Will Young marked his Nottinghamshire debut with an unbeaten century to anchor the visitors’ response on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against leaders Surrey at the Kia Oval.
The New Zealand international, who is on a three-match contract with the Trent Bridge outfit, provided immediate value with a fluent knock of 106 not out that guided them to 248 for five at the close, trailing Surrey by 107.
Young shared a second-wicket partnership of 134 with Haseeb Hameed, who hit 67, while Surrey’s Jamie Overton took two wickets on his return to bowling action for the first time this summer after recovering from a back injury.
Surrey had earlier posted 355 all out in their first innings, with Nottinghamshire all-rounder Lyndon James picking up the last two wickets to register career-best figures of six for 74.
Tom Westley’s 28th first-class hundred and his century partnership with Paul Walter rescued Essex from a poor start at Blackpool before a late fightback by Lancashire saw the visitors bowled out for 282.
Skipper Westley made 135, his third century of the season, with Walter eventually out for 76.
Tom Bailey, with six for 59, led a good reply by Lancashire, who closed on 37 for one to be 245 behind.
Rob Yates compiled a double century to put Warwickshire in a commanding position against Kent at Canterbury.
The visitors declared their first innings on 549 for seven, a lead of 378, before reducing Kent to 55 for one.
Yates hit his highest first-class score of 228 not out, with 23 fours and a six, having batted for nearly nine hours, while Australia’s Glenn Maxwell made 81 in his first Championship appearance for four years.
Chris Rushworth bowled Tawanda Muyeye for a duck early in Kent’s second innings, with the hosts ailing 323 runs adrift.
Ryan Higgins struck a sixth half-century of the season to guide Middlesex to only their second batting bonus point of the campaign and a first-innings lead over Northamptonshire in the Division One basement battle at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Higgins made 64 not out to steady the ship from 127 for five to a total of 277, which edged them 58 in front. Mark Stoneman contributed 51, while Northamptonshire off-spinner Rob Keogh returning three for 52 and Ben Sanderson three for 77.
Returning to make an impact with the ball when Northamptonshire batted again, Higgins removing both Ricardo Vasconcelos (22) and Justin Broad (five) as the visitors finished on 55 for two.
James Rew became Somerset’s youngest double-centurion in first-class cricket as Somerset took control against Hampshire at Taunton.
The 19-year-old extended his overnight score of 77 to 221 before being last man out in his side’s first innings total of 500.
Kasey Aldridge (88) and Dom Bess (54) also contributed to Somerset’s impressive recovery from 80 for five before Hampshire limped to 58 for two at close.
In Division Two, Alex Lees scored his third century in as many innings to guide leaders Durham into a strong position against Gloucestershire at Chester-le-Street.
Lees anchored the innings with a flawless 195, his highest score as a Durham player, while Graham Clark made 82 after the hosts were reduced to 109 for four in reply to Gloucestershire’s 316.
Brydon Carse finished the day unbeaten on 60 in Durham’s 433 for eight, which gave them a 117-run lead.
Opener Finlay Bean hit a career-best 135 to consolidate Yorkshire’s position against Worcestershire at a showery New Road.
The 21-year-old, dropped twice on the opening day, put on 177 with Adam Lyth (79) – Yorkshire’s best opening stand for seven years.
Worcestershire fought back, with seamer Adam Finch taking five wickets for 100, but Yorkshire maintained their grip after Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad dismissed both openers as the hosts finished 46 for two.
On another rain-affected day in Cardiff, Glamorgan lost captain David Lloyd for six on his return to action, but steadied the ship to reach 54 for one at close against second-placed Leicestershire.
Lloyd – soon to be leaving the Welsh capital – was bowled by Matt Salisbury before 32 from Zain-ul-Hassan as part of a 44-run partnership with Sam Northeast restored the hosts’ composure.
Derbyshire wicketkeeper Brooke Guest hit an unbeaten 80 to frustrate Sussex’s promotion hopes at a rain-hit Hove as his side reached 212 for three in reply to Sussex’s 402, trailing by 190.
Pooran's unbeaten 48 in vain as Head, Sharma lead Sunrisers to dazzling 10-wicket win over Super Giants
Sunrisers Hyderabad hammered Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets with more than 10 overs to spare in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head struck an unbeaten 167 from the opening partnership to move SRH third in the points table, with LSG unable to come up with any answers to defend their own haul of 165-4.
Head plundered 89 from 30 balls, including eight fours and eight sixes, while Sharma's 75 from 28 had eight fours and six maximums, in an explosive batting display that saw the duo hit 100 inside the powerplay.
Earlier, Lucknow struggled to get going in their innings, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-12) conceding only singles and shutting down LSG's top order, who scored just 66 in the first 11.2 overs.
Former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran continued his fine build up to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup with an unbeaten 26-ball 48, as he crafted a 99-run fifth-wicket stand with Ayush Badoni, who was also unbeaten on 55.
Pooran struck six fours and a solitary six, while Badoni's 30-ball knock had nine fours, as the two gave Lucknow a chance, but in the end, it was nowhere near enough.
Data Debrief: Sunrisers pounce again in the powerplay
Sunrisers scored 107 runs in the powerplay. In all of T20 cricket, there have only been seven instances of a team scoring 100 runs or more in the powerplay – SRH have the two top scores, with both coming this year.
