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Hilton Cartwright and Joel Paris powered Western Australia to a five-wicket win over NSW in the One-Day Cup final, securing a historic third straight title.The recent dominant force in domestic cricket, WA set up their latest limited-overs victory when they skittled the hosts for just 169 at Sydney’s Cricket Central on Sunday.Left-arm quick Paris led the rout in his first one-day appearance of the season, with Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye also claiming multiple wickets.However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing in the run chase as WA were given a huge scare, as they were reduced to 30 for 3 in the eighth over. NSW quicks Ben Dwarshuis, Jackson Bird and Jack Edwards all claimed early wickets before Cartwright joined opener Josh Philippe at the crease, and steadied the innings.Cartwright stepped up with his first half-century of the season – the eighth of his career – to lead all scorers and steer the visitors safely past the victory target with Nick Hobson. There were more than 16 overs to spare when Cartwright blasted the third six of his 80-ball innings.”NSW had the momentum when I walked out there to bat and at that time it was just about rotating the strike between me and Josh Philippe,” Cartwright told reporters post-match. “As soon as we grabbed that momentum we started running with it and got a small partnership.”We knew as soon as we got to 130 or 140 it would break the game open for us, so it was just about that initial break of momentum against their bowlers.”WA are only the second state to claim a hat-trick of one-day titles, and the first in more than two decades since NSW did it for the second time after their hat-trick in 2002-03. It was WA’s sixth one-day title in the last decade, and a record-extending 17th overall since the competition began in 1969.”A lot of us are getting towards the tail ends of our careers and you understand how much these moments actually mean,” Cartwright said. “I know it’s five of the last seven [titles] but in the moment it certainly doesn’t feel like that and you take them as good as gold.”NSW were sent in to bat and reached a healthy position when top-scorer Oliver Davies and Moises Henriques put on 74 for the fourth wicket. But captain Henriques fell when Agar claimed a sharp return catch off his own bowling, triggering a collapse. NSW lost their last seven wickets for just 34 runs and were bowled out in just 42 overs.Davies hit the only six of the innings when he hoisted Cooper Connolly over deep midwicket, and left a pair of WA fielders searching for the ball in thick scrub surrounding the venue.Henriques rued the missed opportunity to snare a title on home turf after a tough couple of years.”Given the state of NSW cricket over the last 18-24 months and everything that’s been written, a trophy in the cabinet would’ve been terrific,” he said. “A lot of the guys have maybe felt like they’ve been stepping on eggshells and it would’ve given a lot of the players, coaches and high performance staff a real kick in their step. Unfortunately we let them down today.”WA will go in search of more silverware when their Sheffield Shield campaign resumes in March, having won the four-day competition in each of the past two seasons.

IPL 2024 will allow bowlers to deliver two bouncers an over in a bid to facilitate a more even contest between bat and ball. This change in playing conditions was trialled during the 2023-24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 tournament.Saurashtra veteran Jaydev Unadkat, who has played for various IPL sides and has listed his base price at INR 50 lakh (USD 60,000 approx.) for the IPL 2024 auction, has welcomed the change.”I do feel two bouncers an over is very much useful, and I feel it’s one of those things which gives the bowler an added advantage over batsmen,” Unadkat told ESPNcricinfo. “Because, for example, if I bowl a slower bouncer… the batsman in the previous case is sure that there’s no more bouncer coming. In this case, even if you bowl one slower bouncer in the first half of the over, you can still use one more [in the over]. Someone who is weak against bouncers will have to be better at it and then it will give the bowler one more weapon in their armoury. So, I feel it’s a very small change with a huge impact and as a bowler I feel it’s very important to have that rule.”Unadkat added that fast bowlers will now have more options to try and rein batters in at the death. “Also in the death overs, you have one more option,” he said. “So, it was becoming more of yorker-oriented [bowling] in death overs for fast bowlers. Not it can be yorker, slower ball and bouncers because of two bouncers an over. Even if you don’t bowl the second bouncer, the batsman still has that expectation that the bowler might bowl the second bouncer.”Related

