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Ackermann scores first century for new club as Essex rue profligacy

ECB Reporters Network26-Apr-2024Essex 5 for 0 trail Durham 358 (Ackermann 112, Robinson 90, Bedingham 52, Porter 3-57, Cook 3-60)Colin Ackermann made his first century for Durham as the home side shared the spoils with Essex on the first day of their Vitality County Championship match at the Seat Unique Riverside.The former Leicestershire skipper showed exemplary patience in making 112, a 294-minute innings that formed the bedrock of his side’s 358 all out. The Essex openers safely negotiated the last two overs of the day to finish on five without loss.The visiting bowlers stuck to their task well on a pitch that encouraged fast scoring. Sam Cook, captaining Essex for the first time with Tom Westley on paternity leave, took 3 for 60 and Jamie Porter, 3 for 57.Essex would probably have enjoyed a much better day had they not dropped Ollie Robinson on 26 and Ackermann on 90, when the Yorkshire loanee wicketkeeper Harry Duke put down a sharp chance off Matt Critchley. As it was, both David Bedingham and Robinson made fifties with the latter’s 90 being his fifth consecutive first-class half-century this season.Related

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But the day started badly for Durham, who lost both openers for single figures inside the first half-hour of play. Scott Borthwick edged Porter wide to Duke’s right but the wicketkeeper took a superb one-handed catch. Next over, Alex Lees was adjudged caught by Duke off Cook but the ex-England batter appeared astonished by the decision.Those dismissals left Durham poorly placed on 11 for 2 but the next hour’s play belonged largely to Bedingham, who hit seven fours and a six in reaching a fifty off 47 balls and had made 52 of the 73 runs in his second-wicket partnership with Ackermann when he was bowled by a magnificent ball from Porter which angled in before straightening to beat a blameless forward-defensive shot.Undaunted by this reverse, Ackermann and Robinson continued to score freely and Durham reached lunch on 129 for 3 after 29 overs.Robinson began the afternoon session by hitting Cook’s first two deliveries to the backward-point boundary but he was then dropped on 26 off the third when Shane Snater put down a straightforward chance at point, Undeterred, Robinson drove the last ball of the over to the cover boundary and continued to bat with fluency, reaching his fifth consecutive half-century of the season off 48 balls, having hit 11 boundaries.The dominance of Durham’s batters was maintained when Ackermann, who had played the anchor role admirably, reached his fifty off 117 balls and after 164 minutes of selfless concentration. However, just when a century beckoned for Robinson, he misjudged a routine push on the leg side off Harmer, gave a simple catch to Nick Browne at midwicket.Four overs later, Harmer bowled Graham Clark for 3 with a classic offspinner and four overs after tea, Cook brought one back to have Brydon Carse leg before wicket for 18. But Ackermann’s patient accumulation continued and he reached three figures off 199 balls with a back-foot cover-drive off Harmer. It was only his seventh boundary.Just over half an hour later, Ackermann fell to the new ball when Cook had him leg before wicket and the session improved for the visitors when Paul Coughlin pulled Porter straight to Browne at a shortish wide mid-on and departed for 30. Snater took the final two wickets to fall but not before Durham had collected a third batting point.

Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella made half-centuries as the tourists ended the first day at 411 for 6

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2017
ScorecardAssociated Press

The Sri Lankans made a profitable start to their India tour, with four of their batsmen scoring fifties on the first day of their two-day tour game against the Indian Board President’s XI at the Jadavpur University Campus ground in Kolkata. At stumps they were 411 for 6, having scored their runs at 4.67 per over.Openers Sadeera Samarawickrama and Dimuth Karunaratne added 134 for the first wicket before the latter retired out for 50. The two other senior Sri Lankan batsmen, current and former captains Dinesh Chandimal (29) and Angelo Mathews (54), also retired out.Samarawickrama went on to top score with 74 off 77 balls, with 13 fours, while wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella was unbeaten on a 59-ball 73 (13×4) at stumps. Batting down the order, Dilruwan Perera (48) and Roshen Silva (36*) made useful contributions too.The IBP XI was made up entirely of players from teams not involved in the ongoing fifth round of the Ranji Trophy, and their bowling attack, as a result, wasn’t the strongest. It did, however, contain the offspinner Jalaj Saxena, the top wicket-taker of the current Ranji season; he, like all his bowling colleagues, went for more than four an over, ending the day with figures of 22-0-100-1.

