Previous Years

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2021

2022

2023

   

New England Captain Announcement and Squad to Tour Australia

Richard Merriman has decided to take a break from International Cricket for the next few months and will be relinquishing the England captaincy and his place in the defence of the Grey Ashes this November and December.
The England Managemnt Team are delighted to announce that Edward Gordon-Lennox has accepted the captaincy for the tour to Australia to defend the Grey Ashes.

Captain: Edward Gordon-Lennox	Gloucestershire
Steve Aston	Staffordshire
Razi Ahmed	Gloucestershire
Jason Caunt	Derbyshire
Phil Deakin	Lancashire
Montie Douglas	Linconshire
Mark Eames	Warwickshire
Nick Gargaro	Hampshire
Nick Gaywood	Yorkshire
Melvyn Holmes	Leicestershire
Mel Hussain	Essex
Mike Palmer	Warwickshire
Jim Phillips	Kent
Paul Radage	Cheshire
Simon Routh	Kent
Lee Selfe	Bedfordshire
Kevin Watson	Yorkshire
Manager : Paul Bradley	Linconshire

 

Match report: 5th ODI England v Pakistan, Friday 19th July 2024 @ Littleborough Cricket Club  
Written by Rash Mahmood 
Scorers: Allen Murray & Emily Routh 

The fifth and final One Day International match between England and Pakistan was played at the picturesque Littleborough Cricket Club.
On a sunny and sweltering afternoon in Lancashire, both teams knew the importance of winning this game. For England, 2-1 up in the series, avoiding defeat would make them winners of the Royal Nawaab Trophy. For Pakistan, well the equation was simple, win the game and the series would be drawn. What both teams served up at this most wonderful of grounds, will live long in the memory of everyone who was present - an absolute sizzler to match the scorching weather.
Pakistan, it is fair to say have not had the rub of the green during this highly entertaining and fluctuating series. Up to this point, the Pakistani skipper Omar had lost all four tosses, and had seen his very talented and deep batting line-up struggle and toil on pitches that offered some lateral movement to the England seamers. It is also fair to say, that conditions had massively favoured the England bowling attack, but today’s conditions, would surely allow the Pakistani batters to finally ‘click’, on a dry, straw-coloured pitch, unlike the ‘green monsters’, the Pakistani batters had faced in matches two, three and four.
England made changes to the side that beat Pakistan on Wednesday at Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club. Back into the team came the skipper Richard Merriman, John Goldthorp returned behind the stumps replacing Alan Lees, and spinner Lee Selfe replaced Marcus Young, Nick Gargaro was the 13th man.
As the respective captains made their way out to the middle, it was noticeable that the Pakistani players were more animated than they had been throughout the series. Sajid Ali in particular, whilst I was speaking with him, was displaying a huge grin, and said to me that he had been waiting for a pitch like this since the Bradford Park Avenue game. Clearly, he was relishing the prospect of batting.
Omar, the Pakistani captain, shook his head in disbelief, as he once again, lost the toss, and his side were put into bat by the England skipper Merriman, however the reaction on the sideline by his players to this news was of high fives and fist pumps all round. Pakistan were not going to be fazed by losing this toss, and were determined to make England toil under the scorching afternoon sun.
Jason Caunt opened the bowling from the Townhouse End, and it was the still beaming Ali who faced the first delivery, taking two runs from it, before another two and a single brought the end of the over. Tahir Rashid, promoted to opener, looked on as Ali faced Mike Palmer from the Park End, and Ali wasted no time in setting about his bowling, playing two wonderfully timed shots over mid-off from consecutive balls, the first flying way over the boundary and out of the ground for six, the next a beautifully timed drive for four. A leg bye brought Rashid down to face his first ball, and in contrast to his partner, he dollied an attempted square cut to Paul Radage at backward point. Radage making no mistake taking the simple chance, Rashid out without scoring, Pakistan 18-1 after two overs.
The dismissal of Rashid brought Saleem Malik to the crease. There had been much excitement about the presence of such a renowned cricketer as Malik being in the Pakistani team, but in truth, he had not really delivered in the series, often getting starts, but not progressing to make a big score. Would today be the day that that changed?
Well, it certainly seemed like it, when Palmer bowled his second over, with Ali and Malik both helping themselves to boundaries, Palmer going for 15 runs in the over. Five overs in, Pakistan were motoring along at eight runs per over, 40-1.
This free scoring prompted a change from the England skipper, and Mel Hussain replaced Palmer from the Park End. Hussain, who was the leading wicket taker for England, was right on point, having just a single taken from him in his first over. Caunt, continuing from the Townhouse End got the breakthrough England were searching for with his first delivery of his new over. Malik, going across his stumps, looked to play an expansive shot over mid-wicket, and played all around the ball, which crashed into his stumps. A much needed and vital wicket for England, Malik going for 11, Pakistan 41-2.
This brought the dangerous Syed Ghaffar Kamzi to the crease. England buoyed by the wicket of Malik, knew that if they could just manage to eek out a couple of quick wickets, they would be firmly back in the driving seat. Kamzi brought the 50 up for Pakistan in the ninth over, and the Pakistani batters now started to rebuild, punishing anything short with a wonderful array of shots. England became a bit ragged in the field, and the bowling was just a fraction too full, allowing the Pakistani batters to play their shots.
Phil Deakin and Selfe had been brought into the attack, to replace Caunt and Hussain respectively. The 50 run partnership between Ali and Kamzi was reached in the 15th over off 53 deliveries, and Ali completed a very well-crafted half-century himself later in the over, reaching this milestone off 45 deliveries. Pakistan reached 100-2 in the following over.
England continued to search for a breakthrough, and it finally came in the 21st over, when Kamzi looked to play a sweep shot off Deakin, and missed the ball, which hit him on his pads, bang in front of the wicket, giving the umpire an easy LBW decision. Kamzi out for 42 of 46 deliveries, which included three fours and one six. The partnership between Kamzi and Ali had been 85 in 14.2 overs, a shade under six an over during their time out in the middle. Pakistan now 126-3.
Syed Saghir Abbas was the next batter in, so no respite for England. Abbas a wonderfully elegant player to watch, was another Pakistani batter who would relish these batting conditions, and England, although making the vital breakthrough, would be under no illusions as to the talent and scoring ability of the Pakistani batter.
26 overs in, Pakistan had reached 150/3, but there was just the feeling in and amongst the growing crowd of spectators that the Pakistani batting pair were starting to look more aggressive. The duo reached the 50 run partnership in the 31st over, and although England had slowed the scoring rate somewhat, they still knew that the two Pakistani batters were dangerous, and as if to demonstrate this, with Graham Shaw replacing Selfe in the 32nd over, Abbas hit him for three consecutive boundaries, 18 off the over, taking Pakistan past the 200 mark.
Shaw’s next over saw Ali loft him straight back over his head to bring up a magnificent century, Ali 102 not out off 100 deliveries, with six fours and one six, and the large crowd as well as the Pakistani squad all rose to their feet, to applaud what had so far been a wonderfully crafted innings, with brute force and some exquisitely timed shots.
Kevin Watson had replaced Deakin at the Townhouse End, and the first ball of the 35th over, saw Abbas reach his 50 off 43 deliveries with six fours. The century partnership between Ali and Abbas was reached with Ali smashing Watson over deep mid-wicket for six – 102 between the pair off 87 balls in just under an hour.
46 runs had been added in just four overs from overs 31-35, sensational from Pakistan!
Abbass steered Pakistan past the 250 mark in the 39th over, and a score of over 300 looked distinctly possible. England simply had no answer to the Pakistani batters, who were scoring at will, and a breakthrough looked unlikely to stop the scoring spree.
However, as England had toiled under the blazing sun, the weather had also started to impact Ali, who although still scoring well, had noticeably slowed down, and had become a bit more laboured in his shot selection.
Watson had Ali caught at long on by Radage in the 40th over, bringing an end to a simply superb innings. Ali had backed himself from the start, and as he trudged off the field, looking exhausted, he has amassed 122 runs off 121 deliveries, with seven fours and two sixes, and he received a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd, waving his bat to acknowledge the reception, and having a big beaming grin all over his face. His partnership with Abbas had been 139 in 20.2 overs. Pakistan now 265-4, with the hard-hitting Muhammad Ashraf Pakhali coming to the crease.
A most welcome and needed breakthrough for England, although with Pakhali at the crease alongside Abbas, England could not rest on their laurels. It was at this point, that Abbas decided to go on the attack, and what an attack it was. 41 overs had gone, and Pakistan were on 267-4. What happened in the next four overs, is hard to describe in words, or indeed find a suitable word to describe what took place, but carnage seems as good a word as any.
Abbas just started to demolish the England attack, with four after four coming off his bat. He brought the Pakistan 300 up in the 44th over, with a swipe over wide mid-on for four off the bowling of Hussain, and it was left to Watson to bowl the final over of the Pakistani innings.
Pakhali got a single off the first delivery of the final over, bringing Abbas onto strike on 96 not out. Two runs were scored off the next delivery, but during the course of running the second run, Pakhali appeared to suffer a calf injury and he retired from the field on 14 off 10 deliveries with one four, bringing Syed Zafar Ali to the non-strikers end.
Abbas brought up his century with a beautifully timed cut through point for four, 102 not out at this point, off just 75 deliveries with 11 fours. A dot ball followed, before Abbas struck Watson for consecutive fours to end the innings. He remained 110 not out off 78 deliveries which included 13 boundaries, Pakistan closing on a very healthy 316-4 off their allotted 45 overs.
It had been a wonderful display of batting from the Pakistani team, with the tone set right from the start by Ali, and continued with by a very good innings by Kamzi, and a sublime innings by Abbas, completing his second century of the tour.
England were smashed for 49 runs in the final four overs, with a total of 80 runs being conceded in the last 10 overs and knew that they would have an uphill battle to get near the Pakistani score, but England themselves had a wealth of batting talent, and on a good pitch, expectations amongst the crowd were that we would see an exciting run chase as England looked to complete a series win. We would not be disappointed.
The England opening duo of Merriman and Hussain made their way out to the middle, with Muhammad Yaqoob and Shahid Mehboob opening the bowling from the Townhouse and Park End’s respectively. England chasing 317 for victory required 7.04 runs per over, not an onerous run rate, but one that would require sensible batting and judging when to attack and not losing wickets cheaply.
A circumspect and steady start by the England openers had only yielded nine runs from the opening three overs, but boundaries apiece by both England openers in the fourth and fifth overs had England sitting at 29-0 after five overs. A steady if unspectacular start.
Merriman and Hussain were content to rotate the strike when they could, and it was the England skipper Merriman who brought up the 50 partnership in the ninth over.
Abbas replaced Yaqoob, and the England pair continued in their pursuit of ones and twos, all the while the run rate was still hovering around seven runs per over, and it was Abbas who got the breakthrough for Pakistan in the 15th over, Hussain out in a similar way to Malik in the Pakistan innings, trying to play through the onside, missing the ball, and seeing it hit the stumps. England 80-1, Hussain out for 36 off 38 balls with three fours.
Paul Radage was the next batter in for England and struggled initially to get the ball away. Tanvir Ali replaced Mehboob at the Park End, but the boundaries had simply dried up for England, none being hit in a nine over spell from the middle of the 10th over to the end of the 19th over, when Merriman hit Mohammad Younas through mid-wicket for four, not only bringing up the England century, but also reaching his 50 off 60 deliveries with four fours. The run rate had now reached 8.31 runs per over. 20 overs gone, England sitting at 107-1, still needing another 210 to win of 25 overs.
The 50 partnership was brought up by Merriman, with a six over deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Ali, and at the halfway stage, England had reached 124-1, which prompted an acceleration in the scoring. England scored 30 runs in the next three overs, a most welcome and opportune time to do so. However, just as the momentum was shifting slightly back England’s way, Pakistan made another breakthrough. Kamzi and Syed Zafar Ali, had replaced Sajid Ali and Younas respectively, and it was Zafar Ali, by far the best Pakistani bowler in the series, who struck in his first over, clean bowling Radage. Radage out for 33 of 43 deliveries which included one six. England now 154-2 after 25.3 overs, England still needing another 163 runs to win off 19.3 overs, with a run rate of 8.44 runs per over.
Montie Douglas mad his way out to the middle, and there was a buzz around the ground. Douglas has had a stellar 2024, with three centuries in the World Cup, to go along with another century against Scotland later on in the summer. Douglas simply has one way of batting, whatever the circumstances, and with the clear need to set about and disrupt the Pakistani bowling attack, Douglas did just that, with Merriman content to continue giving him the strike when possible. England began to gather some much needed momentum.
45 runs came off the next five overs, and Merriman brought the England score past 200 with a four through square leg of the bowling of Kamzi from the first delivery of the 33rd over and followed this by bringing up the 50 partnership between himself and Douglas with a single of the next ball. That 50 partnership off 41 deliveries in a little over 30 minutes.
However, as has been the case throughout this series, just when one team seems to be getting on top, disaster strikes, and it was Kamzi with the final ball of his over, who got the England skipper out. Merriman looking to whip a straighter delivery through the leg side, missing the ball and the umpire had no hesitation giving him out LBW. Merriman out for a very fine 96 off 101 deliveries, which included seven fours and one six. England 207-3 after 33 overs, but with Douglas still out in the middle, and some powerful hitters still to come in the England batting line up, it was all set up to be a close and exciting last dozen overs.
Caunt was the next batter in for England, and he had batted magnificently well in the previous game, and together with Douglas, England hoped that the pair could get England somewhere near the 250 mark with about seven or right overs to spare to allow them to have a real go at reaching 317.
Douglas, seemed to get the hint, and never shy in expressing himself, proceeded to smash the first two deliveries from the next over, bowled by Zafar Ali through square leg and mid-wicket. Caunt, not to be outdone, then played one of the shots of the day, an immaculately timed cover drive that raced away to the boundary for four. England scoring 16 runs from the over. The victory target now below 100 runs, but with overs running out. England 223-3 after 34 overs, still requiring another 94 runs to win with nine overs remaining, with the run rate now over 10 an over.
Caunt then played a magnificent, lofted drive over long on for six in Abbas’s next over, and with Douglas helping himself to another boundary, England had reached 240-3 after 36 overs.
Syed Shahabuddin replaced Kamzi, and Younas returned to the attack replacing Abbas, and it was Younas who got the wicket of Caunt, clean bowling him in the middle of the 38th over. Younas gave the ball some air, and as the ball looped in the air, Caunt, looking to deposit the delivery over deep mid-wicket missed the ball completely, turning to see the ball hit his stumps. Caunt out for 22 off 15 deliveries with one four and one six. England now 248-4.
Phil Deakin, playing at his home ground was the next man in, and got a hearty ovation as he made his way out to the middle, and he did not disappoint the home crowd, hitting two sixes off Shahabuddin in the 39th over, to leave England now on 268-4 with another 49 runs required off six overs.
Douglas completed a fine 50 off the first ball of the next over, rocking back in his crease and thumping the ball through the extra cover region for four. A fine, fine knock by Douglas, reaching his 50 off just 33 deliveries with seven fours.
With five overs to go, England had reached 280/4, and the tension in the ground was palpable. Could England get over the line? Well with Douglas and Deakin out in the middle, England would have been hopeful of doing so.
But, as has been mentioned earlier in this report, the game still had some excitement and fluctuations in fortune to come. Douglas had moved onto 60, when the returning Zafar Ali, as he has done so often in the series, got the breakthrough Pakistan were so desperate for. In the 42nd over, Douglas looked to whip a flatter, quicker and fuller delivery from Zafar Ali through mid-wicket, only to be deceived by the pace and flight, as the ball hit middle stump. Douglas out for a wonderfully entertaining 60 off 43 deliveries with eight fours, and England now 289-5.
Deakin was still out in the middle however, having bludgeoned his way to 22 off just nine deliveries, and with the likes of Graham Shaw, Palmer, Goldthorp and John Butterworth still to come in, England remained slight favourites to get over the line, as long as they did not lose any more wickets.
Palmer was the next batter in for England, no mean striker of a cricket ball, but Pakistan just sensed a chance, and if they managed to get another batter out, then the whole momentum of the game would shift heavily in their favour.
Could this series produce some more magic? You bet it could!!
Six balls after the dismissal of Douglas, Deakin after surviving what looked a good shout for LBW off the first ball of the 43rd over from Abbas, then mistimed a drive, off the very next ball, the ball ballooning away into the onside, where Abbas took a good tumbling catch diving to his right. Deakin out for 23 off 12 deliveries with one four and two sixes. England 293-6 after 42.2 overs, still needing another 24 to win, with 16 deliveries remaining.
Shaw was the next man in, and after facing three dot balls, which he mistimed, this only created even more tension and anxiety amongst the watching spectators. Shaw however is a very powerful striker of the ball, and there was some relief to the now gut wrenched and squirming England supporters, as he stood tall and smashed the final delivery of Abbas’ over for six over wide mid-on. England 299-6 after 43 overs. Surely England would get over the line needing 18 from the final two overs?
A leg bye off the first ball of the 43rd over, brought England to 300, and Palmer managed to calm some of the nervousness in the crowd, by carving the ball powerfully through mid-wicket for four of the third ball of the over, but there was another twist in the tale, as two balls later, Zafar Ali, holding his nerve magnificently, got a ball to turn and smash into Palmer’s off stump. Palmer out for seven balls with one four, England 305/7, needing 12 to win, with seven balls remaining. Zafar Ali picking up his third wicket.
Goldthorp made his way to the middle, under intense pressure, and managed to get a single of the last ball of the over, meaning England would need 11 runs to win of the final over, which was to be bowled by Abbas.
As I did in the match report for the first ODI at Bradford Park Avenue, I believe it is necessary to go through the last over ball by ball, so here goes.
Ball 1 – Goldthorp takes a single, England needing 10 more runs to win off five balls.
Ball 2 – Shaw hits one of the shots of the day, planting his front foot down the wicket, and hammering the ball back over Abbas’ head for four. England now needing six to win off four balls.
Ball 3 – Abass, feeling the pressure, bowls a wide full toss outside off stump, which Shaw latches onto and smashes over extra cover for another four, England now just requiring two to win off three balls.
Ball 4 – Shaw goes for a big hit, but the ball squirts away of a thick inside edge, straight to the Pakistani skipper Omar, stationed at short square leg, no more than 10 yards from the wicket. Omar does brilliantly to field the ball, and backhands a throw towards the wicket, but misses, with Goldthorp out of his ground. A direct hit and Goldthorp would surely have been given out. England now just needing one to win off two balls, the scores being tied.
Ball 5 – Pakistani skipper Omar brings his fielders in, and Pakhali is brought into a silly mid-off position. Goldthorp makes contact, but Pakhali does magnificently to move swiftly to his left, gather the ball, and throw to Abass at the bowlers end, who gathers cleanly and removes the bails. England need one more run to win off the final ball, and crucially Shaw is at the strikers end, as Butterworth made his way out to stand at the non-strikers end.
Ball 6 – So, to the last ball of the innings. Abbas bowls outside off stump and Shaw cuts straight to the fielder stationed at short cover. Shaw immediately after striking the ball sets of running, and the fielder fumbles the ball, allowing Shaw to get to the non-strikers end to make the winning run.
What a fantastic finish to what had been a wonderful game of cricket, that swung one way and then the other. At the end of the game, Shaw raised both hands above his head, and it is fitting that such a stalwart of the England team was the man to score the winning run.
So, the final result, was England winning by two wickets off the final ball of the series, and with that, they became the winners of the Royal Nawaab Trophy, ultimately winning the series 3-1, with one match abandoned in the five match series.
The verdict -: It is fitting that Littleborough Cricket Club was the scene of what many will say is one of the best cricket matches, if not the best cricket match that the England Over 60 team has been involved in. A host of international players have graced this beautiful ground over the years but is highly unlikely that any of them would have been involved in a game as good as this one.
Pakistan finally managed to click in the batting department. Throughout the series, they had shown that they batted all the way down, but as mentioned earlier in this report, the Pakistani batsmen had struggled on pitches that gave the England bowlers some lateral movement. Today, on a perfect wicket for batting, they showed just how good they were. Sajid Ali has been a rock opening the innings, showing all his class and experience, and the likes of Kamzi, Zafar Ali, Pakhali and the always watchable Abbas, have at times lit up this series, with some fantastic batting performances. It is a shame that Pakistan were not allowed to defend the World Cup in India earlier in the year, as I am sure they would have progressed deep into the tournament.
From a bowling standpoint, Mehboob, whilst he is nowhere near as fast as he was, has bowled magnificently in the series, aided and abetted by Abbas, and the ever-reliable Zafar Ali, who was Pakistan’s leading wicket taker with seven wickets in the series, but could and should have had a few more, granted a bit more luck.
Moving forward, my one critical observation is that Pakistan need to improve their fielding, which is where they are sometimes found wanting, and this is indeed an area where England have certainly improved since the World Cup final defeat to Australia earlier in the year.
That being said, this Pakistan team have a strength in depth in the batting department and have shown enough in this series to challenge the very best of teams in the Over 60s age group.
From England’s point of view, winning a series against one of the top sides in the world will be immensely satisfying. However, whilst the final series scoreline looks convincing, there are still areas where England must improve. On the plus side, the fielding overall has been much better than in the World Cup, but England at times in this series have shown a reluctance to really go all out and attack teams when they have them struggling. This reluctance has allowed Pakistan to reach totals that they had a realistic chance to defend, when to all intents and purposes England should have been chasing no more than 130 in matches two and four.
At times, the England bowlers have struggled with their line and length, but it has been good to see the immensely affable and likeable Gargaro get his chance to play in the series. In Palmer, Caunt and Watson, England have a core of experienced seamers who at times have bowled magnificently well, but it should also be noted that at times they have struggled to impose themselves in games, giving away too many wides, and bowling too full of a length. In English summer conditions, these bowlers simply had too much for the Pakistani batters, but away from home, in different conditions, these frailties may be exposed.
A special mention must go to Hussain, England’s leading wicket taker in the series with 10 wickets, which included two four wicket hauls, and who in my opinion bowled one of the best overs in the series under intense pressure in the first game at Bradford Park Avenue, conceding five runs from his final over, with Pakistan chasing and ultimately winning the game on the penultimate delivery of the match.
England now turn their attention to a winter series down under against World Champions Australia, which takes place in November and December this year.
There will be much deliberation amongst the management team in respect of squad selection for this series, but England have shown a determination to improve and with new players being introduced into the squad for the series against Pakistan, England have once again demonstrated the strength in depth they possess in the Over 60 age group, something that they will need when they face the ‘old enemy’ later this year.
In this my final report of the series, I would like to thank the players and management from both sides, who have afforded me every consideration and been wonderfully generous with their time. It has been a hugely enjoyable series to be part of, and the standard of cricket has been excellent, and it has been my pleasure to be able to report on it.
My thanks to the England Management Team for giving me the opportunity to commentate on some of the games.
Special thanks to all the staff, officials and spectators at Bradford Park Avenue CC, Oakamoor CC, Smethwick CC, Southport & Birkdale CC & Littleborough CC, for making all the venues a welcoming and friendly place to be watching cricket.
In addition, on behalf of the England Team, a big thank you to the wives and partners of the players who have turned up and supported. Your continued support does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. I would also like to thank the England scorer, Al Murray for all his help, advice and assistance during the series.
Finally, thank you to our sponsors, Stonehill Sports, Sporta, NVPlay and our newest sponsor and company responsible for putting their name to the trophy Royal Nawaab.
I look forward to bringing you commentary and match reports from Australia later on this year.

