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Seamer hopes reverse-swing expertise can earn him spot in side for first Test in Sri Lanka

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Mar-2020There was a time when Saqib Mahmood – a young seamer capable of reaching speeds of 90mph/145kph and extracting reverse-swing – would have been like gold dust for England.But with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both regularly cranking it up over the last 12 months of Test cricket, Mahmood recognises that the bar has been raised.”For someone like me who touches 90mph, you’re looking at these guys and it’s almost like that’s not quick enough anymore,” Mahmood told PA. “I think those two guys have really raised the bar in terms of pace.ALSO READ: Kookaburra would bring ‘different skillset’ into Championship – Mahmood“A few years ago… we were crying out for 90mph bowlers. Now we’ve got two bowlers who can get it up past 95mph. These guys make me hungrier to keep working hard and get quicker.”Mahmood, a late call-up to England’s squad in Sri Lanka after Wood’s injury, is yet to make his debut in Test cricket, but is one of only four frontline seamers to have made the trip alongside Stuart Broad, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes, with Archer also missing out through injury. And while he is not taking anything for granted, Mahmood hopes that his skill with the old ball can help catapult him into the side following strong showings across two warm-up games.”In this team that’s probably what I’ll be looking to do: bowl short spells and try to be as quick as I can be,” he said. “As a seamer over here you’re not going to bowl the same number of overs you would in England so you have to make the most of them.”I want to attack with the new ball, but I also want to attack later in the innings and not just be a bystander in the field when the spinners are getting through their overs. Whether that’s by getting the ball reversing or by making something by bowling three or four overs as fast as possible, I just want to show everyone what I can do.”Mahmood has regularly touched 90mph in his televised appearances for Lancashire, but after struggling to reach such speeds in his handful of international caps to date, it has been suggested that he needs to focus on finding that mark more regularly.But Mahmood is confident that an extra yard of pace “will come naturally” as he grows older and stronger.Saqib Mahmood was a late call-up to England’s squad after Mark Wood’s injury•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“There is a fine margin, you have to be careful as a bowler and not search so hard for something that you lose what you’ve got,” he said.”At the moment I can bowl high 80s and also have skill and control. I wouldn’t want to sacrifice anything in search of another three of four miles an hour but hopefully that will come naturally. I’m only 23 and as I grow older I should get stronger in my action.”England trained for the first time on their tour on Thursday at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Jack Leach, who has a calf niggle, warmed up on his own before bowling in the nets, while Ben Stokes has arrived in the country after delaying his departure to attend a funeral.Their first warm-up game against a Sri Lanka Board President’s XI begins on Saturday.

Dynamites were restricted to 116 for 9 in pursuit of 137, a batting performance that was a far cry from their big-hitting ways in their last four games

The Report by Mohammad Isam16-Jan-2019
How the game played outRajshahi Kings broke Dhaka Dynamites’ four-match winning streak, successfully defending a total of 136 for 6 as Arafat Sunny took extraordinary figures of 3 for 8 from his four overs, including the scalps of Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan.Dynamites were restricted to 116 for 9, a batting performance that was a far cry from their big-hitting ways in their last four games when either their openers, or allrounders, made a big score.When the Kings batted first, Marshall Ayub top scored with 45 off 31 balls, with three fours and two sixes. It was his first BPL match since the 2013 tournament.But the Kings’ middle-order couldn’t take advantage of the start provided by Ayub and Nafees, as Sunil Narine grabbed three wickets to stifle the middle order.Turning points– Nafees and Ayub put on 75 runs for the second wicket in just 8.5 overs, a refreshing performance from two batsmen known more for their exploits in the longer versions of the game.- Kings made only 27 runs in their last five overs, losing three wickets.- Ryan ten Doeschate and substitute Soumya Sarkar combined to take Kieron Pollard’s boundary line catch, to leave Dynamites seven down and send back the team’s last remaining hope in their chase.Star of the daySunny’s first ball had Russell, promoted to No 3, caught at mid-on before he bowled Rony Talukdar with an arm-ball. When he had Shakib caught at the deep midwicket boundary, the Kings’ celebration said a lot about how crucial they felt the wicket was to their chances.The big missUmpiring errors continued in the BPL with the third umpire in this game judging ten Doeschate not out when the Snickometer (or UltraEdge) clearly showed a spike when the ball was passing his gloves in the 12th over of the Kings’ innings. Ten Doeschate was initially given not out by the on-field umpire too.Where the teams standKings join Comilla Victorians and Chittagong Vikings with six points, while the Dynamites remain on top of the points table with eight points from five games.

