Liam Plunkett will try to sit down with England coach Trevor Bayliss when the tour of the UAE concludes early next week and get a full explanation as to why he did not make the squad for the Test series in South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Nov-2015Liam Plunkett will try to sit down with England coach Trevor Bayliss when the tour of the UAE concludes early next week to get a full explanation as to why he did not make the squad for the Test series in South Africa, but for now is just enjoying the chance to bowl quickly in the middle.Plunkett was a surprise omission from the names for the four-Test series in South Africa, which starts on Boxing Day in Durban, after he was overlooked in favour of Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes and the uncapped Mark Footitt despite having been in the squad for the series against Pakistan.He was close to playing the final Test in Sharjah, before England opted for a third spin-bowling allrounder in Samit Patel, and his subsequent ditching has left him pondering what he has to do to get back in the Test squad and have a chance of adding to his 13 caps.”I’m gutted I’m not going. I’ll try and catch the coach later on and speak to him to see what I can do to get back amongst the Test squad,” Plunkett said after his Man-of-the-Match performance of 3 for 33 in the second T20 in Dubai. “I was obviously disappointed but you just have to move forward. In the middle of the one-dayers, I was going to leave it and have a catch up with him to see what went on, see what I did wrong or what I need to improve.”At least the T20 series against Pakistan has provided a slightly unexpected chance for him to get back into action after nearly two months on tour. He had only ever played one previous T20I, against Sri Lanka in Southampton in 2006, but has claimed six wickets in the two matches and has bowled with eye-catching pace – nudging the speed gun to 90mph – which has troubled the Pakistan batsmen.But he has shown some subtlety, too, which came to the fore in the second T20 when, having seen Mohammad Hafeez flick a short delivery to the boundary, he pitched the next ball up and produced a leading edge which found mid-off.”To say I’m fresh is an understatement,” he said. “I’ve been here for seven or eight weeks now, I feel like I’ve worked hard on my game and on fitness and I feel I’m in good nick. I’ve bowled plenty of overs in the nets. I didn’t think I’d get a run out in this form of the game but I wanted to take my chance and I felt good. It was nice to run in, bowl quick and get a few wickets.”With his services not required for the Tests in South Africa – barring injuries to others – Plunkett will be taking a holiday to the USA before returning linking back up with Yorkshire in the New Year. He then talked of pre-season with his county, which will include a trip back to the UAE, although his performances in these two matches could yet earn him a World T20 berth for the tournament in India during March.

West Indies coach Phil Simmons has admitted he is “totally frustrated” by seeing West Indian cricketers light up the Big Bash League while his Test squad battles to be competitive

