Maddie Ward and Ria Fackrell have helped England National Counties Cricket Association XI defend their European Championship T10 title with victory in this afternoon’s final against the Netherlands in Malaga.
Both were part of last year’s success at the Cartama Oval and again this year, though all-rounder Fackrell has had to sit out the majority of this week because of concussion protocols. She played on Sunday’s opening day before top-edging a ball into her face during the warm-ups on Monday.
Wicketkeeper Ward has been an ever-present and has impressed with both gloves and bat.
England won the final by eight wickets chasing 88.
They restricted Netherlands to 87-5 thanks largely to Caitlin Belcher’s 3-21 from her two overs. Ward claimed one stumping. Opener Tilly Kesteven then steered the chase with an excellent 59 not out off 21 balls, sealing victory with 2.1 overs to spare.
Ward claimed 10 dismissals in seven matches behind the stumps, including eight stumpings. She also hit 64 runs in four innings but wasn’t required to bat in the final.
Picture by Diana Oros/ECN. England’s team line up for the national anthems ahead of today’s European T10 Championship final against the Netherlands.
Jafer Chohan says flying under the radar may well benefit him in the ongoing Big Bash League in Australia.
Yorkshire’s leg-spin star has been signed by Sydney Sixers as an overseas player but is still waiting for his chance. He was not selected for their opening round win over Melbourne Renegades earlier this week and is not expected to feature in tomorrow’s Sydney derby with the Thunder.
Chohan will get his chance later in the tournament when fellow spinners Todd Murphy and Akeal Hosein depart for international duty: “That is something I’ve looked at, which is really exciting,” he said.
“I’m just desperate to get any sort of game time. I just want to come out of this a better player.”
Chohan, 22, has been speaking to Australia’s Fox Sports website about his first appearance Down Under. There were eyebrows raised in that part of the world when he was selected by the Sixers in the pre-tournament draft.
But Yorkshire fans know what he is all about.
Chohan said: “That’s going to be a big benefit to me, that nobody’s really seen a hell of a lot of me. I’ve got that slight advantage to start, I guess.
“Batters might look at it as they’re going to have to target me and put me under pressure, which works for me as well, because then I feel like I can get more wickets.
“It is nice for me, being that ‘who is this?’ guy, I don’t mind that at all, I’ve got no issues with that.”
Picture by Matt King/Getty Images. Jafer Chohan is currently with the Sydney Sixers in Australia.
Yorkshire Disability batter Kyle Clayton has been appointed as a lead high performance coach for Sri Lanka’s Physical Disability squad ahead of their January quad-nations series with England, India and Pakistan in Colombo.
Clayton was part of the Yorkshire team which won the National Quest League title in 2023 and has an extensive coaching background, including previously owning a coaching business alongside current Northamptonshire captain Luke Procter.
He will come up against Yorkshire wicketkeeper-batter Liam Thomas, who has been selected to play for England.
The T20 series runs between January 12 and 21 in Colombo.
Clayton has previously worked with the head of Sri Lanka’s Disability Cricket Association, Lakshan Fernando, and was recently contacted about joining their set-up for this series.
Clayton and Thomas played in the same Yorkshire Pan-Disability side against an England XI at Headingley during the summer just gone but will go head to head on January 12 and 16 and hopefully again in the final.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire President’s XI v England XI Disability fixture, Headingley, September 2024. Kyle Clayton was part of Yorkshire’s team for that fixture. He is pictured on the back row, second from left.
Yorkshire batter Rebecca Duckworth is heading to Australia to play club cricket for Queensland side Gold Coast Dolphins.
Duckworth is one of the county’s 12 full-time pros, and she will play for the Dolphins’ women just as former Northern Diamond Leah Dobson did last winter.
Duckworth heads to Sydney to spend New Year with Sterre Kalis, who is also playing club cricket Down Under.
The 24-year-old then links up with the Dolphins on January 4 ahead of their return to action following the forthcoming break for Christmas. She then re-joins Yorkshire’s squad in mid-March.
Kalis, meanwhile, plays her final game for Gordon this weekend before breaking for Christmas. The Dutch international has been in fine form for her club this winter, highlighted by a superb 50-over 136 last month.
Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com. Rebecca Duckworth is heading to Australia to play club cricket for the second half of the winter.
Yorkshire quartet Ben Cliff, Harry Duke, Noah Kelly and Will Luxton all met up in Melbourne on Wednesday to undertake a county-organised fitness testing day at an Institute of Sport facility in the city.
The four are all playing club cricket in the city this winter, with Kelly enjoying the most success on-field. Last week, he scored three T20 centuries in four days for the Ringwood club whilst playing in an Under 21s festival. He is playing his senior weekend cricket for Beaumaris.
The others are all playing premier grade cricket.
Their fitness testing day was organised by Yorkshire’s head of strength and conditioning Harry Booker in order to assess their progress through the winter.
Picture by YCCC. Will Luxton, Ben Cliff, Harry Duke and Noah Kelly all met up in Melbourne for fitness testing this week.
Joe Root regained his position as the International Cricket Council’s number one ranked Test batter in the world earlier this week – and the Yorkshire star has now held that position on 10 separate occasions during his storied career.
Harry Brook spent just one week in top spot and is now number two on the ICC’s Test Match list.
Root had started England’s most recent tour of New Zealand as number one but was overtaken when Brook scored 123 and 55 in the second-Test win at Wellington, helping the tourists take an unassailable 2-0 lead in a series they eventually won 2-1.
Root now sits atop of the rankings on 895 points, 19 clear of Brook, who is in turn nine points ahead of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, a former Yorkshire overseas star.
Root’s first stint as the ICC’s number one ranked Test batter came in August 2015.
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Joe Root and Harry Brook sit atop of the ICC’s Test Match batting rankings.
