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Former Netherlands head coach takes over from James Franklin at Chester-le-Street

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2022Ryan Campbell, the former Australia wicketkeeper whose six-year stint with the Netherlands culminated in their impressive displays at last month’s T20 World Cup, has been named as the new head coach at Durham.As revealed by ESPNcricinfo, Campbell, 50, will take over from James Franklin, whose contract was not renewed after Durham’s disappointing performances in the 2022 county season, in which they finished in the bottom three of the standings in the County Championship, Royal London Cup and T20 Blast.Durham’s squad does, however, contain a number of highly rated players, including Matt Potts, Brydon Carse and Alex Lees, all of whom have made England debuts in the past two years, and Campbell said he was looking forward to working with the squad.”I am extremely honoured to be appointed Durham’s Head Coach and I can’t wait to get started,” Campbell said. “I will be working with some of England’s best cricketers as well as a young squad full of talent and I hope to bring an attacking, no fear style of cricket to the club.”I also look forward to working with Marcus North to lead Durham to future success.”Campbell spent seven days in a coma in April after suffering a cardiac arrest, but returned to the Netherlands set-up as a consultant during the World Cup, where he bowed out on a high with a famous victory over South Africa in Adelaide that had huge ramifications for the tournament.After qualifying for the main draw with wins over UAE and Namibia, Netherlands went on beat Zimbabwe as well, to finish fourth in the Group 2 standings, their best performance at an ICC global event.”Beating South Africa in our last Super 12 game and qualifying automatically for the next T20 World Cup was an amazing finish to what has been a wonderful six years for me with Netherlands,” Campbell told the Emerging Cricket podcast. “I leave with a lot of smiles, good memories and a lot of great friendships.”He has signed a three-year deal at Durham, which will keep him at the club until at least the end of the 2025 season.North, Durham’s director of cricket, said: “Following an extensive recruitment process, it became clear that Ryan was the best fit for Durham and the county.”Ryan comes to Durham with an excellent reputation following a successful period as the Netherlands head coach. I look forward to working with him and continue to build on the foundations laid during the past 4 years with this exciting group of players.”Durham Cricket, Chief Executive, Tim Bostock said: “We’re delighted that Ryan has agreed to become our new Head Coach and we are hugely excited to welcome him to Durham in the new year. He joins us with a wealth of experience and knowledge, and I believe he is the perfect fit for Durham.”Meanwhile, Mickey Arthur has signed a three-year contract extension with Derbyshire, after an impressive maiden season in 2022 which included a club-record nine wins in their Blast campaign.”I’ve always said that Derbyshire is a county close to my heart since working with the likes of Eddie Barlow and Fred Swarbrook, and my first season with the club has only made that feeling grow,” Arthur said.”Supporters have made me feel instantly welcome, we have a squad full of potential and I’m looking forward to developing it and challenging for silverware at the very top of county cricket.”

South Africa coach confident of team’s showing after series win against West Indies

Firdose Moonda04-Jul-2021Conditions at the T20 World Cup in the UAE will be similar to what South Africa experienced in Grenada, according to coach Mark Boucher, who expects the tournament to be tough for batters but successful for spinners. Although it was always expected that the event, initially scheduled to be played in India but moved to the Emirates because of Covid-19 concerns, would present unfamiliar and challenging territory to South Africa, their 3-2 series-win in the West Indies has showed them what they need to do to be competitive.Related

• BCCI confirms 2021 T20 World Cup switch to UAE

• 'West Indies success is the spark to reignite South Africa'