Match report: 4th ODI England v Pakistan, Wednesday 17th July 2024 @ Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club
Written by Rash Mahmood   
Umpires: Royal Rajan & Chris Dunn
Scorers: Allen Murray & Joe Nightingale

On a gloriously sunny afternoon, England and Pakistan met in the fourth of a five match series for The Royal Nawaab Trophy. The series even at one game apiece, following the abandonment of the third game last Monday at Smethwick CC.
Heavy rain had fallen over the past two days on the Lancashire coast, and the ground staff had done a miraculous job getting a pitch prepared for this crucial match. The wicket was green, with patches of moisture, and from speaking with the ground staff, they anticipated that for about the first 75 minutes of play, there would be some assistance off the pitch for the side bowling first, giving some degree of lateral movement, but that as the sun continued to shine, batting would get easier.
England made a number of enforced changes to the team from Monday, due to player commitments. Out of the side were the captain and vice-captain, Richard Merriman & Ed Gordon-Lennox, as well as John Goldthorp, who had been donning the gloves behind the stumps in the absence of Steve Aston and Simon Routh.
Graham Shaw took over the captaincy, with Phil Deakin as VC, and Alan Lees was handed a debut behind the stumps. A proud day for all three concerned.
Pakistan skipper Nadeem Omar, named the same side as Monday, meaning Syed Shahabuddin retained his place in the side in place of Tanvir Ali.
As both skippers made their way out to the middle, there was a rueful smile on the face of Omar. He had lost the previous three tosses, and there was no question that luck had favoured England in the previous three games, the Pakistani batters in the second and third games finding it difficult to cope with the lateral movement that the pitches at Oakamoor and Smethwick afforded the England bowlers. Luck, however, deserted the Pakistani skipper once again, losing the toss, and the England skipper Shaw had no hesitation in putting Pakistan into bat, no doubt hoping that the four English seamers in the side would make quick inroads into the Pakistani top order.  
Jason Caunt opened the bowling for England from the Grovesnor Road end with the Pakistani opening duo being Sajid Ali and Muhammad Aslam. Mike Palmer opened the bowling from the Harrod Drive end, and after bowling two wides to start the over, delivered a magnificent delivery that swung in the air, pitched and moved off the seam, crashing into the off stump of Aslam, who was looking to play the ball on the leg side. Aslam out for one, Pakistan 3-1.
Palmer and Caunt continued to give the Pakistani batters nothing to hit, and Muhammad Ashraf Pakhali, a very dangerous striker of the ball who had made his way to the middle to replace Aslam, looked ill at ease as the ball swung and moved off the seam. Five overs in, Pakistan were 11-1.
The score progressed to 22 in the middle of the ninth over, when Caunt got a ball to rise from just back of a length, tempting Ali into a shot, and being very well caught by Lees, the England keeper, giving him his first international victim. Ali out for 11, Pakistan 22-2.
The Pakistan skipper Omar was the next man in, but he only lasted two balls, Caunt taking a magnificent low catch around his ankles from an Omar return strike. The Pakistan skipper out without scoring, and Pakistan in disarray at 22-3.
Pakistan needed to steady the ship, but the England opening bowlers gave them plenty to think about, and it was Caunt who struck again in his next over, removing the dangerous Pakhali, Lees taking another good catch behind the stumps. Pakhali out for 13, Pakistan reeling at 33-4 after only 10.4 overs.
Pakistan needed a steadying influence in the middle, and would have been hoping that the experienced Saleem Malik, making his way out to join Syed Kamzi would provide this. Kamzi, a very good striker of a ball, seemed to gain confidence as Malik arrived in the middle and started to play some attacking shots, well certainly more positive shots than his earlier colleagues.
Pakistan brought their 50 up and the end of the 14th over, Kamzi getting a thick inside edge that just missed his leg stump and flew away to the boundary for four. Kamzi had been beaten by three excellent deliveries by Palmer in the over and could count himself lucky to be still out in the middle, however his luck was about to run out, as Gargaro replacing Palmer from the Harrod Drive End, got Kamzi to prod forward, the ball dropping straight down and moving back towards the stumps, where, in slow motion and with Kamzi unable to do anything, the ball nestled against the leg stump, dislodging the bail. Kamzi out for 17, Pakistan 55-5.
Syed Saghir Abbas, a very elegant striker of the ball joined the experienced Malik out in the middle, but in the very next over disaster struck again for Pakistan. One of the features of not just this innings, but in the Pakistani innings in general during their tour, has been the poor communication between the batters, leading to missed opportunities to score runs, but more importantly, also leading to farcical and wholly avoidable run outs. Malik facing Caunt, struck the ball towards mid-on, where Paul Radage was fielding on the edge of the 30 metre circle.
There was certainly a single to be had, had Malik not timed the ball so well, but as he shouted yes to his partner, the ball gathered speed off the surface, and Abbas at the non-striker’s end had set off running as Malik realising, he was not going to make it to the other end started to retreat, Abass continued running, passing Malik, and Caunt having the simple task of removing the bails after Radage’s throw to him at the bowler’s end. Malik, not only being involved in another comical run out, but also failing once again with the bat, out for six, Pakistan 60-6 after 16.4 overs with the looming possibility of being skittled out for less than 100 and having 20 plus overs of their innings remaining.
The Pakistani wicket keeper Tahir Rashid was the next batter in, and he and Abbas began to look a bit more at ease out in the middle. There didn’t seem to be as much lateral movement of the ball, and bowling changes were made, Kevin Watson replacing the excellent Caunt who had bagged three wickets in completing his allotted nine over spell. Watson who had sustained a leg injury during the warm-up, was then replaced by Deakin, and at the end of the 22nd over when drinks were taken, Pakistan had moved onto 79-6.
After drinks, Marcus Young replaced Gargaro at the Harrod Drive end, but Rashid and Abbas were starting to look more comfortable, and the pair ensured that Pakistan reached the century mark in the 28th over. The next over brought the 50 run partnership between the pair, Abbas cutting powerfully through point for four.
30 overs in, Pakistan had reached 118-6, when Mel Hussain was introduced into the attack from the Grovesnor Road end, and he struck immediately, clean bowling Rashid for 25. Rashid had shared a 68 run partnership with Abbas, and should be commended for the way he applied himself during his innings. Pakistan now 118-7.
Syed Zafar Ali was the next man in, and England would have been more than aware how effectively he had been batting in the series, so there was still work to do with Abbas still out in the middle as well. Pakistan had reached 140, when Hussain had Abass trapped in front, giving umpire Dunn the simplest of decisions. Abbas out LBW for a well-made 40, 34.1 overs had been bowled so far. Muhammad Younas offered a bit of resistance, but Pakistan lost another wicket in Hussain’s next over, Ali also given out lbw for 11, Pakistan 154-9.
The last man in for Pakistan, Shahid Mehboob, played a wonderful little cameo, striking three fours in his innings of 23, but he became Hussain’s fourth victim, smashing the first ball of the 43rd over to cover point, where Palmer took a very smart catch, Pakistan all out for 188 after 42.1 overs.
There were some terrific bowling performances from the England attack, notably Caunt 3/24 off his nine overs and Hussain 4/20 off 6.1 overs.
As the skipper Shaw mentioned in his interview after the coin toss, the England seamers did extract the maximum amount they could in that first hour, but credit must also be given to the lower order batters from Pakistan, who rallied from a seemingly hopeless position to post what after 10 overs in, seemed an impossible and highly improbable score, 128 runs for the final four wickets.
The only downside to the England bowling display was that 18 wides were bowled, and this is something England need to tighten up. Skipper Shaw marshalled his team very well, with some astute and well thought out field placings, that allowed the bowlers to attack from the off.
Tea was then taken, and England opened up with John Butterworth and Hussain, needing 189 to win at a more than achievable 4.2 runs per over. Abbas opened the bowling from the Grovesnor Road end, and his first ball, a full toss, was despatched quite beautifully by Butterworth through the covers for four.
Mehboob opened the bowling for Pakistan from the Harrod Drive End, but both England batters remained untroubled, and it was noticeable that there was no lateral movement whatsoever for the Pakistani opening bowlers.
10 overs in, England had reached 45-0, and 10 balls later the England openers reached their 50 partnership, however shortly after reaching this milestone, Butterworth tried to play a straight delivery towards a big gap on the leg side, playing all around the delivery and striking him on the pad right in front of the stumps, and umpire Rajan wasted little time in delivering his verdict, Butterworth out for 17 off 34 balls with one four, England 52-1.
Radage was the next man in to join Hussain, and after playing a beautiful cover drive off Abbas for four, was then trapped in front, moving back in his crease and given out LBW, after scoring 9 off 19 balls with one four, England now 69-2 after 16.5 overs.
The England skipper Shaw was the next man in, and the Pakistani players were all well aware of his scoring prowess, having smashed his way to 164 not out, flaying the Pakistani bowlers to all parts of the Undercliffe Cricket Ground in the first match of the Pakistani tour, which was against Yorkshire Over 60s.
Hussain and Shaw continued to rotate the strike and despite the Pakistani skipper making numerous changes to his bowling attack, England remained focussed and untroubled.
Hussain reached a well-made 50 off 66 balls in the 22nd over, and England reached the century mark in the 25th over.
In the 29th over, with England now only needing 72 to win, Shaw rocked back in his crease and played a powerful shot into the cover region, unfortunately, it went in the air straight to Sajid Ali, who took a comfortable catch, England had reached 117-3, Shaw making 25 off 33 deliveries.
Omar, the Pakistani skipper, sensing another wicket would get Pakistan right back into the game, rotated his bowlers frequently, trying to unsettle the English batting pair of Hussain, and the new man in Caunt, and his tactic nearly paid off, with Caunt hitting the ball in the air to deep square leg, where Syed Zafar Ali moved round to his right, caught the ball, but somehow after taking another step, dropped the ball. A let off for Caunt. Shahabuddin, Zafar Ali and Younas were all utilised, but try as they might, the England batters continued on their way, rotating the strike, with Caunt in particular playing some beautifully struck shots to the boundary.
Hussain brought up the England 150 in the 34th over, and the 50 partnership off just 36 balls between the England batters came in the next over, courtesy of another four from Caunt.
Hussain was looking determined to reach his century, but was thwarted by Younas in the 37th over, when he bowled a high, loopy delivery that Hussain came down the pitch to, but having got to the ball, seemed to be unsure as what to do, leaving the very simple task for the Pakistani wicket keeper Tahir Rashid, to gather the ball and remove the bails, with Hussain out of his ground. Hussain out for 81 of 113 balls which included four fours. England 175-4.
Deakin was the next batter in, and together with Caunt, the pair steered England to victory, the winning runs coming of yet another four by Caunt, timing the ball beautifully through mid-wicket, England reaching 190-4 off 38.2 overs, winning the match by six wickets and taking a 2-1 series lead with just the final game at Littleborough CC to come.
Caunt finished on 48 not out off just 26 balls with eight fours, and Deakin was four not out off five balls.
Hussain was voted a well-deserved Man of the Match.
The verdict -: This was a comprehensive victory for England, who put in a complete performance. There is no doubt that winning the toss again on a green pitch played to the England bowlers’ strengths, but the bowlers deserve a lot of credit for doing the basics right, inducing false shots and uncertainty in the Pakistani top order.
It will be interesting to see what approach Pakistan take in the final match on Friday. They need to win to draw the series. The weather is forecast to be good for Friday, and if the pitch is anything like the one at Bradford Park Avenue where the first game of the series was played, then Pakistan I am sure will give a very good account of themselves with the bat.
One thing England need to be wary of, is the strength of the Pakistani batting. The lower middle order again got Pakistan to a total that seemed improbable after 10 overs of their innings, something that they also achieved from an even worse position in the second ODI at Oakamoor. If Pakistan cam somehow put it all together in the batting department, then England will face a challenge, but England are in the driving seat, and will go into Friday’s match, full of confidence and more importantly with a vast array of options available to them in respect of team selection.
Finally, just a few words regarding the stand in skipper Shaw, who as I mentioned earlier in the piece, showed good tactical awareness and faith in his bowlers, who repaid him handsomely. There was a good balance in the team, and everyone played their part, including Lees debuting behind the stumps, who apart from a missed stumping chance, kept wicket very well, and just reinforces the strength in depth in all departments that England have.
Congratulations to England, who now go to the final game on Friday with a very good chance of winning, what has been up to this point, a very entertaining and fluctuating series.

