Bangladesh’s teenage offspinner, Mehedi Hasan, claimed figures of 5 for 64 as England were forced to dig deep into their batting reserves in the first Test at Chittagong

The Report by Andrew Miller20-Oct-2016 England 258 for 7 (Moeen 68, Bairstow 52, Mehedi 5-64) v Bangladesh

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBangladesh’s teenage offspinner, Mehedi Hasan, claimed figures of 5 for 64 on his first day of international cricket, as England were forced to dig deep into their batting reserves in the first Test at Chittagong. After stumbling to 21 for 3 in the first hour of the contest, England recovered their poise through the efforts of Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow, who rode their luck to compile a pair of half-centuries, and on a surface offering both turn and variable bounce in abundance, it is possible that, in reaching the close on 258 for 7, they are not too far short of a very competitive total.Nevertheless, through the efforts of the 18-year-old Mehedi, who was handed the new ball in a strong show of faith and wheeled his way through 33 overs in a formidable day’s work, Bangladesh gave a strong indication that their recent upsurge in limited-overs cricket will be replicated in the longest form, notwithstanding the fact that this was their first day’s Test cricket in more than 14 months.With Shakib Al Hasan excelling in his role as senior pro, and picking off two big wickets including the prize scalp of Alastair Cook, Bangladesh confirmed that this leg of England’s winter will be a challenge in its own right – never mind a harbinger of trials by spin to come later this winter, with Ravi Ashwin and India awaiting for five Tests in six weeks from next month.But, if there had been any temptation to dismiss these opening contests as a warm-up act for the main event, then today’s exploits were a timely reminder to focus on the here and now.Mehedi, a star of Bangladesh’s exploits in the recent Under-19 World Cup but a bowler with just 12 first-class appearances to his name before this match, had been named as one of three debutants in Bangladesh’s ranks, alongside the batsman Sabbir Rahman, and Kamrul Islam Rabbi, a quick bowler. Bowling with purpose and purchase, he was thrown the ball for the second over of the match and responded to the responsibility with three wickets in his first 11 overs of international cricket.First in his sights was his fellow newcomer, Ben Duckett – Cook’s ninth opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss four years ago – whose form in last week’s ODI series, as well as a strong showing in England’s warm-up matches earlier this week, had earned him his opportunity ahead of the more traditionally moulded Haseeb Hameed.However, Duckett was skittish from the outset as he looked to translate his natural belligerence to the longer form. Mehedi might have bowled him twice in his first nine deliveries as he slid a pair of well-disguised arm balls slid past his off stump. But in the end it was the one that gripped that did for him, as he offered too much room in defence and lost his off stump for 14.Moeen Ali prospered after his move up the order•AFP

