He ends a nearly 20-year career during which he was of the world’s premier white-ball allrounders

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2020Shane Watson has announced his retirement from all cricket, bringing an end to a nearly 20-year career during which he was of the world’s premier white-ball allrounders. Watson had already retired from international cricket in March 2016, and had only been playing in overseas T20 leagues since his retirement from the Big Bash League (BBL) last year.Now he has confirmed that the IPL game between the Chennai Super Kings and the Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai on October 29 was his last game at senior level. Watson made 14 to close out a season in which he scored 299 runs for the Super Kings at an average of 29.90 and a strike rate of 121.05.”It all started out as a dream, as a young kid, saying to my mum as I watched a Test match as a five-year-old, ‘I wanna play cricket for Australia.’ And now as I officially announce my retirement from all cricket, I feel crazily lucky to have lived out my dream, and then some,” Watson said on his YouTube channel . “It really does feel like the right time. Knowing that I’ve played my last game of cricket, ever, for my beloved CSK, who’ve been so incredibly good to me over the last three years. To think that I’m finishing up my playing days as a 39-year-old after all of my injury setbacks that I’ve had along the way, I feel so ridiculously fortunate.”Shane Watson clips one to fine-leg•BCCI

Watson’s international record is immense. He is somewhat underrated as a Test cricketer given an excellent record for an allrounder who often opened the batting: 3731 runs at 35.19, including four hundreds, and 75 wickets at 33.68, including three five-wicket hauls.But it’s as a white-ball cricketer that he’ll be best remembered. In ODIs, he scored 5757 runs at 40.54 and a strike rate of 90.44, and made nine hundreds, in addition to taking 168 wickets at 31.79. He was part of two World-Cup winning Australia sides, in 2007 and 2015, and was a powerhouse performer in the Champions Trophy, winning the Player-of-the-Match award in the finals of both the 2006 and 2009 tournaments.In T20Is he made 1462 runs at a strike rate of 145.32, and took 48 wickets while maintaining an economy rate of 7.65. He was the Player of the Series in the 2012 World T20 in Sri Lanka, where he topped the run charts with 249 at a strike rate of 150.00, and finished second on the wickets charts with 11, while conceding 7.33 runs per over. He remains one of only eight allrounders to have achieved the double of 10,000 runs and 250 wickets across the three international formats, which is a remarkable achievement given that his career was often interrupted by injuries that, over time, brought down his bowling workload considerably.Watson has been a mainstay in T20 leagues around the world ever since winning the Player of the Tournament award in the inaugural IPL season in 2008, when his all-round contributions – 472 runs at a strike rate of 151.76, and 17 wickets and an economy rate of 7.07 – powered the Rajasthan Royals to the title. After playing 78 games for the Royals from 2008 to 2015, he played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore for two seasons before being signed up by the Chennai Super Kings in 2018.He ended that season with one of the most famous innings of his franchise career, an unbeaten 57-ball 117 that helped the Super Kings cruise through a chase of 179 and win their third IPL title.Apart from the BBL and the IPL, Watson has also been a regular presence in the Pakistan Super League, the Bangladesh Premier League and the Caribbean Premier League.