 

Match report: 1st ODI England v Pakistan, Monday 8th July 2024 @ Bradford Park Avenue Cricket Ground
Written by Rash Mahmood

On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, two heavyweights in the men’s Over 60 cricket scene met at the iconic Bradford Park Avenue Cricket Ground for the first of five One Day International matches between England, beaten finalists in this years Over 60 World Cup, and Pakistan, the inaugural winners of the tournament in 2022.

England, chastened by the manner of their defeat in the final of the World Cup in March, had played two warm up matches prior to this series, and produced comprehensive victories against Scotland and Wales. Pakistan, arrived in the UK on July 6th, and played against Yorkshire Over 60s scoring 285-5, but then seeing Yorkshire’s openers demolish their bowling to reach their target with 12 overs to spare without losing a wicket.

Pakistan had in their squad nine players who took part in the World Cup in 2022 and added to those with former Pakistani Test and One Day International players, Shahid Mehboob, Sajid Ali and the mercurial and special talent that is Saleem Malik, a man with over 380 appearances for Pakistan. In addition, a number of the squad had vast experience in first-class cricket, and this was a side assembled to be competitive and combative, particularly in the batting department.

England were forced to make changes behind the stumps due to injuries to Steve Aston and Simon Routh, but a more than able replacement came into the team, with the vastly experienced John Goldthorp taking the gloves. Jason Caunt missed out on the named 12 players for the match, and Pakistan who rested a number of players the day before, also made changes to the starting 12.

England skipper Richard Merriman won the toss and elected to bat, and he made his way out to the middle to open the England innings with Nick Gaywood. Mehboob opened the bowling for Pakistan, starting with a wide, and Merriman wasted no time getting off the mark with a trademark cut through the covers for the first boundary of the day. Gaywood also scored a boundary off his third ball and England were off and running 11-0 after the completion of the over. Syed Zafar Ali opened up from the old Football Stand End, and the initial impetus was with the English openers, who remained largely untroubled. Seven overs in, England had reached 37 when Syed Abbas, younger brother of the legendary Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas, replaced Zafar Ali, and he struck midway through his first over. The England skipper Merriman shouldering arms to a straight delivery and being given out LBW. England 38-1, Merriman out for 14 off 25 balls.

Montie Douglas, returning to the team made his way out to the middle. Gaywood and Douglas looked to progress the score when they could, but the Pakistani bowlers had wrestled back the early impetus, and at 15 overs in, England were 67-1.

Syed Shahabuddin replaced Mehboob at The Mosque End, and the England pair began to accelerate the scoring. The 50 partnership between Gaywood & Douglas was reached at the end of the 17th over, and the 100 was reached at the end of the 19th over, England going along at around five an over. Gaywood reached his half century with a boundary.

Muhammad Younus replaced Abbas and Muhammad Pakhali replaced Shahabuddin, and he struck in his first over, getting Gaywood to mistime a lofted shot over cover, giving Younus a simple catch. Gaywood out for 60 off 63 balls with six fours and one six, England 126-2 after 23 overs.

Mel Hussain joined Douglas, and quickly got into his stride, his typical busy, bustling style complementing the brute force of Douglas. Hussain reached 20 in the 29th over, when the first ball from the spinner Younus, took off from just back of a length, which took everybody by surprise, including Hussain, who seemed unnerved by the delivery, and whether that was still on his mind is hard to say, but he played on from the next delivery, trying to give himself room to play a shot into the offside, the ball taking a thick edge and hitting the stumps. England now 162-3.

Ed Gordon-Lennox came to the crease and looked in good touch, striking the ball powerfully, and England passed 200 in the 33rd over, and with wickets in hand, and still 12 overs to go, a score approaching 280 would have been in mind.
Zafar Ali returned to the attack and Gordon-Lennox who had reached 29, went for a big shot towards deep mid-wicket, and although he connected well, the ball didn’t have enough height to clear the fielder, and Muhammad Aslam took a well-judged catch, England now 205-4 in the middle of the 34th over.

Phil Deakin joined Douglas, but Pakistan struck again, a couple of overs later, and it was the prized wicket of Douglas, who was beautifully bowled by a sharp turning googly from Zafar Ali, giving him another wicket. Douglas out for 83 off 85 deliveries, which included 11 fours. England 216-5.

Jim Phillips was the next man in, and as if to emphasise the strength in depth of this England batting department, Phillips who opens the batting for his county Kent, found himself coming out to the crease with five wickets down.
Phillips and Deakin struck some fine shots and got England to the 250-run mark in the 41st over, but it was that man again Zafar Ali who struck again for Pakistan shortly afterwards getting Deakin to hole out to Kazmi on the deep mid-wicket boundary. Deakin out for 27 off 24 balls, England now 254-6.

Mike Palmer made his way out to the middle and struck some wonderful shots, and together with Phillips, got England to 287-6 as the final over was to be bowled. With three balls to go, Phillips looked to play an expansive shot down the leg side, but missed the ball, which clattered into his stumps, giving a wicket to Abbas, England 292-7, Phillips making a good contribution of 32 from 21 deliveries.

John Butterworth came out to the middle, and smashed his first ball straight back to Abbas, who fielded really well, and as Palmer at the non-strikers end had advanced down the pitch backing up, Abbas had the simple task of removing the bails. Palmer out for a very entertaining 20 off 11 deliveries.

Butterworth scored two from the final ball of the innings to leave England posting a more than respectable 294-7 off their allotted 45 overs.

England would have been happy at the break, but the feeling amongst the spectators was that England were probably 15 to 20 runs short of the total they should have reached. That said, Pakistan would have to bat well to reach their target with a run rate of 6.5 an over required prior to the commencement of their innings.

Pakistan were much improved in the field from the performance the day before against Yorkshire, and they showed enough in that game in the batting department to underline the strength in depth that their batting also possessed. England would have to bowl and field well to curtail the Pakistan batters.

Pick of the Pakistani bowlers was Zafar Ali who finished with figures of nine overs, zero maidens, three wickets for 66 runs.

Pakistan opened their innings with Sajid Ali, a former ODI cricketer and Aslam, and the pair set about the England bowling attack from the start. Palmer and Nick Gargaro, the England opening bowlers finding Sajid Ali, in particular playing some wonderfully cultured shots, whilst his partner Aslam, played a more adventurous innings, throwing his bat at anything short or wide and frequently hitting the ball in the air, just out of reach of the England fielders.

Pakistan reached 50-0 at the end of the seventh over, and the Pakistan skipper Nadeem Omar would have been delighted by the start his opening pair had given them.

Drinks were taken at 15 overs, and Pakistan had reached 89-0, and there were some furrowed brows amongst the England players who were desperate to break this opening stand. As is the case sometimes after a break in play, the momentum of a game changes, and this is exactly what happened.

England struck a decisive blow with the first ball of the 17th over, but in truth the wicket of Aslam had a lot to do with a complete breakdown in communication between himself and Sajid Ali. Deakin bowled to the latter, who was rapped on the pad, the ball careering away past Goldthorp the wicket keeper. Sajid Ali seeing where the ball went set off for a run and was halfway down the track when Aslam started to turn back. Sajid Ali, intent on reaching the non-strikers end continued on his merry way, and the ball was fielded, and Goldthorp had the easy task of removing the bails, with Aslam miles out of his ground. A vital breakthrough for England, Aslam out for an entertaining 48, Pakistan losing their first wicket with the score on 94-1.

Deakin completed his over, and Jim Phillips mirrored his bowling partner by striking with the very first ball of the next over, getting Sajid Ali to find a leading edge and giving Phillips a very simple return catch. He was out for 38, Pakistan now 94-2, and the whole momentum of the game had shifted in just a couple of overs.

England, buoyed by these two quick inroads set about the field with more gusto, but Pakistan had two very good batters out in the middle, Pakhali, who scored 88 the previous day against Yorkshire, and Kamzi, the leading run scorer in the 2022 World Cup, and these two set about the England attack with some wonderfully timed shots. Anything drifting toward leg was despatched with disdain, and anything fuller and wider was crashed towards the offside boundaries.

Kazmi brought up the Pakistan 150 with yet another boundary in the 24th over, and things were looking like coming down to the wire if this batting pair continued to play the way they were playing and remained out in the middle.
England needed a breakthrough and the England skipper Merriman turned to Hussain to make that breakthrough, and Hussain didn’t let his skipper down. After having successive appeals for LBW against Pakhali turned down, Hussain got Kazmi backing up into his crease to a quicker delivery, the ball hitting him just below the knee roll right in front of the stumps to give the umpire a very easy decision. Kazmi out LBW to Hussain for 46 off 40 deliveries with six boundaries, Pakistan now 172-3. Kazmi had batted beautifully, and England would have been delighted to break the 78-run partnership which threatened to take the game away from them.

Abbas, fresh from a magnificent century the day before against Yorkshire Over 60s was the next man in, and England would have been under no illusions as to the stature and pedigree he held. Pakistan still required 125 more runs to win with 17 overs remaining, with a required run rate of 7.3 runs per over, and the match was nicely in the balance.
Pakhali was still in however, and he continued to play his shots, reaching a very fine 50 in the 33rd over, Pakistan at that point had just past 200, and were sitting at 205-3. It was at this point that the game took another shift.

England who had started to become a bit ragged in the field suddenly found another gear, and began to limit the boundaries, with some good, disciplined bowling, content to letting the Pakistani batsmen take single after single.
Both sides seemed edgy, and there were chances for England to make inroads, but catches were dropped, and with the dangerous Pakhali still at the crease, Pakistan knew that if they could keep the run rate hovering around seven an over until the end, then they had a great chance of winning the game.

Spectators from both sides looked anxious, but it was Hussain, who had been bowling magnificently well, who struck again for England, getting Pakhali to loft a ball towards Phillips at deep mid-on, who took a good catch. Pakhali departing for a very well made and entertaining 59 of 57 deliveries, which included five fours and two sixes, Pakistan now sitting at 235-4 with seven overs to go and still 60 needed for victory.

Abbas had quietly made his way onto 42, when Hussain struck again, having him LBW in the middle of the 39th over, Pakistan now standing at 248-5. At the end of the over, Pakistan had reached 250-5, the equation a very simple one, Pakistan needed 45 runs to win with five overs remaining.

With the fall of Abbas, one of the true greats of the game made his way out to the crease, Malik. England knew about his talent and ability, but surely, they would have enough to get over the line from this position. As if to reinforce this, Hussain struck again in the 41st over, having the Pakistani wicket keeper Tahir Rashid out LBW for five, Pakistan stuttering at 256-6.

With 42 overs gone, Pakistan were on 259/6, now needing 36 runs from the final three overs. Zafar Ali had made his way out to the middle to join Malik. The tension on the sidelines was palpable, England supporters sporting smiles, with the Pakistani supporters biting fingernails, and looking a bit shell shocked, but for those of us who have played and watched cricket we all know that on a cricket pitch things can quickly unravel, but what took place in the final three overs was both astonishing and cruel at the same time.

Gargaro, bowling the 43rd over had struggled with his line and length was the recipient of an onslaught by Zafar Ali, who hit him for three fours in his over. 16 runs coming from it, to leave Pakistan on 275-6 with 20 still needed for victory, with two overs remaining.

Hussain bowled his final over, under enormous pressure, but for me, bowled the over of the innings, limiting the Pakistani batters to just five runs.

Pakistan needing 15 off the last over, and it was Palmer to bowl it. To put the last over into context, I think it is necessary to go ball by ball, so here we go.

Malik on strike, squirted the ball to square leg for a single. 14 needed off five.
 
Just prior to the second ball of the over, John Butterworth, who had almost exclusively fielded at the deep extra cover boundary was brought into the 30 metre circle. Zafar Ali played a lofted drive over Butterworth’s head for four. Such are the fine margins, that if Butterworth had not been moved, he would have had a simple catch. The cricketing gods have a funny way of making you look foolish sometimes. 10 needed off four.

So, onto the third ball of the over, and more changes to the field. This time, it was Gaywood, who had been manning the deep point boundary, who was brought into an orthodox point position within the circle. Zafar Ali cuts the ball towards point, in the air, and Gaywood moves to his left with the ball agonisingly slicing away from his outstretched left hand and running away to the boundary for four more. Six needed off three.

Could there be any more drama? Well almost certainly there was. Fourth ball, Zafar Ali smashes the ball towards deep extra-cover, where the England skipper Merriman is stationed. The batters seemed content with a single, however a misfield tempted them into a second run. Merriman to his credit, regained his composure, and threw to the non-strikers end where Palmer, stationed perfectly at the stumps had to simply gather the ball. Such are the fine margins that he was unable to, and with the batter Malik miles from his ground the ball squirted away allowing him to get back safely. Four needed off two.

Fifth ball, Zafar Ali played a beautifully timed shot through cover for four…..Pakistan reached their target of 295 with a ball to spare, winning the match by four wickets. Zafar Ali was 33 not out at the end off 14 deliveries with six fours, and Malik was eight not out.

At the end, the whole Pakistan squad including supporters ran onto the field, and their expressions were in marked contrast to the England players, who looked absolutely shell shocked. Congratulations to Pakistan on an amazing run chase, and if the remaining four games of the series are anything to go by, then we are all in for a crackerjack of a series.

Amongst the chaos and mayhem of the last four overs, special mention must go to Hussain, who finished with figures of nine overs, zero maidens, four wickets for 39 runs, a truly outstanding effort in the context of the game.

The teams will meet again on Friday 12th July at Oakamoor CC with a 1pm start.

Syed Zafar Ali was voted as Man of the Match by both teams - congratulations to him.

The Verdict: England will look at this game and wonder how they did not win it. England batted well, but as mentioned earlier in the piece, many present felt that they were 15 to 20 runs short of what could have been expected given the way the innings progressed.

