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McGrath shortens run-up

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NAIROBI – After 70,727 deliveries bowled metronomically off the samerun-up in top-class cricket, Glenn McGrath decided it was time for achange.Unfortunately for Kenya, the decision to shorten his run-up workedperfectly.McGrath was sensational as he took 3-8 off eight overs against thestartled Kenyans and was primarily responsible for their lowest total(84) since being allowed to play full one-day internationals.For years – in Tests, first-class matches, one-day internationals andlimited overs matches for NSW – McGrath has run in from his standardmark of 27 metres.That equates to almost 20,000 kilometres of running, not to mention theequivalent 20,000km of walking back to the top of his run.So it’s little wonder the world’s premier pace bowler was a bit tired ofit all and decided to shorten his run to 17 metres.”To be honest I haven’t been overly impressed with my run-up over thelast 12 months or so … I wasn’t hitting the crease as well as I havedone,” McGrath said after Australia made 2-85 to win the triangularseries match by eight wickets here on Monday.”I’ve had the same run-up since I started playing and I thought it wasabout time I had a change.”I didn’t expect to be trialling it in a match so soon but there was agreat opportunity in this game. I’d felt comfortable in the nets so awayI went.”My follow-through was much better and I had much more in reserve -hopefully as time goes by I’ll now be able to bowl longer spells.”Bowling off a shorter run also speeds up play in the one-day arena -especially with Australia currently using four pacemen – which will helpavoid problems with slow over rates.”With the shorter run-up in one-day game we get through our overs morequickly which gives us a bit more time (to make decisions) which isbetter for us,” he said.”This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while and I think I’ll stickat now and see how it goes.”While fast bowlers often shorten their runs towards the end of theircareers, young Aussie quick Brett Lee has also been cutting down whileJason Gillespie has been the prime mover to a more economical approachto the crease.”I thought it may have been a tad long for the last couple of seasons,and I’ve found I can get the same amount of pace and rhythm and alsomomentum off a shorter run,” Lee said.”Growing up, like a lot of young kids I probably thought – like a lot ofkids still do – that the faster you wanted to bowl, the longer yourrun-up had to be.”That’s totally not true, and Jason Gillespie’s proved that – he’s got avery short run and bowls at very good pace.”

Injury threatens Pietersen

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Nottinghamshire batsman Kevin Pietersen is likely to miss the rest of the English season after fracturing a shin bone.Pietersen, 22, has been in dominant form prior to the injury, scoring 639 runs in a 10-day spell, with four consecutive centuries and a career-best 254 not out.Notts’ cricket manager Mick Newell says it is “very unlikely” that Pietersen will play again this summer.”Kevin picked up the injury diving on the square when he was fielding against Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay on Monday,” Newell said. “Initially we thought the injury was muscular, but he went for an x-ray at the local hospital and they discovered a fracture in his left fibula.”

ICC Trophy to be played in Ireland

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Ireland is to host the ICC Trophy – one of the world’s biggest cricket tournaments.It will be staged here in 2005 and the top three teams will qualify for the World Cup finals in the West Indies two years later.The International Cricket Council unanimously supported the tournament going to Ireland and now the Irish Cricket Union will decide whether it will be staged north or south of the border., the ICU Chairman, John Caldwell, said today.”We are already staging the European Championships throughout Northern Ireland later this week and the news that the world tournament is now coming Ireland’s way makes it a wonderful double”.Malcolm Speed, C.E.O. of the ICC said the Council had every confidence that the ICU would stage the tournament in a .He said, .The ICC Trophy will attract 12 non-Test playing countries from all over the world. It was held in Canada last year as a qualifier for next year’s World Cup in South Africa. Ireland finished eighth as Holland, Namibia and Canada progressed to the World Cup.The venues for the tournament will be decided by the ICU’s executive committee and it’s thought the decision will be taken before the end of the year to allow at least two years to plan the tournament.Ireland have played in three ICC Trophies which are held every four years; last year in Toronto and before that in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Nairobi in Kenya.This latest boost for Irish cricket comes as teams are arriving in Belfast for the European Championships, which will get underway on Friday. More than 20 venues will be used for the 30 matches, with six countries in each of two divisions.ENQUIRIES PLEASE TO …Robin Walsh P.R.O. North Irish Cricket Union 048 918 52809
Gerard Byrne P.R.O. South Irish Cricket Union at 086 8211 794

