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On the day he collected his 400th Test wicket, Dale Steyn admitted that he had needed some time and space to sort himself out following South Africa’s heartbreaking loss in the World Cup semi-final

Firdose Moonda30-Jul-20152:20

Never thought I’d get to 400 wickets – Steyn

Dale Steyn would like everybody to just “shut up,” about his new hairdo, to stop pre-empting how much longer he will play, because “if I am fit and I am strong I will bowl all day.” He wants to cut his team-mates a bit of a break because they are playing in “really difficult conditions to bat and bowl” in Bangladesh, but those frustrated phrases are all just a facade. Steyn is actually having the time of his life.”I love what I am doing right now, even if it’s in 40 degree heat and the ball is staying ankle high and it’s not bouncing and there’s no seam and it’s very slow. Shit, I love it. I would rather be here than anywhere else right now,” Steyn said.Just a week ago, Steyn looked like he would rather be anywhere else. He struggled for success in Chittagong and looked a shadow of the seamer who could charm even subcontinent surfaces. It all seemed to be getting too much. Steyn was shattered after South Africa’s World Cup semi-final defeat and sullen through an IPL in which he warmed the bench more than he played. He sneered that he did not want to “waste” the deliveries he had left on an ODI series in Bangladesh and has now admitted he needed some space to sort himself out.”There was a period after the IPL when I actually didn’t want to have a ball in my hand. I just needed maybe two or three weeks – maybe four weeks – just to get that love back again. I said before coming here that sometimes if you don’t have that love or passion for the game, things kind of don’t go your way,” he explained. “And then when you have got it you just don’t want to let it go. I just love being on the field right now.”Was the romance rekindled by his new record – fastest to 400 wickets in terms of balls and joint second in terms of matches? “No, it’s was not really different to any of the other wickets I’ve taken, to be honest,” Steyn said of Tami Iqbal’s nicking off. “It’s nice to have the numbers but I’ve had a lot better moments in my cricketing career. But it’s cool – it’s nice to have 400.”It was nicer to be able to let his hair down. “It’s pretty cool to take a wicket and get the headband off and the hair out. I think I’ve taken some abuse about my hair. Funnily enough, it doesn’t influence the bowling at all. So, I guess, shut up.”Floppy fringes have not been known to have much of an impact on fast bowlers and on Thursday, that was more evident than ever before. A few hours after Steyn celebrated his milestone, Mitchell Johnson picked up his 300th and Steyn had words of praise for his Australian counterpart’s approach.”Mitch is a scary bowler,” Steyn said. “I think he is one of those guys who are never going to be a line and length bowler. His captain is never going to ask him to run in and just hit a line and length. He’s going to bowl fast, he’s going to scare you and he’s going to get you out like that. He’s going to make you make a mistake because of his pace.”I think that’s why he bowls well against England – because they don’t like him. Even when he is bowling badly, they still don’t like facing him, and he still going to get wickets. That’s his strength; that he is quite a scary guy to face regardless of his pace. He is quite an intimidating bloke with his long moustache.”Sounds a little like Steyn himself, but if you think that means the South Africa would want Johnson in his strike force, think again. When asked who he thought was better than Johnson, it took Steyn a split-second to reply. “Vernon Philander.” He didn’t add a “shut up,” afterwards, but it was probably implied.Steyn’s dominance has partly come down to his the men at his side, who he is happy to share his success with. “Overall as a bowling unit, we are looking to get 20 wickets and so far we are doing quite well. I would have been very happy if I had taken just one wicket in my international career. And I managed to get 400. I never thought that that would happen. Ever in my life.”No wonder he is having such a good time.

Ireland are set to benefit from a new ICC support programme, receiving a funding boost of $1.5 million through to 2015.

