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Durham battled to 273 thanks to a partnership between captain Cameron Bancroft and 21-year-old Jack Burnham

Jon Culley at New Road14-May-2019As curators of the county circuit’s most aesthetically appealing backdrop, Worcestershire have an onerous responsibility. Having upset enough traditionalists by allowing a monstrous (to some critics) four-storey hotel to be built in one corner of the New Road ground, the decision to erect a new electronic scoreboard next to it cannot have been taken lightly.The one it replaces was so small as to be barely visible, particularly now that the banks of seats obscure half of it anyway. Make it too large, though, and there is danger of encroaching on The View. Happily, the chosen dimensions have avoided that, although the grey open metalwork surrounding it is not a masterstroke of urban minimalism: it just isn’t finished yet.The numbers on the scorecard showed both sides in the ascendancy at different times on a sunblessed day of the kind that shows off the cathedral at its best, set against a crisp blue backcloth, framed by vibrant spring green.Durham rejected the chance to bowl first and won the right to bat, which did not seem too smart as openers Alex Lees and Cameron Steel were being dismissed with just 10 on the board. Lees drove ambitiously at a ball from Charlie Morris and a thick inside edge clattered into his stumps, then Steel followed one outside off stump and Riki Wessels took a sharp low catch at first slip. It was a wicket for Joe Leach, the captain, significant because he had not played competitive senior cricket for 11 months after suffering a stress fracture in the back.Leach struck another blow in his next over as Gareth Harte was leg before and at 14 for 3 Durham were in a spot of early bother. Leach finished his opening spell with 2 for 12 from six overs.Once the shine began to wear off the new ball, however, the story began to change. Cameron Bancroft, the Durham captain, applied himself judiciously, as too did Jack Burnham, the former England Under-19 batsman. They negotiated a steady and for the most part untroubled path to lunch at 77 for 3.The day became a significant one for Burnham, too, as he seeks to rebuild his career after a year of enforced absence, the consequence of three failed tests for recreational drug use. There are some who advocate life bans for any form of drug abuse but 12 months is a long time for a 21-year-old for whom it must have once seemed he had the world at his feet.He took himself off to labour on a road gang for part of his time away, reacquainting himself with a world in which money is too sparse to throw away on the empty self-gratification that tempted him before. Durham, who need talented young players more than ever, will hope it is all in the past.When Burnham passed fifty off 109 balls it was his first since July 2017. He and Bancroft added 149 in 46 overs.But then the balance of the day shifted again as both fell in consecutive overs towards the end of the middle session. Josh Tongue, with the second ball of a new spell, removed Bancroft, trapped in front for 70 trying to work to leg, then Morris, who was to be the bowler of the day, had Burnham caught behind for 76. When Leach then bowled Liam Trevaskis, Durham had slipped from 163 for 3 to 177 for 6.More rebuilding followed as Ben Raine and Ned Eckersley, reprising old Leicestershire partnerships, added 60 for the seventh wicket, but then, with the new ball taken, it became a Morris dance through the tail, the right-arm seamer dismissing both in consecutive overs and taking the last four wickets in the space of five overs as Durham were out for 273.Morris spent much of last season away from the first team remodelling a once-suspect action. His 6 for 53 followed his 7 for 45 in Worcestershire’s opening win over Leicestershire, so whatever remedial work he undertook seems to have worked.Chris Rushworth’s action could hardly be better honed. As if to demonstrate that fact, as Worcestershire began their reply, the Durham stalwart struck with his second ball to remove Daryl Mitchell.

