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Highlights from Day 3 of the sixth round of Ranji Trophy matches

Shashank Kishore25-Jan-2025J&K beat Mumbai after 11 years
Eleven years after they first beat them in the Ranji Trophy, Jammu & Kashmir pulled off another heist against Mumbai to strengthen their knockouts hope. Chasing 205, they wobbled at different times with Shams Mulani picking up four wickets, but starts from each of the top five helped J&K win by five wickets. Opener Shubham Khajuria top-scored with 45, while Abid Mushtaq, who had minimal contribution with the ball, hitting a crucial 32 not out to seal victory.Gill century in vain as Karnataka stay aliveShubman Gill struck a combative 102, but couldn’t prevent Karnataka from running through Punjab for a second time in three days. After being bowled out for 55, Punjab batted out a little more time in the second dig to make 213, but still went down by an innings and 207 runs. Outside of Gill’s innings, the second highest from the top seven was Anmolpreet Singh’s 14. The bulk of the damage was done by young seam-bowling allrounder Yashovardhan Parantap, who picked up 3 for 37.Related

• Ranji round-up – TN close in on knockouts; Maharashtra stun Baroda

• Accuracy in, pressure off: How J&K took down mighty Mumbai

• Gill rediscovers red-ball gears in 'satisfying' century for Punjab

• Rahane lauds J&K seamers, admits he misread the conditions

Patidar, Venkatesh Iyer put Madhya Pradesh on topHaving conceded the first-innings lead, Madhya Pradesh responded strongly in the second innings, declaring on 369 for 8 to set Kerala a target of 363. Rajat Patidar top scored with 92, while Venkatesh Iyer hit an unbeaten 70-ball 80 at No. 8 as MP recovered from 247 for 6. MP picked up one wicket by stumps to keep themselves in line for an outright win.Vijay Shankar scored a century•PTI

Vijay Shankar century powers Tamil NaduIn Salem, Vijay Shankar’s 14th first-class century, his second of the season, helped Tamil Nadu put themselves in line for six points against Chandigarh. Having taken a 97-run lead, Vijay Shankar helped extend TN’s lead with an unbeaten 150 after N Jagadeesan set the foundation of the innings with 89. By stumps, Chandigarh had slumped to 113 for 5, still needing 290 with the left-arm spinning duo of S Ajith Ram and R Sai Kishore picking up two apiece.Gaikwad among the runsBatting at No. 4 with an eye on being a top-order batter, instead of just playing a specialist opener, Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad hit 89 in a marathon Maharashtra innings – they were 464 for 7 in the second innings, extending their lead to 616 by stumps against Group C toppers Baroda. This is only the third game Gaikwad has featured in this season, as he was away during the first half of the tournament to play for India A in Australia. With them out of knockouts contention, it remains to be seen if Maharashtra declare overnight and try for an outright.Wadkar leads Vidarbha’s fightVidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar hit an unbeaten 102 to revive a floundering innings. Vidarbha, who conceded a lead of 100, went to stumps with a lead of 258 with three wickets still remaining. At one stage, they had effectively been reduced to 44 for 5, before Wadkar stood tall to play a typically gritty knock to help last year’s runners-up take the fight into the final day. Vidarbha are currently Group B toppers and are primed to Mae the knockouts.Haryana through to knockoutsA game that was fought on an even keel in the first innings turned decisively in Haryana’s favour thanks to a massive second-innings batting effort, led by half-centuries from Himanshu Rana and Nishant Sindhu as they opened up a 32-run lead into a 369-run target. Bengal, sans the injured Abhimanyu Easwaran, were bowled out for 85 in 21.4 overs, with Wriddhiman Saha, playing in his penultimate first-class match, unbeaten on 25. Anshul Kamboj, who earlier in the season picked up a perfect ten, finished with four wickets./

