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“A couple of years ago we would have thrown the towel in pretty early. It shows the mindset of the group that we stay in the fight”

Vishal Dikshit01-Oct-20253:43

Australia’s batting depth comes to the fore

An opening World Cup game. Against the world champions. New Zealand trying to cross the 300 barrier for the first time while chasing. A deflating record of 15 consecutive ODI losses against Australia from the last eight years hanging over their head. And sapping heat and humidity at the end of the monsoon season in Indore that took a lot out of Sophie Devine, who had fielded for nearly 50 overs and bowled eight overs under the sun.If pressure could take different shapes and sizes, it did for the New Zealand captain in their opening World Cup clash against Australia, which resulted in an 89-run loss after she batted for over two-and-a-half hours for a fighting and valiant century, her ninth in the format. Soon after she wrung out the last drop of energy from her 36-year-old body after being on the field for 91.1 overs on an exacting evening, Devine said it was “probably the most demanding” game she played in her 19-year ODI career that will end with this World Cup.Related

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“I’ll just say come and feel my shirt, I think you’ll see how tough that was,” Devine said about her sweat-soaked jersey having walked in for the press conference only minutes after the match ended. “But I guess that’s the thing that I probably took strength from, is the work that the girls have done over the last six to 12 months, it’s been exactly for a knock like that, it’s the hard stuff that no one sees behind closed doors and every single one of this group has been slogging away, making sure that they’re fit and ready to be able to go out there and do a job like I was able to do today.”So I’m incredibly proud that, well I was probably a little bit slow towards the end getting a bit tired and things, but I know every one of our players wants to be there and wants to be contributing throughout the full 100 overs. So to answer your question, yeah, I think it probably was the most demanding; running around in the field, bowling, trying to keep the Aussies under 400. So yeah, I think both physically and mentally as well, it was pretty draining.”Devine had the arduous task of rescuing her team from the pits of 0 for 2 in the second over in a chase of 327, even if on a flat surface in what was the first women’s international in Indore. Devine first made sure she found her feet against the accurate bowling of the Australian attack that swung and turned the ball under the lights, and tried to ensure New Zealand had a somewhat gettable equation towards the end. Her steady half-century came off 69 balls before she raced from 50 to 100 in just 38 balls even as no other team-mate who batted lower than her crossed 30. When Brooke Halliday holed out for 28, New Zealand needed a stiff 200 runs from the last 20. Maddy Green lasted just 18 balls, and it was Devine’s rapid partnership of 54 in 35 balls for the sixth wicket that saw Isabella Gaze take the lead with six fours that saw New Zealand claw back in the game as some tense Australian faces started to appear on the field and in the dugout.They fell short by a distance in the end as Gaze and Devine were dismissed in the space of 13 balls and New Zealand lasted just two more runs after that.”Just happy with the fight this team showed, a couple of years ago we would have thrown the towel in pretty early,” Devine said at the presentation. “It shows the mindset of the group that we stay in the fight.”Sophie Devine’s knock of 111 went in vain•Getty Images

New Zealand would have thought earlier in the game they had a golden chance of downing the world champions early in the tournament when they had Australia on 128 for 5 in the 22nd over. But Ashleigh Gardner struck a counter-attacking 115 off just 83 balls to power Australia to their highest ODI score opposite New Zealand after turning the tables on them.”The fact that we got them in that position is really pleasing and really positive for us,” Devine said. “It is though, about finding ways that we can really put the foot on the throat and skittle them for 200-250 and that’s looking like a different game. I think that’s probably shown the most resilience from this White Ferns side, do you know what I mean? That despite being two down for nothing, we still keep coming out.”The fight and the resilience shown just to knuckle down rather than throw our wickets, it’s something I’m really proud of for this group and the way the likes of Izzy Gaze came out to bat, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, the way that people just keep going to their strengths and taking the game on, that’s something that I spoke at an earlier press conference, it’s about how we play this game. Yes, results are important and we want to win, but the way that we played tonight, it’s made me really proud and I certainly know that we can keep pushing the best teams in the world really hard. But also we can be at the business end of the tournament if we can make sure that we’re playing good cricket for longer periods of time.”New Zealand haven’t beaten Australia in an ODI for over eight years•Getty Images