Virat Kohli will go to South Africa without having lost a Test series as a captain after India took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series with their joint-biggest Test win and Sri Lanka’s biggest defeat

The Report by Sidharth Monga27-Nov-20171:11

R Ashwin’s milestone timeline

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Virat Kohli will go to South Africa without having lost a Test series as a captain after India took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the series with their joint-biggest Test win and Sri Lanka’s biggest defeat. As Kohli crept closer to most Test wins for India, his No. 1 matchwinner so far, R Ashwin, became the fastest man to 300 Test wickets.It is not easy to keep turning up after you have wasted all the good fortune in one Test and then lost the second Test on the first day itself. Sri Lanka’s downward slide continued into the first session of the fourth day as they gift-wrapped two wickets to India, who now need two more to take an unassailable lead in the series.Beginning the day 384 behind and needing to bat about five sessions to save the Test, Sri Lanka were expected to go down, but the point of interest was whether they would make India – already resting players and playing on pitches that reduce home advantage in order to prepare for South Africa – work hard for their wickets. Lahiru Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews answered in the negative.Before that, though, Dimuth Karunaratne encountered some tough luck with a freak short leg catch from M Vijay sending him back in the seventh over of the day. Having survived 61 balls, Thirimanne then scooped a wide half-volley straight to point. Mathews soon lobbed Ravindra Jadeja straight to mid-off to end his 32-ball innings. With no hope left, Dasun Shanaka threw his bat at everything, connecting well enough for a four and two sixes, but not well enough when he skied one to end his eight-ball 17. Once given a whiff, R Ashwin was too good for Dilruwan Perera and Rangana Herath, whom he sent back for ducks in the space of three balls.Probably expecting more of the same capitulation, the first session was extended by 15 minutes to see if India could wrap the game up before lunch but Sri Lanka just about hung in to force a second session. Some of the capitulation was down to accurate and skillful bowling on a deteriorating surface, but India will be the first ones to say they have worked harder for wickets. The good bowling was evident in how Niroshan Dickwella was forced by Ishant Sharma to play at a length ball outside off in a spell that he extracted each-way reverse swing, playing with the scrambled minds of the batsmen.Sri Lanka went into the break trailing by 260 runs. There was three-fold uncertainty at the start of the final session with two wickets standing. Would Ashwin get the one wicket he needed to reach 300? Would Sri Lanka score the 22 required to deny India their biggest Test win and the 32 required to avoid their biggest defeat? After having scored 61, and having put together 58 for the ninth wicket, Dinesh Chandimal picked out long leg perfectly when he flicked a leg-stump half-volley from Umesh Yadav. India’s lead now was 240. Only one run was added to the total when an Ashwin carrom ball kissed Lahiru Gamage’s off stump.

Middlesex, a well-resourced club, have not won the County Championship since 1993, but a Lancashire collapse suggests they might be taking the slow train to success

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford13-Sep-2016
ScorecardMiddlesex’s slips lie in wait as Lancashire crumble to 32 for 5•Getty Images