Brydon Coverdale23-Dec-2015West Indies coach Phil Simmons has admitted he is “totally frustrated” by seeing West Indian cricketers light up the Big Bash League while his Test squad battles to be competitive. Simmons said it was up to the WICB to find a way to keep the region’s best players and he cited the example of New Zealand, a team with similar resources but which has managed to retain its stars for Test cricket.Jason Holder’s young outfit collapsed to a three-day loss to Australia in the first Test in Hobart and they face the challenge of lifting themselves for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Andre Russell has been bowling with impressive pace for the Sydney Thunder, and Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle have turned out for the Melbourne Renegades, continuing their tour of domestic T20 tournaments.”I’m totally frustrated,” Simmons said. “It’s enjoyable to see Andre Russell bowling at 140 clicks, and Bravo hitting three or four sixes, and Chris back in it. It is frustrating that we don’t have them here playing the Test series.”But it’s something that’s been going on for a while and it’s up to the administration to work out how we get to the stage of, let’s say, New Zealand, because they have similar things and they’re getting all their players to play. It’s up to our administration and our bosses to find out how is the best way that we can get these guys on the pitch.”It is not as simple as to say that all three men would be in the Test team if available, for Gayle has a back injury that will affect his chances of ever adding to his tally of 103 Tests, and Bravo was not picked for a Test for more than four years before he officially retired from the format in January. This month, Bravo said he remained committed to West Indies cricket but was unhappy with the way players were treated in the Caribbean.”It’s gets frustrating … not only for myself but all the other cricketers: Gayle, Sammy, Pollard, Russell,” Bravo told the last week. “We’re all committed to West Indies cricket, but sometimes with the way we’ve been treated over the years, sometimes we second guess and ask ourselves why should we actually fight with West Indies’ cricket [administrators] when the rest of the world are opening their hands for us?”Gayle and Bravo are both in their 30s but Russell, at 27, is a man who could still offer West Indies many good years, but he has played only one Test five years ago and believes his knee would not stand up to Test cricket. But chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd said in January that Russell was one of the best allrounders in the world and could be in the Test side if he was willing to play.”It’s such a waste that we have a guy who could be a great cricketer who is now not thinking of playing both formats,” Lloyd said in the 2015 New Year’s Lecture in Cape Town. “We have contracts, probably not as exorbitant as others, but they are getting good money. It doesn’t seem playing for our country is paramount where these players are concerned.”Lloyd has arrived in Melbourne ahead of the Boxing Day Test, and will help mentor Holder, who at 24 faces the enormous challenge of leading a side of limited talent while also finding his own way in the game, having played only 11 Tests himself. In the absence of some of the region’s more senior players in the squad, Holder has had to rely heavily on the off-field staff of past legends to help him develop as a captain.”Off the field he’s getting help from the coaching staff,” Simmons said. “I’m sure he’s getting help from someone like Clive Lloyd. I’m sure he’s speaking to him, one of the greatest captains we’ve had. He’s getting a lot of advice from Clive too. Having ‘Lloydy’ around is always a good thing. Guys go and speak to him one on one. It’s a good thing to have him here.”

After having to deal with some tragic news off the field, Luke Wright continued his good form with another match-winning innings for the Melbourne Stars, helping them to an eight-wicket win against the Hobart Hurricanes

The Report by Will Macpherson06-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsLuke Wright has had to deal with much more than some good form on the field•Getty Images