Then, in his very next over, Mehedi’s slider did for Gary Ballance as well. With only a fractional change in action, he first ripped a big offbreak past Ballance’s outside edge, then pinned him on the pad two balls later with one that ghosted in without spinning. The initial appeal was turned down, but at this stage of the day at least, Mushfiqur Rahim’s judgement of a review was spot on as the ball was shown to have been demolishing middle and leg.And in between whiles, Shakib struck with his second delivery of the match to land the big one. Cook had initially looked his usual unflustered self as he bedded into his first competitive innings of the trip, having missed the warm-ups to attend the birth of his second daughter. But facing up to Shakib in the 11th over of the innings, he dropped to one knee to sweep from outside leg, but was beaten by some extra turn and bounce. The ball looped off his forearm and crashed into his stumps as he over-balanced and, as the bails hit the turf, so too did his backside. It was an undignified departure for a man playing a record-breaking 134th Test, but Bangladesh were rightly cockahoop to have seen off the man who made 173 on this very ground six years ago.Joe Root, counter-punching with typical nerveless, launched England’s fightback by reaching lunch on 38 not out, but before he could build on his start, he too had fallen to Mehedi’s wiles – caught at slip two balls into his afternoon’s work as he too was suckered by the one that skidded straight on. Ben Stokes, the hero of the one-day series, resisted for a while but never looked anything like as comfortable against the spinners as Shakib ripped one through his gate to bowl him for 18, and at 106 for 5, Bangladesh were circling for the kill.Moeen and Bairstow, however, had other ideas – gradually finding their feet in a sixth-wicket stand of 88 that, given the conditions, hauled England somewhere close to the ascendancy. But Moeen, in particular, used up an entire reservoir of good fortune in the course of his 170-ball stay. He would have been sent on his way for 1 (and England would have been 34 for 4) had Bangladesh opted to review an early pad-strike from Mehedi , and with that precedent set, he went on to survive no fewer than five trials by DRS, including three successfully overturned lbws in the space of six balls either side of lunch.Shakib was the unlucky recipient of umpire Kumar Dharmasena’s itchy finger on all three occasions: first, Moeen managed to get a splinter of bat on a bottom-edged sweep, before his second life was shown to be missing leg stump and the third struck his pad outside the line. And, having already encouraged Bangladesh to use one of their own reviews earlier in his innings, he survived their second attempt on 29, when Mehedi’s lbw appeal was shown to have pitched outside leg.Bairstow, too, had a massive moment of good fortune on 13, when he was dropped at slip after pushed uncertainly forward against the left-arm spin of Taijul Islam. But he continued what has been a stellar year in Test cricket by moving along to his eighth half-century in 2016, and when he was finally prised from the crease by Mehedi – deceived, like so many of his team-mates, by the non-spinner to be bowled for 52 – he was within striking distance of Andy Flower’s record number of runs by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year. With a maximum of 13 innings to come this winter, he will be out of sight by January.Moeen, by this stage, had also succumbed – outfoxed by another superbly skilful piece of bowling from Mehedi, who found flight, dip, grip and bounce to take the edge through to the keeper – leaving Chris Woakes to marshall England’s fortunes in the closing overs with 36 not out. But, having read the conditions correctly and selecting their own three-pronged spin attack, including a recall for Gareth Batty for the first time in 11 years, England will be confident of turning their own screw when Bangladesh come out to bat.

A round-up of the opening day of Group A matches in the third round of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2016The bowlers called the shots in Lahli where 17 wickets fell on the opening day between Gujarat and Railways in the third round of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy. After being put in, Gujarat were shot out for 187, before fighting back to leave Railways at 63 for 7.Gujarat were wrecked by left-arm medium pacer Deepak Bansal, who took his maiden first-class five-wicket haul. Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, top-scored with 61, but found support only from Chirag Gandhi (30), with whom he added 58 for the fifth wicket. Gujarat were also lifted by late contributions from Rush Kalaria, who scored 28 at No. 8, and Mehul Patel, who stayed unbeaten on 22. Bansal finished with 6 for 46 in 16 overs.Mehul Patel then ran through the Railways middle-order to finish with 4 for 22 after seven overs. Saurabh Wakaskar and Shivakant Shukla ‘s 20-run opening stand was the best partnership Railways could put together on the day, with three of their top-six dismissed for ducks. Karn Sharma, the Railways captain, stayed not out on 22.Sayan Mondal cracked his maiden first-class century to give Bengal a strong start against Punjab at the Lohnu Cricket Ground in Bilaspur. Mondal struck 135, with the help of 22 fours, as Bengal scored 332 for 5 in 89 overs.Mondal offset the early loss of Abhimanyu Easwaran by putting on 102 for the second wicket with Sudip Chatterjee. He added 140 more for the next wicket with Agniv Pan before he was caught behind off Manpreet Gony. Pan added 39 more with Manoj Tiwary, the captain, before being caught behind off the left-arm spin of Vinay Choudhary. Tiwary contributed 45 and was dismissed 10 balls before stumps.Sandeep Sharma and Choudhary took two wickets each, and Gony took one.Half-centuries from Aditya Shrivastava and Rajat Patidar drove Madhya Pradesh to 239 for 2 against Mumbai at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. Shrivastava scored 87 and put on 54 with Mukul Raghav for the opening wicket. Raghav was caught behind off Abhishek Nayar, after which Patidar joined Shrivastava. The two batted almost 38 overs and added 126 for the second wicket. Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil ended the association by dismissing Shrivastava. But Patidar batted out the remaining overs and stayed not out on 83. He had batted 31.3 overs with Devendra Bundela, the MP captain, and added 59 unbeaten runs for the third wicket.Uttar Pradesh scored 207 for the loss of one wicket in 90 overs against Tamil Nadu at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. Opening batsman Samarth Singh, playing in only his second first-class match, compiled a debut century and scored an unbeaten 115 off 247 balls. Samarth laid a strong platform with Tanmay Shrivastava, with whom he put on 109 for the first wicket. Shrivastava was caught off Washington Sundar, the offspinner. He had faced 182 balls for his 53. Umang Sharma and Samarth then got together and played 32.1 overs together, during which they added 98 runs.