Where we dissect the big talking points from the game, run fun polls and highlight the social media chatter from around the Bangladesh-West Indies ODI

Varun Shetty17-Jun-2019

India’s T20I captain is the first overseas signing for the franchise for 2019, while Alex Blackwell will take up the role of head coach once again

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2019India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and former Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell are both set to return to Lancashire Thunder, taking up their respective roles as overseas recruit and head coach once again for the Kia Super League 2019.Harmanpreet, who played her first season in the tournament last year and made 164 runs in seven innings at an average of 32.80 and a strike rate of 151.85, is Thunder’s first overseas signing of the season, with two more additions due to be announced. She is the fourth Indian to feature in the league this season, alongside Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma (Western Storm) and Jemimah Rodrigues (Yorkshire Diamonds).”I am delighted to sign with Lancashire Thunder once again for the Kia Super League. I really enjoyed my first spell in Lancashire, everybody made me feel very welcome and I have some great friends in the dressing room, who I can’t wait to play with again,” Harmanpreet said in a statement on the team’s website.”It is a very talented squad and I know we will all be hungry to go one further this year, following the disappointment of narrowly missing out on Finals Day in 2018.”Blackwell, who took up the job last year in what was her maiden assignment as full-time head coach following her retirement from international cricket, said her reunion with Harmanpreet, also her team-mate at Sydney Thunder in WBBL, was something she was looking forward to.”Harmanpreet made a fantastic start last summer, holding her nerve in the final over to hit the winning runs at Surrey after joining up with the squad late,” Blackwell said of Harmanpreet’s 21-ball 34 not out on debut, against eventual champions Surrey Stars, who had signed her up for the 2017 season but couldn’t avail of her services due to an injury Harmanpreet sustained at the 2017 World Cup. For Thunder, she capped off her innings on debut with a match-winning six in the final over, at The Oval.”She also played a great knock in our Roses victory against Yorkshire in Blackpool and I am certain that she will be determined to showcase even more of her skills this summer,” Blackwell said.The 2019 edition of the KSL begins on August 6, with Thunder taking on Southern Vipers in the season opener at Aigburth, Liverpool.

Interim team director is positive about the challenge ahead and seems to have an idea about the future of South African cricket

Liam Brickhill15-Aug-2019Enoch Nkwe, South Africa’s interim team director, has long been inspired by the feats of Pep Guardiola, the former Spanish football international who famously coached Barcelona to success while still in his 30s. Nkwe is 36, slightly younger than Guardiola was when he took charge at Barcelona, and is faced with what is as daunting a prospect as winning La Liga: a tour of India.”I understand that it’s going to be a big challenge, but I strongly believe that we can really make an immediate impact,” Nkwe said at the first official press conference of his (albeit temporary) appointment. “And if it doesn’t happen, it’s not going to be the end of the world. There’s always a big picture to everything.”Given South Africa’s recent football-style restructuring of the national men’s side, the comparison between Nkwe and Guardiola is particularly apt. “He’s on another level,” Nkwe said of Guardiola. “I’ve followed his work over the last couple of years. I just enjoy how he really backs his philosophy, his values as a person as a coach, and tries to set new boundaries and break records. That really encourages me, and when I see opportunities like this, it really excites me.”There’s a lot of things you can always learn from different sporting codes. Just watching his growth over the years, having started coaching one of the biggest clubs in the world at the age of 37, it really did motivate me that, if he can do it, it is possible.”Certain things could take a while, and I don’t know how successful we can be in a short period of time, but I believe that we can make a quick turnaround. I strongly believe that we have the players to. But we need to identify the areas that held back the team not to perform to their full potential, and get them to perform as soon as possible.”Time is not something that Nkwe has a lot of right now. In exactly one month, South Africa will play the first match of a tour of India that includes three T20Is and three Tests. He will have to hit the ground running, but he has at least worked with several of the current South Africa players in different circumstances, coaching Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen at the Lions, Kagiso Rabada and Quinton de Kock at the Under-19 level, and Dean Elgar with South Africa A.The interim nature of his role – and indeed, the short-term nature of many roles in CSA’s set-up at the moment – won’t make things any easier for him. There seems to be a lot of uncertainty in South African cricket at the moment, which is perhaps inevitable in times of flux, but the large-scale reshuffles have only added to the confusion over where, exactly, South African cricket is headed. Even team selection was unclear – until today.”I’m also the interim convener of selection,” said CSA’s acting director of cricket, Corrie van Zyl, on Thursday, by way of an explanation as to who would be selecting playing XIs on the India tour. “So I’m acting and interim. And then we have the interim team director as an interim selector. And then we also have the captain, who is not interim, as a selector. So that is currently the selection panel.”South Africa will play three Tests and three T20Is on their tour of India•Getty Images

