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Seccombe decided to step away after his contract was not immediately renewed despite coaching Heat to their first BBL title in 11 years

Alex Malcolm20-Mar-2024Brisbane Heat BBL title-winning coach Wade Seccombe has quit his roles with Heat and the Queensland Bulls after being asked to re-apply for both jobs following an end-of-season review.Seccombe was out of contract at the end of the season but despite guiding the Heat to their first BBL title in 11 years, Queensland finished last in the Sheffield Shield for the first time in his seven-year tenure and second last in the Marsh Cup.Seccombe had previously coached Queensland to two Shield titles in 2017-18 and 2020-21. But after being asked to re-apply for the two roles he has decided to step away.”Winning the BBL was huge goal of mine as a coach and a massive achievement for the club, and that is something that I will look back on with great pleasure down the track,” Seccombe said in a statement released by Queensland Cricket on Wednesday night.”I said when I was reappointed a few years ago that there were several coaching goals I had set myself, with a BBL title and a chance to work with the Australian team again or internationally among the challenges that lay ahead for me.”My family and I will take stock on things from here and see what opportunities may present themselves in the future. I am eternally grateful for their support and the success I have been fortunate to experience as a coach is due to them.”Brisbane Heat won their second BBL title under Wade Seccombe•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Queensland Cricket appointed Joe Dawes as new General Manager of Elite Teams, Performance and Pathways, during the season in a role that had been vacated last winter by long-time Queensland Cricket General Manager Bennett King.They had restructured their men’s coaching set-up three years ago to bring the Heat and Bulls programmes under one head coach with Seccombe taking over from Darren Lehmann in a coaching model that mirrored the success that Western Australia and Perth Scorchers have had under both Justin Langer and Adam Voges.Dawes said in a statement it is likely Queensland Cricket will continue to combine the roles after Seccombe’s departure.”Wade informed us that he would not be seeking a new contract, and he was upfront about his intentions once he had completed the various post-season reviews with players and staff,” Dawes said.”We will now go to market for the role of head coach of the Brisbane Heat and Queensland Bulls and are very confident that such a prime coaching role will attract some outstanding candidates who will relish the chance to work in this exciting programme.”Queensland Cricket thanks Wade and his family for their commitment on and off the field and we certainly wish him every success in his future endeavours. He will no doubt look back on the BBL title win this season with the satisfaction of a job well done.”The news comes just 24 hours after the Queensland government announced its intention not to rebuild the Gabba despite a report into Queensland’s stadium infrastructure ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games suggesting the Gabba was no longer fit for purpose.That decision does guarantee Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia will be able to play at the Gabba in the immediate future up until the 2032 Games with no need to relocate but what happens with the facility beyond that remains to be seen.

Athapaththu, 34, had raised concerns over her playing future with a couple of cryptic Facebook posts over the last week