As Roald Dahl suggested, tales of the unexpected come in many forms. Behind the mundane, lurk both the remarkable and the macabre. One of the domestic game’s oddities is that Middlesex, a well-resourced club, have not won the County Championship since 1993; another is that Somerset did not win the title when they boasted some of the best cricketers in the world.At lunchtime in this game, when Middlesex had been bowled out for 327, it seemed that Somerset’s chances were improving with every run they scored in Leeds. Barely an hour later, though, James Franklin’s men were jubilant as they reduced Lancashire to 32 for 5 before some stubborn resistance from the home side left them on 102 without further loss at the close.Yet this was still a fine afternoon for Middlesex and they have two days to confirm their superiority and collect the 22 points that might leave them the length of a seaxe from glory. Somerset end a day of wonderful fluctuation needing to seal their win over Yorkshire and pray that Lancashire are stirred to break their habit of being relegated every other year.Some supporters at Old Trafford are reconciled to such biennial disappointment. So it was difficult to know whether Lancashire supporters travelling to Old Trafford from Wigan or Westhoughton for a 10.30 start on the second day of this game were more surprised to get a seat on the early train or to see their bowlers take seven wickets in a session. Probably the former.After all, it seemed unlikely that Steven Croft’s bowlers would be as ineffective or their fielding as fatigued as it had been on the first day. For them to those wickets for 65 runs in 27 overs during a slightly extended morning session was within possibility’s bounds; especially so once Tom Bailey and Kyle Jarvis had removed three recognised batsmen wickets in the first ten overs with a ball that was still quite new.On the other hand, some of the morning trains from the west are so crowded and their progress so pedestrian that any suggestion of comfort is greeted with astonishment. Indeed, the locomotive has been christened “the Parbold Flyer” by commuters whose capacity for irony seems only to have been sharpened by the sensory delights of close proximity to their fellow passengers. Other despondent travellers are more choleric: Gathurst, Wigan Wallgate, Westhoughton, Bolton: the stations of the bloody cross.Yet once they had recovered feeling in their limbs, travellers on what seems slowest loco in the land may have raised their arms in triumph as Bailey and Jarvis bowled both Dawid Malan and Stevie Eskinazi off the inside edge in the opening quarter-hour of play. Those dismissals changed the temperature of the game and revealed this Manchester pitch as one responsive to accurate bowling, not least because the bounce is increasingly variable.Early success emboldened Lancashire and James Franklin’s men found the spinners no easier to play than the seamers. Only the Middlesex captain, who took 112 minutes over his careful 31 not out, survived for long as Simon Kerrigan took three wickets from the Pavilion End and Croft removed Tim Murtagh, courtesy of Rob Jones’ sharp diving catch at short leg. So instead of knowing they needed to bat for the rest of the game to save it, Lancashire’s batsmen were faced with a total they had a hope of reaching in one dig.For 13 overs or so, it seemed to make not a brass farthing of difference to them. Unlike the train journey to Deansgate, Lancastrian delight didn’t last for ever. More significantly, the marvellous potency of this Middlesex attack was revealed as they dismantled Croft’s top order, reducing the home team to 6 for 4 in the eighth over.They needed a drop of luck, mind, although one could argue that bowlers of the quality of Toby Roland-Jones deserve all the good fortune going. Certainly there was no great twist of fate about the dismissal of Haseeb Hameed, who pushed pretty blamelessly forward at the ninth ball he received but only edged it to Ollie Rayner at second slip.Middlesex’s bowlers were encouraged by this early success and they soon had more wickets to celebrate. Luke Procter’s careless fence to Tim Murtagh only gave a catch to Stevie Eskinazi in the gully and Roland-Jones then took two wickets in three balls. Alviro Petersen was caught down the leg side off a ball which seemed to touch only his thigh and Croft lost his off stump when failing to cover late movement.Suddenly the cricket acquired a new tension. Both Lancashire’s future in the First Division and Middlesex’s hopes of the title hinged on what might happen in the next hour. Meanwhile Somerset were building a big lead at Headingley and you did not need to be born in Glastonbury to wonder wistfully if this was going to be their year at last.Jos Buttler, as if batting for both Lancashire and the county of his birth, hit three pedigree fours off a Murtagh over but then fell for 16 when his leg side nick off Roland-Jones was brilliantly caught one-handed by John Simpson diving to his left. It was a catch to help win a title. Gloom in Weston-super-Mare. Talk in Taunton of another meek Lancastrian capitulation. Remember 2010? They do.The hopes of the home side now rested on Rob Jones, who was playing his fourth first-class innings and Liam Livingstone, whose style is more suited to the cavalry charge than the cautious advance under enemy fire.Only 45 minutes earlier Jones had opened the batting with Hameed; he had already enjoyed the company of more flighty partners than a botoxed Floridian billionaire; Livingstone, for his part found batting at No7 was getting him to the wicket more quickly than going in first drop. In Lancashire’s previous home match against Somerset he had tramped out at No3 in the 31st over; now here he was, facing a new ball with the score on 32 for 5. “Do you fancy dropping down the order and going in earlier?” must be a strange question for a young cricketer to answer.The atmosphere grew heavy and close as if to intensify the importance of the cricket. Each run was greeted with a relieved rattle of applause before spectators contemplated its significance. Jones played with a maturity far beyond his years and his 42 not out was the sort of innings that is worth a month’s cricket to a young player; Livingstone, having batted poorly in the previous match, showed that he is learning what this professional game is all about and was unbeaten on 31.Either side of break for bad light and hints of rain, the pair added an unbroken 70 in 25 overs before bad light arrived as a prelude to some serious weather. “Storms From Stoke” said a colleague and it could have been the title of an Arnold Bennett novel.No matter. When play was called off, Lancashire’s hopes were still alive and Middlesex’s optimism had been dampened a touch by more than a thunderstorm. It had been a great day’s cricket. Spectators donned their helmets and crash pads and made for the rush hour chuff-chuff home.

