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Ross Taylor struck his 17th ODI century and Trent Boult produced 3 for 63, helping New Zealand scrape to a six-run, series-levelling victory against South Africa in Christchurch

The Report by Andrew McGlashan21-Feb-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsRoss Taylor was the fourth New Zealand batsman to reach 6000 ODI runs•AFP

South Africa’s lower order threatened another heist, but Trent Boult gave a glimpse of why he went for big money in the IPL by holding his nerve to help New Zealand secure a series-levelling six-run victory in Christchurch. Dwaine Pretorius’ 26-ball fifty almost wrestled the game away from New Zealand until Boult got his yorkers on target in the penultimate over. He then cleaned up Pretorius to make amends for dropping him in the deep on 15.The win should have been much more comfortable for New Zealand when South Africa slipped to 214 for 8, but after Pretorius was shelled he kept finding the boundary. It came down to needing 20 off two overs when Boult, who had earlier claimed the key scalps of Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers but conceded 15 off his ninth over, only went for five runs of his last. Andile Phehlukwayo was unable to locate the boundary early in the last over bowled by Tim Southee – and did not trust Imran Tahir with the strike – as South Africa’s winning streak ended at 12.It meant that Ross Taylor’s record-breaking day did not come in vain. He became New Zealand’s leading ODI century-maker, and the country’s quickest batsman to reach 6000 runs in the process, while adding the innings-defining stand of 123 with Jimmy Neesham.While Boult earned a mega payday 48 hours ago, Taylor was not picked in the auction: his T20 cricket is not valued by country or franchise at the moment. His absence from New Zealand’s side has been a topic of much debate, but in the longer white-ball format he is playing as well as ever. He equalled Nathan Astle’s 16 centuries against Australia, at Hamilton, earlier this month and went one better off the final ball of the innings when he drilled Wayne Parnell through the covers.Taylor added 104 with Kane Williamson, their 11th century stand in ODIs, to set the base for the innings. Then, Neesham struck a timely 45-ball half-century which helped New Zealand add 89 in the final ten overs. The Hagley Oval pitch was slower than usual due to recent poor weather, so while five of the previous nine first-innings totals on the ground had been over 300, this one was more than workable.However with David Miller back after his finger injury and Phehlukwayo at No. 10 (Kagiso Rabada was ruled out with a knee niggle), South Africa’s batting order was even more imposing. But New Zealand kept chipping away. Southee produced an unplayable delivery to trap Hashim Amla lbw and Colin de Grandhomme nipped one back to defeat Faf du Plessis.JP Duminy was sent in at No. 4 ahead of de Villiers – for tactical purposes it was said – but having eased to 34 he was beaten in the flight by Mitchell Santner: a chance for a match-defining innings had slipped away. The same could be said of de Kock, for the second match running, after he had glided to his fifty from 59 balls before heaving Boult deep into the leg side.A hallmark of South Africa’s winning streak has been having someone in the top order take responsibility for an innings but that wasn’t the case in Christchurch. Miller, after his spell on sidelines, couldn’t quite find his timing before edging Ish Sodhi’s googly and de Villiers under-edged a pull against Boult in his first over back in the attack.Trent Boult and Tim Southee sealed the victory by executing their yorkers in the final overs•AFP

When Chris Morris was smartly run out by a back-handed flick from Dean Brownlie and Parnell lbw to Santner, there seemed very little chance for South Africa only for late drama. New Zealand would have struggled to recover if they had let this one slip away.It had not been easy going for them when they were put in. Tom Latham’s tricky run continued, softly clipping a leg-stump delivery from Parnell to square leg. It made his run in ODIs – since the 137 against Bangladesh on this ground – 2, 0, 0, 7, 4 and 22, potentially leaving him vulnerable when Martin Guptill returns from injury.There was caution from Williamson and Taylor at the start of their partnership, but Williamson broke the shackles when he bunted Phehlukwayo over wide mid-on at the end of the 19th over. The next 11 overs brought 73 runs – Williamson reaching his second fifty of the series off 59 deliveries – to leave New Zealand with a strong platform of 155 for 2 after 30 overs.The innings threatened to lose its way when Williamson picked out long-on against Imran Tahir and Neil Broom collected his second failure of the series to leave the onus very much on Taylor.The boundary that took him to fifty off 60 balls also brought up the 6000-run milestone and alongside Neesham, whose position had been coming under scrutiny, they ensured the wobble did not become a collapse. Neesham was the first to take on the bowling inside the final ten overs, which helped take the pressure off Taylor, as he took on Tahir’s last two overs and also played a blistering pull off Morris.Taylor began the final over on 95 but lost the strike off the first ball and only got it back with two deliveries remaining. A meaty swing at the penultimate ball sent it sailing towards long-on where Miller took a fabulous catch but, sliding round the boundary, thought he would touch the rope and flicked the ball back so it became two runs. The final ball of the innings was wide outside off and Taylor thumped it through the covers to wild applause from the sellout crowd. They were cheering again a few hours later.

