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Simon Kerrigan adds two more years to his deal at Northamptonshire

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-2021Liam Livingstone has capped a breakout year by extending his contract with Lancashire to the end of 2024.An explosive batsman for club and country, 28-year-old Livingstone has been a mainstay in the Lancashire lineup across all three formats since his debut in their 2015 Blast-winning campaign and he has made 163 appearances for the county. He averages 38.36 with the bat in first-class matches and has a strike rate of 144.73 in T20s and 165.78 in T20Is.Livingstone earned call-ups to England’s white-ball squads, most recently for the T20 World Cup, and he made his ODI debut in India in March.Playing just his sixth T20I, Livingstone scored scored England’s fastest century in the format with a 42-ball effort in a losing cause against Pakistan in July. He has made numerous appearances in T20 leagues around the world, including the IPL, Big Bash and PSL, with Peshawar Zalmi retaining him in the platinum category on Friday.Related

• Keith Barker signs two-year contract extension with Hampshire

• Will Young joins Northamptonshire for 2022 season

• County ins and outs 2021-22

Livingstone has struck a century in each form of the game for Lancashire – including five first-class tons – and in 2018 he became one of just six Red Rose batsmen to notch a century in T20 cricket with a 51-ball blitz at Derbyshire. He has also added leg-spin and off-spin bowling to his game in recent seasons, picking up 83 wickets across all three formats for Lancashire and offering a handy option in the England attack.”I have always said that it is a privilege to play for the Red Rose and I am delighted to have the opportunity to continue doing that until at least 2024 and hopefully much longer after that,” Livingstone said. “The coaching team and supporters have shown great faith in me throughout my career and I am determined to pay that back by helping to deliver trophies to Emirates Old Trafford over the next few years.”Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket performance, said: “We’re really pleased to have secured Liam’s services for the next three years. His performance levels and reputation in world cricket continue to grow and he is a huge asset to our squad – in all formats of the game.”At the age of 28, Liam is now one of the more experienced players in the dressing room at Lancashire. He’s a match-winner, destructive in all facets of the game now and those are the players that you want in your side.”Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan signed a two-year contract extension with Northamptonshire on Friday. Kerrigan had a year to run on his original contract but has now committed to the club until at least the end of the 2024 season.After gaining promotion in 2019, Northamptonshire take their place in Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship next year and Kerrigan was looking forward to what lay ahead.”It’s a really exciting time to be at the club,” Kerrigan said. “We’ve got Will Young coming in who’s a high-class player and I’m sure he’ll be chomping at the bit to get going. There’s a good blend and mix of young and experienced players in our squad so hopefully we can be really competitive in the County Championship.”

The duo helped Stars break a five-game BBL 2025 losing streak while also consigning Heat to a third-straight defeat

AAP01-Jan-2025Melbourne Stars broke an eight-game BBL losing streak thanks to a Marcus Stoinis batting masterclass and a stunning Glenn Maxwell catch in the outfield.Stars defeated defending champions Brisbane Heat by five wickets at the Gabba in a breakthrough win after losing their opening five games this season and the final three of last year’s campaign.Heat made 149 for 7 batting first thanks to a blistering and unbeaten 77 off 48 deliveries by Max Bryant, during which Maxwell took one of the greatest catches seen in the BBL in an all-round brilliant individual fielding exhibition.

The match, which is set to be Virat Kohli’s 100th Test, was initially scheduled to be played behind closed doors