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The Impact Player rule, which was brought in for the first time in IPL 2023, will remain in place. Under this rule, in addition to the playing XI, a team will have to list four substitutes at the toss. They can use any one of the four subs as their Impact Player.If a team names four overseas players in their starting XI, then they can only bring in an Indian as the Impact Player. This is to limit the number of overseas players per game to four per team – something the IPL has adhered to since its inception. However, if a team starts with three or fewer overseas players in their XI, then they can bring in an overseas player as the Impact Player. But the incoming overseas player should be among the four substitutes named at the toss.The Impact Player rule has somewhat diminished the value of allrounders, with the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube largely slotting in as batters for their sides last season.The trading window is closed for now but it will open again on December 20, a day after the mini-auction, and will remain open for up to a month before the 2024 season begins.IPL 2024 is likely to be played between March 22 and the end of May, with the final schedule to be announced once the polling dates for India’s general elections have been finalised by the Election Commission.

Jos Buttler has stated his desire to take England white-ball cricket back to its previous heights, saying that he feels personal responsibility for “shaping the next period” of the format’s evolution.Speaking after England trained for the second consecutive day at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, Buttler reflected on what has been a difficult two months, before throwing forward and highlighting the talent and excitement at the start of a “new beginning”.”There’s some really exciting talent in this team,” Butter said. “Young guys eager to get their opportunities and perform. There’s some guys that have not been exposed to ODI cricket a lot, but have a lot of experience in Test cricket, so not necessarily new to the international game. It’s a nice blend.”One player who particularly impressed at training was fast bowler John Turner, who bowled a barrage of bouncers at both Buttler and Harry Brook in a gut-busting spell of high-quality fast bowling. Turner doesn’t currently appear in the running for a starting spot in the first ODI, but Buttler said he was more than happy to have faced half an hour of bouncers from England’s new quick on the block.”It was good. It’s what I want him to do,” Buttler said of the battle between the two. “There are some exciting seam bowlers, guys with good pace, some good athletes and it’s a nice time to look forward to, give guys an opportunity and see what they have got.”Another of those seamers is Reece Topley, who joined up with the group to continue his recovery from the broken finger he sustained in the World Cup and to prepare for the T20I series next week. There is no suggestion that Topley will be made available for the ODI series.Buttler also confirmed that Phil Salt and Will Jacks will open the batting on Sunday, but kept his cards close to his chest in regards to the balance of the bowling attack that will line up on what has appeared to be a wicket that could spin prodigiously. England coach and former Test offspinner Richard Dawson bowled throughout the session, at one stage getting the ball to rag back through Brook’s gate and clean-bowl the IPL millionaire.”We’re gaining a lot of information from the couple of training days here,” Buttler said, though he went no further as to whether England will opt to field both specialist spinners in Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley.In referring to this tour as “certainly a bit of a new beginning”, Buttler was more holistic about the context of the series than his teammate Ben Duckett had been when speaking a day earlier, with Duckett instead preferring to consider the series in little more than the here-and-now.Buttler’s macro-approach can be attributed to a player who has been there, seen it and done it. An international debut that came when David Cameron had only just ticked off a year in No.10 Downing Street, you can forgive Buttler for speaking in the knowing tones of someone who just knows more about this subject than you do.”We have had one bad tournament,” Buttler said on the position of English white-ball cricket, as well as what is left to motivate a man with over 300 international appearances and two World Cup titles to his name.Related

