Test squad members Dickwella and de Silva added to T20I squad for remaining games

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Feb-2022Spinner Maheesh Theekshana and Kusal Mendis have been ruled out of the ongoing T20I series against India with hamstring issues, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed on Friday.Seam bowler Shiran Fernando, who is in the squad and is yet to make his international debut, has been ruled out of the T20Is too, with a glute injury.To bolster the squad, Niroshan Dickwella and Dhananjaya de Silva – members of the Test squad – have been added to the T20 set up for the remaining matches.Related

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There is one piece of better news for Sri Lanka, however. Seamer Binura Fernando, who had tested positive for Covid-19 in Australia, has been medically cleared to begin regular training, and should be available for selection for the two T20Is to be played in Dharamsala.It had appeared unlikely Mendis would’ve been risked in the T20Is with a Test series beginning on March 4 in Mohali. Mendis has not played Tests since January last year, when he was dismissed for four consecutive ducks, but has been in better form since returning to competitive cricket from a six-month ban for breaking Covid protocols. In fact, he was the player of the match in the most recent international he played – the fifth T20I in Australia.Theekshana’s absence is a substantial blow to the T20I side, however, with Wanindu Hasaranga also ruled out having tested positive for Covid. Theekshana had been one of Sri Lanka’s go-to powerplay bowlers over the past six months.Sri Lanka lost the opening encounter while the second and third T20Is are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday with both games to be played in Dharamsala.

Keith Barker hits back with four wickets as Hampshire find late new-ball breakthroughs

Cameron Ponsonby21-Apr-2022Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 12th first-class century dominated day one, but a late collapse and a four-wicket haul from Keith Barker would see Hampshire finish the day slightly on top with the score at 271 for 7.It is easy to forget that Bell-Drummond is still only 28. His professional debut in cricket came over a decade ago and he was just a teenager when England’s new managing director Rob Key dubbed him as a player with the potential to play 100 Tests. And even ten years on, he is still England U19’s all-time leading run-scorer.Key’s prediction seemed particularly astute when Bell-Drummond, aged 21, scored a 92-ball century against Australia in 2015 and followed it up in 2016 with a first-class season where he averaged 68.07. Glory awaited.But then the runs dried up. Whereas he scored nine first-class centuries in the first five years of his career, the following six would add just three more (including today), as his red-ball runs were replaced with white. His form with the bat mirrored the wider pattern of the domestic game, where England’s short-format batting stocks are growing deeper than ever, while anyone with a pulse and Ed Smith’s phone number got a go at the Test team’s batting order. It is a recognition of Bell-Drummond’s lack of form in 2017 (avg 24.39) and 2018 (19.00) that even from the highs of the previous years the call never came.Nevertheless, given the clear potential Bell-Drummond had shown in the first half of his career, and the subsequent England selection policy of backing the potential of youth, you could be excused for wondering whether Bell-Drummond ever felt hard done by that the punt on potential that others have since received was never an opportunity afforded to him a few years earlier.”No, not at all”, Bell-Drummond said at the close of play. “I think if I was good enough then, I should be good enough now. I probably haven’t been as consistent as I’d have liked since 2016, so not at all. If anything, I see it as the opposite. Obviously, everyone loves a cap but I want to make sure I’m good enough if I get to that level. I think times are changing as well, Alastair Cook was playing then and a few runs were being scored. It’s been in the media about the wickets – obviously, we’ve had some really good ones here this year, but I think it’s a really different time. I don’t have any regrets.”It would be too much to describe this innings as a redemption for Bell-Drummond but it will hopefully be a new beginning for a player who only last year had found himself out of the Kent side. And lessons too can be taken from the success of Bell-Drummond’s team-mate Ben Compton, who today scored 27 in his first innings in a Kent shirt that hasn’t finished with him reaching three figures.Compton, a late entrant to the first-class game, has been celebrated as an example of where determination and commitment to a goal can take you. His reward would appear to be the potential of a long professional career now ahead of him. And yet the newbie Compton and the veteran Bell-Drummond are, of course, the same age.”I definitely do take admiration from Compton and how he’s started,” Bell-Drummond said. “It’s been unbelievable, to be honest. Maybe he expected it, but I don’t think we thought we’d signed this calibre of player. But he’s an awesome player and he’ll go from strength to strength.Related

