Jimmy Anderson to put Lancashire before England with new one-year deal
Jimmy Anderson has said turning out for Lancashire will take precedence over any coaching opportunities with England this summer after agreeing a new one-year contract to play in the County Championship and the T20 Blast.The 42-year-old Anderson has been working as a consultant coach for England since his enforced retirement from Test cricket last summer and he will be part of Brendon McCullum’s backroom staff for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next month.Anderson, however, has also stated his intention to continue playing and, after missing out on a deal in the Indian Premier League, has now agreed a season-long contract at his boyhood club that will include the club’s bid to climb out of Division Two after their relegation last year.“I’ll play as much as I can really,” Anderson told the BBC Tailenders podcast.“As much as I have enjoyed coaching, I’ll see how that fits this summer.
But while I’m still able to play – fit enough, and young enough – I want to do that.I can’t do that in three years.[Playing for Lancashire] will take precedence over anything else in the summer.”Mark Chilton, the director of cricket at Lancashire, said: “As it stands, he is fully committed to the county season across both the County Championship and the Blast, and while we all recognise he will have other opportunities, he has made it clear playing is his first priority.“To be able to share a dressing room with England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, and one of cricket’s greatest players, is incredible for our squad.
”Anderson, who has been coaching with England on a freelance basis, is currently in Abu Dhabi working with the seamers Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse ahead of the white-ball tour of India that gets under way next week and serves as a warm-up for the eight‑team Champions Trophy,Warwickshire have signed the Australian player Beau Webster for the first three months of the summer following the all-rounder’s recent Test debut against India in Sydney,The ECB has again urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show greater support for Afghanistan’s woman cricketers during a meeting of the organisation’s Chief Executives’ Committee in Dubai,Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive who had written to the ICC on the issue last week, and his deputy, Clare Connor, both sit on the committee,The meeting ended without any decisions being taken, with fewer than six weeks to go before Afghanistan’s men’s team plays their first fixture of the Champions Trophy in Karachi.
Last week a group of more than 160 parliamentarians called on the ECB to boycott England’s match against Afghanistan, which is due to be played in Lahore on 26 February, over the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights,Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotion“We must stand against sex apartheid and we implore the ECB to deliver a firm message of solidarity and hope to Afghan women and girls that their suffering has not been overlooked,” the letter read,The ECB has made clear its preference not to take action in isolation,“While there has not been a consensus on further international action within the ICC, the ECB will continue to actively advocate for such measures,” Gould wrote,“A coordinated, ICC-wide approach would be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions by individual members.
”Gould made good on his promise to “continue to actively advocate for action” in Monday’s meeting, though decisive action was never possible: under their terms of reference the Chief Executives’ Committee – which has 20 members of whom Connor, the former England captain, is the only woman – exists largely to advise the ICC Board, and no decisions were taken or resolutions drafted on the issue,Among other proposals the ECB has called on the ICC to support the Afghan women’s players who are currently exiled, most of them based in Melbourne, by reallocating a portion of the funding they would ordinarily send to the Afghanistan Cricket Board,The reallocation of this funding is due to be discussed by the Women’s Cricket Committee when they next meet in March,Simon Burnton
Almost 10,000 images of tennis balls plunge up to 90% in value as Australian Open appears to ditch NFTs
Nearly 10,000 images of balls have plunged up to 90% in value after Tennis Australia appears to have walked away from its non-fungible token (NFT) program three years after it began selling the artworks to punters.Launched at the peak of hype around NFTs, the Australian Open’s Artball program allowed keen fanatics to buy 6,776 ball artworks sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are linked to 19cm x 19cm plots on the court at Melbourne Park. In 2023, the Open had an additional 2,454 NFTs on offer.The balls in 2022 were priced at 0.067 in the ethereum cryptocurrency – about $278 at the time of minting on 22 January 2022 – and all NFTs were sold
Mystery surrounds Caleb Ewan’s future after top cyclist erased from team roster
