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Chris Woakes is likely to miss England’s Test series against New Zealand after suffering a setback in his recovery from the foot injury after picking up a knee problem during his recovery which has necessitated surgery.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Apr-2015Chris Woakes is likely to miss England’s Test series against New Zealand after picking up a knee problem, which has required surgery, during his recovery from the foot injury that ruled him out of the West Indies tour.Woakes had an operation on Wednesday for a meniscal tear in his left knee which is expected to add up to six weeks to his recovery time. Speaking last week at the launch of the NatWest T20 Blast, Woakes said he was still unsure when he would return from his original injury.An ECB statement said: “The ECB medical team confirms that England and Warwickshire bowler Chris Woakes underwent uncomplicated keyhole surgery on his left knee for a meniscal tear earlier today. The injury occurred while undergoing rehab for his foot injury. His rehab is likely to take a further four to six weeks.”The first Test against New Zealand starts at Lord’s on May 21 with the second at Headingley from May 29. The one-day series begins on June 9 which may be a potential return if there are no setbacks in his latest recovery.Woakes was ruled out of England’s final World Cup match against Afghanistan with a metatarsal stress reaction and on returning home was told he would miss the West Indies series.He finished the last English season in possession of one of the four pace-bowling slots in the Test side, alongside James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Jordan, but remains in the pack jostling for a permanent position in the team.

Pune Warriors have suffered a setback to their IPL preparations with a knee injury ruling out the Australian allrounder James Hopes

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Mar-2012Pune Warriors have suffered a setback to their IPL preparations with a knee injury ruling out the Australian allrounder James Hopes. That means Warriors now have two foreign players’ slots left to fill after the IPL governing council allowed the franchise an extra foreigner this season (in addition to the mandatory ten slots) to make up for the absence of the injured Yuvraj Singh.Hopes was bought by Warriors only last month from Delhi Daredevils. He was the second overseas player the franchise had signed this season, West Indies’ Marlon Samuels being the first.An experienced allrounder, Hopes recently led Queensland to the Sheffield Shield title with a half-century in the first innings and a five-wicket haul in the second.”It is definitely a setback to lose out on a senior player like Hopes. Having played the IPL in the previous years he would have been a handy player,” a Warriors official said.The official said the franchise was in no hurry to fill the two vacant slots. “It also does not necessarily mean we need to find an allrounder as a replacement for Hopes,” he said.According to the official there had been no fresh development on the Michael Clarke front. Warriors were reportedly talking to Clarke about him coming in as a replacement for Yuvraj, but nothing has been finalised yet.Edited by Dustin Silgardo

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said he is feeling “fantastic” after working on some technical and mental aspects of his game with coach Graham Ford during his time with the Natal Dolphins