Headingley’s future as a Test venue appears to have been assured, following a funding agreement between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Leeds City Council over the redevelopment of the ground’s rugby stand

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2017Headingley’s future as a Test venue appears to have been assured, following a funding agreement between Yorkshire and Leeds City Council over the redevelopment of the ground’s rugby stand that has served a dual purpose for cricket and rugby clubs over the past 84 years.Without the agreement, the ground’s future would have been in immediate peril. The club, already £24 million in debt, required council support to fulfil their £17 million share of a £32 million joint redevelopment with Leeds Rhinos, without which, the ECB had indicated, the ground could not be awarded any international fixtures beyond 2019.Now, however, Leeds City Council has brokered a £35m investment from a London-based investment group, subject to final approval by the authority’s executive board. The investors have proposed to build the new stands and rent them back to the cricket and rugby clubs.The agreement follows a sizeable public outcry following the council’s decision to withdraw the promise of a £4m grant to Yorkshire as it drew up its £2bn budget in a febrile atmosphere in which central government cutbacks sparked an internal row within the ruling Labour group over the closure of three are homes.Yorkshire were also at loggerheads over the proposed term of any private loan which councils are able to obtain at preferential rates compared to the open market.”I’m delighted we’ve found a solution that will ensure Headingley continues to enjoy full international sporting status,”
Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said.”Subject to the final approval of the council’s executive board, this will deliver the funding to redevelop the stadium in full. The money will be provided by a private financial services company at no cost to the council tax payer, which offers the best and most viable option moving forward.”Mark Arthur, Yorkshire’s chief executive, said: “We would like to thank councillor Judith Blake and Leeds City Council for their support in reaching this point. There is still a way to go, however, it is a significant step in securing the future of international cricket at Headingley.”Yorkshire County Cricket Club will continue to work hard to ensure that all remaining funds are in place to ensure that the redevelopment is completed in time for the Cricket World Cup in 2019.”Gary Hetherington, chief executive of Leeds Rhinos, added: “We have been working closely with Leeds City Council and partners to find a solution to ensure international sport continues at Headingley Carnegie for many years to come and we appreciate all the effort and commitment put in by Leeds City Council to broker this deal.”There is still much to do but recent developments are very encouraging and could provide the funding mechanism to complete the redevelopment work.”

The ICC’s new constitution moved a step closer to reality on a dramatic late afternoon in Dubai, as cricket’s Full Members exercised their collective will to outvote the BCCI