Lancashire will need to take 14 wickets in the final three sessions to win their Division Two game against Glamorgan after rain restricted the teams to only 52.2 overs on the third day at Old Trafford

ECB/PA23-Aug-2015
ScorecardGlen Chapple moved closer to 1000 first-class wickets on a rain-affected day•Getty Images

Lancashire will need to take 14 wickets in the final three sessions to win their Division Two game against Glamorgan after rain restricted the teams to only 52.2 overs on the third day at Old Trafford.In the cricket that was possible before showers of varying intensity coalesced into serious rain, Glamorgan lost five more first-innings wickets, two of them to Glen Chapple, in scoring 134 runs and were 182 for 6 when umpires Rob Bailey and Richard Illingworth finally called play off for the day.Resuming on 48 for 1 in reply to Lancashire’s 462, Glamorgan lost their skipper Jacques Rudolph for 22 in the sixth over of the morning when his unwise push at a Chapple delivery which was cleverly pushed across the left-hander only edged a catch to wicketkeeper Alex Davies.Forty minutes later Colin Ingram, having batted safely enough in making 17, opted not to play a shot at a ball from James Faulkner which plucked out his off stump. That left Glamorgan on 96 for 3 but nightwatchman Andrew Salter and Chris Cooke then added 26 before Salter was stumped by Davies off Kerrigan when he came down the wicket but was defeated by a little turn.Until his dismissal, Salter had batted very well for his 45 runs and had recorded his fifth successive score above 30. Indeed he had looked far more competent than his status as a nightwatchman might imply.There were only 19.2 overs in the afternoon session before an early tea was taken but Steven Croft’s bowlers claimed two further wickets in the play that was possible to strengthen their team’s hold on the match.David Lloyd was bowled by Chapple for 15 when he played most crookedly at a ball outside his off and succeeded only in edging it onto his middle stump, thus giving Chapple his 982nd first-class wicket. Twelve overs later, Cooke, having batted in a pleasantly accomplished fashion for 31 was leg before to Faulkner, who brought the ball back from the off to trap the Glamorgan batsman on the crease.Mark Wallace was unbeaten on 20 off 38 balls when, with the sky darkening and the rain setting in, the players came off for good.Should Lancashire win this game they will clinch promotion back to Division One of the Championship with three four-day games still to be played. However, the destination of the Division Two title may well depend on the result of the match against Surrey, which begins on September 14.

Stuart Broad, England’s captain, described their final performance as “perfect” as they secured the T20 series 2-1

