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At least six debutants are expected to feature in South Africa’s first Test in over seven years

Firdose Moonda17-Jun-2022Marizanne Kapp, Lizelle Lee and Sinalo Jafta have all been included in South Africa women’s squad to play their first Test in more than seven years, against England later this month. The trio missed out on the white-ball tour to Ireland – Kapp after contracting Covid-19 for the fourth time – but have been named in both the Test and ODI squad for the England series. The T20 squad, along with the group for the Commonwealth Games, will be named next month.South Africa last played a Test against India in Mysore in 2014 and four of the members of that XI – Kapp, Trisha Chetty, Lizelle Lee and Chloe Tryon – are in the current squad. Only one other current South African player has featured in a Test – Shabnim Ismail in 2007 against Netherlands – which means South Africa will field at least six debutants against England in Taunton. Chetty is the only player to have two Test caps.Related

• Tryon wants South Africa's concentration higher than usual against England

• Shabnim Ismail's three-for, fifties from Andrie Steyn, Lara Goodall help South Africa take unassailable lead

• Kapp, Lee and du Preez ruled out of Ireland white-ball tour

Dane van Niekerk, the other current South African women’s player who has played a Test, remains unavailable for selection as she continues to recover from the ankle injury that has sidelined her since January. She has returned to training with the aim of being available for the T20Is and Commonwealth Games. Masabata Klaas, who injured her shoulder at the World Cup, is also unavailable. Tazmin Brits, Raisibe Ntozakhe, and Delmi Tucker, who are involved in the ongoing series against Ireland, will return home.South Africa will play a red-ball warm-up match next week, in preparation for the Test.”With the red ball, the main thing is to find our feet as a team again in the format and we take it one day at a time, then we can only progress into it and players can have an opportunity to go into a three-day prep,” coach Hilton Moreeng said. “Those that haven’t had the opportunity when we were back home can also start getting their aim of the red ball. Post that we know we are heading into ODI cricket and T20Is to build up into the Commonwealth Games.”South Africa beat Ireland 2-1 in the T20I series and lead the one-day series, which is part of the ICC Women’s Championship, 2-nil. Their matches against England do not form part of the Women’s Championship (South Africa are due to host England for Women’s Championship matches) but are an opportunity to solidify their strategy as a squad.”We are happy that we could come to Ireland and be able to play in these conditions which are similar to where we are going to. It has been very good and the exciting thing is that the crop of youngsters have started to put in the right performances. Now that we are going to England, we know that we are going to start with a format that most of them haven’t played in a while other than the preparation that we had, so it is exciting times, especially as a young cricketer in the squad,” Moreeng said.”We are up against a very competitive team, a team that plays well in their conditions. It’s going to be tough as we go along but at the end of the day, we are excited with the group that we have and we now have an opportunity against the hosts to be able to win a series in England.”South Africa squad for England tour (Test and ODIs): Anneke Bosch, Trisha Chetty (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus (capt), Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Andrie Steyn, Chloé Tryon, Laura Wolvaardt

Bess admits being dropped was ‘a tough pill to swallow’ after role in Chennai win

George Dobell03-Mar-2021Dom Bess has admitted that being dropped from the England team was “a tough pill to swallow” but said that he accepted, in retrospect, that it might have been the best thing for him.Bess claimed five wickets in the first Test of England’s series in India and said he did not see his omission from the next game coming. But while he said it has been “tough” to watch the last couple of Tests – in which spin bowling has played a prominent role – from the sidelines, he also admitted that the break has “freshened” him and was “probably the best option.”Although Bess claimed five wickets in the first Test, he also struggled with his length and delivered several full tosses. The England management subsequently concluded that, as an inexperienced 23-year-old who had played three Tests in the previous month, he was exhibiting signs of both mental and physical tiredness, and replaced him with Moeen Ali for the second Test.But with every chance of winning a recall, Bess insisted that he is “ready” and “in a great space right now” ahead of Thursday’s fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad.”It was certainly a tough pill to swallow,” Bess said about his omission ahead of the second Test. “I didn’t see it round the corner. Personally, I didn’t think I needed a break. But as time went on, it was probably the best option.”I do think a lot about the game. I’m always trying to get better, whether thinking about the game or doing it physically. The hardest part for me was getting away from it.”I guess the management sort of did it for me. It has freshened me up. I’ve thought about things and then had time to work on them. I look back over the period now and think it’s actually been a real success heading into this last game. I was happy with that break.”Related