Firdose Moonda08-Apr-2024Chamari Athapaththu, Sri Lanka women’s captain, will take a decision on her international cricketing future after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup Qualifiers next month.”I’m still not decided [on retirement],” she said in East London, where Sri Lanka will play South Africa in the first of three ODIs tomorrow. “We can talk about it later. At the moment, I’m focused on the [South Africa] ODIs and World Cup qualifiers. Let’s see in the future.”Athapaththu, who is 34 and is due to play her 100th ODI for Sri Lanka in the upcoming series, raised concerns over her playing future with a couple of cryptic Facebook posts over the last week. On Thursday, after Sri Lanka secured a historic, first T20I series win over South Africa, Athapaththu put up pictures of herself and the trophy and included the words “last duty for my country” in the caption. She has since removed that phrase from the post.On Sunday, she posted another picture and wrote: “Review DRS,” with a winking emoji. “Some decisions are very difficult. But at some point in life we have to make such decisions.” She included a heart, the Sri Lankan flag and a trophy.Athapaththu has since confirmed that she will remain in charge of Sri Lanka at least until the completion of their T20 World Cup Qualifier campaign, which starts on April 25 in Abu Dhabi. Sri Lanka are grouped with Thailand, Scotland, Uganda and the USA and must top the group to qualify for the World Cup in Bangladesh later this year.Athapaththu said she is “definitely” available for the qualifier and is hopeful for Sri Lanka’s chances of securing a spot at the main event. “I’m pretty confident about my group. We’ve played really good cricket so far. But the UAE has different conditions and is really good for the batters. Every team goes to qualifiers to win so we have to play our best cricket in World Cup qualifiers as well. I’m pretty confident about my bowling unit and batting unit.”Under Athapaththu’s leadership, Sri Lanka have beaten England and South Africa in T20 series in the last 10 months, as well as reached the final of the Asian Games, which they lost to India. Their 50-over form has not been quite as impressive and they are in eighth place on the Women’s Championship Points table, well outside of automatic qualification for the 2025 ODI World Cup. They have nine more matches in the Championship – three each against South Africa, West Indies and Ireland – between now and August.Whether or not Athapaththu will feature in those matches remains to be seen but whatever she decides, she is content that Sri Lankan cricket is in good hands. “I’m really happy with our youngsters and how they handle the pressure in the middle, especially Vishmi [Gunaratne], Kavisha [Dilhari] and Harshita [Samarawickrama]. They’re playing really, really good cricket over the last couple of months,” she said. “And I think we have good depth.”We’ve worked hard as a country and as players. We’ve restructured our domestic cricket and we are playing a lot of cricket in Sri Lanka. We started an Under-19 tournament, Under-17 tournaments, provincial tournaments, and club tournaments. So better results are coming now. There are a lot of youngsters playing cricket in Sri Lanka and schoolgirls starting playing cricket.”These are the positive things on my side, and I hope we can be a good team in future.”

Former England spinner to represent George Galloway’s Workers Party in Ealing Southall

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2024Former England spinner Monty Panesar will stand as a parliamentary candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party at the next general election.Panesar, who was born in Luton and played 50 Tests for England, taking 167 wickets at 34.71, will be on the ballot in Ealing Southall. The constituency has been a Labour Party stronghold under Vivendra Sharma since 2007. Sharma currently holds a majority of over 16,000 in a constituency whose population, according to the 2021 Census, is almost one-third (30 per cent) Asian.”I want to be the voice for the workers of this country,” Panesar said in a column in The Telegraph. “My aspiration in politics is to one day become Prime Minister, where I would make Britain a safer and stronger nation. But the first job at hand is to represent the people of Ealing Southall.”Galloway returned to the House of Commons in March after victory in the Rochdale by-election, following the death of the previous incumbent, Labour MP Sir Tony Lloyd. Speaking on Tuesday morning, Galloway confirmed Panesar, 42, will be unveiled as one of his party’s candidates at a press event outside the Houses of Parliament.Speaking to LBC, Galloway said: “I’ll present 200 of them outside Parliament this afternoon, including – you’ll like this – Monty Panesar, the ace Indian cricketer, former England international cricketer, who will be our candidate in Southall.””Monty, of course, was a great left-arm spinner and so we could do with him”.Panesar, whose full name is Mudhsuden Singh Panesar, became the first practising Sikh to represent England in 2006, when selected at Nagpur in the first Test of that winter’s tour of India.Following his retirement, he undertook a sports journalism course at St Mary’s University, London, and earlier this month leant his support to the Show Racism the Red Card campaign, in which he talked up the benefits of immigration in a video.In 2021, he defended Michael Vaughan, his former England captain, after he was accused of using racist language towards Azeem Rafiq during a match for Yorkshire in 2009.

