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Nottinghamshire’s T20 batting line-up will look different this year but the overseas pairing of Dan Christian and Ish Sodhi offers stability

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2018Birmingham Bears have announced the return of explosive New Zealand all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme as the dedicated T20 overseas player for 2018.De Grandhomme, who scored the second fastest Test century by a New Zealander in December off just 71 balls, will be available for all games in next year’s T20 Blast campaign after helping the Bears to the final at Edgbaston in 2017.Ashley Giles, Warwickshire’s sport director, said: “I spoke about Colin being a moneyball player when we announced his signing last year. He was still establishing himself in the international game, but had made plenty of game-changing performances for Auckland. We also recognised that he is an outstanding character who would be a good addition to the dressing room.”He went on to play a huge role on our path to the final last year and we saw him change the outlook of several games very quickly, particularly his innings against Derbyshire Falcons at home, and Northants Steelbacks and Surrey away.”He’s incredibly popular with everyone at Edgbaston and we’re looking forward to welcoming him back to the club in July ahead of our first game away to Notts Outlaws.”De Grandhomme played in Birmingham Bears’ 16 NatWest T20 Blast games in 2017, scoring 322 runs at a prodigious strike rate of 170.32 and taking five wickets.”We came very close to winning the T20 Blast on Finals Day,” Grandhomme said. “We’ve got a young squad with plenty of firepower, and I believe that we have every chance of going one step further in 2018.”

Sri Lanka’s head coach said the batsman’s mental state was the biggest contributor to his recent form

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Mar-2018Omitted from Sri Lanka’s squads towards the end of 2017, Kusal Mendis has not only recovered his Test form this year, he has also produced two outstanding innings in T20. His 53 off 27 and 70 off 42 were match-defining efforts, as Sri Lanka swept the Bangladesh series 2-0 last month. He was not originally meant to be playing those games; only an injury to Kusal Perera saw him enter the XI.It was a breakthrough series for Kusal, because T20 had been a format that had previously confounded him. In eight earlier innings, he had hit a high-score of 22 and made double figures only thrice. Yet in Bangladesh, confidence was writ across his innings, as he manufactured innovative leg-side boundaries, played the ramp shot towards third man with abandon, and swept with striking ferocity. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who oversaw Kusal’s re-entry into the national side, and has seemingly begun to coax the player back to his best, said a clear head was responsible for his return to the runs.”Kusal’s mentality is really good these days,” Hathurusingha said. “He knows his game and understands himself better. Our coaches have worked very closely with him, and explained those things to him. He has clarity about what he does now. I think it’s the mental state that’s the biggest factor in his regaining form.”Such his his recent record, Kusal is a forerunner to open the batting against India in the first match of the Nidahas Trophy on Tuesday. But with so many openers in the squad, there is a crush for top three positions. Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera and Dananjaya de Silva may all be considered for positions in the top three.”Yes, we have a few openers,” Hathurusingha said. “We will open with whoever we feel will play the best. We’ll look at the other teams’ strengths and limitations before coming to that decision also.”Although Sri Lanka have recently showed improvement in Bangladesh, their record against India is woeful. India has won the seven most-recent T20s between these sides, and are ranked third in the world, while Sri Lanka are eighth.”If you go by the rankings, India is the top team in the tournament, so they always start ahead of the other teams,” Hathurusingha said. “Whoever plays for India, it is still a very strong team. We have to start well because we haven’t been doing well at home. With Bangladesh, because of the last series, we probably have a little edge over them mentally.”

Stokes returned to England colours in the first ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton and almost helped conjure a victory with two late wickets