England debate continues to bubble after Buttler’s shuffle down to No. 5

Matt Roller11-Nov-2020Jos Buttler has revealed that he instigated his move into the Rajasthan Royals middle order during the IPL after starting the tournament in his preferred role as an opener.After missing the first game of the season while in quarantine, Buttler reached double figures in six of his first seven innings at the top of the order, but only once managed to score more than 22, in an innings of 70 off 44 balls in a heavy defeat against eventual champions Mumbai Indians.But with Ben Stokes backed as an opener after his late arrival from New Zealand, and Robin Uthappa struggling for form in the middle order, Buttler told the Rajasthan management that he thought he should shift down into the position he filled for the bulk of his T20 career and has mastered in England’s 50-over team.”It actually probably came from myself saying I didn’t think our team had the right balance,” Buttler told Sky’s IPL Cricket Show. “I thought we were lacking a bit of experience in the middle, and I thought we were a bit top-heavy. [We were] losing games and it felt like there were a couple of games we didn’t quite close out when we were in good positions, and I felt like if we had had a bit more experience in that position, maybe we would have got over the line.”Rahul Tewatia had a great season for us with the bat, being a bit of a finisher, but I felt like a more experienced guy alongside him would have balanced our team a bit better. It was an offering, really, from myself to say: I haven’t had the runs I’d have liked at the top and I’m quite happy to move. I thought for our team, it looked a better balance having a more experienced player in the middle as well.”Buttler made 160 runs in five innings in the middle order, including a match-winning 70 not out in a successful chase against the Chennai Super Kings, but was ultimately unable to drag them into the playoff stage.Buttler’s batting position in England’s T20I team has been a talking point ever since he began to open on a regular basis in 2018, and that will only intensify as next year’s T20 World Cup comes closer into view.ALSO READ: Buttler plays opener and finisher to keep debate bubblingFollowing his promotion for Rajasthan against the Delhi Daredevils in May 2018, Buttler opened in 40 of his next 41 T20 innings, the exception being a single knock at No. 4 for Lancashire in the 2018 T20 Blast. During that period, only Aaron Finch could match him in scoring 1000 runs as an opener at an average of 40 and a strike rate above 150.Since the 2016 World T20 final, Buttler averages 40.83 and strikes at 151.96 as an opener in all T20 cricket, compared to 26.18 and 132.69 from No. 3-6. While almost every player has a better record at the top of the order, since the role allows them to bat for six overs with fielding restrictions in place, the contrast in Buttler’s is particularly stark.In an England shirt, he averages 51.00 at the top of the order with a strike rate of 157.73, but with a logjam of opening options and fewer middle-order specialists in contention, there remains a school of thought that he would be better used as a floater or a finisher.Jos Buttler range-hitting at the Ageas Bowl•Getty Images

On Wednesday, Buttler reiterated his view that opening is the best place to bat in T20, and he seems likely to continue in the role for England during their three-match T20I series in South Africa next month. He also said that there are still areas he felt he could improve in the role, most notably guarding against post-powerplay lulls when facing spin.”For myself, and actually for probably 90% of anyone who plays T20, [I] would say batting at the top of the order is the place to bat,” Buttler said. “It’s where you have the most balls, it’s where I feel I affect the game the most, and I feel like I’ve had more success at the top of the order and impacted more games in a positive way. I think it’s the best place to bat in T20 cricket, isn’t it?”I feel like I can really affect the game at the end of the innings as well, [so sometimes I] come through that opening bit and then go into a gear where I think ‘I’m going to wait now until the back end where I know I can do more damage’, or ‘I’m desperate to get to the back end’. But when you’re opening that isn’t particularly your job.”I find coming out of the powerplay sometimes as an opener, naturally the field spreads and a spinner may come on, the pace of the games changes and that can slow you down from quite a boundary-dominant phase of the game in the powerplay. The real learning for me is how to keep that intensity and be really role-specific. The ideal as an opener is to bat 20 overs, but there should be guys in your side who are tuned in to do the back end and your game allows you to really affect the front of the match.”If England did choose to use Buttler in the middle order, there would be no shortage of options to replace him at the top: nine of their 15-man squad for the series have opened the batting in the IPL at some stage in their career, while one of the other six, Dawid Malan, did so for England as recently as last winter.

