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There was 24% fall in participation during the pandemic hit 2020-21 season

Andrew McGlashan04-Aug-2021Inevitably Covid-19 had an impact on grassroots participation in Australian cricket last summer, and is likely to do so for another season, but the decline was mitigated somewhat by growth in the female game.Cricket Australia released its annual participation figures on Wednesday with an overall drop of 24% from approximately 710,000 registered players to 539,000.However, there was a 2% increase in children playing the game. That was powered by 17.5% growth among girls registered to clubs and the Woolworths Cricket Blast programme in the first summer after Australia’s T20 World Cup success, which finished with the final at the MCG with a crowd of over 86,000 just days before the pandemic shut down global sport.”We were really fortunate with some timings and there’s no doubt the impacts we felt last season will be a similar story this year,” James Allsopp, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of community cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “Cricket really did reconnect communities last year after missing winter sports, that’s seen in the junior numbers, so we are really pleased with the way the game came out of it. We are also really mindful that the impacts won’t be a one-off thing, we’ll be navigating it this summer as well.”The areas hit hardest by the pandemic were indoor cricket, schools and social competitions. Overall, Cricket Australia said there were 170,000 games played last season largely thanks to the efforts of volunteers who adapted to the new normal.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Around the country, particularly Melbourne but everyone went through it at some stage, they had to do their version of biosecure plans,” Stuart Whiley, Cricket Australia’s head of participation, said. “There were Covid-safe plans, cricket club will never have spent more money on sanitiser, there were check-in, check-out systems.”For a club volunteer who is trying to do that as well as living with everything else going on that’s a lot of additional work. First and foremost, we are just really appreciative of the volume of work volunteers picked up to get those games to happen.”While trying to see through another season that appears likely to face disruption, an area of continued focus for CA is to ensure there are pathways into cricket outside of the club structure both for the multi-cultural communities and also those for who the traditional route is not the best fit.”We know that South Asian communities love their cricket so we are really sharply focused on how we are integrating those communities into our clubs,” Allsopp said. “We need to really understand their culture, what are the barriers to them participating and making sure we an inspiring them to play the game.”That’s something we are really mindful of as we start to work through the new strategic design. How do we continue to support the traditional club structure but how do we diversify the cricket offering so they are flexible, more social, you can opt in and out, to make sure there’s a format of cricket to suit everyone.”

Legspinner admits it would be ‘a bit unfair’ for him to be included ahead of squad announcement on Monday

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2020Adil Rashid has appeared to rule himself out of England’s Test tour to Sri Lanka, suggesting that it would be “a bit unfair” to declare himself available for selection without earning his place in county cricket.Rashid was a key member of England’s side that won 3-0 on their last trip to Sri Lanka, taking 12 wickets at 28.16 as part of a spin trio with Jack Leach and Moeen Ali, but, following Sunday’s ODI in Johannesburg, told Sky Sports that he would “probably not” consider declaring himself available for their upcoming tour if asked.ALSO READ: Archer not ‘overbowled’ by England, says Root“That’s a long way off,” Rashid said. “At this moment in time, I’m concentrating on playing for England in T20 cricket coming up in a couple of days.”I don’t think I would [make myself available] at this moment in time. For me to get into Test cricket, I’ve got to earn that right and deserve my place. For me to get Test cricket, I’ve got to go back into county cricket, perform, do well, and then get selected.”It’s a bit unfair for me to just say ‘yeah, I’m available’. At this moment in time, I’m really concentrating on white-ball cricket. Maybe in the future [I’ll return to Test cricket].”It is over a year since Rashid’s last first-class appearance, which came in England’s 381-run defeat against West Indies in Barbados, and he is yet to sign a new contract with Yorkshire ahead of next season.His comments seem to jar with the circumstances surrounding his recall to the Test side in 2018, when he was recalled despite not having played a County Championship game since the end of the previous summer.But he has had to manage a persistent shoulder problem since the start of last summer: he had to take pain-killing injections to get through the World Cup, and missed the rest of the 2019 season following the final of that tournament in July.It now appears highly unlikely that Rashid will be named in England’s squad for their tour of Sri Lanka, which is expected to be named on Monday morning. Jack Leach is expected to be fit enough to travel alongside Somerset team-mate Dom Bess, while reports suggest that Moeen’s self-imposed absence from Test cricket is set to continue, meaning Liam Dawson is likely to be included as the third spinner.Rashid took 3 for 52 in Johannesburg on Sunday, including the crucial wickets of Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, and was named player of the match for his efforts. He bowled at a quicker pace during his ten overs than he had in November’s T20I series in New Zealand, and revealed afterwards that his speed through the air was the result of hard work pushing himself to get back towards full fitness.”It’s nice to get back in this circle,” he said. “I love playing white-ball cricket, especially with England, so it’s nice to get out there and bowl some overs.”Once you have that shoulder injury, that niggle, then you feel it, especially as a legspinner – you might struggle to get that extra zip, extra pace. It’s [been] frustrating, but you’ve got to make do with it, you’ve got to find a way.”[Speed] is something I’ve been working on, especially with the shoulder, trying to get stronger and better. I’ve been trying to bowl a bit quicker, bit more in the run-up, in the action, trying to get more fizz. My mindset is pretty simple: go in the nets, work hard in the nets, try my best in the nets, and then try to deliver.”