Nkwe is at least positive about the challenge ahead and seems to have an idea about the future of South African cricket – even if he’s not giving away the details just yet. “Yes [the tour] is going to be a tough one, but there is a big picture,” he said. “More details will come out in the near future with regards to what the big picture is going to be, so that everyone can start understanding what the actual plan is going to be post-cricket World Cup. From my side, it’s very exciting, and I’m looking forward to this trip.”Distancing himself from previous coach Ottis Gibson’s focus on fast bowling, Nkwe drew attention to his playing experience as an allrounder in domestic franchise cricket, saying, “Talking from my experience, as a professional cricketer I was an allrounder, so I’m always open to all departments. That’s how I’ve been leading sides over the years. Really understanding different departments of a team.”But like Gibson, Nkwe’s mandate is simple: win. “The mandate for the national team and Enoch as team director is obviously to win and be successful in India,” van Zyl said. “Very important is that the Test series is the start, for us, of the Test championship, so the mandate can’t be different than getting off to a good start. The appointment of Enoch as interim team director is because CSA believes that he has got the characteristics that can do exactly that.”Nkwe certainly got the Lions to click quickly, guiding them to success in both the CSA 4-Day Series and T20 Challenge during his first season in charge. He also led Jozi Stars to success in the inaugural Mzansi Super League, and has worked in a variety of environments, including in the Netherlands and at the Global T20 Canada.”Wherever you go, whatever environment you get confronted with, there’s always going to be certain challenges,” he said. “The last year has been very meaningful and massive in my own coaching career as a person.”The trip to India, in charge of a team in transition, is an opportunity for the team to thrive, he insisted. “I strongly believe that every challenge is an opportunity for a person to thrive, or the team to thrive. It’s important for us as team management that we create that thriving environment as soon as possible.”

Northants post 155 for 6 before visiting Bears slide to defeat in rain-affected chase

ECB Reporters Network26-Jul-2019Rob Keogh’s career-best 59 helped Northamptonshire to a first win in this season’s Vitality Blast as they beat Birmingham Bears by 21 runs in front of over 4500 on a balmy night at Wantage Road.Without a T20 win at home since 2017, Northants responded to a bumper crowd to snap a losing streak of eight matches. Keogh rescued Northants from 36 for 3 to post 155 for 6 having been sent in before a revised target of 133 in 16 overs after steady rain was well defended as the Bears slipped to a first defeat in this season’s Blast.Keogh’s was a well-paced innings and just his first T20 half-century, neatly in his 50th match. He shared an important partnership of 84 for the fourth-wicket with Alex Wakely, who took their side from the final over of the Powerplay to 120 for 4 in the 17th over.Keogh steered Ashton Agar’s left-arm spin past short-third man before cutting another boundary past extra-cover. He stepped down the wicket to lift the same bowler down the ground onto the roof of the Spencer Pavilion for the evening’s first six – and just the fourth in his T20 career – and a nudged two through midwicket brought him fifty in 42 balls. He struck a sixth four in the final over, straight driving Jeetan Patel.Wakely, after two failures, twice reverse-swept Patel past short-third man, cut Agar through the covers and also pulled the Bears captain between two fielders in the deep on the leg side but miscued a pull in Fidel Edwards’ final over to be caught-and-bowled for 38.Initially, Northants’ batting followed a familiar pattern with early wickets going down. Ben Curran, playing his first T20 of the season, skied an attempted drive against Edwards to cover point before Henry Brookes took two wickets from the Wilson End. A nasty lifter took an edge from Josh Cobb through to Michael Burgess before Adam Rossington slapped to extra cover to fall for 13 in the sixth over.But Keogh and Wakely got Northants stuck into the innings and gave the hitters a chance in the final overs. Dwaine Pretorius sliced a cut over backward point but hoisted James Wainman, on his Bears T20 debut, to deep midwicket where Sam Hain judged a tremendous catch. Matt Coles arrived and swung his second ball over deep midwicket for six before brutally slamming Patel over his head for four in the final over.Rain arrived to extend the interval and the revised chase began in perfect fashion for the home side as Ed Pollock slapped the first ball of the reply, from Ben Sanderson, straight to cover. But Burgess gave the chase a bright start with 18 in 13 balls, pulling Coles for a flat six wide of deep square and driving Faheem Ashraf fiercely past point for four. But trying to utilise the last over of the Powerplay, skied a pull against Nathan Buck and was held at extra-cover.Hain, following his 85 in 61 balls against Derbyshire, again looked in good touch and pulled and cut Ashraf for boundaries before late-cutting Coles past short-third man.Adam Hose skipped down to lift Graeme White into the sight-screen but a tight over from Buck left 75 needed from 48 balls. Hain responded by lifting Sanderson over mid-off for four before pulling White into the hands of deep midwicket.Suddenly the required rate was into double figures and Agar lifted Buck over long-on and pulled Ashraf for four but swung past the next delivery and was bowled for 17. With 36 required from the final three overs, Ashraf sent down a superb over for just four runs and yorked Hose for 31, leaving 32 from 12. Sanderson cleaned up Will Rhodes in the penultimate over before Pretorius defended 26 from the final six deliveries with ease.

