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England batter Tammy Beaumont will return to Strikers for the first time in seven years

Alex Malcolm19-Jun-2025Sydney Sixers produced a shock in the WBBL overseas draft by taking England batter Sophia Dunkley with the No.1 pick which left long-time Sixers overseas Sophie Ecclestone available for Adelaide Strikers at pick No.2.There was a lot of uncertainty heading into the WBBL draft after Melbourne Renegades lost star pre-signing Hayley Matthews to a shoulder injury while Hobart Hurricanes announced they had pre-signed star England allrounder Nat Sciver-Brunt on draft day.A number of clubs were chasing top-order batting talent in the draft including Sixers who had the number one pick. Ecclestone, the world’s No.1 T20 bowler, had previously played two seasons with Sixers including last season. But Sixers general manager Rachael Haynes said the need for a top-order batter forced their hand with the first pick.”Sophie Ecclestone has been an incredible player,” Haynes told ESPNCricinfo. “It was really tough to let her go through the draft. But I think the last couple of seasons, our reflection as a club has been that our batting has been short, and the numbers certainly show that.”We definitely looked locally to try and address that. But the next option is at the draft, and so really excited we’re able to secure Sophia Dunkley.”A lot of clubs were unsure of what each would do in the opening round and Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers attempted to flush out some retention picks in the opening round.Related

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Stars tried to get India batter Jemimah Rodrigues with pick No.3 but Heat used their retention pick. They then tried to get England batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge but Hurricanes retained her.Stars finally landed in-form England wicketkeeper bat Amy Jones. Perth Scorchers had the right to retain but opted not to. Scorchers tried to poach Heather Knight and Deandra Dottin but Sydney Thunder and Renegades both used their retention picks immediately.Scorchers then used the final pick in the opening round on pre-signing Sophie Devine to lock her in at the platinum price.Most of the second round featured pre-signed players but Scorchers made a slight surprise in picking fringe England batter Paige Scholfield in the second round at the gold price. Scorchers also picked up South Africa allrounder Chloe Tryon, who will play for her fourth WBBL club after previously playing for Hurricanes, Sixers and Thunder.Thunder were thrilled to get South Africa quick Shabnim Ismail in the final round to walk away with arguably the strongest overseas trios, having claimed Knight as a retention and pre-signed Chamari Athapaththu.England batter Tammy Beaumont will return to Strikers for the first time in seven years having played 27 matches for them between 2016 and 2018. She has since played for Renegades and Thunder.Renegades were the only club not to take three players in the draft. The injury to pre-signing Matthews allows them to make another signing at a later date although they can only recruit a player who had nominated for the draft but was not selected.”We were at a distinct disadvantage,” Renegades coach Simon Helmot said. “We were the only team not to have a pre-signed player. But the allowance then was we only need to pick two today, and I suppose we can stop and have a look at what’s going on in the world of cricket over the next couple of months. I don’t believe there’s a rush in this decision. So we can look at what happens in the Hundred, look at what happens in the in the CPL, even look what happens in the World Cup, and see which players are in form, and also maybe what our needs are.”Adelaide Strikers: Sophie Ecclestone, Laura Wolvaardt, Tammy Beaumont
Brisbane Heat: Jemimah Rodrigues, Chinelle Henry, Nadine de Klerk
Hobart Hurricanes: Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith
Melbourne Renegades: Deandra Dottin, Alice Capsey
Melbourne Stars: Amy Jones, Marizanne Kapp, Dani Gibson
Perth Scorchers: Sophie Devine, Paige Schofield, Chloe Tryon
Sydney Sixers: Sophia Dunkley, Amelia Kerr, Maddy Villiers
Sydney Thunder: Heather Knight, Chamari Athapaththu, Shabnim Ismail