The two sides have not met since their respective season openers in March, which KKR won by four runs

Deivarayan Muthu20-May-20242:03

‘SRH shouldn’t forget planning for Gurbaz while thinking of Narine’

Match details

Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Qualifier 1
Ahmedabad, 1930 IST (1400 GMT)

Big picture: Two batting powerhouses collide

Two of the quickest-scoring teams in this IPL could produce another run-fest in the first qualifier in Ahmedabad, especially if it serves up a bouncy, red-soil track. Phil Salt has left the IPL but Kolkata Knight Riders still have enough power in the form of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Rinku Singh. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen can certainly match up to that power or even overpower KKR.Sunrisers Hyderabad have also figured out an aggressive No.3 option in Rahul Tripathi to strengthen their top order. But can they dial down their aggression and still find a way, if Ahmedabad throws up a slow, black-soil turner? In March, which seems ages go, SRH managed only 162 for 8 on a black-soil surface that suited Gujarat Titans’ spinners.Regardless of the colour and nature of the surface, Narine and Varun Chakravarthy have the pedigree to take wickets or restrict the opposition. But KKR will have to rock up cold on Tuesday, having endured washouts in their last two league matches, including one in Ahmedabad. Especially, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Salt’s like-for-like replacement, who has not featured in IPL 2024 and last played cricket in mid-March.Related

• Tactics board: Bhuvneshwar vs Narine, Russell vs Klaasen, and the Head-Abhishek threat

• Tripathi the link at No. 3 that SRH had been missing

• Buttler, Livingstone, other England cricketers leave IPL early for T20 World Cup duty

• T Natarajan: 'If you do well as a bowler this IPL season, you will have the confidence you can succeed anywhere'

It was back on May 11 that KKR had confirmed their place in the playoffs after beating Mumbai Indians in a truncated game at home. They haven’t been in action since and it might not be easy to hit the ground running after a ten-day break, table-toppers or otherwise.

Form guide

Kolkata Knight Riders WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Sunrisers Hyderabad WWLWL

Previous meeting

Head didn’t even play the last time these two sides met, with SRH picking Marco Jansen ahead of him. Harshit Rana stopped Klaasen and SRH in the last over, earning a four-run victory for KKR at Eden Gardens. In the early half of the season, chasing was a concern for KKR, but they’ve remedied that heading into the playoffs.

Team news and Impact Player strategy

Kolkata Knight Riders
Nitish Rana is fit again and could stay in the team as an Impact Player option, in place of one of the specialist bowlers, having scored 33 off 23 balls against MI in Kolkata. KKR, though, might have to choose between left-arm fingerspinner Anukul Roy and right-arm seamer Vaibhav Arora.Probable XII: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 0:46

Did the experts get their playoffs predictions right?

Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH have been fairly consistent with their Impact Player strategy with one of the batters slotting in for T Natarajan. Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, the young legspinner from Jaffna, has done fairly well in his two IPL outings and could keep his place unless SRH want to bring back Aiden Markram for his steady batting and offspin against a potentially left-hander heavy KKR middle order. Jaydav Unadkat for his change-ups is another option.Probable XII: 1 , 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Shahbaz Ahmed, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Sanvir Singh, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, 12

In the spotlight: Rinku Singh and T Natarajan

After torching IPL 2023 with his finishing skills, Rinku Singh hasn’t had many opportunities to do that in IPL 2024. He also could not find a place in India’s main squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. He has faced only 113 balls in 11 innings this season at a healthy strike rate of 148.67. That might pale in comparison to some of the heavy hitters that will be on display on Tuesday, but count Rinku out at your own peril.T Natarajan was taken to the cleaners by Ayush Badoni, but he bounced back against Punjab Kings, coming away with 2 for 33 in his four overs, in a 215 vs 214 game. His bowling isn’t just about the yorker anymore – he has also developed a deceptive slower bouncer to handcuff batters in the middle and death overs. Natarajan, though, will have to be wary of Russell, who has taken him for 43 off 26 balls for just one wicket at a strike rate of 165.38 in the IPL.

Stats that matter

• Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a favourable match-up against Narine, dismissing him twice in 25 balls while keeping him to just 28 runs in the IPL.
• No spinner has taken more wickets than Varun’s 38 in 26 IPL innings since the 2023 season started.
• Narine is four hits away from 100 IPL sixes. Thirty-two of those have come this season. His opponent Abhishek is the top six-hitter this IPL with 41.
• According to ESPNcricinfo’s logs, Bhuvneshwar has bowled 31 yorkers in IPL 2024. Only Jasprit Bumrah (56) has bowled more yorkers this season. Avesh Khan has also hit the blockhole 31 times, with Natarajan (27) slotting not too far behind.