New Zealand have five days to rest, assess and prepare in Indore before their next game against South Africa on October 6. They would perhaps want that their younger players step up too and not leave the heavy lifting for the seniors, as Devine, Lea Tahuhu (3 for 42) and Amelia Kerr (2 for 54 and 33) were their top performers against Australia.”I think to win a World Cup, it’s going to take 15 players, and at different stages it’s going to be different people,” Devine said about what she expected from the squad. “Expectations are there that everyone wants to be the one that stands up and takes responsibility, and today, you mentioned it, the experienced players are the ones, but I’ve got full faith that anyone in that 15 can go out and win a game for us. And to have that belief and confidence and trust in the group, I think that’s something that’s really special about this group, and I know that everyone feels that too, is that despite the loss today, we pushed the world champs pretty hard, and we got them nervous at different times there, which it doesn’t happen often.”So, absolutely, I know at different stages different people are going to stand up in this group, and it’s going to be their time, and that’s what we’ve spoken about – when it’s your day, you really be selfish, and you take control of it, and you be the one to get this team over the line.”

Ross Adair, Neil Rock, Ben White in group to play Pakistan and Netherlands tri-series

Matt Roller07-May-2024Josh Little will stay at the IPL until Gujarat Titans’ final game, with Cricket Ireland allowing him to miss their T20I series against Pakistan and tri-series in the Netherlands which form the basis of their preparation for June’s T20 World Cup.Ireland’s selectors named a 15-man provisional squad for the World Cup on Tuesday, which is unchanged from the squad which faced Afghanistan in their most recent T20I series. The same group will face Pakistan in three T20Is, starting in Dublin on Friday, then will play a tri-series with Netherlands and Scotland from May 19-24.Little, who took 4 for 45 in his first appearance of the IPL season on Saturday, left India mid-tournament last year in order to feature in Ireland’s ODI series against Bangladesh, when World Cup qualification was at stake. But he has been allowed to stay for the duration this year and, barring an unlikely play-off charge, will return home after Titans’ final group match on May 16.Ireland T20 squad•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Paul Stirling, who replaced Andy Balbirnie as Ireland’s white-ball captain last year, will appear at his eighth successive T20 World Cup. He has played in 21 of Ireland’s 25 previous men’s T20 World Cup matches and is the fifth-highest run-scorer in men’s T20I history.He leads a squad that has only changed slightly from 2022, when Ireland reached the Super 12s by beating West Indies and Scotland in the first round before shocking eventual champions England in the second stage.Three players have been named in the 2024 squad who were not involved 18 months ago: Ross Adair, an attacking batter and the older brother of seamer Mark; Neil Rock, the back-up wicketkeeper-batter to Lorcan Tucker; and Ben White, the legspinner. Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Conor Olphert and Simi Singh all miss out.”The squad is one that we have gradually developed and tested out over the last 18 or so months,” Heinrich Malan, Ireland’s coach, said. “The skillsets we need to cover are there, albeit we have allowed Josh [Little] to continue in the IPL until his side end their campaign, so he will likely join us ahead of the big tournament.Related

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“We have an intensive block of T20 cricket coming up this month ahead of the T20 World Cup – we have seven games in 15 days as preparation for the tournament. We will not be treating those seven games as warm-ups, though, we’ll be aiming to win as many of those games as possible.”Ireland start their T20 World Cup campaign against India at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium – the temporary stadium near New York City – on June 5 and will face Canada at the same venue two days later. They will then travel to Lauderhill, Florida to face USA and Pakistan on June 14 and 16 respectively.Ireland squad for Pakistan T20Is, Netherlands tri-series and T20 World Cup: Paul Stirling (capt), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andy Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Josh Little*, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock (wk), Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Ben White, Craig Young.*Little to join squad before World Cup

India captain says match simulation gives them a better chance at maximising their three days at the WACA in the lead-up to the Test series

Alagappan Muthu03-Nov-20245:43

Rohit: Not going to look beyond the Australia series

India will go from their 0-3 defeat to New Zealand to Australia in a couple of weeks’ time and they will face that challenge without the aid of any practice matches. This was their choice. They’ve scrapped a game they were supposed to play against India A at the WACA in favour of centre-wicket training with India A. This means the first game of any kind they will play during the Border-Gavaskar series is the opening Test match in Perth.India took this decision before the whitewash happened on Sunday and the captain Rohit Sharma explained why. “Look, you know, rather than practice match, we planned a very match simulation kind of a thing with India A,” he said. “I think sometimes when you play that practice match, we’re travelling with a squad of 19 players and it was only three days that were allotted to us. And I don’t know how much workload we can get done in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared.”So we, as a management as well, we feel that rather than having that, the match simulation where the batters can spend more time in the middle, batting in the middle, and then the bowlers as well can bowl a lot of balls, so that is something that, we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem. All of us have been playing a lot of cricket. So it’s just about spending time in the middle.”Related

