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South Africa’s only men’s home international series this summer, against West Indies, has been reduced from five T20Is to three because of a clash with the T20 World Cup.As reported by ESPNcricinfo last week, the matches, which were originally scheduled between January 27 and February 6, now have to end by January 31 when the T20 World Cup support period begins. As a result, two matches have been culled from the fixtures’ list.The biggest casualties of the change are Newlands in Cape Town and Buffalo Park in East London, who will no longer host matches. The three games will be played at Boland Park in Paarl, SuperSport Park in Centurion and the Wanderers in Johannesburg on January 27, 29 and 31 respectively. With no ODI cricket at home this season, the final T20I will become “Pink Day” – an annual occasion in which the South African men’s team wears pink and raises funds and awareness for breast cancer treatment.”While we are disappointed that Newlands Cricket Ground will no longer host a Proteas versus West Indies fixture as originally planned, we understand the need to accommodate the ICC’s updated tournament calendar and the associated support period for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026,” Western Province said in a statement on Wednesday*.”Newlands has a proud tradition of hosting world-class international cricket, and we remain committed to providing a premier venue experience for players, fans, and stakeholders. WPCA will continue to engage proactively with CSA to ensure future opportunities for international content in Cape Town.”South Africa have also added three Under-19 one-dayers against India, to be played between January 3 and 7 at Willowmoore Park in Benoni as preparation for the Under-19 World Cup. That tournament is being co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Namibia from mid-January, with fixtures yet to be released.The current world Test champions have a curtailed home summer partly because they are playing abroad until December 19. They begin their WTC title defence in Pakistan next month, along with three ODIs and three T20Is. That will be followed by an all-format tour to India, which consists of two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is.The other reason for the lack of home fixtures is that venues around the country are being prepared for the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be held between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and drop-in surfaces are being developed around the country.The home season will be headlined by the SA20, which starts on Boxing Day and continues throughout the festive season.

Ben Geddes and Luke Hollman hit career-bests as Middlesex raced to a six-wicket win over strugglers Kent at Radlett to keep their hopes of a place in the Metro Bank Cup’s knockout stages alive.Geddes led the way with an unbeaten 141, his first century in List A cricket, while Hollman made his maiden half-century in the format, the pair sharing a record unbroken stand of 195 for the fifth wicket as the hosts chased down a target of 280 with five overs to spare.Kent’s 279 for 6 was built around an unbeaten 63 for Jack Leaning and 50 for Chris Benjamin, with Leaning sharing a stand of 81 in nine overs with debutant Corey Flintoff, son of former England allrounder Andrew, who impressed with an unbeaten 29. Henry Brookes and Middlesex List A debutant Sebastian Morgan took three wickets apiece.England Under-19 international Ben Dawkins took three fours from one Noah Cornwell over and ramped Toby Roland-Jones over wicketkeeper Joe Cracknell’s head to dominate an opening stand of 52 with Jaydn Denly. The latter struggled for any fluency, his torturous effort ending when he cut Brookes to backward point. Dawkins took his boundary count to eight only to fall two short of 50 when caught by Cracknell, giving Morgan his first wicket.Benjamin and Joey Evison upped the tempo in a stand of 47 before Morgan pegged back the latter’s off stump and a chance for a fourth wicket was spurned when Brookes dropped Benjamin on 33.File photo: Luke Hollman shared an unbroken stand of 195 with Geddes•Getty Images

Benjamin profited from the life, flaying Morgan over third and crunching a seventh four through the covers to reach 50, but he fell immediately afterwards to Brookes, ending a stand of 58 with Harry Finch. Brookes struck again two balls later to remove Ekansh Singh, superbly caught by Sam Robson, and when Finch became Morgan’s third victim Kent were 198 for 6.However, Leaning and Flintoff launched their late charge, Flintoff evoking memories of his father’s batting heroics with two huge sixes, while Leaning’s beautifully paced effort was capped by clearing the ropes twice in the final over as Kent posted a daunting target.The host’s chase got off to a bad start when Cracknell was caught down the legside without scoring. Robson was then dropped at short fine leg by Michael Cohen, but later in the same Fred Klaassen over, Josh de Caires attempted an injudicious hook to sky a simple catch to Flintoff at midwicket.Robson’s response was to unleash a flurry of boundaries, the former England opener cutting and pulling with authority and with Geddes launching a huge six into the trees a 50-stand came up in 40 balls. Evison though wrestled back control by having Robson caught behind and though Davies planted a six over square leg, he didn’t stay long.Geddes continued to carry the fight, reaching his 50 with his second six, a blow which endangered those on the 4.45pm train to St Albans City. Cohen was similarly despatched into the trees and Hollman swept Matt Parkinson to the fence as the partnership prospered.Both batters were dropped, before Geddes moved to his hundred and Hollman to 50 with the help of a towering six. Landmarks reached, the pair cut loose to scamper home with time to spare.