• Markram, Mulder star in South Africa's series win

“We are probably going to be playing in conditions like this in the UAE. The wickets after the IPL are going to be a bit dry. It’s not the same as we’re used to back in South Africa where you can go out and bash your way to 180 to 200 runs. You’ve got to be skillful here; you’ve got to be smart,” Boucher said.Scores at St George’s were between 160 and 170 for each of the five T20Is, and the team batting first won four of them. Run-scoring became noticeably more difficult as the day went on, and even as each innings developed as a result of a softer ball on a drier pitch and heavier outfield, and thanks to bowlers who were able to take pace off the ball. Obed McCoy, Dwayne Bravo and Fabian Allen kept South Africa’s finishers to under seven runs an over in the last five overs across the series, while Tabraiz Shamsi and George Linde frustrated West Indies’ middle-order. Boucher expects that trend to continue into the T20 World Cup.”If anything, it’s going to go even further into subcontinent conditions, on the extreme side. They are playing the IPL there, there’s not a lot of grounds and those wickets are going to be worn so scores will probably go even further down,” he said. “It’s going to be tough to bat on especially at the back end, like we saw here. We will have an idea of what scores are going to be by watching the IPL and then taking a look and assess how the wickets are playing during the beginning part of the World Cup. I suspect spinners will play a massive role.”That could mean South Africa approach the T20 World Cup with a team that looks more like the one that won the final match – which had five specialist batters, two allrounders, two quicks and two specialist spinners – than the one that won the second, which had only five bowling options and one allrounder. Whichever option they go for, Boucher recognised that they need to get the lower middle-order firing even if they won’t be able to score at the same rate as they do at home.David Miller, in particular, is out of form and scored just 52 runs in five innings. Though Boucher did not single him out, he indicated that he hopes the upcoming contest against Ireland will help to get Miller, and others, back to their best. “There are a couple of guys out of form but if you are winning series against a strong team with a couple of guys out of form, you must be doing something right,” Boucher said. “We need to get some guys in form. Maybe there is an opportunity for us to get those guys in form so we can finish off innings better.”If South Africa can get that right, Boucher sees them being able to post slightly higher totals, which could be the key to success in the UAE. “If we can get all the guys firing on all cylinders, we’ve got an idea of what could be our strongest line-up and once that happens, then you end up finding an extra 15-20 runs which, in these conditions it becomes a very difficult total to face, especially when it’s so dry,” he said.On the other hand, Boucher was largely satisfied with the way South Africa’s attack adapted to the conditions and with new captain Temba Bavuma’s use of his bowlers. “We’ve got to get guys playing a lot smarter and we saw that in our bowling,” he said. “Our bowling throughout the whole series was fantastic and Temba has had a fantastic series managing the bowlers apart from one or two gambles that didn’t pay off.”One that immediately comes to mind was using Aiden Markram to open the bowling in the fourth T20I for an over that cost 20 runs, but apart from that, Bavuma managed his attack well in mostly one-over spells throughout the series. He also inspired a revival in South Africa’s fielding, where standards had slipped in the last few months.Still, South Africa’s series win was not what they may call a complete performance. There are still strategic questions for them to answer, especially if they are going to commit to an XI which could include as many as three frontline spinners. That would be a big, but ultimately necessary, departure from the norm for South Africa and this tour of West Indies showed them they can do it, successfully.

22 years after his first Surrey game at The Oval, Thursday could be Batty’s last

Matt Roller30-Sep-202022 years after his first appearance for Surrey at The Oval, Gareth Batty has accepted that Thursday’s T20 Blast quarter-final against Kent could be his last.It would be foolish to rule out the possibility of him extending his playing career, not least after a Blast campaign in which he has conceded a miserly 6.31 runs per over and recovered from a hamstring injury within two weeks. But at the ripe old age of 42, with his contract up at the end of the season and a coaching position at the club on the table, this may be his final week as a player.”We’ll get to the end of the season and then we’ll have a sit down,” Batty said. “I have a coaching role [already] so it’s about what is right for the group moving forward. We have to move forward as a club and if that means the claw replaces the pretty average old offspin, so be it.”If we do decide I don’t play, we’ll be going out for dinner. I’ll buy Vikram [Solanki] and Stewie [Alec Stewart] a slap-up meal for the first time ever, we’ll have a glass of something and I’ll say thanks, to move forward. The exciting bit is that whatever happens, I’m winning.”ALSO READ: ‘Old blokes win stuff’ – Why experience is key in the T20 BlastIn the absence of the injured Jade Dernbach, Batty captained Surrey for the first seven games of their Blast season before his hamstring problem. They began the tournament with a threadbare squad due to injury and international call-ups, but the number of available players has swelled since: Laurie Evans and Jamie Overton arrived on loan ahead of permanent deals next year, while Rory Burns, Jason Roy and Ben Foakes are back from England bubbles and Hashim Amla arrived from South Africa.”We played an intra-squad practice game yesterday and I think at one point we had 21 players all fit and available for selection,” Batty said. “It’s a bit of contrast to six weeks ago when we were scrambling around for 11.”There will be some disappointed boys, but hopefully it stands us in good stead – if we can get over the line tomorrow – with three games in three days. That is pretty full on, so having bodies available and ready to go – and obviously they are quality players – is an advantage for us.”There will be a dilemma at the top of the order, with a decision to make over who bats where between Roy, Amla, Evans and breakout star Will Jacks, while youngsters Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson may be squeezed out in order to accommodate more experienced players.Batty has been particularly impressed by Overton – whom he dubs Surrey’s “own Andre Russell: bowls rockets, and smacks it out the ground” – since his move from Somerset, and quipped that after a lean summer with the bat in international cricket, Roy has been saving his best for his county.”He knew he’d get back at some point and thought he’d save them for the good lads,” he laughed. “In our last game he showed what a good player he is: he’s world-class. When Jason plays like that you can count on one hand the better players in the world.”It’s obvious, but four into three doesn’t go so, someone will bat fractionally out of position. It will be covered off with that player, and no stone left unturned. We are very fortunate to have four exceptional players in the top order, and someone will have a change of role.”Surrey’s record in T20 has been underwhelming in recent years – they have not reached Finals Day since 2014 – but things have been different this year. They have exploited home conditions to their advantage, playing on used, central pitches to create enormous square boundaries to support their spinners and allow their seamers to bang the ball in, and are on a seven-match winning run heading into Thursday’s quarter-final.Vikram Solanki is in his first season as Surrey’s head coach•Getty Images