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2012Ireland are set to benefit from a new ICC support programme, receiving a funding boost of $1.5 million through to 2015.The new Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme (TAPP) includes five ICC members and is designed to develop more competitive teams at international level.Ireland are the first cricket board to agree a TAPP deal will use the financial support to launch an elite domestic competition, create an academy and facilitate more fixtures against full member teams.”We are extremely grateful to the ICC for instituting such a forward-thinking programme of support,” Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, said. “We’re delighted to be the first member to get to this stage. We have no doubt the support will help us to be even more competitive on the world stage.”ICC President Alan Isaac added: “Ireland provided an excellent submission to the ICC Board and I am sure they will do their very best to deliver those plans now that the organisation has the funding in place.”Netherlands, Scotland, West Indies and Zimbabwe will also receive support.

Harbhajan Singh, the India offspinner, is likely to miss the rest of the Ranji Trophy group stages with an injury to his left shin

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2011Harbhajan Singh, the India offspinner, is likely to miss the rest of the Ranji Trophy group stages with an injury to his left shin. Harbhajan had been ruled out of Punjab’s game against Railways, from which they took three points, and is now likely to be out for the rest of the year. The injury is suspected to be a recurrence of an old problem with his leg; he felt pain during Punjab’s game against Saurashtra and is undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.The injury is another in a series of blows for Harbhajan: after a disappointing tour of England during which he took two wickets in the first two Tests before returning due to a strain in his abdomen, he was left out of India’s squads for the home ODI series against England, the Tests and one-dayers against West Indies and the Tests on the tour of Australia.His performance in the Ranji Trophy was also disappointing – he took two wickets in three matches – and he will now face a wait before he can return to action and try to regain his spot in the India side.Punjab named Uday Kaul as captain for the Railways game in the absence of Harbhajan. They are currently fourth in Group A of the Elite division with three games to play. Their next match is against Rajasthan from December 6.

Xavier Doherty’s level head will be tested over the next week as Australia’s latest spin bowling answer makes his debut

Peter English in Brisbane24-Nov-2010Xavier Doherty’s level head will be tested over the next week as Australia’s latest spin bowling answer makes his debut. Doherty, the left-arm orthodox, has only been a fixture in Tasmania’s team this summer, but has been handed the role of tying down an end and tripping up Kevin Pietersen.While the Gabba is expected to suit the seamers and limit Doherty’s role, he still has to show enough to prove he will be a threat on the more spin friendly surface of Adelaide next week. Ricky Ponting plays with Doherty on his occasional state appearances and said he was “absolutely” ready.”He’s bowled a lot the last few days,” Ponting said. “He’s very excited and looking forward to the challenge over the next five days. He’s a pretty level-headed bloke and knows his strengths and weaknesses. He’ll stick to those through the five days and I’m sure he’ll do well.”Doherty, an architecture student in Hobart, grew up idolising Ponting and supports his charity. Before the toss Ponting will present him with his baggy green and then it will be his job to follow his captain’s commands.One strange aspect of Doherty’s promotion is that he has played only four first-class matches at the Gabba and taken just two wickets. Unless it’s Shane Warne, spinners are usually an after-thought in Brisbane.”I don’t really have much of a first-class record, I guess,” Doherty said this week. “The game we played here this year was pretty much a washout and I didn’t play for a few years before that. It’s probably not an ideal record before then so it’ll be a challenge. But I’m bowling better than I ever have.”Doherty has appeared in 35 first-class games and while he has improved considerably over the past two years, he carries a career average of 48. His goals for this match are suitably modest, given most of the work will be done by the fast men.”At the end of the day it’s just another game for me,” he said. “I am not going to go out and try to take six or eight wickets every game because that is not what I’ve done to get here.”