The Australia wicketkeeper caught a ball dropped from 80 metres above the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2019Alyssa Healy has had a memorable season and now she has added a world record to her list of accolades after claiming the highest catch of a cricket ball.The feat, released to mark tickets going on sale a year out from the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, took place at the MCG last month where Healy caught a ball dropped by a drone from 80 meters – beating the previous record of 62 metres set by Englishman Kristan Baumgartner in 2016. Former England captain Nasser Hussain once held the record of 49 metres.”After I didn’t get a hand on the first practice and then the next one went straight through my gloves there was cause for concern,” Healy said. “You don’t get the cue from the ball going up in the air off the bat and it was swinging a lot on the way down because it just gets dropped.””As you can tell in the video, it was pure elation to get it, I didn’t want everyone to come and not get the record so when I’d secured it in the gloves I carried on like a bit of a pork chop, but overjoyed to break the record.”The 2020 T20 World Cup aims to set a new world record for the attendance at a women’s sport event when the final takes place at the MCG on March 8. The current world record is 90,185, set at the FIFA Women’s World Cup final 1999 in California.Tickets for the tournament, including the final in Melbourne, are available from AUD20 for adults and AUD5 for children.

Minute’s applause and black armbands will commemorate batter who took own life this month

Matt Roller20-Aug-2024England’s players will pay tribute to the late Graham Thorpe before the start of their Test series against Sri Lanka, which starts in Manchester on Wednesday.Thorpe took his own life at the age of 55 on August 4, after suffering from what his widow Amanda described as “major depression and anxiety”. He was one of England’s greatest batters, averaging 44.66 in a 100-match Test career, and was later their batting coach and an assistant coach until leaving that role after the 2021-22 Ashes tour.He worked with most of England’s squad for the Sri Lanka series in that role and was particularly influential in the careers of Joe Root and Ben Stokes. In his first Test as England’s full-time captain, Stokes wore a shirt bearing Thorpe’s name to the toss following a previous attempt on his own life which left him seriously ill in hospital.”We’ll have our black armbands on throughout the course of the game and there’ll be a tribute to him before,” Ollie Pope, who is standing in for Stokes as captain, said on Tuesday. “It’s hurt a lot of people in that changing-room. He was a great man. I probably had two or three years playing with him as a batting coach. I really admired him.”I remember him saying one thing to me, which was: ‘Never let the runs you’re scoring define you as a person’. In a bit of a rut when you’re young, that was exactly what I needed to hear. It shows, for me, what a people’s person he was. He was loved in the changing-room. He’s such a sad loss to everyone: to the country, his family and the boys as well. He’s missed, and we’ll honour him this week.”Related

• Former England batter Graham Thorpe dies aged 55

• Graham Thorpe: A fighter whose honesty endeared him to England fans

• The sadness of Thorpe passing is he'll never know how much he was loved

• Graham Thorpe struck by train; family confirms he 'took his own life'

The teams will line up for a moment of applause before the national anthems at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday morning, with a tribute video played on the big screens. Sky Sports will also pay tribute to Thorpe in their coverage, with many of their commentators counting him as a long-time team-mate and a close friend.The opening of an inquest into Thorpe’s death heard last week that he died from “traumatic injuries” after being struck by a train at Esher railway station in Surrey on the morning of August 4.Lancashire will also recognise James Anderson’s career throughout the Test, with Anderson due to ring the bell before the start of play, at the pavilion end of the ground which was named after him in 2017. They will celebrate his achievements as an England player on the outfield during the lunch interval, with Michael Atherton scheduled to make a presentation to him.The club have sold around 14,500 advance tickets for the first two days of the Test, with Friday sold out.