Pitch and conditions

Red soil or black soil? The answer to this question could determine the composition of the teams. The previous game in Ahmedabad was a washout, but the weather is expected to be hot and dry for Tuesday.

England coach Mott insists defending champions would have had the edge in wet conditions

Vithushan Ehantharajah04-Jun-2024Scotland captain Richie Berrington admits his side were frustrated at missing out on an opportunity to beat England after their opening fixture of the T20 World Cup was washed out in Barbados.In the first meeting between the two countries in the T20I format, Scotland seized the initiative between rain breaks to set the defending champions a DLS-adjusted target of 109 from 10 overs. Alas, a further shower after their innings had concluded on 90 for no loss proved terminal, with both sides settling for a point in Group B.Having won the toss, Berrington’s decision to bat on an uncertain Kensington Oval pitch was vindicated as openers Michael Jones and George Munsey struck 51 in 6.2 overs before a long break in play. With the match subsequently reduced to 10 overs a side, the pair returned to the middle to add 39 more from their remaining 22 deliveries.”I think we certainly gave ourselves a chance there,” Berrington said, on the prospect of an upset. “It would have been interesting to see how the weather would have affected the pitch because it did look a little bit of uneven bounce, as we expected during the day. I think if we bowled and fielded well, we certainly had an opportunity there.”I think everyone’s frustrated, not being able to get a game in there. Some positives to take, at least. The guys who went out to the middle I thought did a really good job. Now looking ahead, they’ve had some time out there and we can take some things from that. But certainly we’re frustrated we couldn’t get a full game in.”Matthew Mott shared Berrington’s disappointment at being unable to complete the match. However, England’s limited-overs coach had his side as favourites at the halfway stage, given the power hitters within the line-up and the fact Scotland would have had to bowl with a wet ball on a surface that would have skidded on, given the extra moisture.”I think we had all the advantage in that,” Mott said. “I think it was going to be a wet ball, 10 wickets in hand, only 10 overs. I think if we got back out there, I thought it would have been tough on Scotland given the start that they had.”But I thought it was well within our grasp to achieve that. I think the way we’re looking to play, we’d look to be at that mark in a 20-over game. So, yeah, I think we were very confident.”Those who’ve watched a lot of T10 cricket, I think that was certainly an achievable chase and we probably would have had all the things in our favour. It was frustrating not to get back out there, but that’s the way it is.”Related

• England and Scotland grudge match set to break new ground

• From punter to protagonist – Phil Salt returns to Kensington Oval

• Matthew Cross: 'We've got four games, and we've got to win four games'

• Scotland's 90 for 0 in vain as match is abandoned

• Scotland openers make the running before rain frustrates in Barbados

While full of praise for Scotland’s approach to their innings, Mott rued what he felt was a nervy effort from England. Not only were there a handful of fielding errors, but England also missed out on dismissing Munsey for 16 – via a top-edge – after Mark Wood overstepped the front line. The left-hander went on to score 41 not out from 31 balls.”I thought we were a little bit sloppy in the field a couple of times, probably just a bit of nerves at the start of a tournament,” Mott said. “There’s definitely areas we want to improve on, but there was a lot of good stuff in there as well.”It’s something we spoke about at the break, about just tidying up. And I think we did that really well after. I wouldn’t be reading too much into it – it happens in T20. But we’ve already seen how challenging these conditions are going to be and how they can flip so quickly.”Both teams will return to Bridgetown for their next matches. Scotland face Namibia on Thursday while England are back in action on Saturday when they take on Australia in a repeat of the 2010 final at this venue. Mott has urged his team to go full throttle at their Ashes rivals to set their World Cup campaign in motion.”Yeah, we’re looking to do that, definitely,” he said, when asked if he was looking for a statement performance against Australia. “I think we showed that. I think, you know, Mark Wood steaming in their first over, I think it’s exciting. Him and Jofra together is something that we’ve not been able to have for a while.”We were really keen to make a statement there. But you know, equally, I think we bat deep, we’ve got good options around there. We match up really well against Australia, and whatever the result of this game, it was going to be a big game the next one, and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Jeremiah Louis, uncapped seamer from St Kitts, steps into 15-man squad