Jeff Freeman is new Northern Districts chairman

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Former first-class cricketer Jeff Freeman was appointed chairman of Northern Districts at their annual general meeting at the weekend.Freeman played five matches for the association between 1972 and 1975. He succeeds long-serving chairman Mike Sandlant who stood down, but who retains his position on the board of ND. As well as being a former player, Freeman is a Level III coach and has been on the board for the last eight years.He is a primary school principal in Hamilton.Ian Steele stood down for re-election to the board following an overseas positing in the dairy industry.Steele’s position has been taken by Northland Cricket’s executive officer Bruce Scott.At a district associations forum held before the annual meeting it was agreed that a working party be set up to look at the boundaries of associations within the ND region. The last time an assessment of the associations was done was in 1977.The working party will be in place by August 8 with an obligation to produce its findings by May 30. The party are expected to visit the associations and work with the figures from the recent census and population demographics to reach their findings.

Holder, Seales back as West Indies name 15-member squad for England Tests

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West Indies have named Jason Holder and Jayden Seales in their 15-man squad to face England in a three-match Test series next month, after they both missed the drawn series in Australia this January.At the time, Holder had instead opted to play for Dubai Capitals in the ILT20, but has won a recall after demonstrating his red-ball form for Barbados and Worcestershire this year. He was recently ruled out of the ongoing T20 World Cup with an unspecified injury, but is expected to recover in time to feature against England even as his previous Test had come last July.Seales, meanwhile, was unavailable for the Australia tour due to a shoulder injury, but has already enjoyed success in England this summer. He has been playing for Sussex, and is the joint-highest wicket-taker in Division Two of the County Championship.Related

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Apart from Holder and Seales, West Indies also have Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Kemar Roach among the seamers to choose from.Among those dropped, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, the opening batter, lost his place in West Indies’ squad after scoring just 31 runs in four innings in Australia. Mikyle Louis, the leading run-scorer in the 2023-24 season of West Indies Championship, their domestic first-class competition, has replaced Chanderpaul, and if selected, could become the first man from St Kitts to play Test cricket for West Indies.Justin Greaves, who played both Tests in Australia, has also been dropped, as has Akeem Jordan, who travelled but did not feature. Isai Thorne, a 19-year-old fast bowler from Guyana who took 31 first-class wickets in domestic cricket this season, will travel to the UK as a development player, but is not part of the main 15-man squad.The touring squad features only three players – the two Josephs, and Gudakesh Motie – who are involved in the T20 World Cup, and will arrive in England on June 23 for a training camp at Tonbridge School.West Indies had beaten England in 2022, the last time the teams met in a Test series•Getty Images

Desmond Haynes, West Indies’ lead selector, said: “The squad has been shaped with both experience and emerging talent, ensuring a strong balance as we face the challenge of playing in English conditions. Over the past year, our red-ball program has continued to develop.”Following our victory in the last Test in Australia in January, it is evident that we are seeing the fruits of that investment. Each player selected has earned their place through consistent performances and hard work. We are confident that this blend of seasoned players and emerging faces will perform admirably against England.”West Indies will play a three-day warm-up match against a County Select XI at Beckenham from July 3. The first Test against England then starts on July 10 at Lord’s, which will be James Anderson’s farewell as an England player. The second begins on June 18 at Trent Bridge, and the third on June 26 at Edgbaston.West Indies have not won a Test series on English soil since 1988, but were victorious in the most recent Test series between the two teams in early 2022.

West Indies Test squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva (wk), Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph (vice-capt), Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and Kevin Sinclair
Development player: Isai Thorne

Essex appoint QC to lead independent investigation into historic racism

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Essex have become the second county club after Yorkshire to set up an investigation into historic allegations of racism, with the appointment of Katharine Newton QC to oversee proceedings.Newton is described in a statement from the club as “an experienced and highly regarded practitioner who appears regularly in the employment tribunal, High Court and the appellate courts, including the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court”.”Ms Newton has over 20 years’ practice in employment law and notably led the investigation into the allegations of race discrimination and bullying against the manager of the England Women football team in 2017,” the statement continues.”Essex Cricket reiterated that the club has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination. The appointment of such an eminent legal figure underscores the club’s determination that all allegations, regardless of when they took place, will be investigated thoroughly and independently.”The club’s move follows the recent resignation of chairman John Faragher, who was accused of using racist language during a board meeting – a charge he denies.Two former players have since spoken out about their treatment at Essex, with the Jamaica-born fast bowler Maurice Chambers telling the Cricketer that he was repeatedly abused by two players and a senior coach, and taunted with bananas.Zoheb Sharif, a former batter, told Sky News he had been nicknamed “the Bomber” after making his debut in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001, and told he would never be picked for the first XI.In a statement issued in response to Chambers’ allegation, Essex chief executive John Stephenson said he was “extremely disappointed to hear of further historic racial allegations” which made “distressing reading”. None of the individuals were still involved with the club, he added.In keeping with other clubs in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s revelations, Essex has set up a reporting channel for anyone who wishes to talk about their experiences with the club.Anyone concerned can contact the club, anonymously if they wish, by emailing [email protected].