South-African born seamer took 6 for 26 including a match-winning post-lunch burst of 5 for 9

ECB Reporters Network12-Sep-2019
Brydon Carse produced a career-best six-wicket haul as Durham beat Middlesex by 44 runs at Lord’s.The South-African born seamer took 6 for 26 including a match-winning post-lunch burst of 5 for 9 as Durham bowled out the hosts for 151 on the third afternoon.Victory keeps alive Durham chances of promotion, while defeat for Middlesex means they will spend a third successive season in Division 2 in 2020.Middlesex began the day needing 175 more to win, but it didn’t take long for their chase to hit a bend in the road.Nick Gubbins hit two early fours, but his stay was an all-too brief one as he nicked the 16th ball of the day bowled by Carse into the hands of Alex Lees at slip.Stephen Eskinazi lasted just three balls before becoming Chris Rushworth’s 61st victim of the season, trapped LBW after only getting half forward.And when the home side’s skipper and batting talisman Dawid Malan followed shortly afterwards LBW to Ben Raine, they were 45 for 3.In contrast to his playing partners, Sam Robson (65) played with increasing authority, producing trademark square cuts and some beautiful on-drives in reaching 50 off 87 balls with 10 fours, the fifth time he had passed the landmark in Championship cricket this summer.Max Holden, despite struggling to find any touch, provided valuable support in a stand of 54 before Raine returned to pin him in front shortly before lunch.And when Rushworth ended Robson’s vigil with just the fourth ball after the resumption, the hosts were struggling again at 107-5.Under clear skies, a sharp contrast to much of the rest of the match, batting should have been an easier proposition. But Carse struck twice in the space of three balls, first finding the edge of George Scott’s bat to give Ned Eckersley another catch, before removing the normally obdurate James Harris second ball for nought.Debutante Miguel Cummins had shown some batting promise in the first innings but he too came under Carse’s spell, a Yorker ending his brief stay.The five-for came when Simpson, Middlesex’s last hope of unlikely salvation, also had his furniture disturbed.And the wicket which sealed the career-best brought victory when last man Tim Murtagh missed with a big slog, sending his stumps awry.