• Leach: Bess will be 'more than ready to go' if selected

• Fourth-Test victory would be a 'phenomenal' achievement – Joe Root

• Kohli: 'The defensive aspect of the game has fallen behind'

• Bess' fate sealed by inconsistency and fatigue

• Silverwood 'not worried' about Dom Bess

Joe Root, England’s captain, confirmed that Bess was being considered as a realistic option to return to the side. “He’s been training really well,” Root said. “He’s used time out of game for the last two Tests to work on few things and he looks very good. He’s practised hard and he’s a very good character. If he gets a chance to play, I’m sure he’ll be desperate to exploit the surface if it’s anything like the last two games.”Has his confidence been knocked? I don’t think so. When you do get taken out of the side, it’s really important you look to use the opportunity to evolve as a player and get better all the time. He’s done that; he’s used that time to work on his game and become a better player for it. I think that’s exactly what you want from your players: you want them to go away and try and improve themselves.”Despite his disappointment in missing the last couple of matches, Bess was positive about both Moeen, who replaced him in the side, and the team’s management.”It was actually really nice to see Moeen come back into it and perform the way he did,” Bess said. “He showed the qualities he has. He was quality with how he went about things. As a young spinner, learning from him was really important.”It was a shame to miss out but it’s part and parcel of sport. I had to look for opportunities to get better when I was out of the team. I had to come away from the main stage and look to improve. What was explained to me [was that the decision] was about looking ahead and things I could work on. I definitely took it in my stride in terms of opportunity.”It’s only little things I’ve been working on. It’s making sure I’m in the groove with my timings and making sure my action is running as smoothly as possible. There’s not been too much to search for. And having a bit of a break, as well. If you can, try to get away from it out here, which is hard to do. So, I could just freshen up and hopefully look forward to the last game.”Bess struggled for consistency in the first Test in Chennai•BCCI

While Bess said the tour, as a whole, has contained “positives and negatives”, he also said that he had learned a great deal from the experience.”It’s been, at times, really exciting,” he said. “It’s been a massive learning curve with positives and negatives. I’ve certainly enjoyed bowling on spinning wickets. Potentially, at times, I need to improve and there have been tough times out here. Overall I’ve been pretty happy with how it has come out. But as a youngster, aged 23, I’m always trying to keep striving forward.”Am I ready if I’m selected? I certainly am. I’m in a great space right now to come back in. We’re under a bit of pressure but it’s a great opportunity to perform. I know I’m ready. It’s very exciting if I get the chance to head out with 10 other blokes to try to draw the series.”To draw the series is so, so important. To come back from two heavy defeats would show a lot about our character. To potentially finish on a high and not lose a Test series out here would be a big achievement.”

All the updates, chatter, stats and more from the historic India-Bangladesh day-night Test in Kolkata

Sidharth Monga22-Nov-2019

Ehsan Mani, who had meetings in with top BCCI officials on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council meeting last Thursday, said he is hopeful of finding common ground