Luke Wright has had a strange few days. It began, on Saturday night, with the innings of his long career, on the night of the Big Bash League’s short life. Perhaps the most significant statistic was 80,883, but Wright’s unbeaten 109 won the Melbourne derby for the Melbourne Stars. It was a knock of staggering, bunted beauty, short-arm-jabbing and clearing the front leg for his life.Hours after, however, everything looked a whole lot less rosy. Getting back to his hotel at 4.30am, at least two sheets to the wind, he checked his phone. There lay a raft of messages from England, asking him to call urgently.The news, inevitably, was bad. Sussex – the county Wright captains – fast bowler Matthew Hobden had died, aged 22. Details were hazy. Hobden was a popular, friendly, gentle, perhaps slightly slow, soul, the sort no one dislikes. The sort everyone will miss, and the sort with everything before him. For Wright, memories of the death of another good friend taken far too soon, after Tom Maynard, were all too fresh.”From the best night ever to the worst,” he tweeted upon waking with a headful of dust on Sunday morning. Wright’s immediate plan was to fly home, to be with those close to Hobden at Hove, and to play his part in Sussex’s strong front in the face of unthinkable, shocking tragedy. After a million and one phone calls, it was decided he would stay in Melbourne, and soldier on with the Stars.Wright and his Sussex team-mate and good friend George Bailey asked the Stars and the Hobart Hurricanes to wear black armbands for today’s fixture in memory of their mate Matt.And so his strange few days ended the same way it started, with a match-winning knock at the MCG for the resurgent Stars. Wright’s 99-run stand with an uncharacteristically sedate and straight Glenn Maxwell saw the hosts home after a slightly rocky start to their pursuit of 125.Earlier, had the Stars written out their exact game plan in note form, it might have looked something like this: win the toss, bowl first. Bowl probing, nagging, frankly irritating spin first up, and snag a wicket in each of the first two overs. Field like demons, and nab a pair of run-outs for your trouble. Remain patient in the middle overs, in the knowledge that your earlier efforts have left your opponents with limited wiggle room. As the death overs approach, let the pressure tell and see off the set batsmen. Then, to the finisher and the tail, bowl yorkers. Just yorkers. The result: 124 all out, four wickets in the first six overs, six in the last five. What a simple game.Maxwell took the first wicket, Tim Paine slapping the third legal delivery to James Faulkner, who took a fine jumping catch at mid-on. Three balls later, Michael Beer had strangled Kumar Sangakkara down the leg side, although it may have just hit his pad, and an over after that, Bailey ran out Ben Dunk, who had pierced the infield in a manner he has not managed in recent weeks. Having been 20 for 3 against the Melbourne Renegades two nights ago, the Hurricanes were 21 for 3 now.Bailey ran the rebuild, but soon lost Dan Christian to a fine Wright direct hit, running to his left from mid-on. Bailey found a magnificent cover drive off Adam Zampa, launched Faulkner for a long and straight six and sent Scott Boland over Kevin Pietersen at long-off. But his partner for 10 overs, Jonathan Wells, was done in the flight by Zampa, and by the over’s end Bailey was gone too, beaten for pace.Faced with the magnificent John Hastings and Boland, who continuously aimed for the toes, Hurricanes’ tail was unable to drag them to respectability, with the innings finishing with three wickets in three balls; Cameron Boyce and Sam Rainbird bowled by Boland’s toe-crunchers, then Shaun Tait was run-out looking to improve the score, with a single.Hurricanes bowled well first up, and when Pietersen hared towards Wright – whose scream of “no” came a little too late for the ever-eager Pietersen – a steadying influence was required. Or two, as it proved. Wright and Maxwell took no risks in picking off their target, and remained in utter control. As the end approached, Maxwell launched Boyce over cow corner, then down the ground for four.Then, consecutively, they brought up their fifties – Wright’s with a pull to the wide long-on boundary, followed by a long look at the night’s sky – before Maxwell ended the over, the game and his BBL season (he, along with Faulkner and Boland, will join up with Australia in Perth on Friday) with a skipping six over long-on.Wright had done a smiley stint on the mic for and, post-game, his typical cheeriness belied all that had gone before. He admitted that five days on, his first knock still hadn’t quite sunk in. “What a terrible celebration,” he lamented, “but it’s one of those moments I can tell my grandkids about.” One senses that the news that came in between may take rather longer to compute.

Australia’s assistant coach Craig McDermott has opted not to renew his contract, which expires in May 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-2016Australia’s assistant coach Craig McDermott has opted not to renew his contract, which expires in May 2016. Instead, he will focus on his cricket academy, which has centres throughout Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. This means that the World T20 in India, starting on March 8, will be McDermott’s last assignment with Australia.”Looking ahead I’ve decided that the time is right to really focus on my academy business which is continuing to grow, as well as pursuing some other business opportunities I have away from the game,” McDermott explained. “And if time permits, I’ll also look at some coaching consultancy work in various competitions around the world.”I will certainly miss the Australian team, and wish the players and coaches every success in the future.”McDermott’s exit follows that of batting coach Michael Di Venuto, who recently joined Surrey as their new head coach. McDermott’s first stint with Australia began in May 2011, when he replaced Troy Cooley as Australia’s bowling coach, following their 3-1 Ashes defeat at home. Citing heavy workload and packed schedules, however, McDermott stepped down from the post after 12 months. He was later roped in for the same role on the eve of the home Ashes in 2013-14, which Australia swept 5-0.Later, in May 2014, he signed a two-year deal as the assistant coach in a role that increased his remit to cover major tours across formats. McDermott was instrumental in the ascent of Australia’s pace battery, including Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson.McDermott, who guided the bowling attack to Ashes glory, a Test series win in South Africa and a World Cup title, hoped that he would sign off by helping Australia clinch their maiden World T20 title.”I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time working for Cricket Australia, starting at what was then the Centre of Excellence many years ago, then working with the Australian men’s team,” McDermott said.”It’s been a thrill to have been able to help the players reach their potential, and to see them achieve such feats as the 5-0 Ashes win at home, defeating South Africa in South Africa and winning last year’s World Cup. I’d love nothing more than to finish this stint with victory in the World T20 in India.”Australia coach Darren Lehmann paid tribute to his right-hand man McDermott. “Craig has made a fantastic contribution to the success of the Australian team,” Lehmann said.”Our bowlers have benefited enormously from his experience and insight and they are all better cricketers thanks to his coaching and hard work. In particular he has played a key role in developing our young group of fast bowlers including Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Nathan Coulter-Nile. While he leaves big shoes to fill, we respect his decision to spend more time working with his academy which he has a great passion for. We wish him the best of luck and thank him for his contribution to the Australian team.”