That said, this Pakistani batting outfit are a formidable one, but England had them on the ropes, but as has been seen by many watching this team over the past few months, when the need for pressure to be applied is needed, England wilt, and it was the case again in this match. Catches dropped at vital times, misfields and some poor fielding and bowling cost them the game.

Injuries and unavailability will shape the England team for the remaining fixtures, and they will look to get back on track and produce an all round performance to level the series.

England Over 60s v Pakistan Over 60s – Royal Nawaab Trophy Preview

The main event of the England’s home summer has arrived with the inaugural Over 60s World Cup champions, Pakistan, the visitors for a five match One Day International series.

The two teams will be competing for the Royal Nawaab Trophy, who are the proud sponsors of the series.

England have had a positive summer with a pair of wins against Wales and Scotland as well as friendly success in the past week against The Vatican (St Peter’s). Richard Merriman and Edward Gordon Lennox continue in their respective captain and vice-captain roles.

Several new faces involved in their first summer of Over 60s international cricket bolster the 22-player squad’s ranks with Paul Garlick, Nick Gargaro, Nigel Moore, Paul Radage and Lee Selfe all only having a couple of caps to their name. Moore and Radage have already made their marks on the international stage with the former taking four wickets against Wales and the latter making 81 against Scotland.

Whilst Pakistan were unable to compete in the 2024 World Cup – where England finished second – they defeated New Zealand in the final in Australia a couple of years prior.

Their squad is stacked with professional cricket experience and they will be captained by the owner of Pakistan Super League side Quetta Gladiators, Nadeem Omar. Former Test captain Saleem Malik is also in their ranks alongside fellow former internationals Sajid Ali, Shaid Mehboob and Fawad Ijaz Khan.

First-class experience runs throughout their squad too in Syed Saghir Abbas, Syed Muhammad Ghaffar Kazmi, Tahir Rasheed, Muhammad Ashraf Pakhali, Syed Zafar Ali and Syed Muhammad Shahabuddin.

Captain’s Thoughts

“We are excited about taking on the 2022 World Cup winners at five iconic venues,” said Richard Merriman.

“As cricketers we love a challenge and testing ourselves against a squad full of former Test, ODI & experienced first-class players.

“There will be some epic encounters and the chance for us to show and be our best with the bat, ball and with dynamic fielding. Let’s seize the opportunity and lift the Royal Nawaab Trophy.”

Squads

England: Steve Aston (Staffordshire), Tony Birbeck (Durham), John Butterworth (Kent), Jason Caunt (Derbyshire), Phil Deakin (Lancashire), Chris Dearden (Lancashire), Montie Douglas (Lincolnshire), Paul Garlick (Hampshire), Nick Gargaro (Hampshire), Nick Gaywood (Yorkshire), John Goldthorp (Yorkshire, injury cover), Edward Gordon Lennox (Vice-Captain, Gloucestershire), Mel Hussain (Essex), Richard Merriman (Captain, Derbyshire), Nigel Moore (Warwickshire), Mike Palmer (Warwickshire), Jim Phillips (Kent), Paul Radage (Cheshire), Simon Routh (Kent), Lee Selfe (Bedfordshire), Kevin Watson (Yorkshire), Marcus Young (Essex).

Paul Bradley (Team Manager), Dave Fisher (Scorer), Allen Murray (Scorer), Paolo Iorio (Osteopath), Rash Mahmood (Commentator).

Pakistan: Nadeem Omar (Captain), Fawad Ijaz Khan, Saleem Malik, Sajid Ali, Syed Saghir Abbas, Syed Muhammad Ghaffar Kazmi, Muhammad Younus, Tahir Rasheed, Muhammad Ashraf Pakhali, Shahid Mehboob, Syed Muhammad Shahabuddin, Syed Zafar Ali, Muhammad Aslam, Muhammad Yaqoob, Badar Ansari, Syed Mansoor Hussain, Muhammad Akram.

Zakir Baig (Manager).

Schedule

Tour Game - Pakistan v Yorkshire Over 60s – July 7th, Undercliffe CC
First ODI – July 8th, Bradford Park Avenue CC
Second ODI – July 12th, Oakamoor CC
Tour Game – Pakistan v Lincolnshire Over 60s – July 14th, Sleaford CC
Third ODI – July 15th, Smethwick CC
Fourth ODI – July 17th, Southport & Birkdale CC
Fifth ODI – July 19th, Littleborough CC

All games start at 1pm.

Coverage

There will be match updates across the England Over 60s social media channels for all five ODIs whilst the games at Oakamoor and Smethwick will be streamed on the England Over 60s YouTube channel. Other matches may also be streamed but details are yet to be confirmed.

England Over 60s Twitter – www.twitter.com/englandover60s
England Over 60s Instagram – www.instagram.com/england_cricket_seniors/
England Over 60s Facebook – www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090421426089
England Over 60s YouTube - www.youtube.com/@ENG60S

England Over 60s 2024 Summer Squads

Ahead of the marquee series against Pakistan beginning, we can now confirm full details of our squads for the 2024 home season.

Pakistan ODI Squad
Steve Aston (wk), Tony Birbeck, John Butterworth, Jason Caunt, Phil Deakin, Chris Dearden, Montie Douglas, Paul Garlick, Nick Gargaro, Nick Gaywood, John Goldthorp (wk, injury cover), Edward Gordon Lennox, Mel Hussain, Nigel Moore, Richard Merriman (c), Mike Palmer, Jim Phillips, Paul Radage, Simon Routh (wk), Lee Selfe, Kevin Watson, Marcus Young

England Lions Squad
Rob Austen, Kevin Bissett (wk), Neil Brathwaite, Mark Eames, Martyn Ford, Nigel Gadsby, John Goldthorp (wk), Andy Hill, Shahid Iqbal, Ian Knight, Nigel Martyn, Martin Nevill, Tony Rhodes, Russell Spiers, Roy Tilley, Phil Trayner (wk), Martin Watkin, John Whiting, Richard Wilson

Summer Squad
Steve Aston (wk), Tony Birbeck, John Butterworth, Jason Caunt, Phil Deakin, Chris Dearden, Montie Douglas, Paul Garlick, Nick Gargaro, Richard Gaunt, Nick Gaywood, John Goldthorp (wk, injury cover), Edward Gordon Lennox, Ian Horton, Mel Hussain, Nigel Moore, Richard Merriman (c), Nick Newman, Mike Palmer, Jim Phillips, Paul Radage, Simon Routh (wk), Lee Selfe, Graham Shaw, Ian Taylor, Kevin Watson, Marcus Young

Vatican Cricket Team takes on England Seniors

Follow this link for the full article Vatican News/cricket

England Over 60 v Scotland XL – Hartlepool Cricket Club – Friday 31st May 2024

Match report by Rash Mahmood

With the previous days fixture between the two sides abandoned without a ball being bowled due to the weather, Friday’s fixture at Hartlepool Cricket Club, marked the start of a busy summer schedule for the England Over 60’s team.
Conditions were dry, and the ground staff at Hartlepool had prepared an excellent pitch. England, playing their first competitive match since the World Cup final defeat by Australia in Chennai at the beginning of March, handed debuts to three players, Paul Radage (Cheshire), Lee Selfe (Beds) and Paul Garlick (Hants).

Scotland included a number of players who played in the World Cup for the Rest of the World team and were continuing in their bid to become full members of the IMC, and a match against one of the top sides in the world would give their players valuable experience.
The England skipper Richard Merriman won the toss and elected to bat and made his way to the middle with debutant Radage.

Dave Sharma opened the bowling for Scotland from the far end, and Merriman wasted no time getting off the mark, driving powerfully through the offside for four. Sharma struggled with his line and a further couple of wides in the over, brought Radage onto strike to face his first ball. If he had any nerves, he certainly didn’t show it, driving his first ball beautifully past mid off for four, setting the tone for his innings. England 10/0 from the first over.
Bob Angus opened the bowling from the Pavilion End and opened up with a maiden over. He and Sharma continued to bowl tidily, however anything short or wide was pounced upon by the England openers, with Radage in particular playing some beautifully timed shots particularly through the offside.

The England openers remained largely untroubled, through the first few over, which prompted a double bowling change from the Scotland skipper, Clark McConnachie, Stevie Carr replacing Sharma, and Dinesh Bailwal replacing Angus, however, the double change did not really hinder the England opening pair, who continued to play some marvellous shots, with Radage showing no little skill and expertise in manipulating the ball to all parts of the ground. Merriman, continuing from an excellent World Cup tournament, was content to play a supporting role, but try as they might, the Scotland bowling attack continued to struggle to stem the flow of runs, and England reached 50/0 after 9.2 overs, Merriman on 14 and Radage on 24.

England continued to score well, and Radage reached his 50 with another boundary in the 11th over, this coming off 40 deliveries, England at this point being 82/0, with the prospect of posting a big score.

Runs continued to flow, with Radage hitting another four in the 13th over to bring up the century partnership between the England openers. In the middle of the 17th over, Radage played a magnificent shot through the mid-wicket area, and tried to repeat the shot the very next ball, to a delivery that just skidded on, trapping him in front of the stumps, giving the umpire a very easy decision, Radage out LBW off the bowling of Bailwal, for a beautifully crafted 81 off 67 deliveries, which included 12 boundaries. England 126/1.

A welcome breakthrough for Scotland, but if they thought it would get any easier for them, then they would be disappointed, as out to the middle came the powerful figure of Montie Douglas, fresh from a stellar World Cup where he scored three back to back centuries, and Douglas, gave the Scottish players a portent on what was to come, by smashing the first delivery he faced straight down the ground for four.
Scotland, buoyed by the wicket, bowled with more control, but the England pair were not really troubled and continued to score at a good rate, when at the end of the 25th over, Bailwal managed to get a ball to get past the defences of the England skipper Merriman, clean bowling him for a well made 47 of 61 deliveries, England now 169/2.

Mel Hussain, another World Cup returner was the next man in, and his busy, bustling style of batting, complemented the brute force of Douglas, and the pair batted magnificently well together, bringing up the England 200 up in the 30th over. Douglas reached his 50 in the next over, playing a trademark lofted drive over mid on off the bowling of Javaid Ashraf, and from then on, it was simply a matter of how many runs the England team would amass. From the platform they had, a score of 280 plus was definitely on the cards.
Scotland continued to show some fight in the field, with some good ground fielding, but, as had been the case throughout the England innings, runs continued to be accumulated. England reached 250 in the 37th over, and Douglas duly completed reaching his century with two balls of the innings remaining, with England posting 291/2 off their 45 overs, Douglas 101 not out off 92 deliveries, with 10 boundaries, and Mel Hussain 37 not out off 50 deliveries, with two boundaries - a partnership of 124.

All in all, it was a good, competent batting display by England. The tone set right from the start was a positive one, with batters looking to put the Scottish fielders under pressure. There was some excellent running and calling, and in Radage, England have found a very talented opening batter, who will challenge for selection amongst a highly skilled group which includes the likes of Merriman, Nick Gaywood and Tony Birbeck.
Lunch was then taken, and Scotland knew it would be no easy task chasing the winning score of 292 off their 45 overs, with the required run rate at the start of the innings being just a shade under 6.5 runs per over.

Play resumed with the Scottish opening pair of Tony Bennett and Tim Preston-Jones. England opened the bowling with the ever-reliable Jason Caunt from the far end, and Paul Garlick from the Pavilion end, and it was Caunt who struck first, getting Bennett reaching for a wider delivery outside off stump, and getting an under edge that was very well caught by the wicketkeeper Simon Routh. Bennett out for four, Scotland 7/1 in the third over.
Garlick, operating from the Pavilion end, showed no signs of nerves, and was bowling with exceptional control, challenging the batsmen on every delivery, and had only conceded six runs from his first four overs. The Scottish batters were finding it tough going against a determined and focussed England bowling attack, and the pressure was starting to tell. Hussain replaced Caunt at the far end, and bowled with accuracy and guile, beating the bat on numerous occasions.

Scotland continued to struggle to accumulate runs, other than the odd boundary, and it was Hussain who struck in the 15th over, getting Preston-Jones to come down the pitch to a quicker delivery, that pitched and left him, giving the always reliable Simon Routh behind the stumps a good stumping. Preston-Jones out for 17 off 47 deliveries, Scotland 32/2.

Peter Moses made his way out to the middle to join Bailwal, but the tone of the game didn’t really change that much, with the Scottish batters finding it difficult to get the ball away consistently in the face of some very good English bowling.
Lee Selfe on debut replaced Hussain at the far end, and bowled with good tempo, but it was Jim Phillips, operating from the Pavilion End, who struck next for England, getting Moses to drive uppishly towards mid-off where Hussain, running in from his deep fielding position, took a very good catch low down. Moses out for 13, Scotland now 56/3 in the 25th over.

This brought the Scottish skipper, McConnachie to the crease, but he lasted just two balls. Phillips striking again, having him out LBW without troubling the scorers, Scotland now 56/4.
Scotland now in real trouble, and highly unlikely to get anywhere near their target. Phillips struck again in the 29th over, England skipper Merriman taking a very smart low-down catch at silly point to dismiss Kevin Ferrie for 4, Scotland now 66/5.

This brought Angus to the crease, and he immediately went onto the attack, playing some tremendous shots, and together with Bailwal who was still at the crease, Scotland moved past the 100 mark. The 57-run partnership between the pair was broken in the 36th over, when Bailwal attempted to come down the pitch to Hussain, the ball hitting his thigh pad, and Routh moved smartly to his left to gather and remove the bails. Bailwal out for 38 of 80 deliveries, and another excellent piece of wicket keeping by Routh.

Scotland now 123/6, which became 123/7 in the very next over, when Angus, chipped the ball to the only fielder on the leg side within the 30-metre circle, Garlick, who took a very simple catch. Angus out for a very entertaining 39 off 26 deliveries, which included five boundaries and two sixes, and he got a very warm and well-deserved ovation from the crowd on his return to the pavilion.

Carr was the next man to depart in the 41st over, coming down the pitch to Hussain, missing the ball and looking back in despair as the ball crashed into the stumps, Scotland now 132/8.
Mike Davies and Sharma saw out the remainder of the overs, with Scotland eventually reaching 137/8, giving England a deserved victory by 155 runs.
Scotland will have gained valuable experience from this international match, as they continue to develop, but in truth, with the total England posted, they were never really in the hunt to chase the total down.

For England, well all three debutants can be very proud of their involvement. Radage looks a fine player and will add to the powerful and potent top order that England have. Selfe bowled well, and Garlick was very impressive, displaying good control and line and length. All 3 will add to what is already a very strong, powerful and talented England squad.
The only downside to the performance by England was six dropped catches, five of which were pretty routine, and against better sides, this will not go unpunished, but on the flip side, the ground fielding by the England team was much improved from their last outing in the World Cup final in March against Australia.

England now move on to Stratford on June 12th for an international match against Wales, where they will hope to progress and fine tune things in preparation for the 5-match series against Pakistan which starts on July 8th.
On behalf of all connected with the England team, a big thank you to all club officials and staff at Marton and Hartlepool Cricket Clubs for all their help and assistance.

 

 

27/05/2024

England v Scotland – May 2024

England Over 60s home summer kicks off this week as Scotland are the visitors for two Over 60s Internationals.

The mini-series kicks off at Marton Cricket Club on Thursday, May 30th (1pm) with the second game following a day later at Hartlepool Cricket Club (10:30am).

We have selected two different squads of 13 for the games with seven new faces (bold) in the ranks as we look to rebuild after the Over 60s World Cup Final defeat in February.

Squad for Game One:
Richard Merriman (c), Steve Aston (wk), Tony Birbeck, John Butterworth, Phil Deakin, Nick Gargaro, Richard Gaunt, Nick Gaywood, Edward Gordon Lennox, Ian Horton, Nigel Moore, Mike Palmer, Kevin Watson

Squad for Game Two:
Richard Merriman (c), Simon Routh (wk), Jason Caunt, Chris Dearden, Montie Douglas, Paul Garlick, Edward Gordon Lennox, Mel Hussain, Jim Phillips, Paul Radage, Lee Selfe, Graham Shaw, Ian Taylor

Ahead of the series beginning, captain Richard Merriman spoke on how he is determined to get the season off to a winning start.

“I am excited by the start of our new international season with the two ODIs against an ever improving Scotland later this week,” he said.

“These games give us a fabulous opportunity to see some new faces and for them to excel and prove their worth in preparation for the five match series with Pakistan in July. We are really looking to build upon the lessons we learned from the World Cup & revert to our number one status at the top of the Seniors Cricket pinnacle.”