Jason Gillespie uses his extensive contacts book to seal signing

Matt Roller25-Sep-2019Sussex have signed Australia’s Travis Head as their overseas player for the 2020 season, with Jason Gillespie again using his role as Adelaide Strikers coach to aid recruitment.Gillespie is both teams’ head coach, and Head will join Alex Carey, Rashid Khan, and Chris Jordan in playing for both clubs in recent years.Jofra Archer, another Sussex player, was linked with the Strikers in bizarre fashion by Matthew Wade during the final Ashes Test at The Oval, but has a year left on his deal with the Hobart Hurricanes.Head, who scored 191 in four Ashes Tests this summer before being left out at The Oval, will be available to play in all formats. He had been scheduled to sign for the county this season, but the deal fell through after he was named in the Ashes squad, and Sussex recruited Carey instead.”To have a high-quality international batsman like Travis on our staff in 2020 is very, very exciting,” said Gillespie.”We wanted a top four batsman to improve our team and Travis will do that. He’s shown his class in his international career so far, he brings some useful offspin and he will offer good leadership support to our captains from his time leading South Australia and the Strikers.”We also felt it was important to sign an overseas batsman that would be able to join us for most of the season and give us some continuity.”I’ve known Trav for a number of years. We have a really good relationship and after we decided here at Sussex that an overseas batsman would complement our squad next year I just knew that Travis would be ideal.””I was disappointed not to have been able to take up my contract this summer so was thrilled that Jason and Keith [Greenfield, the club’s director of cricket] were keen to lock me away for the 2020 season,” said Head. “I can’t wait.”Head is unlikely to be the last Australian to sign a county deal for next season. The Future Tours Programme has thrown up a large gap between Australia’s Test matches – from February to November – and their white-ball commitments are equally sparse.Peter Siddle (Essex) and Cameron Bancroft (Durham) already hold contracts for 2020, while it is understood that multiple counties, including Hampshire and Yorkshire, have enquired about the availability of Nathan Lyon.

In an inexperienced attack, Chahar had to take on a new role and with the series on the line he delivered a record-breaking performance

Karthik Krishnaswamy10-Nov-20196:56

Laxman: Chahar more versatile with his variations now

New-ball swing is what Deepak Chahar is known for. It’s the skill that has earned him a place in India’s T20I team.New-ball swing has defined Chahar to the extent that 493 of the 616 balls – that’s 80% – he has bowled for Chennai Super Kings have been in the powerplay overs. His IPL captain, MS Dhoni, often gets him to bowl three straight overs in the first six.Before Sunday’s game against Bangladesh in Nagpur, Chahar had bowled a similar proportion of his deliveries in the powerplay (96 out of 126, or 76%) for India as well. His most memorable performance in six T20Is had been a three-wicket haul against West Indies in Guyana, a trademark display of swerve and control with the new ball.On Sunday night, everything changed.India were defending 174 in dewy conditions, with an inexperienced attack and no sixth bowler. Their fifth bowler was Shivam Dube, a seam-bowling allrounder known more for his batting and playing only his third T20I. In the circumstances, Chahar was one of the two “senior” members of the bowling attack alongside legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal.ALSO READ: Chahar’s best is also world’s best in men’s T20IsGiven the composition of the attack, Chahar couldn’t slot into his usual role of powerplay specialist. His captain Rohit Sharma told him he would have a more flexible role.”The plan was that I would get the responsibility of bowling the main overs,” Chahar said during the post-match presentation. “Usually I bowl with the new ball, but Rohit said I’ll bowl the crucial overs today, whenever the team needed me to bowl. I’m happy that the management gave me this responsibility on this stage.”Given the amount of dew around – towels were being employed between deliveries even during India’s innings – swing was out of the picture. In any case, Chahar only got one over in the powerplay. It was a challenge for him to show he had other tricks up his sleeve.Deepak Chahar was the man of the moment•BCCI

