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The worst collapse in BBL history saw the Heat lose 10 for 36 as Cameron Boyce conjured a remarkable Renegades comeback

Tristan Lavalette19-Jan-2020The Melbourne Renegades overcame an opening onslaught from Chris Lynn and Sam Heazlett to conjure a remarkable comeback 44-run victory over a stunned the Brisbane Heat, whose playoffs push crashed to a halt at the Gabba.Chasing 165, openers Heazlett (56) and Lynn (41 off 15) smashed 84 in the powerplay before the Heat lost three wickets in four deliveries out of nowhere. After Heazlett fell in the 13th over, the home side wilted further and lost 7 for 7 with hero Cameron Boyce finishing off one of the most astonishing comeback victories.Cameron Boyce gets mobbed by his team-mates•Getty Images

The Heat’s 10 for 36 collapse is the worst in BBL history and hard to fathom after they dominated the majority of the contest. After electing to bowl, the Heat restricted the Renegades to a seemingly under par 6 for 164 before enduring a batting meltdown.The Heat (5-6) remain in sixth spot, while the Renegades (2-9) have won consecutive matches.Heat claw back after strong Renegades startA struggling Marcus Harris has been reflective of the Renegades’ horror season. He shelved the big shots early in a bid to curtail the menacing bounce from a fired up James Pattinson, who was fresh off a five-wicket haul against the Adelaide Strikers.Pattinson continued to bowl short of a length and the out-of-sorts Harris succumbed to the pressure when he edged a short delivery.Ever reliable Shaun Marsh, in contrast, was in a belligerent mood. He may have, however, received an ounce of luck in the fourth over after appearing to be caught behind the wicket from an inside edge off Josh Lalor.Sam Harper hoped to support Marsh and attacked Mujeeb Ur Rahman at the backend of the powerplay. He blunted the spinner firstly by clubbing a six down the ground and then perfectly executed a clever paddle to the long-on boundary.The Renegades eyed a healthy total until Marsh threw his bat – literally after slipping from his grasp – but only succeeded in spooning a return catch to Ben Laughlin.The Heat’s fightback continued when Harper hit straight to short midwicket as the Renegades fell to 3 for 63 at the midpoint.Chris Lynn smashed five fours and three sixes in a 15-ball 41•Getty Images

Patel and Nabi rally at the deathThe Renegades were shackled in the middle overs until consecutive sixes by Will Sutherland in the 12th over relieved the pressure although the second was helped over the boundary by AB de Villiers, who uncharacteristically fumbled at long-off.Sutherland’s cavalier approach eventually backfired after holing out in the 14th over to negate the Renegades’ momentum.The Heat were fuelled by aggressive captaincy from Lynn, who brought spearhead Pattinson back on after the wickets of Harper and Sutherland. But Beau Webster superbly counterattacked in the 15th over with an astounding thump over the long-on boundary to sour Pattinson’s figures.Webster’s enterprising knock ended in the 17th but late fireworks from Samit Patel, who smacked a timely 23 from 10, and Mohammed Nabi revived the Renegades.Heazlett and Lynn plunder before Heat collapseThe Renegades’ momentum quickly evaporated after a loose Andrew Fekete leaked three boundaries in the first over. Patel’s spin didn’t fare any better, as a hot Heazlett whacked five boundaries from his first nine deliveries faced.An overshadowed Lynn luckily survived two inside edges, which both missed the stumps and rocketed to the boundary to continue the Heat’s soaring run rate. It wasn’t long until Lynn found his groove and he smacked Nabi’s first two deliveries for massive sixes to suddenly overtake Heazlett. Another boundary notched the 50-run stand off just 22 balls as Nabi’s hapless over cost 24 runs.The carnage continued until Lynn holed out on the last ball of the powerplay. De Villiers hoped to inflict more pain but was bowled second delivery by a flighted Boyce delivery to silence the Heat faithful, who were further stunned when Matthew Renshaw departed for a golden duck.Heazlett was forced to play cautiously but notched his first BBL half-century, as the Heat reached 3 for 103 after 10 overs.Boyce completes astonishing Renegades victoryAfter the earlier flurry, the Heat went six overs without a boundary as the pressure built and Heazlett cracked when he edged behind off Patel, who then claimed Jimmy Peirson next ball to flip the match once again.Joe Burns was then run out after a horrible mix up with Ben Cutting to continue the Heat’s stunning slide. Cutting couldn’t reprieve himself after being trapped unluckily lbw by Christian with replays indicating the ball was missing leg stump.The Heat spectacularly flamed out with Boyce fittingly finishing it off with wickets off successive deliveries to ensure the Renegades notched a win for the ages.

Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Shuvagata Hom, Anamul Haque, Mahedi Hasan among the other star performers

Mohammad Isam11-Feb-2020Tanbir Hayder’s 177 went in vain as North Zone fell just six runs short of the 330-run target set by Central Zone in a Bangladesh Cricket League match in Sylhet, but it still gave Tanbir the record for the highest individual score in the fourth innings in Bangladesh’s domestic history. More importantly, it was an innings that played a big part in making the game a thriller.Central scored 170 to start with, with Taskin Ahmed returning 5 for 54, and North responded with 166, Mustafizur Rahman starring with 4 for 68. That part of the match was dominated by the bowlers, but the batsmen found the going easier in the second round of exchanges, with Shuvagata Hom’s 122 – his 12th first-class century – taking Central to 325. After that, it was over to Tanbir.Tanbir, who struck 20 fours and a six in his innings that went on for over seven hours, finally fell to fast bowler Mukidul Islam in a heartbreaking finish for him and his team after he had added 35 or the final wicket with No. 11 Salauddin Shakil, the pair having batted together for 78 minutes – Shakil’s contribution was one run.South Zone, meanwhile, crushed East Zone by ten wickets in Cox’s Bazar. Batting first, they made 482 with hundreds from Anamul Haque, Nurul Hasan and Mahedi Hasan. Anamul struck 14 fours and four sixes in his 129 off 155 balls, while Nurul top scored with 155 off 222 balls, with 19 fours and three sixes. Mahedi’s 112 came off just 85 balls as he smashed eight sixes and ten fours.East were behind by 176 runs after the first innings, as Mahedi picked up a five-wicket haul to go with his century. Pinak Ghosh made 121 in the second innings, hitting 14 fours and four sixes in his 139-ball knock, and found support from Afif Hossain, whose 115 came off 175 balls, with 14 fours and a six.But South still had a target of just 185 runs, which they achieved in 37.5 overs, with Anamul hitting his second century of the match, an unbeaten 109 off 111 balls with 12 fours and four sixes.

Buckle up for the India v Pakistan 2011 World Cup semi-final in Mohali

The Preview by Sriram Veera29-Mar-2020

The Big picture

Beyond the hype, this contest can perhaps be best viewed through the prism of the two captains. Shahid Afridi is the passionate, exhibitionist leader who doesn’t mind showing his emotions on the field. He will shout, cajole, plead, laugh, roar and feel every pulsating moment of the contest. It’s exactly what this Pakistan team needs after the controversies of 2010 – someone who can remind them of the school-boyish joy that this game can provide.MS Dhoni is the uber-cool captain and, while he can be vocal while dealing with the press, he is almost invisible on the field. Silent nods of appreciation, a quiet word in the ear, calm instructions, a shrug of the shoulder is all you will get from him. And again, it’s what this star-heavy team needs. Someone who can be calm and remind them of the basics of the game.Pakistan – who told their players they could be here in the semi-finals? – almost renew themselves with each crisis. That’s how it has been always: Controversies. Paralysis. Rebirth. Success. And more controversies. This was a big tournament for the survival of Misbah-ul-Haq, in the middle of a great comeback. In a sense, the Lord’s Test spot-fixing saga and its sordid aftermath was actually a blessing in disguise since it paved the way for his return. For Younis Khan, too, survival instinct, as a batsman facing a dip in form before the tournament, would have helped in dealing with that crisis. Playing his last tournament, Shoaib Akhtar knew this was the time to let his game do the talking. And for that man Afridi, mentally almost perennially young, this was the best chance to dazzle on the biggest stage. He has taken that chance and led the team with great passion. Kamran Akmal lives and breathes in amnesia. Bad memories don’t haunt him – who else could have recovered so well after that nightmarish effort against New Zealand?And yet nothing much has changed with the way they play cricket on the field. It’s still the bowlers who win the games for them. For all that is mercurial about them, Pakistan have lost just one game in this tournament.India have occasionally limped, at times choked, sometimes dazzled, before beating Australia to reach to the semi-finals. The progress card has the bowlers in the red, the batsmen guilty of not finishing the job, and the fielding has always been almost beyond redemption. Their mode of progress should actually have freed them up in some ways. The batsmen must have realised that they can’t try too hard to cover up for their bowlers’ weakness by trying to pile on too much, with the batting Powerplay pulling the rug from under their feet a few times. The bowlers showed they are learning from the serial hiding by putting up a pretty disciplined effort against Australia. In some ways, the pressure must be off them, as not many would be surprised if they leak 300 runs.It’s the batting India depend on. Is there any weakness in it barring those Powerplay debacles? Gautam Gambhir hasn’t been at his personal best – were he playing at his optimum, he would have rendered Virat Kohli superfluous at No. 4. Yet Gambhir’s slightly iffy form has made Kohli vital in that middle order. Prior to the tournament, it was felt that Kohli would be a misfit in the lower order, where Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan would be more dangerous, and that he might be wasted even further up. But Gambhir hasn’t been at his fluent best and India have turned to Kohli to take them through the middle overs. Gambhir has always raised his game against Pakistan and his form will be crucial on Wednesday as it would then give the middle order the licence to attack.