Batty was effusive in his praise for Solanki, and in particular the pre-match planning and preparation that he has put into place in his first season as head coach, and insisted that regardless how he fares against Kent, he will be playing with a smile on his face after wondering if he would step onto the pitch at all this year.”Whenever I get on the cricket field now it feels like a day out,” he grinned. “[Covid-19] puts things into perspective, it really does. I’m very aware that I’m pretty much done, but it’s nice that you can still contribute in a positive way.”There’s been some really good cricket played [this season] and there’s been a progression in how people are playing the game. People are learning from how different competitions around the world are accelerating T20 cricket. It’s not the same old mundane ‘he’s going to do this, he’s going to do that’, [teams are] trying to move the game forward.”Kent are a very dangerous team. We’re very aware of that. They’ve got some very fine players who tore it up with England this year, on a bit of a high. Hopefully we’re all going out there to fulfil our roles and help Surrey over the line. If some old sod manages to get a few wickets you’ll see a smile on his face; even if he doesn’t, there will still be a smile.”

The arrival of the Zimbabwe allrounder strengthens a squad heavily hit by coronavirus-related departures

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2020Sikandar Raza, the Zimbabwe allrounder, has joined Peshawar Zalmi’s squad as a silver category player. He will be available for Zalmi’s PSL semi-final against table-toppers Multan Sultans, which is to be played in Lahore on Tuesday.Raza’s arrival will strengthen a Zalmi squad that has been hit particularly hard by the departure of overseas players due to the coronavirus pandemic. Zalmi lost the services of five players – Tom Banton, Carlos Brathwaite, Liam Dawson, Lewis Gregory and Liam Livingstone – along with coach James Foster.Batsmen Abid Ali and Agha Salman, meanwhile, have joined the Lahore Qalandars line-up ahead of their semi-final against Karachi Kings, which is also set to be played on Tuesday. Both players slot into the silver category. The Qalandars were the only team not to lose any of their players to the coronavirus exodus.

Shadab Khan to play first county stint while D’Arcy Short switches from Durham after successful 2019 Blast

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Oct-2019Surrey have signed Pakistan legspinner Shadab Khan and Australia opener D’Arcy Short for the 2020 Vitality Blast. Shadab will be making his first appearance in county cricket, while Short moves south after impressing with Durham in the Blast last season.The signing of Short will go some way to making up for the loss of Aaron Finch, who has played regularly for Surrey since 2016 but is expected to be involved in Australia’s limited-overs tour of England next summer, affecting his availability. Short finished as the fourth-leading run-scorer in this year’s competition, with 483 at a strike rate of 139.59, despite Durham failing to make it beyond the group stage.Shadab, 21, has played all three formats internationally but came to prominence in T20, during the 2017 Pakistan Super League. He has since played in the Big Bash and Caribbean Premier League, amassing 121 wickets in 98 games, with an economy of 6.81.Described by Surrey’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, as “one of the most exciting spin bowlers in world cricket”, Shadab will spend much of the 2020 summer in the UK, with Pakistan touring and having also been signed up for the Hundred – although his participation in that competition will depend on his involvement in the Test set-up. The full county fixture list for next year has not been announced but the Blast is expected to take place from May to July.”I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to play county cricket for a long time and T20 cricket at the Kia Oval is a great place to start,” Shadab said. “I’m honoured to be following in the footsteps of some great Pakistan cricketers and will do my best to make both my new team and the Surrey fans proud.”D’Arcy Short swats to leg•Getty Images