The start of 2025 is a period in Matt Kuhnemann’s career that he will never forget. From fears a broken thumb would scupper his chances of a Test recall, he then bowled Australia to victory in Sri Lanka only to be faced with his action being reported.But he came through the ICC process with flying colours, finished the season with a five-wicket haul and has now earned a maiden central contract which cements him as Australia’s No. 2 red-ball spinner behind Nathan Lyon.Related

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Kuhnemann took 16 wickets in the two Tests against Sri Lanka taking his overall tally to 25 in five matches at 22.20.He will be part of the Test tour of West Indies in June and is a strong chance of featuring with Lyon in at least some of those matches in Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica depending on the surfaces.”He’s shown an incredible amount of resilience,” chair of selectors George Bailey said. “Performing as well as he did in Sri Lanka and then having the scrutiny around his action, and having to go through that process, to bouncing back and finishing the year really well with Tassie.”Looking at what’s coming up, we don’t have any subcontinent tours but we think his skill set could be useful in the West Indies. Someone who’s not had a whole heap of international exposure, we’ve been really pleased with the way he’s performed when he’s got his opportunities.”Lyon, who towards the end of the Sri Lanka series termed Kuhnemann the team’s best bowler, recalled being heartbroken as he sat next to him on the flight home after the news of his action had emerged.”I’m happy it’s all cleared, it’s all done and doesn’t need to be spoken about any more,” Lyon said earlier in the week. “He hasn’t done anything wrong. I thought he’s been absolutely exceptional, especially the way he went out there and really bowled us to victory.”I was pretty heartbroken in a sense. I actually flew home with him. He was pretty gutted when he was talking to me about what he had to do and he was pretty nervous. For him to have his name cleared, I could be nothing but proud for Matt and the way he’s gone about it.”After West Indies, Kuhnemann’s international opportunities are likely to be limited but he shapes as a crucial figure for the 2027 Border-Gavaskar series in India – it was on the corresponding tour in 2023 where he made his Test debut and bagged 5 for 16 in his second Test at Indore.However, he is also a potentially intriguing option for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka should Australia want a specialist left-arm spinner. “I think he can play other formats,” Bailey said. “The contract side of things is probably a lens to where he sits in our eyes at the moment, in the red-ball space he’s done incredibly well.”Australia are unlikely to consider two spinners for a home Test, but even if Lyon was injured during next summer’s Ashes Kuhnemann may not necessarily be next in line in those conditions. The selectors could consider an offspinner, either Todd Murphy, who was dropped off the contract list, or Western Australia’s Corey Rocchiccioli, who might be a better fit on bouncier surfaces.Rocchiccioli finished the Sheffield Shield season strongly with a career-best seven-wicket haul at the Gabba and eight wickets in the final game against Victoria at the WACA.All three spinners – Kuhnemann, Murphy and Rocchiccioli – will likely get the chance to tour India later this year with Australia A understood to have a series lined up that will include a pair of four-day matches against India A.

There was a moment that captured the tension beautifully in Lahore on Wednesday. With England needing 27 runs to get in 20 balls, Jamie Overton tapped a full toss to sweeper cover and the fielder just couldn’t pick it up. He tried once, didn’t work, he tried again, it was fumbled. Azmatullah Omarzai was watching it all, knowing he would be bowling the next over, knowing he couldn’t afford missteps like that.In a wildly see-sawing Champions Trophy game, where both teams had to win to stay alive, Omarzai produced a death-overs performance of 3.5-0-26-3. When he came on to bowl in this unforgiving phase of play, Joe Root was still out there, 114 not out, and it seemed like he had tilted the contest in England’s favour. Omarzai conjured an incredible effort ball that defied a lifeless pitch, got big on a set batter and bounced him out.”Omarzai is one who just flies under the radar,” former Pakistan captain Urooj Mumtaz said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day. “He is so effective with both bat and ball. He’s a very smart cricketer. I think he bowls the harder overs, the tougher overs, and what he did so well was obviously change the pace and continue to hammer down that length, and length on such placid flat tracks is the key. I think he’s got the makings of being one of those Hardik Pandyas or Azhar Mahmoods, the perfect utility allrounder for Afghanistan.”Related

