All posts by csb10.top

A computerised rankings system has gone where the selectors have been reluctant to tread, by offering Kent’s troubled allrounder, Matt Coles, an opportunity to make his case for England’s one-day squad when the inaugural North v South series takes place in the UAE next March.Coles, who was left out of Kent’s County Championship fixture against Derbyshire in June following a drink-related incident, was suspended by the ECB for two further Championship matches after being found guilty of throwing the ball in a dangerous manner during their victory against Glamorgan in May. In 2013, Coles was also sent home from an England Lions tour of Australia due to excessive drinking (the same punishment also handed to Ben Stokes).However, his recent one-day form has been impressive. He claimed figures of 6 for 56 against Hampshire, his former county, last week, and 4 for 39, with an economy rate of 4.33, against Sussex yesterday, to finish third in the Professional Cricketers’ Association MVP Rankings for the Royal London Cup, the system by which eight of the squad members for the North v South series have been selected.Tim Bresnan, Harry Gurney and Liam Dawson are three previously capped England players to have made the MVP cut, with the England Lions batsman Ben Duckett, the Northamptonshire left-arm spinner Graeme White, and the Somerset pair of Lewis Gregory and Tim Groenewald also in the mix.Duckett has been in prolific form of late, both for Northamptonshire and the Lions, making unbeaten scores of 163 and 220 in the recent triangular series with Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A although it is purely his Royal London Cup form that has earned this selection.”I had been following the MVP for the last few games when I realised I was in the mix and it put a bit more on the games we had left,” said Groenewald, who was born and raised in South Africa but who has lived in England for 12 years. “I’m really happy to be involved in something like this particularly with it being the first one and it should be a really good tournament.The PCA and the ECB’s National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough have worked closely to enhance the PCA MVP formula, which was first introduced in 2007.The rankings system identifies the match-winners and key influencers of matches, using a formula that measures each player’s total contribution by taking into account conditions, quality of opposition, captaincy and strike rates, as well as runs scored and wickets taken.The remaining players in the North v South series will be chosen by the England selectors, who will have not only the 2019 World Cup in their thoughts, but also the 2017 Champions Trophy, which will be hosted in England in June, three months after the UAE series.”It’s brilliant how the system has worked giving an incentive from guys outside the England set-up to work for,” said Groenewald. “I am sure there will be some really good players out there, players who will be playing in the next World Cup so it’s brilliant to be involved in this tournament.””The North v South series is something that there has been a lot of banter about in the dressing room since the start of the competition and as we got close to the end of the group stage I knew that I was there or thereabouts,” said Gurney, who made his last international appearance in December 2014.”It’s a good opportunity for someone like me just to remind the selectors that I can still do it and that I believe that I have still got an awful lot to offer the international game. It’s up to me now to persuade them that’s still the case.”

ScorecardTom Abell switched into coloured clothes and made a classy century•Getty Images

A century from 22-year-old Tom Abell against Sussex at Taunton, helped Somerset to secure home advantage in the quarter finals of the Royal London Cup.The young batsman batted without equal to score 106 off 117 balls, as Somerset held off a late revival from the Sussex tailenders, to win by 10 runs.Somerset, having chosen to bat first, might have felt this was not to be their day having slipped to 15 for 2 inside four overs. Mahela Jayawardene and Peter Trego were the men out as 21-year-old Jofra Archer put Sussex in a commanding early position.Jim Allenby’s quickfire 30 was the dominant feature in a 32-run stand with Abell, for the third wicket. However, when the captain departed, once again off the bowling of Archer, Somerset were back in trouble at 47 for 3.Despite the mounting pressure, Abell batted with great maturity and with the help of one or two middle order partners, took Somerset to a score that was respectable, if not altogether satisfactory.He added 70 for the fourth wicket with James Hildreth and 42 for the eighth with Craig Overton. Although Lewis Gregory and Ryan Davies chipped in with useful runs, it was Abell who led the way. He posted his second List A fifty without too many alarms and finally passed three figures for the first time in one-day cricket, off 107 balls with nine fours and a six.Ten balls later he was run out for a fine 106 as Somerset crept towards the 250 mark.In the end, they fell 13 runs short of that milestone when Tim Groenewald became Archer’s fifth wicket at 237. Archer finished with the impressive figures of 5 for 42 off 9.1 overs.Although the 50-over season has been something of a damp squib for Sussex, to date, they would certainly have fancied their chances of posting a second win of the campaign, in this their penultimate game in the Royal London Cup.Somerset, however, had different ideas and with Groenewald and 25-year-old Josh Davey leading from the front, with the ball, the visitors found themselves well and truly behind the black ball.Opening batsman Philip Salt departed in the second over, without scoring, lbw to Davey, before Harry Finch was run out by the man of the moment Abell at 25 for 2.It got worse. Captain Luke Wright became Groenewald’s first victim at 59 for 3, and after Chris Nash had been trapped lbw, first ball, by Gregory, seven runs later, Groenewald returned to pick up the important wickets of Ed Joyce and wicket keeper Ben Brown.When Chris Jordan became Trego’s first victim at 95 for 7, Sussex were heading for a landslide defeat. However, Archer and Ajmal Shahzad added 61 for the eighth wicket to leave Somerset wondering whether 237 would be enough.Archer, having struck two fours and as many sixes in his 35, was eventually bowled by Max Waller, who also took the wicket of Shahzad.Will Beer and Danny Briggs did their bit to keep Sussex in with a chance of victory, adding an unbeaten 52 for the last wicket. However, it was not to be and in the end, Somerset kept their cool to not only make sure of victory, but to secure a home tie in the last eight.

