Steve Harmison… so close to bowing out with a hat trick in his last three balls of his test career to seal an Ashes victory. Could an end of career been any better if he’d pulled it off?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/28/strauss-exits-ecb-with-new-t20-format-on-table-and-hundred-on-the-rack

But I do remember paying particular attention to his last ball in Test cricket though: smeared through midwicket for four by Steve Harmison.

Testing in cricket being what it is, there probably isn’t really a need for such a protocol.

Thanks for that contribution. A fantastic addendum to the article.

No shame in the last one.

Original source is The Times (paywall -https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/english-stars-quit-central-county-contracts-full-time-ipl-deals-cricket-ns2mhpp3f).

“Initial discussions have taken place after at least six English players, including some international stars, were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked whether, in principle, they would accept a deal that would make an Indian team their main employer, rather than the ECB or an English county.” Presumably approaches were made to other non-English players as well but The Times is more interested in the English players.

I guess it could be argued that there is a parallel in Kolpak deals, and prior to that in the days of County Cricket being where the money was. If I was the ICC (BIG if), I’d be worried about this though.