Shashank Kishore in Dubai23-Sep-2018Ehsan Mani, the new PCB chairman, wants to remain open to talks with the BCCI, even as both boards are set to face off soon in an ICC hearing in Dubai. A dispute-resolution panel set up by the ICC will hear Pakistan’s compensation claim of US$ 70 million against India for refusing to honour their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that guaranteed six bilateral series between 2015 and 2013. The tribunal will begin from October 1.”This process has already gone beyond resolving it amicably,” Mani said. “It’s in the final stages of reaching a conclusion. Both sides have to find a common solution for the future and I’ll explore every possibility for the sake of the game. Had I been involved when the dispute happened, every effort would have been made to sort it bilaterally. Unfortunately, we are where we are. We have to still progress, but my doors are always open.”Mani has had meetings in Dubai with Rahul Johri, the BCCI chief executive, and Amitabh Chaudhary, the acting secretary, on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council meeting last Thursday. Without going into specifics of the meeting he described as productive, Mani insisted there was still some bridge-building to do.”Cricket boards have to work towards playing cricket, they shouldn’t get into politics, that’s what we’re talking with our Indian counterparts,” he said. “There’s some bridge-building to do, hopefully we will be able to make some ground because the relations haven’t been great.”I have already had a very constructive discussion with my colleagues from India who are here. We’ll have a lot of common ground going forward. We all understand whatever has happened in the past has happened; we have to move forward. At the end of the day, the game is bigger than any one person; it’s bigger than the politicians. It reaches out across global spectrum.”India and Pakistan last played a full bilateral series in 2007 in India. Since then, there has just been one bilateral tour that Pakistan made to India for two T20Is and three ODIs in December 2012. However, the teams have continued to play each other at multi-national events like the World Cup, the World T20, the Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup.In November 2016, India women had forfeited six points for failing to play a scheduled three-match series part of the ICC Women’s Championship due to the political stalemate between the two countries. This consequently closed out doors on India’s automatic qualification for the 2017 World Cup.”When an India-Pakistan match is played, over a 100 billion people watch the game from all over the world. No one cares about the politics,” Mani said. “The main thing is to get the cricket going and this is a main thing in that direction. I am very hopeful the board will work towards it. Am not saying we will get results on day one but we will work towards the common goal. The boards’ endeavour should be for cricket, not anything else.”Political tensions between the two countries took another twist on Sunday when India cancelled a scheduled meeting of the countries’ foreign ministers slated to be held in New York later this month. Mani was diplomatic when asked if this had the potential to spill over onto the PCB-BCCI talks, but insisted efforts had to be made from both sides to ensure politics and sport don’t mix.”When politicians talk, we shouldn’t get it into it. We should focus on matters concerning the cricket boards. When the Kargil incident happened [in 1999], even then we didn’t stop dialogues. We knew cricket was tough, but every effort was made to renew bilateral ties. I strongly believe politics and politicians shouldn’t influence cricket.”

Kumar Sangakkara became the first county batsman to pass 1,000 first-class runs as his prolific season continued at Headingley

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2017
ScorecardKumar Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs in the Specsavers County Championship this season as his sixth hundred propelled Surrey to 516 for seven declared during a heavily rain affected day two at Headingley.Retiring Sangakkara advanced from 82 overnight to his ton in double quick time as the visitors advanced from 374 for six.He ended with a stunning 180 not out off 183 balls before Yorkshire replied with 27 for one from 10.5 overs.Play did not start until 5pm due to rain and there was no further play beyond 7.10pm. Only 30 overs were possible.When Surrey declared midway through the session, Sangakkara had hit 21 fours and four sixes.The Sri Lanka legend reached his sixth century in only his eleventh innings off 136 balls with 12 fours and a six and his 150 off another 28.He now averages 108.6 this season with 1,086 runs from only eleven innings.The ball after reaching his century, Sangakkara lofted Ben Coad over long-off into the Football Stand for his second six.He later hit big leg-side sixes off the spin of Adil Rashid and Joe Root, who was unbeaten on 12 off 13 balls at close.Sangakkara was helped along by Tom Curran, who made 44, with the pair sharing a record 158 for the seventh wicket.It was Surrey’s best in matches against Yorkshire, while their total was also their best in away first-class matches against the White Rose.Remarkably, Sangakkara scored 91 of 122 runs to come in the first hour of play as Surrey moved to 496 for six. In all, they scored 142 in 19.1 overs from the start of play.Kumar Sangakkara passed another landmark at Headingley•Getty Images

This was the 39-year-old’s second century of the month at Headingley after he scored 121 in a Royal London one-day Cup play-off win here a fortnight ago.The declaration came immediately after Curran had uppercut Tim Bresnan to third-man at the start of the 116th over.Surrey claimed the maximum five batting points, while Yorkshire only finished with two for bowling.Bresnan, Coad and Steve Patterson all finished the innings with two wickets apiece. Jack Brooks and Rashid conceded 109 and 107 from 18 and 16 overs respectively.The Curran brothers, Tom and Sam, kept things tight at the start of Yorkshire’s reply, with the latter getting the breakthrough when he had Adam Lyth lbw for eight in the eighth over, leaving the score at eleven for one.England Test captain Root punched Tom through the covers off the back foot for his only boundary and is unbeaten on 12.Play was abandoned at 8.15pm.Yorkshire teenager Harry Brook will replace Lions bound captain Gary Ballance in the Yorkshire side for the rest of the game.

