County Diary: Tom Banton's star rises as Amar Virdi's stalls

10:00 AM ET Tom Banton‘s star continues to rise: after a brilliant Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, which included two fifties and a hundred in his three knockout innings, he now tops Somerset’s Championship averages thanks to score of 79 and 70 against Hampshire. Banton is a natural strokemaker, and will have plenty of attention on him when he opens the batting with Pakistan’s stand-out batsman in the World Cup,…

July 4, 2019
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Decks cleared for Rahul Dravid to head cricket operations at NCA

Rahul Dravid has been tasked with turning the NCA into a high-performance centre  8:59 AM ET Rahul Dravid is set to take charge as head of cricket operations at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, with an eye on converting the academy into a high-performance centre, the BCCI’s target for a long time now. Although the tenure of the contract could not be ascertained, ESPNcricinfo understands that it would be…

July 4, 2019
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Simon Katich named as coach of Manchester's Hundred team

8:23 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Simon Katich, the former Australia opener, has been named as coach of the Manchester Originals team for the inaugural season of The Hundred. Katich, 43, is the first coach to be confirmed for the eight-team tournament, which begins in July 2020, and is understood to have been handed the role ahead of the former Lancashire coach, Peter Moores, who would have had to take time…

July 4, 2019
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Harmanpreet, Blackwell set to return to Lancashire Thunder

7:47 AM ET ESPNcricinfo staff India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and former Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell are both set to return to Lancashire Thunder, taking up their respective roles as overseas recruit and head coach once again for the Kia Super League 2019. Harmanpreet, who played her first season in the tournament last year and made 164 runs in seven innings at an average of 32.80 and a strike rate…

July 4, 2019
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World Cup Central: I've never hit the ball better – Maxwell

11:02 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Previous World Cup Central entries: May 24-June 5 | June 6-June 18 | June 19-July 3 July 4 Glenn Maxwell feels he is hitting the ball as well as any stage of his career and is confident a telling score is around the corner after not quite being able to find lift-off during the group stage. Maxwell has scored quickly – with a strike-rate of…

July 4, 2019
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Williamson unlucky, I have the 'smallest' hands – Wood

Mark Wood’s fingertip dismisses Kane Williamson (2:32) Faintest of touches from Wood gets key Williamson wicket (2:32) 6:50 PM ET Mark Wood admitted he “got lucky” to dismiss Kane Williamson in freakish fashion in Durham. Williamson was well set and averaging over 100 in the tournament when Ross Taylor punched a delivery from Wood down the ground only to see the bowler stick a hand out and, in attempting to…

July 3, 2019
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England seek better batting performance against Australia in second Ashes ODI

6:09 PM ET Valkerie Baynes England will be seeking a vastly improved batting performance when they go into Thursday’s second ODI against Australia 0-1 down in the Ashes. A top-order collapse which saw England crash to 19 for 4 and then 44 for 5 proved the difference between the sides – with Ellyse Perry claiming 3 for 43 – the hosts failing to recover despite their bowlers putting Australia under…

July 3, 2019
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Cameron Bancroft gets warm applause after unbeaten 92 seals draw for Durham at Yorkshire

Jul 2, 2019 Paul Edwards Lancashire337 and 204 for 7 (Vilas 74*) lead Durham 281 (Onions 5-93) by 260 runs For many devoted followers of cricket the big parade has not taken place at Sedbergh these last three days. Affairs at Edgbaston and Chester-le-Street have commanded attention, filled airwaves and ensured there are no spare seats in press boxes. Empires are being challenged in the World Cup – and perhaps…

July 3, 2019
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