“Being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position is certainly something he wouldn’t have experienced”

Nagraj Gollapudi and Raunak Kapoor29-Mar-20246:16

Steven Smith: Didn’t expect Hardik to be booed in Hyderabad

Steven Smith’s suggestion to Hardik Pandya is to simply “block out” the boos and the abuse he has been copping from fans at the IPL so far.Smith, target of constant heckling across the globe a few years ago for his role in the 2018 Newlands ball-tampering scandal, said that Hardik needed support from his team-mates at Mumbai Indians, including from Rohit Sharma, who Hardik replaced as captain ahead of IPL 2024 after a 11-year stint.”I’d try and just say, to block it out, it’s all irrelevant,” Smith said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “No one outside knows what you are going through. No one [from outside] is in that change room.”Related

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Smith was handed a year-long ban by Cricket Australia after admitting to “leadership failure” in the Newlands Test, and was also forced to “step down” as Rajasthan Royals captain in IPL 2018. He said he had treated the heckling he had experienced – including at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England where fans chanted “cheat” – as “white noise”.But can the abuse from fans, coupled with criticism of his captaincy in Mumbai Indians’ back-to-back losses in IPL 2024 by pundits, impact Hardik adversely?Smith suggested that Hardik might have been surprised at the reception because it is not often India’s top players are booed by fans. It is not unprecedented, though, with Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shastri being at the receiving end at various points in their careers.”Personally, for me, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care. I don’t pay any attention,” Smith said. “You know it’s all white noise, but certainly players do hear things and everyone’s entitled to their own emotions and how they respond to those.”So is it affecting him [Hardik]? Maybe. It’s possible. He probably hasn’t experienced that before in, in any walk of life. So it’s natural, I suppose, and particularly being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position where some fans are booing you, it’s certainly something he wouldn’t have experienced.”

****

It has been a poor start for Mumbai Indians to IPL 2024, where they have suffered two defeats in two games, first against Gujarat Titans in front of a near sellout crowd in Ahmedabad, and then in Hyderabad where Sunrisers Hyderabad registered the highest IPL total, which Mumbai lost by 31 runs. Smith said that while he could understand the Ahmedabad crowd coming down heavilty on Hardik as he left Titans to rejoin Mumbai Indians. However, he failed to get the “context” of why fans in Hyderabad joined in.Hardik Pandya did not get a warm reception in either Ahmedabad or Hyderabad•AP Photo / Mahesh Kumar

Hardik was picked by Titans and appointed captain immediately after Mumbai Indians released him ahead of the 2022 mega IPL auction. Titans won the IPL in their maiden season and reached the final in 2023, establishing Hardik as a successful leader. Last November, though, Mumbai Indians pulled off a coup of sorts by bringing Hardik back into their fold via a monetary trade, details of which have remained a source of intrigue. Immediately after that, Hardik was appointed captain.In his first media briefing, responding to a query on whether he had spoken with his predecessor Rohit, Hardik was vague, triggering a critical response including vitriolic trolling on social media.In 2017, Smith was installed as captain at Rising Pune Supergiant replacing MS Dhoni, who had then recently retired as India’s white-ball captain. It was a challenging moment for Smith, but he said that Dhoni had supported him all the way.”It was an enjoyable season and we had some success that year [2017], I suppose, which helped as well,” he said. “But MS was great with everything that he did. He was supportive, he helped me in any way that he could. He was great behind the stumps, obviously. He’s got a great view of what’s going on in the game and the angles that sort of take place on the field, and was able to sort those out and get people in the right areas.”Hardik is in the middle of a challenging time, losing the first two games their IPL season. It’s a big one for him. He’s filling big shoes with Rohit Sharma, who’s been the most successful captain [with Dhoni] in IPL history, lifting five titles, and it hasn’t started well for him.”So he’s under a little bit of pressure at the moment and it’ll be interesting to see what the reception’s like in their first home game at Wankhede in a couple of days’ time. We have heard a few boos going around at the grounds, which… that’s been disappointing from my aspect. But I’m intrigued to see what the reception’s like in Mumbai. We know how big a star Rohit is and how much he is loved inside that stadium.”2:25