Eoin Morgan has accepted that his commitment to limited-overs cricket may have ended his hopes of winning back a place in England’s Test team

George Dobell01-Jun-2016Eoin Morgan has accepted that his commitment to limited-overs cricket may have ended his hopes of winning back a place in England’s Test team.While Morgan, England’s captain in limited-overs cricket, insists he would love to add to his 16 Test caps, he admitted he “couldn’t see it happening” without a major change of commitment in the coming months.Morgan, 29, returned from a 12-week trip to India on Tuesday. As well as reaching the final of the World T20 with England, he was a member of the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad – albeit a non-playing member in the final – that won the IPL. He will feature in Middlesex’s NatWest Blast side on Thursday. But he has not played a first-class match since July and reasons that he is unlikely to play more than three or four this season. As a result, he has little realistic chance to win a Test recall.Such is his confidence in the England’s limited-overs squad, however, that it is a sacrifice he is happy to have made. He believes his young team could “do something special” over the next few years and he is happy to have prioritised that ambition.

Eoin Morgan on…

James Anderson’s ODI future
“He’s still available for ODI selection, he is unbelievable in English conditions and he has great experience, so you can’t say that he won’t play. But Jimmy is at a stage of his career where he’s made it to No. 1 in the world in the Test rankings and where he is going to be remembered as a great of English cricket and world cricket. And with the injuries he’s had in the past, focusing on that is going to be really good for him.”
The captaincy
“With the players we have and the stage I’m at in my career, it feels right captaining this side. It’s just a young side and I happen to be the most experienced player within it. I feel I’ve a lot to offer. I see stages where other people have taken over different teams around the world and they’ve had to come in and captain guys who have played 200 one-dayers or 100 Tests and I can understand that presents completely different challenges. But I haven’t had that with this side.
The Champions Trophy
“I certainly believe there should be an expectation of England there. The sooner we have expectation, the better. The experience of playing WT20 and getting to the final will put us in an early position where we’re able to deal with that expectation.”

“Do I still want to play Test cricket?” he said “Absolutely. How I’m going to get there? I’m not sure yet. I would have to cut back my white-ball commitments. And at the moment I don’t see it happening because of what’s happened for me in white-ball cricket in the last year.”There is a huge opportunity to take this England side forward. Even if I’m not captain in the future, with the crop of players we have at the moment I still believe we could do something special. And that for me in my career at the moment is my priority.”I don’t play a red-ball game until August, so at the moment it’s not at the forefront of my thinking. I average about three or four games a year, for the last six years, so playing it and actually focusing on it when you look at the amount of white-ball cricket I play can be difficult.”Crucial to England’s improvement in limited-overs cricket has, Morgan’s says, been the selection of young players who are largely unscarred from previous defeats. While he remains adamant that the message given to players at the 2015 World Cup – a low ebb even in the context of England’s inglorious recent history at such events – was the same as that given to the team now, he believes that this side has little baggage to hold them back.”It does make it unique that there aren’t any guys around who have scars from the past,” Morgan said. “I remember the first time I went to Australia in 2010-11, the guys who had been there previously all had stories about going there, but a lot of them were bad stories. They had not won over there. The experience of copping it everywhere – out in the crowd or out and about – rubbed off.”I remember it was quite intimidating hearing it from a senior player or someone who had played 90 Tests. The fact that we don’t have that now gives us a bit of a raw factor.”Having an unscarred side to do something we’ve never done before and play in a manner we’ve never played before has been important. But the way the guys have performed has been outstanding.”Morgan also suggested that the current England limited-overs team had a better attitude than some of those in which he featured previously. “The big thing that’s changed is the attitude,” he said. “The will to always want to be better.”It’s quite easy for a side, when you do well against strong teams, to sit back and reflect on how good you are as a side. But the will to improve in the side is something different that I’ve experienced in the last 12 months as opposed to the last six years. That’s the thing that’s changed for me.”The character has changed with the personnel. A lot of the guys in the side now are extroverts, but that’s just coincidental.”As well as crediting the influence of T20 cricket on the new England side – for the first time, the entire side were developed in the era of the newest format – Morgan also believes an abandoned English domestic competition, the 40-over league, might have played an unheralded part in recent improvements.The 40-over competition was introduced in England in the late 1960s. But, after many alterations and adaptations, it was finally discontinued at the end of the 2013 season with the ECB reasoning that domestic List A cricket should, as much as possible, mirror that played internationally.By that time, though, many of this England squad had taken their first steps into professional cricket and Morgan feels the influence of the 40-over competition continues to be felt.”The 40-over league has a lot to say for itself,” Morgan said. “And the manner it was played. In 50-over cricket you often used to have a lull towards the back end for rebuilding. But in 40-over cricket you don’t have that. You just keep going. If you lost wickets you might rebuild for five overs. But you kept going.”A lot of the guys in the team are products of that competition. It’s not just T20 cricket that contributes. It’s 40-over cricket as well.”