Four Balochistan players test positive for Covid-19; PCB tweaks National T20 Cup schedule

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Four Balochistan players participating in the ongoing National T20 Cup have tested positive for Covid-19, forcing the PCB to move their October 6 evening game at the Gaddafi Stadium against Northern to October 9. The match will be swapped with the Northern and Southern Punjab game.The players who tested positive are placed in a 10-day quarantine while the remaining squad, who tested negative, will continue to participate in the tournament with a minor tweak in their schedule.The first leg of the National T20 Cup was played in Rawalpindi before the six teams travelled by road to Lahore for the remaining games of the tournament; the final will also be played at the Gaddafi Stadium on October 13.Despite the hiccup, Balochistan will continue to play Thursday’s game against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa according to the original schedule. But the squad led by Imam-ul Haq will have to rebuild their team with new players being picked from their Association Championship three-day tournament side. Players coming in as replacements can move from one bubble to another.”All other participants and their families underwent testing on Tuesday and have returned negative,” the PCB wrote in a statement. “The PCB continues to monitor the situation and is retesting all participants and their families. It has also been decided the frequency of testing will be increased for the remainder of the tournament.”The PCB has created a biosecure bubble for the National T20 Cup but the players selected for the upcoming T20 World Cup won’t play in the domestic tournament from October 8 and will be shifted to a new bubble being set up by the PCB as per the ICC’s regulations. The World Cup squad will depart on October 15 from Lahore.

Williamson hits record ton, but Test in balance

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Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:47

Moonda: Williamson has established himself as a modern great

In another dimension, Kane Williamson would have the swagger befitting a man who became the fastest New Zealander to 5000 runs and their joint-highest century-maker all on the same day. In this one, he shies away from all praise. Perhaps, he suspects them to be in cahoots with those jilted awayswingers, always plotting against him just because they couldn’t entice his outside edge.South Africa tried for a good part of 73 overs to tempt him. There were bouncers that made the heart-rate flutter, reverse swing that melted the heart altogether, and sexy line and length as far as the eye could see. All of them, though, were brushed off by Williamson’s soft hands and straight bat. He was the boring husband-to-be at a raging bachelor party, and thanks to his discipline, New Zealand rose to a position of strength in the Hamilton Test. They went to stumps on 321 for 4, with a lead of seven runs. Provided rain stays away, the final two days of this decider promise a whole heck of a lot.Whatever the result, though, the fans at Seddon Park should toast to Williamson’s success. Playing his 110th innings, he conquered Mount 5000 with a pull shot for six. Then, off his 151st delivery, a friendly old full toss from part-timer Dean Elgar, he whipped a four through midwicket and celebrated hundred number 17. The late great Martin Crowe had held both those records for New Zealand all on his own. Now, they have been passed down to his heir apparent. An heir who is only 26 years old and is yet to hit the ages when a batsman is considered to be in his prime.At the other end was Jeet Raval, who made a career-best 88 off 254 balls, playing with nimble hands and steady feet. Over half his runs came behind the wicket as he enjoyed using the pace of the fast bowlers. Against spin, he dialled up midwicket, using his reach to get to the pitch of the ball and rolling his wrists over it. He deserved a century – not only would it have been his first, it would have been the first by a New Zealand opener against South Africa since 1953. But, towards the close, Raval became visibly bogged down, his concentration solely on being out there rather than scoring runs. He spent 25 balls on 83. He blocked full tosses. He could have got out to one. And, eventually, he was toppled by Morne Morkel with 14 overs to stumps. It was a gruesome end to a bloody-minded knock.Then, South Africa found a way back into the match, getting rid of Neil Broom and Henry Nicholls, picking them up and tossing them aside like they were unwanted toppings on a slice of pizza. They could have had Mitchell Santner too if Vernon Philander hadn’t overstepped off the delivery that flattened the off stump. And just like that – after hours and hours of it looking like New Zealand would sail ahead – the match was in the balance again.As expected on the third day of the Test, batting became slightly easier. The grass on the pitch had died out despite spending a lot of time under the covers. They got an additional one-and-a-half hours this morning to recuperate, but all for nought. So the bowlers had to rely on reverse swing. That was then torn out of their armoury by umpires Bruce Oxenford and Rod Tucker in the 59th over, prompted into checking the shape of the ball after Philander sent a throw on the bounce in an effort to rough up one side of the leather. Faf du Plessis was utterly unimpressed with the decision, and Philander, from that point on, underamed the ball in from the deep.Morkel took the 250th wicket of his career, exhibiting both his natural strengths and the experience he has gained over his 74 matches. He had seen Tom Latham quite content to leave everything outside off. So he went around the wicket to trick the left-hander into playing at something he shouldn’t. A ball that was coming in for three-fourths of the way, pitched, straightened and nabbed the edge through to the wicketkeeper. Quinton de Kock dived to his left to pick up an acrobatic one-handed catch to seal a passage of play from the top draw.Spin had started to have a say too, with left-armer Keshav Maharaj ripping it out of the footmarks. Williamson, wary of the threat, was quick to put him off his length, coming down the track several times, hitting a straight six in the process. Their captain’s aggression helped New Zealand not lose a single wicket to the turning ball. At the other end, Morkel created doubts in Raval’s mind over the position of his off stump from both over and around the wicket. Williamson, too, seemed to be hurried by deliveries that dipped and curled in at him, although remarkably, he was able to put a couple of them away for fours through square leg and midwicket.Yet, on a day when all of New Zealand’s top three made 50 or more for the first time at home, when they put on their third-highest partnership – 190 for the second wicket – ever against South Africa, their middle order put them back under pressure. Luckily for them, Williamson is so good at standing up to it.