He came out of the challenge with the best figures in T20I history. Big wicket hauls in T20 cricket can be misleading, particularly when they involve clusters of tail-end dismissals; the hat-trick that ended Bangladesh’s innings will go into all the headlines, but Chahar’s best work came before that.The most impressive feature of his display was the control he showed over his variations. We’ve seen his knuckle ball and slower bouncer in the past, but we haven’t necessarily seen him execute them so well with a wet ball.”The ball was wet, which made it difficult,” Chahar said in an interview with Chahal on . “But I have played so much in Chennai that I am used to it. In Chennai, there is a lot of dew and the humidity means you sweat a lot too. So I know how to keep my hands clean, use a bit of dirt to dry my hands, so playing in Chennai helped me a lot today.”Chahar understood that he could make life difficult for the batsmen by bowling into the surface on a slightly two-paced pitch, and as a consequence, 11 of his 20 balls were pitched either short or short of a good length, according to ESPNcricinfo’s data. Some of these balls skidded through, some of them gripped and slowed down, and Bangladesh’s batsmen never looked in control against this mode of attack.Chahar stayed away from the fuller lengths, by and large, and as a result didn’t bowl a single full-toss on a day when the other fast bowlers, from both sides, sent down ten between them.When he did bowl full, however, Chahar made a big impact. There was the wide-ish tempter, slanting across the left-handed Soumya Sarkar and landing just short of a driving length, that resulted in a catch to mid-off in his first over, the third of Bangladesh’s innings. There was the yorker to end Bangladesh’s innings and complete Chahar’s hat-trick. And in between, there was the ball that dismissed Mohammad Mithun in a match-turning 13th over.The over began with Bangladesh favourites to win, needing 69 from 48 balls with two set batsmen at the crease and eight wickets in hand. Mohammad Naim had taken Dube’s first two overs apart, and had shown brilliant footwork to rattle the experienced Chahal, whose figures at that stage read 3-0-38-0. India needed someone to give them some control, and Rohit threw the ball to Chahar.He responded brilliantly. Chahar beat Mithun twice in four balls with short-of-a-length cutters that skidded through low. Then, off the last ball of the over, he made clever use of the crease, going close to the stumps in order to create an angle away from the right-hander. Out came a knuckle ball floating away from off stump. Mithun had to reach out towards the ball and generate all the power himself, and there was no way he was going to clear the off-side boundary on one of the largest outfields in the country.That delivery ended a 98-run stand for the third wicket. That over ended with Chahar’s figures reading 2-0-3-3. Then Mushfiqur Rahim, trying to dab Dube to third man to get off the mark, fell off the first ball of the next over. The match had turned in the space of two balls.

Legspinner awaits further England chances in South Africa, after encouraging blooding in NZ

Paul Edwards10-Dec-2019To borrow a phrase from a vastly more dignified political era Matt Parkinson is a coming man. Where he is going, on the other hand, is anybody’s guess, including his own.In the short term Parkinson’s diary is settled. Having just returned from the tour of New Zealand, in which he made his T20 international debut, he will very shortly fly out to South Africa as a member of England’s Test party. Ideally, of course, the Lancashire legspinner would then like to be named in the squad for the white-ball games against the Proteas and for the two-Test tour to Sri Lanka.Thereafter, however, things get more complicated. Fearful he might not be selected in Lancashire’s team for any of the half-dozen County Championship matches they are due to play in April or May, Parkinson has made himself available to interested franchises at next week’s IPL auction. That tournament is due to begin four days before England’s second Test against Sri Lanka and it is reasonable to think the selectors will want as many of those players in contention for next winter’s T20 World Cup squad to take a part in the biggest short-form show on earth.Parkinson understands all this, of course, but his rationale is rather simpler: he would just like to be playing cricket for someone and he particularly wants to avoid the situation he faced last year when he didn’t play a championship match until July and only played four Division Two games in all.”I am keen on playing red-ball cricket, but it gets to the point where if you’re not getting picked, it’s easy to get pigeon-holed as a white-ball cricketer, even if you don’t want to be,” he said. “I’m 23 and I’ve still got time on my side, but people are getting pigeon-holed quite early now because there’s so much white-ball cricket out there.”It is surely unfair to blame the hierarchy at Emirates Old Trafford for the various dilemmas faced by one of England’s most talented young spinners. Picking a leggie who bats at No.11 for matches played on green pitches in April and early May would be a supreme indulgence, especially in a Lancashire team whose pace attack is of Test match quality. ECB officials, on the other hand, might come in for rather more criticism. What remains remarkable is that Parkinson was selected for the South Africa tour on the strength of his 20 first-class wickets. The England selectors clearly know a good thing when they see it, however brief their glimpse might be.”I wouldn’t say it’s embarrassing to have only played four games and got picked for England but it says a lot, really,” said Parkinson. “There’s a lot of talk about a lack of Test-quality spinners, but if we’re not playing matches, no one’s going to improve. It says a lot that I’ve been picked on the back of 20 first-class games. It shows I’ve done something they like but I’d like to play all 14 [championship] games and get picked off the back of 50 first-class wickets in the season, then there isn’t muttering that he’s only been picked because the cupboard’s bare. I do think something needs to be done.”Matt Parkinson was an unused member of the Test squad in New Zealand•Getty Images