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India A are already on site and have played a four-day game against Australia A in Mackay. That squad includes members who are part of the Test squad as well and several other leading performers in first-class cricket. So Rohit is hopeful of getting reasonably good prep, especially now with the shift from practice match to match simulation.”If a batter gets out, he has to sit in the dugout for the whole day, you know, and he doesn’t get too much of batting done,” Rohit said. “Whereas in match simulation kind of a thing, you know, the batters can go out and play 50-70 balls and then if you feel that he’s had enough, we can retire him out and then get someone else in. So that is the plan.”We want to maximise this three-day slot that we’ve got and I feel this is the best way to do it where the batters can have a lot of time in the middle and the bowlers at the same time can get their workload in terms of getting the number of balls bowled in the middle. So that was the idea and we will be.”I think we’ll be training at WACA, which is as close to Optus where you have that bounce and carry. So hopefully we can use those three days perfectly and maximise how much ever we can from our point of view.”The five Tests in Australia now assume even greater importance because India will need to win four of them to make it to the WTC final next year. They may have to start the series without Rohit, who mentioned that he “wasn’t too sure if I’ll be going to [Perth]. But let’s see. Fingers crossed.”

The women will also host Zimbabwe, for the first time, and South Africa for limited-overs matches in early 2026

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2025New Zealand Cricket (NZC) have announced a busy international schedule for both the men’s (BlackCaps) and the women’s (White Ferns) national teams. The men will host Australia, England, South Africa and West Indies across formats, while the women have 14 games lined up, against South Africa and Zimbabwe. All this, along with their respective World Cups: the women play the ODI World Cup through September and October in India and Sri Lanka and the men take part in the T20 World Cup early next year, also in India and Sri Lanka.Australia, England and West Indies will visit New Zealand before Christmas for men’s fixtures, with the T20 World Cup taking place soon after, followed by South Africa’s tour, which will feature double-headers with the women’s games. Australia will play three T20Is, all in October. The England series comprises three T20Is and three ODIs, starting in October and running into November. Then West Indies will feature in five T20Is, three ODIs, and three Tests to round off the tour, which starts on November 5 and runs till December 22.The women don’t have any fixtures scheduled before the ODI World Cup, and get into action in February 2026 with three ODIs and three T20Is beginning February and ending in March against Zimbabwe in what will be the team’s first visit to New Zealand for a bilateral series.This will be followed by the double-header T20I series against South Africa. Both the men and the women will play five T20Is between March 15 and March 25, and the women will then play a series of three ODIs between late March and early April.This adds up to 46 days of international cricket across nine venues in New Zealand.”It feels like a marquee summer,” Kyle Jamieson said in a NZC statement. “The calibre of opposition means we’ll be constantly tested for the duration of the season and that’s what you want as a cricketer.”It’s great to have another three-Test series at home and I’m sure the fans will get in behind the Test team as they have in seasons gone by. It’s always special to play in front of a home crowd and we’re hoping Kiwis will get out in force to support us once again this summer.”Compared to the 25 matches, including three Tests, that the men will play, the women have 14 fixtures lined up.”We can’t wait for the international season and the chance to play in another ICC Cricket World Cup,” Georgia Plimmer said. “We want to play as much cricket as we can, especially in front of our home fans and it’s exciting to have a 14-game home summer to prepare for.”It’s great to see more T20I doubleheaders as they are such a great experience for teams and fans alike and it was awesome to see such strong crowds last season.”

New Zealand men’s fixtures

Against Australia

• Oct 1 – 1st T20I, Mount Maunganui
• Oct 3 – 2nd T20I, Mount Maunganui
• Oct 4 – 3rd T20I, Mount Maunganui

Against England

• Oct 18 – 1st T20I, Christchurch
• Oct 20 – 2nd T20I, Christchurch
• Oct 23 – 3rd T20I, Auckland
• Oct 26 – 1st ODI, Mount Maunganui
• Oct 29 – 2nd ODI, Hamilton
• Nov 1 – 3rd ODI, Wellington

Against West Indies

• Nov 5 – 1st T20I, Auckland
• Nov 6 – 2nd T20I, Auckland
• Nov 9 – 3rd T20I, Nelson
• Nov 10 – 4th T20I, Nelson
• Nov 13 – 5th T20I, Dunedin
• Nov 16 – 1st ODI, Christchurch
• Nov 19 – 2nd ODI, Napier
• Nov 22 – 3rd ODI, Hamilton
• Dec 2-6 – 1st Test, Christchurch
• Dec 10-14 – 2nd Test, Wellington
• Dec 18-22 – 3rd Test, Mount Maunganui

