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The return of Root, as well as Harry Brook, will boost Yorkshire as they look to get back to Division One of the County Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2024Joe Root is set to make his first red-ball appearance for Yorkshire in almost two years as he prepares to line up against Gloucestershire this week in the second round of the County Championship.Root, whose only domestic cricket last year came in the Hundred for Trent Rockets following the Ashes, was announced in Yorkshire’s 13-man squad for the trip to Bristol. After missing the opening fixture against Leicestershire following the two-month tour of India, Root will play the next four rounds, followed by a trip away to Northamptonshire for the seventh round which begins on May 24. The 33-year-old last played first-class cricket for his home county in May 2022 against Warwickshire, a month after stepping down as Test captain, before playing three times in the T20 Blast up to June.It is a further boost to Yorkshire’s promotion hopes after they welcomed back Harry Brook for the first of his five-game stint last week. Brook, who had not played since England’s white-ball tour of the West Indies in December after withdrawing from the India series following the death of his grandmother Pauline, returned to action with a crisp unbeaten 100 off just 69 deliveries. Brook’s last fixture will be against Glamorgan at home, starting May 3, before taking a break ahead of England’s T20 series against Pakistan that leads into the T20 World Cup.Following an indifferent tour of the subcontinent, during which he scored 320 runs at 35.55, with just one century coming in the fourth Test as India triumphed 4-1, Root will use the next month to tune up ahead of a bumper six months. England welcome West Indies and Sri Lanka for three-Test series this season, the first of which begins at Lord’s on July 10. They then travel to Pakistan and New Zealand before the end of the year.Yorkshire will hope to make the most of the availability of both their stars as they look to return to Division One, having suffered relegation in 2022. They were hamstrung last summer by a 48-point deduction that decimated any hopes of an immediate return but are considered favourites to re-emerge from Division Two this time around.

KKR have brought in 16-year old Afghanistan offspinner Allah Ghazanfar

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2024Afghanistan mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has been ruled out of Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL 2024 campaign due to injury and will be replaced in the squad by his countryman, the 16-year-old Allah Ghazanfar.Rajasthan Royals signed South Africa’s left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj as a replacement for fast bowler Prasidh Krishna, who is currently recovering from surgery on his left proximal quadriceps tendon.Ghazanfar, also a mystery spinner, made his international debut earlier this month during the ODI series against Ireland, though he went wicketless in the two matches he played. He was Afghanistan’s second highest wicket-taker at the recently concluded Under-19 World Cup, taking eight wickets at an average of 16.75. Ghazanfar has played six List A matches and three T20s. He joins KKR for his base price of INR 20 lakhs.Maharaj, a South Africa veteran, has played 50 Tests, 44 ODIs and 27 T20Is, with a total of 237 wickets in international cricket. Additionally, he has played in T20 leagues around the world, including for Durban’s Super Giants in the SA20, and Fortune Barishal in the BPL. Maharaj, who took 15 wickets from 13 matches in this year’s SA20, had arrived in India earlier this month, training with the Lucknow Super Giants squad.KKR, who opened their campaign with a four-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, face Royal Challengers Bengaluru next on Friday. Royals also began their season on a victorious note against Super Giants.

The ICC and CWI issued a joint statement after the Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister confirmed that security agencies were monitoring a terror threat to the event