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2022The first India-Sri Lanka Test match in Mohali will now be open to spectators, who will be allowed to fill the PCA Stadium to 50% capacity.The match – which is set to be Virat Kohli’s 100th Test – was initially scheduled to be played behind closed doors due to Covid-19 restrictions. Three days before the start of the match, however, the BCCI has confirmed that spectators will be allowed to attend it.”The first Test between India and Sri Lanka to be played at the Punjab Cricket Stadium in Mohali will not be held behind closed doors,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement. “The decision to allow spectators into the ground is one taken by the State Cricketing Associations and in the present circumstances, is based on various factors. I have spoken with the PCA office bearers and they have confirmed that cricket fans will be able to witness the historic moment of Virat Kohli playing his 100th Test match.”The statement suggested the decision was taken based on the decline in Covid-19 cases around the country. The third wave of the pandemic peaked in January in India, and the three-match ODI series against West Indies in early February was played behind closed doors in Ahmedabad. The T20I leg of the series in Kolkata, however, was opened up to crowds, as were the second and third T20Is against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala. The first T20I in Lucknow, however, was played behind closed doors because of the state elections that were taking place in Uttar Pradesh.”While we started off the West Indies Tour of India behind closed doors, the encouraging dip in COVID-19 cases allowed the hosting associations to permit crowds,” Shah’s statement said. “Based on the advisories by the State Health Authorities fans were able to witness the games in Kolkata and Dharamsala while UPCA had Lucknow T20I without crowds owing to polling a day before the match.”I am really looking forward to Virat Kohli’s 100th Test and wish our champion cricketer the very best. This is an occasion for our fans to savour. May he continue to represent the country in many more matches to come.”RP Singhla, the treasurer of the PCA, told the that online ticket sales would open on Wednesday.”We got the communication from BCCI about the allowing of fans at 50% capacity for the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka at Mohali starting March 4,” Singhla said. “So far, we will allow online sale of tickets from Wednesday onwards as it becomes crowded at the ticket counters at the stadium. Fans will be there to watch Virat Kohli play his 100th Test match and PCA will ensure that all Covid-19 protocols are followed.”

No David Warner in the mix; no players from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan feature in the initial list of players

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2022There is no David Warner, but Andre Russell, Moeen Ali, Wanindu Hasaranga, Alex Hales, Shimron Hetmyer, Chris Jordan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman lead the big-name signings for the inaugural International League T20 (ILT20), to be played in the UAE in January-February next year.The six franchises in the league – owned by Reliance Industries, Kolkata Knight Riders, Capri Global, GMR, Lancer Capital and Adani Sportsline – will exercise their “direct acquisition” rights to acquire these players, who they have been in discussions with.No cricketers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan feature in the league’s plans at this stage, while Chris Lynn is the only Australian* in the mix. While things could change on the Australia, Bangladesh and India front – the last despite the BCCI’s stance against their players participating in overseas leagues, because of the number of teams owned by IPL owners – it is understood that Pakistani cricketers are not involved because they were unlikely to be granted NOCs by the PCB to play in the league, because of international and domestic commitments.Related

• Inaugural International League T20 set to start on January 13

• In the clutter of T20 leagues, BPL has fallen behind in race to sign big names

• 'I know this was coming' – Russell responds to Simmons on non-availability for West Indies

• CSA T20 league: Livingstone and Buttler in top salary bracket as England, SA players hit paydirt