Andrew McGlashan in Durban27-Dec-2009England get a review right
Few in the England team are in favour of the review system and their experiences during the first Test at Centurion won’t have helped when they had five reviews rejected. On the opening day here the occasion didn’t arrive to call for one, but when Graeme Swann was convinced he’d trapped Mark Boucher lbw, Andrew Strauss eventually decided to use one of his options. And it proved exactly the right call as TV evidence showed the ball had straightened from around the wicket and struck Boucher’s pad before bat in front of middle. At last, England will have thought.AB’s trip
Moments after Boucher departed England nearly had another important wicket but this would have come through luck not judgement. Morne Morkel worked the ball through the leg side to open his account and AB de Villiers, one of the game’s quickest runners, was coming back for a second when he suddenly got into a tangle and dropped his bat. If the throw from the outfield had hit direct de Villiers would have been short, but fortune was favouring him.A Steyn on Swann’s figures
Swann has already proved his huge value to England during this series and was at it again when he removed Boucher, Morkel and Paul Harris. He was desperate for his five-wicket haul and Strauss was happy to entrust his spinner to claim the final wicket, but it didn’t go to plan. Dale Steyn took the long-handle approach and launched Swann for three sixes in the long-on area during a valuable last-wicket stand, leaving Swann to settle for a four-for and a slightly higher economy rate.Cook’s elbow
Batting is proving a real struggle for Alastair Cook at the moment and as Strauss launched England’s innings with a flurry of boundaries he battled to survive. Shortly before tea Cook went for a sweep against Harris and the ball was caught a silly point by de Villiers. The South Africans appealed, then reviewed the decision believing Cook had got a glove or edge, but the TV pictures showed it came straight off his elbow. It was such a clear decision that it was a waste for South Africa and one they could come to regret.Strauss’s nick
One minute Strauss was thankful for the inside edge of his bat and a few moments later he was cursing it. Shortly after tea, when on 50, he was given out lbw to Morkel but Strauss immediately called for a review. There is some suggestion he thought it was high but was eventually saved by a nick after much deliberation from Steve Davis, the third umpire. However, four runs later there was no doubt as Morkel demolished the stumps with a little help from that same inside edge. Strauss wasn’t going to review that one.Check the meter
The Kingsmead authorities could have a hefty electricity bill when this game is done and dusted. The floodlights were on throughout the second day’s play and on this occasion probably enabled far more play than would have been likely without them. If the forecast proves right they will be needed some more before this match is over and whoever is in charge of paying the bill will want to make sure they have some cash handy.

Mousley leads response with unbeaten fifty but visitors still trail by 462 runs

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay30-Jul-2025 Warwickshire 140 for 2 (Mousley 54*, Davies 52) trail Essex 602 for 6 dec (Westley 134, Allison 133, Pepper 107*, Walter 86) by 462 runs Dan Mousley led the Warwickshire fightback to Essex’s mammoth first-innings total with an innings that belied the gravity of the situation facing the visitors in the Rothesay County Championship match at Chelmsford.The imposing right-hander clocked up only his third half-century of the season, but at a rate of more than a run-a-ball. It was in contrast to his more measured captain Alex Davies, who went along at half the rate in a second-innings stand of 86 that pulled Warwickshire back into the game.Though Davies departed for 52 from 116 balls, stumped by the alert Michael Pepper to give Matt Critchley a second wicket of the innings, Mousley was still there at the end with 54 from 53 balls and Warwickshire 140 for 2.It had been a chastening day and a half in the field for Warwickshire after Davies put Essex in as Essex rattled up 602 for 5 declared on an unresponsive, green-tinged pitch. Along the way there were three Essex centurions, curiously all scoring their third three-figure scores of the season. Tom Westley’s 134 was followed by Charlie Allison and Pepper, who combined in a 38-over, sixth-wicket stand of 195, the largest partnership in an innings of large partnerships.Either side of a mid-afternoon rain break, it was carnage as the pair sensed the impending declaration and went for broke. The declaration duly arrived when Allison departed after four hours, caught at deep midwicket, for 133 from 202 balls with 17 fours and two sixes. That left Pepper unbeaten on 107 from just 117 balls, including 11 fours and two sixes.It would not have escaped Warwickshire’s notice that Allison was not even in the Essex XI announced at the toss, but was drafted in at short notice, without argument, when Simon Harmer dropped out for “personal reasons”.Before his partnership with Pepper, Allison also put on 91 for the fifth wicket with Westley. 57 of them in the morning. Westley added 24 to his overnight 124 before he was finally dismissed after a stay of more than six hours, caught at short fine leg turning Beau Webster off his legs. Significantly, the pair had carried Essex to a fourth batting point with four balls to spare.Westley had laced his 278-ball innings with 17 fours, a large portion of them driven elegantly through the covers. At the other end, Allison followed closely in Westley’s footsteps, punching fours through the off-side, though also comfortable enough to reverse-sweep Corey Rocchiccioli for four. He reached his fifty from 85 balls when he turned the Australian off-spinner for a single.The incoming Pepper did not hang about. He swept Rocchiccioli for an emphatic boundary to get off the mark and added four more with a late cut off Webster. The wicketkeeper-batsman went to lunch on 33, at which point he was presented with his county cap; little more than quarter-of-an-hour after the restart he had reached his half-century with a tap into the off-side off Rob Yates.Despite his rate of scoring, Pepper was beaten to his hundred by Allison, who helped a wayward legside delivery from Mousley for his 14th boundary. After a 25-minute rain break, Pepper made it to his century, having taken just two hours and 15 minutes of improvised nudges and paddles. Two balls later he celebrated by driving Yates straight for six. Not long afterwards Warwickshire were put out of their misery.Essex found the Kookaburra ball just as unhelpful when Warwickshire set out with the initial target of 453 to avoid following on. Yates and Davies made a competent start, passing 50 in 21 overs, Davies hammering Jamie Porter for successive boundaries before Matt Critchley made the breakthrough. Given the rare opportunity to take the main spin-bowling role in Harmer’s absence, Critchley had Yates retreating on to the backfoot and lbw to one that turned and reared up.Mousley brought Critchley down to earth when he slammed him straight back down the ground for six and reached his fifty from just 46 balls.

