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Neser left the hosts reeling at 18 for 3 on a green-tinged surface but the duo turned the match on its head

Tristan Lavalette08-Oct-2024Captain Sam Whiteman and Josh Inglis scored brilliant centuries under pressure to lift three-time Sheffield Shield defending champions Western Australia out of major trouble against Queensland on day one at the WACA.WA started the season disastrously when Test aspirant Cameron Bancroft fell off the first ball of the match to trigger a remarkable opening spell from quick Michael Neser on a green-tinged surface.Neser claimed Jayden Goodwin on the next delivery and soon added Mitchell Marsh to leave WA reeling at 18 for 3. But Whiteman, who was made permanent skipper this season, survived the onslaught and combined in a 203-run fifth-wicket partnership with Inglis to turn the match on its head.Related

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Inglis was in a typically aggressive mood, pummelling 122 off 117 balls before falling to the part-time spin of Matthew Renshaw late in the day. Whiteman was more sedate, but equally effective to bat almost the entire day’s play.Neser, for some time on the Test fringes, inspired a late rally with the second new ball to claim Whiteman and Matthew Kelly. He finished with 5 for 48 from 22 overs.After Queensland skipper Marnus Labuschagne elected to bowl, all eyes were on Bancroft who last played Test cricket in 2019 but has re-emerged in the selection frame given the uncertainty over allrounder Cameron Green’s back injury.But Bancroft, the leading run scorer in the Shield over the past two seasons, was not even afforded a sighter from a pumped-up Neser, who was on the money from the get-go with a trademark back of a length delivery that had him nicking off.Some of the smattering of fans had not even nestled into their seats when Goodwin badly misjudged a delivery and was bowled by Neser on the next delivery.Green and his team-mates on the team balcony looked ashen-faced, while a number of WACA staffers quickly scurried after gathering on the ground’s famous grassbanks for the start of play.Marsh, playing as a specialist batter, scampered to the middle much earlier than expected but did manage to defy Neser’s attempts at a hat-trick. WA did not hit the scoreboard until the fourth over before Marsh decided to counterattack only to fall for 13 to Neser when he was caught on the crease and edged to third slip.Josh Inglis celebrates his century•Getty Images

Under overcast skies, Neser was almost unplayable from the Lillee-Marsh end and had the spectacular figures of 3 for 8 from six overs. But Whiteman found a willing partner in Hilton Cartwright, who broke the shackles with a huge six off legspinner Mitchell Swepson that landed in the ground’s construction area and caused a five-minute delay.As the sun broke out, batting became easier in the second session but Cartwright could not cash in after playing on to Swepson. Inglis was in glorious touch from the outset, stroking boundaries all around the wicket as he raced past Whiteman despite facing 100 deliveries less.Desperate for a wicket, Labuschagne resorted to himself as he unleashed a short-ball tactic with his seamers. But it didn’t rattle Inglis, who powered to his sixth first-class century off just 93 balls.Queensland’s attack struggled other than Neser, but first-class debutant Tom Straker bowled a lively initial spell. Part of Australia’s U-19 World Cup title team earlier this year, the athletic Straker’s run-up and smooth action had echoes of former quick Jason Gillespie.Both teams have entered the season with numerous injury concerns. WA’s depth has been tested with stars Aaron Hardie, Lance Morris, Jhye Richardson and Joel Paris working their way back from injuries.Allrounder Cooper Connolly, fresh off his international debut during Australia’s recent tour of the UK, was picked ahead of veteran Ashton Turner, who missed most of last season due to a knee injury.Queensland are without quick Xavier Bartlett due a side strain he picked up during the UK tour.