Short has played 20 T20Is and four ODIs for Australia, although he was left out of the series against Sri Lanka starting later this week. The left-hander, who also bowls useful wristspin, has been the leading scorer in each of the last two editions of the Big Bash, and has also featured in the IPL.Stewart said that finding a replacement for Finch, who was Surrey’s leading run-scorer in 2019, was behind the move. Short had been offered a new two-year contract to stay at Durham, with the club last week announcing their disappointment that he would not be returning.”We’re delighted D’Arcy will join us for next year’s Vitality Blast,” Stewart said. “With Aaron Finch unavailable, it was vitally important that we replaced him with a powerful batsman at the top of the order. D’Arcy was highly impressive with both bat and ball in this year’s competition and we look forward to seeing him build on that in the 2020 season.”Short said: “I enjoyed my time in the Blast in 2019. To have the opportunity to come back in 2020 and play in front of full houses at one of the best grounds in the world is brilliant. I am already looking forward to joining up with the boys and I thank all involved for the opportunity.”

Australia’s ODI captain smashed 11 fours and 14 sixes as Victoria chased down their target at a canter

Alex Malcolm01-Oct-2019A sensational career-best 188 not out from Aaron Finch dominated Victoria’s commanding chase of 305 against Queensland at the Junction Oval.Finch clubbed 11 fours and 14 sixes to post his highest List A score, and Victoria’s best in one-day cricket, as they cruised to their target with 34 balls and nine wickets in hand. He shared century stands with Sam Harper and Marcus Harris to help inflict Queensland’s first defeat of the tournament and overshadow Usman Khawaja’s second straight century earlier in the day.Just two days after Victoria’s top order capitulated against the same attack, Finch’s power-packed performance, in conjunction with a change in batting order, helped the home side turn the tables on Queensland.Harper came into the side at the expense of Will Pucovski and was promoted to open alongside Finch, while Harris was shifted to No. 3 for the first time in his List A career. Finch and Harper put on 136 in 17.5 overs to put Queensland under huge pressure with Finch racing to his fastest domestic half-century in just 29 balls with six fours and three sixes.He lost Harper, who fell for a run-a-ball 44 trying to ramp Marnus Labuschagne over short fine, but Finch’s range-hitting session didn’t stop as he peppered the windows of Cricket Victoria’s administration building and the heritage-listed grandstands. He reached his third domestic one-day century for Victoria in 73 balls and then kept rolling to his second score 150-plus and his highest List A score.He was dropped by wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson on 129, but it was a difficult chance high to his right off Billy Stanlake on 129.Finch’s demolition gave Harris a chance to spend some time at the crease. He made the most of a huge let-off, after he was dropped by Labuschagne at cover on 4, to cruise to an unbeaten half-century. Finch finished the game with his 14th six in the 45th over, the second-most sixes in an Australian domestic one-day game.Victoria looked set to chase a far bigger score as a sense of déjà vu set in when Khawaja and Sam Heazlett exploded with another impressive opening stand. Just two days after putting on 185 against Victoria they added 118 in 17 overs on another superb batting track.Heazlett raced to his fourth consecutive half-century of the tournament but he again failed to turn it into three-figures, misjudging the length of Jon Holland to be trapped lbw for 69 from just 51 balls.Khawaja converted his second successive century, but he did ride his luck. He was dropped by Harper behind the stumps on 22, a relatively straight forward chance off the inside edge, and survived a huge lbw shout on 49 off Holland. The umpire felt Khawaja got just outside the line attempting a paddle sweep but replays showed he may have been hit in line with off stump. He was dropped again on 104, with Matthew Short unable to hold onto a diving chance at backward point.The innings slowed a touch when Victoria utilized the offspin of both Short and Glenn Maxwell to the left-handed pair of Khawaja and Matt Renshaw. They added 83 but it took 91 balls before Khawaja fell trying to up the ante with seven overs to go.Renshaw passed 50 for the second time this season Queensland were able to creep just past 300 on a surface that certainly slowed up towards the back end of the innings. In the end, it was well under par