The conditions and history rather favour New Zealand at this venue, but then Sri Lanka often make a mockery of the expected narrative

The Preview by Madushka Balasuriya21-Aug-2019

Big Picture

Chaos has been a constant in Sri Lankan cricket in 2019. Captaincy change – check; coach sacking – check; interim committee – check; sports ministry interference – check; contract terminations – check.Yet, quite incredibly, Sri Lanka are on a three-match winning streak in Tests, on the verge of consecutive Test series wins against South Africa and New Zealand. If results go their way in the Ashes, they could end up above either Australia or England in the Test rankings.Team selection and captaincy quandaries don’t seem such a big issue anymore as the selectors have seemingly stumbled upon a winning combination. A broken clock is indeed right twice a day. What does this mean for New Zealand?A series that began as a nice little warm-down from the emotionally and physically draining madness that was the World Cup final is now in must-win territory, with 60 World Test Championship points at stake. This isn’t to question New Zealand’s professionalism, but merely an indication of the resolve and fight shown by the hosts.New Zealand however do have history in their corner. They won at the P Sara Oval in 2012 to record their first Test win in Sri Lanka in 14 years. Their only other game here was drawn. Add to this, Sri Lanka have won less than half their matches at this ground.Both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor registered tons in that 2012 win, and with the captain having had an underwhelming outing in Galle, he is due a big score. On a surface that is likely to offer more pace and bounce, Sri Lanka’s top order will also need to be more wary of the visitors’ pace threat.

Form guide

Sri Lanka WWWLD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
New Zealand LWWWD

In the spotlight

Trent Boult picked up seven wickets in his only match at the P Sara Oval. Having already troubled Sri Lanka’s batsmen on as pace averse a pitch as possible in Galle, he’ll be licking his lips at the prospect of squaring up to Sri Lanka’s top order again.Dimuth Karunaratne could not have asked for a better start to his Test career as captain. Three wins out of three, and a team that is fast gelling under his leadership. But he will know better than most how fragile a foundation this new found success has been built on. On a surface on which scores in excess of 400 and sub-200 are all possibilities, Karunaratne’s guiding hand at the top of the order will be crucial to the overall productivity of Sri Lanka’s batsmen.

Team news

Fit again, Dilruwan Perera will very likely come into the side in place of the still green Lasith Embuldeniya.Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella (wk) 7 Dhananjaya De Silva, 8 Dilruwan Perera, 9 Akila Dananjaya 10 Lahiru Kumara 11 Suranga LakmalFor New Zealand, fast bowler Neil Wagner could come in, though it remains to be seen if it’ll be at the expense of one of the spinners or the quicks.New Zealand: 1 Jeet Raval, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Ajaz Patel, 9 Will Somerville/Neil Wagner, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Tim Southee

Pitch and conditions

The pitch traditionally has more in it for the quicks, with a fair amount of pace and bounce, and back-bending effort is more often than not rewarded. However if the rain stays away and the pitch dries up, expect the spinners to come into play as the Test wears on.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka’s Test record of nine wins and seven losses at the P Sara Oval is their second worst at any home venue with at least 10 matches played, the worst being at Asgiriya in Kandy (seven wins, nine losses)
• The win in Galle meant Sri Lanka won three successive Tests chasing for the first time in their history
• Currently placed second in the rankings, New Zealand will drop a place (or places, based on results in the Ashes) if they don’t level the series
• With 972 runs, Kane Williamson needs a further 56 to become the second-highest run scorer in bilateral ties between the two sides, going past Mahela Jayawardene. Stephen Fleming tops the list with 1166 runs

Quotes

“I think this pitch will suit the batsmen and fast bowlers more than the Galle surface did. I think there will be more runs here from both teams than there was in Galle.”
“In these conditions if you get yourself in you need to keep going and take the game as deep as possible. We’re probably guilty of that throughout the [first] Test match. Hopefully we can go a lot bigger here.”