Chasing 152, Hurricanes were bowled out for 114 to register a second successive loss

AAP26-Nov-2025South African Marizanne Kapp has again showed how big a loss she will be to the Melbourne Stars once she leaves the WBBL for international duties. Kapp starred in the field as the Stars easily beat Hobart Hurricanes by 37 runs on Thursday at Junction Oval.Their third-straight win left the Stars second on the ladder ahead of Saturday’s massive home derby against the third-placed Melbourne Renegades.While teammate Amy Jones was Player of the Match, Kapp bowled Lizelle Lee with the first delivery of the Hurricanes innings. She removed fellow opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge in the third over and took an outstanding catch to remove No.4 Nicola Carey.But Saturday’s match will be the last for Kapp before she returns to the South African team.”Obviously Kappy is going to be a massive loss – it seems like she’s playing her best cricket, now that she’s leaving us, which is a bit frustrating,” teammate Kim Garth said. “But I feel like we do have the depth to cover it.”Garth added they were worried about what damage Lee could do.”I was pretty relieved – she was hitting them pretty well,” Garth said. “We did a lot of planning for her and when Kappy comes in and knocks her over first ball, it’s quite nice.”After starting the season with five-straight wins, Hurricanes have lost their last two and are in danger of ceding top spot to either Melbourne team.Renegades will host Perth on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Stars, who are only one point behind Hurricanes.After Hurricanes won the toss on Wednesday at Junction Oval, Jones and Danielle Gibson gave momentum to Stars’ stalled innings and the home side reached 151 for 6 from their 20 overs. Hurricanes were bundled out for 114 with 22 deliveries left.Jones top-scored with 59 from 40 balls, featuring six fours and a six. Jones and Gibson came together at 91 for 4 in the 14th over – not yet a crisis, but Hurricanes would have felt they had the momentum.Instead, Gibson belted 39 from 27 deliveries, with five fours and a six, as they put on a quickfire 44 for the fifth wicket. Carey took 2-29 from her four overs.After Hurricanes slumped to 59 for 6, captain Elyse Villani and Hayley Silver-Holmes gave them a glimmer of hope with their 40-run stand for the seventh wicket.Then Sophie Day bowled Silver-Holmes for 18 from 14 deliveries and Sutherland bowled Villani for 38 off 21 balls to kill off the late rally.Kapp took 2 for 29 from her four overs, while Sutherland also snared two and Day cleaned up the tail on the way to 4 for 17 from three overs.

Uttar Pradesh breezed past Himachal Pradesh’s total of 100 in just 13.3 overs

PTI25-Nov-2024Mohammed Shami’s three-wicket burst carried Bengal to an eight-wicket win over Hyderabad in Group A of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Monday.Shami, who is playing his first white-ball tournament after last year’s ODI World Cup, took 3 for 21 in 3.3 overs as Bengal bowled out Hyderabad for 137 in 18.3 overs.He received good support from Karan Lal and Shahbaz Ahmed who bagged two wickets apiece.India batter Tilak Varma made a 44-ball 57 but he could not guide his side to a bigger total.In reply, Bengal faced little trouble in scaling down the target in 17.5 overs.Openers Abhishek Porel (41) and Karan (46) made 84 runs in 9.5 overs and Bengal never let the momentum slip from there.Meanwhile, India middle-order batter Rinku Singh made an unbeaten 24-ball 45 as Uttar Pradesh breezed past Himachal Pradesh’s 100 in just 13.3 overs to register a seven-wicket win in Group C.Former India legspinner Piyush Chawla took 4 for 12, while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who on Monday was bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru for INR 10.75 crore in the IPL mega auction, chipped in with wicket.

New Hundred role will run concurrently with existing duties at Derbyshire

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2025Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, is set to combine his duties at the club with a new role as director of cricket at Northern Superchargers.Derbyshire finished rock-bottom of the County Championship in 2024, with one win in 14 matches in Division Two, and failed to reach the knock-outs in either the T20 Blast or the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.However, Arthur’s managerial experience, which includes a recent stint as Pakistan’s team director, has proven attractive to Superchargers, where he will work alongside the men’s and women’s head coaches, Andrew Flintoff and Lisa Keightley.He will advise the Hundred teams on recruitment and offer support to the head coaches, but Derbyshire insist his role at Superchargers will be “largely hands-off”. He will remain with the county during the Metro Bank One-Day Cup which runs concurrently to the Hundred.”Derbyshire remains my primary focus and I’m committed to achieving our goals of bringing success to the club,” Arthur said. “We encourage all of our players and coaches to develop their skills in new environments and this is another example of that.”As a club, our personnel are in demand and that’s a testament to the work being done behind the scenes, and we are confident results will soon come on-field.”Ryan Duckett, Derbyshire’s chief executive, added: “Mickey remains fully committed to Derbyshire, he lives and breathes the club and we hope that he can use this opportunity to showcase the quality Derbyshire has.”It’s been a positive winter, with Mickey, Wayne [Madsen] and Zak [Chappell] lifting silverware overseas, while Harry Moore and Pat Brown have represented us within the England setup recently.”Our squad has been working hard over the winter, and this will ramp up even further over the next couple of months to give us the best possible chance of success in 2025, with an exciting summer ahead.”