England’s fragile top order was again exposed by Australia’s attack but there is time for a few more twists on the final day

Andrew Miller at Lord's17-Aug-2019Test cricket is a shambles, and it is utterly compelling.There is no way on earth that a match that has lost five sessions to rain and hadn’t even reached the third innings until tea on the fourth day should be hurtling towards a position in which a positive result is now more likely than a draw.But we’ve known all along that the sport moves to an alternative rhythm these days, and as a pulsating Saturday at Lord’s concluded with England’s most potent duo, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, overcoming their team’s anxieties to keep their powder dry for a final push, it was clear that the pace of the format is now more thrash metal than the Green Sleeves of old.”This is why we love Test cricket so much,” said Justin Langer, Australia’s head coach, at the close. “Who would have thought it? We’re playing at Lord’s, we’ve lost a couple of days to rain, and it’s absolutely game on tomorrow.”ALSO READ: ‘I can’t get on the honour board unless I’m batting’Where’s your money now? Until Jofra Archer’s extraordinary exploits, you’d have assumed that any fourth-innings target would have favoured the Aussies, simply because in Steven Smith they possess a batsman who can operate in a different dimension to his peers.But now, all of a sudden, the parameters have shifted. Nobody in their right minds will expect England to still be batting by the end of this contest, which means Australia – with a battered and bruised Smith liable to be physically fit, if not quite in his pre-Archer mental zone – could be left with a tough dilemma in the denouement.More early success from their battery of quicks, and better luck (particularly with lbws) from the ever-probing Nathan Lyon, and they could give themselves a couple of sessions in which to close out an Ashes-crushing 2-0 lead. But if England’s middle order find anything resembling their gung-ho former selves (let’s face it, dying wondering is hardly going to be their chosen tactic…) the door could yet be ajar to sneak an improbable series-squaring win.”We probably went searching a little bit after getting off to a great start today,” said Langer. “It’s a tough wicket to bat on, which I don’t mind, and it’s going to be a great day’s Test cricket tomorrow. I guess the only issue is that there’s only one day left in it, so there’s lots of scenarios that can play out here. But it’s game on, I reckon.”Either way, it promises to be one of the most absorbing final days of Ashes cricket since the 2005 Ashes – that year’s second Test also came down to a faintly memorable Sunday shoot-out – and then as now, there’s an 18-year itch that is asking to be scratched, for incredibly it’s been that long since Australia last won the Ashes on English soil, and no Ashes team since Don Bradman’s in 1936-37 has ever come back from being 2-0 down.”When I envisaged Test and Ashes cricket as a child, this is what I envisaged it being like today,” said Chris Woakes, who finished the job that Archer had started by pinning Smith lbw for 92 shortly after the brave resumption of his innings.”An intense game of Ashes cricket is quite draining but it’s been an amazing game to be part of, and it’s pretty much in the balance now. Of course I think we can win the game, but I think all three results are still possible to be honest.”But one thing is for sure. Australia’s pack of quicks responded to Archer’s usurping of their mantle with a furious, if subtly different, mode of attack, and reconfirmed the fact that they’ve still got the weapons to defend their hitherto dominant position.The second of chances David Warner put down at slip offered by Ben Stokes off Nathan Lyon•Getty Images