Qualified accountant had served in role since 2018 having joined board in 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2023Fanos Hira has retired as chair of Worcestershire and stepped down from the board after nine years at the county.Hira’s involvement at New Road initially began as part of a subgroup of the board in 2014, and the main board in 2016 before becoming chair in 2018. Having replaced Stephen Taylor in the role after Worcestershire secured the T20 Blast title, he oversaw further on-field success as the club finished runners-up in the same competition in 2019 before earning promotion back to Division One last season. Hira was also an observer on the ECB board.As a qualified accountant, Hira used his expertise to produce a comprehensive report on the ECB’s finances, finding projections made in Deloitte’s assessment of the Hundred back in 2016 optimistic. The report, compiled with the help of new ECB chair Richard Thompson, claimed the competition, which began in 2021, had made a loss of £9million in its first two years.Hira has also advocated for transfer fees being introduced in county cricket to remunerate clubs that nurture and produce talent only to have them picked off by bigger teams. This summer alone, Worcestershire lost Dillon Pennington, Jack Haynes and Josh Tongue – all products of their academy – to Nottinghamshire.The 55-year-old leaves with the county in better financial shape, with Ashley Giles in place as chief executive since June – a position that had been vacant since 2019 – to continue overseeing cricket matters. Hira is due to be awarded Honorary Life Membership at Worcestershire, subject to ratification at the next AGM. The club will undertake an open process to appoint a new chair.”It’s been an honour to be involved so closely with Worcestershire over such a long period,” Hira said in a statement. “I am grateful to all staff, coaches, and players for their tireless efforts.”There have been many highlights for me, but this season, it has been particularly pleasing to see the immediate progress in white-ball and red-ball cricket under the leadership of the club’s coaching and management team.”I wish everyone associated with Worcestershire all the very best for the future, and I look forward to watching the team continue to entertain and compete in the coming years.”Paul Pridgeon, vice chair of Worcestershire, said: “His efforts and commitment, as a volunteer, have been tireless over the years. Fanos has guided the club through very tough times, including substantial governance reform, the challenging Covid years, and the recent cost-of-living crisis, and his impact on the club cannot be underestimated.”