England allrounder will travel to New Zealand rather than play in two Southampton Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2020Ben Stokes will miss the rest of England’s Test series against Pakistan after withdrawing from the squad for family reasons. He is set to travel to New Zealand, where his parents live, next week and will not be available for the two behind-closed-doors Tests in Southampton.Stokes’ father Ged was hospitalised ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa during England’s winter tour, and has since been recuperating back home in New Zealand.”The England and Wales Cricket Board, along with the Stokes family, requests that all media respects the family’s privacy at this time,” an ECB statement said.England’s Test vice-captain, Stokes has played a central role in the summer so far. He led the team in Joe Root’s absence for the opening Test against West Indies, scored a century and a fifty in the second, and has chipped in with 11 wickets despite more recently playing as a specialist batsmen.ALSO READ: Dobell: England are lucky to have WoakesHis absence will likely add to England’s selection headaches for the rest of the series. In order to compensate for the loss of his bowling, after he experienced a sore quad during the second West Indies Test, England have fielded a five-man attack in the last two games, with Stokes batting at No. 4.Although he scored 0 and 9 in the first Test against Pakistan, he again demonstrated his all-round value by coming on to bowl in the second innings and picking up 2 for 11, as England came back from conceding a 107-run deficit to take a 1-0 lead in the series.Zak Crawley is the likeliest candidate to come into the top order, potentially returning at No. 3 and allowing Root to drop back down a place. The return to form of both Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes, whose 139-run partnership was pivotal in securing victory against Pakistan, may also help compensate for Stokes’ absence, with the allrounder understood to have told his team-mates of his decision after the conclusion of the Test on Saturday.Buttler, whose form with bat and gloves had been under scrutiny, was also playing despite a health scare for his father, who went into hospital on Friday but was well enough to return home on Saturday.England have called up Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson to add to their options ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, which begins at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday. By the end of August, England will have played six Tests in seven weeks, all under strict bio-security protocols as part of ECB efforts to combat the effect of Covid-19, with only a short break in between the two series.

Former allrounder set to take charge at Chelmsford after leaving MCC role

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2021John Stephenson has been appointed as Essex’s new chief executive officer. Stephenson, the former Essex allrounder who has spent the last 17 years working for the MCC, will take charge at Chelmsford in October.Stephenson, who played one Test for England, came through at Essex and had two spells at the club, between 1984-1994 and 2002-2004. His post-playing career began as MCC Head of Cricket, eventually becoming the club’s Assistant Secretary (Cricket). He steps down from the role, to be replaced by Jamie Cox.His appointment follows a lengthy process to find a successor for Derek Bowden at Essex. Bowden announced his intention to retire in October 2020, shortly after the club had lifted the Bob Willis Trophy, and Essex are believed to have been hit hard financially by the effects of the pandemic.Related

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“I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to come back to Essex as the club had a big influence on my professional career,” Stephenson said. “Having spent over a decade with the club as a player, I couldn’t pass up the prospect of taking on this fantastic role.”The club means so much to so many people and has a key role to play in the wider Essex community. One of my main objectives is to continue and build on the recent success that the club have experienced both on and off the field. With the support of the members, fans and the team, I believe we can continue to compete and bring silverware back to Chelmsford.”Having spent more than a decade largely confined to Division Two of the County Championship, Essex claimed their first title in 25 years in 2017, a season after being promoted. They were Division One champions again in 2019, as well as winning the T20 Blast, but failed to qualify for the top tier from this year’s Championship conference stage, meaning they won’t be in the running to defend either red-ball title in September.Essex’s executive chairman John Faragher said: “After an extensive interview process involving some very high-calibre personnel, John was clearly the outstanding candidate for the position at Essex. His exceptional skillset together with his appreciation of the modern game and the challenges facing cricket in the future were key credentials in making our decision.”He will lead the executive team on our journey to the next level in performance both on and off the field. Although we continue to face numerous problems brought about by the pandemic, we continue to be very focused on the future.”These are exciting times for the club and the board looks forward to supporting and working with John.”