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2013England carried out a round tour from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again during the T20 series against New Zealand, which they secured 2-1 with a crushing ten-wicket victory in Wellington. Talk before the match had been of New Zealand comebacks but England produced the the ideal response to defeat in Hamilton, with the captain, Stuart Broad, describing their performance as “perfect” – though he needed to take a deep breath before deciding to insert New Zealand again.The pace bowlers’ use of a short length paid off and England took regular wickets, before Alex Hales and Michael Lumb peppered the boundaries to complete the highest successful chase without losing a wicket in T20 internationals. While in the second match, England’s batsmen struggled against a moving ball under lights, the only swing on offer in Wellington came in the form of another dramatic shift in fortunes between the teams.”All round, it was probably the most powerful [T20] performance I’ve seen from an England side really,” Broad said. “The result, and the way we adapted to the conditions with the ball, was brilliant. The fielding was strong as well, catches being held. It was a pretty perfect performance really.””We know early wickets kill you in Twenty20, so it was great to see the guys take their time and get used to the wicket a little bit for two or three overs … then once Alex Hales got going, it looked hard to stop him. Some of the sixes were huge. Lumby’s almost went out of the ground to finish the game.”Broad accepted responsibility for bowling first in Hamilton but his team justified the decision this time, continuing a run that has seen the chasing side win all five T20 internationals played at the Westpac Stadium. Having taken 4 for 24 in the first match in Auckland – then going for 53 in the second – Broad collected his second-best T20 figures of 3 for 15 to finish the series on a positive personal note ahead of England’s ODI and Test commitments.”After winning the toss and deciding to bowl – it took a little time to make that decision – it was important we put our wrongs right,” Broad said. “We hung into a heavy length, and the way we started with the ball, the tone we set, was fantastic. We probably kept them to 20 or 30 under par. But the power the two openers have shown there was pretty spectacular.”For Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s captain, it was a return to lauding the opposition after his side was comprehensively outplayed. The batsmen could only manage three sixes in limping to 139 for 8 and then New Zealand’s sloppy series in the field continued as Hales was dropped twice early the England chase.”We were blown off the park tonight. [Our] batting, bowling and fielding was nowhere near the standards they need to be – and England were ruthless, and thoroughly deserved the series victory,” McCullum said. “There was some excellent hitting. We served them up … and I thought we bowled too straight; we weren’t able to get any swing whatsoever.”We were aware, once we were batting, we’d need to get somewhere near 170 – because it would skid on later – to be competitive. But in the end we probably needed 200, the way they played. We were just poor across the board, and they were excellent across the board; hence the gulf between the two teams.”

Aizaz Cheema, the Pakistan fast bowler, has said Pakistan will have the advantage of being more used to conditions similar to those in the UAE when they take on England there later this month

Umar Farooq05-Jan-2012Aizaz Cheema, the Pakistan fast bowler, has said Pakistan will have the advantage of being more used to conditions similar to those in the UAE when they take on England there later this month. The pitches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are generally slow and batsman-friendly but Cheema said they were not too different from those in Pakistan and therefore he was confident of taking wickets on them.”Through my life I have played on similar pitches and I earned my place in the national side with the wickets I took on them,” Cheema said after the second day of Pakistan’s training camp in Lahore. “The conditions won’t make a difference to me. I have pace but the main thing is being disciplined in my bowling. If I hit the right line and length it will be a problem for any batsman.”I will try not to give runs in any spell I bowl and will try to take wickets. Our experience of the conditions is more than theirs because there is not much difference in the tracks in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.”Cheema only played in one of the Tests during the three-Test series against Sri Lanka in the UAE last year, with Pakistan picking two spinners for the matches in Dubai and Sharjah. He will face further competition for his place this series with Wahab Riaz, the left-arm quick, returning to the squad. Cheema has impressed since earning his Test cap days before his 32nd birthday. He picked up eight wickets on debut in Zimbabwe and nine over the two Tests in Bangladesh in December last year, and has hit speeds up to 145kph. He recognised, however, that the England batting line-up was filled with quality players and that the series against the World No. 1 Test side would be a stiff challenge.”I can’t pick one name from the England line-up whom I am targeting because on the whole the England side is a quality side. I will try to dismiss whoever comes in.”Pakistan went through 2011 without losing a Test series, and go into this series after beating Zimbabwe away, Sri Lanka in the UAE and Bangladesh away. Cheema said they had not allowed themselves to become complacent, and he and some of the other players had started training just two days after returning from the tour of Bangladesh. “We are doing extensive hard work. Many of us started training just two days after we came back from Bangladesh. The camp in Lahore is helping us keep our rhythm and avoid becoming complacent.”Pakistan have recalled Umar Akmal for the three-Test series against England after leaving him out of the Tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Umar continued to do well in the limited-overs formats but after repeated failures in Tests, the selectors suggested he go back to domestic cricket and learn how to play long innings. Mohsin Khan, the chief selector and interim coach, said Umar needed to “stop being selfish”, and convert starts into important knocks. Umar, who averaged 71.00 in the six innings he played in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division Two, said he would not stop playing his shots but would try to do a job for his team at the No. 6 position.”I have played at No. 6 throughout my career, and I enjoy playing under pressure. When you take the team out of a pressure situation, only then can you be called a player for your country.”Nobody is stopping me from playing my shots but I am trying to play according to the situation and I feel there’s a lot of improvement in my batting.”Umar will find it hard to displace Asad Shafiq from the XI after Shafiq scored a century in Chittagong, but if given a chance said he would concentrate on contributing to the team’s cause rather than looking for big scores.”I will try to give 100%. At the number at which I am playing it’s rare to score big totals. You usually get around 50, 60, 70; whatever I can contribute to the total is an achievement for me. When I get promoted up the order, only then can I try to score hundreds.”The first Test between Pakistan and England starts January 17 in Abu Dhabi.

Graeme Smith, South Africa captain, felt that he had the time but not the conditions to bowl India out on the last day of the deciding Test in Cape Town

Firdose Moonda at Newlands06-Jan-2011Graeme Smith, South Africa captain, felt that he had the time but not the conditions to bowl India out on the last day of the deciding Test in Cape Town. “I expected more from the wicket today,” he said at the post-match press conference. “It didn’t have much swing, like we saw on the first three days.”The Newlands pitch began crumbling on day four and was expected to remain tricky for batting. There was variable bounce on offer, which Morne Morkel made us of, while Dale Steyn gave everything he had and more, and succeeded in bowling outswing despite the conditions. Smith said that the two quicks, aided by Lonwabo Tsotsobe, could have used the help of an additional seamer to carry some of the load. “Having the extra seamer is a massive bonus. MS Dhoni has worked the whole series like this [with three seamers]. Having bowlers fresh is obviously nice.”South Africa had to juggle just three pace bowlers because Jacques Kallis’ rib injury prevented him from bowling.Smith was also hoping for a 12th man in the form of the pitch, which had cracks that should have worked to the spinners’ advantage, but Paul Harris had no joy at all. “I expected the cracks to play more of a role,” Smith said. “If you hit the rough, you got spin, but on the straight there wasn’t much.”Even though Smith knew that with the mercury reaching 38 degrees for three successive days the pitch would “become a really good batting unit, as we saw against England last year,” he still thought South Africa had the firepower to claim 10 wickets and was “disappointed that we didn’t get close today and only managed to have them three down.”Still, he was pleased with how the pitch had behaved over the course of the match. “It’s provided really good Test cricket. Compared to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which were roads, it was nice to play a series where everyone had the opportunity to do well.”South Africa have failed to register a series win at home for the third successive season but Smith did not see that as worrying sign. “We’ve played some good cricket around the world in recent times. You do want to be really strong at home. For two Tests here we played really, really well and for one we were poor.”That one was not the decider, Smith emphasised, but the Boxing Day Test that South Africa lost by 87 runs. “We were really disappointed with the way we played in Durban. There were moments were we needed to fight a little harder and India were better than us in those moments.” Smith thought his team bounced back from those lows and laid claim to the key moments in Cape Town when they recovered from 130 for six to reach 362. “We showed a lot of character to get into a position to win.”The fact that they didn’t win did not appear to irk Smith too much. “It’s good for world cricket that the top four teams are competitive. We don’t need to fool ourselves that we are better than what we are.” Smith spoke as though a period of assessment for his team had ended and they were satisfied with the result. “The majority of our Test side has been very successful over the last few years.”In some ways, this series does mark the end of an era for the South Africa Test side. It is Corrie van Zyl’s last series as coach of the national team. The next series is scheduled for September, against an Australia in decline and there will be a new set-up in place. “The next Test is nine months away and we’ll have new coaching staff. Hopefully it will be someone who can challenge us and take us to the next level.”