He is among Australia’s greatest sprinters – winner of five Tour de France stages and half a dozen other grand tour stage wins. But at the moment, Caleb Ewan is nowhere to be found.Last week, Ewan’s profile was featured on the team page of his World Tour outfit, Australia-registered Team Jayco AlUla. By this week, the diminutive sprint star has disappeared from the website. Of the team’s 30 confirmed roster spots, there are 29 riders listed – with one conspicuously empty slot on the webpage where Ewan’s image once appeared
Warren Gatland still up for Wales test as Mee and Edwards receive Six Nations call-ups
Warren Gatland, the Six Nations’ longest-serving head coach, insists he is still up for the challenge of reviving Welsh rugby fortunes after naming two uncapped players, the Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards and the Scarlets wing Ellis Mee, in a reshuffled 34‑man squad for the 2025 tournament which commences on 31 January.Gatland has also dropped Gareth Anscombe, Rio Dyer, Cameron Winnett and Taine Plumtree, among others, in a bid to rediscover a winning blend after a grim 12 months during which Wales extended their losing run to 12 consecutive Tests and collected their first Six Nations wooden spoon for 21 years.It prompted the Welsh Rugby Union to commission an independent review and the 61-year-old Gatland admitted he was among those wondering if the time had come to relinquish a role he first held in 2008. “I had some discussions with the family and spoke about the challenges. The questions I was asking myself were: ‘Was I at that stage where I needed the negativity in my life or do I just hang up my boots and go to the beach and enjoy myself?’”Gatland, however, did not want to leave Wales in the lurch in mid-season and still feels he can make a difference
Joe Marler to lead talks with RFU and clubs over England player welfare
Joe Marler has revealed he has been appointed to lead discussions with the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs over the welfare of England players, claiming that Test stars were previously “not looked after”.Marler, who brought an end to his England career during the autumn internationals before retiring for good in November, has been appointed to a new role as performance director for Team England Rugby (TER).TER is an organisation set up by England players to negotiate with the RFU after the decision was made to break away from the Rugby Players’ Association. Much of Marler’s focus will be on players exceeding the maximum game time – reduced to 30 match involvements as part of the Professional Game Partnership which came into effect this season.With the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia taking place this summer, a host of England players are on course to exceed the limit with Marler expressing concern that “so many” will require exemptions to continue playing
Ronnie O’Sullivan says he ‘lost the plot’ before pulling out of Masters defence
Ronnie O’Sullivan has called his withdrawal from this year’s Masters event “a nightmare decision”, adding that he “lost the plot” and broke his cue in half before dropping out of last week’s Championship League.Speaking in his role as a pundit on Eurosport, O’Sullivan said: “It was a nightmare decision, really, to make. If you’d asked me Sunday if I was ready to play, I probably would have been OK to play, but it’s such a massive tournament.”O’Sullivan withdrew from his Masters title defence on Friday on medical grounds, after struggling at Thursday’s Championship League event in Leicester. The current world No 3 lost three of his first four matches before pulling out of his final group game, amid reports he had thrown his cue in the bin
Jimmy Anderson to put Lancashire before England with new one-year deal
Jimmy Anderson has said turning out for Lancashire will take precedence over any coaching opportunities with England this summer after agreeing a new one-year contract to play in the County Championship and the T20 Blast.The 42-year-old Anderson has been working as a consultant coach for England since his enforced retirement from Test cricket last summer and he will be part of Brendon McCullum’s backroom staff for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next month.Anderson, however, has also stated his intention to continue playing and, after missing out on a deal in the Indian Premier League, has now agreed a season-long contract at his boyhood club that will include the club’s bid to climb out of Division Two after their relegation last year.“I’ll play as much as I can really,” Anderson told the BBC Tailenders podcast. “As much as I have enjoyed coaching, I’ll see how that fits this summer
JD Sports warns of lower profits; pound rises amid pressure on Reeves – business live
Qantas South Africa flights delayed by falling debris from SpaceX rockets, airline says
Ministers consider ban on all UK public bodies making ransomware payments
Meta’s ditching of factcheckers is potentially dangerous and a disservice | Letters
England squander big chance as Australia defend meagre total in Women’s Ashes ODI
Australia beat England by 21 runs: Women’s Ashes second cricket one-day international – as it happened