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Lance Morris has been released from the Australia Test squad to play in the BBL following the first Test against Pakistan in Perth with the group being cut to 13 for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.There was excitement around Morris potentially making his Test debut in Perth but with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood all returning from the ODI World Cup in excellent shape, and Scott Boland being held in reserve, Morris will be sent back to the BBL to be available for Perth Scorchers’ clash with Hobart Hurricanes on December 20 at Optus Stadium.Boland remains unavailable for Melbourne Stars as he remains on standby as the first bowling reserve for the second Test.”Lance has been released for the Melbourne match but will stay prepared for Test cricket as he remains firmly in our plans for the summer, should an opportunity arise,” national selector George Bailey said.There has been some push and pull behind the scenes between Cricket Australia and the BBL clubs over availability of fringe Australia players. Brisbane Heat were very frustrated by losing four players to the Prime Minister’s XI team for the first two matches of the season to the point where Michael Neser was released from the PM’s XI to play in the Heat’s BBL opener against Stars.Melbourne Renegades coach David Saker expressed surprise at Boland’s being ruled out of the BBL opener for the Stars.Cameron Green does not have a BBL contract and will remain with the squad as 12th man with incumbent allrounder Mitchell Marsh maintaining his place for the opening Test against Pakistan where he was named Player of the Match.Meanwhile, Victoria have named three Test players in Marcus Harris, Peter Handscomb and Will Pucovski to play in a two-day tour match against Pakistan at the Junction Oval in Melbourne in the lead-up to the second Test. The Victoria XI will be comprised of players who do not have BBL deals, including those three.Australia squad for Melbourne Test David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Cameron Green, Scott Boland

When the inaugural WPL auction took place last year, the players were busy with the T20 World Cup in South Africa, with England scheduled to play Ireland the very same day. This time, England will be playing a T20I against India just after the auction on Saturday.England wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones, who is among 165 players on the auction list, said that while it was a challenge last year, this time the players are relaxed and don’t “have the emotions attached to it”.”We had a similar situation at the T20 World Cup, which was completely new for us as a group,” Jones said. “The first auction ever in women’s cricket… I don’t know if it was a challenge last year, but it was something new to consider as a group. This year it will be a lot simpler having done it before. Our attention will be on the game as much as possible.”Big learnings from last year really, that was a completely new experience for everyone. We did sit down as a group and tried to address things and issues that might come out of it. It was always going to be a little bit of a distraction last year. I am hoping this year it will be a bit more relaxed having already been through it.”Related

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A maximum of 30 slots are up for grabs at the auction with nine of them for overseas players. Among 61 overseas players who have registered, 14 are from England, and eight are part of the touring party in India.Last time, Danni Wyatt was one of the big names who failed to get a bid in the auction and was “pretty disappointed”. Citing Wyatt’s example, Jones said that it was important to “look after your friends”.”Danni was very open about really wanting to be a part of it and being sad that she missed out,” Jones said. “As you would, you look after your friends, doesn’t really stray from that. This [time] it’s different. We all will be managing our expectations. It feels really relaxed. [The WPL is a] big cool thing to be a part of but I don’t think we will have the emotions attached to it as such.”A lot depends on expectations on individual basis. A lot of us are pretty relaxed about it – it would be great if it happens, if not we are playing so much cricket these days anyway. That mentality is good.”India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, on the other hand, conceded that they had not spoken about the auction much, with most players already part of the WPL. Only Mannat Kashyap from the T20I squad and Shubha Satheesh from the Test squad are part of the auction.”Our team won’t be thinking about it much [since] 90% have already been picked,” Harmanpreet said. “Two-three players who are here but not part of WPL teams, they could think about it and it’s an opportunity and I am sure teams will pick them. If we want our cricket to move forward, then those playing internationals have to be picked and given opportunities to play so that when you come to the Indian team, you have games under your belt.”If we get time to watch, we will see who gets picked for which team. But otherwise, I don’t think it is important for us.”