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Apr-2017The ICC’s new constitution moved a step closer to reality on a dramatic afternoon in Dubai, as cricket’s Full Members exercised their collective will to outvote the BCCI.The Indian board was the only Full Member to object to the new financial model, and was one of only two Full Members to vote against the new governance changes. The financial model, with which the BCCI has been unhappy, received overwhelming support from Full Members, who voted to pass it 9-1 in favour, while the proposed governance changes to in the new constitution were passed by an 8-2 margin.The next step as far as implementing the constitution now will come at the annual conference in June, where it will be approved formally after being ratified. That day will mark the formal end of the Big Three era, two years after it came into effect.The day’s biggest reverberations will come from the failure of the BCCI to push through a financial model they could be happy with. Indeed, not only did they fail to get the $570 million cut from ICC revenues that they demanded when they arrived in Dubai, they failed to secure the compromise offer that the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar had put forward.In that, he was willing to up their share by approximately $100 million. Instead, in the model that has been voted through the Indian board’s share from ICC revenues in the next rights cycle will be $293 million, a little more than half the amount the Indian board wanted.The behind-the-scenes developments in how BCCI was muscled out offer an intriguing contrast to past ICC meetings where the BCCI has held sway. Manohar arrived in Dubai last weekend and is understood to have had lengthy meetings with BCCI office bearers as well its chief executive Rahul Johri. The ICC’s compromise offer, which would fetch the BCCI nearly $400 million, was made to Choudhury by Manohar, the most prominent figure behind the new changes. That deal, incidentally, was one the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) – which is overseeing the board’s operations -was happy with when Manohar ran it by them in March.The BCCI was asked to respond on Monday, as the ICC working group was meeting to finalise the resolutions based on the feedback given by all Member boards including the Associates. The BCCI then approached most of the major Full Members with their counter offer: they get $570 million but none of the other Full Members get anything less than what they were assured in Manohar’s model. But the other Full Members stood firm and rejected the BCCI’s offer, leaving the Indian board in a tight position hours before the ICC Board meeting began on Wednesday morning.”The alternative left for them was to adopt the middle ground,” one official familiar with the situation said. The BCCI was told it would do well to consider Manohar’s offer. “It is INR 700 crore ($100 million), and they were told to consider hard before making a move.”Another source said: “Shashank was trying to get them (BCCI) across the line, but they declined.”Though BCCI office bearers have previously blamed Manohar for harming their interests, Choudhury did not take an aggressive stance during the ICC Board meeting. Officials present said he was “friendly and very charming,” and that he said though he wanted to find a solution he had to disagree with the finance model and the governance structure.”He was restating the BCCI’s reservations expressed last month,” one source said. Neither Choudhury nor any of the BCCI administrators in India made a statement in response to the developments in Dubai. According to PTI, the BCCI will call a special general meeting to decide on the next step.Ultimately, only marginally less significant than the financial model going through was the fact that a major portion of the governance changes did so as well, and with such majority: only Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) joined the BCCI in not supporting it. Some will be tweaked and the ICC did agree to remove one significant proposal – the potential reclassification of Full Member status to Associate membership if a set of criteria was not met when a board was evaluated. Many Full Members including the Bangladesh Cricket Board, Zimbabwe Cricket and SLC were against it.But also approved was a resolution to expand the composition of the ICC Board which sees an increase in the number of votes from 10 (Full Members only) to 15 – 10 Full Members, three Associates, one independent female director, and the chairman. Potentially, that could change the nature of decision-making at the highest levels of the game, making it more difficult for just one or two boards to dominate. On the day at least, that message resonated loudest.

Chris Woakes could miss the first two Tests against South Africa due to the side strain which ruled him out of the Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Jun-2017Chris Woakes could miss the first two Tests against South Africa due to the side strain which ruled him out of the Champions Trophy.The recovery timeframe is four to six weeks, with Woakes admitting it is likely to be the longer end of that scale before he returns to the field. It means he is all but confirmed to miss the opening Test against South Africa, which begins at Lord’s on July 6, and probably the second as well, which comes hot on the heels at Trent Bridge on July 13.Even if Woakes was able to bowl by then, he would have had no competitive action in which to prove his fitness. Another issue could be that the NatWest Blast will dominate the domestic schedule at that time, so Woakes may be limited to four-overs spells ahead of a potential return in the third Test at Old Trafford on July 27.”It’s a left side strain and there is a tear in the muscle,” Woakes said at a Chance to Shine event. “It’s a grade-two injury, which is not terrible news, but it’s not great news at the same time.”They say it’s roughly a four- to six-week injury, and it’s more likely to be towards the six when I am back playing competitive cricket. I’m on day five of my recovery now, and the physios say for the first 10 to 14 days there’s not a lot we can do other than rest it.”You don’t rule it out, but I’m probably up against it for the first Test. Sometimes these things heal quicker, sometimes they take longer, so we have to play it by ear.”It’s also one of those things you can’t rush back – if you do, it can just ping again. You have to make sure you’re right before you come back. The timing of it is frustrating, it’s terrible, but it’s one of those things.”Woakes took 34 wickets in six home Tests last year – 26 of them in the four-match series against Pakistan – although the five Tests he played on the tours of Bangladesh and India were tougher as he claimed just six wickets.James Anderson is also under a fitness cloud after suffering a groin injury last month playing for Lancashire, although he has returned to gentle training.Anderson, Woakes and Stuart Broad would have been England’s likely front-line pace attack to start the South Africa series, supplemented by Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali, but there could also be question-marks over the workload Stokes can sustain in Tests due to his troublesome knee. If reinforcements are needed, Mark Wood, Jake Ball, Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones would be in the mix.