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Root was slow on the upper cut. That doesn’t happen a lot. It almost seemed like he was expecting the offcutter again. He had been deceived by one earlier in the over, but still managed to hit it for a boundary. And he might have been setting up for another, with short fine and short third up, but was caught completely off guard. Being unpredictable is a vital asset for a fast bowler in the back end of an innings. Omarzai couldn’t be lined up. Not even by a member of the Fab Four.”To outfox somebody of the calibre of Joe at the position of the game, batting well across a hundred, when he had the measure of the other bowlers, that is what [sets him apart],” Mumtaz said.Omarzai had provided Afghanistan with their first wicket as well, taking out the hard-hitting Phil Salt in just the fourth over of a chase of 326. He compensated for Rashid Khan having an off night with the wicket of Jos Buttler through the middle overs. An equation of 110 off 79 balls got that bit harder because England had only two recognised batters left – Overton and Liam Livingstone and – he knocked over one of them to drag a game with plenty of twists and turns back in Afghanistan’s favour.”He picked up Salt, he picked up Buttler, and he picked up Overton as well,” Mumtaz said, “All four of those wickets crucial, obviously in the end finished with a five-for, [with Adil] Rahid[‘s wicket] as well. He broke the game open not once but on three different occasions. I thought Root, Buttler and Overton, given the position of the game was quite spectacular.Azmatullah Omarzai is on top of the world after Afghanistan beat England•AFP/Getty Images

“Afghanistan just held the nerve and I think that is the biggest transition for this side, that they now know how to win key moments in games and they know how to win against better-ranked sides in the international circuit. The crowd, obviously the England support was outnumbered 99 to 1%. The roar was magnificent, and I think a true victory celebration. They are one for the big events now, the Afghanistan side.”Former England batter Nick Knight looked back at Afghanistan’s history to highlight how far they had come. “You don’t have to go that far back. Before you looked at Afghanistan cricket and you just focused on one player. Rashid Khan. If he has a really good day, Afghanistan maybe had a chance of winning,” Knight said. “You think how quickly that’s moved on. Rashid, his figures in the last couple of games haven’t been great [1 for 125 in 20 overs]. His impact in the contest hasn’t been that great.”Yet they’re very competitive. You think of the trajectory that Afghanistan cricket has been on, perhaps the pioneer, you might say, has been Rashid Khan. He’s been a huge influence, but now you think of the other players that are making immense contributions in major competitions.”Omarzai has a cherished memory, one of his earliest associated with cricket, when he went out to celebrate Afghanistan’s first ever ODI victory against a Full Member. Eleven years later, he is the one inspiring others to take to the streets. His team faces Australia on Friday in a rematch of that epic from the 2023 World Cup and if they win, they will progress to a second successive ICC tournament semi-final.

Rangpur Riders have been in top form for a second week in a row in BPL 2024-25, stretching their winning run to seven out of seven to get to within striking distance of the playoffs. And they have made it fun – both their wins in the Sylhet leg over the past week have been last-over affairs, one of them a last-baller.Against Fortune Barishal, their captain Nurul Hasan smashed 30 runs in the last over off Kyle Mayers for a three-wicket win. Then it was the turn of their fielders and bowlers to make a late turnaround against Khulna Tigers, as they picked up three wickets in the last over, bowled by Mohammad Saifuddin, to win by eight runs.Like Rangpur, Chittagong Kings also won both their outings in Sylhet, beating Dhaka Capitals and Sylhet Strikers quite comfortably. Dhaka and Sylhet also opened their accounts in the competition, while Durbar Rajshahi also won one game in the Sylhet leg.