Lamb ruled out of Test, Bouchier called up

Meanwhile, opener Emma Lamb has been withdrawn from England’s Test squad due to a back injury. She will fly home to see a spinal surgeon to determine the next steps.Maia Bouchier has replaced her in the squad with left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon, who played the 2019 Ashes Test, also added. Gordon was part of the England A squad that played three T20s against India A last week.”Really sad for Lamby, we are all feeling for her,” Jones said. “Obviously, [it’s] better she gets home and gets it all right. A great opportunity for Maia and Kirstie. Kirstie has played a Test before. But I know everyone loves the idea of playing Test cricket and wants to play as much as possible. They are both excited with the prospect of that.”

Zimbabwe have called up the uncapped duo of middle-order batter Brian Bennett and fast bowler Trevor Gwandu in their squad of 15 for the three T20Is against Ireland in Harare starting Thursday. This will be Zimbabwe’s first series after they recently failed to qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup. Zimbabwe had finished third in the seven-team Africa Region Qualifier that saw Namibia and Uganda progress to the main tournament.Experienced batter Craig Ervine, who had played just one game at the qualifying tournament before picking up a groin injury, is fit again and retained in the squad.The Zimbabwe squad saw four changes overall: legspinner Brandon Mavuta and batting allrounder Tony Munyonga earned recalls, whereas fast bowler Tendai Chatara, left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza and opening batters Innocent Kaia and Nick Welch were dropped.Related

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Kaia and Welch had played three games each in the Africa qualifiers and scored just 62 and 39 runs respectively. Masakadza also featured in three games whereas Chatara got one, but they both picked just one wicket each and leaked over eight runs an over.Mavuta, who has played nine T20Is, featured in the home ODIs against Netherlands earlier this year but last played a T20I in May 2022, at home opposite Namibia. He has recently been scoring runs and picking up wickets for Rhinos in the domestic circuit and also helped them reach the Pro50 Championship final. He finished the tournament with a batting average of 65 while scoring 195 runs in six innings, including three fifties, and was also his team’s top wicket-taker with a tally of 15 and an economy rate of just 4.84.Munyonga, too, was prolific in the tournament; he finished as the second-highest scorer with a total of 389 runs that earned him an average of 55.57, with the help of one century and three half-centuries. Munyonga has played 13 T20Is and makes a comeback after last playing against the same opposition he will play next – Ireland – also in a home T20I series earlier this year.Bennett, 20, has played just five T20s so far and has also represented Zimbabwe Under-19s and Under-25s. Gwandu, 25, opened the bowling for Southern Rocks recently, for whom he played eight Pro50 Championship games and picked up 17 wickets, the second-most in the tournament.The three T20Is will be played on December 7, 9 and 10 before the ODIs on December 13, 15 and 17, also in Harare.Zimbabwe T20I squad for Ireland: Sikandar Raza (capt), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Craig Ervine, Trevor Gwandu, Luke Jongwe, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brandon Mavuta, Carl Mumba, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sean Williams

New Zealand A fought back strongly on the second day at Allan Border Field, firstly through Scott Kuggeleijn’s five-wicket haul and then with a solid display by their top order, led by Sean Solia, which enabled them to wipe off Australia A’s lead and close with an advantage of 75.It was an impressive day for the visitors after Australia A had started only six runs behind their first innings of 147. They chipped away at the middle order and Kuggelejin took out the bowlers, although the lower order provided handy runs.Related