Gloucestershire took four wickets after tea to damage Lancashire’s first-innings response to 388 on day two of their Championship match at Old Trafford

Press Association11-May-2015
ScorecardPaul Horton made his first hundred of the season•Getty Images

Gloucestershire took four wickets after tea to damage Lancashire’s first-innings response to 388 on day two of their Championship match at Old Trafford.Paul Horton’s 15th Championship century had helped the Division Two leaders into a position of strength at 207 for 2 in the 52nd over of their reply. Horton shared 134 inside 28 overs for the third wicket with Ashwell Prince either side of tea, but Prince’s departure for 57 was the first of four wickets to fall for 58 as Lancashire slipped to 265 for 6. Horton was unbeaten on 134 at the close.Gloucestershire started the day by advancing their first innings from 322 for 7, with Kyle Jarvis taking two of the three wickets to fall to finish with 4 for 121 from 31 overs.Opening batsman Horton and in-form Prince then prospered in good batting conditions through the majority of the afternoon, with Prince going beyond 430 runs for the season. Craig Miles, Kieron Noema-Barnett and Liam Norwell picked up a wicket apiece after tea.Earlier, Norwell and Miles struck either side of lunch to get rid of Luis Reece and Alviro Petersen cheaply to boost the visitors, but Horton and Prince were rarely troubled until the latter drove loosely at Miles and was caught behind. Norwell had Reece caught behind off a bottom edge as he attempted to pull in the 12th over, with the score on 27, before Petersen chopped on to Miles as Lancashire slipped to 73 for 2.Horton and Prince built their partnership at a healthy rate of 4.84 runs per over before the latter fell in the third over after tea. Prince is second only to Kevin Pietersen in the Division Two run-scoring at present, while Horton also went beyond 300 runs for the campaign.The 32-year-old finished last season with high hopes of being named Lancashire’s new captain in place of Glen Chapple, and there were concerns that his disappointment at missing out may affect his form. But he has responded in the best way possible, adding his first Championship century in 12 innings to scores of 71 and 67 not out in a recent win against Kent on this ground, and 49 in last week’s draw at Northamptonshire.He reached his century off 150 balls in the closing stages of the afternoon. Horton and stand-in captain Steven Croft later shared 40 for the fourth wicket before Croft and Alex Davies fell in successive balls in the 68th over, leaving the score at 247 for five.Noema-Barnett’s medium pace trapped Croft lbw before Davies was run out from point by a Will Tavare throw to the striker’s end. And Norwell ensured Gloucestershire ended the day on a high by trapping Jordan Clark lbw as he offered no shot.

Derbyshire lost top spot in Division Two to Yorkshire but, thanks to Usman Khawaja’s half-century, edged closer to securing promotion

Jon Culley at Derby12-Sep-2012
ScorecardUsman Khawaja’s unbeaten innings kept Derbyshire in the game on a rain-affected second day•Getty Images

