Opener’s availability may be impacted by Australia series in the Caribbean

ESPNcricinfo staff17-May-2021Hampshire have announced D’Arcy Short, the Australia batter, as one of their overseas signings for the summer’s Vitality T20 Blast.Short was earlier named in Australia’s preliminary squad to play ODIs and T20Is in the West Indies in July, and if he is selected for the final touring party, that could impact on his availability for the Blast. Hampshire hope to have him involved throughout the tournament.Short, 30, has previously appeared in the Blast for Durham, as well as featuring in T20 leagues around the world, including the IPL. An aggressive opener, he averages 36.40 with a strike rate of 133.58 in T20, and also offers a handy bowling option with his left-arm wristspin.Related

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“We are delighted to secure the signing of D’Arcy for this summer’s Vitality Blast competition,” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said.”He is a high-class performer who has consistently shown his ability to score a high volume of runs at the top of the order, both for Australia and in a number of the world’s best T20 competitions. Alongside his skill with the bat, he also gives us another spin bowling option with the ball so we’re excited about what he brings to the side and are looking forward to having him with us.”Short’s most-recent Australia outings came in December, during the T20I series against India. Overall, he has 23 T20I caps and eight in ODIs, having debuted in 2018.Short said: “I am so excited to join a club with as much history as Hampshire Hawks. I can’t wait to get to the Ageas Bowl and hopefully we can have a strong season and win our first title since 2012.”Hampshire, who came bottom of the South Group in last summer’s T20 Blast, have also signed Colin De Grandhomme for the second half of the Blast, and have South Africa seamer Kyle Abbott on their books as an overseas player.

Wetherley, McManus fifties set up hosts before Currie’s four wickets help bowl Somerset out for 100

ECB Reporters Network09-Jul-2021Hampshire climbed off the foot of the Vitality Blast South Group with a crushing 75-run victory over high-flying Somerset at the Ageas Bowl.The win was the second in succession for the Hawks, who bowled superbly to dismiss the visitors for 100 with young quick Scott Currie finishing with 4 for 24 after wicketkeeper Lewis McManus earlier hit a career-best 60 not out.Defeat for Somerset, who were without Tom Banton, Craig Overton, Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory due to international duty and injury, hinders their hopes of a top-four finish on a difficult evening where they struggled with the ball, the bat and in the field at the Ageas Bowl.Hampshire, who were also missing key men in skipper James Vince and Liam Dawson, recovered well after being 22 for 3 inside the powerplay with McManus and Joe Weatherley hitting half-centuries to help their side to a competitive score of 175 for 6.Related

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Inspired by McManus, Hampshire thumped 23 off the last two overs, taking full advantage of a sloppy fielding performance from the visitors who dropped three catches and bowled poorly after their strong start.D’Arcy Short once again failed to register a score, when he found the hands of Will Smeed off Jack Brooks for two with teenage debutante Toby Albert departing for 13 and fellow rookie Tom Prest falling for five.Jack Brooks celebrates a wicket•Getty Images

But that was as good as it got for Somerset, as Colin de Grandhomme, fresh from his 174 against Surrey earlier this week, and Weatherley rebuilt the innings.with a 52-run stand that saw the New Zealand all-rounder dropped on 17 by Tom Lammonby.De Grandhomme clubbed two sixes and stroked two boundaries for his 28 off 19 balls before chipping Lewis Goldsworthy to James Hildreth at mid-wicket.Weatherley brought up his 50 with a huge six over fine leg before falling to the very next ball, one of three shots to clear the rope in his 35-ball innings.McManus continued where Weatherley left off as he hammered 60 from just 36 deliveries before Somerset got off to a disastrous start when in-form New Zealand opener Devon Conway fell second- ball as stand-in skipper Chris Wood found the edge of his bat and McManus took a simple catch.Exciting young batsman Smeed looked in good touch with 15 runs of nine balls but his attempt to hit a big six off Brad Wheal only found the hands of Mason Crane at cover.Somerset then lost their last eight wickets for 76 runs with Currie ripping through the rest of the top order, dismissing James Hildreth and Lewis Goldsworthy before the spin of Crane and Short reduced the visitors to 70 for 6.Currie and Wheal then wrapped up the tail with Roelof van der Merwe, with 25, the only batsman to show any real resistance as the Hawks wrapped up victory with 24 balls to spare.