Form guide

India WWLWW (completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WWWLW

Watch out for…

Virender Sehwag: In the past few games Sehwag has – curiously, for a batsman so wonderfully innovative as him – tried to hit every spinner through the off side. He would back away and try to drive, slice or cut and has fallen a few times in the process. Pakistan might well have a spinner bowling at him early and it will be fascinating to see whether Sehwag will retain that off-side bias or be more inclusive, and open, in his approach.Umar Gul’s yorkers: After Lasith Malinga, Gul has probably the best control over the yorker in world cricket today. There have of course been days when the radar has been awry but more often than not he has got them right. The Indian lower middle order will be fully tested by the yorkers, slower ones and the bouncers that he loves to bowl.Sachin Tendulkar v Abdul Razzaq: Bowlers like Hansie Cronje and Razzaq, more than the Umar Guls and the Shoaib Akhtars, have been reasonably successful against Tendulkar. Cronje used to tease Tendulkar with deliveries shaping away from a length outside off while Razzaq specialises in the opposite: he slides the ball back in, looking for that lbw. He hasn’t always had success, but it will be a mini-battle worth watching. Will Tendulkar opt for all-out attack or will he bat with relative care against Razzaq?Zaheer Khan v Kamran Akmal: Kamran loves to square drive and Zaheer has been able to bend the ball back in to the right-hand batsmen this tournament with the new ball. This contest should be fun.Umar Akmal v spin: India will rely a lot on the slow bowlers during the middle overs, and Umar is the middle-order batsman who loves to attack spin. He has laid into the likes of Daniel Vettori on the tour of New Zealand and is always itching to cut and slog-sweep.

Team news

The signs are that Ashish Nehra is likely to replace Munaf Patel. Even Yusuf Pathan has been sweating it out in the nets raising speculations that he might push R Ashwin hard for a spot in the team. Ashwin has been really good in the games he has played and has added some teeth to the attack while the nature of the track has made India think about bringing in Yusuf.India (probable): 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Sachin Tendulkar, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Suresh Raina, 8 Yusuf Pathan / R Ashwin, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish NehraPakistan are thinking of playing three seamers. The choice for the third seamer is between Shoaib and Wahab Riaz. Afridi said Shoaib wasn’t 100% fit but a decision will be taken on the evening preceding the match.Pakistan (probable) 1 Kamran Akmal (wk), 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Asad Shafiq, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Abdul Razzaq, 9 Saeed Ajmal / Abdur Rehman, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Wahab Riaz / Shoaib Akhtar.