Australia were caught out by Faf du Plessis’ early declaration of the South Africa innings, which meant Usman Khawaja had to open in place of David Warner

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide24-Nov-2016Australia have admitted they were sent into a lather by Faf du Plessis’ crafty declaration on the first evening of the Adelaide Test, a call that left Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja fuming as David Warner was unable to take his usual spot as an opener after spending time off the field.Warner complained of shoulder pain and went for treatment late in South Africa’s innings, but upon overhearing that the opener needed to spend a further six minutes on the field, du Plessis closed his innings. “I listened to the conversation he had with the umpires, one ear talking to the batter and one ear listening to him and then I heard he had six minutes left before he could bat again so I thought ‘let’s have a crack’,” du Plessis said.Warner and Smith both remonstrated with the umpires on their way off the field, with du Plessis’ closure the earliest in terms of overs in the first innings of a Test unaffected by bad weather. “He went off for some treatment towards the end and was off for too long,” Josh Hazlewood said of Warner. “So they messed their timings up and he couldn’t bat straight away. Uzzy had to bat and adapted pretty well and we got through.”The guys were a little bit annoyed, especially Smithy and probably Uzzy who had to go out and bat, but it’s just one of those things. It rarely happens, but it happened today and the way Uzzy adapted to the situation he did a great job for us today.”Hazlewood confirmed it was up to Warner to ensure he was not caught out in this way, and said the team would likely receive an apology from the vice-captain as a result. “It’s probably the player himself,” he said. “You know the rules and he was just off the field for too long. He’ll hold himself accountable, that’s how Davey goes, so he’ll know he did the wrong thing, apologise to the group and especially Usman, and he’ll learn from it and hopefully it won’t happen again.”As for du Plessis, Hazlewood could only doff his cap. “I think he might’ve had a rough idea, yeah,” he said. “He’s quite cagey like that, pulled the pin and declared and caught us out a little bit.”

Canterbury’s bowlers hunted in a pack and survived a late surge from Northern Districts to bowl their team to a thrilling nine-run win in their Super Smash clash in Christchurch

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jan-2017
ScorecardTom Latham built Canterbury’s innings with 82 opening the innings that set up their narrow win•Getty Images

Canterbury’s bowlers hunted in a pack to bowl their team to a nine-run win over Northern Districts in their Super Smash clash at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Northern Districts were restricted to 152 for 7 in 20 overs. That, after Canterbury put up 161 for 7 after electing to bat, riding on opening batsman Tom Latham’s 57-ball 82.The win left Canterbury tied second with Auckland on 20 points. Their hopes of qualifying for the preliminary final rest on the match between Otago and Wellington (on 16 points) on Tuesday. If Otago win, Canterbury will be through, while a Wellington victory could result in the net run rate deciding the progress of teams.It would have been a much more comfortable win for Canterbury but for a sixth-wicket stand of 61 between Daryl Mitchell (33) and Scott Kuggeleijn. The duo’s 37-ball stay lifted Northern Districts from 73 for 5 – 64 of which had been scored by BJ Watling (37) and Tim Seifert (27) – in the 13th over. When Mitchell fell in the third ball of the 19th over, Northern Districts needed 28 off nine balls. Kuggeleijn fought hard, but despite his best efforts, Northern Districts could only score 18 more . Kuggeleijn stayed unbeaten on 38 off 21 balls that had come with the help of two fours and as many sixes.Canterbury’s bowlers shared the wickets around. Kyle Jamieson and Tim Johnston took two wickets each, while Ed Nuttall, Andrew Ellis and Todd Astle finished with a wicket apeice.When Canterbury batted, Latham carried them through almost the entire innings, staying at the crease for 19.1 overs of the side’s innings. He found support from Peter Fulton (36 off 31) with whom he added 77 for the third wicket that helped them recover from 27 for 2. None of the other batsmen made any noteworthy contribution, but Latham pinged seven fours and two sixes ensuring Canterbury maintained a decent run rate.All of Northern Districts’ bowlers, with the exception of left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira, who opened the bowling, found themselves among the wickets, with medium pacer Nick Winter (2 for 30) leading the way.