Luke Ronchi struck the third fastest half-century in T20 in England, but Durham’s captain Paul Coughlin could still celebrate a first Durham win

ECB Reporters Network28-Jul-2017Paul Coughlin (right) played a key role with bat and ball•Getty Images

Durham captain Paul Coughlin led the bottom club to their first win of the NatWest T20 Blast North Group campaign at the expense of Leicestershire in a match shortened by rain to seven overs a side in Leicester.A stunning innings of 63 not out from 21 balls from opener Luke Ronchi should have put the Foxes in an impregnable position after acting captain Colin Ackermann won the toss and chose to bat first on a good pitch.The New Zealander hit 10 fours and two sixes, reaching his 50 off just 16 deliveries, equalling the third fastest half-century in domestic T20 cricket, behind only Marcus Trescothick (13 deliveries) for Somerset and Gerard Brophy
(14) for Yorkshire.But the sixth over of the Foxes innings, bowled by young seamer Barry McCarthy, yielded only one run as Tom Wells swung and missed, opening the door for the visitors.Durham quickly lost two wickets in their reply, but Coughlin (38 not out off 18 balls) and the experienced Paul Collingwood (34 of 18) added 76 runs for the third wicket, hit from just 33 balls. Both were dropped, Coughlin a
skier by Gavin Griffiths at point, and Collingwood a chest-high caught and bowled chance to Cameron Delport.Although Collingwood and Jack Burnham were run out off successive deliveries in the final over, Coughlin sliced the penultimate delivery to the third man boundary to complete a remarkable win.It meant a third home defeat in a row for Leicestershire, whose four-match away winning run to start the campaign is now a distant memory.

Alex Hales might be overlooked by England at Test level, but he blazed a trail for Notts at Trent Bridge with a century to overhaul a formidable Yorkshire score

ECB Reporters Network30-Jul-2017Alex Hales’ century helped Notts chase a formidable target [file picture]•Getty Images

An explosive century from Alex Hales led Notts Outlaws to a thrilling victory over Yorkshire Vikings in their NatWest T20 Blast meeting at Trent Bridge.Hales scored 101, his first hundred for the county, as Notts completed a record run chase to defeat the Vikings by five wickets with five balls remaining.Yorkshire had posted 223 for 5, with Adam Lyth scoring 59, one of five top order batsmen to register 28 or more, after the visitors had been invited to bat first.Amidst the carnage Samit Patel maintained creditable figures of three for 29 but there was little joy for any of the other bowlers to celebrate as Yorkshire plundered 10 sixes in their 20 overs.Requiring more than 11 runs an over Notts got off to a flying start with Hales and Riki Wessels putting on 87 in the first 5.4 overs before Wessels fell to Azeem Rafiq for 34.Tom Moores, promoted to No 3 in the order, was unluckily run out by a direct hit from David Willey, who threw down the stumps from 60 yards.Hales reached his hundred from 45 balls, heaving four huge sixes and 14 fours, before falling shortly afterwards, lofting Willey to deep midwicket, to leave the score on 177 for 3 in the 15th over.Brendan Taylor made 41, having put on 83 with Hales, before being trapped lbw by Rashid. Outlaws’ captain Dan Christian hit a quickfire 24 but when he fell 17 were still needed from the final two overs.Steven Mullaney immediately calmed any nerves amongst the home supporters by twice lifting the ball over the ropes, including the winning blow from the bowling of Tim Bresnan.Earlier, Tom Kohler-Cadmore made 37 in an opening partnership of 83 with Lyth, a stand that was broken by Mullaney, with the first ball of the seventh over.Australian internationals Shaun Marsh, who made 47, and Peter Handscomb, 31, added 68 from 35 balls and the final lustre to the Vikings’ innings was supplied by Jack Leaning’s 16-ball unbeaten 28.Notts had never successfully chased anything higher than 207 before but thanks to Hales’ magnificent effort they accomplished the feat with time to spare.Despite the loss Yorkshire remain top of the North Group but the table is so tight that sixth -placed Notts are only two points behind them, with a game in hand.