Best batter – Usman Khan

Nurul’s heist against Barishal was one of many batting highlights of the past week.Zakir Hasan and Usman Khan struck two half-centuries each. Litton Das scored a 73 and his maiden T20 century, a 125 not out, with Tanzid Hasan scoring 108 alongside Litton in that game against Rajshahi as the two put on 241 for the first wicket.Unfortunately for Litton, the sudden burst in form came a tad late as he was dropped from Bangladesh’s Champions Trophy squad – he scored the century in the evening after the squad had been announced in the afternoon.Usman Khan has been key to Chittagong Kings’ recent success•Chittagong Kings

Usman dominated the powerplay in both of Chittagong’s wins, putting together good partnerships as well in the process. Coming into the week after slamming 123 in 62 balls in Chittagong’s 105-run win over Rajshahi, Usman hit 55 in 33 balls against Dhaka and then 53 in 35 balls against Sylhet, when they won by 30 runs. Indeed, his form, and that of the other batters like Graham Clark and Haider Ali and Shamim Hossain has been central to Chittagong’s recent surge.

Best bowler – Mohammad Saifuddin

There were no big hauls by any of the bowlers this week, but plenty of them made telling contributions.Khaled Ahmed and Mohammad Wasim did well in Chittagong’s two wins. Akif Javed also bowled a match-winning spell, taking three wickets in Rangpur’s win over Khulna. Rahkeem Cornwall, meanwhile, was the only spinner to take a three-for this week, setting up Sylhet’s win over Dhaka.The performance that stood out, though, was Saifuddin’s superb last over against Khulna. Khulna needed 12 runs off the six balls, and though they were six down at the start of the over, were favourites to pull it off.Saifuddin stuck to yorkers, started the over with two dot balls, then bowled a wide, but then Rangpur got three wickets in three balls as panic set in the Khulna camp. Mohammad Nawaz and Nasum Ahmed were run out off consecutive balls, and Saifuddin then got rid of Abu Hider, before giving away one run off the final ball.Litton Das has found form, but not soon enough to get in the Champions Trophy squad•Dhaka Capitals

Unusual plays

Nurul became only the second batter to hit 30 runs in the last over of a T20 match, and the 30 runs Rangpur got ranked third in the list of most runs scored off the last over of a men’s T20 game.Sabbir Rahman, meanwhile, scored his first BPL half-century in five years, hitting 82 not out off 33 balls with nine sixes and three fours. But it wasn’t enough as Chittagong won that game against Dhaka.Litton scored his first T20 century in his 227th match in the format.

Tale of the table

Rangpur are the clear leaders. Chittagong have been the surprise package, now in second position with six points from four games. Barishal, who came into the tournament as one of the favourites, are in third place, also with six points but they have played one game more than Chittagong. Khulna, Sylhet and Rajshahi will have to battle hard for the fourth playoffs spot, but Dhaka, with one win in seven matches, will have to make a big, late charge to be in with a chance.

Shafali Verma smashed a 115-ball 197 for Haryana in the quarter-final of the senior women’s One-Day Trophy against Bengal in Rajkot. She hit 22 fours and 11 sixes in her innings as Haryana posted 389 for 5.But Bengal pulled off the chase with five wickets and five balls to spare. This is by far the highest successful chase in women’s List A cricket. The previous record was 309 by Northern Districts against Canterbury in 2019.Almost every Bengal batter contributed to the cause. Openers Dhara Gujjar (69 off 49) and Sasthi Mondal (52 off 29) provided a start of 100 in 9.1 overs. After that, Tanusree Sarkar led the way with 113 off 83 balls. Once Sarkar was dismissed, Priyanka Bala took over and saw the team home with an unbeaten 88 off 81 balls. Earlier, Sarkar had picked up 3 for 56 with the ball.For Shafali, it was her second hundred in the ongoing competition, having opened the tournament with a 98-ball 139 against Uttar Pradesh. In seven innings, Shafali scored 527 runs at an average of 75.28 and a strike rate of 152.31.Shafali Verma is doing her best to make a comeback in the Indian team•ACC

Shafali’s rich run of form comes at a time when she has been left out of India’s white-ball squads. She was dropped from the ODI squad for the Australia tour, having scored only 108 runs in six ODIs at an average of 18 this year. Despite her strong start to the women’s one-day tournament, Shafali was left out of the squad for the ODIs against West Indies as well.In her absence, India have struggled to find a stable opening partner for Smriti Mandhana. In Australia, where they lost 3-0, they trialled Priya Punia and Richa Ghosh. While it seemed as though the move to promote Ghosh in the second ODI was due to an injury to Punia, the wicketkeeper-batter confirmed at a press conference that she had been in line to open even before the game.Related