Should Hardik have reassessed his plans?

‘Hardik’s made a few tactical errors’

Outside of the noise, Smith said that Hardik had erred tactically against Titans as well as against SRH.”I feel like he’s under a little bit of pressure. I think he’s made a few tactical errors in the first couple of games: batting himself a little bit low, probably in the first one, is my assessment. And then, in particular in the second one, [Jasprit] Bumrah only bowling one over in the first 13 overs was in my mind just a little bit mindblowing,” Smith said. “He [Bumrah] is the best bowler in the world and to have only bowled one over when the team’s got 173 on the board in the 12th over, I was in disbelief, to be honest.”I’m sure he is going to learn from that. As a captain, you have to have plans in place for the start of the game. And clearly the plan was to bowl Bumrah straight up to Heinrich Klassen. But you’ve got to shift your plans when things aren’t going well. And it didn’t look like they shifted. They sort of just kept doing the same thing. It was a bit of a blunder in his first outings.”Now then, can Rohit do for Hardik what Virat Kohli did for Smith in 2019?Five years ago, during the World Cup match against Australia at The Oval, Kohli put an arm around Smith during the game and asked Indian fans, who had been heckling Smith, to stop booing.”It was lovely, wasn’t it? I remember that game and Virat – I walked past him and sort of gave a little fist bump, I think, from memory. It’s nice when someone does something to… you are in the middle of a game, you are playing against an opponent. I thought it was really nice gesture.”Maybe someone can do something [similar for Hardik]. Maybe it’s Rohit Sharma. Maybe he stands up and says, ‘guys, what’s going on, let’s support this guy’. I don’t know. That could happen, I suppose. Well, we’ll wait and see.”

Glamorgan lead by 58 overnight, with potential to set final-day run-chase

ECB Reporters Network26-May-2024Glamorgan take a lead of 58 with nine wickets in hand into the final day of their Vitality County Championship match against Leicestershire after the home side declared in arrears on a rain-restricted third day at the Uptonsteel County Ground.Having been 280 for five from 85 overs overnight, Leicestershire lost not out centurion Peter Handscomb in the second over after a delayed start, and then puzzled spectators by showing little inclination to chase more than one extra batting bonus point before declaring at 343 for nine in reply to Glamorgan’s 387 all out.Handscomb made 103, his second hundred of the season. Nightwatchman Scott Currie was out five short of following last week’s career-best 72 against Gloucestershire with the second first-class fifty of his career.Timm van der Gugten, in his first match of the season after injury, finished with five for 65.Glamorgan lost opener Billy Root for one and were 14 for one when a very heavy shower at around 4.30pm left parts of the playing area underwater, forcing the umpires to abandon play for the day.The morning session was limited to just eight overs after rain delayed the start until noon and then forced an early lunch, with a 10-minute stoppage along the way for some extra mopping up in parts of the field still wet from the earlier downpour.Australian Test batter Handscomb could add only one to his unbeaten 102 overnight before he was leg before to a ball from Van der Gugten that kept more than a touch low from the Bennett End.New batter Ben Cox picked up three boundaries off Zain-ul-Hassan and Leicestershire emerged from the interval needing exactly 50 to claim a third batting point and, with 17 overs left of the 110, the possibility even of going for a fourth, mindful of the value of a high-scoring draw in this summer’s points structure.Yet those 17 overs yielded just 26 runs, with scarcely a shot struck in anger by either Cox or the nightwatchman, Currie, who had proved on the second evening that he is no mug with bat in hand. Glamorgan’s bowling remained tight and tidy but the absence of aggression in Leicestershire’s approach was difficult to fathom.To make matters worse, Leicestershire then lost two wickets in the space of five deliveries as Van der Gugten executed a brilliant caught-and-bowled to remove Cox and followed it up by bowling Ben Mike off an inside-edge on to pad, the Australian-born Netherlands international celebrating the 14th first-class five-for of his career.The general sense of bafflement with what was happening then only increased.Currie, who had been joined by the injured Tom Scriven and his runner, was leg before to James Harris, and when Matt Salisbury walked out at No.11, one assumed his role was to give Scriven the chance to swing the bat, even on one leg.Yet after just eight more deliveries, only one of which Scriven actually faced, Leicestershire declared, conceding a lead of 44.Glamorgan lost Root early in the sixth over of their second innings when he was bowled by Matt Salisbury, another ball that kept low, before the heavens opened.