The selectors will name a new captain for the tour on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2020Pakistan Women captain Bismah Maroof has withdrawn from next month’s tour of South Africa due to family reasons. Maroof was part of the training camp that started on December 20 in Karachi before she returned to Lahore to join her family on Wednesday.”Bismah approached us with a request to be exempted from next month’s tour to South Africa for family reasons, which we have accepted,” Urooj Mumtaz, head of the women’s wing and the chief selector, said in a PCB release. “She was obviously disappointed to miss the series, but family always has to come first.”When we’ll announce the 17-player squad on Thursday, we’ll name the stand-in captain as well for the South Africa tour, which comprises three ODIs and three T20Is.”Maroof, 29, is Pakistan’s second most-capped women’s player in ODIs and most capped among the current players. She has played 108 matches, with Sana Mir leading the list with 120. In the ODI run-scoring charts too, Maroof is second with her tally of 2602 runs, after Javeria Khan’s 2693.In T20Is, however, Maroof is the most capped (108 matches) as well as the top run-scorer with 2225 runs.The squad picked on Thursday will depart for Durban on January 11, and they can start training and play intra-squad matches from January 13. The tour will begin on January 20 with the first two ODIs in Durban, before moving to Pietermaritzburg for the third ODI and the first two T20Is and then returning to Durban again for the third T20I on February 3. The first ODI and the last T20I will be day-night games. The ODIs will be broadcast live by SuperSport in South Africa and the T20Is will be live-streamed.Twenty-seven players had started training for the tour in a biosecure environment in Karachi as Pakistan also prepare to participate in the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in July 2021 to try and make it to the main event in early 2022 in New Zealand. The players at the camp have been undergoing routine testing in line with the PCB Covid-19 protocols.The tour will also be the first official assignment of head coach David Hemp and bowling coach Arshad Khan.

Ismail’s new-ball spell of 3-0-9-3 helped reduce Pakistan to a precarious 20 for 4

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2021A second consecutive half-century from Tazmin Brits and career-best figures of 5 from 12 from experienced fast bowler Shabnim Ismail powered South Africa to a series win with an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. Defending 133, Ismail and Marizanne Kapp reduced the visitors to 20 for 4 in the sixth over before middle and lower-order contributions from Kainat Imtiaz, captain Aliya Riaz and Ayesha Naseem took Pakistan past 100, but they fell 18 runs short.Opting to bowl, Pakistan opened with left-arm spinner Anam Amin who took a return catch to send back Lizelle Lee for 6 in the fifth over, and along with medium-pacers Diana Baig and Aiman Anwer, she hekped restrict the hosts to 43 for 2 at the halfway mark. Brits and Laura Wolvaardt then collected 16 runs off Riaz in the 12th over and even though Wolvaardt fell to Nashra Sandhu for 13, Brits combined with the middle order to smash 49 off the last five overs, with five fours and two sixes. Brits eventually fell in the last over but her 66 off 58, studded with eight fours and a six, powered the hosts to a challenging total.Pakistan went off track in the chase early with their top four contributing 4, 2, 1 and 0 as Ismail and Kapp hit the stumps thrice within the first six overs. Kapp set the tone by starting the innings with a maiden before Ismail had Muneeba Ali caught behind and bowled Nida Dar off consecutive balls in the fourth over in a new-ball spell of 3-0-9-3.From 20 for 4, Riaz (39 off 40) first stitched a partnership of 28 with Imtiaz off 38 balls, and then put on a quick 65 in 42 balls with Naseem (33 off 22), but they couldn’t pull the asking rate below 11 runs an over. Riaz even struck Sune Luus for 16 in the 15th over, but the required 55 from the last 30 balls proved to be out of reach. Ismail returned in the last over to remove both Naseem and Riaz to wrap up the win.

Klinger leaves the Renegades job with a year to run on contract after two unsuccessful seasons