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Oct-2010England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said he is feeling “fantastic” after working on some technical and mental aspects of his game with coach Graham Ford during his time with the Natal Dolphins.Before joining up with the England squad in Perth this weekend, Pietersen spent four weeks in South Africa attempting to regain his form, and while he managed to play just two first-class innings, scoring 36 and 0, he insisted the trip had been a positive and helpful experience.”I feel fantastic now. I’ve had a lovely little break from the international circuit which has been very, very refreshing,” Pietersen told . “I’m really, really excited about what could be one hell of an interesting and positive winter ahead.””I put myself under a lot of pressure by going to South Africa knowing that every practice session and every hit I had would make headlines in the cricketing world but that’s what I wanted to do because I know it’s going to benefit me in the long run. Fordy’s been somebody I’ve worked with throughout my life so it was amazing that I could go and spend two weeks with him and gather back that confidence and that free spirit.””He knows me as a person. I haven’t given a lot away about me as a person here, especially playing for England, but Fordy knows where I’m from, knows everything about me so he can talk to me in a very different way, more than anyone in this country probably apart from my brothers and my parents. He picked out one little thing that I haven’t been doing in the last six months, since the Caribbean in the World Twenty20 and we worked on that little thing in particular.Pietersen, who has not struck an international hundred since March 2009, hit out at the intense media attention given to his struggle for form ahead of England’s defence of the Ashes in Australia. He empathised with footballer Wayne Rooney, who has also been the focus of negative publicity recently.”I wasn’t fed up with the scrutiny, I found it funny,” he said. “The journalists get paid to make opinions and the punters have the right. But people don’t realise we know as sportsmen if we’re not playing well. We actually know as sportsmen if we are not playing well, if we are letting ourselves down or letting people down, so the more times that people hammer you about it, it doesn’t really help.”I look at the Rooney situation – he’s getting killed every single day and it will definitely not be helping the lad and he shouldn’t have to go to Dubai to get away from things. He should be supported. The man’s a genius, he will be a legend of the game and he should be supported rather than be hammered about stuff.”Pietersen also insisted he would not be drawn into a war of words with the Australian camp before what is sure to be a keenly-contested Ashes series. Australian captain Ricky Ponting recently suggested that Pietersen “is a big question mark for them [England] at the moment” and that opener Alastair Cook and middle-order batsman Paul Collingwood would be “nervous” after their own struggles for form during a successful English summer.”This is my fourth series against Australia,” said Pietersen. “Every single time I have played against Australia, for the months leading up to it a lot of things are said which have absolutely no bearing after the first ball is bowled. I am not prepared to get involved. I’m not prepared to add any fuel to any fire that they might have started. I just want to go out and play some really tough, hard cricket and challenge myself against the Australians in Australia.”

Murali Kartik made his first significant contribution as Somerset’s overseas player as they completed a nine-wicket victory over Warwickshire at Taunton

26-May-2010
ScorecardMurali Kartik made his first significant contribution as Somerset’s overseas player as they completed a nine-wicket victory over Warwickshire at Taunton. Playing in only his second County Championship match for the county, the Indian left-arm spinner took 6 for 61, including five third-day wickets, as the visitors crumbled from an overnight 111 for 3 to 207 all out shortly after lunch.That left Somerset with a target of only 45 to record their second successive win in the competition, a target they reached in the 11th over. Warwickshire began the day still 52 runs short of making Somerset bat again, but their remaining middle order batsmen departed to inappropriate attacking shots.Jim Troughton became Kartik’s first victim of the day, lbw trying to pull a short ball that kept low, and Rikki Clarke had already been dropped at slip by Marcus Trescothick before also falling lbw attempting to sweep the spinner. Tim Ambrose was caught at second slip by Zander de Bruyn aiming an expansive drive at Kartik and at 141 for 6, Warwickshire were still 22 behind.It was 163 for 7 when Chris Woakes was caught behind pushing forward to a
turning delivery and Kartik made it five wickets for the morning when bowling Ant Botha with one that kept low.The game would have been over before lunch had it not been for a ninth-wicket stand of 20 between Imran Tahir and Boyd Rankin. Tahir was subjected to a succession of short-pitched balls by Alfonso Thomas, but swung lustily to hit four fours and a six in his 23 before being caught at backward point by Arul Suppiah off the same bowler.It was 207 for 9 at lunch and in the first over after the interval Charl
Willoughby bowled Rankin for 12. Willoughby finished with 2 for 41, but it was Kartik who did the job he was brought in to do by running through the opposition in the second innings of a Championship fixture.When Somerset batted again, Trescothick smashed a quick 30, including two
sixes, before being bowled by Tahir trying to win the game with another six. By then his side were on the verge of 21 points, while their opponents had to be content with three.