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“It’s been in a great place for a long time and you see the depth of talent of guys coming through and you want to help shape that period of white-ball cricket. That’s something I feel responsibility and motivation for….to get England white-ball cricket back to where it’s been for a long time.”In regards to his own learnings, Buttler emphasised the need to find balance in his own preparations that centre mainly around remembering to focus on himself as much as the team: “That’s a big learning for me, managing my own game is vital to the team and just finding different ways to do that to allow me to walk to the middle with a clear mind.”[And] realising that sort of tournament doesn’t define you. I’ve got to use it as motivation and hunger to push myself and the team forward and take the learnings from that. Use it as a positive experience to go into the rest of my career….I always think of Ben Stokes’ words to Jofra [Archer] about the [2019] Super Over. ‘Whatever happens here doesn’t define you,’ and I certainly feel like that World Cup isn’t the defining moment for me.”I’m at the stage of my life and career where I have got good perspective. I get home and have got two children who don’t really care about the World Cup. It certainly gives you a nice focus as a dad and those things, but I’m a very proud guy as well and have disappointments. But you know, life moves on, the world moves on pretty fast. There’s always something to look forward to. It’s never as bad as you think it is and it’s never as good as you think it is.”

Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc has shattered the record for the most expensive player at an IPL auction after being bought by Kolkata Knight riders for INR 24.75 crore (US$2,982,000 approx.). He surpassed the winning bid of INR 20.50 crore (US$2,470,000 approx.) that Sunrisers Hyderabad had made for Pat Cummins, Australia’s ODI World Cup winning captain, less than two hours earlier at the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai.Starc came up for bidding in the first set for fast bowlers – the fourth set of the day – and the battle for him began between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. However, it was swiftly taken over by Gujarat Titans and KKR, the only franchises with more than INR 30 crore left in their purse at that point, and KKR won the final bid.The last time Starc featured in an IPL auction was in 2018 when KKR had signed him for INR 9.4 crore. He didn’t play that season, though, because of injury; he hasn’t played the IPL since 2015, in fact.”I’ve probably prioritised international cricket firstly for a long time whilst having a bit of a taste of IPL and Big Bash in Australia,” Starc said after his bid. “I’ve always held firm that I’ve wanted to play my best cricket for Australia and make myself available for Australia where I can. At the same time, the temptation to go back to IPL and how exciting it is to be involved in such a great tournament, big names, big players, big stages -it’s too hard to pass up. There’s a place to play all of it. It’s just being mindful and putting the work ethic into being able to do all of it.”Related

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Before Starc’s record bid, Sunrisers had spent INR 20.50 crore (US$2,470,000 approx.) to sign Cummins, staving off competition from Royal Challengers Bangalore to get their man. Cummins’ price had surpassed the record of INR 18.50 crore that Punjab Kings had paid for England allrounder Sam Curran at the 2023 IPL auction. Cummins had skipped the 2023 IPL to focus on international cricket; his previous highest auction price was INR 15.50 crore, when KKR had signed him in 2020.”Pumped to be joining SRH for the upcoming IPL season,” Cummins said after he was sold. “I’ve heard a lot about the Orange Army, I’ve played at Hyderabad a few times and always loved it, so can’t wait to get started. Great to see another Aussie in Trav Head over there as well. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun this season, and hopefully plenty of success.”Sunrisers head coach Daniel Vettori said they were able to spend that much on Cummins because they already had most bases covered. “Someone else desperately wanted him as well, that’s why he got pushed to that high number,” Vettori said. “Because our team is relatively settled and we have the budget, and we have already picked up Travis Head and [Wanindu] Hasaranga, we felt like we’d covered most things that we wanted at the auction, so we had the ability to spend that much.”