• South Africa T20 league signs up 30 'marquee' international players

“Over the past weeks, ILT20’s six franchises have started discussions and engaged with players, and players’ agents, to exercise their ‘Direct Acquisition’ rights,” Khalid Al Zarooni, chairman of the ILT20, said in a statement.The other names in this “first set” of players are Dawid Malan, Sunil Narine, Evin Lewis, Colin Munro, Fabian Allen, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Dushmantha Chameera, Akeal Hosein, Tom Banton, Sandeep Lamichhane, Rovman Powell and Bhanuka Rajapaksa.The statement named 33 more international cricketers who have signed on: Lahiru Kumara, Seekugge Prassanna, Charith Asalanka, Isuru Udana and Niroshan Dickwella (from Sri Lanka); Kennar Lewis, Ravi Rampaul, Raymon Reifer, Dominic Drakes and Sherfane Rutherford (from West Indies); Hazratullah Zazai, Qais Ahmad, Noor Ahmed, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Naveen-ul-Haq (from Afghanistan); Dan Lawrence, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson, James Vince, Saqib Mahmood, Ben Duckett and Benny Howell (from England); Blessing Muzarabani and Sikandar Raza (from Zimbabwe); Brandon Glover and Frederick Klaasen (from Netherlands); David Wiese and Ruben Trumpelmann (from Namibia); Colin Ingram (from South Africa); George Munsey (Scotland); Paul Stirling (Ireland); and Ali Khan (USA).Each squad of 18 will have two players from Associate countries and four players from the UAE, but the process to pick them will start after more international signings are announced by the league later this week, the statement said.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We are very excited that a select number of UAE representative-players, from our current pool, will also be considered and signed on to participate in the league. It is also extremely important to note that these (UAE) players will form part of the team’s playing XI,” Mubashshir Usmani, general secretary of the Emirates Cricket Board, said. “One of the key objectives for ILT20 is to provide opportunities for players from UAE and other Associate nations to perform on the big stage, and, ECB extends its deep appreciation to the six franchises for their support of our vision to grow our game and create stronger, more competitive players.”The list confirmed, belatedly, that Warner would not be involved in the league and was likely to instead appear in the BBL for the first time since 2013 later this year. Reports that Warner might choose the ILT20 over the BBL resulted in negotiations between the player, CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association to find a way to have him play in the BBL.The extent of Moeen’s participation in the league is unclear. The new CSA league is also believed to have signed Moeen as one of its top stars. Both leagues play out concurrently across January and February and participation is also complicated by England’s ODI series in South Africa in that January-February window – games that are part of the Super League qualification pathway for the 2023 World Cup.There have been suggestions that the space for Pakistani players in the league might be limited because franchises owned by IPL owners were wary of picking them for worries of a backlash in India. One ILT20 official said the franchise owned by Lancer Capital – the Glazers family that owns Manchester United – were still hopeful of signing up some Pakistan players, though the official acknowledged that not getting the NOCs from the PCB might be the obstacle. The PCB said in a statement last week that two Pakistan players had applied for NOCs to play in the league but were not granted them because the board expected the players to be involved in Pakistan’s home season.The 2023 edition of the ILT20 will have 34 matches – all the teams will play each other twice, before four playoffs, including the final – spread across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

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

• Will Smeed fighting on all fronts for Somerset after red-ball reversal

• Will Smeed chooses his white-ball path, but the ground was laid a generation ago

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• Star turn on Lions debut leaves England feeling the need for Will Smeed

• Will Smeed hits the Hundred's first hundred to get Birmingham Phoenix off the mark

“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.

After a string of low scores, Shafique notched up his first century in more than a year in “extreme heat” in Multan

Danyal Rasool07-Oct-2024An emotional Abdullah Shafique said he was relieved to put the “challenges of failure” behind him after just his second hundred in two years. Having been through a prolonged slump after a blistering start to Test cricket that once put him on the cusp of becoming the fastest cricketer ever to reach 1000 Test runs, Shafique put together a 253-run stand with captain Shan Masood, managing a stirring century of his own.”A sportsman has to face challenges and go through failure,” Shafique said. “I’m thankful to the team management and the captain for trusting me and giving me a fair run. You face a lot of mental challenges and lots of doubts, but you have to overcome it all and perform.”Shafique’s gratitude to his captain is well placed. Pakistan’s impatience for poor form and alacrity with which they have tended to drop struggling players is lore by this point. But Masood, upon assuming the captaincy, stressed the need for players to feel secure in the side, making an impassioned case for keeping faith in him.Related

• Masood, Shafique hundreds see Pakistan take control

• Shan Masood's statement of intent sets out Pakistan's stall for the series

“Saim [Ayub] scored two 50s in the last two Tests, if we’d dropped him after the first Test, I’ve had that happen to me; it’s not nice,” he had said. “When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket, but Imam [ul-Haq-] and Fakhar [Zaman] were consistently performing. I didn’t complain that I wasn’t being selected, because I understood the level of competition was high. If the coach was backing the players, they were doing the right thing.”Shafique, though, knows there were ultimately limits to Pakistan’s selectors’ endurance. Since he scored a hundred in the first Test against England two years ago, he averaged 24.57 in 21 innings; he crossed 30 just five times, and managed one hundred and one half-century. With a difficult tour of South Africa coming up over the festive period, he was well aware he needed to vindicate his captain.”It was a very important day as the first one of the series,” Shafique said. The whole team understood the value of setting the tone up front because that’s the mode in which the team plays thereafter. The wicket is challenging to bat on a fresh pitch with the new ball, but the partnership between me and Shan gave the team a big boost.”After Ayub fell early, Pakistan might have feared another probing day with the bat, but Masood took the attack to England’s bowlers, with Shafique content playing second fiddle. As the scoreboard began to slant in Pakistan’s favour, there were glimpses of Shafique’s style and panache; he brought up his half-century with a six, and went from 94 to 100 with perhaps the shot of the day, an elegant gallop forward to drive Jack Leach into the long-on advertising hoardings.”It’s a challenge batting for long because of this extreme heat in Multan. But you can’t let yourself make excuses and keep trying to do what you are required to do. How well you take your opportunity is what matters. It’s not just the batter but the whole team which is confident when you do well.”Pakistan seem never to have lost their confidence in Shafique. Across two sessions as England’s bowlers toiled in Multan, Shafique went about demonstrating why that was.