Gardner, King take three wickets each to seal victory despite Sciver-Brunt’s 111*

Valkerie Baynes16-Jul-2023Alana King and Ashleigh Gardner spun Australia to victory – and retention of the Ashes – with a thrilling three-run win over England in the second ODI in Southampton.A century to Nat Sciver-Brunt, her third in four ODIs against Australia, brought the hosts to the brink of a win that would keep the series alive but, with five runs needed off the final ball, she managed only a single off the left-arm spin of experienced death bowler Jess Jonassen before a crowd of 12,380. Australia have eight points to England’s six with one more match to play at Taunton on Tuesday, where the best England can hope for is to secure a win which would draw the series.Ellyse Perry had set Australia up nicely with 91, helped by Annabel Sutherland’s half-century and a thrilling cameo of 37 off just 14 balls from No. 8 Georgia Wareham. Perry’s 81-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Sutherland, in addition fifty stands with Beth Mooney and Gardner, provided the backbone of Australia’s total of 282 for 7 which asked England to produce their most successful run chase in ODIs for the second match in a row after their pursuit of 264 in Bristol.But King, who hadn’t played since the Test match, which opened the series, replaced quick Darcie Brown as Australia went for a spin-heavy attack and broke the game open with three wickets for 15 in the space of 23 balls while Gardner claimed 3 for 54 and conceded just six runs off the penultimate over, leaving England chasing 15 off the last. Sciver-Brunt marshalled the closing stages almost to perfection with No. 9 Sarah Glenn, who remained unbeaten on 22 from 35 balls. But, in scenes reminiscent of the 2022 World Cup where Sciver-Brunt scored fighting centuries in losing causes to Australia during the group stage and in the final, her 111 not out fell agonisingly short.In-form opener Tammy Beaumont set England’s response off in fine fashion, her back-to-back fours off King past mid-off gave her 20 runs in boundaries by the end of the sixth over and after the 10-over powerplay England were 62 without loss.Legspinner Wareham came on in the 12th over and struck with her third ball as Sophia Dunkley tried to paddle but instead had the top of her off stump rattled to depart for a laboured 13 off 30.King then rapped Heather Knight on the front knee-roll in line with middle stump in the 18th over and, although Knight reviewed immediately, her dismissal was upheld convincingly. Sciver-Brunt managed to overturn her lbw decision to Tahlia McGrath in the next over when replays showed the ball was missing down the leg side. But then King produced a stunning legbreak to beat Beaumont’s forward defence and ping the top of off stump and had Alice Capesy out cheaply, picking out Gardner just inside the rope at deep midwicket to leave England 123 for 4.Nat Sciver-Brunt played another valiant knock but was unable to get her side over the line•Getty Images

England were still looking good at the halfway point of their innings, at 132 for 4 compared to Australia’s 119 for 4 but then Danni Wyatt sent a Gardner delivery high to Sutherland at long-on and it fell to Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones to make running repairs to the innings.Consecutive fours to Jones off Megan Schutt in the 33rd over eased the pressure and Sutherland missed a difficult chance running back at mid-on when Jones was on 34 but then Jones’ attempted reverse-sweep off Gardner found Schutt at backward point and her 57-run stand with Sciver-Brunt ended. Sophie Ecclestone followed lbw to Gardner three balls later and Australia needed 73 from the last ten overs.With England needing 38 off last five, King conceded just three runs off her last over, the 46th, while Jonassen conceded eight off the 48th. Sciver-Brunt was dropped by Wareham at deep midwicket off the second ball of the penultimate over but England couldn’t quite make Australia pay, despite Sciver-Brunt’s slog-sweep for four followed by two mad dashes for two.Earlier, Phoebe Litchfield unleashed a sumptuous cover drive for four off Lauren Bell, but was pinned back by one that angled in from just outside off stump on the next ball and Bell had her second wicket when Alyssa Healy spooned tamely to Capsey at short third so that Australia were 27 for 2 inside six overs.They stretched that to 59 for 2 by the end of the powerplay as Mooney and Perry settled into a 61-run stand. The Australian duo upped the tempo in the 16th and 17th overs as Mooney crashed a one-bounce four off Sciver-Brunt down the ground and swept Ecclestone to the boundary. But it was Mooney’s attempted sweep off Ecclestone in the 19th over which was her undoing, Bell snaffling the edge at short fine leg and Australia were 88 for 3.Legspinner Glenn struck with the first ball of her second over when had Tahlia McGrath caught behind attempting to cut. Gardner received a life on 4 when she sent a Capsey delivery looping towards short third, Ecclestone running across and getting her left had to the ball but failing to hold on. Gardner capitalised by sending Glenn over long on-for six and moments later Perry brought up her fifty with a pull to square leg for two.Fans flocked to Southampton to watch the second ODI•PA Photos/Getty Images