Kieran Powell hit a second consecutive century and Alzarri Joseph took 6 for 31 as Leeward Islands completed a big win, while Kent registered a five-wicket win over Trinidad & Tobago

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2017Kieran Powell’s return to the West Indies professional circuit following a brief attempt at playing Major League Baseball continued to pay off for Leeward Islands. Powell struck a career-best 135, which was followed by fast bowler Alzarri Joseph’s 6 for 31 as they completed a 184-run victory over Windward Islands at the Coolidge Cricket Ground in Antigua. It was Powell’s second List A century in the span of three days – and overall.Powell put on 97 for the opening wicket with Montcin Hodge (54) after losing the toss. He then dominated a 75-run stand for the second wicket with Jermaine Otto (21) before Windward captain Liam Sebastien (3-42) inflicted a mini-collapse. The offspinner took three wickets in consecutive overs as Leewards fell from 172 for 1 to 189 for 4. But his offspinning counterpart, Rahkeem Cornwall, then combined with Powell for a fifth-wicket stand of 99 from 91, and eventually took them to 333 for 6 with an unbeaten 70 off 58 balls.Windward could not establish a base to chase the score down as Joseph took two wickets each in consecutive overs, reducing them to 12 for 4. Darren Sammy (33), Kyle Mayers (45) and Shane Shillingford (27) made contributions from the lower-middle order, but were the only batsmen who got into double figures as Windward Islands folded for 149 at the start of the 29th over, with Joseph completing his maiden List A five-for to pick up the Player-of-the-Match award.A career-best 4 for 51 from medium-pacer Ivan Thomas helped Kent bowl out Trinidad & Tobago for 191, before a couple of half-century stands help them chase down the target with 95 balls to spare at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.T&T’s openers Evin Lewis and Kyle Hope put on 38 after they were put in, but were soon reduced to 43 for 3 as Darren Stevens (2-39) dismissed Kjorn Ottley and Jason Mohammed for ducks. Hope scored 43 off 83 as he steadied the innings with a 45-run stand with Roshon Primus, before the latter put on 65 with Nicholas Alexis (28). However, his dismissal for 60 brought another collapse – they fell from 153 for 4 to 157 for 8, with Thomas taking two of those wickets. A late alliance between Imran Khan (16) and Ravi Rampaul (13) took T&T to 191.Kent’s chase was led by Sean Dickson’s 56 and his opening stand of 85 with Daniel Bell-Drummond. Sam Northeast (31) then put on 66 with Stevens (43) to take them to 170 for 2, before Rampaul (3-46) took three wickets to reduce them to 176 for 5. The collapse was inconsequential as Alex Blake’s unbeaten 22 off 12 balls took them across the line with five wickets in hand.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2017A substantial reduction of potential earning from the ICC’s central revenue is only part of the concern for the BCCI, which fears that a fundamental change in the principle of income distribution could lead to further shrinkages for all the cricket boards, with the Indian board taking bigger cuts.While attention has been focused on the reduction in revenue for the BCCI – from $570 million in the Big Three model to an estimated $255 million now – it has emerged that even this figure, and indeed the potential revenue for every board, could be subject to change because a new variable has been added to the distribution model – the ICC’s own costs are now flexible.Previously, the ICC’s projected revenue – pegged at $2.5 billion – was the only variable in the earlier model in which all the costs, including the payout to the member boards, were fixed. The ICC was granted a budget of $870 million – $550 million for staging events, $250 million as administrative costs, and $70 million for a Test fund – and the member boards received fixed percentages of the total revenue. But in the latest model, which has hiked the ICC’s costs by $160 million – $60 million of which is for a contingency fund – the boards will be granted a percentage of the surplus.”Since it is based on surplus, there is an uncertainty of earning,” a person closely involved with the earlier model told ESPNcricinfo. “If the ICC decided to spend more on admin or events or increase the contingency fund, it will further reduce the share of the member boards.”The