Senior seamer recalls days of paying to play as she hails progress of women’s game

Andrew Miller20-Jul-2021Katherine Brunt, the longest-serving member of the England women’s squad, has warned her peers not to lose sight of the huge progress made by their game, after a gender pay row threatened to overshadow Wednesday’s standalone opening fixture of the Hundred.According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, several of the more junior members of each of the Hundred’s eight city-based teams risk losing out on regular income for the duration of the tournament, due to heightened restrictions within the teams’ Covid-safe environments.With salaries for the women’s game starting at £3,600, compared to the lowest men’s pay bracket of £24,000, this means that some of the participants may be required to choose between the tournament or their existing jobs.However, Brunt – who made her Test debut as a 19-year-old in 2004, and went on to become of the ECB’s first centrally contracted female players a decade later – insisted that the women needed to remain mindful of the bigger picture, adding that the struggle for equality is never a smooth process, but that the prospects for their sport were better now than at any time in her career.”I used to pay to play,” Brunt said. “I used to only get expenses for a good eight years of my international career. So when you look at it from that standpoint, with more women in cricket being paid than ever before, then we’re doing pretty well. We’re doing very well.”The wages aren’t anything to turn your nose up at,” she added. “They’re good. Yes, they could definitely be better. And there’s gaps in it. That happens all the time in every different field, but it’s definitely going to get better. This isn’t going to go the other way, this is only going to go up.”Related

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A record 41 female players across the English game now hold professional contracts, and while Brunt said she sympathised with those players on the fringes who aren’t yet financially secure within cricket, she also recognised the responsibility of the Hundred’s female competitors to live up to the billing that this competition now offers them, and to set about proving their worth “time and time and time again”.”I do feel for those girls but it is a good chunk of change for one month’s work that they would never have seen before,” she said. “You’d only ever dream about it, to be honest, so you have to look at it from that angle too.”We’ve been fighting for equality for hundreds of years,” Brunt added. “These things don’t happen overnight. And as long as the conversation keeps going, that’s all you can ask for. It’s when you keep quiet and don’t say anything that things don’t move forward, so I think it’s great that the girls are speaking out and they’re brave enough to do that but, equally, sometimes the positive message gets lost in that.”Regardless of all the other things that are flying around, the important thing is that we are being paid. Yes, we are a way off the men, but that’s because the men bring in more crowds, they bring in more money. They bring in more press around the world. You can’t get people like Andre Russell and Rashid Khan over here to play unless you make it worth their while.”But once we start playing these games, and we get this year in the bag, and we show that we can play these games alongside the men, then they will invest in us even more. But we need to keep proving this time and time and time again, but not forget that positive message which is that we’re all being paid for once, and more than ever before.Katherine Brunt has been an England stalwart since before the days of professionalism•ECB/Getty Images

“I’m only going to bang on about the positives because I’m here to play the Hundred and get on with this, and do the best I can for my team.”Brunt’s opening match for Trent Rockets comes on Saturday when they take on Southern Brave at Trent Bridge, a venue that she has never played at in the entirety of her two-decade career. While she admitted to a degree of trepidation about bowling at a venue where England and Pakistan racked up 433 runs between them in last week’s men’s T20I, she also admitted that the chance to share equal billing with the men’s team would fill her with pride.”It’s going to be great,” Brunt said. “It’s my first time ever at Trent Bridge, which is unbelievable, but it’s a brilliant ground, with lovely facilities. The boys are here at the same time as us. I’m watching Rash [Rashid Khan] bowl now, and it gives you the feeling that you’re part of something bigger – part of one team, and not just a spare part, or a sidepiece. You’re ‘it’. You’re the ones that people are coming to watch and be entertained by. And that’s brilliant, we’re all really excited.”However, she added a note of caution to the anticipation, warning that the complications of the tournament’s build-up, as well as the fast-tracked nature of many of the newer players in the squad, meant that the standards in the opening rounds may need to be given some leeway.”We really don’t want to mess up, but it’s going to be carnage,” Brunt said. “People are going to have to be patient. We will get better, I promise you, but as of this point, tomorrow’s the first game and today I’ve still got four names to learn. It’s a quick turnaround, but we’ll get there.”