Australia will look to the experience of World Cup winners Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell to help them qualify for the tri-series final in their must-win match against West Indies on Tuesday. Both men were named in the XI for Sunday’s match against South Africa in Barbados, which was washed out with only an over bowled; both are expected to retain their places against West Indies.Maxwell failed to reach double figures in the first two matches of this series and was subsequently dropped, and was not immediately recalled even when David Warner was ruled out of the campaign with a broken finger. Starc’s workload has been managed as he plays his first series back following ankle surgery, and Australia have lost only the matches in which he was rested.”We had Maxi back in, Mitchell Starc coming back in, a bit of World Cup experience,” stand-in coach Justin Langer said after the washout against South Africa. “They’re all pressure games. Certainly, in this instance, over these last two [matches] there’s real pressure. It’s game on.”We haven’t done ourselves any favours in the sense of we haven’t got ourselves automatically into the final like we would have liked. It’s good to see guys under pressure, and this is a little bit more pressure than a normal one-day international on Tuesday.”Stretching back to February’s tour of New Zealand, Maxwell has scores of 0, 6, 0, 0 and 3 from his five most recent ODI innings. Debutant Travis Head was initially given the first chance in the middle order after Warner’s injury, but Maxwell’s experience makes him an appealing option at the business end of the tournament.”When you lose someone like David Warner you lose a bit of that experience,” Langer said. “Maxi has played a bit of cricket now, but also his dynamic fielding. We’ve talked a bit about our fielding over this tournament. To bring Maxi back into this side, his fielding adds a lot.”We’ve talked a bit about not being able to finish off our innings as well as we would have liked to. We thought with the way he goes about his business that would add something to that, and obviously his offspin bowling. It’s nice to have that up our sleeve.”Australia also need to decide on the make-up of their attack for Tuesday’s game against West Indies after leaving legspinner Adam Zampa out of Sunday’s match. Zampa is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in the series but struggled to contain the West Indians in his most recent match in St Kitts, where he took 2 for 60 from seven overs.”We’ve got to consider a couple of things now,” Langer said. “Adam Zampa will definitely come into it. He probably would have played [on Sunday] had it not have rained. That was more strategic with the wet outfield. But then you’ve also got to consider how we go against West Indies and whether we bring Nathan Coulter-Nile back in, because he’s played a couple of games.”I think he [Zampa] has been pretty good. He probably just got his lines a bit wrong the other night, and some of those big West Indians if you get it in their wheel-arc, as we saw they’re going to belt you out of the ground. He’s learning, and he was the first to admit after the game that he perhaps just didn’t get his strategy right. The reason he didn’t play [against South Africa] is purely and simply because of the rain, and we thought with the wet ball he might not be able to hold it as well.”