Pooran and Badoni's 99-run partnership was LSG's highest for the fifth wicket in IPL, surpassing the previous record of 87 between Deepak Hooda and Badoni. However, it proved fruitless.
CPL's Russell urges greater collab between franchise leagues to avoid frequent schedule overlap
Caribbean Premier League (CPL)'s CEO believes scheduling arrangements through collaboration by the various T20 leagues should be routine to avoid the frequent tournament clashes, which forces players to fly from one tournament to another in a short window.
Russell’s suggestion came during an interview with ESPNcricinfo, as he called for regular meetings among franchise leagues owners and administrators to solve cricket's global scheduling crisis. This, as CPL and the Hundred have overlapped in the past, but will avoid a clash this season, following dialogue with England Cricket Board (ECB) earlier this year.
“[The ECB] have a defined window that they have to play in, and it happened that we could move everything out to ensure that we didn't clash [with the Hundred]. It makes absolutely zero sense if you've got [Sunil] Narine and [Andre] Russell having to fly back the day before the final of the Hundred. That's in no one's interests, and certainly not the Hundred's,” Russell declared.
"I hope that [collaboration] continues. It's not rocket science; it's what should happen with all leagues. It's just nonsense that we've got all this overlap when it just needs to be worked through. Scheduling is a challenge, I know, but it can't be that you have two leagues going at each other at the same time. To my mind, it doesn't make any sense,” he added.
While there is a precedent for leagues negotiating to manage potential clashes as shown by the PSL and ILT20, there were a number of leagues that ran simultaneously earlier in the year. Australia's Big Bash and New Zealand's Super Smash finished in mid-January; South Africa's SA20 and the UAE's ILT20 started in January and ran into February; the Bangladesh Premier League started in January and finished in March; and the Pakistan Super League ran from mid-February to mid-March.
With the ICC Champions Trophy scheduled for a return next year February, it is expected to further complicate the schedule where franchise leagues are concerned. It is for that reason why the general consensus among players worldwide is for global scheduling windows for franchise leagues and international cricket, to limit overlapping between the two.
While representatives of national governing bodies meet regularly at ICC level - most of whom control their own leagues - there is no specific forum for the owners and administrators of franchise leagues to discuss scheduling.
"It's the logical way to go - because we're all maturing, and we're all getting to a point where we are sustainable. They are generally regarded now as being part of the domestic calendar, wherever they are played,” Russell said.
“I think it is a case of, 'OK, let's have that group of people and say how do you figure out the schedule to the benefit of everyone. I think it's workable. Others might think it's not, but I just think the conversations at least need to take place, just to make sure [there's no clash],” he opined.
Russell used the recent release of Major League Cricket (MLC)'s 2024 fixture list –two months before the tournament starts – as evidence of a shortage of "joined-up thinking" among administrators. MLC is scheduled to begin on July 5 and, as such, is on a six-day overlapping course with the Hundred.
"They've only just come out with their schedule. Why does it take leagues so long to put a schedule together? We have all year to figure it out,” he noted.
That said, Russell also encouraged administrators to find a solution to the perverse incentives that emerged for players earlier this year.
"It can't be right. I saw the other day that where leagues were overlapping, a player who got knocked out before the semi-finals or finals could actually make more money by going to another league. That shouldn't be a thing,” he stated.
Barbados to welcome Oman early for preparation camp ahead of T20 World Cup
As the much-anticipated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup draws closer, Barbados will welcome West Asian team Oman to the island for their pre-tournament camp ahead of the global showpiece to be hosted jointly in the Caribbean and United States.
While in Barbados, Oman’s camp, scheduled for May 14-24, will also include three T20 matches – two against a Barbados Select XI, and one match against University of the West Indies –as they fine tune preparations for the June 1-29 World Cup.
The camp is being organised by former England batsman and West Indies Senior Men’s Selector Roland Butcher, who saw it fit to assist Oman in getting acclimatised to the Eastern Caribbean Island, which will host a number of games throughout the tournament, including the final.
“It is great that the Oman team will be coming out to Barbados early for their pre-tournament camp. They will use the period to get acclimatised to the conditions, as quick as possible. We are delighted to have them in Barbados – this country is the ideal place to start their preparations,” Butcher said.
“We believe the time spent here will be hugely beneficial towards them putting on a good showing in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024,” he added.
Duleep Mendis, the former Sri Lanka captain and Oman’s Head Coach expressed his team’s delight and anticipation ahead of their arrival in Barbados.
“It is one of the cricket locations which we all dream of visiting and we want to make the most of our time as we prepare. We have high ambitions in this tournament, and we want to focus on our plans from the moment we touch down in a country which is known for its cricket culture and heroes,” Mendis shared.
Oman recently named their World Cup squad, which will be led by all-rounder Aqib Ilyas, who takes the reins from Zeeshan Maqsood. This year’s World Cup will mark Oman’s third appearance in the last four editions of the tournament, which underlines their success and consistency in performing at the global level.
Oman enjoyed a dazzling 2023 campaign, as they copped the Gulf Cricket Cup, followed by an unbeaten run in the ICC T20 World Cup Asia qualifiers, which secured their spot in the upcoming tournament. They were also runners-up in this year’s ACC Premier Cup.
The West Asian team, drawn in Group B alongside Australia, England, Scotland, and Namibia, will open their T20 World Cup campaign against the latter, in Barbados, on June 2.
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