Tait resigned from his position a day after Lance Klusener announced his decision to not extend his deal as head coach

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2021A day after Lance Klusener announced his decision to not extend his contract as head coach of the Afghanistan national men’s team, Shaun Tait has quit as the team’s fast-bowling consultant too. Unlike Klusener, who will see out his contract, which runs till the end of the year, Tait has resigned “with immediate effect”.In a short statement, Tait said, “I have enjoyed my time working with the team especially with the young Afghan fast bowlers whom I personally think have a great future. Having access to a great cricketing mind like Lance Klusener (head coach of Afghanistan during my tenure) has been an absolute pleasure.”Tait, the former Australia quick who is now a Level-2-certified coach from Cricket Australia, was signed up by the Afghanistan Cricket Board in August this year for a period of five months, which was expected to run till the end of 2021. Not long after that, though, the 38-year-old Tait also signed a deal with Indian domestic side Puducherry as their bowling coach, saying at the time that he would be with the team “based on availability from my commitments with the Afghanistan team”.While Afghanistan hardly played any cricket in 2020 because of Covid-19, they performed fairly well under Klusener, winning one out of the three Tests, three out of the six ODIs and nine out of 14 T20Is. Since Tait’s association with the team, Afghanistan’s only international fixtures were at the T20 World Cup, where they lost to South Africa and beat West Indies in warm-up fixtures before winning just two out of their five games in the main competition to crash out in the group stage.

Andy McBrine and Andy Balbirnie have also been forced to isolate as close contacts

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2021Paul Stirling and Shane Getkate, the Ireland allrounders, are self-isolating in Florida hotel rooms after testing positive for Covid-19 and are set to miss at least the first ODI against West Indies in Jamaica.Ireland’s ODI series against USA was called off at short notice after a string of positive tests on both sides. The touring party are due to fly to Jamaica on December 31 for three ODIs and a T20I, starting on January 8.Several Ireland players tested positive for Covid before the squad met up earlier this month with their T20I squad down to its bare bones for the USA series. With the squad living in a “managed environment” rather than a strict bio-secure bubble, Stirling and Getkate have tested positive and two further players – Andy McBrine and captain Andy Balbirnie – have been forced to isolate as close contacts.Cricket Ireland said in a statement that Balbirnie and McBrine are likely to join the squad in Jamaica on January 2, pending further negative tests, with Stirling and Getkate due to leave quarantine on January 9, the day after the first ODI against West Indies.George Dockrell also returned a positive test but has been given the all-clear to travel to Jamaica with the rest of the squad. Dockrell contracted the virus earlier in December before leaving for Florida and holds a recovery certificate from that infection.”A managed environment is different to a bio-bubble, and is an approach being used currently to try and find that balance between risk mitigation from the virus and impacts of sustained periods of isolation on the mental and physical health needs of players and staff,” Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland’s performance director, said. “Part of this new approach is the ability to have several partners travel with the squad. However, these additional people are required to abide by the same testing and travel protocols as the players.”The transmissibility of this latest strain of the virus has not spared us – nor indeed the USA squad or umpires in our recent series. Overnight, three players have now tested positive. We have seen sport all around the world negatively impacted by this virus still, and like all sporting organisations trying to continue with sport during the pandemic, we are adapting quickly and responding to the needs of those in our duty of care. We have an extended squad with us on this tour, so will be able to cope with these absences pending no further outbreaks.”Harry Tector and Gareth Delany, who both tested positive after playing in a local T20 tournament before the T20I series, have completed their isolation periods and are due to fly to Jamaica on Friday.The fixtures will be played behind closed doors after Jamaica’s minister of local government and rural development announced this week that it was “simply not practical to give the green light for public access” due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