Nottinghamshire’s promotion at the first time of asking completed a rewarding season that also included two limited-overs trophies

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Hove28-Sep-20172:24

Championship round-up: Somerset stay up, but despair for Middlesex

It took just one season. Nottinghamshire, relegated from Division One in 2016, have won promotion in 2017. Having led Division Two with distinction, a trail-blazing start seeing them set the standard that, for a while, few could match, they make do with second-place. The treble may not have come to pass, but nothing of what Nottinghamshire have done in all forms of the game, winning the Royal London Cup and the NatWest T20 Blast, has a whiff of failure about it. Essex might have won the County Championship, but Nottinghamshire were the best team in the country. Quite a feat for Peter Moores’ first season in charge.Only recently has there been reason to doubt that. They came into this final match against Sussex needing 12 points to secure promotion, and 12 was exactly what they got. A wayward performance with the ball, saw them concede 565 in Sussex’s first innings, after reducing the hosts to 107 for 5. Then, requiring all five batting points to adequately supplement points for a draw, they crashed to 65 for 5. Chris Read, for one last time, dragged his side out of a hole and, eventually, to the promised land.A delayed 1pm start ended with handshakes at 4.30pm: Sussex not asking Nottinghamshire to bat, instead biding their time as Luke Wells completed a magnificent hundred. Upon handshakes, the bails were flicked off on Read’s career.He was hugged by all, walking through a guard of honour on the field before a bigger one, reinforced by spectators and the entire Sussex squad, greeted him off and up the stairs towards the Nottinghamshire dressing room. He told BBC Nottingham that it was only when he walked off and saw the ovation in his honour that it dawned on him. And us, too. English cricket will go on, but it will do so without Read.Read’s quality and longevity can be seen in his numbers: 348 first class appearances – 15 of which Test matches for England – along with 333 List A and 119 T20s matches. A first class tally of 16,237 runs from 525 innings, 25 hundreds and a batting average of 37.07 underlines his class in front of the stumps, transitioning from an era of wicketkeeping as a specialist skill, to present day, when they are required to pull their weight with the bat. His 124 in the first innings hauled Nottinghamshire towards the bonus points haul that confirmed their promotion. Naturally, it was behind the stumps where he set the standard that many will aspire to but few can follow.Read collected 1580 dismissals in all forms , with 1101 dismissals in the first class game – the 1101st of them, today, when he cleared out three fielders to take a popped-up catch from Michael Burgess for Sussex’s seventh second-innings wicket. He is likely to be the last English wicketkeeper to take over a thousand catches. Against Derbyshire at the start of August, he beat Thomas Oates’ record for the most dismissals for a Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper. That now stands at 982 – 938 catches and 44 stumpings.Chris Read heads off into retirement•Getty Images