ESPNcricinfo staff06-May-2024The ICC and Cricket West Indies have assured that a “comprehensive and robust security plan” is in place for the Men’s T20 World Cup after Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley confirmed that security agencies in the West Indies were monitoring a possible terror threat to the event.Rowley spoke to the after reports of the terror threat, which had circulated on social media, emerged over the weekend.”Unfortunately, the threat of terrorism in its many and varied expressions is an ever-present danger in the world of the 21st century,” Rowley said. “It is against this backdrop that all nations, like our region, when hosting large or vulnerable gatherings, make an extra effort in national security preparations and response readiness to take seriously, all threats, expressed or implied.”Given the fact that bad actors can choose to misbehave in any way possible it makes it virtually impossible to completely seal off all opportunities.”However, in order to ameliorate these dangers, we at the local and regional levels have remained alert to many threats and singularly or together have our intelligence and other security agencies working to protect the population in countries and at venues throughout the tournament.”The ICC and CWI responded with a joint statement assuring stakeholders of the security measures in place.”We work closely with authorities in the host countries and cities, and continually monitor and evaluate the global landscape to ensure appropriate plans are in place to mitigate any risks identified to our event,” the statement said. “We want to assure all stakeholders that safety and security of everyone at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is our number one priority and we have a comprehensive and robust security plan in place.”The 20-team T20 World Cup will be played in nine venues, six of them in the West Indies and three in the USA. The tournament runs from June 1 to 29, with Barbados scheduled to host the final.

Home side lose fifth game in a row after stuttering effort with the bat

ECB Reporters Network21-Jun-2024Essex condemned Kent Spitfires to a fifth consecutive Vitality Blast defeat on Friday night as they cruised to a five-wicket win at Canterbury.Simon Harmer, Ben Allison and Matt Critchley all claimed two wickets as Kent were limited to 156 for 7, Sam Billings the highest scorer with 38. It never looked like being enough on a typically batter-friendly St Lawrence wicket and Michael Pepper blasted 76 from 42 balls as the visitors coasted home with five overs to spare, finishing on 157 for 5.Essex chose to bowl and got Daniel Bell-Drummond for 10, Allison duping him into a false shot that looped to Pepper at deep backward point. Zak Crawley had made 20 when he hit Critchley to Allison on the deep midwicket boundary and the umpires ruled his foot wasn’t in contact with the rope as he took a juggling catch.Tawanda Muyeye hit Simon Harmer back over his head for six but was bowled off the next ball for 18, giving Harmer his first Blast wicket of the season.Joey Evison went for 7, swatting Paul Walter to Allison at mid-off, but the real prize was Billings, who hit Critchley almost vertically before Luc Benkenstein took a steepling catch.Marcus O’Riordan made 20 from 11 before playing on to Harmer, Allison bowled Beyers Swanepoel for 2 and it was left to Harry Finch to milk what he could from the tail, finishing on 24 not out.The Essex innings was just an over old when the umpires took the players off because the sun was apparently “too bright” prompting the DJ to play “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves.They were almost at the rope when a cloud appeared and they were called back. Adam Rossington lasted just three more balls before he chipped Xavier Bartlett to Nathan Gilchrist.A second light delay followed before Gilchrist had Dean Elgar caught by O’Riordan for 7, leading to an eventful Jordan Cox cameo against his former county. He walked out to a mixture of booing and applause and responded with three successive fours off Bartlett. He then dumped Gilchrist for consecutive sixes, only to sky his next ball to Billings, falling for an eight-ball 26 and walking off to cries of “Judas” and worse from an unforgiving handful of home fans.After nine overs it was 99 for 3 and the win predictor suggested Essex were 99% likely to win. That was absurd as Walter immediately holed out to Matt Parkinson and was caught by an inrushing Bartlett for 15, but Pepper was playing with such ease that any realistic home hopes had faded long before swished at Evison and Parkinson couldn’t cling on at short third man.With fans streaming for the exits Gilchrist had Pepper caught on the boundary by Finch, leaving Critchley to score the winning runs with an inside edge that went for four.

