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Matt Quinn, the New Zealand-born seamer, has signed for Kent on a deal that runs to the end of the 2024 season after slipping down the pecking order at Essex.Quinn, 28, went on loan to Kent earlier this season after they suffered a seam-bowling injury crisis and took 12 wickets in four County Championship fixtures at an average of 19.33. He has signed for the club on loan for the rest of the season, and will be on a permanent, three-year contract from 2022 onwards.Quinn initially joined Essex in late 2015, playing 60 games for the club across formats. His opportunities were limited by injury, and by the depth of Essex’s seam-bowling stocks.”We’re delighted that Matt has chosen to join us on a long-term basis,” Paul Downton, Kent’s director of cricket, said. “He has already shown his ability in a Kent shirt this season and he fitted in really well in the dressing room during his loan spell. He brings something different to our seam attack as we continually look to improve the strength and depth of our squad.”Related

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Anthony McGrath, Essex’s head coach, said: “He has had to face long periods out of the game due to the back injury he sustained in 2017 but has worked hard to get back into first-team contention ever since. We are blessed with very talented bowlers at the club but unfortunately, Matt has sometimes found his opportunities limited as a result.”Meanwhile, Worcestershire have announced the signing of Jacques Banton – the younger brother of Somerset and England batter Tom – on a rookie contract for the rest of the summer. Banton, an allrounder who bowls left-arm spin, has been playing regularly for the club’s second XI, and could come into first-team contention in the T20 Blast when Moeen Ali links up with England’s white-ball squad on Saturday.Alex Gidman, the club’s head coach, described Banton as “a genuine allrounder” and confirmed he would come under consideration for selection. “He strikes the ball cleanly and has got quite a lot of nous about how he plays the game with both bat and ball,” he said.”He has the same skill set as his brother Tom in being a powerful batsman, and they are both allrounders but just in different ways. We are looking at bringing him on board to get him around the group, and it gives us another potential player for selection if needed.”

Glamorgan 462 for 4 (Carlson 170*, Cooke 133*) lead Northamptonshire 215 by 247 runsGlamorgan’s batters had a field day against Northamptonshire in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash, with Kiran Carlson and Chris Cooke both notching unbeaten centuries.Carlson’s sublime 170 not out was the jewel in the crown of Glamorgan’s 462 for 4 as he and captain Cooke (133 not out) shared an unbeaten club record fifth-wicket stand of 307.Earlier in the day, Marnus Labuschagne (77) and Billy Root (45) also recorded a century partnership as Northamptonshire’s bowlers toiled.The Welsh side lead by 247 runs and will hope to bowl 10-man Northamptonshire out on the final day to seal what would be a shock victory.Overnight batsman Labuschagne and Root had an untroubled first hour against a Northamptonshire seam attack without the injured Gareth Berg.Australian star Labuschagne smashed 276 for Glamorgan’s seconds last week and looked in effortless form again which was summed up by a superb drive through mid-on for four.It forced the visitors to introduce spin option Simon Kerrigan into the attack. Labuschagne went to his 50 from 76 balls with eight fours thanks to a cut boundary from the bowling of Ben Sanderson.Labuschagne’s wonderful on-drive for four took his and Root’s partnership past the three-figure mark with the latter more restrained but equally comfortable. Labuschagne looked completely untroubled and his shots grew increasingly aggressive so it was a surprise when he was clean bowled by Luke Procter for 77 when looking to leave.Root followed him in the same fashion and in the same over when he chopped on for 45 attempting to play a cut shot when the ball was too close to his body.Chris Cooke celebrates his century•Getty Images