Let there be no doubt that Parkinson wants to play Test cricket. He saw how talismanic England cricketers like Ben Stokes prepared for the New Zealand series and he was properly impressed. And he is greatly looking forward to working with Jeetan Patel in South Africa. But as the final stages of last summer’s World Cup were being played he was wondering whether his future lay in 50-over cricket and the various T20 circuses. And young cricketers remember such things.”If you aren’t picked for the first couple of games, it’s almost like your season is starting again,” he said. “I feel that every summer I’m starting again and having to prove myself in red-ball cricket. When it got to July and I hadn’t played a game, I was worried, but the way it went at the end of the season and my selection for England has moved things back a bit,” he said.”In twelve months it could be completely different but I am keen on playing red-ball cricket. The back-loading’s good. I’ve played most of my games in the last month of the season. But playing seven games in the first seven weeks of the summer isn’t ideal although if you can bowl spin on a greentop in April, you can perform on a dust-bowl in September.”Parkinson’s ability to adapt to different conditions ensured he ended the New Zealand leg of England’s winter tour with his reputation bolstered. His four wickets at Napier in the second T20 game was a lovely way to end a year which had been scarred far beyond cricket’s compass by the death of his mother, Maria. That tragedy was mentioned by Nasser Hussain when he presented Parkinson with his first England cap at Nelson.”The words he said will stay with me for a long time, said Parkinson. “You sometimes forget how lucky you are, being paid to play cricket in New Zealand in November when most lads are in the indoor school or working. You get lost in the here and now. It gets tough at times but something like that definitely gives you perspective.”I was pleased to make my debut and pleased it went so well. I was nervous and it’s one of those situations when if you get a wicket in your first over, you’re okay then. It was a challenge to bowl on the small grounds in New Zealand but fingers crossed I’ve learned some lessons I can use.”There are things I’ll try and stick to whether it’s with England or Lancashire. The nerves are still there when you make your England debut but it helped that it was in New Zealand. You weren’t at the SCG or MCG with nearly 100,000 people there. We knew before the series that we were going to get a go, so that helped as well.”Parkinson must now wait to find out when he will next get a go. His many supporters hope he might get the nod for a Test in South Africa or Sri Lanka. They also hope that the stress freshly placed on five-day cricket by England’s hierarchy might have an impact on the shape of the domestic season. Parkinson, meanwhile, will carry on working very hard in the hope that excellence will receive its proper reward. He knows there is more for him to do.”Every cricketer has their work-ons and if I could bat like my brother [Callum at Leicestershire], that would be happy days.” he said. “All three facets of my game need to improve for me to be an international cricketer who plays most of the time. I class myself as a luxury. I don’t want to be a luxury. I want to get picked regardless of the surface. Nathan Lyon plays all over the world and he’s a No.11.”

Maxwell is set to return from a break from the game to lead the Melbourne Stars in the BBL