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Facing a significant deficit of 116, New Zealand A started brightly through openers Solia and Henry Cooper. Cooper took 16 runs off Mark Steketee’s third over, including three consecutive boundaries, before edging behind off Jordan Buckingham as he added to his three opening-day wickets.Nick Kelly was very close to bagging a king pair as his first delivery zipped past the outside edge, but he and Solia, who earlier played his part with the ball claiming two wickets, then settled into a productive second-wicket stand of 77 either side of a rain delay which arrived during the tea interval.The Australia A quicks struggled for the control they showed in the first innings while Buckingham and Mitch Perry sent down 11 no-balls between them.Kelly was frustrated when he pulled to deep square-leg moments after New Zealand A moved into the lead – giving Buckingham his fifth wicket of the match – but captain Tom Bruce lifted the tempo with an aggressive display and Solia moved to a 93-ball fifty with his tenth boundary having been given a life on 43, a very tough chance to gully.Bruce was also dropped on 34, when Caleb Jewell could not quite haul in a difficult chance diving at square leg from a pull, but the New Zealand A captain did not shelve the stroke and continued to take on the short delivery.Australia A had resumed on 141 for 3 and Jewell looking to pick up from his fluent display on the first afternoon. He collected a brace of early boundaries but three figures proved elusive when Brett Randell got one through him from round the wicket.New Zealand A kept chipping away to keep the hosts within touching distance. Campbell Kellaway bottom-edged a loose drive against a very wide delivery, while both Joel Paris and Jimmy Peirson were sharply held in the slips.But the lower-order added useful runs with the last three wickets combining for 63. Perry slashed to slip off what became the final ball of the morning session before Steketee and Mitchell Swepson scored briskly after the break to take the lead over 100.A change to a short-ball attack by Kuggeleijn proved successful when Swepson miscued into the leg side and he completed his five-wicket haul when he ended Steketee’s valuable contribution.Meanwhile, Wes Agar has been withdrawn from the series due to lower back soreness. Buckingham will now travel to MacKay for the second four-day game having originally only been set to play the opening match.

Chris Dent’s 21st first-class century proved the highlight of a low-key final day as the LV= Insurance County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan at Cheltenham ended in an inevitable draw.With so much time having been lost to rain, including a third-day washout, there were only bonus points to play for as Gloucestershire advanced their first innings from an overnight 134 for one to 402 for six before declaring.Experienced opener Dent led the way with an assured 113, off 206 balls, with 15 fours, while Ollie Price contributed 84, Miles Hammond 57 and James Bracey 60 not out. Leg-spinner Mitch Swepson claimed three of the wickets, but at a cost of 142 runs from his 37 overs.By the time the players shook hands at 4.50pm, Glamorgan had made 62 without loss in their second innings. They took 12 points from the game, while Gloucestershire had to settle for 11 and remain without a win in the Championship this season.Dent was unbeaten on 61 overnight, with Price on 49. The pair extended their second-wicket stand to the century mark before a Price boundary to third-man off Timm van der Gugten took him to fifty off 123 balls, with seven fours.Soon both batters were capitalising on the true pitch, Price producing an exquisite on-drive for four off James Harris and Dent matching it with a sweetly-timed cover drive to the boundary off van der Gugten.The partnership had been extended to 171 when Price was caught behind trying to force a delivery from Swepson through the off side. He stood crestfallen at the error, having hit 16 fours, knowing a great chance of a hundred had slipped away.Dent brought up his first ton of the season with a two to square leg off Harris, having faced 190 deliveries, and added a further 13 to his score before miscuing a drive off Zain ul-Hussain to Harris at mid-on.By then Hammond had signalled his intention to up the scoring rate with 4 fours in moving to 17. He was joined by debutant Joe Phillips and together they took the score to 261 for three at lunch.Cornishman Phillips had reached 17 in his maiden first class innings when falling victim to the second new ball, bowled looking to pull a delivery from Andy Gorvin. He had faced 42 balls and hit 3 fours.Bracey brought the 300 up by getting off the mark with a square driven boundary off Gorvin before Hammond moved to fifty off 78 balls, with eight boundaries. It was 337 for five when he top-edged an attempted pull off Harris and Colin Ingram pouched a simple catch at mid-off.Tom Price made only 16 before being pinned lbw on the back-foot by Swepson, but Bracey progressed serenely to the eighth half-century of the match, having faced 62 balls and cracked 8 fours.There was some strange cricket as tea approached, Zafar Gohar leaving the last ball before the interval with Gloucestershire needing just two runs for a fourth batting point. They had to face three more balls after the break before Bracey brought up the 400 and declared immediately, which meant another ten-minute interruption to play.The home side then set about avoiding a penalty for a slow over-rate, which was plus four at the end of the Glamorgan first innings. Spinners Gohar and Price were given the new ball and fielders scampered between overs, playing catch-up.Gloucestershire rattled through 16 overs in 39 minutes to make sure they claimed their full entitlement of points and it seemed almost incidental that Glamorgan openers ul Hussan and David Lloyd produced an array of attacking shots in the late afternoon sunshine.Lloyd was unbeaten on 38 and ul Hassan 24 when the second declaration of the day ended a game ruined by the wet weather.