The inquiry will take place early in 2022 and will be conducted by independent legal professionals

Firdose Moonda20-Dec-2021Cricket South Africa (CSA) will launch a formal inquiry into the conduct of director of cricket Graeme Smith and the national men’s head coach Mark Boucher after reviewing the contents of the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) report. The inquiry will take place early in 2022 and will be conducted by independent legal professionals. Both Smith and Boucher remain in their positions and will continue to carry out their duties for the series against India, which starts on Boxing Day.The SJN report, which was made public last Wednesday, made tentative findings that Smith, Boucher and former international AB de Villiers, amongst others, had engaged in conduct that was prejudicial and discriminatory on the basis of race. However, the ombudsman, Dumisa Ntsebeza, was unable to make definite findings and recommended a further process be undertaken, which CSA will now embark on. Smith and Boucher are not the only figures who will be investigated, but are the most high-profile, as CSA looks into all areas of its operation.Related

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“The Board has decided to institute formal enquiries into CSA employees, suppliers or contractors who are implicated by the SJN report,” a CSA statement, issued on Monday morning, read. “The Board has done so mindful of its duty to treat allegations of racism or discrimination with the utmost seriousness and in a manner that ensures fairness and due process in terms of South Africa’s labour legislation and the Constitution.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the new review process has been undertaken, in part, because CSA faced a legal threat from parties who had been implicated in the report because the findings were “tentative.” Therefore, if CSA has acted on those findings, they were at risk of their conduct being reviewed in the courts.The inquiry will also give anyone alleged to have acted in ways that are biased a further opportunity to respond, in addition to their testimony at the SJN. Both Smith and Boucher submitted written affidavits to the ombudsman but did not appear to give oral evidence. It is not yet clear which route will be offered to them in the new process. “We hope this will give implicated parties a fair opportunity to be heard so that finality can be achieved, and any final findings can then be acted on,” Lawson Naidoo, CSA board chair, said.CSA will also announce further steps and actions it intends to take to transform cricket, in line with the SJN report in the new year. Among the SJN’s other recommendations was a suggestion to review payment structures to ensure reserve players on tour are adequately compensated and specifically to look at payments in the women’s game, with a view to closing the gender-pay gap, a focus on grassroots development, the establishment of an anonymous complaints service for any further cases of discrimination and the appointing of a permanent ombudsman.

Davey picks up three before Kohler-Cadmore seals nine-wicket win

ECB Reporters Network02-Jun-2023Somerset 142 for 1 (Kohler-Cadmore 64) beat Middlesex 136 (Green 4-20, Davey 3-34) by nine wicketsRampant Somerset made it five victories from as many Vitality Blast South Group games with a nine-wicket demolition of winless Middlesex at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.On a sunny evening in front of a packed crowd, the visitors were bowled out for a modest 136 in 18.4 overs after losing the toss, Ben Green claiming four for 20 and Josh Davey three for 34. Wicketkeeper Jack Davies top scored with 32.In reply, Somerset breezed to 142 for one off just 13.3 overs, Tom Kohler-Cadmore leading the way with 64, off 31 balls, with seven fours and four sixes, and Tom Banton making 27 before retiring hurt.The victory was as emphatic as the formbook suggested it would be and left Middlesex without a point from their first five group matches.Having been rested for the previous game against Kent, a refreshed Craig Overton steamed in from the River End at the start of the game, bowling four fiery overs for just 15 in a single spell.The accurate Davey profited at the other end, scattering the stumps of Joe Cracknell and Pieter Malan in his first two overs to leave Middlesex 14 for two.Max Holden threatened briefly, hitting a straight six and 2 fours in the sixth over, bowled by Davey, but despite his efforts the power play ended with his side 40 for two.Holden also pulled a six off Peter Siddle, who ended his nine-ball frenzy by bowling him for 22, attempting a big shot through the off side.It was 59 for four when Roelof van der Merwe’s second delivery of left-arm spin saw Stephen Eskinazi, on 18, loft a catch to long-off and 68 for five when Green struck in the following over, the 11th of the innings, Ryan Higgins being caught at long-on for six.Five runs later, Luke Hollman chipped a catch to mid-off to give Lewis Gregory his first wicket. Davies and Martin Andersson then produced the most substantial stand of the innings, adding 43 before Andersson, who had struck a six and two fours in his 25, aimed a reverse pull off Davey and guided the ball straight to Tom Abell at backward point.
Davies hit sweetly-timed sixes off van der Merwe and Siddle, as well as three fours, before departing in the 19th over, caught at deep mid-wicket off Green.Toby Roland-Jones fell to the next delivery and Green wrapped up the innings by dismissing Nathan Fernandez via a boundary catch by Kohler-Cadmore.A target of 137 never looked likely to test a Somerset team brimming with confidence. So it proved, as Banton and Will Smeed set about the task in typically positive fashion.Smeed has struggled for runs in the early group games and the scorer of the first ever century in The Hundred was relieved to survive a loud lbw appeal from Roland-Jones with his score on five.The response was a straight six and pulled four in the same over from the talented 21-year-old, who had another scare in Roland-Jones’ next over when dropped by Hollman, a low chance running in from deep mid-wicket.
Smeed’s luck ran out at the start of the fifth over when bowled by Tom Helm for 26 off 14 balls. By then the scoreboard read 39 for one and he was replaced by Kohler-Cadmore, making his 150th T20 appearance.Another catch went down when Banton, on 18, top-edged a pull shot off Helm and Roland-Jones spilled a skyer. With such a small score to defend, Middlesex could not afford such generosity.At the end of six overs, Somerset were 58 for one and in command. Kohler-Cadmore audaciously uppercut Helm for six and also hit two fours as 17 came off the seventh.At 75 for one, Banton had to hobble off with a suspected side strain, but by then the outcome was almost beyond doubt. Kohler-Cadmore signalled as much with a straight six off Roland-Jones as Somerset reached the halfway stage of their innings needing only a further 31.The former Yorkshire player reached his half-century off 28 balls before ending the game with a huge six off Roland-Jones, Tom Abell (25) providing solid support in an unbroken stand of 67.