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Feb-2018Former Australia captain Steve Waugh has said that Ben Stokes “owes” England following the fallout from the incident in Bristol last September which led to a charge of affray – which Stokes has pleaded not-guilty to – and meant he missed the Ashes.Stokes returned to England colours in the first ODI against New Zealand in Hamilton, and almost helped conjure a victory with two late wickets, but Waugh believed the “circus” around his absence meant England were on the back foot in Australia before the series even started.”It’s been chaotic, a bit of a circus,” he told at the Laureus World Sports Awards. “He certainly owes his team some good performances over the next couple of years because he really put them in a bit of a hole with the Australian tour, which was unsettling for the whole team.”For Trevor Bayliss and Joe Root to answer those questions was wearing – it was tough on Root. I’m sure Stokes has learned his lesson from what has happened, he left England in an awkward position. It put them off kilter for the whole trip and they didn’t really recover.”With England under scrutiny from the moment they arrived in Australia, their trip was further destabilised by the Jonny Bairstow ‘headbutt’ on Cameron Bancroft early in the tour at a Perth bar, which emerged towards the end of the first Test, and then Ben Duckett was reprimanded for throwing a beer over James Anderson’s head in the same Perth nightclub.”On any other tour they would have been non-events but they become magnified and all of a sudden you’re dealing with problems every day which you don’t need to,” Waugh said. “It just became a bit of snowball effect for the team.”On the field in Australia, England failed to take their chances when they had moments of holding the edge in most of the Tests. Their pace attack particularly struggled to make an impact. Waugh said Stuart Broad was “below his best” but believed he and James Anderson, who led the attack manfully, still had plenty to offer.”In New Zealand they will get much better conditions to bowl in, while I saw Anderson bowl last year in England and it was the best I’ve ever seen him bowl. When conditions suits and with the type of ball they use in England, I think those two are still a major force.”

They added the Irani Cup to the Ranji Trophy championship to ensure their 2017-18 season was an unprecedented success

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Mar-2018
The Vidharbha team pose with the trophy•ESPNcricinfo Ltd/ Vishal Dikshit

It was only three months ago that Vidarbha had become Ranji Trophy champions for the first time, but they were thirsty for more silverware, and their batsmen were greedy for more runs. Over the past week in Nagpur, they amassed a total of 800 for 7 – Wasim Jaffer contributed 286 – and then bowled out Rest of India for 390 to win the Irani Cup as well to ensure their 2017-18 season was an unprecedented success.Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav stood in the way for a little while. They came to the crease at 98 for 6 with two days of play still left, plenty of time for Vidarbha to pursue an outright result. But they just couldn’t get the wickets.Vihari made a splendid 183 and right alongside him Jayat contributed 96 in a 216-run partnership for the seventh wicket. Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate finally broke through and finished with 3 for 97 to provide his team with a trophy-clinching lead of 410 runs.There was still just enough time in the match for a couple of Vidarbha to fill their boots and the game ended with 23-year old opener Akshay Wadkar scoring a half-century. In all, there were 1269 runs scored for the loss of only 17 wickets over five days of play at the VCA stadium.

A new scheme, fronted by David Gower, is offering members of the public a chance to buy shares in Lord’s