Glenn had an lbw appeal turned down in her next over, Perry surviving England’s review on umpires call, missing a tough caught-and-bowled chance in an eventful 28th over.Ecclestone made up for her earlier blunder with an excellent catch at mid-off from Bell, who had just returned to the attack to remove Gardner and break a 56-run partnership with Perry.Kate Cross had already bowled her ten-over allocation when she went off with what was later diagnosed as persistent cramp after putting down Perry on 63 at mid-off from Ecclestone.Sutherland contributed an impressive 50 from 47 balls, including three fours off one Bell over, down the ground, over wide mid-on an through fine leg. She and Perry were busy in the 43rd over, Glenn conceding 17 from it.But then England’s bowlers regained control with Ecclestone bowling a tight 45th over, which went for just five runs, and Bell conceding only four from the next. Sutherland brought up her fifty with a single cut just short of point off Ecclestone’s next over but then Ecclestone snared the wickets of Perry and Sutherland, holing out to long-off and long-on respectively in the space of four balls.Sciver-Brunt conceded just five runs off the penultimate over but then Wareham helped herself to 26 runs from the last. As Bell kept putting the ball in the slot, Wareham launched back-to-back sixes over deep square leg and deep midwicket, followed by fours over mid-off and extra cover which bookended another maximum over mid-on.

Nepal knocked out, even as Max O’Dowd fell for 90 in the 168 chase to miss out on his first ODI hundred

Ekanth24-Jun-2023Netherlands progressed to the Super Sixes by bouncing Nepal’s batters, and later belting their bowlers in Harare. The loss knocks Nepal out of the World Cup Qualifiers, and also confirms West Indies and Zimbabwe’s progress into the next stage. Put in to bat in bowler-friendly conditions, Nepal folded for 167, unable to navigate a middle-overs crisis caused by Vikramjit Singh and furthered by Logan van Beek.Van Beek found movement in the air and off the seam early on. He had Aasif Sheikh chop on in the third over of Nepal’s innings, which brought Kushal Bhurtel and Bhim Sharki together and they fought their way through even if they didn’t always look in control. They miscued a lot of their horizontal bat shots.Bhurtel welcomed Vikramjit with a cut that went through cover for four and a punch through mid-on for three. But Vikramjit found his lengths to firstly dry up the runs, and then dismiss Bhurtel and Aarif Sheikh in the 15th and the 17th over, respectively. That started Nepal’s slump from 46 for 1 to 91 for 5, and they could not recover thereafter.Extra bounce and seam movement from Vikramjit accounted for Bhurtel (caught behind) and Aarif (caught at gully). Sharki, who saw out the new ball, started aiming for the boundary after Bhurtel’s wicket. He mistimed a hook, and almost cut Bas de Leede to the fielder. His luck ran out when he sliced Clayton Floyd’s first ball to point.Kushal Malla’s characteristic positivity led to the first six of the game when he slog swept Floyd over midwicket in the 21st over. But his aggression didn’t work against Aryan Dutt, who bowled back-to-back maidens and then got Malla to mistime a slog to long-off.Nepal captain Rohit Paudel pounced on Aryan in the 29th over, taking him for a six and a four. That led to van Beek’s return, and the full-fledged deployment of the short-ball tactic. Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee were out to the pull in the space of two overs.Despite Sandeep Lamichhane impulsively making room to open up gaps and Gulsan Jha working the ball around to build a steady 32-run stand for the eighth wicket and thus give Nepal some respectability, it was only a matter of time till the bouncers fetched Netherlands wickets. This time it was de Leede, who got Jha and Karan KC in the 42nd over. Lamichhane got a couple of streaky boundaries before also succumbing to the pull. He was the last man out; Nepal’s innings closed out with 33 balls to spare.Max O’Dowd started the modest chase with a clear plan: get across the line and hit the spinners to the leg side. He swept and pulled Lalit Rajbanshi, Lamichhane, and Airee to end the first powerplay with Netherlands up to 58 without loss.Vikramjit offered steady support at the other end, and by the time Lamichhane trapped him lbw in the 13th over, Netherlands had already broken the back of the chase with an 86-run opening stand.Two overs later, Lamichhane having Wesley Barresi out reverse sweeping to short third led to a minor slowdown. But new batter de Leede settled in thereafter, and combined with O’Dowd to rotate strike and find regular boundaries to take Netherlands close.With ten runs left to win, O’Dowd was knocked over for 90 by Jha. Despite O’Dowd missing out on what would have been a match-winning first ODI century, Netherlands had no trouble powering through to a seven-wicket win with as many as 137 balls remaining.