New Zealander will play two Championship games with three frontline seamers sidelined

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-2022Jacob Duffy, the New Zealand seamer, has signed for Kent on a short-term deal that will see him play two County Championship matches.Duffy, 27, was part of New Zealand’s enlarged squad for their ongoing Test series against England but was trimmed from the initial 20-man group ahead of the first Test at Lord’s, having played in both warm-up games.Kent have struggled with injuries to seamers throughout this season with Darren Stevens, Harry Podmore and Nathan Gilchrist all sidelined as things stand, while Jackson Bird had his early-season spell as an overseas player cut short by a shoulder injury.Matt Henry, Duffy’s compatriot, is due to return to the club after the third Test at Headingley but the club were keen to recruit an additional seamer for their upcoming County Championship fixtures against Gloucestershire and Surrey, which are interspersed with T20 Blast fixtures.Related

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“We’re delighted to be able to secure Jacob’s services for our next two Championship matches,” Paul Downton, Kent’s director of cricket, said. “It’s a very busy part of the season with Championship matches intermingled with the Vitality Blast and Jacob will strengthen our seam attack at this crucial stage of our Championship campaign.”Duffy will be Kent’s second overseas player for the Championship alongside the South African allrounder George Linde, who is available across formats. Qais Ahmad, the Afghan legspinner, is at the club for the T20 Blast but is not expected to play in the Championship.Kent have endured a difficult start to the season and are ninth in the 10-team top division of the Championship, with four draws and two losses from their six games so far. They have also struggled in the Blast despite their status as defending champions, finally picking up their first win in their sixth group game against Middlesex on Sunday.Elsewhere, Durham have announced that Keegan Petersen has returned to South Africa ahead of schedule due to personal reasons. Nic Maddinson, the Australian batter, is expected to replace him after Australia A’s ongoing tour to Sri Lanka.