Carlson and Cooke took Glamorgan past Northamptonshire’s first-innings total of 215 and into the lead after lunch as they built on their top order’s good work.Carlson did edge Kerrigan for four between wicketkeeper and slip, but he and Cooke were otherwise untroubled even though there were two brief stoppages for rain. Carlson went to 50 from 81 balls with seven fours, but after the second break he was dropped by Rob Keogh off his own bowling as he delivered nine overs with Berg on the sidelines.Soon, Carlson and Cooke’s partnership was worth 100 with the latter bringing up his 50 from 87 balls. Glamorgan went to tea on 295 for 4 and in control.Northamptonshire took the new ball for the third session, but Carlson remained unperturbed as he went to his third century of the season from 151 balls with a four off Procter through the leg side.Cooke was dropped on 79 off the bowling of Sanderson by Kerrigan at point which summed up the visitors’ day. It allowed the Glamorgan wicketkeeper to reach three figures from 186 balls with just four fours. His team also went well past 400 in the final session as both batsmen opened up with an overnight declaration possible.

Two of the WBBL’s leading spinners have moved teams ahead of the 2021-22 season. Molly Strano, the top wicket-taker in the tournament’s history, has left Melbourne Renegades to join Hobart Hurricanes and legspinner Alana King, who was a central figure in Melbourne Stars reaching last year’s final, has signed with Perth Scorchers.For both Strano and King the WBBL moves follow their interstate switches with the pair having joined Tasmania and Western Australia respectively.Offspinner Strano, who was part of the Australia’s T20 World Cup squad last year, is the only bowler with over hundred wickets in the WBBL (104 at 18.74).”I made my decision to come to the Tigers a while ago now, but when it came to deciding where I was going to play my WBBL cricket it was something I had to think long and hard about, and was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make,” she said.”Moving down to Tassie was a big decision for me, so I decided to embrace the move wholeheartedly, and play for both Tasmanian teams. I’m looking forward to throwing myself in the deep end and learn what I can from this new environment, and I’m really excited for this next chapter of my cricketing career.”Meanwhile, King will now be playing for the side she had a huge role in putting out of last year’s WBBL in the semi-finals where she claimed 3 for 16 in the semi-final – taking out the powerhouse top three of Sophie Devine, Beth Mooney and Amy Jones – while she also showed her power with the bat down the order striking at 187.87 during the season.”Last season we saw first-hand the influence she can have on a match, her wrist spin can change a game while her power with the bat can swing momentum at the end of an innings too,” Scorchers head coach Shelley Nitschke said.The Scorchers also confirmed that Devine, who has been player of the tournament in the last two seasons, will return to the club. It gives them a very strong-looking top order alongside Mooney and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu.

Pakistan might have ended up losing at Sabina Park on Sunday but bowling coach Waqar Younis said he is “proud” of the bowling unit that kept creating opportunities in a low-scoring Test.The match, which had one of the most thrilling finishes in recent times, was just the 15th instance of a one-wicket win in Test history. The visitors had taken some extraordinary catches but had dropped several crucial ones too – they dropped three in the final session, two of which involved Kemar Roach who later went on score the winning runs.”There was no better Test match than this to advocate Test cricket,” Waqar said in a virtual press conference. “Unfortunately we were on the wrong side as we should have won the game. But that’s the way it is.. one team had to lose and unfortunately it was us, and of course, it happens only when you commit mistakes and [dropped] catches played the big part. When you miss so many opportunities in such tense moments then that will definitely hurt you.Related