Alex Malcolm02-Feb-2021Michael Klinger has stepped down as Melbourne Renegades coach after an unsuccessful two seasons to take up a role as the head of male cricket at New South Wales.Klinger, 40, had a year to run on his three-year contract with the Renegades after being appointed to the role just prior to the 2019-20 season when BBL08 title-winning coach Andrew McDonald vacated the position to become Australia’s assistant coach.Klinger’s two years at the helm of the Renegades, his first experience as a senior coach, were disastrous with the club winning just seven of 28 games and finishing last on the BBL table in both seasons.”I’m grateful for the opportunity that I was given by the Melbourne Renegades. I’d like to thank everyone at the Renegades for their continued support throughout,” Klinger said.”Although the seasons didn’t go to plan, I thoroughly enjoyed my time as head coach and can see a bright future in the coming seasons with such a young and talented group. I wish them all the best for the future.”My new role as Head of Men’s Cricket with CNSW is an extremely exciting position. I’m looking forward to this great opportunity working with Greg Mail and their senior squads, pathways, and Big Bash programs.”Renegades general manager David Lever said the club was supportive of Klinger’s move.”On behalf of everyone at the club I’d like to extend our thanks and best wishes to Michael in his new role in New South Wales,” Lever said. “Maxy’s dedication to the role, his composure, and broader role as an ambassador for the Renegades has been exemplary.”Despite injuries and unavailability of key players, limited preparation time in his first season, and an extended period on the road in his second season, Maxy never looked for excuses and confronted each challenge with the same commitment, character, and class that made him such an excellent player for so long.”We thank Michael for his service and outstanding leadership and wish him and his family all the best for their new opportunity.”The Renegades will now begin searching for a new coach for the second time in three years.At New South Wales, Klinger will oversee the men’s program working alongside Leah Poulton, NSW’s head of female cricket, and reporting to head of cricket Greg Mail.”We are delighted to have a person of Max’s calibre joining our team,” Mail said. “He is a universally respected figure in Australian cricket and brings experience across a wide range of high-performance environments and across all formats of the game.”We’d like to thank Cricket Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades for releasing Michael from the remainder of his contract so that he could pursue this opportunity that we believe will benefit not just CNSW, but Australian cricket as a whole.”

England vice-captain also backs return of Alex Hales once trust issues are dealt with

Matt Roller09-Mar-2021Jos Buttler has admitted it would be “bittersweet” to miss the start of England’s home summer in order to play in the knockout stages of the IPL, and said that the prospect of having to choose one over the other has left him in a “far-from-perfect situation”.England’s home season will begin with a Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2, three days after the final of the IPL on May 30. While it is not yet clear whether England’s multi-format players would be able to appear in both competitions, the ECB has told them they will be able to stay in India until their involvement in the IPL has come to an end.Buttler, a key player for Rajasthan Royals since he was signed ahead of the 2018 season, admitted that he had considered opting out of the IPL, but emphasised the positive impact that players’ involvement in the competition has had on England’s limited-overs sides and defended the ECB rest-and-rotation policy that saw him fly home for the final three Tests of the recent series in India.Related

• Alex Hales given hope of England recall

• England players could miss NZ Tests to play IPL knockouts

• Royals bank on having Buttler, Stokes, Archer for full IPL

• Sam Billings: 'I just want to be tricky to bowl at'