Zak Crawley reprieved after being caught off a no-ball late in the day

Alex Malcolm06-Jan-2022Usman Khawaja has produced a comeback century of the highest class to put Australia in another commanding position at stumps on day two of the fourth Test against England at the SCG.Khawaja’s silky 137 from 260 balls underpinned Australia’s 8 declared for 416, but it would have been more without a magnificent lone hand with the ball from Stuart Broad. After writing publicly about his frustrations at being left out in two of the first three Tests, Broad backed up his words with his 19th Test five-wicket haul including the crucial wickets of Khawaja and Steven Smith for 67, having knocked over David Warner on day one.England had to face a frightful five overs before stumps and Zak Crawley got a major reprieve. He nicked Mitchell Starc to first slip with Warner taking the catch head high. As Crawley walked off for what would have been a 12-ball duck, replays showed Starc had overstepped. Extras were the major contributor as the ball nipped and bounced prodigiously but Haseeb Hameed and Crawley survived another brutal examination from Starc and Pat Cummins.Related

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Khawaja was the star of the day for Australia. Playing his first Test in more than two years after he was dropped during the 2019 Ashes, he made his ninth Test century in his 45th Test, and his first in an Ashes series since making 171 in the SCG Ashes Test four years ago. Khawaja’s innings was proof he remains one of Australia’s best batters despite only playing due to Travis Head’s Covid-19 diagnosis.He was calm and composed throughout on a pitch that was not the traditional SCG batting paradise. He played some sparkling pull shots off Mark Wood and Broad and attacked Jack Leach and Joe Root with his full repertoire, scoring boundaries via reverse sweeps, cover drives and pull shots. Beyond his trademark stroke play, his ability to withstand some excellent spells of fast bowling was particularly noteworthy. As Australia lost Smith and Cameron Green in quick succession when Broad made the second new ball talk, Khawaja calmly kept the good balls out and was unflustered as several misbehaved on a surface becoming increasingly uneven.He did offer one chance on 28 that England will rue. Leach had barely troubled him on a leg stump line from around the wicket, but finally pitched outside off and found the outside edge as Khawaja prodded forward. The edge went past Jos Buttler’s gloves and deflected off his thigh before floating to Joe Root’s right, but the skipper failed to grasp it.From then on Khawaja was flawless and had the crowd so engrossed and invested that they booed Australia captain and New South Wales darling, Cummins, in the penultimate over before tea when Cummins retained the strike with an untimely single. But the skipper was immediately back in the good books, sneaking a single early in the next over to give Khawaja three balls to reach his century before the break. He only needed one with a neat tuck behind square sparking a standing ovation.Usman Khawaja latches onto a pull•AFP/Getty Images

Earlier in the day, Khawaja shared a 115-run stand with Smith, their seventh together in Tests, their third at the SCG and their first since the last Ashes Test in Sydney in 2018. He also shared invaluable stands with Cummins and Starc. The latter was worth 67 to help Australia press to 400 with Starc making 34 not out, his third score of 30-plus for the series.Smith looked destined for a century of his own as he cruised to his second fifty of the series and his sixth consecutive fifty at the SCG. His only concern in the opening session, where Australia made 83 without loss, was keeping his bat dry as several brief showers interrupted play momentarily.Smith looked impenetrable. He played a contemptuous on-drive off James Anderson’s first ball after one rain delay. He also picked off anything fractionally straight and dealt with an unsuccessful short-ball barrage that left Ben Stokes wicketless and unable to bowl for the rest of the day. Stokes failed to complete his 14th over due to sharp pain in his left side. He left the field with grave concerns but returned after lunch and fielded without issue.But Broad stopped Smith in his tracks with his outstanding spell with the second new ball. In one over he deceived Smith completely as he shouldered arms to a good length ball that hit him in front of middle and leg. But it had seamed back considerably and he was given not out, and the decision was proven correct as England lost a review proving it was missing leg stump. Broad got his man for the ninth time in Test cricket two balls later as he turned Smith inside out with a back-of-a-length leg cutter that took the outside edge. Broad added to his haul finding Cameron Green’s outside edge with a fuller cutter. Green’s struggles in the series continued as the only boundary in his 5 came from a nick that went between first and second slip.Alex Carey missed a golden chance to cash in against a weary attack, holing out for just 13 trying to slog-sweep Root from the rough outside off. It was Root’s seventh wicket in England’s last three Ashes tours in Australia making him the equal-most successful England spinner across those tours.Broad returned later to bounce out Cummins with a brutal lifter that brushed the top of the bat handle on the way through to Buttler. He also knocked over Khawaja with a beauty late in the day. It was another leg cutter that nipped off the seam, caught the inside edge and ricocheted onto leg stump.Broad had been described as a caged lion prior to the Test by England assistant coach Graham Thorpe and his five wickets was just reward for a lion-hearted effort. He also went past Bob Willis to claim the second-most Ashes wickets for England behind Ian Botham, and became the second-oldest visiting quick to claim a five-wicket haul in Australia behind Sir Richard Hadlee. He did suffer the ignominy of Nathan Lyon launching his last ball into the stands at midwicket but he deserved the warm applause he got walking off after Australia’s declaration.