Essex 106 for 0 (A Cook 64*, Browne 31*) trail Kent 207 (Compton 47, S Cook 3-19) by 101 runsSir Alastair Cook notched the 123rd half-century of his bejewelled career as he steered Essex into a commanding position on the first day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Kent.Cook, still there at the close on 64, was joined in an unbeaten first-wicket stand of 106 by Nick Browne, who was painstakingly attempting to rebuild his flagging form after a run of three successive ducks. He was on the path to redempton with 31 from 117 balls.Earlier, Kent elected to bat on a green-tinged pitch under heavy grey clouds that required the use of floodlights after an hour. Their innings lasted just short of two sessions for 207 as the lower-order threw away their wickets with some abandon.Only a sedate 58-run fourth-wicket partnership between Ben Compton, who recorded an 81-ball 47, and captain Jack Leaning interrupted a regular clatter of wickets with nagging seamers Sam Cook and Jamie Porter sharing six of them equally.Twanda Muyeye survived a decent chance to Matt Critchley at third slip before he was beaten for pace to present Sam Cook with the first of three wickets for 19 in 11 overs.Next ball Joe Denly’s miserable season continued when he played down the wrong line and was caught behind for his fourth duck of this campaign.To compound Kent’s problems, Harry Finch faced 15 deliveries without scoring when he set off for a non-existent single to gully where Paul Walter swooped and hit the single stump he could see.Compton and Leaning settled in for a stand that needed 17 overs to put on fifty, and that despite Compton hitting Doug Bracewell for three successive boundaries, two through the covers, the other a flick off his legs.However, to the last ball before lunch Compton attempted to dig out a fuller delivery from Simon Harmer and only succeeded in chipping the ball back tamely to the bowler.Leaning followed soon after the break when he got a thick edge to one from Sam Cook that went away from him and wicketkeeper Adam Rossington took a fine diving catch to his right. Joey Evison went shouldering arms to one that came back late from Bracewell.Grant Stewart smashed Harmer for two straight sixes in a brisk, seven-over stand of 43 with Jordan Cox before Porter found a peach of a ball to remove Cox.Porter then set a short-ball honey-trap for Stewart who hooked straight to one of an army on the boundary, and two balls later Matt Quinn skied rashly to midwicket. Arshdeep Singh swept Critchley for a huge six and wafted lazily at the next ball and was stumped without bothering to look back.When Essex replied in the evening session, Alastair Cook slipped into imperious mode after a watchful start, showing an array of shots around the wicket in depositing Stewart for three successive fours, though he was put down off the same bowler to a sharp chance in the gully.Of the fifty partnership in 17 overs, hecontributed 38 with Browne playing second fiddle with a dozen; of the century partnership Browne had 27 and Cook 63, passing fifty for the fifth time this season when he swept Hamid Qadri for his 10th boundary.Essex, incidentally, will be reinforced with the inclusion of Dan Lawrence in their batting line-up on day two as he returns south after being the spare man in the England XII for the concurrent fourth Test at Old Trafford. He will replace Robin Das.