Against South Africa

• Mar 15 – 1st T20I, Mount Maunganui
• Mar 17 – 2nd T20I, Hamilton
• Mar 20 – 3rd T20I, Auckland
• Mar 22 – 4th T20I, Wellington
• Mar 25 – 5th T20I, Christchurch

New Zealand women’s fixtures

Against Zimbabwe

• Feb 25 – 1st T20I, Hamilton
• Feb 27 – 2nd T20I, Hamilton
• Mar 1 – 3rd T20I, Hamilton
• Mar 5 – 1st ODI, Dunedin
• Mar 8 – 2nd ODI, Dunedin
• Mar 11 – 3rd ODI, Dunedin

Against South Africa

• Mar 15 – 1st T20I, Mount Maunganui
• Mar 17 – 2nd T20I, Hamilton
• Mar 20 – 3rd T20I, Auckland
• Mar 22 – 4th T20I, Wellington
• Mar 25 – 5th T20I, Christchurch
• Mar 29 – 1st ODI, Christchurch
• Apr 1 – 2nd ODI, Wellington
• Apr 4 – 3rd ODI, Wellington

High demand on franchise circuit persuades 21-year-old to withdraw from first-class game

Matt Roller14-Nov-2022Will Smeed has signed a white-ball-only contract at Somerset in a ground-breaking move that highlights the growing divide between formats in English cricket.Smeed is one of the most promising young batters in the English game and made his debut for the Lions earlier this year. He has impressed for Somerset in the T20 Blast across the last three seasons and in August became the first player to score a century in the Hundred, playing for Birmingham Phoenix.”I feel that my game is better suited to white-ball cricket,” Smeed said in Somerset’s press release. “After a huge amount of thorough and considered discussions, I feel that I need to solely focus my attention on the limited-overs formats in order to become the very best cricketer I can be.”I can assure people that this [is] not a decision that I’ve taken lightly, and I’ve spoken to a lot of people about it. I want to be the best player that I can be, and to do that I believe that this needs to be my focus.”Smeed first came to mainstream attention when, aged 16, he made a second-team hundred in the same innings as a 42-year-old Marcus Trescothick in a red-ball game, but he has never played a first-class game and averaged 15.57 in his five outings in the Second XI Championship this season.”I know how much our members love red-ball cricket, but unfortunately I haven’t been performing how I would like to in the longer form of the game,” Smeed added. “The easy option would have been to carry on playing red-ball cricket and try to fit everything in and reach a certain level across all formats, but I want to try to be the best that I can be.”To achieve this, I feel that I need to focus on excelling in one format. I’m certainly not saying that I’ll never play red-ball cricket again. I just feel that this is the right decision for me and Somerset at the current time.”It has become increasingly common for English players to sign white-ball deals with their counties since Adil Rashid and Alex Hales took that step in early 2018, but the vast majority of those players have been in their 30s and have already played a significant chunk of red-ball cricket. Smeed has made the decision weeks after his 21st birthday.Will Smeed celebrates reaching his century for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred•ECB/Getty Images

“I still want to play everything,” Smeed insisted in an interview with ESPNcricinfo this summer but his exploits in short-form cricket have made him a sought-after player on the franchise circuit. He has already represented Quetta Gladiators in the PSL – who have retained him for the 2023 edition – and Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10, a tournament he will return to next week playing for Deccan Gladiators.Most significantly, he has a deal with MI Emirates – the franchise run by Mumbai Indians’ owners Reliance in the ILT20, the new UAE league – and he appears certain to put his name forward for December’s IPL auction. If selected, he would miss the first two months of the Championship season regardless of his Somerset contract.Andy Hurry, Somerset’s director of cricket, said that the club supported Smeed’s decision. “As a club we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that our players fulfil their aspirations, and we therefore support Will in this decision,” he said. “White-ball only contracts are not new in the game and are not new at Somerset. The game is developing all the time and I sense that we will see more contracts of this type emerging across the world.Related

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“Will is an exceptional talent and has the potential to have an incredibly successful career. At this stage he is not drawing a permanent line under his red-ball future, and this is currently the best way forward for both Will and the club.”He has all the attributes to become a very successful white-ball player and I am sure that our members and supporters will enjoy seeing him continue to improve. He has a very important role to play in limited-overs cricket for Somerset for many years to come.”Smeed had previously signed a one-year extension with Somerset earlier this year, which was due to expire at the end of the 2023 season. His new deal runs until the end of the 2024 season.