• 'I came back from the IPL a much better player' – Sam Curran

“I completely understand certain people will have an opinion one way and certain people another way,” Buttler said. “All I can say is the IPL has had an outstanding effect on English cricket so far and the individuals involved in it.”The tournament is the biggest in the whole of cricket in terms of money. Careers can be short. But we know playing for England is a huge draw for everyone and we’re very well remunerated playing for England – we’re very fortunate in that case.”It makes it a tough decision. Of course the schedule at the moment is very tough and there is no perfect balance to it. The ECB and the players work very closely together to try and manage that, so is there a perfect answer at the moment? No. And certainly not in the times we are operating in at the moment.”Buttler confirmed that he is likely to miss the first Test against New Zealand if Rajasthan reach the latter stages of the competition – the group stage ends on May 23, so players whose teams do not make the knockouts should be available – but said that the fact the Tests had been added to England’s calendar late in the day had been a major factor in the clash.”Those New Zealand Tests have been added to a very busy schedule quite late on,” he said. “It’s always going be bittersweet if you’re missing games with England or whatever opportunities you are missing, but we don’t know how far players are going to get into that tournament [the IPL] or if you’re actually going to miss them.”The ECB have said it looked like if you were involved in the IPL you’d be staying. I think that agreement was probably in place before the NZ Tests were announced. I think the ECB are keeping consistent with where they were at before those games got put in the schedule.”Buttler also said that he had no objections to the prospect of Alex Hales being recalled to the side following his two-year absence from international cricket, sparked by a second positive test for recreational drugs shortly before the 2019 World Cup.Ed Smith, the national selector, hinted last month that Hales might be reintegrated into the squad during the summer, and Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, echoed his comments in an interview with the on Monday.”My view on that has always been that the trust that Alex has lost will take time to rebuild and one of the issues we have had around having players who would either be trying to get into the side or wanting to come in and us have a look at them in and around training, hasn’t been possible around Covid,” Morgan said.”Trying to integrate players in that sense hasn’t been possible during this period. It’s looking like by the time we get home for the international summer the restrictions might be eased so that for the process of getting guys in and around the squad, there could be an opportunity to do that. There is a chance that he might be around the group and that opportunity might be there.”Buttler said: “I’d be fine with that. We were all disappointed with how that episode played out. As Eoin has talked about a lot of the time, there’s an element of trust that needs to be rebuilt. He’s said it’s harder to do that in this day and age: it’s harder to get people in and out of teams and environments. I’m sure when the time is right Eoin will talk to Alex and the selectors. We all know what a brilliant player he is, so if he can be reintegrated into the side and is playing well and warrants selection I’m all for that.”I think everyone is pretty grown-up and if there were ill feelings, [they would be] nothing that couldn’t be sorted out with some man-to-man conversations. The white-ball side has been together a long time and Alex was a huge part of that for a long time. I’m sure a lot of the guys stay in close touch with him. I don’t foresee there being problems and if there were then they could be sorted out.”

Can Afghanistan sustain momentum in lead-up to the T20 World Cup?

Shashank Kishore18-Mar-2021

Big Picture

Cricket is a confidence game. Afghanistan, searching for a spark in the first Test in which they were ambushed in less than two days, found it a week later in the second Test. And they’ve carried that forward into their favourite format, the T20s, breaking little sweat in seeing off Zimbabwe in the series opener.Rashid Khan, a global T20 superstar, one of the architects of their series-levelling second Test win, singlehandedly works magic for them. His presence automatically lifts a young side, many of whom are slowly spreading their wings in leagues like the BBL, CPL and the Abu Dhabi T10. Most times, his four overs are like an insurance policy when they defend or are under sustained aggression from opponents.While he lived up to his reputation on Wednesday too, the star was opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who displayed a ferocity to his batting to make a 45-ball 87 at the top of the order. Asghar Afghan, chipping in with just his fourth T20I fifty in his 64th innings, may have steered away from some of the “is he good enough” debates. Only a week ago, he also became the country’s second Test centurion. And it all bodes well for Afghanistan: the batting not being dependent on just one or two people alone is something they’d want to cultivate as they build up to the T20 World Cup in India in October.Zimbabwe have no immediate requirements of that kind, because they won’t be playing in that showpiece event after failing to qualify for administrative reasons – their board was suspended at the time of the qualifier. But there’s plenty of pride at stake and an opportunity to look a year into the future, when there’s another T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022.For a while now, Zimbabwe’s schedule hasn’t been defined. So having an intense stretch of games such as this in a span of four weeks by itself is a positive sign. Now the next step is for them to overcome the batting dependency on Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, if they’re to put up tall totals or chase down scores like the 199 were faced with in the first T20I. There’s also a streak to break. They’ve lost each of their last five T20Is, including nine of the last 10 against Afghanistan.

Form guide

Afghanistan: WLWWW (completed T20Is, most recent first)
Zimbabwe: : LLLLL

In the spotlight

Twenty-two-year old Karim Janat, brother of Afghan, is developing into an allrounder. He first showed shades of his brilliance against West Indies in November 2019, after his selection had become somewhat of a talking point because at that stage, he had averaged 31 with the bat, while his bowling numbers weren’t that impressive either. Then, he shredded a power-packed West Indies by first making a freewheeling 18-ball 26 and then taking 5 for 11, Afghanistan’s second-best T20I figures, in a win. Over the past year, while his bowling has come on superbly, he’s fallen behind slightly with the bat. For an opener, he’s yet to hit a T20I half-century. Can he on Friday?Can Karim Janat continue to improve as an allrounder?•AFP

A prodigious batting talent at 16, Wesley Madhevere has found the transition to international cricket tough. A member of two Under-19 World Cup squads and a heavy scorer for Eagles in domestic cricket, Madhevere’s struggled for runs on tour. He’s made two ducks in his first two Test innings and, on Wednesday, managed just 2 before being foxed by Rashid trying to slog. It speaks of the side’s confidence, perhaps, that he’s also batting at a lowly No. 7 currently. He didn’t bowl either in the opening game, so there is much to prove.