It’s a batting pitch but what’s eating everyone is the dew factor.Heavy storms, lightning and rain lashed Chandigarh late on match eve, immediately adding a light shroud of doubt over the game. For the whole day there were no signs, not even a hint of rain playing a spoil-sport but around 9pm, there were rumbling sounds of thunder accompanied by high-speed winds. The velocity of the winds were so strong that the heavy iron barricades manning the team hotel were blown away.The weather forecast for Wednesday suggests sunshine during the day with minimal chance of heavy rain. Punjab Cricket Association officials said that they had studied the forecasts for the period ending March 31 and there was “zero precipitation” expected. In simple terms, there are no strong rains expected on the day of the match.

Stats and trivia

India head coach also wants domestic cricket to take precedence once sport resumes

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2020India coach Ravi Shastri believes cricket should look at keeping world events on hold and instead prioritise domestic and bilateral cricket to get players back in the groove once sport resumes. Looking at it from India’s perspective, he prefers the IPL and bilaterals to take precedence once the federal government deems it safe for sport to resume.”I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on world events right now,” Shastri told the on Friday. “Stay at home, ensure domestic cricket comes back to normal, cricketers at all levels – international, first-class etc – all get back on the field. That’s the most important bit. Second: Start with bilateral cricket.”Shastri’s comments come even as the ICC continues to deliberate the status of the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November. While cricket has come to a grinding halt worldwide, since March due to Covid-19, governments around the world have started looking at ways to relax lockdown rules for sport to resume.In April the BCCI indefinitely postponed the IPL, but plans to host it later this year subject to a free window emerging. Incidentally, Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, called for deferment of the World Test Championship at the ICC’s chief executive committee (CEC) meeting (via conference call) in April.At that meeting the CEC had agreed to “collectively review” the FTP until 2023 with a “view to rescheduling” as much cricket as possible affected by the pandemic.”If we (India) had to choose between hosting a World Cup and a bilateral tour, obviously, we’d settle for the bilateral,” Shastri said. “Instead of 15 teams flying in, we’d settle for one team flying in and playing an entire bilateral series at one or two grounds.”When cricket resumes, we could give the IPL a priority. The difference between an international tournament and the IPL is that the IPL can be played between one or two cities and the logistics will be easier to manage.”The same thing with bilaterals – it’ll be easier for us to tour one country and play there at specific grounds than 15-16 teams flying in during these times. The International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to look at this objectively.”

World Cup winner fears sport is missing chance for youngsters to emulate their heroes

Andrew Miller24-Jun-2020Mark Wood fears that English cricket risks missing out on its next generation of heroes in the wake of last summer’s World Cup triumph, after the sport’s hopes of a prompt resumption at grassroots level were dealt a blow by comments from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.Addressing the House of Commons on Tuesday to announce the easing of the UK’s lockdown measures, Johnson caught the ECB off-guard with his suggestion that the regular handling of a cricket ball made it a “natural vector of disease” in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.And while that statement will have no bearing on England’s bio-secure Test series against West Indies, which is due to begin at the Ageas Bowl on July 8, it means that cricket clubs up and down the country face a further anxious wait to get their delayed seasons up and running, having initially been led to believe that an early-July start date was on the cards.”It is disappointing to hear that,” said Wood, who was speaking at the launch of Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week, an event that encourages children to get active through cricket in spite of the lockdown.”Cricket clubs across the country are desperate for some cricket, just to keep that cricket club alive. I know that my home club, Ashington, are itching to get back out there and the junior section that produced me, Steve Harmison and Ben Harmison, we don’t want to lose them to other sports that they can be allowed to play.”ALSO READ: Boris Johnson comments deal blow to recreational cricketersWood’s comments echoed those of the former England captain, Michael Vaughan, who wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Johnson’s statement – in response to a question from Greg Clark, the MP for Tunbridge Wells – was a “hammer blow” to the game at club level.”On July 4 I can take my son’s cricket team to a restaurant but they can’t play a game of cricket,” Vaughan wrote. “That cannot be right. If the game does not start soon then we can rule out the rest of the summer. If that happens we can say goodbye to a lot of players who have now taken up golf or other sports.”As Wood acknowledged, safety first is “paramount” in the current climate. However, he felt that some of the social-distancing and hygiene measures that have already been applied at international level – and which resulted in the ECB on Wednesday confirming that 702 tests for Covid-19 at the Ageas Bowl and Emirates Old Trafford had come back as negative – would surely be applicable to the lower levels of the game.”The ECB are still desperate to try to get recreational cricket back up and running soon rather than later,” Wood said. “Cricket took its time on the backburner, rightly so with everything else going on, but you just feel that with pubs and restaurants opening, I don’t see how cricket is so far away from that.”Being a non-contact sport, the examples we’re trying to show at international level, there must be something they can do around the ball at grassroots level, because we don’t want to miss out on the next Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer.”An ECB spokesperson said that there had been further “positive dialogue” with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on Wednesday afternoon regarding the return of the recreational game, adding that the Sports Minister, Nigel Huddleston, “has assured us that positive news will be with us soon”.In the meantime, Wood hopes that he and his fellow Chance to Shine ambassadors, including Heather Knight, Michael Vaughan, Charlotte Edwards and Devon Malcolm, can inspire young cricketers by less conventional means during National Cricket Week – including through his own initiative “Strictly Come Catching”, which involves throwing a ball in the air and doing a dance before catching it.”Those juniors that are potentially missing out going to their local club, there are still activities for them to do,” Wood said. “I know it’s a bit more virtual, but that’s the best that we can do at the minute. With cricket on the horizon, I think it is a great initiative. My dancing was top drawer and I’m hoping someone can beat mine!”Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week works with the charity Chance to Shine to support and grow the grassroots of the game in schools and communities. Join in at www.chancetoshine.org/ncw20