ODI World Cup performers get big paydays

New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra, Australia batter Travis Head, South Africa allrounder Gerald Coetzee, and Sri Lanka quick Dilshan Madushanka landed IPL deals on the back of impressive performances in the recent ODI World Cup in India.Mitchell was fiercely fought for by Capitals, Punjab and Chennai Super Kings, and was finally bought for INR 14 crore by CSK after entering the auction at a base price of INR 1 crore. Ravindra was also bought by CSK for INR 1.8 crore.CSK had also wanted to buy Head, the Player of the Match in the ODI World Cup semi-final and final, but lost him to Sunrisers, who signed him for INR 6.8 crore.Both Coetzee (INR 5 crore) and Madushanka (INR 4.6 crore) were signed by Mumbai Indians for a total of INR 9.6 crore – these were their first two buys at the auction.Afghanistan allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai also found a home at Titans, alongside his countrymen Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Uncapped Indians earn big bucks

UP top-order batter Sameer Rizvi, Jharkhand wicketkeeper Kumar Kushagra and Vidarbha middle-order batter Shubham Dubey, three of the players in ESPNcricinfo’s picks for most in-demand uncapped Indian players at the auction, earned big IPL deals.Dubey went first, with Capitals going after him with intent, but he eventually got sold to Royals for INR 5.8 crore. Rizvi’s name came up not long after, and if Dubey’s fee was the highest paid for an uncapped batter with no IPL experience, topping the INR 5.25 Punjab paid for Shahrukh Khan in 2021, the record didn’t last long – Rizvi earned INR 8.40 crore after CSK beat off Titans and Capitals for his services.Kushagra, for a while, threatened to top Rizvi’s bid, but Capitals got him for INR 7.20 crore after fighting off competition from CSK and Titans. A scrap for Shahrukh was expected, and there was one between Punjab – who had released him prior to the auction – and Titans. His price soared until it stopped at INR 7.40 crore, with Titans getting the big-hitting middle-order batter.Titans also tried to buy back left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who eventually went to RCB for INR 5 crore. Titans, however, picked up another left-arm quick Sushant Mishra for INR 2.2 crore, while left-arm M Siddharth went to LSG for INR 2.4 crore.One of the biggest surprises came late in the auction when the uncapped 21-year old Robin Minz, a wicketkeeper from Jharkhand with a base price of INR 20 lakh, was up for bidding. Four teams wanted him, first CSK and MI, and then SRH, before he was eventually sold for INR 3.6 crore to the Titans. An aggressive batter from Gumla, Minz has not played any domestic T20 cricket. One of his three coaches is Chanchal Bhattacharya, who also coached MS Dhoni. Minz idolises Dhoni and was selected for a Mumbai Indians camp earlier this year.

The surprise big buys

The 2024 auction had begun with a surprise, when West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell was signed for INR 7.4 crore by Rajasthan Royals, who spent more than half their auction purse on one player. Powell’s previous auction price was INR 2.8 crore, which Capitals paid for him in the 2022 auction.West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph was also hotly fought for by CSK, Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants and RCB. He had been released by Titans, who had paid INR 2.4 crore for him in the 2022 auction, and was signed for INR 11.50 crore by RCB, who needed an overseas fast bowler after having released Josh Hazlewood, Wayne Parnell and David Willey.Australian left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, who plays for Brisbane Heat in the BBL, was another big surprise buy during the accelerated round towards the end of the auction. Having entered the auction at a base price of INR 50 lakh, Johnson’s price skyrocketed as Capitals and Titans bid for him. He eventually went for INR 10 crore to Titans, who needed an overseas fast bowler as back-up for Josh Little. Having lost Johnson to Titans, the Capitals picked up Australian quick Jhye Richardson shortly after for INR 5 crore.After picking up overseas quicks Coetzee and Madhushanka, Mumbai bought a third overseas fast bowler in 29-year old Sri Lankan Nuwan Thushara, who has played five T20 internationals. KKR and RCB began the bidding for him, but MI eventually won the bid at INR 4.8 crore.South African batter Rilee Rossouw had gone unsold when he came up for bidding in the early part of the auction but he was in big demand during the accelerated round at the end of the day. Capitals had bought Rossouw for INR 4.6 crore at the 2023 auction and then released him, but they entered the bidding for him once again and took the price up towards INR 8 crore, at which point they lost him to Punjab.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

How did the capped Indian players fare?