Vijay, Kohli hundreds headline India's dominance

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:38

‘Kohli ran Bangladesh into the ground’

M Vijay, who was reprieved on 35, and his captain Virat Kohli punished Bangladesh with contrasting centuries, which led India to 356 for 3 on the first day in in Hyderabad. Vijay combined with Cheteshwar Pujara, who was handed a life on 11, in a 178-run partnership, before Kohli seamlessly took charge of the innings.Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim termed his side’s first bilateral international in India as a “great moment”; he might have later felt it was a wild roller-coaster ride. At the end of the day, in which Bangladesh’s fielding went from bad to worse, they were left nauseous and with a teasing thought: what might have been?Pujara and Vijay, India’s most prolific pair in Test cricket in the last decade, extended their dominance on Thursday with another century partnership, their fifth this home season and eighth overall.Kohli looked like he was on autopilot right from the moment he arrived, 30 minutes before tea. He began with two fours off his first three balls, the second of which was punched fiercely to the long-off boundary. He brought up his fifty off 70 balls at the end of the 73rd over, then brought up his next fifty off 60 balls with a signature whiplash to the midwicket boundary. Kohli now has a Test hundred against every opposition he has played against (he has not played against Pakistan and Zimbabwe).Bangladesh, though, had enjoyed the perfect start to their first bilateral international in India with fast bowler Taskin Ahmed removing KL Rahul in the first over. Rahul chased a full, wide ball – wider than a set of stumps outside off – and dragged it back onto the stumps. Taskin and Kamrul Islam Rabbi then found movement in the air and off the seam, and took regular trips past the edges. They also sent down rising short balls, which forced Vijay and Pujara to throw their gloves in front of their faces.At the end of five overs, India had only played four scoring shots. The first boundary arrived in the next over when Pujara uncharacteristically drove away from the body and sent an outside edge flying to his right of gully.Four balls later, Pujara watched a leading edge drop in front of cover. About three overs later, Kamrul drew an outside edge from Pujara, which dropped well in front of Shakib Al Hasan at first slip. Mushfiqur could possibly have caught it had he dived to his right, but he was unmoved. Then, in the 15th over, Mehedi Hasan Miraz produced an outside edge each from Pujara and Vijay, which flew to the right of Shakib at slip.1:09