There was one quirk that could have been rectified as he took to the field after tea for the last time. Read has no wicket – first-class, one-day or T20 – to his name. He has bowled 16-overs worth in first-class cricket. He was egged on by some of his Nottinghamshire team-mates to bring himself on to bowl and nab a maiden wicket on his final bow. However, Moores, his head coach, a former wicketkeeper himself, had some sage advice: “You’ve kept wicket for 20-years and that’s how you should walk off – with your pads on.”Typically for Read, it is not the personal milestones or accolades he will miss. He ran his hands through his hair a few times as he walked from the middle and up the Pavilion steps, taking in the applause, cheers and every last moment. He even had to be reminded to hold on to a frame that Sussex had made for him to commemorate his last first-class game.”I will miss the wonderful friends I have made in the game,” he said. “Not only at Trent Bridge but in the opposition too. I’ll miss my little disorganised corner of the dressing room and sharing a beer afterwards and celebrate a win or chew the fat if it’s gone wrong.”Trying to maintain the level of performance you expect of yourself gets harder and harder, that’s why I have decided to retire. I feel that my performance levels are only going to drop off but I’d like to think I go out maybe not at the top but not too far off. It’s been an enjoyable last day of my career.”Nottinghamshire have done the last part of this the hard way. The Division Two title was all theirs up until T20 Blast Finals Day, when the second-part of a what looked a nailed-on treble was secured.They took their foot off the gas and, first, lost their unbeaten record against Worcestershire. Then, they lost their claim to first-place with defeat to Northamptonshire. Both victors coming into the final round of matches looking to sneak the Division Two trophy and promotion respectively.However well they played in this match, when the sentiments of promotion and Read’s retirement die down – and it will be a while yet – they must count themselves very fortunate. Had Northamptonshire not let their over rate slide in the match at Trent Bridge and incurred a five-point penalty, Nottinghamshire, taking second-place by a single point, would not be welcoming Division One cricket to Trent Bridge in 2018.The final throes of the Championship season at Hove were a mixed bag. Wells produced a sparkling fourth Championship century of the season to finish 2017 with his best first-class haul in a calendar year. His 103 – his hundred came off 97 balls – saw him lead Division Two with 1292 Championship runs. Only Surrey’s retiring great Kumar Sangakkara, with a remarkable 1491 in Division One, has more in the competition.Wells belted four sixes in his innings, all off offspinner Matt Carter, all straight and true down the ground, above and beyond the sight screen and the deckchairs at the Cromwell Road End. When he was dismissed, Carter set about bettering his figures, as Sussex’s batsmen came in, slogged a few and then went on their way. The young off-spinner finished with figures of four for 106 from just 17 overs.With Division One status confirmed, Nottinghamshire can go about recruiting ahead of next season. Over the last two years, they have lost a number of key first-team players, such as James Taylor and Michael Lumb, and now Read. While Paul Coughlin is joining the club, they missed out on Keaton Jennings, who opted to join Lancashire. Further deals are being worked on behind the scenes.In the short-term, it is straight back up to Nottingham as the festivities begin on the road before a player’s do on Saturday. They drink to promotion and, for one last time, they will drink to Chris Read.As Read’s last post-match interview as captain and cricketer wound down, he offered a perfect summation for Nottinghamshire’s 2017 and his illustrious career: “It worked out well in the end.”

The No. 3 batsman made the third-highest score for Scotland and led them to their third-largest ODI victory by margin of runs

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2017
ScorecardCalum MacLeod top-edges a hook for a boundary during his 58•Peter Della Penna

Calum MacLeod recorded the highest score by a Scotland batsman in 2014 and it led the team to their biggest victory in terms of runs. That symmetry persisted on Friday when he made the third-highest score by a Scotland batsman and it led the team to their third-biggest victory. PNG were on wrong side of these records and, on their home turf in Port Moresby, slipped to defeat by 101 runs.MacLeod’s innings featured three sixes and 15 fours. He was so comfortable that on a pitch where only four batsmen from either side made more than 30, he batted out 163 balls and maintained a strike-rate of 95. It was on the back of his knock that Scotland got to 278 for 9, though they could have got a lot more considering they were 240 for 2 in the 45th over.PNG seamers Alei Nao and Norman Vanua took six wickets between them. Their fightback didn’t extend to the batting though and were three down by the end of the 10th over. At 85 for 5 in the 21st, PNG’s chase seemed all but finished and even their effort to last their full quota didn’t come to pass as they were bowled out for 177 in the 44th over.Scotland used five bowlers, and all but one of them managed an economy rate of four or fewer. Alasdair Evans, Michael Leask and Stuart Whittingham picked up two wickets each.