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“But overall if you analyse the bowling I must say all the bowlers bowled really well throughout the Test match. Despite the small target, they put in all the hard work, responded well, the way they fought in the game, and never let it go easily. Bowlers are meant to create opportunities. Yes, West Indies were 114 for 7 but then after that, there were three opportunities as well and if you are not grabbing them it won’t help you. They kept on taking wickets and creating opportunities so with all this I feel very proud of this bowling unit.”Pakistan were originally scheduled to play three Tests but both boards reworked the series to play two extra T20Is instead. This tour has been affected by rain right from the start, with three out of four T20Is washed out. The first Test was disrupted by rain too but the overcast conditions allowed fast bowlers to dictate terms.The second Test starts from August 20 at the same venue. Waqar wasn’t too optimistic about the weather but he expects help for the fast bowlers once again.”There was a lot of support especially for fast bowlers,” he said about the first Test. ” Ball was seaming, conditions were overcast at times and it wasn’t easy for batting. Bowler had more say on it hence it was a low-scoring Test match. One has to apply himself on such pitches and has to be positive as a bowler and as a batter.”Sometimes you have to take risks to score runs and whoever scored runs was taking risks to build up the board. So with the new ball, you have to remain positive, and going forward if the conditions remain the same it won’t be easy for batters. There was bounce and I don’t know what we will get in the next game and it’s hard to tell but looking around from the first Test expect grass on the pitch. The ball will seam around and expect us to play with the same spirit.”Waqar added that the experienced Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah were match-winners and have done well to stay relevant. Abbas picked up three wickets in the first innings with the new ball and though his tally dried up with the older one, he kept the scoring rate in check, giving away only 1.95 runs per over.”Abbas – I thought he bowled beautifully,” Waqar said. “On some days in cricket – especially in Test cricket – luck isn’t with you. Otherwise, the way he was bowling he should have taken a lot more wickets. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the edges and that’s part of the game. But I have no doubt that Abbas is a wonderful professional with the sort of effort he puts in but he was bowling great though the wickets tally isn’t what we were expecting.”Yasir’s track record against West Indies is great. He overall has 250 wickets and has tons of experience with him. His past performance is very good and he is a match-winner and you can’t really ignore him. Sometimes the pitch isn’t conducive enough for spinners in fact both sides haven’t got enough for spinners. Nauman Ali is a wonderful cricketer but the pitch wasn’t supporting a fingerspinner”

Hashim Amla was left fighting a lone hand as Surrey struggled to 107 for 7 on day two at the Kia Oval after Essex totalled 439 in their LV= Insurance County Championship second division match.Surrey captain Amla, who came in at No. 3, remained a defiant 58 not out as 14 wickets fell overall on a day in which batting seemed far more difficult than it did 24 hours earlier when Alastair Cook’s unbeaten 140 had guided Essex to their overnight total of 299 for 3.Indeed, Essex themselves lost their last seven wickets for the addition of only 140 runs in three hours of hard graft, with Cook fifth out for a magnificent 165 – his highest first-class score at the Oval.But Surrey’s reply then began disastrously with both openers, Cameron Steel and Ryan Patel, out for ducks and Ollie Pope quickly following for 5 as they slid to 19 for 3. And it did not get much better as four more wickets were lost before the close.Will Jacks battled almost an hour for his 11, until he was leg-before to a Shane Snater offcutter, and Rikki Clarke made it to 12 – including a big six over the short boundary on one side of the ground off Simon Harmer – before the offspinner had his revenge by having Clarke stumped.Attempting to force off the back foot, Jordan Clark then edged the bustling Sam Cook behind, to go for 5, and Jonny Tattersall was the victim of a remarkable left-handed diving catch by Nick Browne at short leg off Harmer.Jamie Porter had started Surrey’s slide, having Steel well-held at first slip from the sixth ball of the innings, and Sam Cook then struck with his second ball – bowling from around the wicket – as left-hander Patel was pinned lbw by one angled in to his pads.Porter, in his fifth over with the new ball, then produced a beauty which Pope touched to Adam Wheater behind the stumps, but former South Africa great Amla was studious in defence as he sought to hold back the Essex tide.Amla also twice in an over swept Harmer for four, but when the bowler switched to the Vauxhall End he was almost immediately successful as Clarke skipped down the pitch and was beaten by a ball which spun through the gate as the allrounder aimed a violent swipe.The day began with Porter, Essex’s nightwatchman, reaching a jaunty 30 in a 54-run stand with Alastair Cook before he edged Clarke behind. Cook, having batted for seven and a half hours, was finally undone by a fine piece of bowling from slow left-armer Dan Moriarty, who went around the wicket to have England’s record Test run-getter caught by keeper Tattersall as he tried to cut. He had faced 330 balls, hitting 20 fours.Wheater played some good strokes in his 39, before being eighth out offering no stroke to Reece Topley and seeing his off bail trimmed, but Paul Walter’s 33 was a more tortured affair that was ended by a brilliant reflex catch by Pope at gully, just off the turf, after the left-hander had edged Jacks’ offspin on to Tattersall’s arm.The rest of Essex’s lower order succumbed meekly, Harmer leg-before to Topley for 3, Aron Nijjar caught behind off James Taylor for 2 and Sam Cook leg-before to Taylor for nought.