The combination of intermittent rain and live TV coverage generally leads to a lot of hanging around between umpires’ inspections, especially on a ground such as this where a flick of a floodlight control switch can make light meter readings irrelevant and bring cricket where there would otherwise be none.There was no such indecisiveness from Mark Benson and Stephen Gale, however. They abandoned play at 4.10pm, which meant Derbyshire were unable to prevent Yorkshire taking advantage of clearer skies at Chelmsford and moving ahead in the Division Two table, displacing the leaders from a position they have occupied since May.But Wayne Madsen, the Derbyshire captain, was not unduly concerned, not least because the unravelling of Kent’s chances against Glamorgan in Cardiff may well mean that his side already have enough points to be playing in Division One next season.Even if Kent were somehow were to manage a draw from what looks like an impossible situation, one more batting point will be enough to end Derbyshire’s exile after 12 consecutive Division Two seasons.The Division Two title, however, is an incentive to finish the season with a win and though Derbyshire still trail by 105 runs, with five wickets down, the presence of Usman Khawaja at the crease with an unbeaten 71 to build on against a ball now 48 overs old left Madsen reasonably optimistic.”It was frustrating not to be able to bat on this afternoon but there were signs the ball was starting to spin, which will bring our spinners into play for the next innings,” he said. “The weather is supposedly set fair for the next couple of days and we will be in a good position if we can get to them and hopefully past them.”The key here is to get through the first half-hour or hour without losing wickets but with the ball a little older it might assist us. It will be important to have Usman there after the first half an hour because he is playing a fantastic innings.”It is a bonus, too, for Derbyshire, who added 117 runs in the 30 overs possible, that one of the two wickets to fall was the nightwatchman, Tony Palladino, who made profitable use of his 90 minutes at the crease by making 58 before he chipped a ball from Sean Ervine direct to the fielder at mid-on.Palladino, the former Essex seamer, made a century against Australia A in the same role earlier in the season and demonstrated again that he is a capable batsman even under pressure, passing 50 in a first-class match for the fifth time in his career. There was some playing and missing during the opening overs, as you would expect, but once he had settled he began to hit the ball cleanly, picking up eight fours and pulling James Tomlinson, the left-arm seamer, for six twice in the space of three balls.Dan Redfern, who never looked comfortable, gave Ervine the second wicket when he edged one to second slip.Derbyshire still have some work to do to achieve parity with Hampshire’s 272 but Khawaja, in good enough form now that he might prefer the season to go on a little longer, played with the kind of calm authority required, while following Palladino’s lead with a touch of aggression from time to time. He hooked a short ball from David Griffiths for six and lofted the left-arm spinner Liam Dawson into the seats at deep midwicket.The Pakistan-born left-hander, the first Muslim to play for Australia, has passed fifty four times in his seven matches since replacing Martin Guptill as Derbyshire’s overseas player, converting one of them to a hundred. If Khawaja was showing the benefit of his experience, Madsen admitted that nerves among the younger players had been a factor to which the Derbyshire coaching staff had needed to pay attention this week.”It is the biggest game a lot of our guys have played in their careers so it is difficult not to feel under pressure,” Madsen said. “It is the responsibility of the coaches and myself to keep the guys as focused as possible. We have played good cricket all season and we deserve to be in this position because of it. We have reiterated to the team to just concentrate on what we have been doing up to now.”It is hard not to have a sneaky little look at what is going on around the country, especially when you have the rain breaks, but we do have to try to focus on what is going on here. It doesn’t matter about losing the lead in the division overnight. What matters is to be in a good position where we could potentially get a result on Friday.”

Owais Shah’s century kept Essex in the hunt for a place in the Clydesdale Bank
40 semi-finals as they hammered Gloucestershire by 118 runs in their Group C
match at Colchester