Additionally for Scotland these games form part of their journey to gain full international status and ahead of the series captain Clark McConnachie said:

“We are very grateful for the opportunity to play against England as we continue our journey to build Seniors Cricket participation. We are at the outset of our journey and it is great to have the chance to pit our wits against such strong opposition. We hope to be as competitive as possible and give the England lads a good game."

McConnachie’s team are also playing Wales later in the summer – a side an England team will entertain at Stratford-upon-Avon Cricket Club on Wednesday, June 12th (1pm).

Spectators are welcome to attend the games. A live stream and social media updates are available for those who are unable to attend the matches.

X (Twitter): @englandover60s
Facebook: England Over 60s Cricket
Instagram: @england_cricket_seniors
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ENG60S
Play Cricket: englandseniors.play-cricket.com/Matches

 

20/03/2024

We are back from a successful World Cup campaign and now looking forward to a busy 2024 .

We have the following schedule being organised:

Trial Games
Scotland  2 OD’s at Marton CC and Hartlepool CC on 30th & 31st May Wales 11th June Ground to be arranged The Vatican CC either Saturday 29th / Sunday 30th June
Pakistan   5 ODI’s and 2 games against Counties 6th to 19th July
India  awaiting confirmation of dates  July / August

We are also organising a tour to Australia to defend the Grey Ashes November/ December 2024

In order to ensure we look at all nominations for the 2024 season please can you forward your county recommendations to the following e mail addresses by March 31st .

[email protected]
[email protected]

On behalf of the the International Committee

World Cup Updates

01/03/2024

Four Englishmen named in the IMC Over 60s World Cup Team of the Tournament

Players Steve Aston, Montie Douglas and Marcus Young alongside manager Paul Bradley were recognised at the closing ceremony of the International Masters Cricket Over 60s World Cup on March 3rd

On the run to the final, Aston was a regular behind the stumps totalling 15 dismissals with 11 of those coming in the form of stumpings. He also contributed 88 runs with bat in hand including a vital 73 in the opening game against New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Douglas became one of the stars of the tournament as he unfurled three consecutive centuries during the group stages. On his first appearance in the tournament, he made 114 against Canada before following that up with an unbeaten 106 against Zimbabwe. Four days later on his next appearance the right handed batter would make 104* against South Africa. A half-century in the final also followed to round off a fine tournament.

Working his magic with ball in hand was Marcus Young. He finished with 10 wickets including seven in the opening two encounters against New Zealand and Canada with his best figures of 4-49 coming in the game against the Canadians. In that same match he took a superb diving one handed catch off his bowling to dent Canada’s hopes in the run chase.

Finally, Bradley was instrumental in the organisation of the tour and smooth running once the team had landed in India and was rewarded with his own place in the team.

IMC Over 60s World Cup Team of the Tournament
Peter Jensen (Australia, Captain), Craig Gibb (New Zealand), Darren Smith (Australia), Montie Douglas (England), Deonarine Dayal (West Indies), Tony Bennett (Rest of the World), Bill Blair (Australia), Zamin Amin (West Indies), Steve Aston (England), Tony Panecasio (Australia), Marcus Young (England), Lal Ranasinghe (Sri Lanka), Jeevaka Weerasinghe (USA), Stuart Carpenter (Wales), Subash Chatterjee (India), Trevor Poole (South Africa), Paul Bradley (England, Manager).

Australia beat England in the 60+ World Cup Final by 8 wickets

Full scorcard Via This Link 

England v Australia – Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup Final – Friday 1st March 2024

SRI Ramachandra Medical College Cricket Ground - Chennai

Match report by Rash Mahmood

England’s hopes of being crowned World Champions were smothered on a sultry, sweltering afternoon in Chennai, as they succumbed to their arch rivals Australia in a one sided final.

England had reached the final, winning every one of their games, with the Australians only losing one match, as the two best teams in the competition went head-to-head to be crowned World Champions.

England had hardly been challenged through the group stage, and as a result, there were a number of questions surrounding the fact that a number of the England batters had not had any significant time out in the middle, due to the nature of England’s victories. They would surely be tested by an Australian bowling unit in the event they were called upon.

Australia, after suffering a shock defeat to the West Indies in the group stage, were peaking at the right time, and had the leading wicket taker in the tournament Tony Panecasio. Their ground fielding was the best in the competition, so England knew that they would have to be at their very best to win.

The SRI Ramachandra Ground had seen a lot of runs scored on it, and both teams had played at the ground before, so anticipation amongst the spectators was for a high scoring and entertaining game, between two teams who knew each other well, and who had met on no less than eight occasions during the previous year, in the Carib Cup, the Grey Ashes and the Canada Cup. On a hazy, sticky morning, England skipper Richard Merriman won the toss and elected to bat, which took the local commentators and those who play on the ground regularly by surprise. There was some cloud cover, the pitch had retained a bit of moisture from watering and there were tinges of green and significant cracks on the wicket surface, that should in theory help the bowlers in the first hour or so of play and make batting tricky. Conditions for batting would get much easier as the day wore on.

England named an unchanged side from the one that beat Sri Lanka by six wickets two days previously, and it was the skipper Merriman together with Nick Gaywood who opened the innings for England.

From the off, Gaywood looked to go on the attack, and any assistance the Australians may have had early on, were negated by some wonderful strokes from Gaywood, whose first four scoring shots were: 4,4,1,6.

England were going along at a good rate and were 46/0 in the middle of the seventh over, when Gaywood tried to play a ball from Pete Judd into the leg side, and missed it, the ball striking his pad right in front, giving umpire Martin Wale a very easy decision to make. Gaywood out for a very entertaining 33, but he will feel that the way he was playing, he missed out on a big score.

Montie Douglas made his way to the middle, and hopes would have been high in the England camp as he did so. Douglas had already made three centuries in the tournament and was in such good form that another strong showing from him was on the cards.

Merriman and Douglas had batted well together in the tournament so far, and their partnership started off brightly, Douglas playing in his normal manner, scoring at a run a ball as he had done throughout the tournament. Merriman was content to play the anchor role, but as the partnership continued, some excellent bowling from Judd, Darren Smith and Pete Jackson, combined with superb ground fielding and captaincy by Peter Jensen had England at 104/1 at the halfway stage, England still going at 4.5 runs per over, but with a par score at the SRI Ramachandra being 250 - 260, England knew that the second half of the innings would need some impetus.

Merriman brought up his 50 in the 27th over off 72 balls, but in the very next over, he was caught by Judd at long-on off the bowling of David Wenham for 53, England now 131/2.

A change in the batting line up, saw Nick Newman promoted after he and Douglas had shared a 150 plus run partnership at the ground against South Africa, with both making centuries. Presumably, with England needing to press on, this seemed a sensible idea, but unfortunately for England, this backfired as Newman was out LBW to Bill Blair in the next over to the first ball he faced, England 132/3.

At the mandatory drinks break at 30 overs, England were on 140/3. Douglas a few balls before the break, seemed to tweak his knee, and his normally high scoring rate had reduced significantly. He was 45 not out off 72 balls, with Mel Hussain three not out off of four balls.

The Australians would have been much the happier of the two sides at the drinks break. Some excellent bowling and fielding had England struggling to score heavily, and the pressure was starting to tell. Jensen the Australian skipper sensed that now was the time to squeeze the England batting effort, and what transpired was a captaincy masterclass, aided and abetted by some tremendous bowling and fielding, that England simply had no answers to.

Douglas, who was still not looking 100%, did bring up his 50 with a marvellous shot for six over long-on, but the first ball of the 34th over brought about his wicket, and what a wicket it was. Panecasio had replaced the excellent Blair at the hostel end, and with Douglas knowing England had to start to score heavily, tried to hit the first ball down the ground. He got underneath it, and the ball went high into the air. Panecasio, looking straight into the sun, ran backwards, colliding with the stumps, appearing to lose sight of the ball twice, but at the last minute, seemed to regain it, and stuck out his hands, with the ball dropping into them. It was a wonderful catch, and Douglas left the wicket shaking his head in disbelief, England now were 167/4, with Douglas making 56 off 81 balls.

More brilliant Australian fielding in the very next over, had another England batter trudging back to the pavilion, this time Steve Aston, was out for one, run out by an excellent gather and throw from Graeme Pavey, fielding at cover, who had one stump to aim at and hit cleanly, Aston well out of his ground. England now reeling on 168/5, the Australians were clearly determined to not let England get anywhere near 250 runs.

Hussain had been trying to force the runs, and had been going along quite nicely, when he charged down the pitch to a turning delivery from Panecasio and was left floundering on the ground as the Australian wicket keeper Orlando, gathered smartly and removed the bails, Hussain out for 24 of 28 balls, reducing England to 183/6 after 38.2 overs.

Graham Shaw was still out in the middle, and had made 10 from the 10 balls he had faced, and England would be hoping he would be there at the end, to get England to a score approaching at least 220, however Panecasio had other ideas, and if the catch he took off his own bowling to dismiss Douglas was a good one, then his reflex catch to dismiss Shaw with the final ball of his over was just as good, if not better. Shaw, a powerful striker of the ball, came down the pitch, and smashed the ball back towards Panecasio at around hip height. Panecasio, stuck out a hand, and the ball stuck, a truly brilliant effort from the bowler, Shaw out for 10, England now 184/7 and in real danger of not seeing their allotted 45 overs out.

Panecasio was in amongst the wickets again in his next over, having Jason Caunt caught at mid-on, Richard Johnston taking an excellent diving catch, Caunt out for two, England 190/8. Phil Deakin and Mike Palmer added some valuable runs for England, but with Deakin out LBW in the final over for 17, England limped to 214/9 off their 45 overs.

In the final 10 overs, England managed to make just 46 runs for the loss of six wickets. It was by far their worst batting display of the tournament, but credit must be given to the Australian bowlers and fielders, under the excellent captaincy of Jensen. It seemed that for every English batsman, there was a fielding plan in place, and the bowlers bowled to that plan. In simple terms, the Australians dared the batters to go big and play expansive shots and were more than happy to give away a few singles as the English batters tried in vain to get to what would be a competitive score. The fears that some of those watching had regarding the England middle/lower order were laid bare in crushingly brutal fashion.

The star of the show for the Australians, was once again, Panecasio, who, having taken six wickets against New Zealand in the semi-final, ended up with another four today, cementing his position as the leading wicket taker in the tournament, however he was backed up by all the other Australian bowlers and fielders, who put on a superb display. The Australian bowling only yielded nine extra runs, three wides and six leg byes, a phenomenal effort in the context of both the game and in the tournament in general, and England would have to bowl to the same high standards if they were to register a famous victory.

England knew that a score of 214 on a wicket that was going to get easier for the Australian batsmen was going to be tough to defend.

Australia opened their innings with the duo of Smith and Peter O’Reilly and as the England openers had done in their innings, the Australian pair started out in similar fashion, racing to 36/0 after seven overs. Both openers largely untroubled, although things could have been very different had England adopted a more positive mindset from the start. Where the Australian bowling and fielding seemed to be operating with a definite plan, the England fielding and bowling seemed to be operating in a more random and haphazard way. In contrast to the discipline the Australians bowled with, England had already given away 11 runs in extras at this point, not something that was going to help their cause.

The England skipper Merriman knew that a breakthrough was vital, but try as he might with different bowlers, the breakthrough did not come, and the Australian openers continued on their way, with little or no pressure being applied to them.

The century stand between Smith and O’Reilly was reached in the 22nd over and Smith reached a fine 50 midway through the innings with the score at 111/0.

England finally made a breakthrough, with Newman clean bowling O’Reilly for 46 in the 26th over, Australia 126/1, and England who had looked downbeat and downcast in the field, suddenly had a spring in their step. One wicket brings two as the saying goes, and the Australian skipper Jensen was the next man out, feathering a catch behind to Aston off the bowling of Jim Phillips, the skipper out without troubling the scorers, leaving Australia on 128/2 after 26.4 overs.

Was the momentum swinging England’s way? Well, if it was, then England failed to take advantage. Pavey was the new man out in the middle for Australia and looked very uncomfortable against the bowling of Newman and Marcus Young. With Pavey clearly struggling to score, there was surely an opportunity for England to go onto the offensive and bring fielders closer in to prevent Pavey from getting easy runs, that would increase his confidence. Unfortunately for England, for whatever reason that never transpired, and the Australian batsmen were able to pick and choose where to place the ball at will, under no pressure whatsoever from the fielders.

England looked disjointed and dejected, and the Australian batters knew it, and continued playing their own game, eventually sauntering through for victory after 41.5 overs, with the winning runs being hit by the excellent Smith, a four through mid-wicket, to leave Australia on 215/2, Smith finishing on 88 not out off 108 balls, and Pavey, who initially looked very uncomfortable, finishing on a very fine 55 not out off just 61 balls.

Australia were very convincing and worthy winners, with Darren Smith being awarded the Player of the Match award.

England will be very disappointed that they played their worst cricket of the tournament in the final. In contrast to the Australians with the ball, England gave away 26 runs in extras, and when defending a low total, that is simply too many free runs to give away.

England will look back on the tournament with some fine memories, but there was a clear gulf in class between the teams today, and England will have some soul searching to do, ahead of a busy summer before England fly out to Australia in November to defend The Ashes.

England have some very talented players within their squad, and for the most part, they all came together to produce some fine cricket, and in this, the last match report by myself, I would like to place my thanks on record to all the members of the squad for their commitment, enthusiasm, drive and determination, to play such a high standard of cricket in very tough and inhospitable conditions.

England will be back, wiser, stronger and with the same belief they had at the start of this tournament. Sometimes, you just have to accept, however, that there will be occasions when, despite your best efforts, you are beaten by a better team, and that is what happened today.

Congratulations to Australia on becoming the 2024 Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup.

28/02/2024

England beat Sri Lanka in the 60+ World Cup Semi Finals and play Australia in the Final on Friday 1st March.

Semi Final scorcard Via This Link 

England v Sri Lanka – Semi Final – Wednesday 28th February 2024

Tagore Medical College Cricket Ground - Chennai

Match report by Rash Mahmood

England arrived at the Tagore Medical College Cricket Ground, full of confidence after going through the group stage of the tournament undefeated. Victory today, against a very talented Sri Lanka, would book their place in the final on Friday, to face the winner of the Australia v New Zealand game in the other semi-final.

England had not played at this ground before, and first impressions were that the pitch looked very, very good, with a large outfield, where runs could be accumulated, and big scores made.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, with the very dangerous left-handed Johann Pieris, who had made an unbeaten century in his previous game, opening the batting with Thilan Wijesinghe.

England would not be phased by having to bowl first, as they had not allowed a side to score 200 runs or more in the tournament when doing so.

Mike Palmer opened the bowling for England from the Temple End, with Jason Caunt opening from the College End, and after their respective opening overs which yielded 6 runs, Pieris then hit both opening bowlers for consecutive boundaries in their next over, to take them to 27/0 after 4 overs, prompting the England skipper, Richard Merriman to make a change at the Temple end, replacing Palmer with Phil Deakin.

Pieris continued playing some wonderful shots, and Sri Lanka had reached 41/0 at the beginning of the seventh over, their run rate at almost six an over. England needed a breakthrough, and it was Caunt who managed to get the wicket of Wijesinghe, getting him to play at a widish delivery outside the off stump, which he got a thickish outside edge to, and Nick Newman, fielding at point, took a nice catch above his head, Sri Lanka 43/1 with Wijesinghe going for 10.

In Caunt’s next over, Pieris holed out to wide long-on, where Ed Gordon Lennox took a well-judged catch, leaving Sri Lanka on 48/2, and the dangerous Pieris out for 28. England wrestling back the initiative after a blistering Sri Lankan start.

The Sri Lankan skipper Gary Gunnasekara made his way to the middle, but England, having got the two quick wickets, looked a different side, and started to squeeze the Sri Lankan batting effort. Some good fielding and accurate bowling had only allowed Sri Lanka to add 16 runs in the next seven overs, forcing Darsha Abeywardena, to play an aggressive shot off the bowling of Deakin, only for Jim Phillips to take a well-judged low catch at mid-off, reducing Sri Lanka to 66/3, Abeywardena out for 15.

After 20 overs, Sri Lanka had reached 75/3, the brakes really having been put on by England, as the current run rate for Sri Lanka was 3.75, far removed from the start of the innings when they were running at six runs per over.

Jim Phillips replaced Deakin at the Temple End, and struck with his third delivery, getting Ritchie De Silva to edge to Steve Aston behind the stumps, to give him another victim. De Silva out for four, and Sri Lanka now 75/4.

