. But, much as
he’d have enjoyed Bopara’s batting, he would have been appalled by Leicestershire’s.

Marcus Trescothick hit the fastest half-century in the history of English domestic Twenty20 cricket as Somerset beat Hampshire by six wickets at Taunton

Cricinfo staff09-Jul-2010
Scorecard
Marcus Trescothick hit the fastest half-century in the history of English domestic Twenty20 cricket as Somerset beat Hampshire by six wickets at Taunton. The former England opener reached his fifty from just 13 balls, with five sixes and five fours, on his way to making 78 off 27 deliveries as his side successfully chased down Hampshire’s total of 216 for 5 with two overs to spare. Peter Trego made an unbeaten 72.Hampshire took first use of the batsman-friendly wicket after winning the toss. Neil McKenzie (73) and Sean Ervine (53) capitalised on the conditions as a 7,000-plus crowd revelled in hot sunshine and a run feast.But Trescothick stole the show, finishing with seven sixes and seven fours. There was a collective groan from spectators when he was tamely caught and bowled by Danny Briggs in only the ninth over.From then on, Trego, promoted to open on his return from England Lions duty, saw Somerset to their target, despite Briggs removing Kieron Pollard for a duck in the same over as Trescothick fell. Abdul Razzaq went for 64 off his four overs as James Hildreth (29) and Jos Buttler (18 not out) joined in the big-hitting action. Trego faced 44 balls and hit eight fours and three sixes.Earlier, after the loss of Michael Carberry who was brilliantly run out by Trescothick’s direct hit from cover, Hampshire batted aggressively with James Vince scoring 22 off just nine balls. Jimmy Adams hit four boundaries in his 21 and when they fell in quick succession to make it 57 for three only five overs had been bowled.It was 62 for 3 at the end of the power-play overs and Ervine and McKenzie added 112 in 11 overs to build on the impressive start. Ervine reached his half-century with two sixes in an over from Trego, but was out next ball attempting another.McKenzie hit only one six, straight off Somerset’s best bowler Murali Kartik, but added 10 fours before being pinned lbw by a full length ball from Alfonso Thomas. Somerset’s win strengthened their position in the top four of the South Division and they look a solid bet to reach the quarter-finals.

Tournament was due to be held in Bangladesh in October but anti-government protests have meant the venue is likely to be changed

Firdose Moonda16-Aug-2024Zimbabwe have emerged as one of two options being considered to host the Women’s T20 World Cup this year. The tournament, which is due to start on October 3 and was scheduled for Bangladesh, is likely to be moved after anti-government agitations prompted security concerns. The UAE is the other place being considered, after India ruled themselves out on Thursday. It is understood that a decision is expected to be made by the ICC board on Tuesday, August 20.Zimbabwe’s interest, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo, comes on the back of intentions to promote themselves as a destination for big cricket after successfully hosting the last two ODI World Cup Qualifiers (in 2018 and 2023). The country last hosted a World Cup in 2003, along with South Africa and Kenya.Since then, Zimbabwe spent several years isolated from major events, which included the Robert Mugabe regime cutting itself off from much of the world, hyperinflation, a self-imposed Test hiatus between 2005 and 2011, and the men’s team failing to qualify for two successive ODI World Cups and two of the last three T20 World Cups. The women’s team has never competed at a World Cup (neither have the UAE’s) and will not feature at this year’s event either, but Zimbabwe are eager to be neutral hosts of the tournament.Related

• Healy: 'Hard to fathom' T20 World Cup going ahead in Bangladesh

• Bangladesh to approach UN about keeping hosting rights for Women's T20 World Cup

• BCCI rejects ICC's offer to host Women's T20 World Cup

• Bangladesh turmoil: ICC mulls back-up options to host women's T20 World Cup

• Bangladesh in turmoil: how will cricket be impacted?

Zimbabwe will co-host the men’s Under-19 World Cup with Namibia in 2026 and the ODI World Cup with South Africa and Namibia in 2027. By then, the country will have two more international grounds with Zimbabwe Cricket and local government authorities working together to build multi-purpose facilities in Victoria Falls and Mutare.For now, Zimbabwe can offer Harare Sports Club (which also has newly installed floodlights) and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo as venues for the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup. These grounds also hosted all the televised matches in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers, with streaming games held at Takashinga Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club.The weather in Zimbabwe is expected to be a major selling point, with the country entering summer in October and minimal rain expected. India rejected the offer to host because the country will be experiencing the last of the monsoon. Sri Lanka is also understood to have fallen out of contention for weather-related reasons.Crucially, Zimbabwe will be able to generate fairly good crowds, including school children at venues, where the maximum capacity is 10,000. A concern with the UAE as a venue is the lack of spectators in stadiums that can seat over 20,000 people. Zimbabwe are also hopeful that the relatively lower cost of hosting a tournament in their country compared to the UAE will give them an advantage when the final decision is made.