[themaclad]

Scotland snatch a very unlikely victory over Ireland chasing 290 to win by 1 wicket

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Always tends to be a good match between the two these days, with Scotland getting stronger and Ireland taking a brief step back after the golden generation. One of the better suggestions I've heard as a future white-ball replacement for the Hundred is a Home Nations kind of tournament where Scotland, Ireland, maybe Wales and maybe Netherlands could compete against a North of England and South of England. Dodge any ICC objections by treating them as private franchises rather than the official national sides, have a few geographical qualification/residency rules to preserve some sense of identity and regional pride at the same time (while allowing a few overseas signings), bob's your uncle; it'd have the potential to pull in English crowds while growing the game in the Celtic fringe and maybe expand into Europe, as the Six Nations eventually did.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Couple of nice little upsets for the minor counties in Sunday's warm-ups: a strong Staffordshire side conceded 304 to Leicestershire but stayed just the right side of Duckworth-Lewis in the chase to triumph by 2 runs when the rain came at 102-2, and an arguably more impressive win for Northumberland versus a decent Durham combining a handful of youngsters with the likes of Graham Clark, Alex Lees, Liam Trevaskis and Paul Coughlin; set a 291 target by Northumberland with a century from 20-year-old Nikhil Gorantla, Durham looked to have it under control until they hit 208-5 around the thirty-fifth over and then collapsed to 261 all out. Whoops.

All grist to the mill of suggestions (further to my last post) that a Gillette-style T20 FA Cup could also take the place of the Hundred, if push came to shove. The minors have more of a place in English cricket than the Birmingham Unicorns or the Leeds Megapowerpoints, and they can give any dozy first-class side a wake-up on their day.

[themaclad]

The Gillette Cup was brilliant 65 overs a side when it first started 60 overs shortly afterwards, July 1971 Lancs v Gloucester OT Semi Final Mike Procter coming in from a 30 yards mark bowling in the pitch dark, then Hughes hits Mortimore for 24 from one over match completed at 8.55 pm Wonderful to paraphrase Max Boyce, I know I was there

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Fresh out of retirement, Stokesy blasts a new record ODI innings of 182 for an English batsman. It's the ninth time a new record has been set after John Edrich (82 in 1971), Dennis Amiss (103 in 1972), David Lloyd (116* in 1974), Amiss again (137 in 1975), David Gower (158 in 1983), Robin Smith (167* in 1993), Alex Hales (171* in 2017) and Jason Roy (180 in 2018).

Also been hugely enjoyable following the encounter between Sussex and Leics in Hove this week, which turned into an unlikely final-session thriller. Sussex batted first and made 262, then bowled Leicestershire out for 108 within three hours. They declared on 344 yesterday, setting 499 to win, and in a nine-hour chase the Foxes went from 16-2 to 453-6, blowing apart their record fourth-innings first-class total (404 vs Oxford Uni in 1995) before Jaydev Unadkat - bowling himself into the ground - took three wickets for three runs inside three overs to take it down to the last partnership. Chris Wright then biffed back-to-back sixes to keep the chase alive, but just two or three more hits from victory, he was bowled to give Unadkat his first Championship five-fer and Sussex a 15-run victory. Great to see Leics getting their act together after all these years, and woe betide those who'd elbow them aside and cut Championship fixtures from the schedule.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

To cap an extraordinary week, Leicestershire have now won the One-Day Cup for the first time since 1985, having been 19-4 and then 89-6 in the first innings, recovering to post 267-7 and then defend it to achieve a 2-run victory off the last ball. No less than they deserve for their efforts this season, whatever happens in the last fortnight of the Championship.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

End of an era as Captain Cook calls time on a 20-year career, bowing out on 26,643 first-class runs, 55 short of Golden Age hero Gilbert Jessop and 15 above Essex legend Ken McEwan. By my reckoning, that now leaves Cheteshwar Pujara on 19.5k as the top dog of current batsmen. All the best Cooky, a true gentleman of the game, and a player who'll comfortably rank alongside Hobbs or Boycott in the pantheon of England openers for posterity.

[themaclad]

Argentina's women compiled a T20 International record score of 427 as they thrashed an inexperienced Chile side in Buenos Aires on Friday.

The total - the highest in women's and men's T20Is - eclipsed the 318-1 made by Bahrain's women against Saudi Arabia in March 2022.

Lucia Taylor hit 169 off 84 balls for Argentina as she made the highest individual score in women's T20Is.

Chile, who fielded seven debutants, were bowled out for 63 in reply.

The 364-run margin of defeat in the match played at the Maurice Runnacles Oval in the St Albans Club, was the heaviest in both women's and men's cricket.

Taylor, whose previous top score in T20Is was 29, hit 27 fours as she shared a first-wicket stand of 350 with Albertina Galan (145 not out) - also a record for any partnership in both men's and women's T20Is.

Chile's Florencia Martinez bowled 17 no balls as her one over cost 52 runs. Jessica Miranda top scored for Chile with 27 and claimed the wicket of Taylor to finish with 1-64 from her four overs.

Argentina are currently 66th in the International Cricket Council's rankings while Chile - who were playing a T20 for the first time since 2019 - have not played sufficient fixtures to have a ranking.

Last month, Nepal hit a men's T20 record of 314-3 as they beat Mongolia at the Asian Games in China.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Uganda make the 2024 T20 World Cup at Zimbabwe's expense after bulldozing Rwanda earlier today. It'll be the first time Ugandans have played at a major ICC event since 1975, when all-rounder Samwiri Walusimbi and bowler John Nagenda made the East Africa side at the first World Cup. Nagenda sadly died in the spring, but I think Walusimbi is still around to see the Cricket Cranes make history.

[themaclad]

Glamorgan chasing 593 tied with Gloucestershire the final wicket off the final ball