Keith Jansz made his way to the middle to join his skipper Gunnasekera, with the task of trying to rebuild the Sri Lankan innings, which had started off so promisingly, and both batsmen looked to score whenever they could, Jansz in particular playing some well-timed drives, and the pair got Sri Lanka past the 100 mark in the 31st over, only for the skipper Gunnasekara to be caught by an absolutely wonderful catch by Merriman at mid-off, running backwards and stretching out his right hand to gather the ball, a sensational catch, leaving Sri Lanka 107/5, the Sri Lanka captain departing for 17.

Phillips struck again with the first ball of his next over, bowling a beauty to the left-handed Lal Ranasinghe, which pitched on middle and leg and hit the top of off stump, Sri Lanka now 116/6, Ranasinghe out for seven.

Lasantha Perera joined Jansz in the middle, and to their credit, they did look to play aggressively, knowing that a score approaching 200 would give them something to defend. Jansz had moved onto 35 when Nick Newman trapped him LBW in the 38th over, Sri Lanka reduced to 146/7.

When Shaw bowled Kusal Eriyagama for six at the start of the 41st over, leaving Sri Lanka on 156/8, England would have been confident of getting the Sri Lankan innings finished before the 45 over mark, however, some fight from the Sri Lankan batters made England work a bit harder than they thought. Shaw had Perera out caught at point by Caunt for 16 in the middle of the 43rd over, and to the credit of the Sri Lankan batsmen, they did make it to the final over, only to lose their final wicket, as Dissanayake shimmied down the pitch to a Newman delivery, and took an almighty swipe at the ball, missing it and giving Aston behind the stumps the easiest of stumping chances which he took.

Sri Lanka finished on 169 all out, leaving England a target of 170 runs to win in 45 overs, with a required run rate of 3.77 runs per over.

England would have been pleased at the halfway point to have kept another side batting first against them to under 200 runs. However, as has been the case throughout the tournament, there seems a reluctance to really put the hammer down when England have sides struggling. The Sri Lankan innings could and should really have been completed well before the final over.

That being said, England would have been confident that with their batting line up, a target of 170 would and should not pose too much of a problem.

England opened their innings with the skipper Merriman and Nick Gaywood and the pair played confidently, content to take the odd single, not really taking any risks. The score had reached 25, when Merriman was out LBW trying to sweep Duminda De Silva to mid-wicket, missing the ball and being trapped bang in front of the stumps top give umpire Aravindh a very easy decision. The skipper dismissed for eight, England 25/1.

Montie Douglas, who has been in tremendous form in this tournament with 3 centuries back-to-back, made his way out to join Gaywood, and started where he left off against South Africa, a couple of days ago, playing two powerful drives down the ground to get his innings off and running. Gaywood, an elegant stroke maker and run accumulator was content to play a more supporting role, defending for large parts, and letting Douglas do what he does best, however, the England pair seemed to be caught between two stools, as to whether to attack or meander along with little or no risk, running the risk if doing so on putting pressure on the incoming batsmen.

After 15 overs, England had reached 44/1, and in the context of the run chase, that wasn’t too bad, but there remained amongst the England supporters the thought that this cautious approach to reaching the Sri Lankan total may backfire, as Ranasinghe in particular was bowling beautifully, and had been unlucky to not already take a wicket.

After taking on some water, the England innings resumed, and immediately there seemed to be much more impetus to the stroke play and scoring. Douglas played some vicious shots, his score moving rapidly up, and England had made good progress from over 15 to over 20, amassing 33 runs, to be at 77/1 and seemingly on target for a relatively straight forward victory.

Things took a turn in the middle of the 23rd over, when Douglas mistimed a pull shot, and got a thick edge that was caught by Ranasinghe off the bowling of Angelo Dissanayake for 40 off 41 balls, England 85/2.

Mel Hussain joined Gaywood in the middle, and the pair rotated the strike nicely, moving England on and past the century mark in the 26th over. Gaywood began to play a more expansive game, with the century mark passed, played 2 wonderful pull shots over square leg, to move onto 37. However, in the middle of the 30th over, Gaywood played a shot towards the mid-wicket region, only for the Sri Lankan skipper, Gunnasekara to run round from his wide mid-on position and take a smart catch. Gaywood out for 38 to leave England on 113/3.

Aston made his way to the crease and after playing a lovely drive through the cover area, was out, bowled by the excellent Ranasinghe for six, in the 33rd over, leaving England on 125/4, with another 45 runs required.

The Sri Lankans knew that another wicket would have them right back in the game, and you could see the extra bounce in the fielder’s steps.

Graham Shaw came to the crease, and over on the sidelines the tension was clearly visible on the England supporters faces and amongst the watching squad. But big moments call for a clarity of thought and execution, and Shaw and Hussain made sure that England got over the line without further loss of wickets. Shaw played some magnificent shots down the ground, and it was left to Hussain to hit the winning runs, England reaching their target of 170, for the loss of four wickets after 38.5 overs.

Hussain finished on 35 not out off 41 balls, and Shaw 23 not out off 20 balls. So, England’s objective, which was to win the World Cup Final is still very much alive. Truth be told, it felt like England made hard work of getting over the line, but they did, and a final against Australia awaits them on Friday.

The Australians will know all about England and vice versa, and if England are to achieve their desired objective, they will know that they must be decisive and ruthless when the time arrives to press home any advantage they have in the final, over a very talented and experienced Australian team.

Graham Shaw was named Player of the match, & Jim Phillips was voted as England Fighter of the Match. Congratulations to both players.

The stars of the show for England were -:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Montie Douglas	40	41	7
Nick Gayward	38	99	4
Mel Hussain	35	41	5
Graham Shaw	23	40	4	0

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Kevin Watson	6	1	15	2
Jim Phillips	9	1	40	2
Nick Newman	9	2	20	1
Jason Caunt	5	0	13	1

 

 

 

 

26/02/2024

England beat South Africa by 132 runs

Full scorecard Via This Link 

England v South Africa – Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup – Group A

SRI Ramachandra Medical College Cricket Ground - Chennai

Match report by Rash Mahmood

England returned to the scene of their warmup match victory over India, as they faced South Africa in their final Group A fixture. England had already guaranteed top spot in the group, by beating USA in their previous fixture, which also guaranteed them a semi-final spot with a game to spare.

England made a number of changes to the team that played two days ago, but it was still a very strong line up, and the team were determined to win their final match, to go through the group stage undefeated, being the only team that could do so.

South Africa won the toss and elected to field, but this would not have bothered England as they had batted really well on the pitch previously.

England openers Ed Gordon Lennox and Tony Birbeck opened the innings for England, on a pitch which had been recently watered and had a few cracks in it, which would provide assistance to the South African bowlers, and this was exactly what happened, with Ismael Taladia bowling particularly well from the Hostel end, getting the ball to swing a touch and move off the seam. The England pair were watchful in the first couple of overs, with Birbeck hitting a couple of boundaries.

South Africa made the breakthrough in the 3rd over, and it was Taladia who got Gordon Lennox out caught by Peter Amm at short third man, Gordon Lennox just trying to guide the ball in that region, giving the fielder a very simple catch. England 15/1, which brought Graham Shaw to the crease.

The England tempo increased, with both batters playing some magnificently timed shots, particularly Shaw, and in no time, England had got to 42/1 in the seventh over, when Birbeck on 17, mistimed a cover drive from Mark Tessendorf, which Poole had two goes at catching at cover. 42/2 became 42/3 in the next over when Shaw got one that kept low from Teladia to clatter into his stumps. South Africa were clearly in the ascendancy and were looking to get into the middle and lower order of the England batting.

Montie Douglas came in at the fall of Birbeck’s wicket with Chris Dearden joining him after the dismissal of Shaw, with the task of rebuilding the England innings. This they did very well, with Dearden in a supporting role, Douglas just continued where he had left off against Canada, striking the ball very hard, and dispatching the South Africa bowlers to all parts of the SRI Ramachandra Ground.

Douglas brought up the England century on the first ball of the 19th over, smashing the ball to the mid-wicket boundary, and he and Dearden continued to play their shots, until Dearden, after a partnership of 82, was out caught behind off the bowling of Trevor Poole for 24, in the 23rd over, leaving England at 129/4. It had been a very good innings by Dearden, supporting Douglas who had moved onto 46, and gave England a good chance of posting a score approaching 250 should the remaining England batters play in the same way.

John Butterworth made his way to the middle, and Douglas reached his half century in the next over, having faced 50 deliveries. It was another very composed and assured innings by Douglas, who seemed intent to not give his wicket away at any cost.

England reached 148-5 in the middle of the 27th over, when Poole, who had bowled well for South Africa from the Pavilion End, had Butterworth out LBW for six.

Nick Newman then made his way to the middle, and what happened next is something that will live long in the memory of all who witnessed it. Newman had played quite circumspectly during the tournament, looking to rotate the strike, looking to take the ones and twos that were on offer. Today, however, that style of batting seemed to be thrown out of the window, with Newman showing his intent by depositing the third ball he faced over the deep mid-wicket boundary for six off the bowling of Aqeel Cupido.

If the South Africans harboured any thoughts of keeping England below 200 or even 250 at a push, these hopes were about to be destroyed in an hour and seven minutes of sublime stroke making, exquisite shots, ferocious hitting, and a ruthlessness that had the South Africans running to all parts of the ground and into the brushland over the boundary ropes to retrieve the ball.

Newman reached his 50 in the 37th over, with a brutal shot over mid-off for four, his 50 coming off 34 balls. Douglas, no shrinking violet himself had continued to play his shots and had reached 74 off 78 balls, leaving England on 218/5, and with serious hopes of going well past 250 and towards 300.

The South African fielders were visibly rocked by the onslaught they were facing, and the carnage that was unfolding in front of them, did not stop there.

At the start of the 41st over Newman had reached 60 off 46 balls and Douglas was on 94 off 89 balls. A taster of what was to come, was given by Newman, who deposited Tessendorf over mid-wicket for six.

Poor Irshadul Haq, came onto bowl from the Hostel End, and after Douglas had pushed a single to long on, Newman then went, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6 to leave him on 94 after 54 balls!!! It was a remarkable sequence of hitting, with the ball disappearing from some beautifully crafted cricket shots, these were not slogs, by any means, they were controlled, cultured and the crowd were absolutely loving it, not so the South African fielders who looked as though they just wanted to get off the field.

England were 286/5 at the start of the 43rd over, and Douglas duly reached a magnificent century, his third consecutive one with a wonderfully executed extra cover drive to bring him to three figures off 95 balls.

There was a distinct and audible buzz around the ground as Barney De Clerk came into start the 44th over, with Newman on strike, and Newman, ever the showman did not disappoint the crowd, reaching a truly magnificent century of 59 balls with a towering six over deep mid-wicket, and it was fitting that Newman struck the last ball of the England innings for four, to leave the score at 306/5.

What took place on that field from the middle of the 27th over was utter carnage. Douglas and Newman put on a partnership of 158 runs, in just 17.7 overs with a run rate of 8.92 runs per over.

Douglas reached his third consecutive century, his second consecutive not out, and his batting average currently sits at a quite frankly ridiculous 328 !!!

Newman, well there are not many words I can use that adequately describe his innings, it was simply one of the finest innings I have ever seen, and he should be immensely proud of what he achieved at the SRI Ramachandra Ground, it is an innings that will live long in the memory.

Newman finished on 107 not out, and Douglas 104 not out, and Newman after passing his 50 after 34 balls, then scored a further 54 runs off just 28 balls.

Lunch was taken with everyone in the ground still talking about what they had seen transpire out on the pitch. England knew that the total posted would be a very difficult one for the South Africans to chase, with the required run rate at the start of their innings standing at 6.82 runs per over.

England knew a fast start was essential, to further demoralise the South Africans, and it duly came in just the second over with Kevin Watson, fresh from taking a wicket with his first ball in the previous match, waiting until his second delivery this time around, to have Brad Bing mis time a drive, and John Butterworth took a very comfortable catch at short cover, South Africa 5/1 and already in trouble.

Aqeel Cupido for South Africa, looked in good nick, playing some very controlled and well-timed shots. South Africa had progressed to 23/1 in the 6th over when the excellent Mike Palmer, had Tessendorf trapped LBW for 4, to leave South Africa in big trouble at 23/2.

Stuart Hendricks joined Cupido, and Palmer had him trapped LBW for five in the eighth over, to leave South Africa at 33/3.

Trevor Poole came to the wicket, and he and Cupido played some good, disciplined cricket, taking the score to 77, when Cupido on 46, hit one straight back to the bowler Jim Phillips, who took a smart return catch to leave South Africa on 77/4. Cupido had played very nicely indeed.

Amm came out but didn’t stay long, caught behind by Simon Routh for off the bowling of Phil Deakin, to leave South Africa at 80/5, which became 82/6 when the skipper Richard Merriman took a well-judged catch at mid-off from Poole off the bowling of Newman for 18.

Dearden, so often a vital wicket taker for England, again did not disappoint, with the wickets of Birkenstock and Amien for 13 and 1 respectively, to all but condemn South Africa to defeat.

Some excellent batting by De Klerk and Taladia, got the South Africa score to a somewhat respectable 174 in the 38th over, but when De Klerk was brilliantly stumped by the returning Routh behind the stumps off the bowling of Palmer for a well batted 46, Taladia followed a few deliveries after for 27, caught at slip by Deakin off the bowling of Shaw for 27, South Africa were all out in 39.2 over for 174.

England, victorious by 132 runs

England have really played some magnificent cricket through the group games, and the last three will have really pleased the England Management Team. The batting has strength in depth, the bowling unit is talented, and individuals can operate for long spells, something that is a bonus in the hot and humid conditions., and the fielding, for the most part has been excellent.

Newman was quite rightly named Player of The Match for his magnificent century.

As the results started to filter through from Group B, it became clear that on Wednesday morning, England will face a very talented Sri Lanka side in the semi- final at the Tagore Ground, whilst Australia will take on New Zealand in the other semi-final.

Hopes are high in the England camp ahead of the fixture on Wednesday, and it will take a very good, talented and disciplined team to stop the England juggernaut.

The stars of the game against South Africa were:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Nick Newman	107 no	62	12	6
Montie Douglas	104 no	97	15	0

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Michael Palmer	7	2	27	3
Chris Dearden	3	0	14	2

 

 

 

22/02/2024

England beat USA by 9 wickets

Full scorecard Via This Link 

England v USA – Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup – Group A

VB Nest Cricket Academy, Chennai – Saturday 24thth February 2024

Match report by Rash Mahmood

England arrived at the VB Nest Cricket Academy ground, knowing a win over the USA in their fourth match in Group A would guarantee top spot in the group, with one game to spare and book their place in the semi-finals. England went into this game as the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament.

The USA won the toss and elected to bat, meaning England for the second successive match would be bowling first, on what looked a good wicket. The USA team knew that a win against England would strengthen their grip on finishing in the top two in the table.

The England team, buoyed by their performance against Zimbabwe in the previous match, looked to get amongst the USA batters early on. England would not disappoint, and in truth this was as one sided a game as you are likely to see in a long time. Ajith Jayasinghe & Ahmed Merchant opened the batting for the USA.

Jason Caunt, who has bowled magnificently well opening the bowling for England throughout the tournament, took the new ball from the pavilion end, and bowled a typical over, on the stumps, getting the batsmen to play. Kevin Watson, who by his own admission had been struggling to find his rhythm opened the bowling from the far end. Watson is too good a player to be struggling for long and took the wicket of Merchant with his first ball, pitching on middle and nipping back in off the seam to hit leg stump. A tremendous start by Watson, and you could see by the celebrations of the England team, how pleased they were for him. The USA were 2/1, as C.K Barlingay made his way out to the middle.

The opening bowling duo of Caunt & Watson were giving nothing away, and Caunt struck in the fourth over, getting one to straighten, as C.K Barlingay looked to play a ball down the leg side, the ball brushing off his pad and hitting leg stump. The USA two down with only 10 runs on the board.

Jeevaka Weerasinghe joined Ajith Jayasinghe in the middle, with the hope of settling the innings down and allowing the USA to accumulate runs, however, Caunt and Watson had other ideas. Both bowlers continued to bowl excellent lines and lengths, and bar the odd edge, bringing the USA some valuable runs, the USA batters were really struggling to garner any momentum to their innings. Watson struck again in the ninth over, with Jayasinghe trying to give himself some room to guide the ball towards the third man area, exposed his stumps, and Watson bowling full and straight, clean bowled him for 11, reducing the USA to 25/3.

At 25/3 after 10 overs, the England skipper made a double change, replacing Caunt at the pavilion end with Jim Phillips and Nick Newman replacing Watson at the far end. Both opening bowlers will have been delighted with their five over spells, and Richard Merriman who has almost exclusively asked his bowlers to bowl in tandem for spells, looked to two of his spinners to put the squeeze on the USA, and squeeze they did.