Andrew Miller25-Apr-2018David Gower, the former England captain, insists that his aim is to be a “good neighbour” to MCC, the owners of Lord’s, after being unveiled as the public face of a consortium that is offering members of the public an opportunity to own parcels of land at the Nursery End of the ground – the scene of numerous development battles in the ground’s recent history.Gower unveiled the New Commonwealth consortium alongside Keith Bradshaw, the former MCC chief executive, at a breakfast meeting in St John’s Wood on Wednesday. Allan Lamb, his former England team-mate, was also in attendance, while other grandees of the game, including Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd, are also believed to be supportive of the scheme.The radical venture comes as a direct consequence of the vote in September, by the 18,000 members of MCC, to reject ambitious plans for a complete overhaul of the ground and instead press on with their own GBP194 million “MCC Masterplan”, funded from the club’s own resources.The alternative “Morley Plan” would have involved collaboration with Charles Rifkind, the property developer whose purchase, in 1999, of a 999-year lease on the disused tunnels beneath the Nursery End of the ground, effectively denied MCC an outright say in the future of their ground.MCC does still own the leasehold on the top 18 inches of land at that end of Lord’s, but the club members baulked – by an overwhelming 90% majority – at Rifkind’s desire to fund a complete overhaul of the venue through the erection of two blocks of flats alongside the Wellington Road.That vote might have been assumed to be the end of the saga. However, Rifkind’s decision to now sell off GBP500 shares, through the use of Blockchain technology, means that the debate will rumble on.Furthermore, the return of Bradshaw to the fray will add an extra layer of intrigue, given that he stood down from the MCC in 2011 in frustration at his ambitious “Vision for Lord’s” being kiboshed by the then-chairman Oliver Stocken.As SACA chief executive, Bradshaw has since gone on to oversee an even more ambitious redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval, which this winter played host to the first day-night Ashes Test – another concept that he championed during his five-year tenure at MCC.”We love Lord’s, but it is generally accepted that the stands are becoming tired, the facilities are tired and need some redevelopment. That requires money, and the Vision for Lord’s was one of the plans that was looked at,” Bradshaw told ESPNcricinfo.”The MCC and members made a decision not to go down that path and I would say we accept the umpire’s decision – there’s no DRS – and we move on.”The lease is for 120 years and if there’s no development on that piece of land and no agreement between MCC and New Commonwealth, then that land will revert back to the people who today acquire a piece of that land.”Millions and millions of people around the world have an emotional attachment to Lord’s,” he added. “Well, now they can go beyond an emotional attachment and have a financial attachment.”Gower, who scored two Test centuries at Lord’s in 17 appearances, was an outspoken advocate of Rifkind’s plan prior to the September vote, and says that the need to reinvigorate the look and feel of his favourite Test venue is the overwhelming reason for his involvement.”Before the vote in September I was quite vocal about what I saw as an opportunity to make the place look better,” Gower told ESPNcricinfo.”I still say that perimeter wall on the Wellington Road and St John’s Wood Road looks like a prison wall. It doesn’t look like something outside the most iconic cricket ground in the world. If they had opted to do something with it at that stage, it could have been a fantastic frontispiece.”That strip of land at the end has had a million hours of conversation about it. We’ve seen what happened with the club in September when the vote was to leave it as it is. They don’t want to develop it and we respect that.”So what we are doing now is saying ‘shall we get some fun out of that land, get some good use out of that land, offer it to people to have a stake in that land?’ Why not?”It’s a glorious ground with a glorious history. I can honestly say I’ve got some very good memories of playing out there, and some downright appalling ones.”Lord’s is iconic in the world of sport. It’s a wonderful place but it needs some TLC to regain its status as the No.1 ground in the world, because there are grounds around the world – Adelaide for one, where they are doing wonderful things to improve facilities.”We want to be good neighbours to the MCC. This is not about confrontation in any shape or form, it’s about making good use of a valuable piece of real estate.”We’re not anti-Lord’s, we’re not anti MCC. I’m a proud member of MCC. This is done if anything for love.”

England’s cricketers inflicted the final blow of a miserable day for Australian sport by taking a 38-run victory in Cardiff.