ScorecardBoyd Rankin gave a reminder of his qualities•Getty Images

Witnessing Boyd Rankin bowling like this must be like having seen the Loch Ness monster, Big Foot or an alien landing: the more you tell people about, the more they doubt you and question your sanity.Rankin, you see, didn’t do himself justice on the biggest stage. So when most people think of him, they do not think of the fearsome fast bowler obtaining life on docile pitches that spectators at Ireland and Warwickshire value, but a diffident fast-medium seamer who appeared uncomfortable in the spotlight and looked somewhat below the requisite standard.It is, to some extent, an understandable view. Rankin’s single Test appearance in the final match of England’s miserable Ashes drubbing in 2013-14 was a nightmare: injured in the days immediately prior to the Test – he tore the cartilage in his shoulder in a notoriously brutal fitness session a couple of days before the game – and suffering a back spasm during it. The result was a performance lacking any of the pace and bite England required. Such was his disillusionment afterwards, he considered retiring.But, in an environment where he is valued and comfortable – he was on an unfortunate England tour from that perspective – he remains an unusually hostile bowler. And here, on a pitch offering little pace and no great movement and on which both sides wanted to bat first, he produced a spell of sustained aggression which claimed 3 for 8 in 29 balls to give his side the better of a rain-reduced opening day.The ball that dismissed Riki Wessles was a brute of a delivery. Climbing sharply from just back of a length, it also left the batsman and took the edge with such pace that Tim Ambrose, the Warwickshire wicketkeeper, took the ball above his head and had to parry it up before making sure of the chance.Samit Patel and Jake Libby, both understandably cautious about propping on to the front foot against such missiles, were dismissed in similar style: their uncertainty exploited by good-length balls on off stump that demanded a stroke, Rankin gained just enough bounce and just enough movement in the air to take the edge. It was, by any standards, fine bowling but, on a relatively slow wicket, it was outstanding.Quite why or how it is that Rankin suddenly clicks into this sort of rhythm is hard to say. If he could harness it with any sort of regularity, he would have enjoyed a far more successful Test career.He may yet, though. As things stand, there is an opportunity for one of the Associate nations to qualify through a play-off in 2019 and, bearing in mind Ireland’s fine record in the Intercontinental Cup, they are well-placed to win that opportunity.But there is also a growing chance that the ICC will look to increase the number of nations playing Test cricket with the matter due to be discussed at their annual conference in the coming week. Rankin admitted that he is keenly anticipating the results of that meeting.”Hopefully I won’t just be remembered as a one-Test wonder,” Rankin said. “I didn’t do myself justice in Sydney. I wasn’t fit, but I felt I had to play and it didn’t go as I would have liked.”I’ve probably been bowling at my best in the last two or three years. Since I stopped playing for England, really. I know my role better and I know the lads better at Warwickshire. I suppose I’m more relaxed. With England you’re always under pressure to perform.”The possibility of playing Test cricket is a huge carrot for Ireland. We feel we merit it. We’re confident we could do well against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and West Indies at the moment. I just hope we get the opportunity to show what we can do. I’ll have one eye on the ICC conference next week, for sure.”We’re playing a couple of ODIs in England next year, too, and playing at Lord’s especially will be really special.”Rankin benefited from excellent support here. So disciplined were the Warwickshire attack that Nottinghamshire only managed 12 boundaries in the 61 overs possible and several of those were off the edge and one through the legs of a fielder. Steven Mullaney was punished for playing back when he should have been forward and Michael Lumb was beaten by a quicker one from Jeetan Patel.Mark Adair, a 20-year-old seamer from Northern Ireland preferred to Oliver Hannon-Dalby for this match, did not manage a wicket but took the edge a couple of times by gaining movement both ways at a decent pace. It is far from impossible that he may one day share the bowling in a Test with Rankin.That Nottinghamshire did not capitulate entirely was largely due to Libby. Standing not unlike a right-handed Eoin Morgan – his body bent so low, his eyes are only a foot or so above off stump – he was patient, compact and disciplined in compiling a half-century from 155 balls. That fifty contained four boundaries, two of which – a clip off his legs and a steer to third man – were deliberate and two of which were edges. None were in front of square.That is not a criticism. Had Nottinghamshire been at full strength, he almost certainly would not have played. But here he produced the innings his side required and the bowling demanded and, while Brendan Taylor squandered his wicket with a flick that went straight to Jeetan Patel on the square-leg boundary, it took another fine ball to take Libby’s outside edge. Nobody else in the top six managed more than 14.These are worrying times for Nottinghamshire. Having won their first Championship match this season, they have lost four out of seven since and find themselves looking more towards the bottom of the table than the top. They have been here before – they were bottom after eight games last year, with exactly the same win-loss ratio and points tally as they have now – but they no longer have James Taylor to bail them out; he scored a double-century in a crucial game at Horsham that went a long way to sentencing Sussex to the drop instead of them.Reinforcements are on their way, though. In next weeks’ Championship game, against top-of-the-table Lancashire, they expect to have Stuart Broad, Imran Tahir and Chris Read (who netted at Edgbaston on Sunday) available. They are plenty good enough to avoid relegation and they will rarely come up against an attack bowling as well as this.