Kurtis Patterson will not be New South Wales Sheffield Shield captain next season with incoming coach Greg Shipperd hoping a return to the ranks will help revive his batting.Patterson, who played two Tests for Australia in 2019, took on the NSW role ahead of the 2021-22 season when he replaced Peter Nevill. They finished fourth in the Shield that season before ending bottom last summer with Patterson dropped for the final match against South Australia.Overall he averaged 29.78 last season with one century and scored just two hundreds during his time as captain.Related

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Since his brief Test appearances, where he made a century in his second outing against Sri Lanka in Canberra, Patterson has struggled to make runs consistently with just three first-class hundreds in the next four seasons.”That was a disappointing finish for the season for Kurtis,” Shipperd said. “I’ve had contact with him today and we’ve identified some areas of his game and thinking. Losing the captaincy will allow him to concentrate fully on performing at his best.”You can get consumed by captaincy and he gave it a terrific shot I’ve got to say while I was there, it was team first and him second. We can flip that balance around next season and make sure we get him back playing as well as he’s ever played.”Moises Henriques stepped in as captain the final Shield game of last season but Shipperd said he and Greg Mail, NSW’s head of performance, still needed to work through who would take the role permanently.”That’s a really important discussion to have,” he said. “We do have some candidates that I think could comfortably do the job so it’s about when I get up to Sydney next, sitting down with Greg and the team and those candidates and make sure we get the best decision out of it.”More broadly, Shipperd acknowledged it was the batting that really needed to lift for NSW although he had been encouraged by some late-season performances from younger players Ryan Hackney, Jack Edwards and Blake MacDonald – the latter earning his first contract. However, of those to play more than three matches, allrounder Chris Green topped the averages at 41.42.”It’s a complicated judgement when you are just looking at figures,” Shipperd said. “I, like others, was a little bit alarmed that our younger batting group were tracking along in the mid-20s as averages.”In my discussions with the players I was quite frank in terms of suggesting that success in first-class level is averaging above 40 with the capacity to have an out season and averaging over 60. So setting the bar quite high for those players and it was pleasing that four of them in response in the back end of the season averaged over 40, but that’s just the start.”Shipperd also hoped that NSW would be able to play a greater proportion of their home Shield matches at the SCG so there was more of a home-ground feel to being in Sydney. The T20 World Cup last season restricted how much it could be used in the first half of the summer but for a number of years the team has regularly gone to suburban and intra-state grounds.The players now have a permanent training base at the new Cricket Central facility which opened last season and there are plans for it to host top-level state matches. Following his retirement, Trent Copeland noted he had never had his own locker throughout his career.”Essentially we have had no home ground, no training facility that is always our own,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s now changed. Then we’re playing one to three games at the SCG and then grade grounds and country grounds where we stand there at the toss and we have no idea essentially on how to build a game plan, what to do at the toss or even a best guess on what the pitch is going to play like, versus our opposition that are walking into the same venue every game. So these are a few of the little challenges that I think are going to start to be naturally fixed.”

A superb unbeaten century by Phil Salt led England to a convincing eight-wicket victory over West Indies for a 1-0 lead in their five-match T20I series in Barbados.Saqib Mahmood took career-best figures of 4 for 34, including three wickets in the powerplay and a tight over at the death, but in the meantime West Indies blitzed their way through three key partnerships to set England a lofty target, despite having lurched to 117 for 8.Nicholas Pooran, who top-scored for the hosts, and captain Rovman Powell put on 41 runs together from just 17 balls but it was Pooran and Andre Russell who defied a steady flow of wickets to add 39 from 26 and then tailenders Gudakesh Motie and Romario Shepherd with 49 off 26 who pumped up the hosts.Their efforts were ultimately futile, however, in the face of Salt’s remarkable 103 not out off just 54 balls in which he attacked from the outset, helping himself to 22 runs off one Shamar Joseph over and never looked back.It was a case of two second-home lads doing good as Salt, who spent six of his pre-teen and teenage years living in Barbados, shared an unbroken 107-run stand with Jacob Bethell, the latter raising his maiden T20I fifty to enthusiastic support from the crowd, having been born and raised in Barbados up to the age of 13.All-out (as)SaltWhen Salt struck five consecutive boundaries off Joseph to take his side past the 50-mark in the fourth over of the run-chase, England looked all business. He brought up his own half-century off 25 balls with the second of three sixes to come off Motie’s first over, crunched over deep midwicket before Will Jacks launched the third over long-on. Jacks fell on the next ball, bowled middle stump attempting to sweep, but by that time England had closed out the powerplay at 73 for 1, compared to West Indies’ 58 for 3. Motie couldn’t stay away from the action, his brilliant one-handed take at third removing Jos Buttler, batting at No. 3 on his return to action after a five-month injury lay-off, for a first-ball duck.For all his big hitting, Salt’s deft punch for four just behind backward point off Joseph in the ninth over was prettier than any of his four sixes up to that moment and highlighted the range of shots which comprised his innings. Bethell mimicked the shot, slightly finer off Shepherd, as he settled into just his third innings in T20Is, playing the perfect supporting role to Salt, his unbeaten 58 coming off 36 balls and including an elegant six over cover off the penultimate ball.He followed that immediately with the winning runs, pulling Shepherd for two to seal victory with 3.1 overs to spare. Salt had moved into the nineties swinging Shepherd to square leg, where the ball shot through the fingertips of Sherfane Rutherford as he tumbled over the boundary for six more before he brought up his ton in what turned out to be the last over of the game with four down the ground. It was Salt’s third century in T20Is, all of them coming in the Caribbean against West Indies.Saqib Mahmood celebrates dismissing Brandon King•Getty Images