The Report by George Dobell16-Jun-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsEngland’s cricketers inflicted the final blow of a miserable day for Australian sport by taking a 38-run victory – and a two-nil series lead – in the Royal London ODI in Cardiff.On a day that had already seen Australia’s male international teams lose to France (in the football World Cup) and Ireland (in a rugby union
international), England registered the highest score they had ever made against Australia in ODI cricket and the highest score made in an ODI in Cardiff. It was enough to see Australia’s cricketers suffer the same fate as their compatriots and means that England have now won seven of the last eight ODIs between these sides. It makes Scotland’s success over England in Edinburgh a week ago seem ever more impressive.The result was a cruel return for Shaun Marsh after a hugely impressive innings. Only recalled for this series due to the suspensions of David Warner and Steve Smith, Marsh made his first ODI century in almost
five years – his previous one came against Scotland in September 2013 – and gave England quite a scare in the process. Demonstrating a cool head and some blistering strokes – one six over long-off against Mark Wood was among the strokes of the day – he lacked the support to make it a match-winning innings, but did not deserve to be on the losing side.Despite losing and their captain, Eoin Morgan, to a back spasm minutes before the toss, England registered stands of at least 50 for each of their first five wickets – the first time such a feat had been achieved in ODI cricket – with Jason Roy going on to achieve his fifth ODI century and Jos Buttler finishing unbeaten on 91. Morgan’s injury saw Buttler captain England and meant that, for the first time in men’s internationals between these teams, both sides were led by keepers.The foundation for the England innings was provided by Roy. Almost a year to the day since he was dropped from their team for the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final at this ground, Roy drove and pulled with tremendous power. In partnership with Jonny Bairstow, who looked in supreme form, Roy shrugged off losing the toss – England admitted they would have batted first anyway – and posted a fifty stand within the first 35 deliveries of the match.With Bairstow in such fluent form, Roy was able to take a little time to play himself in. And, despite losing Bairstow, to an edged cut, Alex Hales, who was hurried by a fine delivery that nipped back between bat and pad, and Joe Root, who was brilliantly caught by D’Arcy Short diving forward at deep square-leg, Roy was able to power on to his fifth ODI century off 97 balls.But when he fell with 14 overs remaining – victim of a fine, diving catch down the leg side from Tim Paine, just a few balls after the keeper had taken a painful blow to the face from one that bounced just in front of him – it seemed England may lose their way. The next four overs realised just 14 as
Australia’s bowlers came to terms with a surface that responded well to the use of cutters and slower balls. Few of England’s middle-order were able to adapt.Only Buttler was able to break the shackles in the final dozen or so overs. He ramped Jhye Richardson for successive sixes, skipped down the pitch to chip the impressive Marcus Stoinis over mid-wicket and punished the luckless Andrew Tye – who conceded an eye-watering 81 from his nine overs.Might Paine regret his decision to bowl first? As the match progressed, the pitch showed a few signs of irregular bounce and seemed more susceptible to both spin and slower deliveries gripping form the seamers. Moeen Ali, gaining enough turn to challenge the batsmen, bowled particularly well – he ended Short’s torturous innings when the batsmen edged an off-break to slip and then lured a frustrated Glenn Maxwell into a mis-timed drive that lofted to mid-on – while Liam Plunkett produced a cross-seam delivery that kept a little lower than Stoinis expected. By the time Finch, batting at No.5 in the hope of adding some solidity to the middle-order, missed an attempted sweep and departed for a duck, Australia were in deep trouble.Marsh at least provided some reason for cheer. The fall of Maxwell left Australia requiring 179 from the final 20 overs but, in partnership with the admirable Ashton Agar, Marsh added 96 in 12 overs for the sixth wicket to leave England – both in the field and with the ball – looking just a little ragged. An Adil Rashid googly – and smart stumping – from Buttler accounted for Agar, while Paine’s cameo was ended when he pulled to long-leg the ball after being dropped by Moeen at point. When Marsh, left with tailenders, was bowled by a Plunkett cutter that gripped just a little, Australia’s last chance departed with him.To be fair to Australia, they are nowhere near full strength. To add to their long list of absentees – at least five first-choice players are not on this tour due to a combination of injury or suspension – they lost Billy Stanlake ahead of the game due to a toe injury (Jhye Richardson took his place), while the seam-bowling all-rounder, Michael Neser, was dropped in favour of Short, who came in for his ODI debut.And, in that stand with Agar, Marsh showed up a few of the weaknesses that were apparent in England’s bowling effort in Edinburgh. It might provide a glimmer of encouragement for Australia – and a hint of concern for England – with the World Cup to come in a year.They’re in trouble in this series, though. Two-down with three to play, they have to win at Trent Bridge on Tuesday to keep this series alive.

Johnny Tattersall played his second impressive innings in quick succession as Yorkshire spectators wilted in the heat at Scarborough

Paul Edwards at North Marine Road25-Jun-20181:33

Nash’s ton gives boost for Notts

ScorecardScarborough on a warm Monday afternoon in late June and cricket takes its place in the multi-textured quilt of an English summer. Inside North Marine Road, Jack Leaning and Jonny Tattersall are attempting to rebuild a Yorkshire innings damaged by the loss of five wickets for 139 runs. Surrey’s bowlers strive for more breakthroughs on a pitch where 350 might be a good score.Then Leaning pulls Jade Dernbach to deep square leg where Will Jacks takes a good tumbling catch. Even as they settle into a highlight of their year, Yorkshire supporters are restive. Their side is nearer the bottom of the table than the top. Their side for this match is lacking six players who are answering representative calls. Surrey are without five but that worries the Peasholm Park regulars rather less.Despite appearances, though, cricket is not the only enthusiasm in Scarborough this week; Yorkshire and Surrey are not the only causes to command allegiance. Even as Tattersall and Tim Bresnan repaired their side’s position with a partnership of 106 for the seventh wicket, flags of St George flew from the windows of cars passing the ground just as they already festoon shop fronts. Tattersall reached his maiden first-class fifty with a glance off Dernbach and extended his partnership with Bresnan beyond 100. The mood of the day changed as Surrey struggled for wickets with the new ball.Bresnan, dropped behind the wicket on 18, thumped the ball uncompromisingly hard but was bowled for 48 when attempting another drive off Rikki Clarke. Two overs before the close Tattersall edged Morne Morkel to Scott Borthwick and left with 70 fine runs against his name. A week earlier, he had resisted gamely in Yorkshire’s Royal London Cup semi-final defeat against Hampshire,Yorkshire supporters wearing their team shirts puffed out their chests and stood to applaud. But there are other shirts in Scarborough this week and not only those of a good Surrey contingent. The colours of all nations hang in The Albert and The Scarborough Flyer but internationalism ends at the ceilings. Old songs of triumph boom out and big blokes in white football shirts pass strong opinions.Spectators soak up the sun at Scarborough•Matthew Allen