BCCI now fears it stands to lose about $330 million after its share from the ICC’s revenue pool was reduced in the revised distribution model for the 2015-2023 period, which was passed in principle at the ICC Board meeting in Dubai. If the ICC schedules two extra world events during the period – and negotiations to do so are reportedly underway – the BCCI’s estimated fall in revenue could be as much as $400 million.The ICC, however, pegged the BCCI’s drop in revenue at only $200 million for the 2015-2023 period. Apart from the two organisations disagreeing over the principle of reducing the BCCI’s share, there is also a significant divergence between how the BCCI calculated its revenue under the Big Three model, and how the ICC calculated it before further cutting the BCCI’s share under the new distribution model.The ICC estimated the BCCI’s original share according to the Big Three model to be $450-455 million – and not $570 million – because it had raised its costs by $160 million, thereby reducing the share of the revenue that was available for distribution to the member boards. The BCCI was unhappy with what it considered to be an arbitrary increase in ICC costs, which were upped by the working group responsible for cutting the BCCI’s share in the new distribution model.The ICC working group led by its chairman Shashank Manohar arrived at an increase of $160 million in costs because it said event expenses had gone up by $50 million, central ICC revenues had also gone up by $50 million, and $60 million had been allotted as a reserve and contingency fund. The rise in costs was then readjusted down to $90 million, after doing away with the expense of $70 million for the ICC Test fund.Another key decision taken by Manohar’s working group was to remove the contribution cost borne by the ICC, which had been introduced in the Big Three model. The ICC was to pay ‘contribution costs’ to Full Members from its gross revenue through a graded percentage share. The contribution cost paid to a country was arrived at via four parameters: the revenue contributed by the country to the ICC, its historical ICC membership, its on-field performance over the past 20 years in men’s and women’s competitions, and its domestic development performance.According to the Big Three model, India’s “value contribution” for the 2007-2015 period was over 80%, while that of other Full Members ranged from 0.1% to 5%. So for a projected revenue of $2.5 billion the BCCI, under the Big Three model, would earn close to $570 million from the ICC, which included a distribution cost amount of $63 million given to all Full Members.The BCCI’s argument is that there needs to be a cap on the ICC’s expenses, otherwise the surplus of ICC revenue left for distribution among boards could reduce in the future. Due to the present increase in the estimate of the ICC’s expenses, the distribution costs received from the ICC by every Full Member has dropped from $63 million to $52 million.The BCCI has been the most vocal opponent of this revision.After Manohar became the independent ICC chairman in early 2016, he said he wanted the ICC revenue distribution to be fair and equitable for all the Full Members. In the first version of the new distribution model, after factoring in the $90 million increase in ICC costs, the BCCI’s share fell to $440-445 million from the estimated $570-million in the Big Three model. In percentage terms, it went from 22.76% to 17.8 %.The ECB’s revenue fell from $172 million to between $145-150 million and CA’s projected $130 million was revised to between $110-115 million. The other seven Full Members would also have seen cuts, ranging from US$1-10 million, when compared to the original model.

Haseeb Hameed will miss MCC’s season curtain-raising fixture against the Champion County, Middlesex, next month, to undergo a sinus operation

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2017Haseeb Hameed will miss MCC’s season curtain-raising fixture against the Champion County, Middlesex, next month, to undergo a sinus operation.Hameed, who made a strong impression in three Test appearances for England against India last year, before leaving the tour early with a broken finger, is currently in Sri Lanka with the England Lions squad.His intention is to play in the second four-day game against Sri Lanka A, which starts in Dambulla on Friday, then head home for surgery.