Captain missed third match after experiencing pain during England’s warm-up

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2022Eoin Morgan, England’s white-ball captain, has been ruled out of the remaining two matches of England’s T20I series against West Indies in Barbados, after sustaining a low-grade quadriceps injury.Morgan sat out England’s 20-run defeat in Wednesday’s third match, with Moeen Ali stepping in as his deputy, after feeling pain in his right quad during the pre-match warm-up.An ECB statement added: “Follow-up testing revealed he sustained a right thigh-muscle injury which, whilst relatively minor, will prevent him from playing further games during the current tour.”Morgan, 35, made scores of 17 from 29 balls and 13 from 12 in England’s first two fixtures – the former innings coming in the midst of a top-order collapse that included the loss of three wickets in the first two overs, and an eventual total of 103 all out.England bounced back to win the second match, although West Indies’ lower-order battled back from the brink to reduce the margin to a solitary run.Although England are currently ranked as the No. 1 T20I team in the world, Morgan had identified this campaign as an opportunity to expand their options ahead of the next T20 World Cup in Australia in November.”The whole tour is one where the development of our game is more important than a series win,” Morgan said ahead of the first T20I. “We’ve gone through this process before, and identifying the level of intensity, and our performance is far more important than the result.”The squad in the Caribbean had already been missing a core of proven performers, with Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood among those rested following their involvement in the Ashes, while Jofra Archer has been absent following his recent elbow operation – although he has been back training with his team-mates on this trip.In Morgan’s absence on Wednesday, England gave a debut to Harry Brook, with Phil Salt and George Garton also making their maiden T20I appearances in place of Sam Billings and Saqib Mahmood, who was hit for 28 runs in his final over of the second match.”A lot of talented guys will get opportunities throughout this series which is very exciting, not only for the team, but for them as well,” Morgan added. “They don’t get a lot of opportunity to go through a process like this so, for our long-term planning, as we strive to have deeper, stronger squads, it’s very important. The group that we would normally take to a World Cup has been together for quite some time, so the planning behind that is important to us.”Moeen will continue to lead the team in Morgan’s absence for the final two back-to-back fixtures on Saturday and Sunday. England, currently 2-1 down, must win both to claim the series.

A severe lack of bowling time did not deter Dottin from wanting to bowling a high-pressure final over, and executing to perfection to quell New Zealand

Firdose Moonda04-Mar-2022″A player like Deandra Dottin, when she says give me the ball, you just give her the ball.”Even if you had already decided someone else should bowl. Even if Dottin has only bowled 11 overs in international cricket in the last three years, and none in training recently. Even if you’ve never won a match in New Zealand before, there’s only five runs to defend, and your World Cup opener is on the line. In fact, especially if that’s the case.Related