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“But it just shows his ambitions and how strong he is mentally. I take a lot from that. That’s the main thing I’ve learnt. In terms of my career, I just try to take each day as it comes. I know how good I can be, but I just really want to be more consistent. I’ve done really well in white-ball cricket, so now it’s just about adding the red-ball side to it.”Both sets of skills were on show today as Bell-Drummond played the seam of Kyle Abbott, Mohammad Abbas and Keith Barker with patience while targeting the short leg-side boundary when facing the leg spin of Mason Crane.And for as long as Bell-Drummond was at the crease, the day looked set to be a dominant occasion for Kent, whose only brief wobbles with the bat were right at the start of the day when Zak Crawley edged behind off the bowling of Abbas and then, 100 runs later, when Compton and Tawanda Muyeye fell in quick succession.The double breakthrough had sparked some life into Hampshire, with captain James Vince bellowing “150 for 5!” across the ground in both hope and expectation as the hosts stood at 113 for 3.But Bell-Drummond and Jordan Cox, who made 51, would take Kent past 200 and beyond, and it was only in the last hour of the day that Hampshire looked like taking any sheen off their efforts, with Kent sitting pretty at that stage on 239 for 3.But when Bell-Drummond was given lbw off the bowling of Abbott for 149, Kent proceeded to collapse. It is the nature of the four-day game that while good things take a long time to arrive with the bat, bad things can happen very quickly. And in the final hour Kent would lose four wickets for just 26 runs as Barker struck twice with the second new ball to add to his earlier wickets of Muyeye and Compton.”They bowled well with the second new ball so the game’s still in the balance,” Bell-Drummond said. “Obviously we’d have liked to have gone in three-, four- or five-down at the end of the day but we’re still pretty content and for the most part it was a good day.”

Dhoni also hails the performance of seamers despite CSK suffering an early exit

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-20222:54

Manjrekar: There’s more to Mukesh Choudhary than just swing

Coming into Thursday night’s game against Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, in all their seasons of the IPL, had never been bowled out for below 100 while batting first. All good runs have to come to an end, however, and Super Kings crumbled to 97 all out in conditions at the Wankhede Stadium where the ball swung right through the first 10 overs of their innings.Super Kings lost the match, as expected, with 31 balls remaining, but they still had positives to take out of it, with their new-ball combination of Mukesh Choudhary and Simarjeet Singh bowling their eight overs in one go and reducing Mumbai to 33 for 4 at one stage.Choudhary picked up 3 for 23, all his wickets the product of the left-armer’s traditional mode of inswing to the right-hander and outswing to the left-hander. Simarjeet finished with 1 for 22, finding Rohit Sharma’s outside edge with a good-length ball that left him late.Related

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MS Dhoni, the Super Kings captain, was full of praise for his new-ball pairing during his post-match interview with .”Irrespective of how the wicket is, anything below 130 is very difficult to defend, but still, what I asked the bowlers was to show a lot of character, put the opposition under pressure, forget about the result, and I feel both the youngsters, both the fast bowlers, they bowled really well,” he said. “So as far as their contribution is concerned, I feel a game like this really helps them. They start believing in themselves by saying, okay, irrespective of the conditions, whenever we start, we need to have the same kind of attitude, and that’s what is needed in the shortest format.”Super Kings’ hopes for IPL 2022 were dealt a major blow even before the season began, with Deepak Chahar – whom they spent INR 14 crore (USD 1.84 million approx) to reacquire at the auction – picking up a back injury that eventually ruled him out of the competition. The prospect of calling on all three of Chahar, Choudhary and Simarjeet next season is one that enthuses Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming.”I thought the new-ball bowling of Simarjeet and Mukesh was outstanding,” he said at his post-match press conference. “They’ve been developing – Mukesh all the way through the season, so for him to now feel confident enough to bowl a spell like that, and Simarjeet’s only three games in, four games in, so they’ve made real gains, so that’s a positive. So with Deepak Chahar to come back into the side, there’s some good options with the new ball.”9:41

Mute Me: Is Umran Malik ready to play for India?