Just before the start of play spectators sat in front of the tea-room at the Trafalgar Road End and read how young men in Nizhny Novgorod have apparently made a statement by bombing on in the final third. A few moments later Alex Lees bombed out in the second over, caught and bowled by Dernbach for nought, and Yorkshire’s fitful progress through the first two sessions had begun. In his customary style Adam Lyth drove pleasantly through the covers but was caught in the gully off Morkel for 42 when driving once too often.Meanwhile, there was the batting of Cheteshwar Pujara to enjoy and many Yorkshiremen will have enjoyed the restraint he showed against Surrey’s seamers. Every leave-alone, especially when played to balls which passed high over the stumps, elicited a quiet purr of approval from spectators who have always reckoned free scoring on the first morning of a match to be vastly overrated. Pujara had batted 70 minutes and faced 42 balls before getting off the mark with a cover-driven boundary off Ryan Patel. He came into lunch unbeaten on 17 after 112 minutes of abstinence.Yet if Pujara exhibits all the Puritan virtues, he was dismissed by a bowler whose celebrations would make a Restoration dramatist look demure. Amar Virdi is still 19 years old and he evinces the joy of a cricketer who believes the world is his playground. Perhaps, for one summer at least, he is right.In Virdi’s third over Pujara made to force the offspinner off his legs but only gave a bat and pad catch to Jacks at short leg. Two balls later, Harry Brook was leg-before when he went back to a ball which seemed to skid on. Virdi scampered off, he knew not where, with the exuberance of a Colombian inside-right.Brook’s dismissal left Yorkshire on 106 for 4 and their innings in sore need of repair. That was initially provided by Gary Ballance, who seems to be batting more fluently now freed of the cares of captaincy. Several of his eight fours were as pleasant as anything seen all day and he reached his fifty with a pulled six off a Virdi long hop. Eight balls later, though, Ballance was bowled playing no shot to Clarke and spectators became fretful. Tattersall’s achievement was to turn their uncertainty to joy, an emotion intensified when Morkel conceded 19 runs off the day’s final over. All this, they thought, and Spain v Morocco to come. Another grand day.

Rapids clung on nervously for a four-run win as Sam Hain took Birmingham Bears closer than they imagined early in their chase

ECB Reporters Network06-Jul-2018
ScorecardWorcestershire Rapids made it two wins in 24 hours as they triumphed by four runs against local rivals Birmingham Bears in the Vitality Blast despite another fine knock from Sam Hain at a packed Blackfinch New Road.Hain followed up his excellent Tri-Series for England Lions in which he scored two centuries by making an excellent 70 off 44 balls.But the Rapids total of 192 for 7 was just beyond Hain and the Bears as skipper Brett D’Oliveira’s side followed up the last over win over Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford yesterday evening with another impressive performance.Pat Brown and Ed Barnard picked up three wickets apiece for the Rapids.But a last wicket stand of 36 between Tim Ambrose (23 not out) and Oliver Hannon-Dalby (15 not out) meant the result was in doubt to the final delivery.Loan signing, paceman Luke Wood from Nottinghamshire, bowled the final six balls and conceded just seven runs with some straight and accurate bowling.Wood said: “The last over was a new thing to me, coming in a different side with a slightly different role to what I’ve had previously. I saw it as a big challenge and to get through it at the end was a nice feeling. You try and keep things as clear as you can because if you try and over-think and over-complicate things just because of the situation it can become quite difficult.”