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“Shakera Selman was meant to bowl and Deandra pretty much just come up to the stumps and said to Stef [Stafanie Taylor], ‘Give me the ball.’ And we were like, ‘What? You haven’t bowled in international cricket in like a year now,'” Hayley Matthews, whose century helped West Indies ask New Zealand to chase a record target in the tournament’s first match, said. “She literally hasn’t bowled to anyone in the nets since we’ve been here and she just came and said, ‘Give me the ball.’ A player like Deandra Dottin, when she says give me the ball, you just give her the ball. It doesn’t matter if she has bowled in a year or if she hasn’t.”Taylor thought about hesitating for a fraction of a second but Dottin was insistent and Taylor figured she could deal with the consequences later. “She [Dottin] was like, ‘Skip, I want the ball, give me the ball,’ and I said, ‘Ok, you and the coach will discuss after, that has nothing to do with me. I will give you the ball, do your thing,'” Taylor told the television broadcasters afterwards.Dottin’s thing was to concede a single off the first ball and then send down a dipping yorker that smashed into Katey Martin’s pad in front of leg stump. Martin was given out and reviewed but ball-tracking showed the delivery was going on to hit leg stump, and Martin had to go. Dottin tried to replicate that ball immediately but sent down a low full toss instead and Hannah Rowe took a single to long-on. She kept going for the block hole and Jess Kerr tried to clear mid-off but offered a simple chance to Chinelle Henry. With four to get off the last two balls, Dottin bowled length and missed everything. Fran Jonas tried to steal a bye but Rowe was slow to respond and by the time Jonas turned around, Shemaine Campbelle had collected and thrown to Dottin, who ran Jonas out at the non-striker’s end.West Indies had won, and there was nothing for Dottin to discuss with the coach, except maybe how she held her nerve. “I feel like she went into that over knowing she was going to get the job done,” Matthews said. “For her, it was like, ‘If we lose I am going to take the blame.’ Simple as that. Obviously we love that attitude. We love players that will come to the captain and say: ‘I want to do that.'”And if they win? Of course Dottin was happy to share the glory, knowing that it may be up to someone else in another match. “That’s what’s really good about our team. We’ve got so much experience and so many players we can call on. We know once we call on them, they are going to get the job done and she was the epitome of that today,” Matthews said.Dottin’s last-over heroics are even more remarkable because of the time she has spent away from bowling after sustaining a serious shoulder injury in 2019. She has only bowled 11 overs of international cricket since then, last in September 2021. Even then, she showed her mettle and kept South Africa to six runs in the Super Over, which West Indies chased easily. Taylor said Dottin is “not ready to bowl yet” but “took the responsibility of bowling the last over” anyway.It means West Indies have caused the tournament’s first upset. “We came into this tournament a bit as underdogs,” Matthews said. “It’s helped to ease a bit of pressure. To make a statement like this in the first game is massive.”

Duo share Surrey record eighth-wicket stand of 244 as Gloucestershire bowlers toil

ECB Reporters Network29-Apr-2022Jamie Smith’s maiden double-century and a second first-class hundred from Jordan Clark gave Surrey a stranglehold on the LV= Insurance County Championship match with Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.Unbeaten on 111 overnight, Smith had moved to 234 not out, from 430 balls, with 34 fours, by the time his side were finally bowled out for 603 shortly after tea on day two.It was a phenomenal effort of concentration from the 21-year-old, who occupied the crease for nine hours and 28 minutes, sharing a stand of 244 – a record for Surrey’s eighth wicket – with Clark to stifle the life out of a willing, but uninspired home attack.Clark provided positive support, making 137 after walking out at 349 for 7, with Surrey just having failed to claim a fourth batting point. He struck 15 fours and 2 sixes in an imposing 177-ball innings.By the close, Gloucestershire had replied impressively by posting 86 without loss. Openers Chris Dent, who was 45 not out, and Marcus Harris, unbeaten on 30, produced an array of positive shots in the face of considerable scoreboard pressure.Related