In the MahmoodMahmood struck early when Brandon King, a centurion as West Indies won the third and final ODI for a 2-1 series win, slammed his fifth ball – the 11th of the match – straight to short cover. In his next over, Mahmood had two wickets in as many balls as Bethell took an excellent low catch running in from the rope at deep backward square to remove Evin Lewis and then luring Shimron Hetmyer with a superb length ball that moved away ever so slightly as it took an edge through to Salt. It was quite the comeback from Mahmood, playing just his third T20I since January 2022 after suffering two stress fractures in his back. His two other matches in the format since had yielded 2 for 21 and no wicket for 37 against Australia in September, but now he had 3 for 12 from two overs.Meanwhile fellow seamer Reece Topley conceded 20 runs from 15 balls, including Powell’s nurdled four through deep third then six over square leg immediately before Topley slipped in his follow-through clutching his right knee. Topley was visibly limping as a brief rain shower arrived, sending the players from the field for just over half an hour. Topley returned after the stoppage, only to be greeted by a lofted drive for six by Powell and that was enough to send the bowler from the field for the rest of the innings with what was later confirmed as a jarred knee as Jamie Overton finished his third over. Mahmood returned to have his figures blighted by conceding 18 runs off his third over, Pooran heaving over the fence at wide long-on, threading four through deep backward point and swinging over deep midwicket for another six.No fearAdil Rashid entered the attack in the seventh over and struck with his second ball, Powell going big again but unable to clear a leaping Overton just inside the boundary at long-on. Although he had handed the wicketkeeping gloves to Salt, returning captain Buttler sprung with the reflexes of a cat to snare a brilliant one-handed catch at slip in Rashid’s next over to remove Rutherford. Pooran and Russell forged a defiant partnership, Russell slamming back-to-back sixes off Rashid and moving to a 16-ball 30. But Liam Livingstone managed to end their union when he responded to seeing his third ball deposited back over his head for six by having Russell caught at deep cover by Dan Mousley. Pooran followed for 38, falling to another spectacular catch by Buttler, launching himself high and twisting in the air in the covers off Overton.West Indies looked determined to go down blazing. Rashid claimed his third when he pinned Akeal Hosein at the second attempt with an excellent leg-break. But just as it looked like the hosts’ fightback might fizzle, Motie strode to the crease at No. 10 and struck 16 runs off the first three balls he faced, including back-to-back sixes off Rashid. He had raced to 33 off just 14 balls by the time Mahmood had him caught on the deep midwicket boundary to claim his fourth wicket of the match. It ended Motie’s ninth-wicket stand with Shepherd, who ended with an unbeaten 35 off 22, their union helping West Indies to a total which had seemed so unlikely earlier.