Jamie Porter also claimed two prizes after helping Essex to the County Championship title while James Anderson and Joe Root took the England awards

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2017Samit Patel and Nat Sciver have been recognised by their peers with respective Player of the Year titles at the Professional Cricketers’ Association awards night.Patel, the Nottinghamshire allrounder, won the Reg Hayter Cup after being voted the PCA Players’ Player of the Year, following his starring role in Nottinghamshire’s impressive season where they won both white-ball competitions – the Royal London Cup and NatWest T20 Blast – and secured promotion in the County Championship.Patel topped the voting ahead of Kumar Sangakkara, who signed off his first-class career by averaging over 100 in the Championship for Surrey, Essex’s Jamie Porter, the leading wicket-taker of the season, and Glamorgan’s Colin Ingram who made over 1000 runs in white-ball cricket.He was Nottinghamshire’s leading run-scorer in the Championship with 906 at 53.29 and also claimed 19 wickets. He also topped the county’s run chart in the Royal London Cup – and was fourth overall – with 539 at 67.37 then added 405 runs and 16 wickets in the T20 Blast. His success has been enough to have him floated as a possible replacement for Ben Stokes should the latter be withdrawn from the Ashes.

PCA award winners

Reg Hayter Cup for the NatWest PCA Players’ Player of the Year
Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire)
John Arlott Cup for the NatWest PCA Young Player of the Year
Jamie Porter (Essex)
NatWest Women’s Player of the Summer
Natalie Sciver
Investec Test Player of the Summer
James Anderson
Royal London One Day International Player of the Summer
Joe Root
Specsavers County Championship Player of the Year
Jamie Porter (Essex)
NatWest T20 Blast Player of the Year
Wayne Madsen (Derbyshire)
Royal London One-Day Cup Player of the Year
Colin Ingram (Glamorgan)
Greene King PCA England Masters Player of the Year
Owais Shah
PCA Lifetime Achievement Award
Fred Rumsey
ECB Special Award
Heather Knight and Mark Robinson
Harold Goldblatt Award for the PCA Umpire of the Year
Michael Gough

“It’s a great honour to be voted by your peers. It’s a great feeling and it demonstrates how well we have done as a team and individually this season,” Patel said. “I’m a little bit surprised actually. To be up there with a world-class player like Sanga, with the amount of runs that he scored in a short amount of time, is a privilege in itself.”Allrounder Sciver, part of the World Cup-winning side, was named England’s Player of the Summer ahead of Tammy Beaumont and Alex Hartley. Sciver scored 369 runs at 46.12 and took seven wickets to help England secure the title and, during the tournament, had a shot named after her.The ‘Nat-Meg’ was unveiled, at least to a wider audience, during her 129 off 111 balls against New Zealand when Sciver deliberately deflected a leg-stump yorker through her legs for two runs. Earlier in the tournament she had scored a career-best 137 against Pakistan which included England’s fastest World Cup century off 76 balls.In the final against India, played at a sold-out Lord’s, Sciver held England’s middle order together with 51 off 68 balls to help them to 228 for 7, which ultimately proved just enough thanks to Anya Shrubsole’s inspired spell.”Nothing can take away from that day at Lord’s and just being there with the whole team and the girls who didn’t quite make the 15 so we were there as a squad,” Sciver said. “This caps off a brilliant year for us and hopefully we can produce a few more brilliant years. To be voted by my peers is a really nice feeling.”There are a few other players who could have been nominated as well. It was a performance by the full 15 in the squad, so I am very lucky.In the other awards, Porter picked up two prizes – the Young Player of the Year and the County Championship award for his 75 wickets at 16.82 in Essex’s unbeaten campaign. His success has earned him a place on the England Lions tour of Australia next month.The England Test and one-day awards went to James Anderson and Joe Root respectively, Ingram was named the Royal London Cup Player of the Year and Wayne Madsen took the same title for the NatWest t20 Blast.In the PCA’s 50th year – the organisation’s first meeting was on September 4, 1967 in London – they gave a lifetime achievement award to the founder Fred Rumsey.”In our 50th Anniversary year it is only fitting that our Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to one of our founding members, Fred Rumsey,” David Leatherdale, the PCA chief executive said. “His courage and determination some 50 years ago has enabled the PCA to become the respected organisation it is today.”PCA team of the year Alex Hales(Nottinghamshire), Mark Stoneman (Surrey), Colin Ingram (Glamorgan), Kumar Sangakkara (Surrey), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Darren Stevens (Kent), Ben Cox (Worcestershire), Kyle Abbott (Hampshire), Craig Overton (Somerset), Simon Harmer (Essex), Jamie Porter (Essex)

The former England wicketkeeper has become increasingly vocal about the situation at Sussex, but will he get the chance to try and bring success back to the club?