Fleming was heartened that Choudhary and Simarjeet had delivered their new-ball performances in a difficult situation for Super Kings.”Yeah, I thought it was really impressive,” he said. “We could have folded, but they really gave us an opportunity, and both of them bowled well. Mukesh in particular had the ball really swinging well, and Simarjeet’s got some deceptive pace.”So we’re really positive about that pairing going forward. It was just disappointing that we didn’t have more runs to play with, but out of that, out of the ashes, came those two. So it was a good way to look at it.”Choudhary and Simarjeet are among a line of young Indian fast bowlers who have impressed during this IPL season; Umran Malik, Mohsin Khan, Yash Dayal, Kuldeep Sen and Arshdeep Singh are five other uncapped seamers who have caught the eye.”It’s good to have them,” Dhoni said. “We have gone through periods when we never had real extraordinary bench strength of fast bowlers, and also what happens is, with fast bowlers, they take their time to mature. If you are lucky you get somebody who in six months’ time can feature in all the different formats, whether it’s Test cricket, one-day or T20, and I feel that’s what IPL is doing.”It’s an opportunity for them, and a lot of them, they have become slightly more bold, a bit more courageous which I feel is important in a format like this. They want to take the opposition head-on, and that has been the difference. Yet, you see a few who are not those types, who shy away a bit initially, but as they play more games, they get more and more confident and they are able to execute their plans better.”

England batter makes half-century as partner grinds out fourth hundred

ECB Reporters Network19-May-2022Kent 286 for 2 (Compton 125*, Bell-Drummond 83, Crawley 62) vs NorthamptonshireZak Crawley went some way to justifying his England Test call-up as he collected his highest LV= Insurance County Championship score of the season, but it was his opening partner Ben Compton who once again made the bigger impression.Eyebrows were raised in some quarters when Kent batter Crawley was named in the squad to face New Zealand next month having averaged under 20 in eight Championship innings in 2022.But he impressed with a controlled 62, before Compton continued his annus mirabilis by creeping to his fourth century, and seventh score over 50, this season.Compton ended the day unbeaten on 125 as Kent rang up 286 for two on a batting-friendly day one at Wantage Road.All eyes were on Crawley after Ricardo Vasconcelos had put Kent in on a wicket which looked like and proved to be good for batting. The first ball he faced was pulled forcefully to the boundary, he edged his second ball just short of second slip before another four off his hips.The all-action opening slowed into a more sedate pace as both Crawley and Compton left and defended the ball with great skill, albeit with little movement assisting the bowlers. Crawley was particularly patient outside his off stump, with his rare cover drives checked rather than flailed to the rope.Crawley’s half-century, his second of a disappointing campaign, came in 75 balls, with the opening duo putting on 93. Crawley edged Kelly behind when not committing to either a drive or defence just after lunch to give Northamptonshire hope of a profitable afternoon. That did not transpire.Compton has been one of county cricket’s finds of the season, having made his Championship debut this season after a spell at Nottinghamshire. While the 28-year-old’s style isn’t aesthetically pleasing, his numbers are incredible and are a testament to his technique and mentality.In Division One he is: the leading runscorer (795), scored the most centuries (four), faced the most balls (1,960) and clocked up the most boundaries (98). He has now batted for 43 hours and 12 minutes, and has blocked out 1,534 dot balls – in fact, he has faced more dot balls than second-highest facer Sam Hain has seen total balls.It took him 53 minutes to reach double figures at Wantage Road with his fifty coming in 131 deliveries. There were moments of lucidity, namely a couple of cover drives and a pull which he thought had taken him to three figures. It quickly emerged the scorers had miscounted and he was forced to celebrate his century a second time, this time after a sweep shot.Daniel Bell-Drummond had replaced Crawley and simply kept the runs steadily amassing in the afternoon, as Northamptonshire dreamed of the second new ball. Bell-Drummond reached his third fifty of the season, but for the first time he couldn’t convert.He was dropped on 77 by Emilio Gay at second slip, as the second new ball offered more movement than the first, but edged to first slip in the following over for 83. Kent suffered no further causalities as Jack Leaning and Compton remained resolute.

Former captain passes 10,000 runs as he and Ben Foakes complete fourth-inning chase