With just eight points from 11 matches, Sunrisers are all but out of contention to make the playoffs

Sidharth Monga13-May-20231:27

Muzumdar: ‘Krunal’s wicket of Markram, the ball of the tournament so far’

Lucknow Super Giants resurrected their flailing campaign with their first win in four matches and pushed Sunrisers Hyderabad to the brink of elimination. With five overs to go and 69 runs to get on a slow pitch, it was Super Giants who were staring at a possible defeat, but Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis took 31 off the 16th, bowled by part-time left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma, turning the game completely on its head. Pooran stayed unbeaten on 44 off 13.Krunal Pandya showed how tough a pitch it was with successive wickets of Aiden Markram and Glenn Phillips with sharp turn at high pace, but there was one difference: there was bounce in the pitch to work with. Ravi Bishnoi and Amit Mishra made errors and went for 63 in their six. Sunrisers’ Mayank Markande went for 39 in his three, which perhaps made Markram go to Abhishek for that fateful 16th over.The win took Super Giants to 13 points from 12 matches, back in the top four, and Sunrisers only have a mathematical chance left with just 8 points from 11 matches.

Sunrisers start well

They are not quite used to it but Sunrisers didn’t get off to a disastrous start even though they didn’t have big stands. Yudhvir Singh bowled with fire and got rid of Abhishek early, but Anmolpreet Singh and Rahul Tripathi kept hitting. They took two boundaries each off Avesh Khan’s first over, the fifth; even though Yash Thakur bounced Tripathi out, Sunrisers got 56 off 2 in the powerplay.On a surface with some turn, Bishnoi and Mishra frequently overpitched or went too short. Klaasen and Markram tucked into it, reaching 115 for 3 in 12 overs.

The Krunal Pandya over

Then suddenly, Pandya showed what the pitch was capable of. He extracted big turn even at his pace to get Markram and Glenn Phillips in successive deliveries. Markram was stumped when defending on the front foot as the ball turned from leg and dragged him out. Phillips went back to a similar delivery, and was bowled. Pandya now bowled three overs for 13 runs and two wickets, knocking the wind out of Sunrisers’ sails.Two short balls – duly deposited by Klaasen – and Avesh missing his yorkers in the 19th over helped, but 182 was underwhelming after that start.

Klaasen fined, Mishra reprimanded

SRH wicketkeeper Klaasen was fined 10% of his match fee for a level 1 offence that deals with the “public criticism/inappropriate comment.” Klaasen was talking to the on-field umpire after a no-ball call from the TV umpire that did not go Sunrisers’ way, and later told broadcasters that the umpiring was “not great.”

In a separate incident, Amit Mishra admitted to a level 1 offence under Article 2.2 of IPL’s Code of Conduct which states abuse of equipment during the match. He had thrown the ball into the ground after dismissing Anmolpreet Singh.

Sunrisers control start of chase

It didn’t quite look underwhelming the way Sunrisers began their bowling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Fazalhaq Farooqi gave Kyle Mayers and Quinton de Kock absolutely nothing. Phillips benefited from those dry overs as Mayers hit him straight to mid-on.Prerak Mankad and de Kock struggled to get going as Sunrisers kept using changes of pace. The one bowler that provided some relief was Markande as de Kock hit him for a six and a four at the end of seventh over. He targeted Markande again in the ninth, but a reverse-sweep got him out.Mankad and Stoinis too got stuck, adding just 34 off the first 28 balls they faced. It was a typical slow Stoinis start, but the youngster Mankad – 36 off 29 at that point – looked under more pressure.1:16