England versus Australia is always a high-stakes contest irrespective of the format, but Eoin Morgan believes that the result of Saturday’s T20 World Cup clash in Dubai will have no bearing “whatsoever” in the build-up to December’s Ashes opener in Brisbane.England go into the third match of the Super 12s on a high after thumping victories over West Indies and Bangladesh in their opening two games, but anticipate a stiffer test against Australia, who are also unbeaten in Group 1 following a forceful run-chase against Sri Lanka on Thursday.”It’s probably going to be one of our most difficult games,” Morgan said. “Australia are a very strong side. Coming into the tournament, they would probably be considered joint-second favourites, along with us. They’re a side that we know pretty well – we’ve played against them a lot over a number of years, so looking forward to a really good game.”The two teams played out an absorbing pair of white-ball series in England last summer – England claimed the T20 leg 2-1, but lost by the same margin in the ODIs for their first home series defeat since 2015. Australia also won convincingly at the same stage of the 2019 World Cup, before being overwhelmed by eight wickets in a pulsating semi-final at Edgbaston.”You learn a hell of a lot about how they play their cricket, how disciplined they can be,” Morgan said. “When they get on top they can be a difficult to side to play, when you try and wrestle momentum back.”The challenge for us and them is that we’re not playing at home so it’s about trying to adapt our style of play. Early momentum in any game can go a long way to winning. But like we’ve witnessed over the last couple of years, if we don’t manage to gain that momentum, I think we have guys that can either wrestle it back or counter-punch.”Related

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One key operator who has yet to feature in the tournament is Mark Wood, England’s fastest bowler, who has been resting an ankle niggle during the opening week. Morgan said that both he and Tom Curran were “progressing really well” and that a call on Wood’s availability would be made on the morning of the match.But, Morgan insisted, despite Wood also being earmarked for a frontline role in the Ashes, there would be little point in trying to read too much into his display across four overs in the UAE, compared to the challenge that awaits in Australia in the coming weeks.”I’ve played Test matches and have played 50-over and T20 for a long period of time,” Morgan said. “There was a time and place where 50-over cricket was closely aligned with Test match cricket and the way that it was played.”Particularly top of the order and how your quicks bowled, but I think white-ball cricket has moved so far away from red-ball cricket that there’s just day and night between a psychological blow in one format in comparison to the other.”In the wake of the controversy surrounding Quinton de Kock and his refusal to take a knee ahead of South Africa’s match against West Indies, Morgan acknowledged that England and Australia may need to co-ordinate their own anti-racism gestures, particularly given that their failure to show solidarity during their 2020 series attracted criticism, not least from the former West Indies great Michael Holding, who decried their lack of action as “lame”.England’s cricketers have taken to wearing T-shirts denouncing all forms of discrimination prior to their home internationals, but because this approach is not permitted at ICC tournaments, Morgan said that the team would need to discuss the appropriate action.”If we’re not allowed to take our stance against all discriminations, we need to try to find something else that makes a difference,” Morgan said. “There’s a chance [we will take a knee]. The collective message [is] more powerful [when] everybody agrees to what we’re buying into. That’s the best way to raise awareness, educate and come across with a more powerful message.”We’ll talk at length today but we are quite restricted in what we can do at ICC events. If we come to something that can be supported by Australia, we will speak to them and see what their thoughts are as well.”