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Against West Indies on Sunday, India had another new opening combination with Delhi’s Pratika Rawal partnering Mandhana. Rawal made a patient 40 in a 110-run opening stand as India secured a massive victory.Shafali’s most recent outing for India was during the home ODIs against New Zealand in October, when she made 56 runs in three innings. She was in poor form during the T20 World Cup in UAE – 97 runs in four innings – where India made a group-stage exit.When Harmanpreet Kaur was asked about a number of senior players missing from the squad prior to the series against West Indies, she had said it could only be answered by the “right person,” a reference to the selection committee. “Because I can only talk about the team that’s here, and what things we can do to win this series. I think regarding Shafali, or any other player, [it’s] better to ask the right persons.”A few weeks prior, Harmanpreet had said how Shafali was crucial to India’s plans. “She [Shafali] is a very important player for us and has done exceptionally well for the country,” she had said ahead of their series opener against Australia in Brisbane. “We are looking forward to seeing her get back into her zone and perform well for the team.”

Georgia Plimmer skipped down the pitch and hammered Sugandika Kumari over mid-off where Chamari Athapaththu leapt and thrust her hand above her head in vain, the ball racing to the boundary.The next time Plimmer advanced to such great effect she placed the ball just short of mid-off where Athapaththu was nutmegged in a clumsy attempt to get to the bounce and Sri Lanka were punished by another four.They were among just four boundaries for Plimmer who used her feet well, whether travelling to meet the pitch of the ball and dispatch it down the ground or using her crease to create space and access the off side en route to 53, her equal career-best score, at a strike rate of 120.45. It was her second half-century in T20Is and the first of this World Cup in Sharjah, which has proved a difficult ground for batters with its low bounce and vast, slow outfield.Related

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And this was just the innings New Zealand had been seeking form her.Plimmer arrived in England for a bilateral series in June and July amid some excitement from the White Ferns. That didn’t abate when she opened with 29, second only to Brooke Halliday’s fighting fifty, in a heavy loss for New Zealand in the first ODI. But it was to be the pinnacle of an otherwise disappointing tour for Plimmer, who only reached double figures once more – in the second T20I – as New Zealand lost both series 3-0.She hinted at this innings last month in scoring 53 against Australia in the third T20I in Brisbane as both teams put the finishing touches on their World Cup preparations.Here, a 49-run opening stand with Suzie Bates laid the foundation for New Zealand’s second win from three matches and a 46-run partnership with Amelia Kerr, who had taken 2 for 13 to restrict Sri Lanka to 115 for 5, all but saw the White Ferns home. Sophie Devine, the captain, ended it with the only six of the match, muscling Sugandika Kumari over cow corner.”I wanted to back my skills,” Plimmer said upon receiving the Player of the Match award. “I had good conversations with the coaches and the senior players, and just wanted to play my brand. It’s a pretty special group we have. We are clear on how we want to play, trying to put our best foot forward. We have had a tough six months but to come out here and put together wins, it gives us huge confidence.”Devine was delighted by Plimmer’s gumption, which was particularly impressive at a venue where batters have had to learn the hard way how to get in, stay in and accumulate runs.”Georgia Plimmer was outstanding,” Devine told the post-match presentation. “Super proud of the youngster coming out and sticking to her strengths. She’s copped a fair bit of criticism which as a captain is hard to see because you see the work she has been putting in. She had a great knock against Australia in Australia and to see her grow, you’ve got to remember she’s only 20, and if she continues to do what she did today she has a bright future.”This was also more like the Chamari Athapaththu the tournament had been waiting for but even a sense of too little, too late fizzled out when she fell for a 41-ball 35.Athapaththu’s failure to reach double figures at the tournament until now had only highlighted Sri Lanka’s reliance on her – she scored just 10 runs across their first three matches, by which point their campaign was over.On Saturday she scored five fours including two in Leigh Kasperek’s first over of the tournament, threaded through cover point and punched through the covers again. But when she dragged on off Kerr in the 14th over, Sri Lanka lost all momentum.With their tournament over even before this match, Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake said his team was on a mission to ensure they performed better next time.”Everybody expected us to be, not the top dog, but the top underdog, so to speak,” he said. “We were in this group where we had some very strong teams and we wanted to win those games but I think the expectation, as much as the world had that expectation, it got to the team.”In the last 48 hours to 60-72 hours, we were trying to work it out, what really went wrong. That’s a work in progress and that’s the thing which we have to work out for the future, so that this will not happen again.”