The most expensive Indian player at the 2024 IPL auction was fast bowler Harshal Patel. The bidding for him began between Titans and Punjab, and then between Punjab and LSG, before he was finally sold to Punjab for INR 11.75 crore.Allrounder Shardul Thakur (INR 4 crore) will return for his second stint at CSK, who signed him for INR 4 crore. The last time Thakur had been sold at the auction, he had gone for INR 10.75 crore to Capitals in 2022.Fast bowlers Umesh Yadav and Shivam Mavi were also in high demand. SRH and Capitals tried to sign Umesh but Titans eventually did so for INR 5.8 crore. Mavi became LSG’s first buy at the 2024 auction, when they outbid RCB by spending nearly half their remaining purse to sign him for INR 6.4 crore.Jaydev Unadkat, who once commanded a bid of INR 11.4 crore in the 2018 auction, was sold for INR 1.6 crore to Sunrisers.

The steal deals

Sunrisers picked up Sri Lanka legspinning allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga at his base price of INR 1.5 crore as a like-for-like replacement for Adil Rashid, whom they had released. The last time Hasaranga had been sold at the 2022 auction, RCB had paid INR 10.75 crore for him.Capitals managed to sign England batter Harry Brook for INR 4 crore; Brook had been signed by Sunrisers for INR 13.25 crore last year and subsequently released after an unremarkable maiden IPL season.

Durham ended Warwickshire’s 100 percent record in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup with an exhilarating one-run win from a wonderful, run-soaked game at Edgbaston.The match featured two brilliant centuries. David Bedingham’s 152 (108 balls), supported by Alex Lees’ 66 (77 balls) and Tomas Mackintosh (53, 47 balls) lifted Durham to an imposing 338 for eight. Oliver Hannon-Dalby took three for 54 and now has 23 wickets at 10.43 apiece in this year’s One-Day Cup.Bedingham batted beautifully but his innings was then matched by Ed Barnard who struck his maiden List A century (161, 152 balls) as Warwickshire replied with 337 for eight. Will Rhodes (66, 93) and Ethan Brookes (31, 26) helped Barnard take the Bears close but Durham’s bowlers dug deep, led by Migael Pretorius (four for 50) and Jonathan Bushnell (three for 56) who bowled the last two overs with high composure and skill.Their ice-cool nerve earned Durham’s third win of the group. Warwickshire, meanwhile, already through to the knockout phase, can still book a home semi-final if they beat Sussex at Hove on Tuesday.Put in, Durham lost Michael Jones to the fifth ball when he inside-edged Hannon-Dalby to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess. Lees then gave the innings a solid platform with stands of 55 with Scott Borthwick and 67 with Bedingham.Lees departed furious with himself when, having taken ten from successive balls from Henry Brookes, he lifted the next to mid-off. Bushnell fell first ball, to a fine leg-side catch by Burgess, and when Liam Trevaskis edged Hannon-Dalby to the keeper, Durham were wobbling at 156 for five.Bedingham and Mackintosh played with freedom and verve to add 116 in 92 balls. Mackintosh struck four fours and two sixes in his maiden List A half-century while Bedingham passed his previous best in the format (104) with a six crunched over long on off Hannon-Dalby and then hit overdrive. He crashed 40 from his last ten balls, including three successive sixes off Craig Miles.Warwickshire soon lost Rob Yates when he top-edged Pretorius to mid-off but Barnard and Rhodes added 148 in 23 overs to keep the big home crowd interested.Barnard posted his first List A ton from 106 balls but after Rhodes lifted George Drissell to long off, a cluster of wickets cranked up the pressure. Alex Davies spooned Pretorius to long on and Jake Bethell top-edged a slog at a good-length ball from Bushnell who then had Burgess caught at short third man.Barnard needed help and Ethan Brookes supplied it perfectly with intelligent, skilful batting which no doubt had a few watching home fans wondering why on earth Warwickshire are allowing such a highly talented player leave for Worcestershire at the end of the season.Barnard and Brookes added 85 in 53 balls and the latter departed caught at deep mid-wicket, with his team back in control. Forty needed from six overs came down to 20 from three.When Barnard was caught at extra cover, 15 were needed from 13 balls. Pretorius bowled Jake Lintott in an excellent over which left Warwickshire needing nine from the last. Bushnell bowled a fine last over of full length which denied the Bears the two boundaries they needed and closed out a truly memorable victory