Pat Cummins was supreme from the outset – just as he had been with the bat in the midst of the Archer onslaught – skilfully exposing everything we already knew about England’s batting frailties to ensure that another fretful innings panned out in a near-identical fashion to the first: two early wickets in Jason Roy and the hapless Joe Root, two half-formed repair jobs from Joe Denly and Rory Burns, and two more against-type survival grinds from Stokes and Buttler, albeit with their places in the order rightfully switched this time round.The fact that the damage was not more absolute by the close came down to a combination of Australia’s fallibility in the field, with David Warner dropping two clear-cut chances, and their ongoing failure to gauge Lyon’s angle into the left-handers, with Burns and Stokes both surviving leg-stump lbw appeals that would have been overturned on review.”We missed a few in the first Test as well,” said Langer. “Obviously the whole world’s aware whenever it happens, so it’s frustrating, there’s no doubt about that. It can change the game, it can change a session, it can change a Test match, it can change a series, so we need to get better at it.”It promises, too, to be a vital day for Root’s Test captaincy. A statistic doing the rounds before the match noted that, among men to have led England in 30 or more Tests, Root has the second-highest win percentage behind Mike Brearley. Unfortunately, he also has the second-lowest lose percentage behind David Gower – which is a testament to the ominous fact that his teams have managed just two draws out of 30.And another stat that cannot be ignored is his flatlining career average. Never mind the subplot about his promotion to No.3, Root’s returns have been nosediving since the end of the 2017-18 Ashes, to the extent that he is now averaging 32.82 from his last 18 Tests, having not strayed from a 50-plus average in the preceding four-year period.On a day when Smith required the fast-bowling spell of the series to remind onlookers of his mortality, the stark reality of Root’s first Test golden duck confirmed how far from those Fab Four standards he is now straying. Like Alastair Cook before him, he needs his team to rally round and ensure that the series doesn’t end before he can make a telling impact.Langer, however, believes his team is ready and waiting to take their chances on the final day, for he’s under no illusion that plenty will be flying around.”There’s always going to be tension in Test cricket, and with tension comes mistakes. I’m sure there’ll be six more opportunities tomorrow, and if that does happen, and we’ve got a chance to have a run-chase, we’ll stay nice and calm, on a very fast outfield, with great value for your shots. And it’s hopefully going to be a great run-chase if we can take those six wickets.”

Steve Patterson’s men grateful for the late return of rain as their lacklustre efforts go unpunished

Paul Edwards13-Jun-2019
“When an hour is all thou hast, make much of that hour.” The phrase might be found on an old sampler reminding folk of the virtues of the Protestant work ethic yet it carried topical power on the final morning of this wet game at Guildford. For against the background clatter of staff gracelessly stacking chairs long before this match ended, Surrey’s Morne Morkel took three wickets in 12 balls, thereby establishing a dominance that would reach its climax when Yorkshire were bowled out for 148 just before tea.Steve Patterson’s batsmen thus spent the truncated last session of this suddenly dramatic game ensuring cock-up did not become total calamity. They achieved that goal although it was fitting that the weather came to their aid. Bad light trimmed four overs from the 38 Yorkshire might have faced but the openers, Adam Lyth and Will Fraine, had negotiated their way to 30 without loss when the draw was agreed amid gloom and approaching showers. All the same, a contest which had hitherto been notable mainly for its appalling weather had suddenly acquired much greater interest and that was a fitting reward for the tough souls who had braved both wind and rain on this last day.”Vigilance is the watchword of the righteous.” That saying, too, might once have been embroidered and framed in God-fearing households yet it has carried a powerful admonition for Yorkshire this week, quite regardless of their beliefs. To borrow a more modern idiom, they have not always been at it during this game. They didn’t expect to play on the second day and had to be roused from their hotel by coaches who were astonished to see Surrey warming up and groundsmen preparing the pitch. Then on this final morning, with nothing but bonus points seemingly at stake, they batted as if shocked into timidity by the intensity of Ben Foakes’ attack.But any tendency to pile blame on Yorkshire’s batsmen for their side’s collapse should be balanced by recognition of the excellence of Surrey’s bowling. That quality was apparent when Morkel dug in the first ball of the morning with perfect accuracy and a disconcerted Gary Ballance could only fend a catch to Dean Elgar in the gully. We little knew it but the tone of the day had been set. Next over Morkel pitched the ball up and had both Fraine and Jack Leaning caught behind by Foakes, who dived in front of first slip to make the second snare.After bowling only four overs Morkel was replaced by Jordan Clark who took his first wicket for his new county when Jonny Tattersall’s thoroughly irresponsible slash edged the ball high to Rikki Clarke at first slip. Next ball the same combination did for a rather less culpable Dom Bess and one’s thoughts went back to the July morning last summer when Clark, then wearing Lancashire’s colours, dismissed Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Johnny Bairstow with successive balls. There was no repeat of that famous hat-trick this damp morning in Guildford but the sense of panic among the batting side was similar.There was a rain break but it did not douse Surrey’s fire. Immediately the players returned Tom Kohler-Cadmore was caught down the leg side off Clarke for 14 and made his way off the field rubbing his hip. Three wickets had fallen for no runs and there was really no telling which way this game would go.As it turned out, an utterly unpredictable morning was followed by the most of predictable of early afternoons in a week which has taught us all to value the high days of summer. The rain set in and prevented any resumption until 2.30pm. But still the pattern of the cricket did not change. Despite Jordan Thompson’s late aggression – the debutant included a huge six off Clarke in his 34 – the 55 runs added by his side’s last three wickets could not prevent the follow on being enforced. After taking four wickets in the innings, Morkel took an excellent catch over his head at long leg to remove Thompson off Matt Dunn. Surrey’s cricketers then beetled off to have tea and prepare to bowl again. Yorkshire had lost all their wickets for 97 runs, the last nine of them in 26 overs.But the excitement was over. Lyth and Fraine batted with immense care in the final session of this game and spectators were left to wonder what might have happened had not 56.3 overs been lost on this last day. Surrey now have a free week but can be emboldened by their cricket at Guildford. Yorkshire, for their part, were probably grateful they could skedaddle home with five points for the draw. Not so far away, Somerset were the big winners from this rain-wrecked four days. Even in mid-June neutrals may be tantalised by the thought that this may finally be the Wyverns’ year.