MCC squad for Champion County match

Alex Lees (Yorkshire), Tom Alsop (Hampshire), Sam Northeast (Kent, captain), Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire, England), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Ben Cox (Worcestershire), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Matt Coles (Kent), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire, England), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Jack Leach (Somerset)

“It’s something I’ve needed to do for a while, and this is a good time to do it,” said Hameed. “It’s disappointing to miss the chance to play for the MCC against Middlesex, because it was an honour to be selected. But by having the operation in early March, I will be fit for the start of the season with Lancashire.”Hameed has been replaced in the MCC squad by Alex Lees, the Yorkshire opener, who will be joined by his county team-mate Liam Plunkett following the withdrawal of their fellow Yorkshireman, Matt Fisher, who suffered a groin injury when captaining England Under-19s in India earlier this month.John Stephenson, MCC’s Head of Cricket, said: “Of course it is a shame that Haseeb and Matt have had to withdraw from the squad, but we have two excellent replacements in Liam and Alex who will add experience and firepower. Our team is full of exciting young English cricketers and I am really looking forward to seeing them in what should be a very competitive and engaging match.”

Niroshan Dickwella picked up an injury on Sunday and had trouble holding the bat on Monday

Andrew Fidel Fernando27-Mar-2017Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh after suffering a hairline fracture in his left hand.Dickwella had sustained the injury on Sunday, at training. Though it was originally thought to be a minor injury, he had had trouble gripping his bat on Monday. Subsequent X-rays then confirmed the fracture.Team manager Asanka Gurusinha said that while the injury was “minor” it may take “a couple of weeks” to fully heal, which also puts Dickwella in doubt for the T20 internationals that follow the ODIs. Dickwella had also been unavailable for the first ODI of the series, thanks to the suspension he picked up for dissent, during the T20 series in Australia.Though it is a batsman that exits the squad, Sri Lanka have called up offspinner Dilruwan Perera, and strengthened the seam battery through the inclusion of Nuwan Kulasekara and Nuwan Pradeep as well. Those changes are likely a reflection of the outcome of Saturday’s match, in which Sri Lanka’s attack was ineffective – especially at the death overs – as Bangladesh scored 324 in their 90-run win.Kulasekara had played in Sri Lanka’s 0-5 ODI defeat in South Africa in January and February, but had had mixed results in that series. He has 195 ODI wickets, however, and will be the most experienced bowler in the squad by a distance.

Gloucestershire picked up their first Specsavers County Championship victory of the season by beating Leicestershire by an innings and six runs at The Brightside Ground in Bristol

ECB Reporters Network16-Apr-2017
ScorecardIt was a memorable match for Liam Norwell•Getty Images