“I let him in on my game plan, about staying leg-side of the ball and using my hands and bats to play the ball. He thought it was a good option for him as well”

Mohammad Isam10-Dec-2023New Zealand allrounder Glenn Phillips said that he shared his batting mantra with Mitchell Santner before their crucial seventh-wicket partnership took shape in the Dhaka Test. The visitors had slumped to 69 for 6 chasing 137 runs on the fourth afternoon against Bangladesh before Santner and Phillips got together to rescue the side.The pair added the rest of the 70 runs in the chase as the Bangladesh bowlers strived for the last four wickets on what the New Zealand captain Tim Southee later described as the “worst pitch” of his career. The match had the third-fewest balls bowled in a Test of the last 100 years, when at least 36 wickets have fallen in both sides.Related

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Phillips said that batting out the 3.1 overs leading into the tea break was crucial for New Zealand at that point. He said that he told Santner about his method of playing at the Shere Bangla National Stadium pitch. Santner took the advice on board, ending up unbeaten on 35.”They were bowling really well at the time,” Phillips said. “It was a real blessing for us to get to tea. We had a bit of chat, talked a bit about tactics. He has got incredibly fast hands. I let him in on my game plan, about staying leg-side of the ball and using my hands and bats to play the ball. He thought it was a good option for him as well. The way he came out after tea and really took it to the bowlers, the way he played the offies as well, it was incredibly impressive. It took the pressure off myself.”Phillips, who top-scored in both innings with 87 and 40 not out, said that he wanted to bat in the second innings in the same way he batted in the first. He struck nine fours and four sixes in his 72-ball knock in the first dig.”I think at the end of the day, I was sticking to my plan. It worked in the first innings. We made adjustments from the first game as well, so it was sticking to that and keeping my processes calm and clear. I was still taking the attack to the bowlers when they missed, but at the end of the day, it was about knocking down one run at a time. Take it as deep as possible,” he said.Phillips said that New Zealand taking the lead by eight runs at the end of the first innings ensured that they had the mental edge over Bangladesh. “Winning the toss was key for Bangladesh. It was a blessing to get ahead of their first innings total. Those eight runs made a lot of difference. It gave the boys the confidence in the second innings with the bat.”The Bangladesh bowlers were really good with the new ball. Some skidding on, some spinning. It was tough for our batters. It became a bit more predictable as the ball got older. Thankfully for us, it presented some more scoring opportunities,” he said.Phillips also ended with eight wickets in the Test series, fulfilling his wish to be a relevant bowler in the New Zealand attack. “It was a dream of mine for a long time to actually bowl so many overs. To be able to take a few wickets as well. The process that I have actually been through has paid off.”Timmy (Southee) had the confidence to go to me despite knowing that I don’t have the experience behind me, but thankfully the conditions were favourable to spinners.”