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The Rapids were put into bat and Joe Clarke immediately looked in good touch with a string of boundaries.He collected three in Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s first over and then struck Colin De Grandhomme for 4-4-4-6 off successive balls.But after making 33 off 14 deliveries, the England Lions batsman went for a scoop shot against Harry Brookes and only succeeded in nicking through to keeper Tim Ambrose.Martin Guptill played second fiddle to Clarke but then upped the ante himself with a trio of fours in Will Rhodes’ first over before pulling Bears captain Grant Elliott over the mid wicket boundary.He brought up his half century off 38 balls with seven fours and a six but added only one more before caught off a skier by Hannon Dalby off De Grandhomme.The partnership with Callum Ferguson was worth 60 off eight overs.Ben Cox (7) holed out to long on off Jeetan Patel but Ferguson collected two sixes in an over from the New Zealander.He perished for 45 from 34 balls attempting a scoop shot and being pouched backward of square off De Grandhomme.The Rapids lost three wickets in four balls at the conclusion of the innings, two of them in successive balls to Hannon-Dalby.Ed Pollock gave the Bears a flying start with two sixes in an opening over from Worcestershire loan signing, Luke Wood from Nottinghamshire, which cost 20 runs.But youngster Pat Brown’s second ball accounted for the in-form Ian Bell who was bowled for a duck.Brown enjoyed another breakthrough in his next over as Pollock (28) nicked through to keeper Cox.It became 49-3 when Clarke produced a stunning low catch at long to account for Adam Hose (6) off Ed Barnard.Spinner George Rhodes increased the pressure on the Bears by bowling Elliott (4) after he went for an expansive drive.Then Colin Grandhomme (15), having planted one Daryl Mitchell delivery over the mid wicket boundary, aimed another shot in the same area off the same bowler and was caught by BarnardThe game swung back towards the Bears as Sam Hain hit Rhodes for two sixes in an over costing 20 runs to reach a 36 ball half century.But after racing to 70 off 44 balls – with four sixes and five fours – he went for one big hit too many and became Mitchell’s second victim as the safe pair of hands of Whiteley at deep mid wicket made no mistake.Barnard came back into the attack and snapped up Will Rhodes (21) and Jeetan Patel (1) in one over – caught at long on and lbw respectively.

The Kerala pacer drove through flood waters to get to the Duleep Trophy, even as the worst rains in nearly a century hit his state

Deivarayan Muthu26-Aug-2018Kerala quick Basil Thampi enjoyed a two-week stint at the National Cricket Academy in Brisbane in July, as part of an exchange programme between Cricket Australia and the MRF Pace Foundation based in Chennai. He and Tamil Nadu seamer K Vignesh had the opportunity to work with Ryan Harris, Greg Chappell, and a battery of Under-19 Australian fast bowlers.Upon his return to India, he planned to visit the MRF Pace Foundation in the second week of August and tune up further for the Duleep Trophy, the curtain-raiser to a bumper domestic season. He was keen to get his season started, but it had begun to rain heavily. He cancelled his trip to Chennai, thinking he would go straight to Dindigal in Tamil Nadu for the Duleep Trophy. But the rain continued, triggering the worst floods in Kerala in nearly a century.Having been asked to report to Dindigul on August 21, to join the India Blue squad two days before the start of their four-day match against India Red, Thampi was supposed to fly out of Kochi but then the airport shut because of flooding. His fall-back option was a train to Madurai on 20th, but that was cancelled too at the last moment. Despite the crisis in Kerala escalating, Thampi had mailed the BCCI, saying that he would somehow make it to the Duleep Trophy.”I explained to the BCCI my situation, but I was desperate not to miss the start of the domestic season,” Thampi told ESPNcricinfo. “How can I miss the start of the season?”AFP

He and his brother decided to wade through the flood waters and make a dash for Madurai, which is about 70 km away from Dindigul, by car. Since his place at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam was on a higher plain, his family and their property – including the car – was safe.As Thampi and his brother travelled towards the Tamil Nadu border via Kumily, a “frightening” landslide sent them through detours but they made it. Thampi’s brother dropped him in Dindigul on the 22nd night, stayed the night with him, and returned to Perumbavoor the next day, after the situation had improved back home.”The landslide was a frightening experience and we could not cross the Kumily check post,” Thampi said. “But I was determined to reach Dindigul and once we reached the Tamil Nadu border, it was easier to go to the team hotel [in Madurai]. Since I arrived late in Madurai, I could not play this game.” His next chance to play would be on August 29, at the same venue, when India Blue take on India Green.Thampi remains conscious of the trauma in his state caused by the floods. Before heading to the Duleep Trophy, Thampi and his friends had provided relief supplies to those affected in his town. His friends Milan and Basil and several others are still dispatching clothing and food.”The support from people everywhere has been phenomenal and things are getting better now,” Thampi said. ” Some areas have been splashed with mud and dirt, so in addition to basic needs, my friends are reaching out and providing cleaning agents like bleaching power. My support is always with them. This flooding has been tough, but Kerala will definitely bounce back.”