Having pulled off a thrilling win in the first ODI, Zimbabwe will want to show they can carry the momentum forward and keep New Zealand under pressure to stay alive in the ODI series

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Aug-2015

Match facts

Tuesday, August 4, 2015, Harare
Start time 09.00 local (07.00 GMT)3:27

‘We will look to improve on certain areas with the bat’ – Williamson

Big Picture

Zimbabwe’s rollicking chase in Sunday’s first ODI was the ideal start to the series. It heaped pressure on the favourites, New Zealand, and showed that the gap between the two sides, particularly in Zimbabwean conditions, wasn’t as wide as originally perceived.For New Zealand, the defeat revealed a possible lack of depth in bowling resources. While Tim Southee and Trent Boult are world-class new-ball operators in most parts of the world, Sunday’s second-string seam attack looked a little one-note and lacking in guile on a surface without too much help for the quicks. They will have learned a few things from the loss, though, and the second ODI is an opportunity for them to reveal a couple of new tricks.Otherwise, there isn’t too much wrong with this New Zealand side. Their batting is full of class and experience, and will test Zimbabwe’s bowlers again.Zimbabwe’s performance with the ball on Sunday – a good start with the new ball, a struggle for wickets in the middle overs, and a complete loss of control at the death – was a repeat of the pattern that has troubled them all year, and solutions still remain elusive. If anything, the exploits of Craig Ervine and Hamilton Masakadza deflected attention away from the issue.But the win validated the statement the team management has made on multiple occasions recently, that Zimbabwe are only a couple of steps from translating their potential into more consistent performances. On Sunday, their batsmen kept their heads, trusted their methods, and handled the crunch moments brilliantly. Zimbabwe’s fans will hope they can do all those things a lot more often.

Form guide

Zimbabwe: WLLLL
New Zealand: LLLWW

Players to watch

Having sat out the last two ODIs and the one-off T20 against India, Tinashe Panyangara slotted back into the Zimbabwe side and bowled with impressive control on Sunday. He moved the new ball, and bowled intelligent lines at the death even while the other bowlers leaked plenty. In a bowling attack that often lets teams off the hook after strong starts, there will be pressure on Panyangara to maintain his level of performance and keep New Zealand in check.Nathan McCullum was New Zealand’s only wicket-taker in the first ODI, and his dismissals of the Zimbabwe openers showed off his craft and guile perfectly. He will want more support from the rest of the attack, but he will continue to shoulder a large part of the wicket-taking burden on a Harare surface that always has something in it for the spinners.

Team news

Christopher Mpofu went for 84 from his 10 overs in the first ODI, and his place in the Zimbabwe attack might be under threat from Neville Madziva, who picked up six wickets in two ODIs against India.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 5 Sean Williams, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Regis Chakabva, 8 Graeme Cremer, 9 Prosper Utseya , 10 Tinashe Panyangara, 11 Christopher Mpofu/Neville MadzivaJames Neesham’s seam-up looked ineffective in the first ODI, and while his batting is his primary skill, New Zealand might be tempted to go with an extra spin option and choose George Worker ahead of him. Matt Henry looked out of rhythm too, and Adam Milne could take his place.New Zealand (probable): 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Tom Latham, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Grant Elliott, 6 James Neesham/George Worker, 7 Luke Ronchi, 8 Nathan McCullum, 9 Mitchell McClenaghan, 10 Matt Henry/Adam Milne, 11 Ish Sodhi