The full season will be played behind closed doors, from August 18 to September 10

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Jul-2020The 2020 CPL will have a full season take place in Trinidad & Tobago from August 18 to September 10, after the organisers got the final nod from the local government. A total of 33 matches including two semi-finals and a final will be played behind closed doors across two stadiums.As per the agreement between the CPL and the T&T government, all the participants – squads and team management of the six franchises, the organisers and the rest of the crews – will need to self-isolate for two weeks before they board their flights, and for two weeks upon arrival in T&T. All the overseas participants will be tested for Covid-19 before departure and then upon arrival followed by two more tests – seven days and 14 days after their arrival.ALSO READ: Nabi, Lamichhane, Dunk earn big in CPL 2020 draftA CPL release said big names such as Rashid Khan, Chris Lynn, Carlos Brathwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Alex Hales and Kieron Pollard are “all set to take part” in the competition.All six teams will stay in the same hotel in Trinidad and “everyone will be subject to strict quarantine protocols for the first two weeks they are in the country”. Even within that bio-secure bubble, each team will be broken up into “households” with social distancing in place. There will be smaller clusters within each household where these measures can be relaxed. In case anyone from one of the clusters displays signs of Covid-19 at any time during the tournament, all members of that cluster will have to self-isolate for 14 days. No other guests will be allowed to stay at the hotel hosting the teams.”We will continue to monitor the situation concerning COVID-19 and to be on top of it, as it is a rolling situation and requires different rules and regulations as time goes on,” T&T minister of sport and youth affairs Shamfa Cudjoe said in a news conference. “Once we bring off this tournament successfully and I am sure we will, then it will be a lesson for us in hosting other games.”The CPL is set to be the first time people from outside of T&T are allowed into the country since the closure of its borders in late March. The Caribbean has been less affected during the Covid-19 pandemic compared to other countries, with T&T recording only 133 positive tests and eight deaths until July 9, according to data released by its health ministry. As a precaution, the T&T government has closed borders even to other countries in the Caribbean and its own citizens who are overseas.

Domestic cricket is set to resume later this month, while Zimbabwe and South Africa are due to visit later in the season