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, has told Azeem Rafiq that he is “sorry for the hurt he has gone through”, after speaking publicly for the first time since being implicated in the Yorkshire racism scandal.Vaughan has been stood down from BBC Test Match Special’s commentary team for the forthcoming Ashes, in the wake of Rafiq’s claim that he had once told a group of four Asian players at Yorkshire “there are too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.However, speaking to BBC Breakfast’s Dan Walker, Vaughan insisted once again that he had no recollection of using such words, adding that he had been “proud as punch” to take the field at Trent Bridge in 2009 alongside the homegrown trio of Rafiq, Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad, as well as Pakistan’s overseas player, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.”I don’t [remember saying that],” Vaughan said. “My recollection from that day, as I’ve said, I was a Yorkshire player for 18 years, I was the first player to sign for that club that was not born in the county, so for 18 years we had gone from me being the first to sign for the club, Sachin Tendulkar being the first from overseas, to players being able to sign from other clubs.”It was my last few games and I remember it clearly that I was proud as punch that we had four Asian players representing Yorkshire Cricket Club.”Speaking at the DCMS hearings in Westminster last week, Rafiq had told the parliamentary select committee that it was “important not to make it all about Michael”, adding that he might not have remembered making derogatory comments “because it’s not important to him”.Vaughan admitted that that comment “hurts”, and reiterated his claim that he had never used racist language. However, he acknowledged that, in the course of his 18-year professional career, including ten with England, “I’d be lying if I would sit here now and say that I never heard words or conversations that I would certainly pick out now.”‘That [comment] hurts,” Vaughan added, “because I’ve always felt that every single team that I have been involved in, the biggest praise I ever got as England captain for six years was that I was the kind of person that really galvanized the group, got the team working together as one. I wanted everyone in the dressing room to feel included.”I’m sorry for the hurt that [Rafiq] has gone through,” Vaughan added. “Yorkshire Cricket Club, I believe, is me. It has been my life whether I have been a player or not, I believe that once you have played for Yorkshire you are always a Yorkshire player and I am sorry for all the hurt that he has gone through.”Time can never be a healer but hopefully time can be a way of Yorkshire Cricket Club never going through this situation again, and not putting themselves in a position of denial that they treated the players so badly.”In the course of the interview, Vaughan was read out a number of his tweets, including a complaint that ‘Not many English people live in London… I need to learn a new language’, and a reply to the actor and comedian, Adil Ray, suggesting that Moeen Ali should ask young Muslims if they are terrorists to help make society a safer place.”I look back at my 12 years in social media, I regret many tweets,” Vaughan said. “I apologise deeply to anyone I offended with those tweets.”We all make mistakes and, in my life, I’ve made quite a few mistakes on Twitter. I apologise for that, but I can’t suddenly get rid of it. That’s happened, but I think sometimes through social media, people can presume who you are and interpret who you are because of a tweet or two. I know who I am, and I hope the people around me, who were close to me, know exactly who I am.”Asked if he felt he could rehabilitate his career in light of the controversy, Vaughan conceded: “It’ll take time. I’ve no doubt about that. But I’m sure over time people will see that the true me.”I won’t be doing the Ashes,” he added, in the wake of the BBC’s decision to withdraw him for editorial reasons, although he is at this stage still expected to take part in the Australian host broadcast for Fox Cricket. “I understand the story is all about Azeem Rafiq and racism in cricket. I just hope in time I will have that chance to come back. The one thing I have loved more than anything since retiring is talking cricket, and I hope I can do that again.”