The batter was playing for Victoria’s 2nd XI against South Australia in Adelaide

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jan-2024Will Pucovski has passed a concussion test and been cleared to resume batting after earlier retiring hurt after being struck on the head playing a 2nd XI game for VictoriaHe was struck on the helmet attempting a hook shot from South Australian paceman David Grant in the latest scare surrounding the 25-year-old.Pucovski, who had made 42, was cleared to continue batting in the fixture at Adelaide’s Karen Rolton Oval on Monday, but after facing four more balls he retired hurt. A short while later he was given the all clear to resume his innings”Pucovski passed a concussion test before batting in the nets where was given the all clear to continue playing,” a Cricket Victoria statement said. “He will be monitored through the day and the rest of the game.”Pucovski, who played one Test in January 2021, has returned to cricket this summer after suffering 11 concussions and taking leave for mental health reasons in 2022. Before his return, Pucovski, widely regarded as among Australia’s best young batters, had a year out of cricket.On Test debut against India at the SCG he dislocated his shoulder in the field after making 62 in the first innings.He has played three Sheffield Shield games this season, with a top score of 66, and also featured in a tour game for Victoria against Pakistan.Pucovski spent last winter turning out for Weybridge Cricket Club in the Surrey Championship in England. He played 18 matches and scored 614 runs at 55.82, including a century and four half-centuries.Since making his debut for Victoria in February 2017, Pucovski has not managed to play a full domestic season. The closest he has come was the 2019-20 season where he played the first half of the summer for Victoria, four List A and six Shield matches, before taking an indefinite break in December of that summer and not returning until the 2020-21 season.

India women’s wicketkeeper-batsman Sushma Verma, who hardly got batting opportunities in the past, cashed in on the chance against Pakistan with a 35-ball 33

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2017Sushma Verma has established herself as India’s first-choice wicketkeeper since making her debut in 2014. However, her contribution as a batsman has been minimal, largely because she has hardly had opportunities to prove herself. Prior to Sunday, she had batted just eight times in 22 ODIs, facing a grand sum of 56 deliveries, off which she scored 13 runs, a strike rate of 23.21.She batted at No. 8 or lower in seven of those eight innings. The last time she batted before Sunday, she was sent in at No. 10, even below Ekta Bisht, no more than a tailender. Until the Pakistan game, India’s third at the World Cup, this hardly mattered thanks to robust contributions from the top order. But on a sticky wicket with the top order having a rare off day, the team needed Verma to overcome her battles, and she did.Promoted to No. 7 ahead of the more-accomplished Jhulan Goswami, who has a reputation of being a big hitter, Verma exhibited tremendous composure and match awareness to make a 35-ball 33 to help India recover from 111 for 6 to 169 for 9. Her 34-run stand with Goswami for the seventh wicket, significant in the context of the game, earned plaudits from her captain Mithali Raj.”At that point in time, when we were losing wickets, it was important to slow down a little,” Raj explained of Verma’s promotion. “On a few occasions in domestic cricket, when our Central Zone side was in similar situation, she bailed us out. We expected her to play that role and she did until the 48th over. Those boundaries were also very crucial.”Her partnership [with Jhulan] got us to 170. We were looking for 170 when we lost the top four. When you play such matches, it’s important to continue the momentum but not every day will the same batters will score runs, so I’m happy someone has stood up to get those runs. It’s important we got this opportunity to reflect on our batting order.”Opportunities have been rare for Verma in domestic cricket too as she started her career with Himachal Pradesh and moved to Railways for better cricketing prospects. But moving to a more-established outfit also brought about a fresh set of challenges. Playing in a team that has a star-studded batting line-up that boasts of Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Punam Raut has largely meant that a berth in the top order, which she may have been guaranteed at Himachal, has been non-existent.In the entire 2016-17 season, she had four opportunities to impress, twice each in the one-dayers and T20 competition. She managed 21 in those four knocks. It’s a role she has taken awhile getting used to, but one she has grown to accept, Verma said. “The team management has been working a lot on the lower-order batting. We have been getting equal attention as the top and middle order. I was waiting for this opportunity.”I’ve understood I will have minimum balls to face, I need to make maximum impact. Today, there was such an opportunity. It’s not that I’m confident only because of wicketkeeping. For me, the main concern and focus is to score as many runs as possible in as little balls as possible.”