Umar Farooq02-Sep-2020The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced dates for the four remaining games of the 2020 season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which were which were suspended in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All four matches will take place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.The Qualifier between the top two teams from the league stage, the Multan Sultans and the Karachi Kings, will take place on November 14, as will the first Eliminator between the third- and fourth-placed Lahore Qalandars and Peshawar Zalmi. The second Eliminator, between the loser of the Qualifier and the winner of the first Eliminator, will take place on November 15, and the final on November 17.Professional cricket is set to resume in Pakistan this month after a 24-week hiatus forced by the Covid-19 pandemic. The PCB has opened up training facilities at its National High-Performance Centre (NHPC) while maintaining a strictly controlled environment, and has also issued an advisory to restart the sport at the grassroots and recreational level with adequate safety measures in place.Apart from the final leg of the PSL, the PCB is also looking to conduct the 2020-21 domestic season, and host two international teams. Zimbabwe is scheduled to visit Pakistan in November for three ODIs and three T20Is, and South Africa in January 2021 for two Tests and three T20Is.The domestic season is set to start from the last week of September with the National T20 Cup played over two legs – in Multan and then in Rawalpindi – followed by the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which is set to be played entirely in Karachi, a city with six venues capable of hosting 12 teams. With an eye on preparatory camps for its top players, the PCB has said the resumption will be gradual and over phases across the country. Cricket might return in full this month on, but both the domestic and International games through the season will likely be played behind closed doors, with no fans in attendance.The situation around Covid-19 in Pakistan is nearly under control, and a sense of normalcy is beginning to return. Of the 296,590 cases that the country has recorded in total, as on Wednesday, 281,559 have recovered while there have been 6318 deaths. Stores, restaurants and public transportation have opened up, and educational institutes should be operational from September 15 according to the Prime Minister Imran Khan.Only men and women cricketers who have represented Pakistan in the last 12 months will be allowed to train at the NHPC or undergo rehabilitation programmes at the facility. Under the PCB’s regulations, they will only be allowed to take part in socially-distanced training sessions. Players are prohibited from bringing their helpers or assistants, while net bowlers will have to be nominated and approved by the the centre. The use of saliva to shine the ball will not be allowed in training sessions as well as in domestic cricket.”It was important that we produced these protocols so that our elite players can prepare for the upcoming season in the best possible and safest environment,” said Nadeem Khan, the NHPC’s director. “I want to thank our medical team for preparing comprehensive protocols, which, we are confident, will ensure safety and security for the players. This is an unprecedented situation which continues to evolve. We are committed to monitoring the situation, while broadening our scope and opening doors for more players on the circuit as we move ahead.”The PCB is the sole custodian of organised cricket in Pakistan but doesn’t run recreational and grassroots cricket. It mainly operates at the domestic level and leaves lower-level cricket on its own, following the local government. Cricket outside PCB facilities has continued to take place in public playing fields without restriction.”We don’t control recreational cricket but as the game’s governing body in Pakistan, we can request all organisers to ensure that their participants are strictly adhering to the government-issued Covid-19 protocols,” Khan said. “This is in their best interest as well as their close ones and cricket. Sport is a healthy activity and it needs to stay that way.”The government opened up sports activities in the country over four phases with social distancing as the major point. Sports complexes and stadiums, according to the advisory, must adhere to occupancy limits of 25 or fewer people indoors and 100 or fewer outdoors, inclusive of players, coaches and staff, and the facility as a whole may not exceed 50% of its total occupancy. The PCB, however, is most likely to conduct games behind closed doors.

Seamer once again keen to show people what they could have missed as England Women take on West Indies