Afghanistan reinvigorated their hopes of qualifying for the main round of the Asia Cup T20 with a thrilling three-wicket win over Oman in Fatullah on Saturday

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo: Dawlat Zadran’s twin sixes in the last over helped Afghanistan seal their first win in the Asia Cup T20 qualifiers•Chris Whiteoak

Afghanistan reinvigorated their hopes of qualifying for the main round of the Asia Cup T20 with a thrilling three-wicket win over Oman in Fatullah on Saturday. The star of the show was Dawlat Zadran, who clubbed two consecutive sixes in the final over bowled by left-arm spinner Ajay Lalcheta as Afghanistan chased down 166 with three balls to spare.Oman, seeking a repeat of their performance over Hong Kong, opted to bat and were powered by the opening combine of Zeeshan Maqsood (52) and Jatinder Singh (23). Adnan Ilyas, the No. 3 batsman, built on the firm base to score an enterprising 27-ball 54 comprising three fours and four sixes. But his dismissal in the 17th over proved to be the difference between where Oman eventually finished and where they would have liked to finish. Gulbadin Naib, the medium-pacer, was the most economical, picking two wickets and conceding just 24 runs off his full quota.For the second successive night, Mohammad Shahzad fell inside the second over as Afghanistan slipped right at the start of their chase. That Afghanistan got into a position from where they could chase down the target was largely due to Noor Ali Zadran, whose quickfire start allowed the middle-order batsmen to settle in. Noor Ali’s second-wicket stand of 54 off just 4.4 overs with Asghar Stanikzai, the captain, helped them steer clear of the asking rate.But the dismissals of Stanikzai and Karim Sadiq, the top-scorer in their loss to United Arab Emirates on Friday, threw a spanner in their works courtesy Mehran Khan as Afghanistan slipped to 60 for 3. The medium-pacer added the scalp of Mohammad Nabi to his kitty soon after to leave Afghanistan wobbly even before they had wiped out half the target.Najibullah Zadran set about repairing the innings, conjuring a 21-ball 23. In doing so, he ensured a lower-order collapse was averted, and more importantly, brought the difference between runs and balls to just three going into the last four overs. But there appeared to be another twist as Bilal Khan trapped Najibullah and Noor Ali lbw within three deliveries in the 17th over.With 21 needed off the last two overs, Samiullah Shenwari, who was left out of their tournament opener, hit two successive fours to ease the pressure, taking the game into the final over with 10 needed. After having nearly taken them home, Shenwari holed out to long-on with five balls to play. The scene was set for one of Lalcheta or Dawlat to be a hero. On the night, it was Dawlat’s ice-cool veins that prevailed in a tense clash.