Wayne Copeland had come out to bat for the USA after the fall of their third wicket, but like his colleagues, found it difficult to get any momentum to his innings, wholly down to the tremendous bowling of Phillips and Newman, who did exactly what the skipper would have wanted, and bowled accurately and skilfully, varying their pace, flight and length, to leave the USA batters visibly frustrated.

Eight overs had gone since the third wicket fell, and only 18 runs had been conceded by England in that period, when Phillips had Copeland out stumped for nine, some more great work by the England wicket keeper Steve Aston, to leave the USA in real trouble at 44/4.

Phillips and Newman continued to bowl intelligently, and Phillips got another wicket at the end of the 20th over, having Weerasinghe LBW for 20, the USA score now stood at 56/5. Dave Ramdan joined his partner Pri De Silva, but the momentum of the USA innings didn’t really change, and Newman got just reward for an excellent spell when in the 23rd over he had De Silva in two minds to a delivery outside the off stump. As De Silva decided not to play a shot, the ball hit his retreating bat, and bounced down and cannoned into the stumps. An unfortunate way for De Silva to be dismissed for 10, to leave the USA at 69/6.

Ramdan scored a couple of boundaries, to bring some welcome runs to the USA, but the England bowling duo of Phillips and Newman put on a masterclass of spin bowling. At the end of the 28th over, both bowlers had bowled their allotted nine overs straight through, in hot and humid conditions, with skill, and guile, and it was a magnificent display of bowling by both players. Only 61 runs had been added during their spell, for the loss of three USA wickets, a fantastic return.

Chris Dearden replaced Phillips at the pavilion end, and I’m not sure the USA batters would have faced too many bowlers of Dearden’s calibre. Having spoken to Dearden the other day, he informed me that he once took offence at being called a ‘Dibbly-Dobbly’ bowler. In describing his bowling style, I will go with slow and flighted which I think best describes it.

With Dearden replacing Phillips at the pavilion end, Marcus Young, the leading wicket taker in the tournament came on from the far end to replace Newman, and Young got straight into the action, having Ramdan stumped by Aston, Ramdan having had no clue whatsoever with Young’s first ball which turned a mile, advanced down the pitch, presumably to get off strike, and Aston made no mistake gathering cleanly and removing the bails. Ramdan batted well for the USA for 21, but his departure had them on 89/7.

89/7 became 94/8 a few balls later when Mark Wright was run out for two, running to the strikers end, after his batting partner Anup Desai had pushed the ball into the covers for what looked like an easy single. However, Ed Gordon Lennox, the England Vice Captain, is one of the best fielders in the England team, and he sprinted round to his left, picked up the ball cleanly and threw to the batter’s end, where Aston gathered cleanly, with Wright well our of his ground. A tremendous bit of fielding typified the England effort out there.

Could the USA, get to three figures? Well, they did manage to do so, getting there in the 32nd over, but having done so, lost another wicket, Dearden having Desai stumped for 5, giving Aston another victim, and putting the USA on 100/9.

Some agricultural hitting by the last wicket pair from the USA, Chandraseker Tirumurti and Rizwan Sheikh gave the USA supporters something to cheer about, but the innings ended in the 39th over with Sheikh being run out looking for a second run, but a good chase and throw from Newman, meant an easy task for Aston to remove the bails, with the USA posting 122 all out, with still 5.5 overs of the allotted innings remaining.

England bowled and fielded magnificently in high heat and humidity. They never really gave the USA batters a chance to express themselves and score runs quickly, and in the end, all six bowlers who bowled picked up wickets, and the England skipper, Merriman would have been delighted with his team’s effort, commitment and performance.

After the lunch break, the England openers, Richard Merriman and the returning Nick Gaywood made their way out to the middle, requiring 123 runs to win at a run rate of 2.73, which really should have posed no problem for the talented batting line up England have.

And so, it proved, with Merriman and Gaywood looking untroubled out in the middle and after six overs England had reached 32/0, with the skipper in particular playing some expansive shots. Gaywood, returning to the team after injury, was batting well within himself, but he is a very elegant player to watch and he started to play some beautifully timed shots, all around the ground.

The England duo looked in no danger whatsoever, and the question was, how would they look to get across the line, plating expansive cricket or taking it slower and in a more considered fashion. In truth, it was a bit of both, but in the 15th over, the skipper tried to sweep to deep mid-wicket and was hit on the pads, bang in front for 24 off the bowling of Merchant, leaving England on 49/1. Merriman’s wicket brought Mel Hussain out to the crease. Hussain batted well against Zimbabwe in the previous match, looking a lot more composed and decisive in his batting.

Hussain was busy at the crease, rotating the strike at every opportunity, and with Gaywood clearly set, and looking to play some more expansive shots, the England pair put on runs at a good rate, with Gaywood in particular playing some majestic shots, none more so than in the 21st over, when he played a beautiful drive over long off, with the minimum amount of effort, to get the shot of the day, only to surpass that shot, with a six to the same region, which sailed over the boundary rope, bring cheers and clapping from the England spectators and players, it really was a wonderfully timed cricket shot.

From here, it was to all intents and purposes a stroll for the England pair. The USA to their credit kept at it, but the result was never really in doubt.  Gaywood reached his 50 in the 26th over off 69 balls, and in the 28th over, he drew the scores level with another boundary through the mid wicker region.

It was left to Mel Hussain to score the winning run in the next over, to give England a comfortable nine wicket victory, with 16.5 overs to spare, Gaywood 55 not out and Hussain 34 not out.

This was a dominant display by England, who having beaten Zimbabwe by eight wickets and almost 14 overs to spare in the in previous match, went a good deal better in this one.

It was a victory that owed much to a number of factors, not least the fact that England have a far superior team than the USA. The England Management Team will be delighted that having made a number of changes to the team from the Zimbabwe game, the changes made appear seamless, with everyone who comes into the side, contributing.

England’s bowling and fielding was very, very good, and if they can maintain these high standards going forward, then it is going to take a very good team to beat them. They remain undefeated in the tournament and will look to progress through the group stage unbeaten, when they take on South Africa on Monday. We can expect a raft of changes to be made to rest players, but England will look to win the game and win well.

A special mention for the England wicket-keeper, Aston, who has been nothing short of sensational during this tournament, amassing 12 victims, including 10 stumpings (although he believes there should be another one officially listed), and two catches behind. When a keeper is in that kind of form, and the fielders are fielding the way they are, then England, with their batting line up become a very formidable side.

Man of the match award went to Kevin Watson, and rightly so, but the whole England bowling performance was excellent.

The stars of the show for England were -:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Nick Gayward	55 no	72	6	1
Mel Hussain	34 no	42	3	0

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Kevin Watson	6	1	15	2
Jim Phillips	9	1	40	2
Nick Newman	9	2	20	1
Jason Caunt	5	0	13	1

 

 

 

 

22/02/2024

England beat Zimbabwe by 8 wickets

Full scorecard Via This Link 

England v Zimbabwe – Group A – Thursday 22nd February 2024 Amir Mahal Cricket Ground - Chennai

Match report by Rash Mahmood

England played their third group game in four days against Zimbabwe at the Amir Mahal Cricket Ground in Chennai, and arguably put in their most complete performance of the tournament, winning by eight wickets with 14.5 overs to spare.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat, meaning England would have to bowl first, something they had not done in the tournament so far.

The pitch, as with all the pitches in the tournament, looked well prepared.

England opened the bowling with Mike Palmer from the pavilion end and were determined to make early inroads into the Zimbabwe batting, but openers Eddo Brandes and John Jameson, set their stall out early. The imposing figure of Brandes playing two wonderful, lofted shots over mid-on for boundaries in the first over.

Jason Caunt opened from the Flat Complex End, and was right on point from his first delivery, bowling a maiden over.

Palmer having been hit for boundaries in his first over replied in good fashion, and with Caunt bowling accurately at the other end, Zimbabwe after their early flurry were going along in singles, although Brandes was still trying to bat aggressively.

At 20/1 at the end of the fifth over, Caunt bowled to Brandes, who again tried to show his intent by coming down the pitch. Caunt, seeing him come down the wicket, very cleverly bowled a shorter length, which Brandes missed, leaving the ever-reliable Steve Aston the simple task of removing the bails, leaving Zimbabwe 20/1.

Caunt struck again, with a similar delivery to Wayne Jones in the seventh over, resulting in another stumping by Aston to leave Zimbabwe on 32/2. England were in the ascendancy and sensed that another wicket would leave Zimbabwe with a mountain to climb.

32/2 became 32/3 in the very next over, when Palmer got his reward for some excellent bowling, by inducing an edge from Jameson, which was gobbled up by Aston.

Phil Deakin replaced Palmer at the pavilion end, and was amongst the wickets straight away, bowling Wayne Parham for 0, leaving Zimbabwe in all sorts of trouble at 32/4.

Kenyon Ziehl made his way out to the middle to join Rory McWade, and the pair set about trying to rebuild the Zimbabwe innings, and credit where credit is due, the pair played very sensibly, taking what was offered to them to progress the score to 75, when John Butterworth, operating from the flats complex end, got a ball to nip back and trap Ziehl in front, giving umpire Aadhithya Muralitharan an easy decision to make.

Gary Steyn joined McWade at the crease, and both batters, sensing the need to stay at the crease, batted very well and progressed the score, albeit not at an alarming rate, with McWade reaching his half century in the 28th over off 72 balls.

Drinks were taken at the 30 over point, with Zimbabwe on 120/5.

After drinks, Marcus Young, operating from the pavilion end, and who had no luck whatsoever from his bowling, got one to turn sharply, and McWade got an edge that Deakin took at slip, to leave Zimbabwe on 121/6, with McWade departing for 53 off 83 balls. It was a very fine knock by McWade in very difficult circumstances.

Young, having seen the turn he got on the delivery that got McWade out, was now turning the ball at will, bamboozling the Zimbabwe batters and he struck again in his next over, getting Jono Lane to chase a wider delivery which spun sharply, and before Lane could get back into his ground, the excellent Aston removed the bails to leave Zimbabwe on 132/7.

Young completed his 9 over spell from the pavilion end, with his figures reading nine overs, one maiden, one wicket, for 25 runs.

Chris Dearden replaced him at the pavilion end and got Steyn to nick one to Aston behind the stumps, who made no mistake taking another catch, to leave Zimbabwe on 151/8.

When Deakin got Shaun Lawler trapped plumb in front in the 39th over, Zimbabwe had reached 166/9, and were in danger of being bowled out before their allotted 45 overs, however, some good batting and running between the wickets by Gregor McDonald & Pete Sandys Thomas, got Zimbabwe through to the end of their overs, posting a score of 197/9.

This was a very good total by Zimbabwe, considering they were at one stage at 32/4.

England, well they would have been happy to keep Zimbabwe to under 200 runs but may feel that they had the opportunity to be a bit more aggressive when they had the opposition on the ropes, to potentially leave them with a much lower total to chase.

In any event, the required run rate for England at the commencement of their innings stood at 4.44 runs per over, well within their reach with the batting line up England had.

The England skipper Richard Merriman and Tony Birbeck opened the innings for England, and it was the skipper, carrying on his excellent scoring form, who got England off to the perfect start, from ball one, cutting powerfully to backward point for four off the bowling of Naik, and followed that up with an even classier stroke through the offside for four more.

Merriman continued to show a complete disregard for the Zimbabwe attack and another two boundaries came in the next over to leave England on 24/0 after two overs.

Zimbabwe were clearly rattled and needed a breakthrough and quickly, and they got that in the very next over, when Birbeck played back to a shorter delivery, and scooped the ball to Lawler at short mid-wicket, who took a simple catch meaning Birbeck was out without troubling the scorers.

The wicket of Birbeck brought Montie Douglas to the crease, fresh of his magnificent century against Canada in the previous match. He made his way out to the middle to join the skipper Merriman, with whom he had shared a 164 run partnership last time out.

Douglas wasted no time getting back into the scoring groove, playing shots all around the ground, hitting the ball powerfully. Merriman, who had played a supporting role to Douglas last time out against Canada, also chose to go on the offensive, and Zimbabwe had no answer to the two England batters’ aggressive batting.

Douglas reached his 50 in the 15th over, off 39 balls. Merriman also reached his 50 in the 20th over, getting there of 65 balls, and the skipper looked all set for another big score, with the partnership between him and Douglas standing at 104, when he was brilliantly caught at mid-off by Lawler, to leave England on 128/2.

Mel Hussain joined Douglas, who was on 60, and the pair played some magnificent cricket, not giving Zimbabwe a chance. Hussain, playing well within himself, but looking assured and confident, was happy to give the strike to Douglas. The pair ran well between the wickets, and played some wonderful strokes, particularly Douglas, who was motoring along, and he duly reached his second consecutive century in the 29th over, reaching that milestone of 83 balls.

The first ball of the 30th over was beautifully dispatched to the boundary by Hussain, to give England a comprehensive margin of victory, reaching 199/2 with 14.5 overs remaining. This was another dominant batting performance by England. Merriman and Douglas shared another century partnership, and Douglas completed a chanceless century.

The England performance overall was of good quality, with all three phases executed very well. The only issue, as mentioned earlier, was whether England could have been more ruthless when Zimbabwe were struggling at 32/4. That said, it was another victory for the team, and will have given the team confidence, knowing that they could operate at such an intense and commanding level, batting second.

England will be looking forward to the next match against the USA, which has been rescheduled, and now is due to take place on Saturday 23rd February with a 4:00am UK time start. England will know that a victory will secure top spot in the group, securing their place in the semi-finals, and although the USA will be tough opponents, England will be confident of securing top spot in Group A with a game to spare.

Man of the match for his fine century was Montie Douglas.  

The stars of the show for England were -:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Montie Douglas	106	86	18	0
Richard Merriman	50	66	6	0

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Marcus Young	9	1	25	2
Jason Caunt	7	3	22	2
Phil Deakin	9	0	51	2

 

 

 

20/02/2024

England beat Canada by 59 Runs.

Full scorecard Via This Link 

Match report England v Canada – Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup – Group A

PEBL City Cricket Ground, Chennai – Tuesday 20th February 2024 Report by Rash Mahmood

England continued their Group A World Cup campaign with a hard-fought victory by 60 runs against a very spirited and much improved Canada team. The previous meeting between the two teams took place in August last year, when the sides met in Canada, playing in the Canada Cup. England on that occasion, bowled Canada out for 78, reaching their target for the loss of one wicket. Things would turn out to go much differently this time around.

Both teams came into the game having won their opening games, Canada beating the USA by one wicket, and England beating New Zealand by 116 runs. Playing back-to-back games was always going to be tough, and both teams made several changes from the teams that played the day before.
Canada won the toss and put England in, on what looked a good wicket. The conditions at start of play were sunny, with little or no breeze, with the temperature approaching 30 degrees with humidity over 65%, and the temperature set to rise into the mid 30 degrees.

Richard Merriman & Tony Birbeck opened the innings for England, and the pair made a steady start, with both Merriman & Birbeck playing some lovely shots through the offside, although the Canadian opening bowlers of Terrance Holder & Stanley Paul got a little movement in the air and tried to bowl a full length. It was in the third over that Canada made a breakthrough. Birbeck hit back-to-back boundaries, before Holder trapped him LBW for 13, bringing Montie Douglas to the wicket.

Little did the England players or spectators at the ground know what was about to transpire. Douglas wasted no time playing his shots, dealing almost exclusively in boundaries, pummelling the Canadian bowlers to all parts of the PEBL City Stadium. Merriman, a quick scorer himself seemed content to give his partner as much of the strike as possible, and Douglas carried on his merry way, reaching his 50 off 44 balls in the 16th over, as England reached 98-1, with a run rate just above six runs per over.

Douglas continued to smash the ball to the boundary at every opportunity, and the pair scored freely, with the skipper Merriman reaching his 50 in the 25th over with a beautiful sweep shot to the mid-wicket boundary, his 50 coming off 61 balls. The score at this point was 156-1, and a score of over 300 was on the cards.

However, in the 27th over, Sanjiv Choksi gave the Canadians some welcome relief, getting Merriman out LBW, breaking the Douglas/Merriman partnership that had yielded 164 and two balls later clean bowling Ed Gordon Lennox for a duck, leaving England on 194-3.

John Butterworth then joined Douglas at the crease, and the runs continued, with Douglas reaching his century in the 34th over, off 99 balls. His innings came to and end in the 36th over when he was stumped coming down the pitch, to give Choksi another wicket. Douglas slowly made his way off the field to a standing ovation from all present, and he looked physically drained, but can be very proud of playing such a wonderfully entertaining innings.