The big question is whether India will travel for the tournament, which will be the first ICC event held in Pakistan since the 1996 ODI World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Apr-2024Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the three venues proposed by the PCB in the initial draft schedule of the 2025 Champions Trophy, sent recently to the ICC. The tournament has been inked in for a mid-February window as the PCB hastens plans to upgrade venues that will host the first ICC event in the country in nearly 30 years.Pakistan are defending champions having won what was thought to be the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2017. But, in 2022, the ICC brought back the tournament in the new rights cycle (2023-27) and awarded the hosting rights of the 2025 edition to Pakistan.The eight-team tournament is expected to be played over two weeks, though the exact dates are not known yet. The PCB finalised the venues and the schedule after an ICC sent a team to conduct recces.”We’ve sent the schedule for the matches in Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore. “The ICC’s security team came and we had a very good meeting. They looked at arrangements here and we’ll also share stadium upgrade plans with them. We’re continuously in touch with the ICC. We are trying to ensure we host a very good tournament in Pakistan.”Discussions on the schedule will likely focus now on India’s presence at the event. ESPNcricinfo understands the initial draft has all games, including India’s, being played in Pakistan.Normally, once the host board sends in the draft schedule, it undergoes various iterations which are done by various teams within the ICC, which then shares it with the broadcaster and the other boards before the schedule is finalised. The next official ICC meeting is the global body’s annual conference in July.Ultimately, however, the fate of India’s games will hinge on the political climate between the two countries and whether or not the Indian government grants permission to the BCCI to let its team travel to Pakistan. Frosty relations between the two governments has meant India have not toured Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup. Last year, the PCB had to adopt a hybrid model while hosting the Asia Cup, whereby some games were played in Pakistan but all of India’s games and the final were held in Sri Lanka.A month later Pakistan travelled to India to play in the 50-over World Cup but the decision for either country to play in the other is always a politically guided one.Pakistan last held an ICC event back in 1996, when they co-hosted the ODI World Cup with India and Sri Lanka. Since then, they’ve gone through two periods when security concerns have meant teams have been reluctant to tour: in the early 2000s when Australia, England and New Zealand didn’t tour because of the 9/11 attacks and the ensuing war in neighbouring Afghanistan; and from 2009 to 2015 when no teams toured because of the terror attack on the visiting Sri Lankan team. Pakistan were due to host the Champions Trophy in 2008 but that was postponed and moved to South Africa in 2009. They were also due to co-host the 2011 World Cup but had to pull out as a venue.The Champions Trophy will be the centrepiece of a busy home season for Pakistan. They are also hosting South Africa and New Zealand for an ODI tri-series right before the ICC event (and start the home season this year with visits by Bangladesh and England).The scheduling crunch will also mean finding an appropriate window that year for the PSL’s 10th season. January is an option after Pakistan return from a tour of South Africa, though that puts the league in a direct clash with the SA20, the ILT20 most likely, the BPL, as well as the BBL. Scheduling the PSL after the Champions Trophy, in March, means playing it right through Ramadan, a clash the PCB has generally tried to avoid as it impacts attendances, timings as well as commercial opportunities.There will also be the challenge, as Naqvi acknowledged, of improving the stadiums in the three cities, stadiums that have not had serious upgrades for a number of years now.”If you look at Gaddafi [stadium in Lahore], it is good, but the viewing experience is not great for cricket. Football maybe, not cricket,” Naqvi said. “We need to improve facilities in the stadiums, where there are some old problems. [The National Stadium in] Karachi is in bad shape. So on May 7th, we’ll finalise bids from international companies who will come and help us design. We will work with local consultants as well. We are already late but we need to do these upgrades in four-five months. It will be a very tough test but we can do it.”

Australia Test quick is battling plantar fasciitis and has been ruled out of Durham’s clash against Worcestershire after undergoing a scan

Matt Roller and Alex Malcolm18-Apr-2024Scott Boland’s first spell in county cricket could be under threat from a heel injury that resurfaced on his debut for Durham, and has since required him to undergo a scan.Boland bowled 13 wicketless overs for Durham in the first innings of their high-scoring draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston but did not bowl after the first day of the match. Scott Borthwick, their captain, initially suggested Boland’s absence was precautionary but his injury has since been revealed as , a common heel injury among fast bowlers.Boland’s plantar fasciitis issue had been the reason for his delayed arrival in England which saw him miss Durham’s first game. He has been omitted from Durham’s 13-man squad for their third-round fixture against Worcestershire which starts at Kidderminster on Friday.”Having had a scan, [Boland] is being assessed by the Durham Cricket medical team and Cricket Australia,” the club said in a statement. “A further update will follow on this in due course.” Early enquiries have been made over possible replacements in the event that he is ruled out for a significant period of time.Related