England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, meanwhile, has been named the Emerging Player of the Year

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2018

ICC women’s teams of 2018

ODI team of the year: Smriti Mandhana (India), Tammy Beaumont (England), Suzie Bates (New Zealand, capt), Dane van Niekerk (South Africa), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Alyssa Healy (Australia, wk), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Deandra Dottin (West Indies), Sana Mir (Pakistan), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Poonam Yadav (India)
T20I team of the year: Smriti Mandhana (India), Alyssa Healy (Australia, wk), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Harmanpreet Kaur (India, capt), Natalie Sciver (England), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Ashleigh Gardner (Australia), Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand), Megan Schutt (Australia), Rumana Ahmed (Bangladesh), Poonam Yadav (India)

India opener Smriti Mandhana has become the second winner of the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award after being adjudged the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for 2018. Mandhana, the leading run-getter in women’s ODIs with 669 runs at an average of 66.90 and the third-highest scorer in T20Is with 622 runs at a strike-rate of 130.67, has also been named the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year.The T20I honours went to Alyssa Healy, who was Player of the Tournament during Australia’s run to their fourth Women’s World T20 title in the West Indies, where she made 225 runs at an average of 56.25 and a strike rate of 144.23.Mandhana, 22, is only the second Indian woman to win an ICC award. The fast bowler Jhulan Goswami was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2007. Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry was the inaugural recipient of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“The awards are pretty special because as a player when you score runs, you want the team to win, and then when you get acknowledged for your performances through these awards, it motivates you to work harder and do well for your team,” Mandhana told .”The century I scored in South Africa (in Kimberley) was quite satisfying and then I had good home series against Australia and England. A lot of people used to say I do not score that much in India, so I had a point to prove to myself. That was something which really made me better as a player. And then, of course, the first four matches of the ICC Women’s World T20 were quite memorable.”Healy, meanwhile, enjoyed a memorable year in T20s even outside her World T20 heroics. Having begun her year with a maiden WBBL hundred and a maiden international century within the space of three months, the wicketkeeper-batsman finished fourth on the T20I run-getters list in 2018 behind New Zealand allrounder Suzie Bates, India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and Mandhana.”It’s obviously a huge honour,” the 28-year-old Healy said. “I enjoyed some form over the last couple of months, thoroughly enjoyed playing for the Aussie team in the T20I format. Winning the ICC Women’s World T20 final against England is something pretty special, especially after a disappointing couple of years in World Cups. That win against them, a dominant performance, was pretty special and one I will never forget.”When I first started playing for Australia I never thought that I would achieve anything like this. It’s a huge honour and one that I will not take lightly.”The 19-year-old England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has been named the Emerging Player of the Year. She took 18 wickets in nine ODIs and 17 in 14 T20Is during the calendar year. She was part of the squad that finished runners-up at the World T20.”There have been lots of great moments,” Ecclestone said. “As a team we’ve played some really good cricket and we did well to reach the final of the ICC Women’s World T20. We learned a lot in India at the beginning of the year and we took that into our summer against New Zealand and South Africa. We’ve never said we’re the perfect team but we’ll keep working hard to get better and that’s the same for me.”Alyssa Healy swats one through the leg side•Getty Images

The ICC also named Bates and Harmanpreet the captains of the women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year.Harmanpreet, 29, led India to their first semi-final appearance in the World T20 since the 2010 edition, but was involved in a public fallout with the ODI captain Mithali Raj after the team’s exit. Harmanpreet said the award would help build her confidence in the role.”BCCI is showing confidence on me – that I can do well in the format and I am looking forward to do well in the future,” Harmanpreet said. “To be honest, it was really surprising for me. The last two years we did not get enough T20I matches to play and it was really tough for me to build that confidence in the team and show that self-belief that we can do well in T20Is. Credit goes to all team members, the way they worked hard and show that self-belief.”Bates, meanwhile, stepped down from the captaincy ahead of the World T20, handing over the reins to Amy Satterthwaite. Bates had led New Zealand to second place in the second cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship after three rounds.”Thank you very much to everyone who voted for the ICC team of the year,” Bates said. “To be named captain is just an absolute honour. Obviously, I have been playing for a long time and stepped down from captaincy, but to be named captain of a World XI is pretty special and something I will always remember.”It would be nice one day if we got together to play as a group and to captain some of the superstars, but once again such a huge honour and congratulations to all the award winners for this year.”