The Australia keeper equalled the world record and set an Australia List A record with eight catches while Buckingham took 6 for 41

AAP14-Feb-2024Alex Carey took a world record-equalling eight catches in an innings for South Australia in their Marsh Cup win over Queensland.It was the 32-year-old Test wicketkeeper’s first 50-over game since being dropped from the Australian side at last year’s World Cup in India and he had a day to remember. Five of Carey’s catches were taken off the bowling of player of the match Jordan Buckingham, who finished with a career-best 6 for 41 in the Bulls’ total of 218 at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide on Wednesday.The Redbacks won by five wickets in the 45th over with Thomas Kelly blasting 81 off 66 deliveries and captain Nathan McSweeney making 52.Carey had earlier equalled the List A world record when he caught a skier to dismiss last man Matt Kuhnemann. Carey finished the innings equal with two previous world record holders who achieved the feat in English domestic cricket. The first to claim eight catches in an innings was Somerset wicketkeeper Derek Taylor in 1982. The feat was then achieved by Worcestershire gloveman James Pipe in 2001.Carey’s new mark is an Australian List A record on its own. Former Australia wicketkeeper Peter Nevill had eight dismissals in an innings for NSW against a Cricket Australia XI in 2017, but two of them were stumpings.Carey made the difficult look easy with his best catch a stunning diving effort down the leg side to dismiss Jack Wildermuth first ball off Buckingham.Wildermuth got a good piece of a glance that seemed certain to be going to the boundary. Carey dived full length and with his left arm on the ground somehow managed to glove the ball cleanly.He also took a well-judged running catch towards fine leg to get rid of Queensland stand-in skipper Marnus Labuschagne for 74 off 99 deliveries.Carey’s heroics came amidst an incredible spell of fast bowling by Henry Thornton. Thornton had 2 for 7 off his first six overs, beating Labuschagne at least six times with deliveries that cut both ways. Thornton dropped a tough caught and bowled chance off Labuschagne when he was yet to reach double figures.It took all of the Test No.3’s skill to negotiate a spell that Glenn McGrath in his pomp would have been proud of.The win was South Australia’s first in the competition this season, though they and the Bulls were already out of contention to play in the final.

Mike Hussey manages to hold ’em for six games before they walk away on Pakistan duty

Matt Roller09-Aug-2023Mike Hussey called it a “gamble” when he signed Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf for Welsh Fire in the Hundred draft. There was uncertainty around Pakistan’s fixture list at the time but Afridi and Rauf will be available for six out of eight group games, and have taken eight wickets between them in the first three.Afridi struck with his first two balls in Fire red, trapping Phil Salt and Laurie Evans lbw with two trademark inswinging yorkers, and was the leading wicket-taker in the first week of the men’s Hundred. Rauf has been the fastest bowler in the competition, blasting out Southern Brave’s middle order in a tight defeat on Friday night.”, I have had good rhythm since we started in Cardiff,” Rauf tells ESPNcricinfo. “I hope for the rest of the tournament, I can put in good performances.” He says, laughing that he will try and crank up towards 150kph and beyond this week: “! I’ll try my best for the team.”They have thrived in combination. “Me and Haris enjoy bowling together, as a partnership,” Afridi adds. “We have been playing together since 2018 and we try to give our best for every team we play for.” Rauf says playing alongside his close friend helps him feel “very relaxed” and perform at his best.Related

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They first played together for Lahore Qalandars, the whipping boys of the early years of the Pakistan Super League who won four consecutive wooden spoons, and their partnership has helped transform that franchise into two-time champions. After losing all eight games last year, Welsh Fire hope they will have a similar effect on their own fortunes.”Lahore Qalandars lost a lot in the first four or five years,” Afridi says, “but we have won back-to-back finals in the last two. That’s why we’re here, to perform well for this team – and so far, so good.” Rauf adds: “We all believe in each other. In all leagues around the world, that’s the most important thing: how can you make a good environment for the players?”They have enjoyed being coached by Hussey, who replaced Gary Kirsten as coach over the winter and has started the season with a win, a narrow defeat and a tie at The Oval on Sunday. “Hussey is a very good man,” Afridi says. “When he played for Australia, he was our favourite player. We enjoy working with him.”On Thursday, they will play against one of their Pakistan team-mates in Shadab Khan, who is finally playing in the Hundred for the first time after international commitments forced him to pull out of contracts in the first two seasons. Shadab made his Birmingham Phoenix debut on Monday night, and is relishing the chance to play against some familiar faces.”When you play against your friends and perform against each other, you’re teasing each other about it all year,” Shadab says. “They’re my close mates, so I want to beat them – because they beat me in the PSL.” He explains that his plan when he faces them with the bat is simple: “Whack them for sixes, bro.”