Saturday 20 July 2024

England's Irish Problem

England are due in Ireland for a six match series in early September – three T20s and three Women’s Championship ODIs. It should be a series that they, and their supporters, are looking forward to, but instead it is just causing major headaches.

The problem is that England are due to play the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in early October and the prospect of spending a fortnight in Ireland prior to the tournament does not appeal to the England management. It seems therefore that none of the 15 players selected for the T20 World Cup squad will make the trip to Ireland. Instead they are due in Abu Dhabi for a pre-tournament acclimatisation training camp in mid-September. It means that none of them will play a game of T20 cricket after the Hundred Final on 18th August (I know that is technically not a T20 either), before heading into the T20 World Cup fixtures. England play their first World Cup game, against South Africa, on 3rd October.

So not ideal scheduling from England’s perspective, but there is the additional headache of just who will represent England in Ireland for that series, and the potential repercussions on the domestic game.

Presumably the England contracted players who are not selected for the T20 World Cup will be on the plane to Belfast – eg Beaumont, Cross, Filer, Lamb, Wong (Farrant & Gaur are injured). If not why are they contracted? But who will make up the bulk of the squad, and will all those invited to join the squad want to play? The problem is that the concluding league stage fixtures of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, and the semi-finals themselves, clash with the tour. As a player if you choose to go to Ireland, you will probably miss the last two rounds of the RHF on 4th and 7th September and the semi-finals on 14th September. Whilst an opportunistic England cap for some might be very appealing, loyalty to their regional set-up at the end of a 14 match 50 over season might seem more important.

If England were to select the ten “next best players" in England for the tour, then some of the major contenders for RHF Trophy honours could suffer very badly, whoever those players actually are (feel free to make your own selections and see the impact on the teams). The top four teams in the RHF league standings at the moment, with four rounds of fixtures to go, are Vipers, Diamonds, Stars and Sunrisers, but the other four teams are not out of contention for a semi-final spot, if they can turn their season’s round. Little is likely to change before the Ireland squad is actually selected, with only two more sets of RHF fixtures due to be played in late August/early September. Removing the “top” 30 players (including the England World Cup players) out of a pool of approximately 120 players from the RHF Trophy as it reaches its conclusion seems disingenuous at best.

Ultimately it will be for the non-contracted players invited to join the squad to decide if they want to make the trip. It will be a tough decision, but one which, either way, the ECB and the Regions, and their supporters, will have to respect. Quite what the Irish will make of all this is anybody’s guess?

Martin Davies

20/VI/24

Thursday 19 January 2023

Super 6 Groups and Fixtures

So the Group Stage has now finished and the Super 6 groups have been decided

League 1 
Bangladesh, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, and UAE
India v Australia
Bangladesh v South Africa
India v Sri Lanka
UAE v Australia
South Africa v Sri Lanka
UAE v Bangldesh

League 2
England, Pakistan, Rwanda, New Zealand, West Indies, and Ireland
Rwanda v New Zealand
Ireland v England
West Indies v Rwanda
Pakistan v Ireland
New Zealand v Pakistan
England v West Indies

Games by date

Sat 21st January 
Rwanda v New Zealand
Ireland v England 
India v Australia
Bangladesh v South Africa

Sun 22nd January 
West Indies v Rwanda
India v Sri Lanka

Mon 23rd  January 
Pakistan v Ireland 
UAE v Australia
South Africa v Sri Lanka
New Zealand v Pakistan 

Wed 25th  January 
UAE v Bangladesh
England v West Indies


Martin Davies 
19/I/23

Saturday 14 January 2023

Fabulous first day at the U19 World Cup

Group A Games

Australia v Bangladesh
A stunning win for Bangladesh as they chased down Australia's 130/5 with some ease. The Aussies looked short of runs coming in to the last two overs, but managed to hit 28 from the last 12 balls to reach a par score.
After losing a wicket to the first ball of their reply, Bangladesh batted with confidence as seven Aussie bowlers struggled to contain them. They look like a side in good form and full of confidence. 