He also said India’s 250 for 9 is a good total on a pitch that was two-paced and was a lot more difficult to bat on that is apparent on tv

Sidharth Monga in Adelaide06-Dec-20182:15

Top-order should have batted better – Pujara

After playing “one of my top five innings” in Test cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara feels he has taken India to a decent total mainly because the pitch in Adelaide is difficult to bat on. It is one of those that doesn’t look difficult on television because there isn’t exaggerated movement, but it was two-paced, which made stroke-making difficult.”I would say it is a decent total because there is enough turn,” Pujara said of India’s 250 for 9. “Ashwin will also come into play. Sometimes when you are seeing it on TV, it doesn’t look like it is doing a lot but when I batted in the first and second sessions, I felt it wasn’t easy to bat on. I will share my experience of what line and length to bowl on this pitch with our fast bowlers.”It is the grass. The odd ball is skidding on, and the odd ball is holding a bit more from the grass. I would say it is kind of a two-paced pitch, not easy to bat on.”Having made 123 off 246 balls, Pujara said it took him two sessions to figure out what shots he can play on such a surface. That is perhaps why he would have liked a little more application from the other batsmen. “To be honest, we should have batted better but they also bowled well in the first two sessions and I knew that I had to stay patient and wait for the loose balls,” Pujara said. “They bowled in the right areas. I also felt that our top order should have batted better, but they will learn from the mistakes and put up a better show in the second innings.”The batsmen were there to show their gratitude, though. “It is one of my top innings in Test cricket, I could say top five,” Pujara said. “The way the team-mates appreciated it, they were saying it was one of the best.”Pujara had to struggle with a hamstring niggle as he accelerated with the tail for company, but it was a case of mind over matter in the end. “It was tough but I was set and I knew I could play my shots, especially when we lost the seventh wicket,” Pujara said. “Myself and Ash were having a good partnership but once we lost Ash, I thought I had to accelerate. I knew what shots I could play on that wicket because I had batted for two sessions, and I think it was tough it was considering the weather. It was quite hot, we are used to it in India but still…”The hamstring will be assessed overnight. “My leg got stuck into the pitch, and when I was trying to go for the second run, I had a little bit of a pull in my hamstring but I am going to consult the physio now,” Pujara said. “Hopefully it is not too bad.”He was run out off the last ball of the day and though it has been a problem in Pujara’s career, you can’t blame him this time. He had to take the risk in order to manipulate the strike, he had a dodgy hamstring, and he was also undone by a sensational piece of fielding from Pat Cummings. Still, if India’s bowlers and batsmen can follow Pujara’s lead on the coming days, he might have played one of the most significant knocks for India.

English cricket’s custodians have been warned to return more of the game to free-to-air television or face the prospect of a further shrink in the game’s audience