Valkerie Baynes18-Sep-2020With blood pouring from the spot where her thumbnail had just been ripped off, 15-year-old Kate Cross knew there was no way she could leave the pitch. Going off with a broken nail? She could hear the snide remarks already.As it turned out, she had to go to hospital for treatment, but even at such a tender age Cross had become so intent on proving people wrong that her instinct was to just “suck it up” and play on. And while often being the one girl on the team could pose such challenges, that was the attraction in the first place.”What struck me about cricket was that I was the only girl that was doing it,” Cross tells ESPNcricinfo. “I enjoyed the expectation of turning up to a ground and you got little comments that there was a girl playing for this team so they must be scraping the barrel.”That fuelled me a little bit to prove people wrong. I secretly enjoyed that. At the age that I was I didn’t really see it as anything other than just a few snide comments, whereas I think if I got that now I’d stand up for myself a little bit more.”ALSO READ: Teams to support Black Lives Matter during T20I seriesCross, a seamer with 42 England caps across all three formats, is “absolutely sure there were days when I didn’t prove anyone wrong and I maybe did look like the spare part in the team” because that’s sport. But she doesn’t remember those moments as clearly or as often as she does the times when she did make her point.”I got hit on the hand once when I was playing Under-15 cricket and the ball had ripped my thumbnail off and there was just blood everywhere,” Cross says.”Bearing in mind I was only 15, but I remember thinking that I can’t go off this pitch because I’ve broken my nail because I know the comments that will get made.”I ended up having to go to hospital because there was blood, it was just a mess, I’d broken my thumb. But I remember thinking, ‘you’ve got to suck this up and just carry on,’ whereas maybe if one of the lads had done that I don’t know if they’d have had that same thought process.”While she had to succumb to the physical fact of a significant injury on that occasion, there were others that presented her – and her family – with the kind of comeback many of us can only dream of making when we are slighted.”Another incident I’ll always remember, it was one of the first times I’d played any kind of senior cricket and it wasn’t until after the game that my mum told me the story,” Cross says. “I’d been really poorly, I’d had tonsillitis and the team was short so I said, ‘I’ll play, I might not be at my best, but I’ll play.'”I got four-for and I got them quite quickly as well, I think I only bowled four or five overs and picked up four wickets in that time.”My mum said that while she was sat on the side, some bloke behind her from the club that we were playing against had said, ‘Oh, the girl’s coming on now, here we go, let’s cash in, time to score some big runs,’ that kind of thing.”My mum did really well, she just stayed silent, but she said as soon as I took four wickets and came off the pitch and everyone clapped me, my mum just turned around to this bloke and said, ‘oh by the way, that’s my daughter.'”Now, as England prepare for a five-match T20I series against West Indies starting on Monday, which many believed wouldn’t happen, leaving the English summer bereft of women’s cricket, Cross and her team-mates – and no doubt the opposition – are keen to show people what they could have missed.”You’re going to have two sets of girls who are just grateful to be showcasing women’s cricket again,” Cross says. “That’s what’s been, for me, the most disappointing part of this lockdown, how much momentum the game had created and then you see the men started playing in July and you just think, why are we not out there?”That’s the general feeling throughout the women’s game, let’s showcase what we can do and let’s try and gain a bit more of that momentum that we’ve lost.”Women’s cricket has come a long way, with England captain Heather Knight saying this week she doubted that even as recently as four or five years ago the ECB would have worked as hard as they did to ensure West Indies could tour after plans to host India and South Africa fell through in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.The sport was riding a wave after the T20 Women’s World Cup in March, when Australia defeated India in the final in front of more than 86,000 fans at the MCG, shortly before international sport shut down and many countries went into lockdown.With the Women’s World Cup, originally scheduled start in New Zealand in February and the inaugural Hundred competition in England postponed for a year, players are keen to get whatever game time they can.”It’s just been quite difficult having things taken away from you,” Cross says. “You kind of saw the motivation leave a few people.”It was really disheartening because even now we don’t know what our winter looks like in terms of is there any touring to be done, is there any cricket we’ll be playing or are we just waiting for next season.Kate Cross in action for Thunder during the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy•Getty Images

“But I think that’s what makes us more grateful for this series. Especially with there not being any men’s international cricket left, it will give us a real chance to have a focus on us for a change. Sky and the BBC are covering the games so hopefully we get a bit of coverage and a few more people watching because they just love watching live sport.”Having West Indies come over, they’ve been an absolute saving grace for us in terms of all our cricket this summer – with the men and the women – so hats off to them for being willing to travel at a time when everything is so uncertain.”The last time England faced West Indies was during their final T20 World Cup group match, which England won comfortably. Cross, who was part of the England squad but had not played a match during the tournament suffered a severe sprain and torn ligaments in her right ankle when she landed on the boundary rope while attempting a catch during the warm-up for that match.If there is any upside in the delayed start to the international season, it is that she has had time to recover, testing herself with Thunder in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and competitive intra-squad matches within England’s bio-secure training bubble.”It’s one of those injuries that will probably have some effect on you, stiffness and tightness, because of the nature of the injury but I’m playing to full fitness now, it’s absolutely fine,” Cross says.”We’re grateful that we’ve got an opportunity to play some cricket. Even though it’s not as much as we’d like to have played, we’re still really grateful that we’ve got something to look forward to.”

ESPNcricinfo’s updates from the 36th match of IPL 2020, in Dubai

Deivarayan Muthu18-Oct-2020