Gloucestershire picked up their first Specsavers County Championship victory of the season by beating Leicestershire by an innings and six runs at The Brightside Ground in Bristol.Having scored 466 for 8 declared in their first innings, Phil Mustard’s side bowled out Leicestershire twice, inside two days, with Liam Norwell returning match-winning figures of 10 for 99.The win will certainly go some way towards softening the blow of last week’s heavy defeat at the hands of Kent. For Leicestershire, however, there is little or no consolation. That’s two chastening defeats in as many games.Resuming on 165 for 6 on day three, the visitors soon found themselves in trouble at the hands of Norwell, who bowled very well indeed from the Ashley Down End. The Dorset-born seamer sent back Clint McKay in the first over of the day to celebrate his 200th first-class wicket.To their credit, Ned Eckersley and Richard Jones proved what was capable with an ounce of application and a genuine appetite for the fight, as they added 89 for the eighth wicket. Unfortunately, for the visitors, it was never likely to be enough to help the Foxes avoid the follow on and subsequently, another disappointing loss.Eckersley led the way with 88 off 103 balls, having passed 50 off 66 deliveries. However, when he departed, bowled by Norwell, at 255 for 8, Leicestershire were still well short of their initial target of saving the follow on.Gavin Griffiths became Norwell’s fifth victim of the innings, four runs later, and with Colin Ackermann unable to bat after retiring hurt on day two, their innings came to a close on 259 for 9.Unfortunately for Leicestershire, whose second innings progressed to 6 for 0 at lunch, the afternoon session was every bit a disappointing. And it was that man Norwell who was once again responsible.Bowling in tandem with David Payne, Norwell ripped the heart out of Leicestershire’s top and middle order. After Payne had kicked off the session by having Paul Horton caught by wicketkeeper Mustard for 6, Norwell sent back Harry Dearden, Neil Dexter and Mark Pettini during a seven-over spell that saw him return the impressive figures of 3 for 19.When Payne added his second wicket, that of Mark Cosgrove at 51 for 5, the game looked as though it would be all over by tea.Thankfully, for Leicestershire, Eckersley knuckled down to the task in hand and added 86 with Ben Raine for the sixth wicket. Having helped himself to a first half century of the summer in the first innings, Eckersley was unbeaten on 53 at tea, having passed 50 off as many balls, with eight fours. The pair had looked in little trouble until Raine carelessly ran himself out for 42.McKay’s cameo – 29 off 39 deliveries – once again held up Gloucestershire. However, when Norwell had the Australian caught in the slips by George Hankins, shortly after tea, the end was nigh.Mustard picked up a wonderful catch to send back Richard Jones in Payne’s next over and though Eckersley batted beautifully for 85, he finally holed out to Jack Taylor on the point boundary off the bowling of Norwell. A fitting end for the bowler who deservedly received a standing ovation from those who saw it.

Durham coasted to their first Specsavers County Championship win of the season when they made light work of reaching a target of 157 in 43 overs against Glamorgan at Chester-le-Street

ECB Reporters Network22-Jun-2017
ScorecardDurham coasted to their first Specsavers County Championship win of the season when they made light work of reaching a target of 157 in 43 overs against Glamorgan at Chester-le-Street.After making only one half-century in his 13 previous championship innings, Stephen Cook led the way to the nine-wicket win with an unbeaten 89 from 78 balls in his final appearance before linking up with the South Africa Test squad next week.Cameron Steel also went for his shots from the outset and survived three difficult chances in making 51 off 58 balls as Durham got home with 18.3 overs to spare. Cook worked the ball into leg-side spaces before cutting Marchant de Lange to the rope as he scored 34 of the 54 runs that came up in the first ten overs.With their seamers making no impression, Glamorgan turned to Andrew Salter’s off spin and Cook drove him wide of mid-off for his sixth four to reach 50 off 49 balls. Two similar strokes for his eighth and ninth fours brought the winning runs.Only 28 were needed when Salter persuaded Steel to chip a catch to deep mid-off, allowing Jack Burnham to assist in completing the task with an unbeaten 14.After resuming on 92 for 2, Glamorgan were dismissed for 263 in their second innings, with Colin Ingram left unbeaten on 70, made off 137 balls with seven fours and a pulled six.Barry McCarthy finished with 4 for 65 after briefly coming under fire from nightwatchman Lukas Carey.After conceding 16 runs in 11 overs, McCarthy went for 26 in two, which included a six over long-on.But when he needed one for his second half-century in successive games, Carey got carried away and had his stumps splattered by an inswinger from Chris Rushworth.Three wickets had gone down for five runs in three overs when McCarthy pinned Aneurin Donald lbw with a shooter and had David Lloyd well caught at second slip by Ryan Pringle off an edged drive.Ingram survived a difficult chance to Steel at cover off McCarthy, but was otherwise untroubled and was kept company for 16 overs after lunch by Tom Cullen on his championship debut.But after making 13 he shouldered arms and lost his off stump to a Rushworth inswinger in the sixth over of the new ball.Marchant de Lange threatened to take it away from Durham in a ninth-wicket stand of 40 in six overs. But Rushworth clung on to a return catch from a fierce drive then, three overs later, Michael Hogan played across the line and was bowled off his pads by McCarthy.