Daniel Brettig01-Aug-2018English cricket’s custodians have been warned to return more of the game to free-to-air television or face the prospect of a further shrink in the game’s audience, in the wake of sluggish ticket sales for the Edgbaston Test match.David Barham, the Australian television executive who helmed the Ten Network’s lauded Big Bash League coverage from 2013 to this year and has now moved to the new Cricket Australia broadcast rights holders Seven, has been consulted by visiting delegations from the ECB and counties over several years.He told ESPNcricinfo that a strong free-to-air television presence was vital for sports that wished to remain visible and relevant to large audiences, pointing to the relative struggles of the football A-League in the competitive Australian marketplace as an example of a sport taking pay television dollars over bigger viewership. Barham has been encouraged by the ECB’s decision to award a sprinkling of matches to the BBC from 2020 onwards, fully 15 years after cricket was hidden behind Sky’s paywall.”It’s been interesting and I’ve had a lot of visits over the last few years from people coming out here trying to figure out what happened with the BBL and county cricket … I think three years in a row there was a posse of county cricket bosses coming out,” Barham said. “I think if you’re not on free-to-air you’re in a lot of trouble.”I think the BBL proved one one thing, and that is by looking at the A-League [football] and the BBL [audiences]. The A-League, where are they? Almost dead. BBL went from a slim TV audience to a million, and even crowds went from about 12,000 to 30,000 over five years, mainly on the back of free-to-air TV. You’ve got to be on free-to-air to have a chance. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in England with their league.”Caught between sceptical television networks and self-preservationist counties, the ECB has been taken aback by the reaction to their proposals for a fourth format of the game which is even shorter than Twenty20. Barham said that the length and entertainment value of sporting contests had been a matter of concern for numerous governing bodies when negotiating with broadcasters in recent times.”Short, sharp,” he said. “I know a lot of other sporting bodies started to look at the length of their game because of the BBL, even the AFL looked at how long they’re going. It’s appropriate that KFC sponsors the BBL, because it’s like fast food. Grab something, eat it, you beauty. But all sports are looking at how long they go and what they do, because the attention span of kids is decreasing.”Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, has underlined the difficulty of turning back more than a decade spent ignoring free-to-air broadcasters, leading to the creation of The Hundred. “This was an opportunity for free-to-air to do something different with a format that had never been on terrestrial TV in prime time,” Harrison told SportsPro Magazine last year.”That opportunity is tremendously exciting. It’s still very challenging for free-to-air TV to schedule long-form cricket – either ODI or Test match cricket. That’s not to say that that can’t happen in the future, but for this particular moment in time where, traditionally to pay-TV, the BBC are losing rights, this was a moment where they could celebrate something returning – a major sport coming back with significant investment behind it.”Another Australian, Matt Dwyer, recently resigned from his role as head of growth and participation for the ECB, but before his departure made it clear that English cricket had to present a radical idea to broadcasters in order to get the game back to being seen by a wider audience.”We’re just saying for a five-week period, cricket is going to market itself, like the Olympics does for athletics,” Dwyer told Wisden Cricket Monthly in May. Cricket’s back on free-to-air, and we’re not asking you, as the cricket fan, to compromise very much.”The shift in the narrative when it went from the BBC, saying that cricket has not been a part of their plans for 17 years, to telling them we’ve got something new and revolutionary, you could see the change. Four out of five people in this country just see cricket as boring. So what are we doing to attract them? Something different.”Otherwise the broadcasters wouldn’t compromise their traditional model. And it had to differentiate itself from the Blast, so we don’t just have traditionalist cricket fans turning up again. And then, ultimately, we need it to link back to participation. So, rather than ask if we’ve gone too far, my question would be – have we been radical enough?”

Nick Compton was capped 16 times in Tests for England, playing his part in memorable series wins in India and South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2018Former England opener Nick Compton has announced his retirement from the game. Compton, 35, did not feature for Middlesex during the 2018 season – which was also his benefit year – but will remain working for the club in an ambassadorial role.Compton played 16 Tests for England, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Denis. He was Alastair Cook’s first opening partner after the retirement of Andrew Strauss in 2012, and played his part in memorable series wins in India and South Africa.His last cap came during the summer of 2016, a season which ended with Middlesex lifting the County Championship for the first time since 1993.”After almost two decades of professional cricket, I am announcing my retirement from the game I love so much,” Compton said. “It has been a privilege to play first-class cricket for Middlesex, Somerset, and the MCC.”Of course, the pinnacle of my career was following in my grandfather Denis Compton’s footsteps, having achieved my dream of playing and winning Test series for England. I am particularly proud of my successful opening partnership with Alastair Cook and our series victory in India, the first time in 28 years an England team had won in India.”In contrast to his famously dashing grandfather, Nick Compton was a dogged top-order accumulator who carved out a reputation for making hard runs.Having started out at Middlesex, the club closely associated with his family, Compton moved to Somerset in 2010. It was there he found the form that would win him England recognition; in 2012, he scored 1494 runs at 99.60, narrowly failing to become the ninth man in history to score 1000 first-class runs before the end of May.He made his international debut in Ahmedabad that winter and was part of the England side that came from behind to win 2-1 in India. Compton scored hundreds in Dunedin and Wellington on England’s next tour, a 0-0 draw with New Zealand, but lost his place ahead of the 2013 Ashes despite an opening partnership with Cook that averaged 57.93.A second coming in 2015 saw him score 85 and 49 at No. 3 as England won in Durban on the way to a 2-1 series victory, but Compton only played three more Tests, making his final outing against Sri Lanka at Lord’s.”There have been some challenges that I have had to confront, but in spite of these I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this career of mine,” he said. “For one, being named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in the 150th Anniversary Edition [in 2013] alongside both my cricketing hero Jacques Kallis, and my school friend Hashim Amla.”Other highlights include being chosen as PCA Player of the Year by my peers after coming so close to being the first cricketer for 25 years to score 1000 runs before the end of May is another, up there with making my Test debut in India and receiving my cap from England legend Graham Gooch.”I treasure the 16 Test matches I played for England, especially my back-to-back Test hundreds which I scored in New Zealand. On the domestic front, what a team I played in at Somerset. And winning the County Championship at Lord’s on the final day of the 2016 season for Middlesex provided all involved with an experience that we will savour for the rest of our lives.”In all, Compton scored more than 12,000 first-class runs at an average of 40.42, the last of his 27 hundreds coming for Sri Lanka Ports Authority during a spell playing Sri Lankan domestic cricket in February.He had already begun to explore options for his post-playing career, working as an analyst during the summer for Sky and ESPNcricinfo. “I look forward to pursuing my other interests, particularly in the media and photography as well as working on a few business ventures,” he said.Middlesex’s chief executive, Richard Goatley, added: “It is a sad day for us that Nick Compton has retired from professional cricket. Nick has been a very special servant to the club, culminating in his key role in the Championship winning success of 2016.”Nick is highly valued by Middlesex Cricket and we are delighted that he will remain with the club in an ambassadorial role. We welcome his all-round ability, and want him to add further value by helping to inspire our future success in an off the field capacity.”He has contributed effectively towards the club’s off-field work in the past, both with our senior leadership team and the commercial team at Lord’s, and we look forward to extending that work in the future. Nick Compton will always be welcome at Lord’s.”