Varun Chakravarthy also made the cut as India picked three spinners for their Asia Cup opener

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-20252:34

Bangar: Samson deserves a slot in the top three

India won their first toss in 16 attempts across formats, and chose to bowl first in their Asia Cup opener against UAE. Suryakumar Yadav, the India captain, felt there was a chance of dew later in the match on a humid evening in Dubai.Muhammad Waseem, the UAE captain, said he would have preferred to bowl first too, and expected a bit of early help for the seamers.India sprang a few surprises with their selection. They retained Sanju Samson as wicketkeeper, despite the return of Shubman Gill to the top of the order displacing him into a middle-order role more familiar to Jitesh Sharma. They also picked both their wristspinners in Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav.This left the issue of whether they would prioritise depth in their batting or their seam attack. They went with the former, picking the allrounder Shivam Dube rather than a second frontline quick in Arshdeep Singh or Harshit Rana. Jasprit Bumrah starts as the only specialist quick, with Hardik Pandya expected to partner him with the new ball.Related

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UAE made one change to the XI that played their last match, the four-wicket loss to Afghanistan in the recent home tri-series, bringing in the offspin-bowling allrounder Dhruv Parashar for the legspinner Muhammad FarooqIndia: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit BumrahUAE: 1 Muhammad Zohaib, 2 Muhammad Waseem (capt), 3 Asif Khan, 4 Alishan Sharafu, 5 Rahul Chopra (wk), 6 Dhruv Parashar, 7 Harshit Kaushik, 8 Haider Ali, 9 Muhammad Rohid, 10 Junaid Siddique, 11 Simranjeet Singh

“I think it’s finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and get the batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger”

Sidharth Monga25-Jul-20254:35

Morkel defends India’s tactics with the ball

After India conceded 500 for the first time in over ten years outside Asia and the West Indies, the bowling coach Morne Morkel was not sure he had answers for many questions – dropping pace of the bowlers, use of Shardul Thakur as the bowling allrounder, delayed injection of Washington Sundar into the attack – but one thing he was certain of: that India have been making selections looking for batting cover.Morkel was asked repeatedly about the repeated exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, a unique strike bowler who has not played a single Test on this tour. “I think it’s finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and how we can get that batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger,” Morkel said. “We’ve seen in the past that we’ve lost wickets in clumps. Kuldeep is world class and he’s bowling really well at the moment, so we’re trying our best to find ways for him to get in. But unfortunately, with that, just to balance with batting throws it out a little bit.”Morkel was asked again why India were being so defensive. “I do think at the end of the day you need runs on the board, and for us obviously giving that a little bit of extra batting protection, wanting to get totals of 400-plus,” he said. “You need it against England, especially the way they play, their brand of cricket.Related

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“But to be honest, the wicket so far has been dry and it’s actually spun a little bit. So that brings Washington into the game. It brings Jaddu [Jadeja] into the game. So Kuldeep, we are trying to find a way for him, but it is just more that consistent runs from our top six that we want so that we can bring a guy like Kuldeep in.”Morkel was asked why the side doesn’t think that playing proper strike bowlers also reduces the batters’ burden by winning them matches with fewer runs. “There’s always an option of going in with quicks and picking your six best bat,” Morkel said. “All those discussions we have had or we do discuss. But I think so far in this match, the last two Test matches, the guys who have played have done a good job in terms of spin bowling. We were ever so close to winning that Test match at Lord’s. We had a great Test match at Edgbaston. So I think so far we’ve played good cricket, good cricket bar yesterday’s bowling performance.”That does bring one to the question of why India couldn’t create as much jeopardy as England did after three Tests of looking like a potentially better bowling unit. Morkel felt that India went searching too much on day two, which is when they ended up bowling too straight and leaked runs. He said they were better with their areas on the third day, but they needed more energy on the ball. He was asked about the drop in the pace of the whole unit.”That’s something that we’re trying to get our heads around,” Morkel said. “On a surface where it gets a little bit flat, you need a little bit of energy behind the ball. I think that’s definitely one of the factors for us so far in our bowling innings. Just getting that little bit of extra zip off the wicket to create the opportunities for caught behind and lbw.Washington Sundar made an immediate impact after being introduced into the attack rather late•Getty Images