England opener returns to form in style after lean run in 2022

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2023Jason Roy put what he described as a “horrible year” behind him with a career-saving century in Bloemfontein on Friday, and admitted afterwards that the angry emotions that he unleashed upon reaching three figures had been “locked away in a cupboard” throughout his run of lean form.Roy’s 79-ball century was his 11th in ODIs but his first against a Full Member nation since the 2019 World Cup, and though it was not enough to secure victory for England in the opening match of their tour of South Africa, it may well have transformed his prospects of helping to defend their 50-over title in India later this year.He struck 11 fours and four sixes all told, as he passed fifty in an England shirt for the first time in 15 innings, dating back to the tour of the Netherlands in June 2022. With the teams back in action on Sunday for the second ODI, also at Bloemfontein, Roy admitted that his personal satisfaction, for once, far outweighed the frustration of defeat.”I’m feeling very good,” he said on the morning after the match. “I actually didn’t sleep that well – I had about five hours sleep. I was a bit overcome with a few emotions and stuff like that, it’s been a turbulent few months. I woke up really well, though, it was the best five hours’ sleep I’ve had.”Yeah, it was a little bit of anger around it all, just because I set everything to the back of my mind and locked a few things away in a cupboard and went out and played the way I have played throughout my career and which I haven’t played in the last couple [of years]. I was frustrated I hadn’t got to that mindset earlier but it was a very nice feeling.”Unlike their build-up to the 2019 World Cup, England have limited opportunities to fine-tune their squad for India. The forthcoming tour of Bangladesh offers their last chance for 50-over practice until September, when New Zealand and Ireland visit for three ODIs each.Roy, however, doesn’t consider his return to form against South Africa to be any guarantee of selection for the World Cup.”No, not at all, absolutely not, I don’t see it that way,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of games in my career, been around for a while now and even after a bad year you can get forgotten quite quickly. It’s a case of keeping pushing, keeping this environment going in this culture we have in the team because it’s a huge year ahead for us in 50-over cricket.”Hopefully [I will play the World Cup] but it’s one step at a time. It’s one game into a series, one game into the year in international cricket, so I’ve got to keep scoring runs and just building this team to the place where we were at back in 2019.”It’s been a horrible year – it’s not how you start the year, it’s how you finish it. I think I started last year pretty nicely and then things went downhill from there. I’ve just got to stay positive and keep pushing.”Roy had given little indication of a return to form during his stint in the SA20 this month, having managed a top-score of 33 in eight appearances for Paarl Royals. However, with his England captain Jos Buttler alongside him at the franchise, Roy said that the support of his team-mate had been crucial in keeping a level head.”I’ve got a great relationship with Jos on and off the field, we speak very honestly with each other and spending the last couple of weeks with each other at the SA20 league has helped,” he said. “I had a lot of thoughts and opinions and how I felt my last year had gone, and those conversations were great and it allowed me to free myself up for this innings I just played.”