Australia - 130/5 (Moore 52(51), Hayward 35 (39) - Biswas 2/25, Marufa Akter 2/29)
Bangladesh - 132/3 (18 overs) (Dilara Akter 40(42), Sumaiya Akter 31(25) - Ainsworth 2/9)

Sri Lanka v USA 
A tight finish in a low-scoring game, but Sri Lanka held their nerve to get over the line in the 19th over, finishing the game with a 6. Good effort from USA to contain the Sri Lankans after failing to put enough runs on the board.

USA - 96/9 (Singh 22 - Wijerathne 3/11, Perera 2/15)
Sri Lanka 100/3 (19 overs) (Gunarathne 34*, Nanayakkara 32* - Bhadriraju 2/17)



Group D Games

UAE v Scotland 
Scotland never really got any momentum into their batting innings and ended on 99/9. Two wickets in the 9th over of the UAE reply could have knocked them off track, but Gaur held firm to bring her side home in the 17th over.

Scotland 99/9 (Walsingham 37 (33) - Mahesh 2/19, Nandakumar 2/20, Dharnidhaka 2/22)
UAE 100/4 (16.2 overs) (Gaur 33* - Maceira 2/7)

South Africa v India
South Africa got away to an unbelievable start with 20 off the first over of their innings and were 64/2 at the end of the powerplay. They finally posted 166/5, which looked a very decent total. But India ended their own powerplay on 70/0 with Shafali Verma hitting 24 off the 6th over and they never really looked back. They got over the line with just three wickets down and 21 balls to spare, and Shweta Sehrawat a magnificent 92*. 

South Africa 166/5 (Lourens 61 - Verma 2/31)
India 170/3 (17.3 overs) (Sehrawat 92*, Verma 45)

Thursday 12 January 2023

U19 World Cup First Games

The first games of the Women's U19 T20 World Cup get underway in South Africa this Saturday (14th January)

Group A Games
Australia v Bangladesh - 8am UK time (10am local)
Sri Lanka v USA - 11:45am UK time (1:45pm local)

Group D Games
UAE v Scotland - 8am UK time (10 am local)
South Africa v India - 11:45am UK time (1:45pm local)


And then on Sunday (15th January) it is the turn of groups B and C

Group B Games
Pakistan v Rwanda - 8am UK time (10am local)
England v Zimbabwe - 11:45am UK time (1:45pm local)

Group C Games
West Indies v Ireland - 8am UK time (10am local)
New Zealand v Indonesia - 11:45am UK time (1:45pm local)


Martin Davies
12/I/23







Wednesday 11 January 2023

Wednesday's Warm-Up Games - scores & scorecard links

USA v UAE
USA 122/7 UAE 91/6 USA won by 31 runs scorecard - USA v UAE scorecard

Bangladesh v India
Bangladesh 121/7 India 118/2 Bangladesh won by 3 runs scorecard - Bangladesh v India scorecard

England v Indonesia
Indonesia 49 (MacDonald-Gay 2/9) England 139/2 (batting on for 14.4 overs) (Scrivens 53*, Holland 42* ) England won by 10 wickets scorecard - Indonesia v England scorecard

Rwanda v Ireland
Rwanda 103/8 (Murekatete 26 - Macguire 2/20, MacNulty 2/23) Ireland 102/4 (Hunter 41 - Ishimwe 2/19 ) Rwanda won by 1 run scorecard -

South Africa v Australia
South Africa 61 Australia 64/2 Australia won by 8 wickets scorecard - South Africa v Australia scorecard

Zimbabwe v West Indies
Zimbabwe 71/8 West Indies 74/4 West Indies won by 6 wickets scorecard - Zimbabwe v West Indies scorecard

Pakistan v New Zealand
Pakistan 109/5 New Zealand 110/3 New Zealand won by 7 wickets scorecard - Pakistan v New Zealand scorecard

Sri Lanka v Scotland
Scotland 86 Sri Lanka 87/4 Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets scorecard - Scotland v Sri Lanka scorecard