• Peter Siddle signs for Durham as Scott Boland succumbs to heel injury

• Xavier Bartlett confirmed for Vitality Blast stint with Kent

• CA revoke Xavier Bartlett's NOC for County Championship stint with Kent

• 'Doesn't make sense' – Clarke questions CA capping Lyon's county stint

• Cricket Australia cut Lyon's Lancashire stint short

Boland is due to play for Durham until the end of July and his contract covers both the County Championship and the T20 Blast. But he is centrally contracted to Cricket Australia – despite not playing a Test since last year’s Ashes – and they will monitor his workload throughout his time in England. It is understood CA’s medical staff will continue to work with Durham on Boland’s recovery after this latest issue as they are keen for him to play as much cricket as he can.He was rested at the start of the Sheffield Shield season in the expectation that Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc would be rested at some stage during Australia’s series against Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand. But that trio ended up playing all seven matches, leaving Boland with a relatively quiet summer of six Shield games, plus four Marsh Cup appearances and three BBL matches.CA continues to manage their centrally contracted bowlers with newly elevated Queensland quick Xavier Bartlett withdrawn from a stint in the Championship with Kent just prior to the season starting, although it is understood they were happy for him to play in the Blast.There has also been consternation over the shortening of Nathan Lyon’s stint with Lancashire after he initially signed to play a full season across all three formats before that was halved and then cut to seven red-ball matches only, following a conversation between Lyon and Australia’s selectors about his workload over the next 18 months.Ben Stokes spent two days with the Durham squad during their draw at Edgbaston, continuing to build up his bowling loads as he continues his return to full fitness following knee surgery in November. “Good couple of days at Edgbaston last week,” he wrote on Instagram. “Weather been that bad had to make the trip up so I could bowl out doors [sic].”

“This guy has got something about him” – New Zealand head coach talks up rookie Will O’Rourke’s potential

Deivarayan Muthu27-Jan-2024New Zealand head coach Gary Stead has insisted that the door is not shut on Henry Nicholls, though the batter has been left out of the squad for the upcoming home Test series against South Africa.Nicholls had made an unbeaten 200 against Sri Lanka in Wellington in March 2023, but apart from that he hasn’t passed 40 in his last 11 Tests. All up, Nicholls has nine Test hundreds, level with former captain Stephen Fleming. Among active New Zealand players, only Tom Latham (13) and Kane Williamson (29) have more Test centuries than Nicholls.”His currency is weight of runs, isn’t it? To do that in domestic cricket and show that he’s the next person in line is still really possible to do,” Stead said. “He’s still relatively young in his career – he’s only early 30s [32] – we definitely don’t see it as the end for him. It’s definitely a setback but there’s no reason why he can’t make it back again.”Related

• Favourites, underdogs, and a contest where every inch will be earned

• Meet Will O'Rourke, New Zealand's Kyle Jamieson clone

• How Rachin Ravindra has made himself cricket's new poster boy

• O'Rourke gets maiden Test call-up, Ravindra picked for SA Tests

Stead explained that it was a difficult decision to leave Nicholls out for Rachin Ravindra, who was the breakout star of the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.”It’s a very tough decision,” Stead said. “I mean, Henry has been a big part of the Test squad for 56 Tests and so whenever you leave a player out then it weighs heavy with you and it’s a tough decision to make. But we just felt it was time for Rachin in Test cricket and we obviously know the talent he is and feel that he will make a really good fist of it at this stage of his career.”Look, it’s a tough conversation. They are not easy to have. He’s a great person; he always does the little things really well, which you guys would never see. That’s what makes it hard in a decision like this.”