Glenn Maxwell has said his offspin will remain crucial if he is to nail down a long-term place in Australia’s Test-match plans. Batting is Maxwell’s primary skill, but he does not want to go down the path taken by Steven Smith, whose rapid rise since his comeback to the Test team in 2013, after two years out, followed a decision to focus more on his batting.”I don’t think I can rest on just being a batsman,” Maxwell told . “I know Steve Smith went that way when he lost his Test spot, not really bowling much at all. But I don’t think I can go that direction. I have to keep working on both parts of my game and make sure they’re good enough.”I’ve decided not to play in England for the first time in four years. It might be a good chance to get a pre-season under my belt and spend a bit of time working on my game.”Maxwell was part of the Test squad that was scheduled to tour Bangladesh last year, but did not do so owing to security concerns. But he has not found a place in the 15-man squad for Australia’s next subcontinental assignment, the Sri Lanka tour in July-August, with Moises Henriques, a seam-bowling allrounder, taking his place.Steve O’Keefe, who bowls left-arm orthodox, is the second spinner in the squad, and Maxwell has admitted it will be difficult for him to take that slot, given he turns the ball the same way as Nathan Lyon, Australia’s lead spinner.”Competing with Nathan Lyon is always going to be tough,” Maxwell said. “I’ve just got to improve my batting to the point where they can’t resist having me as an allrounder and a back-up to him.”With the bat, Maxwell has shown good red-ball form in the limited first-class opportunities he has had in recent months, amidst all his limited-overs commitments. In the six Sheffield Shield matches he played in the 2015-16 season, Maxwell made 392 runs at an average of 56.00, with four half-centuries and a highest score of 98. Still, he feels he will need to keep scoring runs, starting with the ODI triangular in the West Indies, to keep himself in the frame for Test selection.”If I can make some runs then and also hopefully in Sri Lanka for the one-day series, it still puts pressure on those guys in the squad,” Maxwell said. “I was obviously a bit disappointed initially but having a look at the squad they’ve picked for Sri Lanka, I can understand. They’ve got all bases covered. I think it’s a squad that is going to win the series. It’s a really strong squad and I fully understand why I’m not in it.”

Nottinghamshire 282 for 3 (Haynes 124, Hameed 58*) beat Glamorgan 278 for 9 (Byrom 62, Root 56) by seven wicketsJack Haynes starred with a century as Notts Outlaws kept their qualification chances at arm’s length with a comfortable run chase against winless defending champions Glamorgan.The 24-year-old Haynes struck a well-timed 124 with some late acceleration to chase the sub-par 278 for 9 set by the hosts.Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed played supporting roles in the seven-wicket win, the latter combining with Haynes for a 141-run third-wicket stand.Eddie Byrom notched up back-to-back half-centuries with 62 while Billy Root also passed 50 to hold together the Glamorgan innings. One positive for the winless side was 18-year-old Romano Franco picking up a first professional wicket at the third time of asking.After being inserted, Glamorgan got off to a racing start, as has tended to be their way in this competition. Byrom and Asa Tribe’s 71-run opening stand left Notts’ bowling attack – hit by the absence of players in the Hundred – with cause for concern before Tribe’s fun was ended by 18-year-old debutant Byron Hatton-Lowe.Byrom, the steadier of the two openers in terms of strike rate, continued calmly as he watched on for Henry Hurle, playing a first Glamorgan game of 2025, to be dismissed.Kiran Carlson was unable to kick on, as was Will Smale who suffered a ball-watching run out to leave the hosts with just five wickets in hand with more than 20 overs to bat, a theme too common in their campaign.Root held the fort in a knock of few boundaries for 56 before Dan Douthwaite’s blistering cameo added some impetus, the hosts still left short.Zain Ul Hassan was able to contain in a seven-over new-ball spell while Ned Leonard leaked at the other end, Slater enjoying a rather comfortable start.After Ben Martindale was dismissed, a period of experience was due with Slater and Haynes adding 75 before Hameed struck an unbeaten 58 to ice the run chase.Franco impressed in his 10 overs but poor fielding, including a drop by Andy Gorvin with Haynes on 68 proved costly.Tribe followed as the third player in the game to take a first wicket for his club, after Hatton-Lowe and Franco, although the damage was done.