Shane Warne has raised concerns about playing in the IPL this year and believes the organisers may need to think about moving it again after a terror threat against sporting events in India

Cricinfo staff17-Feb-2010Shane Warne has raised concerns about playing in the IPL this year and believes the organisers may need to think about moving it again after a terror threat against sporting events in India. Last year’s event was relocated to South Africa and Warne said it was something that should be considered again this season.”The threats of the past 24 hours have certainly got me thinking twice and is of deep concern to athletes across several sports,” Warne told the . “If the threats are proven to be real, then organisers of the IPL may look at moving the tournament.”We moved it last year at short notice, so it can be done. There is no way organisers will risk the safety of players and officials.”Warne will wait for advice from security expert Reg Dickerson before deciding whether to head to India for the tournament, which begins on March 12. The threat specified the Hockey World Cup, the IPL and the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where players will be staying in the relative safety of an athletes’ village, unlike the IPL players.”We’ll be staying in hotels and travelling on buses and as we saw with the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, it can be dangerous,” Warne said. The paper also reported that Australia’s high-profile players were considering hiring their own security staff for the tournament.

Lancashire chase fizzles out despite half-century from Jos Buttler

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Jul-2025Jonny Bairstow hit 10 sixes in a stunning career-best 116 off 54 balls as struggling Yorkshire shocked high-flying Lancashire Lightning by claiming an entertaining 19-run Roses Vitality Blast win at Emirates Old Trafford.Yorkshire won in Manchester for the first time since 2014, claiming only their fourth win in 11 North Group games this season on the back of 236 for 6.Opener Bairstow shared 167 with up-and-coming Will Luxton, who finished 90 not out off 46 balls with seven sixes. Their second-wicket partnership was Yorkshire’s highest ever in Blast history and helped maintain their slim quarter-final hopes.Lancashire dropped out of the top two places in the group courtesy of a fourth defeat in 11, despite former England white-ball captain Jos Buttler’s season’s best 55 off 33 balls. Lightning finished on 217 for 7, with Jordan Thompson striking twice.Yorkshire, who lost Dawid Malan early to Luke Wood, started brightly by reaching 33 for 1 after three. Bairstow pulled James Anderson for an early six and later launched him over long-on as he reached 50 off 24 balls inside the powerplay, which ended with Yorkshire 72 for 1.The charge continued as Bairstow and Luxton, who also posted a career-best score, increased the pressure on the home attack, particularly England white-ball spinner Tom Hartley, whose only two overs went for 39. The pair took him on successfully down the ground, hitting three sixes as 24 came from the 10th and Yorkshire reached halfway at 115 for 1.Bairstow was at his belligerent best, savage on anything full or short. He was struck a nasty blow to the neck by a Jack Blatherwick bouncer, but it was only a minor inconvenience en-route to a 49-ball century – the fifth of his career.Meanwhile, Luxton was dropped three times as Lancashire’s fielders struggled to deal with the sun. Luxton was equally as dynamic as Bairstow, though obviously had more fortune. He was noticeably dominant down the ground.After Bairstow was caught at deep midwicket off Chris Green’s offspin, Luxton was starved off the strike late on and was unable to follow his partner to three figures.Australian Green claimed three of four wickets to fall in a final over which went for only three runs, finishing with 4 for 34.There was no doubt, however, that Yorkshire were in pole position in front of a crowd just shy of 15,000. Lancashire also started brightly with the bat, but Keaton Jennings was the subject of a smart back-peddling catch from Dom Bess at mid-on off Will Sutherland – 31 for 1 in the third over.Buttler and Salt then shared 72 in seven overs to raise home hopes, but the latter was caught at long-on by Bess off Thompson’s seam as the score reached 106 for 2 after 10 overs.Thompson and Bess, with his offspin, then struck twice in as many overs as Yorkshire took control. Buttler was caught behind off a top-edged pull and Luke Wells brilliantly held by James Wharton diving forwards at long on – 133 for 4 in the 13th.From there, Yorkshire comfortably wrapped up a third straight Roses win following two in the last two seasons at Headingley. One key factor was the visitors hitting 18 sixes to Lancashire’s nine.Bess claimed one wicket, two catches and half a hand in a run out.