Stead: Santner is the best spinner in NZ

Ajaz Patel was New Zealand’s frontline spinner in Bangladesh, but a return to seam-friendly conditions at home means a spin-bowling allrounder will do the job for them. And that spin-bowling allrounder is Mitchell Santner, given his dual ability to both defend and attack. Ravindra and Glenn Phillips are the other spin options for New Zealand.”Mitch Santner, in our opinion right now, is the best spinner in New Zealand,” Stead said. “He’s been bowling beautifully and certainly in New Zealand conditions as well. He provides the options of knowing to hold and attack. I think we’re going to need that throughout the series.”Kyle Jamieson is currently working his way back from injury•Getty Images

Williamson, Blundell, Jamieson ready for first Test

Stead was also confident of captain Kane Williamson, wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, and fast-bowling allrounder Kyle Jamieson being fit for the first Test against South Africa, which begins in Mount Manganui on February 4. All three players are working their way back from hamstring injuries. On Friday, Jamieson turned out for Canterbury against Wellington in the Super Smash Eliminator, taking 1 for 31 in his four overs to help his team get into the final against Auckland. Blundell, though, did not feature in that game for Wellington.Jamieson might also play for New Zealand XI against the visiting South Africans in a three-day warm-up game, which begins on January 29 at Lincoln’s Bert Sutcliffe’s Oval.”The three guys with injury concerns – Kane, Kyle and Tom – I’ve spoken to them all,” Stead said. “They are all tracking really well. All training hard. Kyle starts playing, Tom Blundell has had a couple of big days of training, which is encouraging that he has got through that without any further feeling in his hamstring. So, we are really confident that him and Kane will be ready for the first Test.”

‘Will O’Rourke has got something about him’

Will O’Rourke, who is a clone of Jamieson, has been picked only for the second Test in Hamilton, where Stead expects bouncy conditions. O’Rourke’s USP is to generate extra bounce from his tall frame (6’4″).”I think Hamilton… what we saw in white-ball cricket there has got a bit more bounce into it,” Stead said. “Will O’Rourke has certainly bowled well there this year domestically. In terms of Will himself, he’s a young guy who is emerging and obviously emerging pretty quickly. He has the ability to get some good batsmen out with the bounce he gets in particular.”He looks like he’s a handful to most players. You certainly get that feeling from talking to people who face him in the nets as well – this guy has got something about him.”

Daniel Bell-Drummond fifty in vain as off-spinner becomes leading Championship wicket-taker