When Dan Mousley walked out to bat on his ODI debut in Antigua, he was playing his first List A match in three years.And one million pounds to whoever in the audience knows which team his previous game was for. Because it was obviously, clearly, never-in-doubtedly for Burgher Recreation Club against Nugegoda Sports and Welfare in Sri Lanka’s 2021 domestic competition .A series of broken fingers meant he had been short of cricket, so a 20-year-old Mousley approached a coach at the Warwickshire Academy with connections to Sri Lanka and asked if he could get a game. A few weeks later he was off to Colombo.Mousley has never been one to do things the usual way. A point he is now proving with his one-of-a-kind “offspin”.Related

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Bowling 116kph/72mph yorkers off three steps, his first international wicket was secured with his signature move. Right-arm, round the wicket, fast, straight, out. Rovman Powell the victim.No one in the world bowls like Mousley does. According to CricViz, he is the fastest spin bowler since ball tracking records began in 2006. And by miles.The second fastest spinner on record, Manimaran Siddharth, averages 99kph/61.5mph. Mousley averages 109kph/68mph. The fastest he has been clocked is 132kph/82mph during the Hundred, but even he accepts that may be a juiced reading.”We’ll take it anyway,” he jokes.His speed has always been part of his style. But compared to when he was younger and encouraged to slow down, now he is being encouraged to lean into it.”I don’t know where he’s got it from,” England captain Jos Buttler said of Mousley, who was entrusted with the final over of West Indies’ innings on Sunday. “As a captain, it’s unique. Everyone will see him now and so they’ll come up with plans. But his character is one of his biggest attributes and to deliver a bit of unique skill and give us a point of difference is fantastic.”While Mousley is new to the international scene, he wouldn’t have been to Powell. Mousley’s fast spin/seamers first rose to national attention during the Hundred when he delivered a triple-wicket final set of ten to snatch victory for Birmingham Phoenix against Trent Rockets. In the Rockets team that day was Powell himself.Mousley will be a fascinating case study of whether this is the future appearing in front of our eyes, or a fad that’ll soon be understood by batters and launched into orbit.With T20 scores always on the up, some commentators, including Sourav Ganguly, have called upon bowlers to step-up and up-skill. New challenges have to be presented to players and Mousley is presenting one.If you wanted to be cruel, you could make the case that Mousley’s bowling is, by traditional aesthetics, bad. In the warm-ups, when other spinners are hammering the tea towel that’s been draped on a length, he is spraying it at pace in various different directions. There is no spin on the ball as it is released, instead he has flipped his fingers round and bowled what’s pretty much a standard seamer.But, as former England offspinner Gareth Batty once told ESPNcricinfo, there is “no place for your traditional ball in T20 cricket”.”Any player that is not trying to get better and diversify is a sitting duck,” he added.Mousley is not a one-trick pony either, with eight first-class wickets at an average of 38.37, he is capable of bowling in a traditional manner with a traditional skillset. But if you’re bowling to Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran, pretty offies aren’t going to get you very far.In short, rather than attempting to always bowl wicket-taking deliveries, he is trying to bowl the ball that is hardest to hit for six.”I’m just trying to use the conditions,” says Mousley, who has played the majority of his T20 cricket at Edgbaston, which often has one long side and one short. “I know I bowl a lot of yorkers, but I try and use the dimensions and try to use the wind as much as I can.”Batters are honed on a lifetime of responding to certain cues. It is why left-handed bowlers feel faster than right-handed bowlers because batters don’t have the same level of muscle memory hard-wired into their body. And it’s this lack of familiarity which Mousley feeds off. Stick the ball in his hand and give him a ten yard run-up and he’s a 70mph seamer who’d go the distance. But off three paces and from round the wicket? No-one has seen that before. Batters are concert pianists that have been trained within an inch of their life; Mousley is asking them to play jazz.”It started off because people say offspinners can’t bowl at right-handers,” Mousley says.”But I don’t believe in that, I made it clear at Warwickshire I didn’t believe in that and then ended up getting a bit of confidence. It went from there. It’s a different skill, it’s probably not traditional offspin but it’s one of those things which I’ve just learnt to bring into my favour. It’s okay to be different as a bowler.”And if there’s one thing Mousley’s bowling is, it’s exactly that.