He followed up an unbeaten half-century with two key outfield catches

AAP09-Jan-2025Glenn Maxwell’s heroics inspired the Melbourne Stars to a crucial 16-run upset of the ladder-leading Sydney Sixers at the MCG, keeping their slim BBL finals chances alive.On the same day his Test ambitions likely ended for good, Maxwell belted a game-high unbeaten 58 and took two important catches in the deep.Related

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Marcus Stoinis was out cheaply, but Stars’ captain claimed 2 for 30 in a valuable contribution with the ball.Ben Duckett appeared to have cost Stars dearly when he dropped countryman James Vince on 36. It was only two weeks ago Vince smashed an unbeaten century in a thumping Sixers win against Stars at the SCG on Boxing Day.But Maxwell made no mistake when he hung on to a high catch in the deep, leading to Vince departing for 53. The 36-year-old almost spilled the chance, too, and stayed on the ground for a long time in pure relief.Just two balls later, Maxwell was in the action again when he took a catch to dismiss Sixers captain Moises Henriques, sparking passionate, animated celebrations with Stoinis and other Stars players.James Vince scored a half-century but the Sixers fell away after his dismissal•Getty Images

Maxwell was overlooked for Australia’s Test tour of Sri Lanka on Thursday, with selectors preferring younger options in the squad.Numerous replays were needed to decide on a return catch to Stars spinner Usama Mir, with Sixers allrounder Jack Edwards eventually given out by the TV umpire.Stuck in a deep hole at 64 for 4 at the halfway mark of their innings, Stars were rescued by an 88-run stand between Maxwell and Test hero Beau Webster.After a fairytale debut for Australia, Webster’s golden run continued when he was out off a no-ball and was called back, then was dropped by Vince.During Maxwell’s blazing 32-ball knock, he became the fifth player in BBL history to reach 3000 career runs, joining Chris Lynn, Aaron Finch, D’Arcy Short and Henriques.Play was stopped for about two minutes after a seagull was taken down by a powerful shot from Vince.After starting the season 0-5, Stars can still qualify for finals if they beat the Melbourne Renegades and Hobart Hurricanes in their remaining two games and other results go their way.Sixers (4-2, one no-result) missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position on top of the table ahead of a clash at the SCG on Saturday against Perth Scorchers.

Pair put on 177-run stand with Threlkeld unbeaten on 107 to end Thunder’s season on a high