Alan Gardner05-Jun-2022England 141 (Crawley 43, Southee 4-55) and 279 for 5 (Root 115*, Stokes 54, Jamieson 4-79) beat New Zealand 132 (de Grandhomme 42*, Potts 4-13, Anderson 4-66) and 285 (Mitchell 108, Blundell 96)After three madcap days to begin England’s new era of Test cricket under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, there was an air of serenity around their march to victory on the fourth morning at Lord’s. Joe Root provided the quality and the clarity to cut through the gloom, bringing up his hundred and 10,000 runs in Test cricket with the same shot, as New Zealand’s challenge – which had seemed sunk the moment they were 45 for 7 on day one – finally fell away.Root’s century, remarkably his first in the fourth innings of a Test, formed the bulwark of a chase of 277 that had been in trouble at 69 for 4 but became increasingly comfortable as the former captain took control following Stokes’ fortune-favoured fifty on the third evening. He was ably supported by Ben Foakes during an unbroken century stand that never gave New Zealand a sniff; Foakes finished on 32 not out, having played his most important innings since a century on debut during a Man of the Series performance in Sri Lanka four years ago.That the result remained in the balance, after England had reached 59 without loss in reply to New Zealand’s first-innings 132, was testament to the fighting qualities shown by Kane Williamson’s side. Having limited England to a nine-run lead, they had the look of favourites after the 195-run stand between Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell – but Stuart Broad inspired another turnaround and the game continued to ebb and flow until Root’s decisive contribution.He finished the job himself with three fours in an over from Tim Southee, walking off to a standing ovation, as well as handshakes from the opposition. This was his 26th Test hundred, his third of the year already, and his first back in the ranks. Life under the new regime hasn’t changed a jot for Root.Despite a murky morning greeting those arriving at Lord’s, it was soon clear that New Zealand had their work cut out for them. The juice that contributed to 23 wickets falling across the first four sessions of the Test had long since dissipated, and they began the day with a ball that was 65 overs old. Root shuffled down to Southee’s first delivery, pushing hard but settling for one after flicking off his pads, as England looked to start positively.The prospect of the second new ball coming around an hour into the day encouraged the venturesome approach. After Stokes’ frenetic counter shifted the balance on the third afternoon, Root had ticked up almost imperceptibly through the gears – from 34 off 89 at the point when England lost their fifth wicket, he scored at exactly a run a ball to finish on 115 from 170.There was greater intent about Foakes, too. Kyle Jamieson, who threatened to decide the contest single-handedly on Saturday, returned to the attack in the third over, having shifted back around to the Nursery End. His second ball was driven confidently back through mid-on by Foakes, only a diving stop from Southee preventing four, and the wicketkeeper further settled England nerves a couple of overs later by threading the first boundary of the morning through backward point.Jamieson was punched for straight fours by both batters, as Root moved into the 90s. A chop past his stumps off Southee moved him within sight, before a clip through midwicket two overs later brought him a comfortable two and a loud rendition of “Rooooooooooot!” from around the ground. His ninth hundred since the start of 2021 continued a purple run of batting, as he became the 14th man overall to 10,000 in Tests, and the second Englishman after Alastair Cook.By that point, any tension about England’s ability to knock off the runs had eased. Williamson gamely made several attempts to get the ball changed, but the breakthrough that would have given New Zealand a crack at the home side’s lengthy tail was not forthcoming, and the winning runs came inside 14 overs – Root’s beneficence extending to a full refund for the crowd – and before the weather could close in to delay the inevitable, putting England 1-0 up in the three-match series.Defeat for New Zealand was their first against England in Tests since the 2015 result on the same ground – a match that was significant for Stokes as a player in a way that he will hope this one is for his captaincy. It also ended a run of nine Tests without a victory for England, as the Stokes-McCullum axis hit the ground running; even if it was more of a stroll for Root.

There had been speculation about his future in the format since he took a break

Mohammad Isam17-Jul-2022Tamim Iqbal has announced his retirement from T20Is shortly after leading the ODI side to a 3-0 series win over West Indies in Guyana. Bangladesh won the match by four wickets, with Tamim winning the player-of-the-series award. At around 6pm local time, he wrote a short message on his official Facebook page, posting in Bangla saying, “consider me retired from T20 internationals from today. Thanks everyone.”It ends speculations over the last several weeks about his decision to continue playing the format he had taken a break from in January this year. He said at the time that he is going to take a break of six months from T20Is.”My full focus will be on Tests and ODIs,” Tamim said on January 27 this year. “We are preparing for the World Test Championship and qualification for the 2023 World Cup. I will not be thinking about T20Is in the next six months. I hope that those playing will do so well, that the team won’t need me in T20Is. But if God forbid the team or cricket board needs me, and I am ready, I will possibly think about it.”Related

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Tamim had kept himself away from this format since the middle of last year when he made the surprising decision to voluntarily pull out of contention from the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Tamim stepped away to give Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim an extended run as openers, although both failed and were later dropped from the T20I side.Tamim last played a T20I in March 2020 when he made 41 off 33 balls against Zimbabwe. He was criticised in some quarters in the T20I series before that, in Pakistan, when he made 65 off 53 balls.Instead, Tamim has flourished in the other formats, leading Bangladesh to five consecutive ODI series wins including the one against West Indies that concluded on Saturday.Tamim was a regular in the Bangladesh T20I side from 2007 to 2018, having played 75 out of 84 possible games for the side. He remains the only batter with a century for Bangladesh, finishing as the third highest run-scorer with 1701 runs at 24.65 average. Tamim is likely to play in domestic T20 competitions. He is the all-time leading run-scorer in the BPL, having played in every season of the tournament.