Daniel Norcross at Chelmsford30-May-2019After the previous day’s rain, Essex were compelled to bat in the morning session. They didn’t hang around for long. In just four overs they added 25 runs to their overnight score, losing Michael Pepper in the process, and then pulled out, setting Kent a not impossible but hugely unlikely 338 in 90 overs on a pitch where scoring has not been easy.This felt like both a generous declaration, most teams would probably have erred slightly more on the side of caution, and one that acknowledged how tough it was going to be to bowl out this redoubtable Kent side. They may have their limitations, most notably in their seam bowling attack, but they lack nothing in spirit and determination. Only a week ago they had batted through the last day at Beckenham to earn a draw against Surrey, but this felt like a tougher prospect.In Simon Harmer, Essex possess the perfect weapon on a fourth-day pitch, and he was unleashed on Kent as early as the tenth over after Kent had made a serene start against Jamie Porter and Sam Cook. In his second over he had snaffled Zak Crawley, trapped in front for 18. The pattern was set. Just like the first innings, Harmer would wheel away from the River End while the seamers rotated from the Hayes Close End.Joe Denly calculated that the best form of defence against Harmer was attack. It turned out to be a less-than-prudent calculation as he was caught at deep midwicket aiming to deposit the ball into the River Can.When Sean Dickson, who did so much to earn that draw last week, edged the dependable Peter Siddle to Harmer at slip, the visitors had stumbled to 51 for 3 and looked on the verge of subsiding completely. Somehow, amidst much playing and missing, Daniel Bell-Drummond and Heino Kuhn, who was dropped by Tom Westley before scoring, limped to lunch without incurring further losses.That drop didn’t look costly at first, but as Kuhn and Bell-Drummond dug in, even occasionally prospering against attacking fields, heretical thoughts of a possible Kent fightback emerged. Those thoughts would be broken by a less-than-smart bit of thinking from Kuhn. Padding up to Harmer is never a wise move. He generates significant turn, even on the most placid of wickets but, inexplicably, pad up is precisely what Kuhn did. Umpire Robinson had no hesitation in raising the finger.The next time the Robinson digit was elevated to the skies was more of a surprise. Ollie Robinson appeared to get nothing on a sharply turning off break that cannoned off his knee roll and looped, in a gentle parabola to Ravi Bopara at leg gully. The Essex fielders joined in a moderately concerted
appeal. The Kent keeper looked surprised but to his credit made a smart exit. In fairness to the umpire, adjudicating on the flight, trajectory and turn of Harmer must be a near impossible task, such is the action he generates on the ball.The fightback had been halted in its tracks and Kent went fully into reverse gear when Wiaan Mulder wafted horribly at a wide ball from Sam Cook to give Pepper his sixth catch of the match. All the while Bell-Drummond was quietly playing himself into some kind of form. His highest first-class score of the season before Thursday was 41 against Yorkshire and for the first couple of hours it was easy to see why, but by tea the old fluency and promise was returning. In tandem with Darren Stevens, who himself has looked all at sea this year, Kent took the attack back to Essex, with Stevens hitting the last two balls of the afternoon session for four and six.Their partnership of 47 in 11.3 overs offered a twist in the tale of this absorbing match. It was a partnership not without incident as Essex were convinced they had both batsmen on numerous occasions, only to be turned down by Robinson, as Harmer was getting the ball to spit and bounce. Harmer would not be denied however, when Stevens clipped the ball into Lawrence’s hands at midwicket to put the score at 210 for 7 with 100 minutes left for play.The game was now up as Harmer ripped through the remaining wickets of Harry Podmore, Matt Milnes and finally, for a stout but ultimately defeated 81, Bell-Drummond. Essex had wrapped up victory by 113 runs with just over an hour to spare. I say Essex. For all the excellent seam bowling on display, it was Harmer’s 8 for 98, giving him match figures of 11 for 170, which was the deciding factor, together with Alastair Cook’s 215 runs.Harmer has now bagged 29 victims this season and is the country’s leading wicket taker. Not bad for an off-spinner. In April and May. The rest of the country should be afraid of what he may yet achieve this season. Very afraid.

Henry’s hamstring injury, which he suffered during the World Cup, was deemed to have not sufficiently healed

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2023Left-arm fast bowler Neil Wagner has replaced the injured Matt Henry in New Zealand’s squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh.Henry had picked up a hamstring injury during the World Cup game against South Africa on November 1, and was thus ruled out of the rest of the competition. He was expected to get fit in time for the Tests in Bangladesh, but on further scans and assessments, it was deemed that the injury had not sufficiently healed.”It’ll be great to have Neil’s skill and experience on the tour of Bangladesh,” Sam Wells, New Zealand’s selector, said. “His record speaks for itself, and we all know what a great competitor he is. He’s played plenty of cricket in the sub-continent, and I know he’s really excited by the challenge ahead.”Wagner, 37, had missed two rounds of the ongoing Plunkett Shield due to a back injury before returning to action for Northern Districts earlier in the week. The last of his 63 Tests was also New Zealand’s last in the format – against Sri Lanka this March – even as he wasn’t part of the original spin-heavy squad named by New Zealand for the Bangladesh tour.The first Test against Bangladesh will be New Zealand’s first of the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle from 2023-25. Wagner had finished the previous WTC cycle with 18 wickets.The majority of the New Zealand squad, who had also featured in the World Cup in India, are currently recovering in Dubai before they relocate to Sylhet next week. As for the other Bangladesh-bound players, they depart on November 21 ahead of the opening Test from November 28 in Sylhet.Updated squad: Tim Southee (capt), Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Kyle Jamieson, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Kane Williamson, Will Young, Neil Wagner