Seamer Ben Aitchison’s maiden T20 five-wicket haul set Derbyshire on their way to hammering Yorkshire for the second Sunday running, ending the hosts’ already slim Vitality Blast quarter-final hopes in the process.Excellent Aitchison was potent en route to a superb 5 for 29 at Headingley and Afghanistan overseas spinner Mohammad Ghazanfar miserly in returning 2 for 5 from four overs as Yorkshire were limited to 151 for 9.The Falcons won at Chesterfield last Sunday, and here they deepened their local rivals’ misery by reducing them to 17 for 4 in five overs. Ghazanfar struck twice early and returned the joint-second most-economical four-over spell in Blast history.In a clash between the bottom two sides in the North, Dom Bess’s career best 53 off 37 balls at least gave Yorkshire a fighting total. But Derbyshire eased home by eight wickets inside 17 overs thanks largely to opener Aneurin Donald’s 54 off 30 balls.Derbyshire were already out of knockout contention, but this was their fourth win in 13 games and Yorkshire’s eighth defeat in 12.Yorkshire were left shell-shocked in the powerplay, which ended with them stranded on 28 for 4 having been inserted. Jonny Bairstow was bowled for a five-ball duck playing back to the offspin of Ghazanfar, who also had James Wharton caught at short cover.Sandwiched in between, Will Luxton was caught at short third-man and Dawid Malan at short fine-leg off Aitchison’s seam.On Thursday, Derbyshire reduced Worcestershire to 10 for 4 and lost. So they will have been wary not to let their foot off the gas. And they did not.Pakistani overseas batter Abdullah Shafique was next to go for 26, caught at mid-on off a miscued pull at Zak Chappell as Yorkshire reached the 10-over mark at 55 for 5. Chappell struck again in the 16th with the score on 97 when he had Will Sutherland caught at deep midwicket following a miscued pull.Bess, who hoisted two leg-side sixes off Pat Brown’s seam, kept Yorkshire afloat with his second career Blast fifty, this off 36 balls. But he fell to his next, caught at deep midwicket off Aitchison, who struck three times in four balls in the 19th over.Either side of dismissing Bess, he had Jordan Thompson caught behind and Jafer Chohan caught at backward point in posting only Derbyshire’s second ever T20 five-for.At Chesterfield last weekend, opener Donald smashed 85 off 30 balls as the Falcons chased 201. Here, their task was much more straightforward, and Donald was in the mood again.He ramped Sutherland’s seam for six and went on to reach his fifty off 24 balls – his sixth fifty of the campaign. By the time that was recorded, Derbyshire were motoring at 70 without loss in the sixth over. From there, with Yorkshire sloppy in the field, the result was inevitable.Donald miscued to point off Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin having shared 78 inside eight overs with Australian Caleb Jewell.Jewell went on to post 41 not out and share an unbroken third-wicket stand of 73 with Wayne Madsen, who finished 51 not out off 28 balls and reached his fifty with the winning blow – a six over long-on off Jafer Chohan.

Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka will be rested for the home T20I series against England as South Africa look to expand their short-format player pool. They have recalled medium-pacer Eliz-Mari Marx, who was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the CSA Women’s Pro20 series, and allrounder Nondumiso Shangase. Kapp and Khaka will return for the three-match ODI series which follows.South Africa’s T20 squad will also be without wicketkeeper-batter Mieke de Ridder and Seshnie Naidu, who were both part of the recently completed T20 World Cup. De Ridder has been replaced by Faye Tunnicliffe, while Naidu is completing her final school exams and will then be preparing for the Under-19 T20 World Cup in Malaysia in January.The rest of the squad includes three players currently at the WBBL: captain Laura Wolvaardt and allrounders Nadine de Klerk and Chloe Tryon, who will return from Australia in time for the first match on November 24. Bowlers Ayanda Hlubi and Tumi Sekhukhune, who were also at the T20 World Cup but did not play a game, may get an opportunity at home, where conditions are expected to suit them better.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Interim coach Dillon du Preez will continue to manage the side for now and said he hopes they can build on their performance at the T20 World Cup, where they reached a second successive final.”We would like to have the same approach that we did in the last T20 World Cup. Although the next T20 World Cup is in two years’ time, we would still like to grow as a team and continue to work on our T20 playing philosophy,” du Preez said in a statement. “We decided to give one or two players a chance in the T20I series to prove themselves and also to give us a chance to look at what stock we have available and what skill we need to work on.”South Africa have added additional resources to the 50-over squad, in batter Lara Goodall, experienced seamer Masabata Klaas while Hlubi is in line for an ODI debut. The matches are part of the Women’s Championship, which forms the qualification pathway for next year’s ODI World Cup in India. South Africa are currently in fourth place, with 23 points, five behind Australia and England. The top five teams along with hosts India will automatically advance to the event which means Australia and England have already qualified. South Africa have gone through as well, even if they are overtaken by Bangladesh or West Indies, both of whom have six matches left to play (including three against each other). That can happen if Bangladesh or West Indies win the bilateral series 3-0 and South Africa lose 3-0 to England.The tour also includes a one-off Test in Bloemfontein from December 15 to 18, for which South Africa will name the squad at a later date. The T20 games are on November 24, 27 and 30 followed by the ODIs on December 4, 8 and 11.

South Africa Women squads for England series

T20I: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marx, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Chloé Tryon, Faye TunnicliffeODI: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Lara Goodall, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Chloé Tryon

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah won’t be available for India’s season-opening Duleep Trophy from September 5, ESPNcricinfo understands. The teams for the tournament will be picked later this month by the selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar. However, most other centrally-contracted players are set to feature in the four-team competition.Among those who will be keenly watched are KL Rahul, who missed four of the five England Tests earlier this year due to injury, and Rishabh Pant, who could be featuring in his first red-ball game since returning to full fitness following a car accident in December 2022. Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Suryakumar Yadav and Rajat Patidar are some of the others specialist batters likely to be picked across the four teams.There is also a possibility that Mohammed Shami, who is nearing full fitness, will be asked to play in one of the matches to prove match fitness. Shami is currently in his last stages of rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru and has slowly eased into greater bowling workloads over the past week.Related

• Pant to make red-ball comeback with Duleep Trophy; Shami not picked

• Saha looks to wipe slate clean with Bengal: 'I want to help in any capacity possible'

• 'Want to play for India in all three formats' – Suryakumar hopes to make a Test comeback

• India hope Shami will be ready for Tests against Bangladesh

With India set to play 10 Tests over the next five months – five at home and five in Australia – the senior players will be given an extended break leading into the first of those assignments, the two-Test series against Bangladesh, starting in Chennai on September 19.One of the two Duleep Trophy games that will be held simultaneously from September 5 is likely to be moved from Anantapur to Bengaluru owing to logistical considerations. The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has been sounded out informally to be available to host the fixture.The move to have several contracted players feature in the competition is in line with the BCCI’s push towards ensuring domestic cricket is prioritised. In February, secretary Jay Shah had sent out a letter that prioritising IPL over domestic cricket would lead to “severe implications”, which had later led to Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan losing their central contracts after they missed some of the Ranji Trophy games just before the IPL.Originally a zonal competition picked by a convener from each of the six zones (North, South, East, West, Central and North-East), the format of the Duleep Trophy was tweaked prior to this season, upon the recommendation of a BCCI working group comprising former head coach Rahul Dravid, NCA chief VVS Laxman, Agarkar and BCCI general manager Abey Kuruvilla.One of the reasons for this move was to ensure the selectors are able to give a wider pool of players, including those in the targeted group, enough opportunities heading into India’s Test season. The four-team tournament is set to run until September 22 with each side set to play the other three in a round-robin format. The topper at the end of the standings will be the winner.