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2024Kemar Roach, West Indies’ veteran fast bowler, has been withdrawn from their 15-man squad for the upcoming Test tour of England, after sustaining a knee injury while playing for Surrey in the County Championship.Roach, who turns 36 on Sunday, claimed 18 wickets at 25.77 in six appearances this season for Surrey, the defending County Champions, and showcased his enduring reverse-swing abilities in a match-winning spell of 6 for 46 in his penultimate match against Warwickshire at the Kia Oval in May.However, after claiming four more wickets in Surrey’s subsequent home win against Worcestershire, Roach missed the final match of his county stint, away to Hampshire. Now, with West Indies building towards the first Test against England at Lord’s on July 10, he has been replaced by Jeremiah Louis, the uncapped fast bowler from St Kitts and Nevis, and brother of fellow tourist and opening batter Mikyle.”Kemar’s skill and experience in English conditions will be missed,” Desmond Haynes, West Indies’ lead selector, said. “However this opportunity has been long in the making for Jeremiah Louis. He certainly has the skill and experience to make an impact in England.”It is a sad blow for Roach, the elder statesman of West Indies’ attack, whose tally of 270 Test wickets at 27.74 places him at No. 5 in their all-time list. Sixty-one of those have come in 16 previous Tests against England, whom he had first faced at Lord’s in 2012, a venue at which he wrote himself onto the dressing-room honours board with figures of 5 for 72 in his next visit in 2017.Speaking earlier this summer, Roach had talked up West Indies’ prospects of competing hard in their three-match series, particularly on the fast-bowling front, with Jayden Seales, Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph – the star of their victory over Australia in Brisbane this winter – all helping to form one of the most potent seam attacks since the region’s heyday in the 1980s and 1990s.Between them, Roach joked that West Indies were intent on “ruining” the farewell of England’s own veteran quick James Anderson, who confirmed last month that the Lord’s Test would be the last of his 21-year career.”I have no retirement time in sight,” Roach had himself said in May. “I think I can go as long as I want, but obviously it’s all on performances. The older you get, you need to have performances to stay in the team.”I’ve been doing well, but I just want to keep helping the youngsters so they’re in a good space – mentally and physically. I’ll be happy to see those guys going after me and breaking those records if they have to.”In addition to Louis’ call-up, Cricket West Indies confirmed that Isai Thorne, a 19-year-old fast bowler from Guyana, would be joining the squad as a development player. The squad are due to play a warm-up match against a County Select XI in Beckenham from July 3-6.

West Indies Test squad

Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), Alick Athanaze, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Alzarri Joseph (vc), Shamar Joseph, Mikyle Louis, Zachary McCaskie, Kirk McKenzie, Gudakesh Motie, Jeremiah Louis, Jayden Seales, Kevin Sinclair

See every player who has put their name forward and their availability

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2024Below is the complete list of 432 BBL and 161 WBBL nominations for the draft which will take place on September 1. In the tables you can search by name, country or availability to find players. You can also click through the pages of the BBL version, or expand the WBBL list.

BBL

Following players can be retainedAdelaide Strikers: Adam Hose, Jamie Overton, David Payne
Brisbane Heat: Paul Walter, Tom Banton
Hobart Hurricanes: Corey Anderson, Sam Hain
Melbourne Renegades: Joe Clarke, Jordan Cox, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Melbourne Stars: Dan Lawrence, Imad Wasim, Liam Dawson, Olly Stone, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf
Perth Scorchers: Zak Crawley, Stephen Eskinazi, Laurie Evans, Tymal Mills
Sydney Sixers: Izharulhuq Naveed, Rehan Ahmed, James Vince
Sydney Thunder: Alex Hales, Zaman Khan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore