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County Championship Round-up: Stoneman goes big for Surrey

Mark Stoneman scored a chanceless unbeaten 181 to continue his impressive form for new county Surrey as they took the first-day honours against Essex at Guildford.The 29-year-old left-hander’s third century since he moved to the club from Durham last winter helped them reach 353 for 5 after they had been put in by Essex in the battle between two sides looking to put pressure on Division One leaders Hampshire.Stoneman still has ambitions to play for England and is certainly the in-form opener in the country at the moment. Former England captain Alastair Cook, who had the best view in the house at first slip, would have been impressed with the quality of Stoneman’s ball-striking, particularly square of the wicket and through the off side.He did not offer a chance against an Essex attack depleted by the absence of seamer Matt Quinn for much of a rain-shortened day after he went off with back spasms.Stoneman watched three partners depart at the other end before sharing a stand of 186 in 41 overs with Dominic Sibley, whose 69 was his third Championship half-century of the season, to alter the course of the day.Jamie Porter had claimed two wickets with the new ball, including Kumar Sangakkara for just four, to help reduce Surrey to 89 for 3 after morning rain had delayed the start until 1.10pm.Porter claimed his 150th first-class wicket when Rory Burns swished outside off stump before picking up Sangakkara, who came into the game with 876 first-class runs already this season but aimed an expansive drive at Porter and fell for just four. With Neil Wagner drawing Scott Borthwick forward and finding the edge Essex would have been pleased with their early work.But Stoneman was soon into his stride. He collected leg-side sixes off Porter and off-spinner Simon Harmer, who bowled 17 overs either side of tea, and 15 boundaries in a 118-ball hundred which he reached shortly after tea.Mark Stoneman struck his third hundred of the summer•Getty Images

His next 50 came off 55 deliveries and he passed his previous best for Surrey, 165 against Warwickshire in the opening game of the season, when he drove a ball from Ravi Bopara back past the bowler to the boundary.Sibley was starting to plck up the pace, having reached 50 off 99 balls, when Essex captain Ryan ten Doeschate dragged Surrey back with two wickets in successive overs.Sibley, who hit nine fours and two sixes, was caught behind off ten Doeschate’s sixth ball and in his next over he trapped former Essex team-mate Ben Foakes leg before as he played across the line.But Sam Curran gave Stoneman excellent support and reached a 54-ball half-century with his tenth boundary in the last over of the day. The pair have added 73 for the sixth wicket so far, Stoneman having so far faced 221 balls with 21 fours and two sixes.

Younis Khan has joined Misbah-ul-Haq in retiring from international cricket at the end of the tour of the West Indies in April and May. He announced his decision in Karachi on Saturday, two days after Misbah did likewise in Lahore, bringing an end to a 17-year Test career.”People are calling me and asking me not to make any announcement to leave but now is the time,” Younis, 39, said in Karachi. “A time comes in every player’s life when he has to decide and I always tried my best to serve my county with my head high. No player always remains fit, the motivation never remains the same, so this is the time when Younis should leave the field after the upcoming series in West Indies.”The exits of Younis and Misbah after the three Tests in the Caribbean will cost the Pakistan team more than 190 matches worth of experience. Younis heads into the series 23 runs short of becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs. Misbah, nearly 43, needs 49 for 5000.”I always tried to be a good ambassador and serve my country to take it one step forward,” Younis said. “If I’ve ever made a mistake in my career, if I’ve forgotten something, or done something wrong, please think of me as one of your own and forgive me, ignore me and let’s move on.”This isn’t something sudden, this was always building up and few of my close friends knew it. Although I had a plan to retire after surpassing Javed bhai’s [Miandad] runs record, then I was motivated to complete 10,000 runs so I have decided to get them. The reason I announced it beforehand was people start asking me for more, they could then ask me to take 11,000 or 12,000 or I may start thinking about reaching Sachin’s 15,000 runs. Humans can never be satisfied but I am not of an age to make it that far, so I want people to respect my decision and allow me to fulfil my future plans.”Though Younis and Misbah leave on their own terms – unusual for Pakistan cricket – it is reasonable to think that eventually, a decision could have been forced upon them. It is understood the chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq was keen for both to retire after the West Indies tour, allowing them a proper farewell and a chance for Younis to get to 10,000. Inzamam wants to build a younger side around a new Test captain and felt this was the time to do it.Younis Khan made his debut in 2000 and now averages 53 in Test cricket•Getty Images

Speculation of retirement had not followed Younis like it did for Misbah, but the lack of a big score until the third Test in Sydney, where Younis made an unbeaten 175, did raise the question. Younis had said then that his future depended on what the team wanted from him.Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur knew that pressure would mount quickly on Younis and Misbah, especially if results did not go Pakistan’s way. The situation Pakistan wanted to avoid was both leaving at the same time. Arthur said during Pakistan’s tour of Australia that in an ideal world, he would want them to stagger their exits so that the impact on younger batsmen in the side could be more carefully managed. Younis and Misbah had a significant influence on the development of players like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq.When asked how Pakistan would cope with him and Misbah leaving at the same time, Younis expressed confidence that Pakistan would be able to move on.”In the past these things were said, what Pakistan will do with big stars leaving, it will be difficult ahead … but life never stops for anyone, it needs to move on,” he said. “When I came in I shared the dressing room with players like Rashid Latif, Moin Khan, Inzamam, Wasim, Saeed Anwar and I thought what will happen if they fade away. All pressure will come on us as junior players.”But after two to three years Pakistan still did wonders, like in 2009 I won the World T20 with youngsters around me … I think Sarfraz [Ahmed] has a chance here to stand up and take the Pakistan team forward and we should think this way.”Younis has played 115 Tests, having made his debut in 2000, and has 9977 runs at an average of 53.06 with 34 hundreds, the most for a Pakistan batsman. His best Test score – 313 against Sri Lanka in 2009 – is the third highest for Pakistan, after Hanif Mohammad’s 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 329. He was recently named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year, following his contribution in Pakistan’s 2-2 drawn series in England last summer.

USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has said that revamping the team’s middle-order batting is a key area of focus in the squad’s preparation for ICC World Cricket League Division Three, which begins May 23 in Uganda. Dassanayake indicated that several former first-class players who came into the team’s recent four-day camp in Houston, Texas – Ibrahim Khaleel, Camilus Alexander and Roy Silva – have strong chances of filling those roles.”We need to get the middle-order batting right,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo. “We struggled in Division Four and that cannot go on. Batting 50 overs, it’s a different art.”These players are used to playing T20 cricket a lot and struggle sometimes to spend time in the longer version. There are lots of good new faces in the last four days and I’m pretty sure a few of these new players will cover those spots.”We’re confident how we are going to go about in Division Three. Some of the gaps that I had to fill, I think it’s kind of a clear thing we’re going to get some good players to cover those spots. We had three experienced players here – Camilus Alexander, Roy Silva and Ibrahim Khaleel. All three of them are top-class players who have played a lot of cricket. Still we haven’t decided anything but I think that experience, we need it to build our middle order.”One other player who stood out during the camp in Texas was Nosthush Kenjige. The left-arm spinner was the leading wicket-taker in the camp with eight in three trial matches. Among his victims were USA captain Steven Taylor twice, Khaleel, Silva, and USA batsmen Nicholas Standford and Akeem Dodson, who was recently taken by Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League draft.Kenjige, 26, was born in Alabama but his family moved to India in his youth. He played most of his developmental cricket in the Karnataka system but returned to the USA in 2015, settling in New York. He was ineligible to play for USA at WCL Division Four last year, despite being an American citizen, due to additional residency criteria the ICC mandates for WCL tournaments. Kenjige has since fulfilled the criteria.In preparation for Division Three, Kenjige travelled to South Africa earlier this year to spend a month training with the Knights first-class franchise and playing club cricket on the weekends. During his time there he was able to work with coach Nicky Boje to sharpen his skills and Dassanayake says he is expecting the spinner to play a significant role for USA going forward.”When I speak about Nosh, I’m very happy about him because he’s one of the guys who has really put work under him in the last three months,” Dassanayake said. “He was one of the guys who followed the fitness programme really well and he has been tremendous improvement in fitness in the last three months, so that has helped him get his fielding right. Skill-wise, he has been going around the world and playing cricket and I see a lot of improvement in his bowling as well.”Overall if I had to analyse the whole team and where the USA team wants to go, I’m looking to build the cricketing culture, a good unit playing together knowing their roles and working hard to improve every day and I would say Nosh is one of the guys who is going to help that system. He’s a different character, really committed to the team and his game. It was very impressive what he has done in the last four days and I think there is so much room for him to improve as well. I’m 100% sure the way he’s going forward and looking at his work ethic, he’s going to be a big asset in the future.”Another squad camp is planned to be held in Houston from April 6 to 9 with the squad trimmed from the 45 players who attended the most recent camp down to 18 before the final 14 are selected to tour South Africa and Uganda in May.Dassanayake said he will focus considerable time on improving the team’s fitness, which was one area that some members of the squad fell behind in during the camp.”Mainly, from Division Four, I was looking to build up the middle order and also the fielding and fitness,” Dassananyake said. “The fitness part, actually the whole group was working for the last three months and I saw lots of improvements with everybody. Fielding, unfortunately some of these players don’t have that opportunity to field on faster outfields on quality grounds, but all the top players have got the idea of the level we are thinking of playing.”There are lots of improvements and also a lot of weak areas. We have two and a half months to work on those things to get ready for Division Three.

Trent Boult has been ruled out of the second Test against South Africa in Wellington with the leg injury he sustained in Dunedin.Boult did not bowl after tea on the fourth day of the opening Test – when he was one of just two frontline seamers alongside Neil Wagner – and even with the final day’s play being washed out there has not been enough time for him to recover.Tim Southee, who was left out in Dunedin to allow New Zealand to accommodate two spinners, will replace Boult although the final XI will not be named until the morning. A twin-spin attack would appear unlikely – the last time New Zealand did that at the Basin Reserve was in 2000 – which leaves Mitchell Santner vulnerable to either Colin de Grandhomnme, who would be a straight swap at No. 8, or Matt Henry who lengthen the tail.”Injuries are part and parcel of cricket,” Southee said. “He has had a big workload with five one-dayers and a big four days in the Test match in Dunedin. Trent being one of the fittest guys in the side does everything he possibly can to keep himself fit, so it’s unfortunate that it has come but I am sure he will be right come Hamilton.”It is the second Test Boult has missed this season after he sat out the Hamilton match against Pakistan with a knee injury.Boult’s absence means New Zealand have lost two of their most experienced players with Ross Taylor having also been ruled out with his calf injury. Neil Broom will make his debut at No. 5. “There’s still a couple of question marks over a couple of players,” Southee said.Faf du Plessis said: “He’s a fantastic bowler and a huge loss for them. But anyone who plays international cricket is dangerous so I assume someone like Matt Henry [will come in] and Tim Southee didn’t play the previous game is a high quality bowler. They’ve still got enough resources. This wicket won’t take as much spin as the last one so I’m expecting they’ll play one spinner.”

Dale Steyn brought seven-week-old Chobe, a Border Collie puppy, and nine-year-old Sadie, a golden retriever, to Newlands on Monday. Morne Morkel was there too, and had his 17-month old son Arias in tow. But this was not a play date for the two pacemen. They are both on the mend as they work towards comebacks and the progress reports from both are pleasing.Morkel has been battling a back injury that he sustained last July. Since then, he has played one first-class match for his franchise, in October, and was taken on South Africa’s tour of Australia where he played in three warm-up matches but not in the Tests.He was due to be considered for a List A game for Northerns on January 22 – the same match in which AB de Villiers made his return from elbow surgery – with a view to playing the third T20 against Sri Lanka but suffered a recurrence of symptoms and was unavailable for any game time. Morkel has been bowling in the nets and is hopeful of playing some List A matches for Titans in the one-day cup which starts next Friday, in an attempt to declare himself fully fit for the three-Test series in New Zealand in March.Morkel will not make himself available for the IPL in a bid to be as strong and fresh as possible for South Africa’s tour to England this winter. The three-month long visit starts with ODIs in May, the Champions Trophy in June, three T20s, and four Tests over July and August.Steyn is also targeting the England tour, although only the Test component of it. He has been out of action since breaking a bone in his shoulder during the Perth Test in November and was set to be sidelined for six months. Steyn started running and doing gym work in January and has now begun to swim, well ahead of schedule. He was initially due to hit the pool from the end of February but has been able to swim already, a sign that the shoulder is healing.Vernon Philander, who had neither a pet nor a child with him, was also at Newlands. Philander has not been playing for the Cobras in the first-class competition. He had a minor impingement of his ankle from the Test series against Sri Lanka and has been advised rest in the lead-up to the New Zealand series. Philander tore ankle ligaments in warm-ups in Bangalore in November 2015 and was out for the rest of the 2015-16 summer but has since been successful for South Africa in Tests in Australia and at home against Sri Lanka.

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc is confident he will be ready for the first Test against South Africa in Perth in November after declaring himself fit for a Sheffield Shield appearance next week.Starc had surgery five weeks ago after a horror incident in which he suffered a deep laceration to his left shin when he slid into the metal plate at the base of a set of stumps during a training drill in Sydney.He was already due to be rested from Australia’s ODI tour of South Africa and did not play at all during the Matador Cup, but is expected to take the field for New South Wales in their first match of the Sheffield Shield season against Queensland at the Gabba starting on Tuesday.”I’m hopefully on that plane on Monday to Brisbane and [will] get some good bowling in and get back playing and ready to go for the first Test,” Starc told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.Although he has not bowled since the end of Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka in September, Starc expects to be unrestricted in his output in the Shield match. The round of Shield games will be the only chance for Australia’s selectors to assess their players before naming the squad for the first Test.Shaun Marsh appears an unlikely starter for the WACA Test after suffering a hamstring injury, which should open the door for Joe Burns’ return to the side after being dropped in Sri Lanka. Australia must also decide on the make-up of their attack, with the key question being who comes in as the third fast man alongside Starc and Josh Hazlewood.Jackson Bird is effectively the incumbent, having taken seven wickets during Australia’s win in Christchurch in February, before the selectors reverted to a twin-spin attack in Sri Lanka. However, Peter Siddle could also come under consideration having made his return from injury during the Matador Cup.But assuming Starc is fit, his inclusion is likely to be the key for Australia, after he snared a remarkable 24 wickets in the three-Test series in Sri Lanka. Before his injury, Australia’s selectors had already decided Starc needed some time at home to freshen up ahead of the Test summer, although several of his team-mates played in the recent ODI series in South Africa.”The boys have been on the road for a very long time, there’s a lot of time away from home,” Starc said. “I think they’ve had two weeks, maybe three weeks tops between May through to now. I think just being back home might relax everyone a little bit.”

Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal has had surgery after being struck on the hand while playing a domestic match last week.Chandimal suffered “multiple dislocations around the right thumb area” after he was hit during a Mercantile tournament match. The recovery period for the injury is three weeks and the Sri Lanka team management said that Chandimal is expected to be fit for the team’s tour of Zimbabwe in October and November. Although the schedule for the tour has not yet been announced, the first Test is likely to begin on October 29.Chandimal’s, Sri Lanka’s vice-captain, was also the side’s designated wicketkeeper during the recent home Test series against Australia. He struck a crucial 132 in the first innings of the Colombo Test to lead Sri Lanka from 26 for 5 to an eventual 163-run win that helped them sweep the series 3-0.Chandimal has also been prolific this year, making 1451 runs from 36 matches across formats including four centuries. He also scored five successive ODI fifties between June and August this year, but missed out on becoming the first Sri Lanka batsman to score six consecutive fifties when he was dismissed for 48 in the second ODI against Australia.He also stood in as captain during a part of the ODI and T20I series against Australia, after Angelo Mathews suffered a calf injury.

Steven Finn has admitted enduring the most frustrating period of his career after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the one-day series against Pakistan.Finn has been sidelined for four weeks after tearing his hamstring during Pakistan’s brief second-innings chase at The Oval. While he hopes to play again for Middlesex before the end of the season – in what could be a County Championship winning campaign – it caps a difficult period for him where his standing in the England side has slipped.”This has been the most frustrating nine months of my career so far. But, will come out the other side of this latest setback stronger for it,” Finn tweeted following confirmation of his latest layoff.Finn flew home from last year’s tour of the UAE to face Pakistan with a foot injury before returning to be the most consistent of England’s quicks at the start of the Test series against South Africa. However, his troublesome 2016 then took hold when he picked up a side strain in the Johannesburg Test and, during his recovery from that, suffered a calf injury which, much to Finn’s frustration, ruled him out of the World T20.Finn made his belief that he was fit for the World T20 known, which led to a mild ticking off from the England management, and head coach Trevor Bayliss encouraged him to channel those frustrations into success in the middle at the start of the home season.However, Finn was short of his best in the Test series against Sri Lanka, although he managed seven wickets at 28.14, before not playing a part in the following one-day series.Against Pakistan, he endured his first wicketless Test in the opening match at Lord’s and was omitted at Old Trafford. He returned at Edgbaston and in the second innings made a crucial contribution with the wickets of Misbah-ul-Haq and Sami Aslam during England’s victory push. At The Oval, though, he finished with 3 for 110 to end the series with five wickets at 70.40 – plus a torn a hamstring.Finn’s place in the one-day squad has gone to Durham’s Mark Wood after his successful return from injury.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Kevin O’Brien came good with bat and ball to lead Ireland to a six-wicket win•Getty Images

Ed Joyce’s fourth ODI century and Kevin O’Brien’s all-round brilliance combined to give Ireland a six-wicket win over Afghanistan in the third ODI in Belfast.Ireland’s bowlers, led by O’Brien’s 3 for 28 in 9.1 overs, put up a strong performance after they lost the toss and dismissed Afghanistan for 236. O’Brien then made another crucial contribution, scoring 75, and his fourth-wicket partnership of 144 with Joyce helped the hosts cruise to the target in 47.3 overs and level the five-match series 1-1. Joyce remained unbeaten on 105.The chase wasn’t smooth until the Joyce-O’Brien partnership: Ireland were reduced to 29 for 3 in the ninth over after Hamid Hassan struck twice. Ireland captain William Porterfield edged to first slip for 1 in the second over, before Sean Terry was trapped lbw for 3 by one that came back in. Asghar Stanikzai introduced spin in the ninth over and the move immediately paid off as Stuart Poynter picked out backward square leg off Mohammad Nabi’s second delivery.Joyce and O’Brien then steered Ireland to safety by batting together for 28.5 overs. O’Brien struck seven fours in his 85-ball knock before falling in the 38th over, with Ireland requiring 64 off 77 balls.The breakthrough hardly provided respite for Afghanistan. Paul Stirling chipped in with an unbeaten 39 off 37 balls to dominate an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 64 with Joyce, who reached his century off the first ball of the 48th over and hit the winning runs two balls later.Ireland could have been pushed harder if Afghanistan’s batsmen had built on Mohammad Shahzad’s platform. He held firm with 81, his third consecutive half-century, even as wickets tumbled around him.Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah and Samiullah Shenwari fell without doing much to leave Afghanistan on 63 for 3 in the 17th over. Shahzad, who had marched to 36, resurrected the innings through a 76-run fourth-wicket stand with Stanikzai. The duo kept Ireland’s bowlers at bay for 15 overs, before pace bowler Peter Chase removed both batsmen in the space of three deliveries. Stanikzai chased a wide one and got an edge towards third man where Joyce completed a running catch, before Shahzad found first slip in his attempt to guide a short delivery.Afghanistan once again lost quick wickets. That they passed 200 was down to Nabi and his 52-run eighth-wicket stand with Rashid Khan, who scored 24 at No. 9. Nabi was the ninth man dismissed, for a 41-ball 40, and Afghanistan were bowled out in 49.1 overs. O’Brien and Barry McCarthy finished with three wickets each.

The USA Cricket Association has filed a lawsuit in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Broward County, Florida attempting to stop six Caribbean Premier League matches from being played in Lauderhill. The matches were to be played at the Central Broward Regional Park from July 28 to 31 and the USACA argued that the CPL did not go through the proper sanctioning process to be able to stage games in the USA.ESPNcricinfo had access to the court filings that were made on the afternoon of July 18, showing the defendents as Broward County, Broward County parks & recreation, CBRP parks and recreation manager Duncan Finch and Lauderhill Mayor Richard J Kaplan. Along with USACA, the plaintiffs in the filings are listed as former USACA executive secretary Kenwyn Williams and current USACA vice-president Owen Grey. The court documents showed that Williams directly filed them with the 17th Circuit Court, listing himself as “Managing Director” of USACA. In a sworn affidavit included in the court filings, Williams claimed to have been managing director of USACA since March 2015 and that he reports directly to Grey.However, the USACA has no formal paid or board position by that title and Williams is not listed as a current staff or board member on their website. Lawyers representing USACA had sent Williams a cease and desist notice last month after he threatened to sue Broward County over the CPL staging, claiming he did not represent the interest of USACA, which was suspended in 2015.However, Grey and Williams have been longtime allies since Williams’ time on the USACA board in 2012. Grey offered his support to Williams last month after the cease and desist letter was sent to Williams and Grey’s status as a co-plaintiff in the case is an indication of conflict within the board. Grey has signed a sworn affidavit in support of the suit dated July 13 and included in the court documents.In the filings, Williams stated that USACA is seeking an emergency injunction to stop the matches, claiming that the board is the sanctioning authority for cricket in the USA and that the CPL had bypassed them to reach an agreement with Broward County. Williams also argued that Broward County’s actions to partner with the CPL “tortuously interfere with USA Cricket’s prospective economic relationship, causing irreparable injury to petitioners’ revenue potential and reputation” and that the revenue is “desperately needed to promote and develop amateur cricket among its thousands of members.”However, USACA’s sanctioning authority was stripped by the ICC in June 2015 under the terms of USACA’s administrative suspension.As part of support documents in the court filings, Williams submitted a letter dated June 6, 2012, written by then ICC Americas regional development manager Martin Vieira, stating that the ICC “recognize USACA as the sole governing body for the sport in the United States of America and can confirm that they are in good standing and in compliance with all rules and regulations of the ICC.” Vieira has since retired and been replaced by Ben Kavenagh and the letter predates USACA’s suspension by three years. While announcing the suspension, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson had labelled the USACA “unprofessional and not trustworthy”.Also included in the documents was a letter written to CPL chief executive Damien O’Donohoe, attributed to ICC operations manager Clive Hitchcock, dated November 16, 2015, which claimed that “the CPL, as the event organizer, must apply for sanctioning/approval of the matches/event to be played in the USA” because USACA is the home governing body. However, the letter also acknowledged USACA’s suspension and stated that “the final decision on whether to approve/sanction the matches will be taken by the ICC within two months of having received the application.”ICC Americas and CPL officials declined to comment on the legal filings made by Williams, when contacted by ESPNcricinfo. Mayor Kaplan did respond, saying that he believed the matches would go ahead as planned and that Williams’ attempt to block the matches would be struck down.”I am very confident that the injunction will fail and the games will proceed since USACA is not the sanctioning body for international games in the US,” Kaplan, who is also a practising lawyer, told ESPNcricinfo. “That authority is exclusively controlled by the ICC which authorised the games. This lawsuit demonstrates the problems that we have had trying to schedule international games within the US and I thank the ICC in taking the action that they have.”