George Bartlett adds 62 to century third-wicket stand against Northants attack not helped in the field

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2022Tom Abell’s fourth century of the season led a solid Somerset batting display against Northamptonshire at Taunton, on the day his club paid tribute to one of their most prolific ever run-scorers.The lunch interval on the opening day of the LV= Insurance County Championship game saw the unveiling of the James Hildreth Stand by the player himself, who recently announced his retirement.Hildreth hit more than 27,000 runs for Somerset, including 54 centuries, in over 700 appearances across all competitions, and ranks behind only Harold Gimblett and Marcus Trescothick in terms of first class runs for his only county.Skipper Abell marked the renaming of the River Stand at the Cooper Associates County Ground with a textbook innings of 111, which Hildreth would have taken pride in, as Somerset ran up 271 for 4 after winning the toss.George Bartlett contributed 62 to a third-wicket stand of 134 against some accurate Northamptonshire bowling, not aided by dropped catches. Seamers Ben Sanderson and Jack White, in particular, did not enjoy the best of fortune early on.Opener Tom Lammonby had made only two when spilled at second slip by Emilio Gay off Sanderson, diving to his right.With Somerset’s total advanced to 25, Gay produced a virtual action replay, again failing to hang onto a chance offered by Imam-ul-Haq, on 13, as he dived in front of first slip, Lizaad Williams being the unlucky bowler.The escape allowed Somerset to progress carefully to 49 in the 25th over before Gay atoned by clinging onto an edge from Imam off White. The Pakistan Test opener departed for 25, off 69 deliveries.It was 55 for one off 30 overs at lunch, Lammonby having moved to 23. As against Warwickshire in the second innings of their previous game, Somerset displayed a patience missing from their top order batting for much of the season.Lammonby was understandably frustrated when, having worked hard to get to 30, he edged Sanderson to second slip where the busy Gay accepted a diving chance.Abell and Bartlett built steadily from 72 for 2, adding 91 before tea, which was taken with the Somerset captain having reached a 99-ball half-century.By then there was little assistance from the pitch for the Northants attack, who kept a grip on the scoring rate without often threatening a breakthrough.The final session saw Bartlett go to fifty off 111 balls, with six fours, shortly after the century stand had been brought up. It was another impressive contribution from the 24-year-old following his century at Edgbaston last week.Bartlett, who spent much of the season in the second XI following an early shoulder injury, launched a six over wide long-on off Rob Keogh before falling two balls later.Pushing forward defensively, he edged a catch to Northants skipper Will Young, the only slip. The stand with Abell had occupied 39 overs and put Somerset in control.It was 227 for 3 when the second new ball was taken, with Abell on 91. He went to a chanceless ton with a three to third-man off Sanderson, having faced 164 balls and hit 13 fours.Lewis Goldsworthy had helped add 53 for the fourth wicket when Abell sacrificed his wicket needlessly. Having stroked White to deep cover for a comfortable single, he turned for a second run that was never there and when Goldsworthy failed to respond, was easily run out by Williams’ throw to the bowler’s end.Goldsworthy and James Rew saw Somerset through to the close, with the sun shining and the floodlights on, and their team will be targeting four batting points tomorrow.

New head coach David Saker has the task turning around the club after two miserable seasons

Andrew McGlashan03-Jun-2021Strengthening the bowling stocks and finding a top-order allrounder are among new head coach David Saker’s main priorities as he tries to turn around Melbourne Renegades from back-to-back wooden spoons in the BBL.The Renegades already have 14 of their list locked in for the 2021-22 season but Saker and his recruitment team will be looking to do some smart business over the coming months.That may include the first BBL draft for overseas players if that innovation is brought in having been delayed by Covid-19. Saker, though, is not entirely convinced by the model. However, he has a pretty firm idea on the areas he needs to bolster after the side registered just seven wins in 28 matches over the last two seasons.He is expecting to need to cover for the absence of James Pattinson on Australia duty – although it will be hoped that releasing players from squads may be easier next summer if fewer Covid restrictions are in place – and he wants someone in the top order to offer significant overs.”Obviously recruiting a good overseas [player] who will be very important for us,” Saker said. “I’ve got some ideas, but we still don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, [if] there’s going to be a draft system. An allrounder who can bowl a bit and bat in your top five or six [is] pretty handy in T20 cricket, [so] you probably need one of your top six batters to bowl some overs for you.Related