“But yeah, I mean to look at the workloads of guys like Siraj and those sort of guys, they’ve had heavy workloads. Anshul [Kamboj]’s first Test match so far, and it’s important for us to grow and develop a nice fast-bowling unit. So not too much to judge on that. Also, a heavier sort of outfield. But in terms of commitment and effort that the guys have put in, I don’t think we can fault that. It’s just a good point you made. You need a little bit of energy on the ball on good surfaces where the ball at times is not doing as much.”Kamboj, the debutant who bowled in the late 120kphs, was picked practically straight off the flight ahead of Prasidh Krishna, who has been with the squad and played the first two Tests. “The discussion going into the Test match was somebody, a bowler that can bowl volume, one guy to bowl overs. Somebody who can ask questions at the stumps, off stump, an accurate sort of bowler. And Anshul, I think I’m sure at domestic level has done that. He’s done really well on the India A tour here, and he was a guy whose name’s been in the mix for a long time, and they gave him the opportunity for that.”About the lack of bowling for Thakur, Morkel said: “A bit of a tough fit when you have four seamers. When you’re going at five runs and over, I think as a captain, you want to bring strike bowlers back to try and take the wickets. Unfortunately, it happened for Shadul in that first Test match as well.”Washington was the last bowler used and he took two wickets and brought some control. “Shubman just made the call in there to stick a little bit longer with the seam options,” Morkel said. “I think in the first couple of days we saw the ball moving around and seaming around and pace on the ball was the way to go and then when we got the opportunity to bowl, we missed our length. So did we bowl enough good balls to say that we need to go to spin straightaway? I don’t think so. And I think when he got the opportunity today with ball in hand, Washi did a great job for us.”

Carse and Stokes picked the two wickets while Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 42

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2025

Yashasvi Jaiswal looked fluent in his first Test outing in England•Getty Images

Lunch England took two wickets in six balls on the stroke of lunch to change the complexion of the first session of the newly-minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. India’s openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, had been largely untroubled throughout their 91-run opening stand after being put in by Ben Stokes. But, Rahul and debutant Sai Sudharsan fell just before the interval.Jaiswal batted through the first session of his first Test in England unscathed and traded crisply-struck boundaries with Rahul. The pair shared 16 fours, all through the off side, as England’s seamers tried and failed to induce outside edges, and did not offer a catching chance for the first 114 minutes of the day.Related

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The only scare for Jaiswal came when he was struck on the ribs by Brydon Carse, who shared the new ball with Chris Woakes in his first home Test. He otherwise scored fluently and batted with the same freedom he had shown in the most recent series between these teams, when he piled on 712 runs in five matches.England were so desperate for a wicket that they burned an lbw review on a ball from around the wicket which pitched outside leg stump. Josh Tongue bowled with good pace and his inswinger trapped Jaiswal on the pad in his second over, but the decision to review was hugely optimistic and reflected their frustrations.But Carse struck with a full, wide outswinger, which Rahul edged straight to Joe Root at slip for 42, and debutant Sudharsan strangled his fourth ball in Test cricket down the leg side to Jamie Smith off Stokes. England’s double-strike left the game in the balance, and took some of the scrutiny off Stokes’ decision to bowl first at the toss.