The future of the iconic Victorian gasholder outside The Oval in South London has been secured after the structure was granted Grade II listed status

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2016The future of the iconic Victorian gasholder outside The Oval in South London has been secured after the structure was granted Grade II listed status.Gasholder No.1, as it was known when it was first built in 1847, was the largest of its type in the world before being rebuilt between 1877 and 1879, just before The Oval hosted the first Test match in England in 1880.The wrought-iron structure was given protected status on account of its historical, architectural and technical background, as well as its importance to the landscape in the borough of Kennington.”We consider our industrial heritage very carefully, and must be rigorous when assessing these once ubiquitous, now redundant, holders for listing,” Emily Gee, head of designation at government heritage agency Historic England, told Surrey’s website.”It is unlikely that many more will be listed, but we are delighted that this special one is now listed at Grade II.””It’s impossible to imagine The Oval without being over looked by the gasholder,” said Surrey chairman, Richard Thompson. “Its presence in Kennington is almost the guardian of our history and, whatever its future may hold, it is great news that it will remain intact as our most famous neighbour.Heritage minister David Evennett added: “A lot of cricket fans will recognise this structure which provides an iconic backdrop to a world-famous cricket ground. It is also an important part of London’s Victorian history which is why I’m very pleased it will be protected for years to come.”In recent times, the gasholder has been used as a prominent advertising hoarding for major matches taking place at The Oval. A spokesman for English Heritage confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the structure’s listed status would not prevent such use in the future.

Leicestershire enjoyed a dream first day against Sussex in their County Championship Division Two game at Hove, dismissing their hosts for 163 before making a confident reply

ECB Reporters Network01-May-2016
ScorecardBen Raine picked up 4 for 30 as Sussex collapsed (file photo)•PA Photos

Leicestershire enjoyed a dream first day against Sussex in their County Championship Division Two game at Hove, dismissing their hosts for 163 before making a confident reply which took them to 140 for 2 at stumps. Sussex’s batting fell apart with a succession of soft dismissals during the afternoon session when they lost seven wickets for 33 runs in 12 overs including three in five balls.Ed Joyce made 56 and Ross Taylor 36 and when they added 76 either side of lunch for the third wicket Sussex looked capable of making good use of a decent batting pitch after winning the toss. Their problems began shortly after lunch when Taylor tried to pull out of an attempted hook as Charlie Shreck dropped short and gave a thin edge to Niall O’Brien, one of five catches in the innings for the Leicestershire wicketkeeper.Their decline gathered pace in the 46th over when Luke Wells, who had begun positively, picked out midwicket and three overs later Joyce, who had played fluently for his second half-century of the season, was strangled down the leg side by Wayne White.White’s next over fatally holed the Sussex batting as three wickets fell in five balls. O’Brien produced a superb diving catch when Ollie Robinson clipped another ball down the leg side, Ajmal Shahzad was run out by Neil Dexter’s throw from the covers when he was sent back by Ben Brown looking to get off the mark first ball before Brown, driving loosely outside off stump, was held by O’Brien.Sussex had lost five wickets for 12 runs as they slumped to 142 for 8 and although George Garton and Danny Briggs managed to cobble together 21 runs together the innings ended in the 58th over when Ben Raine’s late away movement accounted for Garton and Steve Magoffin.It completed an excellent day for the promising Raine, who had dismissed Chris Nash and Matt Machan with the new ball during a testing spell in the first hour. He finished with 4 for 30 from 15 overs and got consistent seam movement.Sussex did make an early breakthrough when Angus Robson lost his middle stump as an attempted cut cannoned off his inside edge but Horton and Dexter showed their experience in putting on 100 for the second wicket with relatively few alarms. Brown rung the changes in an attempt to find a breakthrough but his seamers lacked the control shown by their opponents until Dexter was leg before to Robinson the ball after he’d received lengthy treatment when he was hit on the glove.