Monday 9 January 2023

Monday's Warm-Up games - scores & scorecard links

Scotland v USA Scotland 135/5 (Lister 42, Carter 41- Bhumika 2/26, Vaghela 2/20 , Geetika 1/9) USA 90 (Vaghela 40 - Fraser 3/7, Maceira 3/15, Montgomery 3/25 ) Scotland won by 45 runs scorecard - Scotland v USA scorecard

Ireland v Pakistan Ireland 89/6 ( A Squires 35, G Dempsey 24 - A Shah 2/11, Z un Nisa 1/24) Pakistan 91/3 (15.4 overs) (E Fatima 58* - MacNulty 1/13, McCartney 1/14, Craig 1/14) Pakistan won by 7 wickets scorecard - Ireland v Pakistan scorecard
Indonesia v Zimbabwe Indonesia 70/9 (Chare 3/8, Ndhlalambi 2/19) Zimbabwe 55 (Mtomba 15 - Suarniasih 3/9, Dewi 3/13, Ariani 2/14) Indonesia won by 15 runs scorecard - Indonesia v Zimbabwe scorecard India v Australia India 97/8 (Basu 28 - Hayward 2/12) Australia 79/7 (Moore 25 - Verma 3/8, Chopra 2/14) India won 18 runs scorecard - India v Australia scorecard UAE v Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 90/9 (Senarathna 53 - Gokhale 1/1) UAE 38 (Perera 3/5) scorecard - UAE v Sri Lanka scorecard New Zealand v Rwanda New Zealand 154/5 (Browning 67, Hamilton 25 - Murekatete 2/22 Rwanda 91/9 (Tuyizere 19 - Kotkamp 2/19) New Zealand won by 63 runs scorecard - New Zealand v Rwanda scorecard West Indies v England West Indies 65/8 (Cumberbatch 25 - Baker 3/9, Pavely 1/5, SAE Smale 1/4, Groves 1/5, Scrivens 1/7, Scott 1/7) England 68/1 (10.3 overs) (Heap 31, SA Smale 30* - Munisar 1/8) England won by 9 wickets scorecard - West Indies v England scorecard
South Africa v Bangladesh
South Africa 98/7 (Siyo 32, Lourens 29 - Akter 3/13, Khatun 2/15, Biswas 2/23)
Bangladesh 72/4 (S Akter 20*, Prottasha 19 - Reyneke 1/9, Hlubi 1/13)
Bangladesh won by 7 runs (DLS method)

Saturday 7 January 2023

Women's U19 T20 World Cup - Format and Warm Up Games

Welcome to our coverage of the inaugural Women's U19 T20 World Cup. First of all let's have a look at the format of the competition. Initially the sixteen qualifying teams are divided into four groups.

Group A - Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, USA Group B - England, Pakistan, Rwanda, Zimbabwe Group C - Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, West Indies Group D - India, Scotland, South Africa, UAE Each team will play two warm-up games (see below). In the Group Stage they will play each team in their group once. The top three teams in each group will then enter the Super 6s Leagues. Super 6 League 1 - A1, A2, A3, D1, D2, D3 Super 6 League 2 - B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3

In the Super 6 Leagues teams will only play two more games (not three). The top two sides from the Super 6s Leagues go on to the semi-finals, and then the winners to the final.

Warm-up games are on Monday and Wednesday this week and the competition proper starts on Saturday 14th January 2023. Here are the warm-up games.

Monday 9th January 2023

Scotland v USA Ireland v Pakistan Indonesia v Zimbabwe India v Australia UAE v Sri Lanka New Zealand v Rwanda West Indies v England South Africa v Bangladesh

Wednesday 11th January 2023

Bangladesh v India England v Indonesia Rwanda v Ireland South Africa v Australia Zimbabwe v West Indies Pakistan v New Zealand Sri Lanka v Scotland

We will try and keep you up-to-date with all the scores, results, performances and standings.

Martin Davies 08/I/23