Harry Brook will captain England for the first time during their five-match ODI series against Australia, with Jos Buttler ruled out for the rest of the summer with a calf injury sustained in July. Buttler’s injury has also given a lifeline to Liam Livingstone, who has been recalled to the 50-over side after initially being left out.Brook has been groomed as a future England captain for many years, having captained at the Under-19 World Cup in 2018. He deputised as Yorkshire captain for four matches in the T20 Blast in 2022 and led Northern Superchargers in the Hundred this year, winning five out of the six completed matches he oversaw as they narrowly missed out on the knockout stages.Related

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• Brook wears deputy tag lightly but greater responsibility beckons

He was also Ollie Pope’s vice-captain throughout England’s recent 2-1 Test series win over Sri Lanka, with the team’s management keen to develop long-term leadership options. Phil Salt has captained in the ongoing T20I series, which is level at 1-1 ahead of Sunday afternoon’s rain-threatened decider in Manchester.”It’s going to be a great opportunity for Brooky to be the captain,” Buttler said. “He is a pretty laid-back character, but I think he has everything in line. He is a really good thinker about it… I’m sure he’ll do that his own way, and he’ll get a feel for those moments [in games]. That’s what we’re encouraging everyone as a side – whether that’s a player or a captain – is to try and identify those moments that you think can go a long way to you winning the game and going for it and committing to it.”But Buttler’s prolonged absence is cause for concern, given his recent history of calf issues. He missed most of a series against Sri Lanka in 2021 due to a tear, and was ruled out of England’s seven-match T20I tour to Pakistan the following year with a strain which briefly threatened his participation in the 2022 World Cup.Brook led Northern Superchargers in the men’s Hundred this summer•PA Photos/Getty Images

He has not played any cricket since England’s elimination from June’s T20 World Cup, when they were beaten by India in the semi-finals: he initially targeted a return in the T20 Blast quarter-finals, but suffered a setback in his rehabilitation while running. Buttler has been with England’s squad throughout this week’s T20I series against Australia and will target a return on November’s Caribbean tour.”It’s a bit slower than hoped,” Buttler said of his recovery. “I’m going to be missing the ODI series as well, so that’s a shame. But at my age, just got to make sure I get it right. It’s obviously a shame to miss some cricket and stuff, but I just want to get it right. There’s lots to look forward to in the future.”Injuries force you to stop and take a different perspective and it’s nice to be around the guys, getting to know some new faces and seeing what they’re all about; trying to share my ideas and listen to theirs and how they operate and building those relationships, which are obviously really important.”Buttler also confirmed that he would not have kept wicket if he had been fit for the T20Is, after discussions with England’s incoming coach Brendon McCullum. “Having spoken to Baz about it, he stumbled across it with injury preventing him from keeping wicket, but then he really enjoyed being next to the bowler at mid-off,” Buttler explained.”I’ll see how the calf holds up to running around in the outfield, or we might have a slip in for a long time,” he joked. “But, yeah, I’m very open to those kind of things. I just want what’s best for the team: what’s best for the team is going to be me being the best captain I can be, and if I have to move from behind the wickets to do that then so be it.”Livingstone’s return to the squad comes after his impressive performances in the first two T20Is. He has taken five wickets in six overs with his leg breaks and hit 87 off 47 to win Friday night’s game in Cardiff. He admitted on Wednesday night that he was nonplussed by his initial absence from the ODI squad, after top-scoring in England’s defeat at the Utilita Bowl.England have also confirmed that Josh Hull will play no part in the ODI series, after sustaining a minor quad injury on Test debut at The Oval last week. A team spokesperson suggested that his absence is only precautionary, and that his participation in October’s three-match Test tour to Pakistan is not under threat.The five-match ODI series starts at Trent Bridge on Thursday and runs until September 29.England ODI squad: Harry Brook (capt), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner.