Adil Rashid is staying at Yorkshire for the time being, but with The Hundred about to make its entrance into English cricket, no county is confident what the future holds

David Hopps24-Sep-2018Adil Rashid has signed a new deal at Yorkshire – but it is only for one year while club and player see how his career develops and while uncertainty reigns over the envisaged new format, The Hundred, which is due to make its entrance in 2020.The somewhat guarded agreement reflects not just lingering qualms between player and club, but also the fact that the introduction of a new eight-team format into England’s summer has thrown the county game into an age of uncertainty.There are too many unanswered questions about the future structure of the county game for any club to plan with certainty and Yorkshire, aware that their financial position remains precarious, are as wary as anybody.Rashid’s new contract – which can fairly be viewed a a provisional solution which states good intentions on both sides – means Rashid will again make himself available for all forms of the game, in line with the ECB’s new stipulation that in future any white-ball only deal would have excluded Rashid from selection for Test cricket.Rashid, who has been at Yorkshire for 12 years, renegotiated his club contract at the start of the year so that he was only involved in one-day formats and it remains to be seen whether his commitment to red-ball cricket extends much beyond his natural pride about breaking into England’s Test side.Despite that he was selected for England’s recent summer Test series against India, playing all five Tests in a 4-1 victory. He has been selected for the pre-Christmas tour to Sri Lanka and he will hope good form for Yorkshire can strengthen his claim for next summer’s home Ashes.”There’s been a lot of talk and speculation but Adil is a very valuable cricketer for us,” said Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon.”Now he’s in the Test team, how much he’ll be available for us next season is unclear. But when he is available we’d be delighted to have him and for him to be part of what would hopefully be a successful summer.”For now, it will just be for a year because it’s still not clear what career path he’s going to take. He’s back in the Test team and continues to do well, so we’ll see where that takes us. Obviously going into 2020 and with the new competition, players are waiting to see how that will affect contracts.”I think for now it’s good to have the one year and see how the winter goes for Adil. We’ll probably have another look at it after the World Cup and see where he is, particularly with England and how much he’s involved with them. In the short-term it’s good to know when he’s available he’ll be playing for us.”Rashid, who took six wickets on his Championship debut for Yorkshire as a teenager in 2006, has taken 500 First-Class wickets at an average of 34.98. All of his 10 hundreds have come for the White Rose. In all T20 cricket, at international and domestic level, he has taken 178 wickets and scored 677 runs. In the one-day arena, he has returned 255 wickets and 1,584 runs.Rashid, who took 10 wickets for 50 runs in seven Championship matches in 2017, was recently told by national selector Ed Smith that he must be available across the board from the start of next summer to be considered for Test cricket.Moxon continued: “It was a big surprise that he wanted to play white ball only and asked us for a white-ball only contract. That changed very quickly and unexpectedly so that created a bit of confusion and instability for a little while.”But I think we’ve been clear from the outset that we wanted to keep Adil at the club. When it became known he had to have a red-ball contract, we were more than happy to put that in place.”Speaking to Adil he’s keen to stay here and has been here all his life. He’s in no mood to change that. We’re really pleased to keep him. We all know he’s a matchwinner for us. Leg-spin bowlers, wrist-spin bowlers are vital part of the game and that’s what we want from Adil, that potential to be a matchwinner for us in all formats.”Nevertheless, complications remain. Rashid and Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s head coach, have had a tense relationship and it remains to be seen whether clear-the-air talks will lead to a stronger bond in 2019.Yorkshire have also signed Josh Poysden, another legspinner, from Warwickshire, in the belief at the time that Rashid would not be playing Championship cricket. That is now very much dependent upon how successfully his England career develops.