Daniel Brettig13-Dec-2019Glenn Maxwell has admitted he was suffering the effects of “four or five years” of near constant travel until his partner Vini helped convince him to step off the international treadmill for a mental health break in October, and has resolved to be more careful about how he plans his schedule in the future.The start of the Big Bash League and his role as captain of the Melbourne Stars always loomed as a likely moment for Maxwell to return to cricket, though he has been around the Victorian set-up for several weeks now and made himself available for the state’s final Sheffield Shield game before going on Twenty20 hiatus. But he is a much fresher and wiser man for the time away from the game, having re-acquainted himself with home, family and life not lived out of a suitcase.That had been Maxwell’s lot for most of the past five years, culminating in close to eight months of continuous travel this year as a key component of Australia’s white ball teams, plus stints with Lancashire in English county competition and the beginning of the domestic season for Victoria.When he finally did elect to step back, following the start of Australia’s T20 series against Sri Lanka, Maxwell was described as “not enjoying his cricket” by the national coach Justin Langer, and he spoke to the likes of Moises Henriques, Australia’s team psychologist Michael Lloyd and the noted sports psychiatrist Ranjit Menon on his way back to a better balance.”I was pretty cooked when I decided to take the time off,” Maxwell said. “Big reason why I did take that time away is I was pretty mentally and physically ruined. I think it was eight months on the road, living out of a suitcase and that probably had been going on for four or five years, just constantly on the road and it all just caught up with me at that time. I really want to thank Cricket Australia, Cricket Victoria and the Stars for giving me that space and allowing me to have that time away from the game and get myself right.”It was actually my partner who suggested I speak to someone, she was the first one who noticed it, so I should probably thank her as well. Once I had that initial conversation it was a big weight off my shoulders. My girlfriend was probably No. 1, it wasn’t an easy job for her to deal with me going through my mood swings for the first few weeks, but Michael Lloyd was the guy I had the initial conversation with, he’s been someone who I’ve confided in since back in the academy days, so I’ve known him for well over a decade now.””Guys like Moises Henriques, I think he was my first phone call after everything sort of calmed down. He was brilliant for me, giving me something. He has gone through it as well, giving me an idea of what I would expect to see over the next few weeks and he was unbelievable. You go through a lot of waves of emotions over the first few weeks [of the break] and especially that first week, that was probably the hardest, and as I took the time away to get myself right and speak to the right people and have that amazing support network behind me was pretty key.”ALSO READ: BBL previews: Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane HeatIt’s clear that Maxwell had looked upon 2019 as a year of much opportunity, but after the World Cup ended in a semi-final appearance and he found himself playing for Lancashire and watching the Ashes rather than playing in them, he is mindful of managing his playing commitments and his self-expectations a little more carefully over the remainder of a career that, at the age of 31, may still have his very best days ahead of him.”I did put a bit of pressure on myself to try and play as much as I could this year and, rightly or wrongly, I didn’t come out of it the way I thought I was going to. I’ll have a look at that next year,” Maxwell said. “A holiday was actually spending time at home. I spent as much time at home as I could with friends and family. I tried to stay fit, and I still watched a fair bit of cricket over that time, but pretty exciting to get going now.”I look at it a little bit differently, a little bit more respect for taking care of myself in all aspects of the game and not losing sight of taking care of myself in those times where you’re in a hotel room pretty constantly and being able to have that time to myself and refresh.”Contrary to many assumptions, Maxwell said that social media criticism had not been a part of his problems. “I have been a pretty bad victim of social media and a fair bit of abuse but I have become pretty accustomed to it,” he said. “It slides off my back.”I think I have been pretty hard on myself, I have been my own hardest critic for a long period of time. That can wear you down and it is more the stuff you put on yourself, not so much from the outside. I suppose being able to relax a bit more and enjoy playing the game. I probably look at things a little bit differently but a little bit more respect for taking care of myself in all aspects of the game and not sort of losing sight of taking care of myself in those times where you’re in a hotel room pretty constantly and being able to have that time to myself and refresh.”As for his return to the game, Maxwell has clearly enjoyed being back with the Stars, now coached by his former state teammate David Hussey, an environment in which the allrounder described as “home” for him. “It probably took a bit longer than I thought it was going to take, it was an interesting six weeks, away from the game and there was probably times I thought I was going to come back earlier,” Maxwell said. “Once I got back into club cricket, the cycle started to feel a bit more normal again and I feel like I’m back at home.”I’ve been getting back in the swing of things for a while, I’ve been around the Vics change rooms for the last two or three weeks now, so I’ve sort of been floating around and watching a few of the one dayers and just trying to get back into the change room atmosphere again. Coming back here with the Stars feels like home again, a new coach, a bit of familiarity as an ex-player, but it’s a great change room to be a part of, it’s very welcoming.”As for a return to Australian colours, Maxwell was notably cautious to ensure he did not think about it before concentrating on the fortunes of the Stars, who under his leadership came within a few overs of scooping last summer’s BBL title. “I’ll always put my hand up to play for higher honours for sure,” he said, “but first and foremost I’ve got to perform well for the Stars and lead by example.”