Kent maintained their Division One status in the LV= Insurance County Championship after a dramatic final day of the season which saw Middlesex relegated instead.
Kent had to settle for a draw from their game with Lancashire at Canterbury and then faced an agonising 80-minute wait for news from Trent Bridge, where a Middlesex win over Nottinghamshire would have consigned Jack Leaning’s side to Division Two.
There had looked to be only one outcome as Nottinghamshire, having been set a target of 207 in a generous 58 overs by Middlesex skipper Toby Roland-Jones, progressed to 64 without loss and then 106 for one.
But on a dry, turning pitch on a sunny afternoon, spinners Jayant Yadav, Josh De Caires and Sam Robson – who finished with a career-best four for 46 with his leg spin – reduced the home side to 157 for seven and suddenly a great escape looked on.
However, Matt Montgomery (34 not out) held the tail together to drag Nottinghamshire across the line at eight down, with 16 balls to spare, and left Kent celebrating survival despite being frustrated by dogged Lancashire resistance.
Third-placed Hampshire became just the second team to beat Surrey across their back-to-back title-winning campaigns.
Only Lancashire had beaten Surrey in 2022 and 2023 in red-ball cricket, winning once in either campaign.
But Liam Dawson took his season tally to 49 wickets by claiming two of the four scalps needed to secure victory at the Ageas Bowl, with Surrey only scoring 20 of the 73 required to lose by 52 runs before 11am.
Despite the defeat, Surrey were presented with the Division One trophy by England and Wales Cricket Board chair Richard Thompson.
Warwickshire and Somerset’s rain-hit clash ended in an expected draw.
The Division One contest was officially abandoned just after lunch on the final day when, with the sun shining, the umpires ruled that areas of the field remained unsafe.
Somerset had been 90 for two in the second innings, a lead of 32. The result saw Warwickshire end the campaign in fourth with Somerset seventh.
In Division Two, Shan Masood’s brilliant 123 helped Yorkshire chase down a final-day target of 360 to beat promoted Worcestershire at Headingley and avoid finishing bottom for only the second time in their history.
Yorkshire’s fourth-highest successful run chase was achieved with relative comfort in the end, with six wickets in hand and three overs of the allotted 70 remaining.
With the game meandering ahead of day four, both sides opted to contrive a finish, with Yorkshire risking the draw which would lift them off the bottom of Division Two.
As it was, they were able to achieve that by going for broke as captain Masood hit 15 fours in 131 balls.
Sussex took just 45 minutes to complete a 339-run victory that condemned Gloucestershire to a winless season and bottom spot.
The hosts took only 9.5 overs to achieve a third victory of the campaign after Gloucestershire resumed on 113 for five, needing another 400 runs.
Durham sealed an emphatic victory over Leicestershire by an innings and 141 runs to end their title-winning campaign on a high.
The home side required 10 wickets to secure their seventh victory of the campaign at Seat Unique Riverside and took only 42.5 overs to tear through the Leicestershire batting line-up.
The Durham bowlers shared the wickets around as Vishwa Fernando and Matt Parkinson claimed three apiece, while Matthew Potts, Ben Raine and Jonathan Bushnell also struck.
The hosts took 24 points from the contest, ending the term with a mammoth total of 233.
Leus Du Plooy’s last game for Derbyshire ended in a draw despite another Luis Reece century as their side came up four wickets short after setting Glamorgan a target of 384 to win on the final day in 70 overs.
Derbyshire had eight fielders around the bat in the chase for wickets but eventually called time one over short at 5.37pm as the game petered out into a draw with Glamorgan on 135 for six. Derbyshire finished sixth in the table and Glamorgan fifth.
Charles, Powell star as Delhi Bulls hammer Chennai Braves by 65 runs in Abu Dhabi T10 League
Johnson Charles and Rovman Powell both played starring roles to help the Delhi Bulls get their second win in as many games in the 2023 Abu Dhabi T10 League on Friday with a 65-run triumph over the Chennai Braves at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Charles made a 21-ball 40 opening the batting including four fours and two sixes while skipper Powell, batting at five, hit 35 off just 15 balls including one four and four sixes to help the Bulls post an intimidating 126-6 off their 10 overs after being put in to bat.
Englishman James Vince also showed good form with 37 off 14 balls. Obed McCoy and Junaid Siddique had identical figures of 2-18 from two overs.