Sussex 376 for 7 (Clark 96, Haines 86, Carter 56, Hudson-Prentice 52*) vs DerbyshireTom Clark top-scored with 96 and three of his team-mates also made half-centuries as Sussex took the first-day honours against second division strugglers Derbyshire at Hove.Having put Sussex in, Derbyshire squandered any advantage offered by a pitch with a covering of live grass during a careless first session at the 1st Central County Ground when they conceded 150 runs without parting openers Clark and Tom Haines.Haines fell for 86 to the first ball after lunch and Clark went on to a season’s best before both Ollie Carter and Fynn Hudson-Prentice passed fifty for the fifth time this season after tea as Sussex closed on 376 for seven.Sussex have yet to lose this season but badly need a second win to strengthen their hopes of promotion in the LV= Insurance County Championship and would have been pleased with their day’s work, although Clark and Haines will be disappointed not to have got to three figures.Despite its green tinge the surface is dry and few balls misbehaved all day. Off-spinner Alex Thomson picked up three wickets for the first time in a year after being called into the attack as early as the 17th over, but the Derbyshire seamers found little help from either the surface or the Kookaburra ball being used for the second time this summer.Skipper Leus du Plooy employed six bowlers in the morning session without reward as Sussex’s two left-handers made serene progress at more than five runs an over. Haines was the more aggressive, hitting 15 fours, and it was a surprise when he pushed forward to the first ball after lunch as Thomson found a modicum of turn and edged to slip.It was the start of a productive afternoon for Derbyshire who bowled with more discipline, although they were helped by some questionable shot selection by Sussex’s batters.Skipper Tom Alsop drove loosely at Suranga Lakmal and was caught at slip and James Coles, who’d just hit Thomson for a straight six, tried a repeat and instead holed out to long on.Clark and Carter added 55 for the fourth wicket with few alarms and Clark was on course for his first hundred of the season when he tried to drive Thomson down the ground and picked out Du Plooy, who took a comfortable catch at long off. Clark hit 14 boundaries but he knew he’d missed out on a sizeable score as he trudged off.George Scrimshaw, playing his first Championship match for nearly a year, wasn’t afraid to test out the middle of the pitch and was rewarded in the 78th over when Dan Ibrahim, who had struggled for fluency, wafted at a bouncer and was caught at backward square leg.Carter has been Sussex’s most consistent batter and in his unfussy but effective way he passed fifty for third successive match only to fall to a leg-side strangle and give Scrimshaw his second wicket.Nathan McAndrew lost his off stump to Lakmal when Derbyshire took the new ball, having been dropped at second slip by Haider Ali off Sam Conners in the previous over. But former Derbyshire all-rounder Fynn Hudson-Prentice hit Conners for four successive fours on his way to a 46-ball half-century and even nightwatchman Ari Karvelas enjoyed himself, lofting Anuj Dal over the pavilion roof just before stumps.

Australia survived an anger-fuelled and astonishing century from Ben Stokes, ignited by the controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow, to take a 43-run victory at Lord’s and hold a 2-0 lead in the Ashes.What was a hard-fought but reasonably sedate final day, erupted into controversy and raw emotion when Bairstow wandered out of his crease before over had been called having avoided a bouncer from Cameron Green in the 52nd over with Alex Carey then throwing down the stumps. Australia appealed and the third umpire upheld the decision with Bairstow well out of his ground.