21-Aug-2011
ScorecardOwais Shah’s century kept Essex in the hunt for a place in the Clydesdale Bank
40 semi-finals as they hammered Gloucestershire by 118 runs in their Group C
match at Colchester. Shah struck an imperious 104 from 98 balls to point the way to a total of 299 for 7, to which the visitors responded with 181 all out.It also underlined Shah’s liking for Gloucestershire’s bowling as his last
century in the competition was for former county Middlesex at Cheltenham 12
months ago. Arriving at the crease after Mark Pettini was removed by James Fuller with the
first ball of the match, Shah put all the Gloucestershire bowlers to the sword
with some thrilling strokes.He hit four sixes amongst his 13 boundaries before Fuller had him caught on the
mid-wicket boundary. Shah shared in two substantial partnerships as Essex posted their season’s biggest total in the competition.The first came with Tom Westley with whom 113 were added in 16 overs. Westley
contributed 50 from 59 balls and when he became a victim of Ian Saxelby, James
Foster arrived to inflict further punishment with Shah. Their fourth-wicket stand produced 96 in a dozen overs. Foster eventually followed Shah back to the pavilion, bowled by David Payne for 66 that arrived from 45 deliveries and contained seven fours and two sixes.Earlier, opener Adam Wheater made up for Pettini’s instant departure with a
quickfire 40 from 22 balls. He had helped himself to 34 of those runs from boundaries before he drove Fuller to mid-off. Fuller finished with three for 62 from his eight overs after
his first two had been maidens.The visitors hopes of mounting a serious challenge soon evaporated as David
Masters and Graham Napier inflicted early damage grabbing the first three
wickets inside the opening seven overs.Kevin O’Brien and Kane Williamson, the two batsmen most capable of taking on
the Essex attack, both fell to Masters whilst Napier removed skipper Alex
Gidman. Chris Taylor, a century-maker 24 hours earlier in the LV= County Championship
duel between the two teams, did his best to bring a semblance of respectability
to his side’s cause.But, having scored a fluent 47 from 42 deliveries, he was undone by a brilliant
piece of fielding by Pettini. Taylor cut the ball hard to backward point where Pettini dived full length to stop the ball and throw it back a split second later for Foster to whip off the
bails after the batsman attempted to return to the crease having set off for a
single.That left the West Country side 122 for 6 and, with Jack Taylor unable to bat
due to a twisted ankle suffered in the field, slumping towards defeat. Masters then took two of the remaining three wickets to finish with four for 32 whilst Napier added another in returning two for 53 as Gloucestershire were bowled out with nine overs to spare.

ESPNStar gets set for an aggressive campaign to showcase the breadth of global cricketing talent on offer during next month’s event in South Africa

Tariq Engineer06-Aug-2010With a couple of opinionated and charismatic cricketers on the commentary panel, and the biggest name in Bollywood as its brand ambassador, the Champions League Twenty20 is set for an aggressive campaign before and during next month’s tournament in South Africa to best showcase its breadth of global cricketing talent.The induction of Sourav Ganguly, Andrew Symonds and Amitabh Bachchan was based on the realisation that public perception of the tournament needed to change. Last year, the television ratings for the league suffered in comparison to that of the IPL, especially once the teams from India were eliminated.While Manu Sawhney, managing director of ESPN Star Sports (ESS), believed such a comparison is unfair – as the IPL is an “aberration” and most leagues take time to find their footing – he conceded changes needed to be made this time.”We went through a whole brand positioning research,” Sawhney said in Mumbai, following an ESS presentation of its newest stars. “We have an integrated campaign – across print, radio, TV, as well as the internet, to communicate the values and the essence of the tournament. The thinking is very focused and driven on the feedback.”The addition of Ganguly and Symonds is meant to add energy and freshness to the commentary team. “They add the dimension of great quality and incisiveness, and bring a current flavour to the tournament,” Sawhney, said.Bachchan is on board because he represents excellence and “is a source of inspiration.” He has already shot a number of promotional videos alongside Ganguly, Symonds and Herschelle Gibbs. The main thrust of the campaign is to get across the message that “this is something. This is the true competition. You just cannot afford to miss it.”Sawhney disagreed with the common perception that the Indian cricket fan only wanted to watch Indian cricket. According to him, the Indian fan is a “discerning” one who is prepared to watch a quality tournament. “It [the Champions League] doesn’t have all the Indian teams in it but they [the fans] do recognise there are many more talented teams here and the competition is the next level.”As a result of this focused marketing effort, Sawhney expected ratings to be significantly better than last year. The long term goal is for the the tournament to resemble the UEFA Champions League, which the best football clubs in Europe aspire to win.Ganguly said playing the tournament in South Africa would give some of the younger players in the teams from India an opportunity to to test themselves under difficult conditions against the best Twenty20 teams in the world.”Facing Shaun Tait would be a good experience,’ Ganguly said. “If someone like Shikhar Dhawan could get 50 or 60 against that sort of pace, it will make him a better player when he comes back.”Ganguly reckoned the bouncy pitches in South Africa will eliminate the 200-plus scores teams routinely put up in the IPL. “130 or 140 could be winning totals,” he said. He named Victoria and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with its coterie of South Africa players, as two of the stronger sides in the competition. He also thought Guyana could spring a surprise or two.”Guyana has nothing to prove and should go some distance in the tournament,” he said. “Teams won’t run through them.”