ECB Reporters Network16-Sep-2023Thunder ended their Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy campaign with a five-wicket victory against Western Storm in an entertaining and spirited game at Emirates Old Trafford.Half-centuries from Emma Corney, Sophia Smale and skipper Sophie Luff led Storm to 250 for 7 with Thunder spin duo Olivia Bell and Liberty Heap taking three wickets apiece.In reply, Thunder captain Ellie Threlkeld and Naomi Dattani posted the highest-ever partnership of 177 for Thunder, with both players making career-best List-A scores of 107 not out and 82 respectively to chase down their target with 20 balls to spare.Corney and Smale made the perfect start for the Storm after Luff won the toss, compiling a 98-run partnership across the opening 20 overs.Corney, who played a confident range of shots on both sides of the wicket including a six over midwicket off Bell, reached an excellent 57-ball fifty but perished for 53 after hitting Bell to Tara Norris at long-on.The introduction of Bell in the 14th over had started to apply the brakes to the Storm run-scoring and the off-spinner next bowled Fran Wilson for 24 to give Thunder some further relief.Sophia Smale responded in fine fashion reaching her fifty off 77 balls before slicing a drive back to Bell who took a good diving catch to claim her third wicket. It was a sensational effort by Bell who bowled her ten overs in one spell that produced a return of 3 for 30, and the 19-year-old has now taken 25 wickets from her last eight Thunder outings.Heap backed that up with a further three wickets to bring Thunder back into the game, bowling Niamh Holland for a duck and Nat Wraith for 8 with two sharply turning deliveries to have Storm 160 for 5 in the 35th over.Heap (3 for 39) then broke a good 39-run partnership between Luff and Katie Jones when the latter top-edged a pull to Dani Collins at backward square leg for 16.Luff, who had arrived at the crease at the fall of the second wicket, played a gem of an innings using all her experience to rotate the strike and keep the score moving steadily, and she next joined forces with Chloe Skelton in an enterprising partnership of 50 off 51 balls over the closing overs.Visiting skipper Luff went to a 63-ball half-century in the penultimate over of the innings before falling in the last, caught for 54 off Norris with Skelton unbeaten on 21.Chasing 251, the Thunder made a disastrous start to their reply losing three wickets for 17 runs inside eight overs.Heap was run out without scoring, Seren Smale fell lbw to namesake Sophia for 3 who then held onto a good caught-and-bowled offering at the second attempt when Fi Morris drove back up the wicket having made 11.Dattani and Threlkeld stopped the rot with a steadying partnership that initially added fifty inside 11 overs and the pair kept the momentum going, reaching the halfway point of the innings on 115 for 3 with 136 required.Once established, the Thunder duo played their shots and ran cleverly putting the visitors under increasing pressure with both reaching fifties, Threlkeld from 54 balls and Dattani off 83.It took a spectacular one-handed diving catch by Holland off her own bowling to break the partnership and dismiss Dattani, leaving Thunder on 194 for 4 and needing 57 off 67 balls.Threlkeld expertly finished the job, reaching a fabulous century from 107 balls and getting good support from Laura Delaney (22) and Dani Collins (12 not out) before hitting her 14th boundary to win the game in the 47th over.

Chair Richard Thompson says last year’s bid from Bridgepoint informed the sales benchmark

Matt Roller20-Nov-2024Richard Thompson, the ECB’s chair, has revealed a target to raise at least £350 million in the Hundred’s sales process – a target that he believes the board will surpass “comfortably” when deals are signed off early next year.The private equity group Bridgepoint made a lucrative offer to buy a majority stake in the whole competition two years ago, which was turned down due to the ECB’s desire to retain control of the Hundred. Thompson said the offer had informed the benchmark that the ECB are attempting to clear during its ongoing sales process.The ECB is selling 49% stakes in each of the eight teams in the Hundred, which will be turned into franchises and will initially be run as joint-ventures with host counties (or, in the case of London Spirit, MCC). The sales process launched in early September and has progressed into the second of three rounds, with a final target deadline in January 2025.Thompson said last month that the pool of prospective investors was “way broader and bigger” than the Raine Group – the US investment bank who are running the process – had anticipated. The ECB have not previously committed to a projected figure from the sale in public, but Thompson has now revealed that £350 million is seen as the minimum target.Related

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“Our target was to raise £350 million from sales,” Thompson told . “I think we’re going to exceed that comfortably, but we’ve still got some way to go. I think all of us have been genuinely shocked over the quality and quantity of interest… There’s hardly anyone in sport that isn’t at the table.”The ECB was questioned last week by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee on the sale of the Hundred. Chief executive Richard Gould responded in writing to a letter from the committee’s chair Caroline Dinenage and defended the sale after questions around its likely impact on English cricket.”This process presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for a significant capital injection into cricket in England and Wales,” Gould wrote. “It is a rare moment when we have the collective power to ensure that these funds are utilised fully in ways that will provide long-term financial sustainability for the whole game.”Gould also revealed that the ECB will soon establish a ‘Hundred committee’ designed to “lead, scrutinise and monitor the administration, operation and commercialisation” of the competition. Its members will comprise ECB non-executive directors, representatives from the franchises and independent appointments.