Mulani and Dube picked two wickets apiece, but Vidarbha reached 308 for 5 at stumps

Shashank Kishore17-Feb-2025Half-centuries from Dhruv Shorey and Danish Malewar helped Vidarbha set themselves a firm footing from where they could hope to cross the 400-run mark in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against defending champions Mumbai in Nagpur.But Vidarbha will also rue missed opportunities after four of the top five wasted starts to give Mumbai a small opening courtesy left-arm spinner Shams Mulani and allrounder Shivam Dube, who picked up two wickets apiece.At stumps, Yash Rathod, Vidarbha’s highest run-getter this season, was unbeaten on 47 and Akshay Wadkar, the captain, was 13 not out. The pair saw off the last hour’s play after Vidarbha lost the wickets of the set Karun Nair and Malewar in quick succession.Related

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With bowling allrounder Harsh Dubey, who made twin half-centuries in the quarter-final yet to come, Vidarbha will quietly be optimistic of notching up a big first innings total, something they didn’t do in last year’s Ranji Trophy final and subsequently fell behind in the match.The day began with Vidarbha electing to bat in what was only their second game at the VCA Stadium this season, where they played out a high-scoring draw against Gujarat in November last year. While the surface at the old stadium has tended to be a lot more lively for the seamers, this one stayed true for most parts, which is likely to make the first innings all the more crucial for both sides.Atharva Taide was dismissed early after the openers saw off the first spell from Shardul Thakur and Mohit Avasthi. Royston Dias, coming off a maiden five-wicket haul in the quarterfinal, struck second ball when he had Taide with a lifter that he gloved behind to wicketkeeper Akash Anand. Taide was looking to defend but decided to suddenly drop his gloves and let the ball pass with the split-second’s indecision proving costly.Danish Malewar struck seven fours and a six in his 79•PTI

Shorey got going with a succession of cover drives and ferocious cuts to help offset the early loss. He had a new No. 3 in Parth Rekhade for company, who was playing in only his second first-class game after Vidarbha decided to play an extra batter instead of an offspinner in Akshay Wakhare. The pair had put on 54 when Dube struck to send Rekhade back for 23.Shorey and Malewar then put on 51, before Mulani had Shorey for his first wicket when he had him edging to Ajinkya Rahane off a deflection to slip for 74. In walked Nair at No. 5 as he slowly built the innings with Malewar, like he’d done in the quarter-final against Tamil Nadu.Coming in on the back of two hundreds in two games, Nair offset the spin threat by sweeping and reverse sweeping Tanush Kotian, even as Malewar got into his groove to bring up a fifth first-class half-century. Malewar’s picking of lengths and judgment to play and leave deliveries, especially off the fast bowlers in the final session, was impressive.Nair fell against the run of play in the final session for 45 when he wafted at a harmless Dube delivery to give him a second wicket, and soon after Malewar fell just as he may have elicited thoughts of a second first-class century when he was out jabbing at a Mulani delivery, only to feather one to the wicketkeeper.Rathod and Wadkar then steadily built further, their unbroken partnership worth 47 when play ended with Vidarbha reasonably in a strong position despite their batting lapses at different times.

Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the ODI series but is in the T20I squad

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-20251:19

Chopra: Rohit’s place in the side will now depend on form

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been picked in India’s ODI squad for the series in Australia starting on October 19, marking their international comebacks after last playing in the 2025 Champions Trophy final in March. The squad will be led by Shubman Gill, who has replaced Rohit as the ODI captain, with Shreyas Iyer the vice-captain.The selection panel, headed by former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar, met on Saturday in Ahmedabad, where India won the first Test of the series against West Indies by an innings and 140 runs.There are five changes to the ODI squad from the 15 that won the Champions Trophy in the UAE in March: Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy are missing, Hardik Pandya is recovering from a quadriceps injury, Rishabh Pant has not yet fully recovered from the broken foot he suffered in England, and Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. They have been replaced by allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was injured for the Champions Trophy, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.Related