Pitch and conditions

It’s likely to be a good surface in Abu Dhabi, but one of the square boundaries will be considerably shorter. The heat at this time of the year isn’t yet intense by UAE standards, but it’ll still test the fitness and endurance of the players nonetheless.

Probable XIs

The status of Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Gulbadin Naib is as yet unclear after the two were among a group of five players whose UAE visas were delayed.Afghanistan (probable): 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 2 Usman Ghani/Gulbadin Naib, 3 Karim Janat, 4 Asghar Afghan (capt), 5 Mohammad Nabi, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Afsar Zazai (wk), 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Naveen Ul Haq, 10 Amir Hamza, 11 Fareed Ahmad/Mujeeb Ur RahmanZimbabwe (probable): 1 Tarisai Musakanda, 2 Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, 3 Sean Williams (capt), 4 Sikandar Raza, 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 7 Wesley Madhevere, 8 Donald Tiripano, 9 Brandon Mavuta, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Richard Ngarava

Stats and trivia

• Mohammad Nabi, now just a white-ball player, hasn’t picked up a wicket in his last 12 T20I bowling innings. This is the longest streak without a wicket for any player who’s bowled regularly in this format.
• Rashid Khan will make his 50th T20I appearance on Friday.
• Rashid is currently the joint-fourth-highest wicket-taker in men’s T20Is, with Shakib Al Hasan. He needs two more wickets to go past Tim Southee (93 wickets). Lasith Malinga (107) and Shahid Afridi (98) occupy the top two spots

Also said that selectors have told him to go beyond just scoring half-centuries in ODIs

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-May-2021Fearlessness. If there’s one change Sri Lanka’s new ODI captain Kusal Perera would like to usher in, it is for his team to play as he says he does: completely unafraid.Perera has been appointed leader of a young squad, which is without several big names, including Angelo Mathews, and now has the opportunity to turn around Sri Lanka’s poor form in the format – the side having slipped to ninth on the ICC rankings. Perera has long been one of the most aggressive batsmen in Sri Lanka’s ranks, and early indications are that he would like the team to embrace that ethos.”We have to play fearless cricket to win matches,” he said, a day after his appointment as captain was made official. “You can’t be fearful about losing. If you’re worried about your place, you aren’t going to give 100%. What I’m going to tell the players is to go and give it everything. If we play fearlessly even when we are practicing, then you will be able to play the same way in a match. That’s what I’ve told the team. If we are fearful, we will fall even further. I’m trying to build a culture where the players have a lot of confidence.”Perera’s own most notable innings have been aggressive ones. In Tests, his 153 not out off 200 in Durban is now counted among the format’s greatest knocks. In ODIs, he has hit the second-equal fastest half-century – off 17 balls, against Pakistan, in 2015.”I really like to play fearless cricket personally, and that’s where my success has been. Whenever I’ve played with fear, it hasn’t worked for me. I want everyone else to play like that. You can’t guarantee that you will go right playing this way, but the chances of things going well are greater.””But you have to practice well to instill that fearlessness. Because if you are 100% certain about the shot you’re playing, you can play without fear. You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses. Where does the ball need to be for me to hit it? Will I get myself in trouble by hitting there? You need to have that understanding. If you’re a bowler, you need to know which ball can get you a wicket, and which will help you bowl a dot. These things help you play fearlessly. As a fielding unit, you have to carry that same ethos as well, and I have big hopes for the upcoming Bangladesh series about our fielding.”Although Perera has sparkled briefly, however, his overall record as a batsman is modest. After 96 ODI innings, he averages 31.04, with a strike rate of 92.04. The responsibility of leadership, he hoped, would bring bigger personal scores as well.”What the selectors told me when they appointed me was that I often get a 50 or a 60 and get out without getting to a 100. I accept that. If I score a hundred, the chances of winning the match go up. You can’t get a 100 every game, but when you get a start, you need to make sure you convert. They expect me to take that responsibility.”