Hayley Matthews knows West Indies Women’s cricket has fallen off the pace in recent years but, as their captain, she isn’t afraid to do “double the work” of opposition sides to catch up.The 2016 T20 world champions are now ranked sixth, just two months out from the next edition of the tournament, but Matthews, who takes pride in leading her side by example, believes they are on the right track.”The reality of it is that we probably dropped behind a bit in the Caribbean,” Matthews tells ESPNcricinfo’s Powerplay podcast. “But it’s also something that Cricket West Indies have noticed and I do see them making and taking steps in order to get that growing again.”There’s so many programmes that are starting to form in the Caribbean. We have an academy team in the West Indies now and, within the islands, islands are starting to do their own thing.Related

• Powerplay podcast: Hayley Matthews on Wales, West Indies and World Cup plans

• Deandra Dottin ends international retirement ahead of women's T20 World Cup

“In Barbados, the Barbados Royals were able to just start a girls’ camp, which is really good, free of charge for every single girl who wants to come out in Barbados and just learn the game.”The most important thing is falling in love with the game. That’s what it was for me. I was able to grow up as a young girl just on cricket fields falling in love with the game and that fire still burns bright in me up to this day.”Matthews took over as West Indies captain in 2022 from Stafanie Taylor, who had held the post for seven years and led the side to T20 World Cup victory. Since winning that crown, West Indies have been on the decline, struggling to build depth amid a lack of resources.In 2021, CWI increased the number of women on retainer contracts by three to 18 and in 2022 introduced the Women’s Rising Stars Under-19s programme.In 2023, CWI launched the West Indies Women’s Academy and increased the senior team’s budget by USD500,000 so players could fly business class and be accommodated in single rooms for all international assignments, bringing their travel arrangements into line with the men’s team.While the central contracts and improved travel conditions can bring almost immediate benefits, the U19 and academy programmes will take longer.In the meantime, Matthews is determined to continue inspiring her team off and on the field.Not only is she a regular on the international franchise circuit – she was leading wicket-taker in the inaugural WPL in 2023 when her Mumbai Indians side won the title and is currently enjoying her fourth year with Women’s Hundred side Welsh Fire – but she also has a breath-taking record for West Indies over the past 18 months.Last year in Australia, she smashed 132 off just 64 balls as West Indies chased down 212 to win the second of three T20Is between the sides. She also scored 99 not out and 79 and took five wickets in the series, including 3 for 36 in that second game.This year, she scored three half-centuries as West Indies won their series in Pakistan 4-1 and two centuries in a 3-0 ODI sweep during the same tour. She was also Player of the Series in a 2-1 T20I victory in Sri Lanka.”One thing I learned from a player like Stafanie Taylor with her captaincy is the way she was able to go out and set an example on the field,” Matthews says. “She played a massive role in every big performance that we had and she led by example, scoring runs, taking wickets.”I’ve tried to emulate that part of it and just being at the front of the team and setting an example on the field specifically, but off the field as well, creating a culture where we can all be one, we all have one goal that we want to go towards.”At the same time upholding standards as well, upholding professionalism and just holding each other accountable and understanding that at the end of the day we probably are behind the rest of the world and understand that to catch up as well, we need to be doing double the work.”Hayley Matthews on song again•PCB

With that last line in mind, Matthews strikes a balance between being optimistic and realistic when it comes to ambitions for her team at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October, where West Indies are in Group B with England, South Africa, Bangladesh and Scotland.”We’re going in as underdogs again and there’s no doubt about that.” Matthews says. “I think we’re in a pretty good group at the moment looking at the two of them, but look, we obviously do want to get out of that group stage and it would be great to win.”One thing we could be looking at is the fact that a T20 game can be won through a performance and it only takes one really big one on a day. We saw that when we went to Australia. No one, probably ourselves, would’ve ever thought that we’d be going down there and chasing 212 to win a match.”That puts us in pretty good spirits going into a T20 World Cup knowing that if one of us or two of us can bring our A game each day, we can probably do a lot of damage.”Another player capable of turning a match single-handedly is Deandra Dottin, who last week reversed her international retirement following an acrimonious departure in 2022 citing reservations about the team environment. It remains unclear whether she will be in line for T20 World Cup selection but the timing of her announcement is notable.”With Deandra, one thing I can say for sure is she is someone who, when she steps onto the field, she is going to give 100 percent every single time,” Matthews says. “It’s quite fresh news for us, this has only come about over the last few days or so.”I want to have discussions with her and with the team as well. Obviously that’s really important and I think that’s the most important thing for us right now. Until I’ve had those conversations I probably prefer not to make any more comments.”But look, she’s someone who’s always going to be able to be there to give a hundred percent on the field no matter what and I think that’s something that would definitely be wanted in any team.”