England players will miss the latter stages of the WBBL, due to a clash with their tour of South Africa.To avoid a repetition of the situation which occurred earlier this year, when the end of the WPL overlapped with England Women’s arrival in New Zealand for a bilateral series, causing players to have to choose between club and country, the ECB has told players that they are expected in South Africa, if selected, on certain dates regardless of any overlap with WBBL games.The ECB informed players and their agents of the requirements before they entered the WBBL draft, which was held last weekend.”If a player is selected in the T20 squad, we’re expecting them into South Africa on November 17 and if they’re named in the ODI squad we’re expecting them into South Africa on the 27th,” Jonathan Finch, Director of England Women’s Cricket, told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s been reflected in everyone’s availability when they’ve gone into the draft.”This year’s WBBL starts on October 27 and there will be 11 regular-season matches remaining out of a total of 40 from November 17 before the knockout stages. England are due to play the first of three T20Is in South Africa on November 24, followed by three ODIs from December 4 and a Test starting on December 15.England had seven players signed in the WBBL draft, with Danni Wyatt-Hodge joining Hobart Hurricanes, Sophie Ecclestone retained by Sydney Sixers, and Heather Knight retained by Sydney Thunder, all at platinum level, worth up to $A110,000 (£56,000) depending on availability.Alice Capsey will join Melbourne Renegades from cross-town rivals Stars and Amy Jones returns to Perth Scorchers, both on gold $A90,000 (£46,000) deals. Hollie Armitage and Georgia Adams, who will both tour Ireland from this week while England’s senior squad prepares for next month’s T20 World Cup, joined the Sixers and Thunder respectively in the bronze price bracket for $A40,000 (£20,000).Sophie Ecclestone has been retained by Sydney Sixers for this year’s WBBL•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

The ECB took similar stance during last year’s WBBL with Bess Heath and Danielle Gibson both missing the final to join England’s squad in Mumbai for a T20I series against India starting four days later.The WPL announced their 2024 fixtures in January with the March 17 final falling two days before England’s first of five T20Is in New Zealand on March 19. New Zealand Cricket had confirmed the tour schedule, which also included three ODIs, the previous July and turned down an ECB request to move the dates.Knight, England’s captain, and seam bowler Lauren Bell opted out of their WPL deals to join the New Zealand tour from the outset, while Nat Sciver-Brunt, Wyatt-Hodge, Capsey and Ecclestone linked up with the squad for the fourth and fifth T20Is. Armitage, meanwhile, earned her only England cap to date in the third T20I before she and Linsey Smith made way for the WPL contingent.With the current Women’s Future Tours Program ending in 2025 and the next edition being worked on now, Finch is confident major clashes can be avoided in future.”What we have to get better at is having indicative dates when the tournaments are taking place,” he said. “That’s difficult because you’ve got broadcast complexities and all that kind of thing, but I think if we can get that pretty much nailed on, we shouldn’t have that problem.”I’ve got a responsibility to England and we think that’s fair – five or seven days out from a start of a tour – to come in, really focus in on what we’re trying to do from that tour and go from there.”Now where we’re looking at our FTP for after the next 50-over World Cup and I think everyone is sensitive to not wanting to have any clashes. Even if we don’t have the exact dates of the WBBL for instance, or the WPL, we have some indication of when they are so we can work out what that looks like.”Related

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A problem national boards have faced is that the WPL in particular offers leading players a chance to make life-changing amounts of money for the first time in their careers. Sciver-Brunt was the joint-highest-earning overseas player in the inaugural WPL player auction when she went to Mumbai Indians for £320,000.Finch conceded that denying a player the chance to earn that sort of salary, especially later in their careers, was difficult. As a result, there would be some scope for discussion with players on an individual basis, and he said bringing England Women’s international match fees into line with those of their male counterparts also went some way towards easing the tension.”You know when you sign a central contract that you’re signing a contract that says, ‘my main focus is England,’ so that’s the starting point,” he said. “It’s not an exact science, things change – workloads over a period of time – as to whether we would want to have players exposed to that depending on what the lead-up looks like, but when you sign a central contract, that’s what you’re buying into.”I think we’re still in a space where we can manipulate or cultivate times of the year where it’s not going to have a massive impact.”The ECB is also in talks with the England Women’s Player Partnership, which has a number of current players on its committee, about introducing multi-year central contracts, which Finch said would give some players a greater level of security while protecting the ECB’s resources.”You’ve got a welfare perspective for players so the thing that was sticking out for the New Zealand one was I wasn’t willing for a player to get on a plane at the end of their competition, fly in and play within 24 hours,” he said.”People might say, ‘that’s not your choice to make.’ Well, I think it is. We’ve got a responsibility to ensure that we’re not asking too much of them and that’s why we put that period of time leading into a series. Not only does it give you time to get the players up and running for that series, it also allows you to build in a bit of decompression time if you need to. That’s something that I’m quite strong on.”The panacea will be that our players are available without worrying about whether they’re available for the whole tournament or not. I’m never going to take that [case-by-case discussion] away but we’re hopeful that we won’t get to that point.”