Mark Davis has left Sussex by “mutual consent” after the club’s failure to achieve Championship promotion

George Dobell25-Oct-2017Sussex have confirmed the departure of their head coach, Mark Davis. While the club insisted the decision was reached by “mutual consent”, it is clear Davis paid the price for Sussex’s failure to achieve Championship promotion and an over-reliance upon imported players. It is also understood that Davis lost the confidence of some senior figures in the dressing room.Sussex are now expected to hold a thorough recruitment process to appoint a successor. Chris Adams, captain during their three County Championship triumphs in the 2000s, is certain to be a strong candidate for the role with a possibility that he might be able to coax former team-mate Matt Prior back to the game in some sort of part-time, back-room role. Prior retired in 2015 due to injury and has subsequently moved into cycling as the co-owner and chief executive of One Pro Cycling.Confirmation of Davis’ departure comes a day after long-serving batsman Chris Nash was released and Rob Andrew, Sussex’s chief executive, said it was time to try and take the club in a new direction.”After reviewing a disappointing season for the first team, it was concluded that action needed to be taken in order to build for the future,” Andrew said. “The difficult decisions to part company with Mark by mutual consent and to agree to Chris’ request to be released from his contract were part of that action, but at its core were moves to solidify the foundations of a squad that has the potential to achieve great things in the coming years.”As such, a number of players have been offered and have signed new or extended contracts over recent weeks, and more are set to follow. This means we now have a stable and balanced squad made up of a mix of youth and experience that offers real strength across all disciplines.”Whoever is appointed is likely to be expected to show much greater faith in home-grown talent than was the case in 2017. While the club have enjoyed some success at age-group level in recent seasons, there were times last season when four or five of the team was made up of players ineligible for England – including Kolpak signings Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese – which inevitably limited the opportunities for younger players.”I strongly believe that when a new head coach is appointed, they will have the raw materials with which to build a trophy-winning side,” Andrew said. “We are continuing to work on our four-year strategic plan for the wider organisation and there will be further news on this in due course.”A major part of that strategy will be the on-going development of home-grown Sussex players by our Performance Department. This work will continue the well-established trend of Sussex-bred bowlers and batsmen making their mark in the 1st XI.”Davis’ departure ends a long and generally happy association with Sussex. First as a player (he was part of the squad that won the County Championship for the first time in the club’s history in 2003) and then as a coach – he started as 2nd XI coach before being appointed head coach in 2015 – he has been associated with the club for 17 years.In a statement released by the club, Davis said: “I have established a very strong squad including Jofra Archer, Stiaan van Zyl and Laurie Evans and given opportunity to a number of young players who will no doubt achieve great things in the future.”The professional squad is very well set for the challenges ahead and I am confident these players will bring silverware to the club. I would like to thank all the players, support staff and coaches who supported me, as well as all the faithful Sussex supporters”.

A round-up of the National Cricket League 2016-17 matches that ended on September 28, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2016

Tier 1

Rain wreaked havoc in the National Cricket League Tier-1 opening-round match between Dhaka Metropolis and Dhaka Division. Only 15 overs of play were possible over four days in the drawn game and the umpires called off play early on the final day. The other three first-round matches were also affected by rain.Barisal Division held Khulna Division to a draw at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna. Batting first, Barisal were bowled out for 261 runs in 80 overs. Abdur Razzak and Al-Amin Hossain picked up three wickets each while Barisal’s innings was propped up by three fifties by Shahriar Nafees, Fazle Mahmud and Monir Hossain. In reply, Khulna posted 424 runs with Tushar Imran and Razzak scoring 91 and 97 respectively, while Mahedi Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz made 85 and 73. Golam Kabir and Sohag Gazi took three wickets each. Trailing by 163 runs, Barisal reached 248 for 8 on the final day. Nafees struck his second fifty of the match, scoring 72.

Tier 2

In Sylhet, Rangpur Division reached 224 for 5 in a chase of 265 runs in a draw against Chittagong Division in a Tier-2 match. Rangpur scored more than five runs an over in their chase, but couldn’t push their way to a win. Mahmudul Hasan struck an 89-ball 85 and Ariful Haque slammed 63 off 50 balls to control Rangpur’s chase.Earlier batting first, Chittagong put up 368 runs. Yasir Ali top-scored with 90 while Tasamul Haque struck 52. Alauddin Babu took three wickets. Rangpur conceded a first-innings lead of 13 runs after being bowled out for 355. Tanveer Haider fell three runs short of a hundred, while Saymon Ahmed (53) and Dhiman Ghosh (86) also made fifties. Yasir Arafat Mishu took 5 for 65 on his first-class debut. Suhrawadi Shuvo’s 5 for 50 then helped Rangpur bowl Chittagong out for 251 in the second innings, leaving Rangpur a target of 265.In the other Tier-2 game, Rajshahi Division also drew against Sylhet Division at home. Batting first, Abu Jayed’s five-for blew Rajshahi away for 199 runs in the first innings. Then Farhad Reza and Muktar Ali took three wickets each as Sylhet were bowled out for 175, giving Rajshahi a 24-run lead. Rain, however, ate into the game and the match ended with Rajshahi at 120 for 4 in the second innings.