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“With regards to Jaddu [Jadeja], I mean look, at the moment to take two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He is clearly in the scheme of things with how good he is, but there will be some competition for places,” Agarkar said. “Of course he was there in the Champions Trophy squad, because we took those extra spinners with the conditions there [in UAE]. At the moment we could only carry one and get some balance in the team with Washi [Washington Sundar] and Kuldeep there as well. I don’t think we are going to need more than that in Australia. It’s a short series, you can’t accommodate everyone and unfortunately at the moment he is missing out, but it’s nothing more than that.”Bumrah is part of the T20I squad for the five matches in Australia after the ODI series. The only change to the T20I squad that won the Asia Cup last month is Hardik being replaced by Reddy, while Washington has been added, making it a squad of 16.”We have already rested him for the one-day games. When we can manage his workload, we will do that,” Agarkar said about Bumrah. “Wherever you can give him a break, you will, because we all know how important he is, but we have also got to see what is in the interest of the team. And when we need him to play, he is always available, but we will look after [him]. Not just him, Siraj bowls a lot of overs as well. There are other guys who do play Test cricket, who will end up having a lot of bowling to do, so we will try and manage all the seamers, so that we minimise the risk of injuries.”Agarkar indicated that Gill and Rohit were likely to open in the ODIs, which means Jaiswal could miss out on a place in the starting XI. He also said Jurel was picked ahead of Sanju Samson in the ODI squad due to batting position, while KL Rahul is likely to remain the first-choice wicketkeeper.”Sanju Samson bats at the top of the order,” Agarkar said. “I think when he got a 100, I think he batted No. 3, if I am not wrong. Jurel usually bats lower down the order. KL bats there as well. You have seen how good a player Dhruv is. Again, you are looking at spots. I don’t think there is room at the top again. So, we are looking at guys who can fit in those spots. Obviously, Sanju at the moment in T20 cricket is batting there [middle order] and we are trying him there. But in one-day cricket, it’s a little bit different. So, that’s basically the thought. It’s more the position than anything else.”India play three ODIs in Australia on October 19, 23 and 25, followed by five T20Is between October 29 and November 8.

India’s ODI squad for Australia

Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

India’s T20I squad for Australia

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

Teenage opener agrees first county stint; Migael Pretorius penciled in for Somerset return

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2025Hampshire have signed 18-year-old South African opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius as one of their overseas players for this year’s Vitality Blast. Pretorius has yet to be capped at senior level by South Africa, but finished as the leading run-scorer at the recently completed SA20.A hard-hitting left-hander who can also keep wicket, Pretorius made his T20 debut last year after impressing for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup, and currently averages 27.60 with a strike rate of 147.17 in the format.He caught the eye of Hampshire’s coach, Adi Birrell, when scoring 97 off 51 in his first outing for Paarl Royals, against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at this year’s SA20, with Birrell also in charge at SEC.Related

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“It’s a real honour to play for Hampshire Hawks in this year’s Vitality Blast as my first experience of playing cricket in England,” Pretorius said. “The team is full of exciting names whom I look forward to playing alongside and sharing a dressing room with as we look to lift the trophy.”Hampshire, winners of the Blast in 2022, finished seventh in the South Group last season, missing out on the knockouts for the first time in four years.Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said: “Lhuan-dre impressed with his batting during the recent SA20 and played a number of eye-catching innings against some of the best bowlers in the world. He’s a special talent with a big future, and we are delighted that he is joining us for this year’s Vitality Blast.”

Migael Pretorius back at Somerset

Migael Pretorius made an impact with bat and ball last season•Getty Images

Somerset, meanwhile, have confirmed a return for allrounder Migael Pretorius. The 29-year-old made eight County Championship appearances last year, scoring 338 runs to go with 23 wickets. He is expected to be available for the duration of the 2025 season across all three formats.”I really enjoyed my time at Somerset in 2024 and I’m looking forward to joining up with the team again this summer,” Pretorius said. “There’s a really positive atmosphere around the club and I was impressed by the level of support that the players get at every game, both home and away. The team came so close to winning a trophy last year and hopefully I can help Somerset to get over the line in 2025.”Somerset director of cricket, Andy Hurry, added: “Following his time with us during 2024, Migael knows what it means to represent the club and understands what we are aspiring to achieve here.”He has a proven ability to impact games, and he will add further all-round quality as well as depth to our already impressive seam attack. Understanding how demanding the season is for teams competing across all three competitions, we feel that squad depth will be a vital factor for us.”