Regular white-ball captain Temba Bavuma, along with Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have all been rested for South Africa’s ODI series against Netherlands, which takes place later this month. Keshav Maharaj will captain the team, which includes a recall for Kolpak-returnee Wayne Parnell, who last played for South Africa in 2017.Zubayr Hamza and Ryan Rickelton are in line for their ODI debuts, while Khaya Zondo, Daryn Dupavillon and Sisanda Magala have all been recalled after missing the series against Sri Lanka.Parnell’s comeback is the first indication that South Africa are ready to reintegrate players who gave up their international careers when they signed Kolpak deals. Since the UK’s exit from the European Union, which has dissolved the Kolpak system, several players have returned to South Africa and signed contracts with provincial teams, which has made them available for the national side again. Parnell is the first to be recalled with the selectors also keeping a close eye on top-order batter Rilee Rossouw.”The question we’ve been receiving of late is what we will do with the former Kolpak players and we have always said that once they come and perform well domestically we will consider them,” South Africa’s convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang told ESPNcricinfo. “Wayne and Rilee both did well in the T20 challenge. With the squad we have at the moment, we want to give the current batters an opportunity but we are specifically looking for an allrounder and Wayne bringing that skillset into the mix is what we needed. We will keep an eye on all the Kolpak players. Kolpak players coming back in the system strengthens the system.”Rossouw may consider himself unlucky, as he was the top run-scorer in the domestic T20 competition and one of only three players to score a hundred. But Mpitsang believes he will come into the mix later in the summer. Parnell, meanwhile, did not finish among the bowlers or batters in the domestic T20 competition but scored an unbeaten 29-ball 80 in the quarterfinal against the eventual champions, the Knights, and captained Western Province. His maturity caught Mpitsang and his committee’s eyes.”Wayne is only 31 years old and the fact that he has been away, he knows his game and he is an experienced player and with all the other players being rested, gives us an opportunity to look at our broader base,” Mpitsang said. “When we told him, he was like a little child. He was so excited; over the moon to get the call-up.”Zubayr Hamza had a good run in the domestic T20 competition•Getty Images

One of the other centurions from the domestic T20 competition was Hamza, who finished third on the overall run charts, and has not yet played white-ball cricket for South Africa. He is likely to bat in the top three after Reeza Hendricks and Janneman Malan, with the other newcomer in the squad, Rickelton in reserve. The middle-order contains the experience of David Miller, who will marshall Kyle Verreynne, who is also set to take the gloves, and Zondo, who has not played international cricket since 2018. Zondo averaged 43 in the domestic T20 tournament.South Africa will be spoilt for choice in the seam-bowling allrounder department with Parnell, Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo all selected in the squad, but they are without a spin-bowling allrounder. With Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi in the group, there was no room for George Linde, who traveled as a reserve to the T20 World Cup.”The matches will be played on the Highveld, which also informed our selections. George is slightly disappointed but we explained to him that the season is long and he will get more opportunities.”All three matches will take place at SuperSport Park, where conditions are expected to be seamer-friendly. Despite being without Rabada and Nortje, South Africa will look to give game time to Lungi Ngidi, who did not get a game at the T20 World Cup and “just wants to play cricket,” according to Mpitsang.Lizaad Williams, who was a reserve at the tournament, Sisanda Magala, who was part of their winter tours but missed out on selection through injury and Dupavillon, the joint-highest wicket-taker from the T20 competition.”It’s a squad with good balance,” Mpitsang said. “We’ve got some experienced guys and some younger ones and we have all our bases covered.”The three ODIs are part of the World Cup Super League, where both teams are in need of points. Netherlands are in last place on the table, with 20 points from two wins over Ireland. South Africa sit in ninth place, having dropped points in Ireland, but they could climb to as high as No. 2 with a 3-0 sweep.Squad: Keshav Maharaj (capt), Daryn Dupavillon, Zubayr Hamza, Reeza Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Wayne Parnell, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo.

Former England batter Kevin Pietersen believes that the ECB must create a first-class competition with a similar structure to the Hundred if the men’s Test team is to “return to its former glories”.Pietersen, an Ashes winner in 2005, 2009, 2010-11 and 2013, was part of Sky Sports’ commentary team for the inaugural edition of the Hundred this summer and suggested that players involved “will have improved markedly” due to the concentration of talent.In a column for Betway, Pietersen said that the standard of County Championship cricket had fallen markedly since his debut for Nottinghamshire in 2001 and described the competition as “not fit to serve the Test team”.Related