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“That’ll probably be high on our priority but we’ve also got some really good around allrounders ourselves with Will Sutherland and Jack Prestwidge. We’re probably looking at our bowling stocks. If we have James Pattinson for the whole series that might be different, but you would assume that he’d be away with the Australian team at different times, and [Kane] Richardson’s obviously a beauty and one of the better white-ball players in the world. So if we can sort of base ourselves around those guys and add a couple of good overseas players, I think we will be a really strong unit.”Although only two players passed 300 runs last season – Sam Harper and Shaun Marsh – and no one averaged more than 28, compounded by Aaron Finch’s lean campaign where he made 179 runs at 13.76, Saker backed the batting to come good.”On paper, when you look at Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch and Sammy Harper at the top, they’re as good as any [top] three in the competition so you would hope you can base the batting around that,” he said. “We’ve got some really good young talent in place in Jake Fraser-McGurk and MacKenzie Harvey, so that’s the exciting thing.”The Renegades will hope captain Aaron Finch enjoys better returns•Getty Images

Saker acknowledged that the impact of Covid-19 could again add to the challenges of attracting overseas players. Last season the Renegades’ overseas names were Imad Wasim, Noor Ahmad, Rilee Rossouw, and Mohammad Nabi.He is not fully convinced by the prospect of the draft although one of his main concerns is teams losing established names which may be avoided by a right-to-match option. However, if the draft was to follow a model of the bottom team of the previous season having first pick, the Renegades would be able to make an early play for who they wanted.”I don’t actually agree with it but right now obviously it would favour us. The thing that I don’t really want to see is players that have played a long time at one club get put in a draft and then have to be moved.”I’m not sure how the rules [will work], and there’s no doubt you’re going to have first dibs at certain players, but you don’t want an icon player, for example Alex Hales who has been playing for Thunder and looks like he’s enjoying himself there, ending up somewhere else. I just don’t think that’s a great look and it’s not great for the fan base, but we don’t know how it’s going work until it starts.”Saker was, though, supportive of the innovations brought into the BBL last season which included the Power Surge, Bash Boost Point and X-factor player replacement. “The different rules made it excellent to watch and a little bit different. I’m not always a big fan of going away from the format that’s played in the World Cups but it did look like it was a really good product.”Current Renegades squad Cameron Boyce, Zak Evans, Aaron Finch (capt), Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sam Harper, Marcus Harris, Mackenzie Harvey, Josh Lalor, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Mitch Perry, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Will Sutherland

Shaw and Agarwal then got off to a rollicking start in the second innings to help India gain an 87-run lead

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Feb-2020India quicks dominated on the second day of the tour game in Hamilton as they ran through the New Zealand XI to bowl them out for 235. Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini shared nine wickets between them, while the final wicket went to offspinner R Ashwin. Following that, openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal got off to a steady start in the second innings to help India gain an 87-run lead.In reply to India’s 263, Rachin Ravindra began positively despite losing his partner Will Young to Bumrah for a cheap score. Shami was the chief tormentor on the day, picking up the first of his three wickets by having Tim Seifert caught behind for 9. Finn Allen then joined Ravindra as the hosts gained some momentum, but Yadav wouldn’t let it last, dismissing Ravindra for 34. Bumrah struck soon after to remove Allen as well.There were brief stages of recovery from the New Zealand XI thanks to the middle-order contributions from Henry Cooper (40), Tom Bruce (31) and Daryl Mitchell (32) but none of them could go on to make a big score. James Neesham, walking in at No. 8, became Shami’s third victim, bowled for just 1. The lower order then added 74 runs, taking the total past 200, to finish with a deficit of 28 runs. Shami finished with figures of 3 for 17, while Bumrah, Yadav and Saini picked up two apiece.After failures in the first innings, Shaw and Agarwal were off to a rapid start, hitting a boundary-laden 35 off 25 and 23 off 17 respectively. The duo was especially severe on Scott Kuggeleijn, who had dismissed them for those low scores in the first innings, taking him for 34 runs in three overs. India finished the second day with the score on 59 for 0 in only seven overs.