Lancashire scrape into triple-figures but Luis Reece, Brooke Guest make short work of chase

ECB Reporters Network31-Jul-2024Pat Brown recorded his best one-day figures as Derbyshire thrashed Lancashire by nine wickets in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup match at Derby.Brown took 5 for 37 in six overs to bowl the visitors out for 99 in 20 overs while Zak Chappell and Harry Moore each claimed two wickets.The highest score for Lancashire was extras at 19 with only three players, one of them Andrew Flintoff’s 16-year-old son Rocky, making double figures.Derbyshire easily reached their target, ending on 100 for 1 in the 20th over with Luis Reece 52 not out to celebrate a third victory in Group A which boosts their chances of making the knock-out stages while Lancashire suffered a third defeat.Lancashire had no answer to Derbyshire’s pace attack and never recovered from losing three wickets in the first seven overs.Sam Conners trapped Harry Singh lbw before Chappell struck twice in his fourth over to leave the visitors on 27 for 3.Josh Bohannon was defeated by one that came back to clip the top of off stump and George Bell was lbw half forward to a full ball for 18.Flintoff played one dismissive pull to the ropes but was hit on the helmet trying to take on a short ball from Chappell in the ninth over.Although he was able to continue, he fell to another short delivery as Lancashire lost two wickets in Brown’s first over.Indian all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer marked his debut with two glorious drives for four off Moore but then pulled Brown into the hands of deep mid-wicket.Given Lancashire’s position, it was a poor decision by an international player and Flintoff fell into the same trap when he skied another Brown short ball to reduce his side to 55 for 5.The procession continued with Chris Green missing a big drive at Moore and Tom Aspinwall caught behind off Brown.who bowled Jack Blatherwick with a full ball in his next over.After Moore had George Balderson caught behind, Brown bowled Charlie Barnard to complete the rout.It was now a question of how quickly Derbyshire would wrap up victory and Reece pressed the accelerator with two sixes off Blatherwick in the fourth over.Reece and Harry Came shared a double century opening stand against Middlesex on Saturday but this time they were parted in the 8th over when Singh took a smart one-handed catch at second slip off Blatherwick to send back Came.But there was little else for Lancashire to enjoy on a chastening day as Reece and Brooke Guest with an unbeaten 37 added 65 to put the seal on an impressive Derbyshire display.

Says vice-captaincy “not a massive role”, though contrast with Pope seems instructive

Vithushan Ehantharajah02-Sep-2024Diminishing Test returns after being promoted to a leadership role is not just an Ollie Pope problem.Since assuming the vice-captaincy for the Sri Lanka series, Harry Brook has not been his usual, ruthless self. Starts have been given away throughout and an average of 39.50 from four innings is comfortably his lowest of any series in which he has played more than one match.The struggle is relative, of course. Pope would swap his 7.50 average in a heartbeat, or barter one of his deputy’s three thirty-odd scores that followed an accomplished 56 in the first innings at Manchester. And it is fair to say they are dealing with their new roles very differently.Fresh from victory at Lord’s that gives England an insurmountable 2-0 lead ahead of the third and final Test on Friday, Pope spoke of needing to “block out the criticism”. Balancing captaincy and batting remains a challenge, if only for one more game. The subsequent judgements on his personality, particularly set against the inspirational figure of regular men’s Test captain Ben Stokes, will take longer to dispel.Related

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Brook, on the other hand, seems as he always does. In good touch even without a score of note, and typically unflustered. “It’s not a massive role really, is it?” he said of vice-captaincy.”I haven’t had to do much, to be honest. I think Popey has done an amazing job. I’ve tried to give him a few ideas here and there; he’s taken some and he’s shrugged some off so it’s been good so far.”As for the runs, he is not worried: “[It’s] frustrating to get starts obviously, but I feel like I’m batting really well. And hopefully it’s just a matter of time when a big one comes.”The contrast in dispositions is stark. Irrespective of this secondment as captain, Pope’s England career has been one of spikes even during a consistent run at No. 3 under Stokes. Brook, on the other hand, has churned consistently. Even a 14-innings wait for his fifth Test century – which came against West Indies earlier this summer – featured match-winning half-centuries in last summer’s third and fifth Ashes Tests.It is worth going back to the summer of 2022 for a moment. Upon Stokes’ appointment, Pope picked up and phone and asked for the No. 3 spot. Stokes respected the proactiveness and that Pope was willing to bite the bullet at first-drop. With the top six locked in, Brook carried drinks until he got one innings in the seventh and final Test of that season, against South Africa, after Jonny Bairstow broke his leg.Having been dropped on the 2021-22 Ashes tour, Pope regards that call to Stokes as a sliding doors moment in his career. But it also had a knock-on effect for Brook. Had he featured earlier that summer, there is every chance he would have been the man named as Stokes’ official vice-captain in May of last year, not Pope.Brook has taken a relaxed approach as Ollie Pope’s vice-captain•Getty Images