Stats and trivia

• Martin Guptill needs 56 runs to become the tenth New Zealander to make 4000 ODI runs
• Four Zimbabwe batsmen likely to play the second ODI – Chamu Chibhabha, Elton Chigumbura, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine – have 40-plus averages this year. Of the four, only Chibhabha has a strike rate below 100
• Elton Chigumbura is three big hits away from becoming the first Zimbabwe batsman to 100 ODI sixes

At tea Hampshire were 66 for 6, a sequence of numbers appropriate for a disastrous day that left their chances in this match in ruins

Freddie Wilde at the Ageas Bowl22-Jun-2015
ScorecardAlfonso Thomas gave a swing bowling masterclass to knock over Hampshire’s top order•Getty Images

At tea Hampshire were 66 for 6, a sequence of numbers appropriate for a disastrous day that left their chances in this match in ruins. If it wasn’t quite hell, then they were certainly in the outer circles. Winston Churchill famously advised that if you are going through hell you should keep going, and after tea Hampshire kept going – the only trouble was they kept going deeper into its fiery bowels. They ended the day 41 for 2 following on, having been bowled out for just 147, their lowest completed first-class total for four years.Despite losing the entire morning session to rain the match hasn’t so much slowed down as accelerated, and rapidly at that. Sixteen wickets fell on a day in which the rain and a few hours under covers perhaps spiced up an already difficult pitch.It was movement in the air, rather than off the pitch, that was the factor most instrumental in Somerset’s success with the ball. Alfonso Thomas tore the heart out of Hampshire’s top order with a classical display of swing bowling, taking 3 for 15 in a superb seven-over spell, four of which were maidens. Thomas used the fading outswinger as his stock ball and the angled inswinger as his shock ball, and was rewarded justly for his mastery.It was batting ineptitude that took the first wicket though, as Jimmy Adams clipped Thomas straight to Tom Abell at short midwicket. Michael Carberry was the next man to fall, pushing forward to Thomas to be caught behind. In Thomas’ next over Sean Terry, who had survived a huge appeal for lbw the ball previously, was trapped in front shouldering arms to leave Hampshire reeling at 21 for 3. The ball was not swinging massively but enough to find the edges and muddle the minds of the Hampshire batsmen.Somerset may perhaps regret giving the new ball to Lewis Gregory, who bowled too wide in his first spell and was removed from the attack after five overs, although not before Terry had slashed a remarkable six over backward point and Liam Dawson had hit back-to-back fours.The introduction of Craig Overton, fresh from his time with the England ODI squad, immediately brought a wicket. Will Smith, driving expansively at a wide ball, was caught brilliantly in the slip cordon by Gregory. While Thomas found movement in the air, Overton found it off the pitch and for an enthralling period the two bowled wonderfully in tandem as Dawson and Adam Wheater battled hard to find a foothold in Hampshire’s innings.A flurry of boundaries took Hampshire past 50 but Overton then got one to jag away from Dawson who only succeeded in edging it to wicketkeeper Michael Bates.Bates received the loudest reception of any player, on either side, when he walked out to bat earlier in the day. By contrast, there was an almost awkward silence when his replacement at Hampshire, Wheater, walked out to bat. Wheater did not last long, scoring 13 before he was bowled by Gregory to leave Hampshire six down.With the sun out after tea the pitch seemed a little easier and Sean Ervine and Gareth Berg put on 40 for the seventh wicket, the largest partnership of the innings, before Jim Allenby joined in on the wicket-taking fun, bowling Ervine, who had taken a nasty blow on the hand earlier, for 23.Going purely by first-class averages, Berg and Danny Briggs existed as the last line of defence between Hampshire and the follow-on. Although they battled admirably, a rip-snorting delivery from Overton that rose sharply to take the gloves of Berg and was caught at gully ended their resistance. Hampshire were bowled out shortly after and Marcus Trescothick had little hesitation in putting the home side back.Two more wickets would fall, those of Adams and Terry, to complete a remarkable day that left Hampshire trailing by 158 runs and staring at a huge defeat.Their efforts in taking 4 for 36 in just under 45 minutes to leave Somerset four runs short of the fourth batting point had long since faded. Berg, who toiled hard on day one, was rewarded with three of the four wickets to fall. In the innings break Hampshire would have been quietly pleased with themselves, given that Somerset had been 286 for 4. By the time they were next off the pitch, things were very different.