All of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma, currently participating in the Hundred, would be joining next week

Annesha Ghosh10-Aug-2021A group of 30 India players would be assembling in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening for a camp ahead of the multi-format tour of Australia that kicks off next month. The five India players – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma – currently participating in the Hundred in the UK would be joining the camp starting next week.ESPNcricinfo understands India are due to depart for Australia from Bengaluru either on August 29 or 30 before entering a mandatory two-week quarantine. A trimmed, final squad for the tour would be selected from the pool of 35 players – including the Hundred returnees – called up to the camp.Related

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The 30 players initially gathering in Bengaluru comprise the core of the 21-member squad that toured the UK in June-July as well as the one that was picked for the preceding limited-overs home series against South Africa in March. While the BCCI is yet to make any official announcements regarding the camp, it is learnt that Railways fast bowler Meghna Singh is among those who have been asked to join. Haryana quick Mansi Joshi, who featured in three ODIs against South Africa, couldn’t make the cut. But Chandigarh captain Amanjot Kaur, who formerly represented Punjab and plays as a top-order batter and medium pacer, is among the uncapped probables headed to the camp.Match simulation, skills-based training and fitness would be the focus of the camp with intra-squad pink-ball matches also likely to be held in order to help with preparations for the Australia tour that consists of three ODIs, a day-night Test – India’s first – and three T20Is.The last league-stage match of The Hundred is scheduled for August 18 and will be followed by the eliminator on August 20 and the final on August 21. All five teams represented by the Indians – Southern Brave (Mandhana), Northern Superchargers (Rodrigues), London Spirit (Sharma), Birmingham Phoenix (Verma), and the currently bottom-placed Manchester Originals (Kaur) – remain in contention for a playoffs berth.A Cricket Australia release in May stated that the ODIs would be played starting with one at the North Sydney Oval on September 19, followed by those at the Junction Oval on September 22 and 24, before the caravan moves to Perth for the standalone Test, scheduled from September 30. The tour will conclude with the T20Is at the North Sydney Oval on October 7, 9 and 11, with Australia then set to break for the WBBL, which will also have Indian representation.Australia are the reigning T20I champions, having beaten India in the final of the 2020 edition. Also, they are on a 24-match winning streak in ODIs.India, meanwhile, lost the multi-format points-based series against England 6-10 with a solitary win apiece in the three-match T20I and ODI series. They drew the tour-opening Test, their first appearance in the longest format since 2014. Earlier in the year, in Lucknow, they had lost 1-4 to South Africa in the ODIs and 1-2 in the T20Is that followed.