Captain’s knock revives Surrey after table-toppers make early running

Alan Gardner27-May-2021If Surrey supporters could name one thing that they missed most about not being able to come to the Kia Oval in recent times, the sight of Hashim Amla in full flow would surely have been high on the list. Amla has an imposing record on this ground, the scene of his unbeaten 311 for South Africa in 2012, not to mention a double-hundred against Hampshire a few weeks ago, and that aside there are few batters in world cricket so unarguably worth the admission fee.Those who made the pilgrimage for Surrey’s encounter with Gloucestershire were duly rewarded. Amla moved serenely to three figures during the dying embers of the day, as if to order for those wishing to slip in for a glimpse of greatness on their way home from work. Some 2500 were in the ground, and the majority of them rose to their feet as he stroked his 12th boundary through the covers, then removed his helmet to salute the four corners.This was also a captain’s innings, with Amla taking over responsibilities from Test-match bound Rory Burns. Leading with the bat has always come naturally for Amla and, having started well by winning the toss, he coasted up and down through the gears as required to ensure Surrey finished the day ably placed – an unbroken century stand with Jamie Overton quietly closing the door on Gloucestershire after they had picked off the majority of the top six without too much damage.Despite Ryan Patel’s neatly compiled half-century, Surrey had looked a little ill at ease on 181 for 5 approaching tea. Taking on the Group Two leaders, this is a game they arguably need to win to keep their prospects of being involved in Division One later in the summer alive; Amla’s third Championship hundred for Surrey (the first came back in 2013) ensured they were well placed to make good on the expected advantage of batting first on the same pitch as used against Middlesex last week.Ryan Patel celebrates reaching his fifty•Getty Images

Amla’s repertoire of silk and steel is well known, but there’s nothing wrong with playing the old favourites. His first boundary of the day was a wristy clip off Dan Worrall that perfectly bisected two leg-side fielders; a few overs later he eased on to the gas a little, pinging Worrall for four fours in 10 balls, daubing the canvas on either side of the wicket. Worrall, strong of shoulder and unruly of hair, looks rather like one of the bad guys from a 1980s high school movie – but the twinkling Amla nimbly gave him the slip.The only blemish came during the evening session, when he attempted to back-cut the left-arm spin of Tom Smith only to edge a catchable chance to slip, which Miles Hammond put it down. Amla was on 76 at the time, and Gloucestershire may well have plenty more time left in the field to rue that miss.Crowds had made their return in the previous round of the Championship, but here was a balmy south London day to create a genuine frisson of excitement among those trooping along the Harleyford Road, rucksacks full and straw hats in place, and plenty came to bask in late May conditions worthy of the name. One chucklingly referred to the hand “sataniser” dispensers dotted liberally around the ground; for Surrey, who have been off the pace in their group, the devil was in the detail.There were six changes to the XI that went a long way towards winning and then almost managed to lose against Middlesex. Out went Burns, Ollie Pope and Kemar Roach to international duty, Ben Foakes to the treatment room after his hamstring tear, Jordan Clark and Reece Topley to the exigencies of rest and rotation. In came Patel, Laurie Evans and Will Jacks to fill the batting spots, with Sean Abbott, Roach’s replacement as overseas, and Overton as bolstering the seam department, and Dan Moriarty the extra spinner.The initial exchanges hinted at an Oval surface of the most benign variety – although, already somewhat worn, Surrey will hope it offers a crumble of comfort for their trio of tweakers (Jacks’ offbreaks being a genuine consideration). Mark Stoneman clipped and cut efficiently to add 50 alongside Patel, before Ryan Higgins succeeded in dragging him across his crease before angling one back to hit the pads in front of leg stump.Related