Pope’s credentials at the time were aligned with his standing in the team; comfortable in a new batting spot, popular in the dressing room through familiarity having debuted in 2018, and, at 25, the ideal age to act as a conduit between the older team-mates and newer players coming through. Had Brook (25 now) picked up more than the six caps at the time of that vice-captaincy selection, he might have been the one leading against Sri Lanka.Nevertheless, captaincy has been a feature of Brook’s 2024 after taking the reins at Northern Superchargers in the men’s Hundred. “It was different, but it was good fun,” he said of the experience, which included working with new head coach Andrew Flintoff.Superchargers narrowly missed out on making the top-three spot on Net Run Rate, losing just two matches. Brook, absent from the first defeat to Trent Rockets as it coincided with the end of the West Indies Test series, impressed tactically, with a matter-of-fact demeanour that allowed him to stay level in a volatile format. He was also Superchargers’ second-highest runscorer with 163.”Obviously I’ve played with Stokesy quite a bit now and watching the way he goes about it I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take a few learnings from him,” Brook said of his captaincy inspiration. With Jos Buttler suffering a setback in his injury recovery for the white ball fixtures against Australia, Brook may get his chance to apply those learnings on the international stage.Asked if he was keen to captain more, Brook responded with a diplomatic “we’ll see”. But it is clear leadership is on the horizon. In a Test squad that currently features seven players aged between 23 and 27, along with a 19 (Josh Hull) and 20-year-old (Shoaib Bashir), Brook is a vital part of the nucleus of England’s present and future.It remains Stokes’ show, of course, reinforced by the allrounder’s presence on the balconies at Emirates Old Trafford and Lord’s. He will be just as visible at the Kia Oval as the hosts chase a first flawless Test summer in 20 years.Should that be achieved, it will be a shared feather in the caps of Stokes and Pope. The lack of resistance from West Indies and Sri Lanka will make it hard conclude England are a force to be reckoned with as they taper towards the 2025-26 Ashes.But the main takeaway already is a clearer idea of England’s next Test captain. And it is Pope’s vice rather than Stokes’.