Wayne Parnell won all of Cabe Cobras’ limited-overs awards after an impressive 2015-16 domestic season, which earned him a recall to South Africa’s squad for the triangular series in West Indies

Firdose Moonda31-May-2016Wayne Parnell did not have the best start to his international comeback, conceding 35 runs in four overs in a fifty-over warm-up match against the WICB Presidents XI, but he was the big winner in absentia at the Cape Cobras Awards presentation. Parnell scooped four awards including Player of the Year, one-day cup Player of the Year, twenty-over Player of the Year and players’ Player of the Year.After being left out of South Africa’s national squads in all formats, the 2015-16 season afforded Parnell an opportunity to spend a full summer playing domestic cricket. Although he spent the early part of the season nursing a foot injury, he played a crucial role in helping Cobras reach the one-day cup final, and finished as the third-highest wicket-taker with 16 wickets at 23.00 and an economy rate of 4.83.Parnell, who opened the batting in some of the T20s, scored 237 runs in the Ram Slam competition at an average of 47.40 with a strike rate of 133.14. He also took eight wickets. His all-round performances earned him a recall for the one-day triangular series in West Indies, which starts on June 3. “I have not seen Wayne play this well for many summers. It is a just reward for good, consistent performances,” Paul Adams, Cobras coach said.The first-class Player of the Year was awarded to Dane Vilas who finished second on the run-scoring charts. Vilas scored 761 runs at 69.18, including an unbeaten 216 in a record fifth-wicket partnership of 393 with JP Duminy. That came after Vilas was dropped from South Africa’s Test squad following a poor tour of India.”Dane picked himself up so quickly after being dropped from the South African team. People forget that he is not only a wicketkeeper, but a dynamic presence with the bat,” Adams said.Adams lost out to Western Province Women’s coach Cobus Roodt in the Coach-of-the-Year category. Western Province Women won both the fifty-over and twenty-over competitions while Shandre Fritz, who was the third-highest run-scorer in the fifty-over tournament and seventh in the T20s, was named Women’s Player of the Year.

Three key wickets from fast bowler Kesrick Williams and tight bowling in the middle overs helped Jamaica Tallawahs stave off St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for a five-run win in their CPL 2016 match in Basseterre

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Jul-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThree key wickets from fast bowler Kesrick Williams and tight bowling in the middle overs helped Jamaica Tallawahs stave off St Kitts and Nevis Patriots for a five-run win in their CPL 2016 match in Basseterre. Tallawahs were also aided by a brisk fifty from captain Chris Gayle, who struck 51 off 36 balls, to help set Patriots a target of 154.Patriots overcame the early loss of Evin Lewis in their chase with two substantial partnerships for the second and third wickets. Faf du Plessis, who struck 27 off 29 balls, was the common factor, sharing 39 for the second wicket with Lendl Simmons and then playing a foil to Jonathan Carter in a rapid partnership of 43 that came off 28 balls. Carter’s 18-ball 27 included two sixes, and the pair helped Patriots narrow the equation down to 62 off 48 balls.Their slump began at this stage. Carter and du Plessis fell in successive overs and Tallawahs choked the runs by conceding 26 between the 15th and 19th overs. Williams dismissed Thisara Perera and Brad Hodge in the 18th over and Dale Steyn got rid of Carlos Brathwaite for 1 at the start of the 19th over to leave Patriots needing 30 off the last six balls. Despite three consecutive sixes from wicketkeeper Devon Thomas, Patriots could only muster 24 runs. Williams, who played his first T20 since January 2013, ended with 3 for 23, while the rest of the Tallawahs attack, except Timroy Allen, took a wicket each.The Tallawahs’ innings was given direction by Gayle before Andre Russell provided a late flourish. Gayle paired with Kumar Sangakkara to add 48 runs for the second wicket, after Chadwick Walton fell in the first over for 3. By the time Gayle was dismissed, he had struck four fours and three sixes in his 51, but quick wickets in the middle overs had left Tallawahs at a shaky 109 for 5 in the 16th over. Russell provided the impetus with an unbeaten 34 off 20 deliveries. He slammed two sixes and a four in an 18-run over bowled by Krishmar Santokie and helped Tallawahs add 44 in the last four overs to climb to 153.