• Chris Wright's six-for keeps Middlesex waiting as Leicestershire find their fight

• Young Middlesex seamers make light work of Leicestershire line-up

• Ed Barnard restates allround potential to lift Worcestershire's prospects

• Ben Foakes out of New Zealand Tests after tearing hamstring in dressing-room accident

• Jack Haynes 97 puts Worcestershire on front foot against Derbyshire

Patel, the 23-year-old allrounder making his first appearance of the season and opening the batting in Burns’ absence, was soon comfortably riding the mid-morning zephyrs on the way to a 100-ball half-century, despite being clocked on the helmet by Worrall early in his innings. Patel was particularly dismissive on the pull, and carved Worrall for back-to-back fours in bringing up his fifty – one slashed behind square, the other flayed through the covers. He had just swatted David Payne to the backward square leg boundary when a change of ball brought his dismissal from the very next delivery, a flying edge taken by the lone slip, Kraigg Brathwaite.Gloucestershire had not done too much wrong during the morning session, with little in the conditions to assist their four-pronged seam attack. Reward came after lunch, as Patel became the first of three wickets to fall inside eight overs; Jamie Smith was undone by Payne’s left-arm angle of attack, steering a thick edge to slip, before Evans got a good one from Matt Taylor, which straightened on him from round the wicket. Jonny Tattersall, on loan from Yorkshire as cover with James Bracey set to become the first Gloster to play a Test for England since 2006, plunged to his right to hold a thin edge.Jacks then dragged on after a 48-run stand with Amla, a wide half-volley from Higgins leaving him on his knees. But with Amla immovable and Overton haring through to complete his half-century from the final ball of the day, it was Gloucestershire in need of a pick-me-up.

Skipper slams 75 from 44 to help make short work of small chase

ECB Reporters' Network15-Jun-2021Luke Wright entered the 2021 Vitality Blast with a stunning 75 off 44 balls as Sussex Sharks made it three wins from three with a seven-wicket victory over Essex Eagles.The Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer missed the opening two rounds after splitting the webbing in his hand while practising fielding on the eve of the competition. But he made up for lost time by bringing up his fifty in 33 deliveries as Sussex chased down Essex’s below-par 128 for eight with 36 balls to spare.Wright looked at home right from the start, with boundaries from his second and third deliveries – two of eight fours.Opening partner Phil Salt earned a life when he bludgeoned a full toss to mid-on, only to earn a reprieve for the umpire to judge the ball to have been above waist-height, much to Simon Harmer’s chagrin. Salt was run out for 13, after putting on 54 with Wright before Travis Head added 60 together with the skipper.Wright continued to his 26th Blast half-century, going past 8000 T20 career runs, with a pair of straight sixes and another over cow corner. He departed with six still needed but Delray Rawlins clattered the winning runs over long-off soon after.Wright’s day had started perfectly as he won the toss and stuck the hosts in – although Will Buttleman struck successive sixes in the fourth over. On a used hybrid pitch, scoring proved difficult for Essex with only Buttleman, Michael Pepper and Jimmy Neesham’s strike rates topping 100, for those who reached double figures.The strain on scoring was exemplified by the last over of the Powerplay, which saw just one run, as Paul Walter struggled to lay a bat on Chris Jordan – the run rate throughout the innings hovering just below seven an over.To add to the Eagles’ woes, wickets were a regular occurrence. Tom Westley and Buttleman fell in the Powerplay – the former picking out deep midwicket off George Garton and the latter slapping a Tymal Mills slower ball to cover.Walter was stumped, Ryan ten Doeschate clubbed old pal Ravi Bopara to long off, Pepper – having scored 38 off 25 balls – drilled to extra cover, Harmer miscued to midwicket, Jack Plom skied to mid-off and Neesham was comprehensively bowled.Garton ended up with 3 for 31, with Mills, Jordan and Bopara all going at under a run-a-ball.