Chennai’s chase then came up significantly short, being bowled out for just 61 in 8.5 overs.
Only Mohammad Nabi was able to crack double figures with 25 as Fazalhaq Farooqi (2-8 from two overs), Muhammad Rohid (2-14 from two overs), Naveen-ul-Haq (2-22 from two overs) and Ravi Bopara (2-4 from five balls) combined to produce an excellent display of bowling.
With goal of being best all-rounder in the world, Matthew Forde says CPL is ‘foundation to my success’
Matthew Forde was 20 years old when he first appeared for a CPL franchise. Having had success in age group cricket he was someone who was of interest to CPL teams, but it was a conversation with Pedro Collins that started his CPL career. Forde had been coached by Collins for a while. They lived very close to each other, and Collins would regularly give Forde a lift to and from training.
On one of those journeys the conversation turned to CPL cricket. Forde told Collins that he did not currently have a team. Collins is part of the Saint Lucia Kings set up and he called Daren Sammy, the Kings head coach, while Forde was in the car. Forde was encouraged to send videos of him in action to Sammy and by the time he was dropped off Sammy had called back to say, “I want this youngster.”
That conversation led to Forde making his CPL debut during the 2022 season, and while he didn’t bowl in his first match, he was entrusted with the new ball for his home debut against Guyana Amazon Warriors. Forde says his response to being asked if he wanted this responsibility so early in his career was to tell Sammy, “You asking a dog if he want a bone”.
Forde was determined to make the most of that opportunity. While sat on a drinks cooler waiting for his home debut he made it clear to his team mate, Rivaldo Clarke, that he was not going to miss his chance. He said: “Rivaldo boy, I don't know about you, but I know when I get my chance and I come off of this cooler, I'm not coming back on this cooler.”
Forde has not had to sit on the side lines since, with the latest milestone being his call up for the West Indies ODI team who are taking on England in December. His coach for that series will be Daren Sammy, and Forde has said that his relationship with the Kings and West Indies head coach has been foundational to his career.
“I think he has been, if not the backbone, he has been the main guy for me in terms of giving me that opportunity and trusting me, believing in me. I started opening with the new ball for the Kings and he trusted me. I just kept performing until he built that trust in me,” Forde said.
For Forde, the CPL has been the building block for his career progression since making that breakthrough in 2022. “I think CPL was the foundation. CPL really started it all because without CPL then the rest of the world wouldn't see me. CPL was my first major tournament. So, for me that's like CPL was the foundation. And I will always say the Kings will always be at my heart.”
Going forward, Forde wants to develop all elements of his game. He has two half centuries in topflight cricket, one as an overseas player at the Lanka Premier League and another in the recently concluded Super 50 tournament where he presented the West Indies academy side. He says developing his batting and becoming a true all-rounder is where he wants his game end up.
“My goal is to be to be the number one all-rounder in the world and to put West Indies cricket back to where it needs to be at the top. So, for me and a couple of the younger guys like me, we work really hard in in terms of fitness, the mental side of the game, theory, whatever it be. We are always working because we know what we want to achieve, and we know the goals that we have set and planned out as a collective group.”
Pakistan appoint Salman Butt to first official role since spot-fixing conviction
Former Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt has been appointed to a first official role since he was jailed for spot-fixing.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has named Butt as one of three consultants to new chief selector Wahab Riaz.
In 2011, Butt was jailed for 30 months for his part in a conspiracy to bowl deliberate no-balls during the Test against England at Lord’s the previous summer.
Butt, 39, was also handed a 10-year ban by the International Cricket Council, with five years suspended, for his role in the controversy, which also involved team-mates Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
Along with former Pakistan internationals Kamran Akmal and Rao Iftikhar, Butt, who returned to play domestic cricket in 2016, will take up his role on the selection panel with immediate effect ahead of the T20 series against New Zealand in January, which follows the conclusion of the Test tour to Australia.
All three players were part of Pakistan’s successful T20 World Cup in 2009 and look set to bring some of their experience to the current squad.
The PCB added in a statement: “When not engaged in selection duties, the consultant members may be assigned additional tasks such as conducting skills camps.”
The move follows an overhaul of Pakistan’s set-up following an early exit from the 2023 World Cup in India.
As well as new chief selector, Mohammad Hafeez has come in as team director.
Babar Azam stepped down as captain, with Shan Masood confirmed as Pakistan’s new Test skipper and Shaheen Afridi set to lead the T20 side.
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