Muzumdar: Impact Player rule has given players like Mankad an opportunity

Time-out followed by knockout

This is when Gautam Gambhir and Andy Flower had an animated chat with the two batters during the time-out. With eight wickets in hand, they still needed 94 off seven. Mankad jumped out of the crease first ball after the Time Out, and a hit a six. It helped that the bowler was Markande, who still had one over left after this.That attack on Markande also perhaps necessitated the early return of Bhuvneshwar, but even he went for a six in the 15th over. Markram now had two overs from Natarajan and one each from Bhuvneshwar and Farooqi. They were all bowling superbly. To get that final over in, Markram went to the left-arm spinner presumably because of the two right-hand batters at the wicket.To be fair to Sunrisers, Abhishek had already bowled two overs for just 11 runs. So perhaps it was the right time to sneak one over in. However, instead of sneaking in quietly, Abhishek announced himself with a change-up first ball: an arm ball gone horribly wrong, and Stoinis hit the full toss for a giant six. Then Abhishek went over the wicket. Wide. Back around. Overpitched, and an even bigger six.When Abhishek had Stoinis caught third ball, it actually turned out to be bad news for him. Out came a left-hand batter. Not just any left-hand batter but a spin hitter who can go from ball one. And go from ball one Pooran did. Massive slog sweep followed by a straight six followed by another slog sweep. Pooran was 18 off 3, Super Giants needed 38 off 24, and despite the best efforts of Natarajan, it was a walk after that.

With Washington Sundar likely to miss a chunk of the TNPL, he went to Trichy Grand Cholas for a fairly low price of INR 6 lakh

Deivarayan Muthu15-Feb-2025Vijay Shankar, Swapnil Singh, M Mohammed and C Andre Siddarth were among the major buys at the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2025 mega auction that was held in Chennai on Saturday.Former UAE international Karthik Meiyappan, who has now moved back to Chennai, his city of birth, headed to Madurai Panthers for INR 9.2 lakh. The wristspinner had bagged a hat-trick in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia and brings with him the experience of having played in the ILT20 and Global T20 Canada.In the lead-up to the auction, the likes of R Ashwin and Varun Chakravarthy (both Dindigul Dragons), Shahrukh Khan and Sai Sudharsan (both Lyca Kovai Kings) and Tamil Nadu captain R Sai Kishore (Tiruppur Tamizhans) were retained by the franchises.Vijay had kicked off the auction by triggering a bidding war, having at least four of the eight franchises, including Ashwin’s Dindigul, raising the paddle for his all-round skills before Chepauk Super Gillies scooped him up for INR 18 lakh. It was Mohammed who fetched the highest bid of INR 18.8 lakh, with Salem Spartans staving off competition from his former team Kovai Kings and Madurai.Mohammed hasn’t played in the IPL yet but has had a stint with Punjab Kings as a net bowler in the past. Swapnil, the UP-born left-arm fingerspinner, who often bowls in the powerplay for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), was picked by Chepauk for INR 10.8 lakh. In the IPL 2025 auction, RCB had used their right-to-match card to get Swapnil back for INR 50 lakh.Karthik Meiyappan bagged a hat-trick for UAE in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia•ICC via Getty Images

Swapnil, who had started his domestic career with Baroda, left the side during the Covid-19 pandemic after not getting regular game-time with them. He moved to Uttarakhand as an outstation player and since he has enrolled himself into TNCA’s first-division league, he is eligible to play in the TNPL.Sudharsan had returned to action from sports hernia in Tamil Nadu’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash against Vidarbha recently, but his availability for the TNPL is unclear as he might be picked in the India A or India squad for the England tour. In a bid to fill that void, Kovai Kings snapped up Siddarth for INR 8.4 lakh. Siddarth, the nephew of former Tamil Nadu stalwart and current national selector S Sharath, has also broken into the IPL, earning a deal worth INR 30 lakh with Chennai Super Kings. Siddarth had also played for India Under-19s in the 50-overs Under-19 Asia Cup in late 2024.With Washington Sundar set to slot into Ashwin’s spot as the frontline offspinner in India’s Test side, and likely to miss a chunk of the TNPL, he went to Trichy Grand Cholas for a low price of INR 6 lakh.Dindigul are the defending champions of the TNPL, having won their maiden title under Ashwin’s leadership in August 2024.