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The day began promisingly for the hosts as from 294 for 4 Surrey lost three wickets for the addition of 55 runs. Sam Curran was first to go, having added seven to his overnight 57 before being caught at gully driving a ball from Ryan Higgins.The next delivery saw Colin de Grandhomme bowled by a Higgins no-ball. He was then dropped at slip off the luckless Mohammad Amir before departing for 11, leg-before to Matt Taylor.When Will Jacks was caught and bowled by David Payne off a top-edged pull shot for 13, Gloucestershire were well in the game.But by lunch, Smith and Clark had added 37 to take the total to 396 for 7, Smith having gone past his previous career-best score of 138, and the afternoon session saw both batters dominate.Smith went to 150 with a leg-side boundary off Payne and in the same over produced one of the shots of his innings, a glorious straight drive for four that exuded quality.Clark brought up his fifty with an off-driven boundary off Amir, the one Gloucestershire bowler to threaten repeatedly, albeit in vain as he finished wicketless.Smith’s double hundred was brought up with a flourishing cover drive for four off Miles Hammond, his 30th boundary. It was greeted with warm applause and cheers from the Surrey balcony.Clark took two runs through the off-side from the off-spinner to reach his hundred off 151 balls, the second fifty having occupied only 60 deliveries.By tea, which was taken at 574 for 7, the partnership had overtaken the previous highest eighth-wicket stand for Surrey in first class cricket, an unbroken 222 between Ben Foakes and Gareth Batty against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in 2016.Still captain Rory Burns wanted more runs on the board and there were five more overs of toil for the home bowlers.Some lusty swings accounted for Clark and the tail-enders, Dan Worrall falling to Jack Taylor, who has reinvented himself as a leg-spinner having had his off-spin action deemed illegal back in 2017.Surrey’s seamers found it as tough as their Gloucestershire counterparts to make inroads on the slow pitch as Dent and Harris confidently saw out 24 overs to the close.

New Australia coach believes that international teams should have one person in charge across formats

Alex Malcolm03-May-2022New Australia coach Andrew McDonald insists there was never a risk he would have pursued the England job due to his firm belief that international coaches should oversee all three formats, with England set to split the roles down white and red-ball lines.McDonald was formally appointed as Australia’s new coach last month taking over the post permanently from Justin Langer on a four-year deal.There was interest from England in both McDonald and Langer prior to Rob Key being appointed as new ECB managing director of men’s cricket.But Key’s desire to split England’s coaching roles, with the two jobs advertised last week, dissuaded McDonald from considering it prior to taking the Australia job.”No I don’t think there was a risk,” McDonald told . “I think the way that they’re going to set-up, structure up, is clear. I think they’re going to go for a split coaching role. My views on that differ slightly.”McDonald would not have taken the Australia job had it been split into two roles. His reasoning is that the consistency of messaging from one figurehead is vitally important despite the enormous workload that comes with coaching an international team.Related

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• Rob Key brings sense of calm at turbulent time for English cricket

• Andrew McDonald, the quiet achiever

“My belief is to still have that one coach and share the workload within that,” McDonald said. “I think for me the continuity of messaging is critical. But also the priorities shift. And people probably don’t like me saying this, but the priorities do shift at certain times. You can’t be everything to everyone.”For example, Pat Cummins, on the back of three Test matches in Pakistan, at the end of that he’s severely fatigued and then the white-ball team gets compromised because Pat Cummins isn’t playing. But he’s not ready to perform in that environment.”If you had split coaches, which format takes priority? So, I think the ability to have one selection panel, one coach to work through that, give the direction to what the priorities are at the time and managing the overall squad as such and then someone, potentially a Michael Di Venuto or another assistant coach, coming in to allow the head coach to balance the workload but still stick on the same path.”For example, we’re going to build towards the 2023 World Cup, am I going to do every one-day game leading into that World Cup? There’s no chance of that. So I think that the continuity of messaging for me is important.”England have tried to split the coaching roles previously in 2012 between Andy Flower (Tests) and Ashley Giles (ODIs and T20Is) with the push and pull between formats causing a lot of friction between the pair.McDonald was keen to avoid any such scenario in the Australia job. McDonald and Cricket Australia’s head of national teams Ben Oliver have several assistant coaching appointments to make prior to the three-format tour of Sri Lanka in June.McDonald needs to find a full-time bowling coach to replace the role he has vacated since ascending to the head coaching job, while Jeff Vaughan has left his post as an assistant coach to take on the head coach position in Tasmania, leaving a second hole to fill within Australia’s ranks.Test cricket remains the priority for Australia as they remain in the frame for the World Test Championship final next year while a T20 World Cup title defence at home this year will also mean McDonald is heavily involved in the T20I series ahead of that. But there is likely to be an ODI series against Zimbabwe in August/September where McDonald could rest as well as other ODI series over what is shaping as a hectic 18 months of cricket for Australia.