One wicket brings two so the saying goes, and Butterworth departed in the next over, holing out to long on for 19. Nick Newman joined Jim Phillips out in the middle, and both players looked to score quickly. Newman was caught behind for 19 in the 41st over, bringing the big hitting Graham Shaw to the crease, and together with Phillips, who was out for 28 in the final over, England posted a very impressive total of 319-7.

The Canadian innings began with a required run rate of 7.1, with the skipper Garvin Budhoo & Raj Sankar opening the innings. England opened with the bowling attack of Jason Caunt & Kevin Watson, and Canada made a bright start to their innings, with Budhoo in particular taking a leaf out of the Douglas play book, by dealing almost exclusively in boundaries, and Canada although not meeting the required run rate, were going along at over five an over, when Watson had Sankar trapped LBW in the fifth over, leaving Canada at 33-1.

Ranjit Chaudhri joined his skipper out in the middle and was clearly intent on playing the supporting role for his side, and let his skipper continue on his merry way, which is what happened. Budhoo continued to play some brutal shots and England, now fielding in the afternoon heat seemed to lose their way a little, with some lax fielding and indifferent bowling, something that had not been seen thus far in the previous three games played in India.

Fatigue, tiredness, and concentration lapses are to be expected when players are playing back-to-back games in this heat and with this humidity, but Canada sensed that the momentum was clearly with them. At the halfway stage, Canada had reached 131-1 with Budhoo on 80 and Chaudhri on 33, leaving themselves requiring a further 189 runs to win at a rate of 8.4 runs per over.

In the 25th over, the skipper called the hero of yesterday into action, Marcus Young, and together with Phillips bowling from the other end, England slowly began to wrestle back the initiative from Canada, although the dangerous Budhoo was still at the crease, he was clearly struggling, and England got the breakthrough they needed in the 27th over, with Young bowling Choudhri for 40.

Budhoo reached his century in the next over off 88 balls faced, and it wasn’t until the 30th over that the innings really swung into England’s favour, and it was that man Young again at the heart of it, producing an unbelievable bit of fielding, taking a one-handed catch off his own bowling to dismiss Choksi.

It was fielding of the highest order, as he was initially going the other way in his follow through before stopping and sticking out his right hand to take a simply stunning catch. Canada were now on 177-3 and the run rate was increasing, something that the skipper Budhoo was all too aware of, as he continued trying to smash the ball to all parts of the ground.

If those present thought that the catch by Young was something special, then they were about to witness something equally, if not more spectacular. Young bowled to the powerful figure of Holder, and the left hander connected beautifully with a stray delivery to send the ball flying towards the deep square leg boundary, in the direction of Caunt who appeared to have got sight of the ball coming towards him, but then signalled that he had lost the ball in flight. As all present looked on and from afar, the ball was hurtling towards Caunt, who was still oblivious to the fact that the ball appeared to be on a trajectory to land on his head!!!!

Amazingly, at what seemed to be the last second, Caunt half turned and managed to catch the ball as it passed his waist. It was a catch that defies an accurate description or category, but was caught on camera, so others can judge what to call it.

Canada, now at 192-4 in the 32nd over were now up against it, run rate wise, but with the dangerous Budhoo still at the crease, there was still hope for Canada. This hope was extinguished in the 35th over, when John Butterworth had Budhoo stumped by Steve Aston for an excellent 127 off 111 balls.

Ishwar Nandlall came to the crease and hit some lusty blows, but it was that man again, Young, getting him to hole out to deep mid-wicket where Mel Hussain took a fine running catch to leave Canada on 230/6 in the 38th over, and giving Young his fourth wicket of the innings.

GordonLennox, who missed out with the bat, again demonstrated his excellent fielding skills, by running out Mohammed Rameez in the 41st over, with a direct hit from the cover area to leave Canada at 250/7.
Shaw came on to replace Young and promptly had Wilson Seenath Singh LBW, before Butterworth claimed another wicket, to have Canada finish on 260/9, giving England the victory by 60 runs.

Whilst on paper this looks a comfortable victory for England, it was a lot harder than the scores indicate. England will have been delighted with the batting side of their innings, and in particular, the century by Douglas, but it was the bowling and fielding that England will need to look at when they next play on Thursday against Zimbabwe.

Whether it was fatigue or a lack of mental clarity, there were times in the Canada innings were some of the bowling and decision making by the players could certainly be questioned. Against stronger sides than Canada, who although defeated must take a great deal of heart from such a tremendous run chase, England may well be punished.

However, this is tournament cricket, and there are going to be a lot of ups and downs. At the moment, England sit at the top of Group A, with two wins out of two, and at the end of the day, winning is all that matters.

England’s next opponents on Thursday 22nd February are Zimbabwe, who beat South Africa in their opening game, but lost to New Zealand by seven wickets in their next game.

The stars of the show for England were -:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Montie Douglas	114	106	19	2
Richard Merriman	78	72	13	1

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Marcus Young	9.0	0	49	4

 

 

 

19/02/2024

England beat New Zealand by 116 Runs

Full scorecard Via This Link 

Match report England v New Zealand – Men’s Over 60 Cricket World Cup – Group ‘A’

Waheguru Cricket Ground, Chennai – Monday 19th February 2024
Report by Rash Mahmood & John Butterworth

England opened their World Cup campaign with a crushing 116 run victory over one of the tournaments fancied teams, New Zealand, in the first round of matches in Group A.
An early start, with a coach pick up from the team hotel at 7:00am and a transit to the ground taking about 90 minutes proved no hindrance to a sparkling England team performance.

The pitch looked a good one, and skipper Richard Merriman had no hesitation when winning the toss to bat first. The temperature at the start of the game was in the high 20’s, with it expected to get into the low 30’s during the course of the England innings.

New Zealand, beaten finalists two years ago when beaten by Pakistan, had seven players from that squad in this squad this time around, and from speaking with Steve Cunningham, the Kiwi Team Manager, confidence was high, although Cunningham acknowledged that this game would probably be his side’s sternest test in the group stage.

Richard Merriman and Nick Gaywood opened the batting, with the pair playing within themselves, getting used to the pitch and conditions, and not offering any chances to the Kiwis. However, in the third over, Tony Gray got a ball to stick slightly in the pitch and skipper Merriman on six, seemed to be through his shot early, and scooped the ball to Gibb at cover for an easy catch, leaving England 15-1.

Mel Hussain joined Gaywood at the crease and the pair drove England forward, with Gaywood in particular playing some delightful shots all around the ground.

England were pushing on when Gaywood, who had played beautifully attempted a reverse sweep off the dangerous Andrew Nuttall, missing the ball and being plumb in front of the stumps, giving the umpire a very easy LBW decision. It was a blow for England and especially Gaywood, but it was a very classy innings, with a range of delightfully timed shots, and the England Management Team will be happy Gaywood appeared to have no lingering effects from an Achilles injury he had been suffering with, scoring 47 off 41 balls.

72-2 at the time of Gaywood’s departure brought Steve Aston out to the middle to join Hussain, who was stumped on 28 by Mark McMillan off the bowling of Martin Pennefather to leave England at 98-3, which soon became 100-4 when Ed Gordon Lennox got a full toss from Pennefather and with the whole ground at his mercy, hit it straight back to the bowler.

Graham Shaw was the next man in, and it is here that the England innings really took off. Steve Aston had been playing well within himself, but with Shaw on the attack, savaging anything short or wide, he too joined in, and the ball disappeared to the boundary ropes at frequent intervals. Aston played superbly, dispatching anything wide of the stumps, to the boundary. Not to be outdone, Shaw began bludgeoning the New Zealand bowling to all parts of the ground, and the Kiwis were visibly wilting under not only the batting assault, but also toiling in the field as the temperature rose.

Shaw & Aston put on a magnificent 134 together, when Aston departed, caught off the bowling of Mike Johnston for 73, off 82 balls with 12 fours. Shaw followed shortly after, another stumping victim for McMillen off the bowling of Pennyfather for 71, scored off 48 balls, with seven fours and three sixes, to leave England at 249-6, with six overs to go.

An excellent cameo by the Lancashire duo Phil Deakin & Chris Dearden took England past the 280 mark, with Deakin departing in the final over for 24 to leave England posting a formidable 291-7 off their 45 overs.

It was a very balanced innings by the England batters. New Zealand were sensing restricting England to a score under 200 having them at 100-4, but a strong middle order batting display will have delighted the England Management Team. The New Zealand players looked thoroughly shattered as they left the pitch at the end of the innings.

Although Pennefather took 4-60 runs, special mention must be given to the bowling of Andrew Nuttall, whose figures of 9-1-1-33, doesn’t give him the recognition his bowling deserved, as he beat the outside edge of the bat on numerous occasions, and was very unlucky to end up with just the one wicket. A special mention also must go to Craig Morris, who for the entire game, patrolled the boundary and produced some amazing stops, saving probably 25 to 30 runs.

After a 45-minute break for lunch, New Zealand came out to bat needing 292 runs to win, at a run rate of 6.48 runs per over, and with the outfield lightning fast, they will have fancied their chances with the batting talent in their team.

Craig Gibb & Chris Kennedy opened the batting for New Zealand, with Mike Palmer opening the bowling from the Pavilion End, and England got the perfect start, with Gibb smashing the last ball of the over to cover and setting off for what looked to be a well-timed run, however Gordon Lennox, stationed at cover, had other ideas, and having done brilliantly well in the first place to dive to his left to partially stop the ball, had the presence of mind to scoop the ball up, swivel on one knee and throw the ball to the bowler’s end, hitting the stumps directly with Gibb out of his ground. A dream start for England, but disaster for New Zealand.

This brought the Kiwi skipper Graeme Inglis to the crease, and he along with Kennedy began the task of rebuilding the New Zealand innings. With the score on 22 in the middle of the fifth over, Caunt, who had been bowling well from the Factory End, got Kennedy to mistime a drive, and took a smart return catch.

Phil Deakin replaced Palmer at the pavilion end, and bowled very well, and with Caunt continuing at the Factory End, New Zealand were finding it difficult to get the England bowlers away. Jim Phillips took over from Caunt and in the 13th over England got another wicket, with another fantastic piece of fielding, with the skipper Merriman running out Russell Drake with a direct hit from the cover area, to leave New Zealand at 44-3 and in real trouble, needing another 248 runs to win from 31 overs, with a run rate required of eight runs per over.

Craig Morris joined his skipper out in the middle, and his busy, bustling batting, together with the Kiwi skipper Inglis starting to find his touch, got the New Zealand innings back on track, although the England bowling and particularly the fielding was still of a very high standard, keeping the score down, to leave New Zealand at 100-3 at the halfway stage of the innings. Three wickets soon became four, when Phillips had Morris trapped LBW for 28, to leave New Zealand 103-4.

Greg Alexander made his way to the middle and started to time the ball very well, and with the skipper Inglis reaching his 50 off 70 deliveries, New Zealand began the process of getting their innings back on track. Alexander, sensing some tiredness amongst the England fielders went on the attack, smashing three consecutive boundaries off the bowling of Marcus Young in the 28th over. Young was clearly annoyed at this, but got a delivery to grip, turn and bounce which would have given him some confidence as the drink break approached.

At drinks, at the 30 over mark, New Zealand had reached 134-4, still needing a further 158 runs to win in 15 overs, and although having six wickets in hand, the required run rate had risen to 10.5 runs per over.

Young started the first over after the drinks break, and having seen the ball grip, turn and bounce in his previous over, bowled an absolute gem of a delivery to Alexander, who had come down the pitch, the ball spinning sharply past the outside edge of the bat, into the gloves of wicket-keeper Aston, who swiftly whipped off the bails with Alexander well out of his ground, leaving New Zealand 134-5, and in real trouble. A disastrous start after the drinks break from the Kiwis, but just what England needed to further press home their advantage.

Five became six in the 33rd over, when Young, bowling with great confidence and expertise, had Pennefather stumped, to leave New Zealand on 150-6, and Young continued his devasting spell following the drinks break with the prized wicket of the New Zealand skipper Inglis for 60, who was also stumped, giving Young his third wicket, and Aston his third stumping, to leave New Zealand on 159-7 after 35 overs.

There were further wickets for Deakin and Dearden to inflict further misery on the opponents as they reached the total of 170-9 after 38 overs. The remaining seven overs were played out with very little of note, and at the close of the innings, England had restricted New Zealand to 179-9, giving England a victory by 116 runs.

This was a very good performance by the England team in all three phases of the game, following on from the performances in the warmup games. New Zealand were on paper, the strongest opposition in Group A, but England batted particularly well, putting the New Zealand bowling under pressure and running very well between the wickets. When in the field, the strong ground fielding England had shown in the warmup games came to the fore, but the match really turned after the 30 over drink break, with Young ripping through the New Zealand batting.

England will no doubt be the happier of the two teams and will be pleased to have played so well against strong opposition, which bodes well for the remaining fixtures in the tournament. As for New Zealand, well they are too good a team to stay down for long, and will no doubt come good, but today, they were out played, outsmarted and out thought by a very good England team performance.

The stars of the show for England were -:

Batters	R	B	4s	6s
Steve Aston	73	83	12	0
Graham Shaw	71	47	7	3

Bowlers	O	M	R	W
Marcus Young	9.0	1	47	3

 

Over 60s World Cup 2024 – England Squad

History
This is the second Over 60s World Cup and the first England will be competing in.

England head into this tournament on the back of a very successful 2023 that saw them win the Caribbean Cup, the Grey Ashes and share the Canada Cup with Australia.

England Squad
Steve Aston (Staffordshire), Tony Birbeck (Durham), John Butterworth (Kent), Jason Caunt (Derbyshire), Phil Deakin (Lancashire), Chris Dearden (Lancashire), Montie Douglas (Lincolnshire), Nick Gaywood (Yorkshire), Edward Gordon Lennox (Vice-Captain, Gloucestershire), Mel Hussain (Essex), Richard Merriman (Captain, Derbyshire), Nick Newman (Leicestershire), Michael Palmer (Warwickshire), Jim Phillips (Kent), Simon Routh (Kent), Graham Shaw (Durham), Kevin Watson (Yorkshire), Marcus Young (Essex)

Paul Bradley (Team Manager), Allen Murray (Scorer), Madhan Kumar Ramanathan (Physio), Paolo Iorio (Osteopath), Chris Johnson (International Masters Cricket Umpire Panel), Ian Gorton (Umpire), Keith Boyall (Umpire), Rash Mahmood (Commentator), Mel Mahmood

Reserves: Neil Brathwaite (Essex), Tony Rhodes (Hertfordshire), Lee Selfe (Bedfordshire)

Tournament Information
The tournament is being hosted by India in the city of Chennai.

Monday 19th February – Saturday 2nd March (Knockout stages from Friday 1st March)

Group A: England, New Zealand, Canada, USA, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rest of the World

Group B: Pakistan, Australia, Wales, India, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh

Top two from each group qualify for the semi-finals.

England’s Schedule
Friendly: Madras Cricket Club, Wednesday 14th February
Warmup ODI: India, Friday 16th February
Game One: New Zealand, Monday 19th February
Game Two: Zimbabwe, Tuesday 20th February
Game Three: South Africa, Thursday 22nd February
Game Four: Rest of the World, Friday 23rd February
Game Five: Canada, Monday 27th February
Game Six: USA, Thursday 29th February
Finals: March 1st – March 2nd

The schedule is liable to change.

The friendly against Madras Cricket Club will be taking place at Chepauk Stadium, home of the Chennai Super Kings and Tamil Nadu.

The meeting with India will be the first official ODI between the two sides at Over 60s level.

Extra Information
We are very thankful to all of our sponsors that have made this journey and trip possible, especially our main sponsor Stonehill, who provide all the players and staff with the kit and equipment they require.

In the past year, the team have received extensive media coverage from national and regional outlets on the back of the on field success. Appearances include Sky Sports, talkSPORT, The Times, The Guardian, regional ITV news and regional newspapers.

England Over 60s Twitter https://twitter.com/englandover60s

England Over 60s Instagram https://www.instagram.com/england_cricket_seniors/

England Over 60s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090421426089

England Over 60s Play Cricket https://englandseniors.play-cricket.com/home

The games will be streamed live on YouTube but details are yet to be finalised.

For further details contact :
Paul Bradley (07787 226216/ [email protected]),
Richard Merriman (07801 233570/ [email protected])
or Harrison Burridge (07518 132594/ [email protected]).

Squad for the World Cup