David Hopps17-Nov-2017No England wicketkeeper can have expended so much energy in the role as Matt Prior. So said the when he called time on his first-class career more than two years ago.Now Prior’s energy levels are hitting maximum again as he comes to the terms with the fact that he can no longer ignore. The vacant head coach’s role at Sussex is a job made for him.If not that precise role then something else where he can bark a few orders, lay down a few ground rules, and sort out a Sussex culture which he is adamant has become slack and unprofessional.Prior, who was part of a great Sussex era when they won three Championships between 2003 and 2007, told the Brighton on Friday: “I am passionate about Sussex cricket. I’ve spoken to a number of senior players in the last month or so, a number of coaches and staff. What I’m hearing is frightening.”Obviously things are not good. I think Sussex have become soft, if I’m honest. I don’t want to sound like I’m here as an enemy. I’m here as an ally.”Whether Rob Andrew, Sussex’s chief executive, will have the courage to recognise that Prior’s challenging persona can be channelled into something positive and long lasting remains to be seen – not many chief executives like the failings of their county to be be openly discussed.
Andrew told ESPNcricinfo this week that the decision on a new head coach will not be rushed.By the time he makes it, Prior’s blood pressure could be in need of daily checks. Until then, a thick-set figure will be seen pedalling away his frustrations, uphill into the wind, down Sussex’s country lanes.When Prior retired because of persistent Achilles problems, he turned to cycling for satisfaction, founding One Pro Cycling, Britain’s first continental professional cycling team.But since the removal as head coach of Mark Davis, by mutual consent, last month, so ending a 16-year association with the club, Prior has realised that he would love nothing more than to park his bike inside the cramped and characterful Hove ground where he spent much of his career.Prior was initially coy about his ambitions, perhaps even conflicted, but he is a passionate man and he has been unable to curb his excitement, especially on Twitter where his recent pronouncements have displayed his love for a county that has lost its way.Take this, for instance, the day before Davis’ sacking:”Some big changes going on at @SussexCCC – who knows what’s gone on behind closed doors. All I do know is the culture needs to be rebuilt!”Or this, four days later:”Damage was done long before Mark Davis was put in charge. So frustrating as been saying for a long time things need to change drastically.”
And, most recently, this:”For the number of people asking yes I am very keen to be involved with @SussexCCC & help the club get back to winning ways. I have spoken to a number of senior players & staff & what has been going & how a few individuals have behaved is quite frankly worrying. It needs to change.”That Prior has the experience – if not the coaching certificates – for Sussex’s top job is undeniable. He became an increasingly influential figure in the England dressing room in a career that encompassed 79 Tests and 68 ODIs between 2004 and 2014.Kevin Pietersen resented his senior professional role, and emphasis on the team ethic, deriding him as the Big Cheese in one of the most vicious personal attacks ever seen in a cricket autobiography, but then Pietersen was not the greatest fan of authority.Prior has seen Yorkshire and Lancashire make internal appointments in the past year, promoting Andrew Gale and Glen Chapple respectively as soon as their playing days were over.He has also shown in his cycling venture that he has an appetite for a challenge. The development of One Pro Cycling has not been an easy one – funding problems have caused the team to trim back plans to compete in world events, alongside Team Sky, and return to continental level and rosters have also been cut – but the extent of Prior’s sporting ambition has been clear. He knows what he wants to achieve and tends to take the direct approach to getting there.”I’ve learned about the real world – the world outside cricket,” he said.As a player, too, he has had the opportunity to study the various approaches of Peter Moores, both with Sussex and England, Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower.As Moores turned a largely homegrown Sussex side into one of the best-drilled sides in the country, Prior commanded respect as an up-and-coming player for his drive and the enterprising way he played his cricket. The demanding leadership and sense of direction that Moores instilled in the club remains a strong influence on him.If he returned to Sussex in an influential capacity, he would not be content with a snooze in a deckchair behind the arm and an occasional burst of Sussex by the Sea.