When big runs were not enough

Vijay’s major reprieve came when he and Pujara found themselves at the same end. Kamrul put in the dive at square leg to create the run-out chance, and lobbed the ball back to Mehedi, the bowler. With the ball travelling slowly to him, Mehedi panicked and failed to collect the throw cleanly.India enjoyed these breaks in the field but the runs began to flow only after lunch. Vijay drove fluently through the covers and launched Shakib straight back over his head. Pujara brought out his staple shots – the bottom-handed drive and late-cut – and looked increasingly confident against the old ball on a slow track.The three spinners bowled 15 consecutive overs between them in the second session and conceded 54 runs. Overall, the second session yielded 120 runs in 31 overs.When Pujara drove Mehedi straight down the ground for four in the 51st over, he broke the record for most runs in an Indian first-class season, surpassing Chandu Borde’s tally of 1604 in 1964-65. The joy, though, was short-lived as he misread the next delivery – a straight ball from Mehedi – and edged behind, Mushfiqur diving to his right this time and pouching it via a ricochet off the pad.Kohli announced himself with authoritative boundaries, while Vijay got to his ninth Test hundred before being bowled around his legs in the sixth over after tea.Ajinkya Rahane, picked over Karun Nair, seemed comfortable while moving to 45 off 60 balls in an unbroken 122-run stand with Kohli. Bangladesh, though, were far from comfortable: the fumbles continued in the field and they even wasted a review.In the 62nd over, Taijul Isam tossed one up on middle and leg, and Kohli his forward defensive. Taijul and the close-in fielders reckoned it was pad first, only for the replays to throw up how embarrassing Bangladesh’s decision to review the on-field not-out call was. The second new ball wasn’t spared either, and Kohli went onto middle everything. He claimed 94 of the 150 runs India scored in the post-tea session.

Rossouw, spinners grind out tense win for Quetta

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
5:56

Highlights – Rilee Rossouw anchors Quetta innings

In a nutshellLahore Qalandars lost a game that they seemed to have a grip on for the first 25 overs. In a chase of 137, Lahore combined woeful shot selection with poor running to gift last year’s finalists a thrilling eight-run win at the Dubai Stadium. The two points Quetta Gladiators get may as well have a bow on them.Lahore looked set for a comfortable win when Jason Roy and Brendon McCullum took the attack to Zulfiqar Babar right from the beginning of the run chase, each contributing quickfire scores in the twenties to set Qalandars up nicely. However, Zulfiqar got his revenge by ultimately accounting for both of them. Even then – with the score on 49 from 4.3 overs – Lahore looked to be well on course. Then, left-arm spinners Hasan Khan and last year’s sensation Mohammad Nawaz, strangled Lahore with a tight middle-stump line and waited for the batsmen to make mistakes, who duly obliged as the last nine wickets fell for 79 runs.Earlier, Quetta’s innings failed to take off at any point in the first thirteen overs, with all batsmen struggling for timing after Lahore’s bowlers continued to build up pressure. At 65 for 5 in 13 overs, Quetta looked like they might struggle to get past the PSL’s record lowest score of 111, but a late surge from Rilee Rossouw, who anchored the Gladiators’ innings with 60, got them to a defensible total. From there, it was their bowling – and Lahore’s suicidal approach – that did the rest.Where the match was wonRossouw struggled early on in his innings, just as much as his team-mates, but he managed what most of his fellow Gladiators failed to do: bide his time instead of throwing his wicket away. After a start where he scored 16 runs off his first 24 balls, Rossouw made his move with seven overs to go, launching Grant Elliot for six over covers. 60 came off the next five overs, and Rossouw finished with 60 off 47 to give Quetta a fighting chance. As it turned out, Quetta needed every single run off Rossouw’s bat to get over the line, and the absence of a similar anchor man for Lahore led to their downfall. This was Roussow’s first competitive game outside South Africa after signing a Kolpak deal with Hampshire, and his knock came in parallel with South Africa’s match against Sri Lanka, where the Proteas were looking to seal the No. 1 ranking in ODIs.Rilee Rossouw was rewarded for an outstanding performance•PCB/PSL

The men that won itConsistent left-arm spinners in a low-scoring T20 contest seems to be as close to a winning formula as you can get in the sport, and Quetta got all their equations right on that front. They kept the faith with Zulfiqar, even as Roy and McCullum spanked him around the ground. He snared both of them, and then Hasan Khan and Mohammad Nawaz took a combined 4 for 29 runs in 6.4 overs. They cannot claim all the credit, however, with poor shot selection from Lahore’s batsmen at critical moments turning out to be just as conclusive.Moment of the matchWith less than six runs needed per over and eight wickets in hand, Lahore were never in a more assertive position than when Umar Akmal, last season’s highest scorer, came in to bat at 49 for 2. The openers had just departed after setting up a nice platform, and all Lahore needed was cool heads and the ability to keep rotating the strike to get their campaign going. It was here that Akmal chose to demonstrate his maddening inconsistency, trying to clear mid-off from a wide slower delivery by Anwar Ali. He picked out Thisara Perera, and Lahore were suddenly 50 for 3. From there, it was a grind, and Quetta were more than up for it.Where they standQuetta start the second season of the PSL win a win, joining Islamabad United at the top. Lahore, like Peshawar, lose their first game, meaning they have been on the wrong side in seven of nine games over the PSL’s two seasons.