Sussex duo lead recovery from 14 for 2 on hard-fought first day

ECB Reporters Network22-Aug-2024Yorkshire enjoyed the better of a hard-fought opening day of their Vitality County Championship promotion battle with Division Two leaders Sussex at Scarborough, though potentially not by much.Sussex came into this 10th-round Division Two affair top of the table with six wins and Yorkshire third with two. The gap between the two sides was 27 points, and both have high hopes of playing top-flight cricket next season.Sussex, invited to bat in challenging conditions, battled hard to reach close at 187 for nine from 72 overs, including half-centuries for left-handers Daniel Hughes and Tom Alsop, who top-scored with 84 not out off 184 balls.They had to recover from 14 for 2 during the early stages of the afternoon after rain had limited the morning session to only four overs. Matthew Revis’s seam accounted for three wickets.Although the day was shortened by 24 overs due to rain at the start and bad light at the end, the play was intriguing, and it would be absolutely no surprise if Sussex’s total turns out to be a competitive one.They batted under grey skies and on a pitch showing signs of uneven bounce.Hughes, who made 53, and Alsop, the latter dropped in the slips on nine during the afternoon, both drove nicely.Australian overseas opener Hughes has enjoyed an excellent start to life with the South Coast county during the second half of the summer, mainly in the Vitality Blast. And he has just signed on to return for the majority of 2025.He drove the first ball of the match, from Ben Coad, through the covers after Jonny Tattersall had elected to bowl.Another memorable one came almost arrow straight off George Hill midway through the afternoon to move him into the forties. But, largely, he was forced to battle hard.Unfortunately, having done the hard work and got set – he reached his fifty off 85 balls – he drove Coad to cover two balls later, falling to leave Sussex at 75 for 3 in the 30th over.Either side of the morning rain, from 11.20pm to 1.10pm, including lunch, Coad had trapped Tom Haines lbw with a full ball with the last delivery of the contest’s opening over before Tom Clark was caught at point having aimed a lazy drive at Thompson.Hughes and Alsop then shared 61 for the third wicket to ease Sussex nerves.Like Hughes, Alsop has this week committed his future to the South Coast county, signing a long-term contract.He was also strong on the drive but was far more obdurate than Hughes, seemingly determined to make the most of his life on nine when Fin Bean shelled a head-high chance at third slip off the bowling of Matthew Revis.After the Hughes dismissal, Thompson trapped James Coles lbw – 85 for 4 in the 36th over.Alsop and captain John Simpson shared 40 into the evening, but the latter pulled George Hill’s seam to midwicket. When Fynn Hudson-Prentice edged Revis to first slip shortly afterwards, Sussex were 134 for six in the 55th.Shortly afterwards, Alsop reached his half-century off 142 balls.Jack Carson and Indian seamer Jaydev Unadkat then offered catches to third and fourth slip as they drove at Revis. Sandwiched in between, Ollie Robinson edged Dan Moriarty’s left-arm spin to slip as the score slipped to 172 for 9 in the 69th over.Jonny Bairstow took the wicketkeeping gloves for Yorkshire in his first county appearance of the season and was neat and tidy, while Sussex’s new ball seamer Robinson was only called upon late on with the bat and made two.Both men are hoping to rekindle their England Test careers.Shortly before bad light was called at 6.15pm, the excellent Alsop hit two boundaries – one reverse swept and the other swept – off Moriarty as he ran out of partners.

Table-toppers Markhors endured their first loss despite fifties from Fakhar and Salman

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2024Irfan Khan’s 56-ball ton and Khushdil Shah’s all-round heroics handed Lions their first win and snapped table-toppers Markhors’ unbeaten streak. The result meant that all eight games in the Champions One-Day Cup have been won by the team batting first.Abdullah Shafique (52) and Imam-ul-Haq (51) laid the platform for Lions with a 110-run opening stand to allow Omair Yousuf (30) and Mohammad Taha (31) to cruise along in the middle overs.However, both pairs of batters fell in quick succession. Zahid Mahmood dismissed the openers before Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Imran got Yousuf and Taha respectively. But at 181 for 4, Khushdil joined Irfan for a dazzling fifth-wicket stand to lift Lions to a total beyond 350.The duo hit 12 fours and eight sixes in their 147-run partnership, off just 80 balls, as Lions breezed past 300 in the 45th over. Khushdil fell for 73 off 45, Irfan was on the same score with 20 balls to go. Irfan then went on to smash two sixes and fours each in his remaining 10 balls to reach the three-digit milestone and lift Lions to 367 for 6.Fakhar Zaman got off to a blistering start, handing Shaheen Shah Afridi another poor opening spell in the process. Ahmed Daniyal was taken down at the end of an 80-run opening powerplay but he fought back by removing Bismillah Khan and then Kamran Ghulam in the space of five overs.The wickets slowed Markhors down and Khushdil got Fakhar caught behind and Iftikhar caught and bowled to further derail the chase. Captain Mohammad Rizwan was run out in the 33rd over for 20 and the equation was now 176 required off 108 balls. Handy knocks from Abdul Samad (42) and Salman Agha (69) took Markhors past 300, but Aamer Yamin and Afridi dismissed the two set betters and pick another wicket each to seal the win for Lions.