Sri Lanka took the last eight wickets in just 23.4 overs to secure a series-levelling win in Galle

Danyal Rasool28-Jul-2022Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, admitted it was “disappointing” to see his side fold as swiftly as it had either side of lunch on the final day in Galle and miss out on an opportunity to win their second successive series in Sri Lanka.With eight wickets still in hand half an hour before lunch and rain and poor light looming, a draw seemed like it was all but secured. But three quick wickets before the interval gave Sri Lanka an opening who, spearheaded by Prabath Jayasuriya, went on to rip through the Pakistan batting line-up.”The lower order falling cheaply was disappointing. Credit to Jayasuriya for how he bowled, he was outstanding. He was patient; in Test cricket, you need patience. He’s a consistent bowler. He plugs away at a length and sticks to it. Even if he gets hit for a boundary, he doesn’t deviate from his length. As a batting unit, you need patience too, and we were slightly lacking in that department. And that goes for our lower order as well.”Related

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There appeared to be no demons in the pitch to worry Pakistan when the day began. The early loss of Imam-ul-Haq was followed up by a 79-run stand across 23 overs between Babar and Mohammad Rizwan, with Jayasuriya and Mendis – who operated almost that entire time – made to look relatively harmless. Then things changed.”Early morning, the pitch wasn’t doing much,” Babar said, “But after a bit of rain, the spinners began to get a bit of help which led to a few of our wickets falling early. We didn’t strike up a partnership like we needed to, and whenever back-to-back wickets fall, you inevitably feel the pressure.It was Rizwan’s wicket that opened the floodgates, with the wicketkeeper-batter letting one go that carried on to take his off stump. The panic began to set in at that point and bled over into the next dismissal, when a mix-up between Fawad Alam and Babar led to the former being run-out. Agha Salman’s dismissal on the stroke of lunch effectively put Babar as the sole roadblock between Sri Lanka and a huge win. When Jayasuriya trapped him in front for 81 a few overs after lunch, Pakistan’s fate was effectively sealed. In the end, the last eight wickets took just 23.4 overs to fall, the disappointing fourth-innings showing a bit of a departure from Pakistan’s performances of late.”When you’ve chased big scores in the past, you get confidence,” Babar said. “We brought that confidence into this chase. We had belief we could do it, but Sri Lanka came well prepared and bowled according to their plans. As a batting unit, we were slightly unlucky because there were plenty of soft dismissals.”Day by day, the team is improving and the performances are improving. These conditions weren’t easy but we did well in phases. We did things wrong, too, which we’ll discuss. But there are lots of positives here, too. And we’ll try and build on those.”

The decision will allow the batter to play tournaments like the Road Safety Series and overseas T20 leagues

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2022Suresh Raina, the former India and Uttar Pradesh batter, has announced his retirement from “all formats of cricket,” confirming the end of his IPL and India domestic career. Raina, 35, had already retired from international cricket, announcing that decision on August 15, 2020 shortly after MS Dhoni had retired.”It has been an absolute honour to represent my country & state UP. I would like to announce my retirement from all formats of cricket,” Raina posted on Twitter on Tuesday.The decision will allow Raina to play tournaments like the Road Safety Series, for which he has already been confirmed, as well as overseas T20 leagues. “I want to continue playing cricket for two or three years,” he was quoted as saying by . “There are some exciting youngsters who are coming through the ranks of Uttar Pradesh cricket. I have already taken my No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA). I have informed BCCI secretary Jay Shah and vice-president Rajiv Shukla about my decision.”I will play in the Road Safety Series. T20 franchises from South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE have contacted me but I am yet to take any decision.”Raina had not played any first-class or list A cricket since 2018, and his last IPL game was in October 2021. Raina was a key figure for the Chennai Super Kings, whom he represented for 11 seasons between 2008 and 2021. He won four titles with CSK in 2010, 2011, 2018 and 2021 and still remains their top-scorer with 4687 runs from 176 matches. He was released by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2022 player auction, where he was not bought by any of the ten franchises.Raina retires having scored 6871 runs in 109 first-class games, 8078 runs in 302 list A games, and 8654 runs in 336 T20 matches. He began his senior domestic career for UP back in 2002-03, and made his international debut in 2005. Raina played 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests for India, and was part of the squad that won the ODI World Cup in 2011. He was the first Indian batter to score a century in all three international formats.