Jos Buttler overcame a painful blow to his left hand to smash a 20 ball half century as holders Lancashire Lightning boosted their NatWest T20 Blast qualification hopes with a seven wicket win over Worcestershire Rapids

Jon Culley08-Jul-2016
ScorecardJos Buttler gets treatment on his thumb injury•Getty Images

The quintessential English cricket ground, where misty-eyed romantics still wake from their afternoon nods expecting to be classically entertained by Tom Graveney or Basil D’Oliveira, witnessed the game in its breathless 21st century glory as Jos Buttler dashed off another modern masterpiece, setting two records as he did – despite suffering a worrying injury to his left thumb.The latterday superhero, who has practised his version of batting to the extent that the ramp shot is almost as natural to him as the cover drive was to those exalted icons of gentler days, set up an overdue Lancashire victory by going in first and scoring 57 off 22 balls, an innings that included the county’s fastest T20 half-century, from just 20 deliveries.By the time he was out, at 98-1 in the sixth over, Lancashire had also surpassed the record for runs scored in the powerplay overs in T20 cricket in England, overtaking the 96 by the Sri Lankans in a match against Sussex in 2014. The world record stands at 100, held by Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, also in 2014.What’s more, he did it in defiance of the pain of an injury to his left thumb suffered while keeping wicket. He batted after taking painkillers but was in some discomfort and Lancashire are keeping their fingers crossed it will not be revealed as broken when he undergoes an x-ray.”We’ll get it x-rayed and see where he is – it’s not ideal,” Lancashire head coach Ashley Giles said. “He did make comment that he doesn’t use his top hand anyway!”I don’t want to speculate (on how bad it is) but it’s a nasty knock. Once we get it x-rayed, we’ll know.”The boundary at New Road was ridiculously short – just 52 metres on the cathedral side – yet it was an extraordinary performance nonetheless. Of his four sixes, two went out of the ground – or at least the first circle of trees -one over backward point off the front foot and the other was an authentic ramp.At the height of its ferocity, Buttler’s assault yielded 40 runs from eight balls bowled at him by the tremulous Matt Henry and Kyle Abbott – both Test match bowlers, don’t forget – before Abbott surprised the crowd, and himself probably, by having the last word with a yorker. By then, Daryl Mitchell, the Worcestershire captain, was regretting the hard chance he missed at short cover when Buttler was on 16.By that stage, Worcestershire’s 198 looked a total well within reach as Lancashire, the NatWest T20 Blast champions but with work to do to quality for this year’s finals, sought to re-energise their campaign.What followed felt unavoidably pedestrian compared with the thrills of Buttler’s pyrotechnics yet there was another quality innings still to come as Karl Brown’s unbeaten 62 from 40 balls helped Lancashire home with 11 balls to spare, captain Steven Croft hitting the winning boundary.It was difficult not to focus on Buttler, however. “To strike some of those balls that he did there, there’s not many, if any, in world cricket who can do that,” Giles enthused.”He now opens the batting as well. What doesn’t he do? I asked him on the way down if he wanted to do it. He’s done it for England in the week, so who are we to stop him?”He can basically pick where he wants to bat. He’s just high, high quality.”Having been put in, Worcestershire would have been more than satisfied with their position after six overs, in which they had already taken advantage of the short boundary by putting 60 runs on the boards for the loss of two wickets, although Tom Kohler-Cadmore was guilty of being a little too eager, wasting his flying start somewhat when he followed his second six with a rather wild attempt at another and paying the price.The innings lost some momentum in the middle overs but accelerating rapidly between overs 15 and 19 when 78 were added, including 26 off one Stephen Parry over by Ben Cox and 20 off George Edwards by Ross Whiteley.Edwards, one of Lancashire’s unlikely heroes after being given his debut on T20 finals day last year, came back well with three wickets in four balls in the last over, putting a vital brake on Worcestershire’s scoring.”We just need to keep winning now,” Giles said. “It’s been fits and starts throughout the competition. We’ve beaten this side twice, and they are a really good T20 side, but we’ve lost games we feel we should have won.”I said to the guys before the game ‘It’s a knockout now and we’ve got to play as if it’s last 16’.”