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“The best players don’t want to play in it, so young English players aren’t learning from other greats like I did,” Pietersen wrote. “Batters are being dismissed by average bowlers on poor wickets and the whole thing is spiralling.”When I first started playing first-class cricket in England, the intensity of a County Championship match was like a Test match. It was as tough as anything. I learned my trade against some of the greatest players in the world every week.”The Leicestershire side we came up against in 2003 featured Virender Sehwag, Brad Hodge, Paul Nixon, Jeremy Snape, Phil DeFreitas and Charlie Dagnall [but] when I made 355* against Leicestershire in 2015, I would have made 250 without pads on. It was a moment when I realised just how far county cricket had fallen.”Pietersen suggested that the Championship could continue as a “feeder system… where players develop until they’re ready to step up” but said that English cricket needs an eight-team, round-robin competition in the heart of summer in order to better serve the interest of the Test side.”In the Hundred, the ECB have actually produced a competition with some sort of value,” he said. “They now need to introduce a similar franchise competition for red-ball cricket, whereby the best play against the best every single week.”They would make money available to attract some of the best overseas players in the world and the top English players would benefit from playing alongside them.”It would be a marketable, exciting competition, which would drive improvement in the standard and get people back through the gates for long-form cricket.”We need to produce lucrative, high-quality, interesting competitions that reward and improve the best players. This could be one. This Ashes defeat needn’t be a total failure if they [the ECB] can use it to implement proper change for the Test side.”The charge that the Championship is failing to produce Test-quality players has been levelled by several senior figures within the England set-up since their innings defeat in Melbourne saw Australia take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Ashes, with Joe Root, James Anderson and Graham Thorpe among those to criticise the county game either implicitly or explicitly.Michael Atherton, the former England captain and broadcaster, proposed in his column that the Championship should move to three divisions of six, with each team playing 10 games between May and July, and encouraged more representative games. “North v South, Best v Rest, Lions games… should be used as a bridge between the county and Test game,” he wrote.Atherton also suggested Andrew Strauss and Ed Smith as candidates to replace Tom Harrison and Ashley Giles as the ECB’s chief executive and managing director of men’s cricket respectively; called for split-format coaches to replace the “out of his depth” Chris Silverwood; and said that it was “time for someone else” to take over from Joe Root as captain, proposing Ben Stokes as “a viable alternative”.

Matt Renshaw has signed a contract to play for Somerset as an overseas player in 2022. Renshaw, the 25-year-old batter who played 11 Tests for Australia from 2016 until 2018, will be available for most of the season in both the County Championship as well as the Royal London Cup.The club said in a statement that he would be available “until at least the end of August”. Andy Hurry, Somerset’s director of cricket, said: “There is no doubt that Matt is a quality performer, and he has proved that on the biggest stage. He burst on to the scene and caught the eye at a young age, and through hard work and determination, he is once again on the cusp of international recognition.”We wanted to bolster our ability to put opposition bowlers under real pressure, and this will be a great opportunity for him to contribute to our success and to put himself right back in the frame for selection for the national team.”Renshaw previously spent the first half of the 2018 season with Somerset, replacing Cameron Bancroft in the aftermath of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. He scored three hundreds in his six Championship games – including one before lunch against Yorkshire – and proved a popular signing at the time.He has also been pressing his case for a Test recall in the Sheffield Shield this season, capped by a call-up for Australia A against the England Lions.”I really enjoyed my time at Somerset in 2018, and I can’t wait to go back,” Renshaw said. “It’s a special place, and there’s a great atmosphere around the whole club. I’ve kept in touch with a lot of the guys there, and when I got the opportunity to go back, I jumped at the chance.”Although I was only there for a short time, the members and supporters really got behind me and made me feel extremely welcome. I’ve never forgotten that, and hopefully I can help give them something to cheer about in 2022. I know they’ve always wanted that Championship trophy, so let’s see what we can do.”Renshaw is the second overseas signing that Somerset have confirmed for 2022, with Marchant de Lange, the South Africa fast bowler, also returning for the second year of a two-year contract across formats.