Umran Malik, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sarfaraz Khan also make the cut for the three four-day games

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2022Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna have been named among a contingent of international players in the India A squad to face New Zealand A over the course of three unofficial Tests starting on September 1.A majority of the 16-member squad consists of up-and-comers such as Umran Malik, the Jammu & Kashmir fast bowler, who lit up IPL 2022 with his ability to bowl at 150kph, and Tilak Varma, the Hyderabad batter who earned high praise from Mahela Jayawardene while playing for Mumbai Indians.A couple of India A mainstays – Priyank Panchal, who will captain the side, and Abhimanyu Easwaran – are to shoulder most of the batting burden in the long-form matches. Both players have an enviable record in first-class cricket as well as the experience of being around India’s Test squad.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Also part of the squad are Rajat Patidar, who scored a century in an IPL knockout match this year; Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been travelling with India’s white-ball teams as back-up opener; KS Bharat, widely regarded as Rishabh Pant’s understudy in Test cricket; and Sarfaraz Khan, the top run-getter in the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy with 982 from nine innings.India A and New Zealand A will play each other across three first-class matches to be held in Bengaluru and Hubli between September 1 and 18, and three 50-over matches to be held in Chennai between September 22 and 27. New Zealand A have named a strong squad for the tour.

Former Surrey and Somerset chief executive will join from Bristol City FC in January 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Oct-2022Richard Gould, a prominent critic of the Hundred during his tenure at Surrey, has been appointed chief executive at the ECB, beating Durham’s Tim Bostock to the role. Gould has spent the last 18 months as CEO at Bristol City Football Club but was previously involved in county cricket for 16 years, spending six years as Somerset’s chief executive before another decade in the same role at Surrey.Gould’s ECB-appointment comments focused on discrimination and inclusivity, with the ECB’s own statement noting his influential role in launching Ebony Rainford-Brent’s ACE Programme while at Surrey.”I am honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead our game forward in England and Wales as part of a talented and committed team that encompasses the ECB, every cricket club in the land, all the counties, our partners, sponsors, fans and the army of players and volunteers that support the game in every corner of our country,” he said.Related

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“Cricket is a national asset that can be played by all, and helps strengthen and enhance communities across the nation. It can inspire the country and provides opportunities for all. But we have also seen the pain suffered by those who have experienced discrimination. We are determined to repair this damage, and show that cricket can become the most inclusive and welcoming sport of all.”I look forward to taking up the role in the new year, but for now will be an armchair fan supporting our men’s team in the T20 World Cup in Australia, whilst the women prepare for their T20 World Cup challenge in February.”The ECB said in a statement that their nominations committee had “unanimously recommended” Gould to their board, which had then ratified the appointment on Friday after a lengthy recruitment process.Gould will take up his post at the end of January, with Clare Connor – who has been interim chief executive since Tom Harrison’s departure earlier this year – continuing in that role over the next three months.Gould is the second recent Surrey employee to move into a senior ECB role, after Richard Thompson was appointed as chair in August. The pair worked closely together during their time at The Oval, where they were outspoken critics of the Hundred.However, Thompson conceded shortly after starting as chair in September that his stance has softened, saying: “If the Hundred can generate significant value to the game then that’s got to be a good thing.”The competition also forms part of the ECB’s TV deal with Sky Sports, which runs until 2028, so there is no realistic prospect of it being scrapped imminently.Gould’s own position had become more conciliatory by the time he left Surrey. Shortly before leaving the club in 2021, he told Sky: “We hope the Hundred is a great success, we hope that every match here plays to a sell-out attendance and we’ll be doing our absolute utmost to make sure that is delivered.”Thompson added: “When I joined the ECB, I said that this was a reset moment for our organisation and our sport. Recruiting a CEO who can lead the organisation forwards and deliver on the vision of becoming the UK’s most inclusive sport was one of the first important steps in that. With his outstanding leadership skills and experience of managing transformation, the Nominations Committee felt that Richard Gould was the outstanding candidate.”I am looking forward to working with Richard to not only bring our game together, but to show how cricket can do so much more in bringing communities together. We will work in a spirit of collaboration and partnership with the whole cricket network to do this.”I’d also like to express my sincere thanks to Clare Connor who has done an outstanding job as Interim CEO at an incredibly challenging time for the organisation. I look forward to her continuing to play a leading role in growing our game as part of the ECB’s leadership team when Richard joins.”