Gary Barwell has won the Bernard Flack Memorial Trophy for the second time at the 2025 Grounds Manager of the Year Awards which were staged at Edgbaston.
Barwell and his team at Edgbaston accepted the award after earning the highest ratings for their multi-day pitches across the season. Barwell won the award for the first time three years ago when he shared it with four other grounds managers.<
The Professional County Cricket Clubs (PCCs) have reached agreements to alter the formats of the Vitality Blast men’s competition, the Vitality Blast women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) and the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competitions (Tiers 1 & 2) from next season.
The reasons and details of those changes for each competition are outlined below:
Vitality Blast men’s competition
The Vitality Blast men's competition county-by-county preview compiled by journalists from the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
NORTH GROUP
BEARS
Previewed by Brian Halford, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Alex Davies
Overseas players: Tom Latham (New Zealand, full competition), Hasan Ali (Pakistan, availability tbc)
Finals Day appearances: Four (
The Vitality Blast women's competition county-by-county preview compiled by journalists from the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.
BEARS
Previewed by Brian Halford, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Georgia Davis
Overseas players: Laura Harris (Australia, full competition)
Key winter moves: Bears entered the new era needing to keep up without the Jones
As part of a four-year deal, 5 will air four live international T20 matches a year across the spring and summer months
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has agreed a new four-year deal with 5 to bring four live international T20 cricket fixtures to free-to-air TV each year.
As part of the deal, viewers will have the opportunity to watch and stream on 5 two international England Men’s
Josh De Caires will captain a Professional County Club Select XI in their four-day tour game against Zimbabwe Men at Leicester this week.
De Caires, 23, has made 21 first-class appearances for Middlesex and leads a 13-player squad which also includes Warwickshire all-rounder Dan Mousley and Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan.
Mousley made his England Men’s debut during last winter’s white-ba
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and BBC have today announced a new extension to their strategic partnership which will see the broadcaster continuing to screen England Men’s and Women’s international highlights and live coverage of The Hundred for the next four years.
The deal which runs from 2025-28 will see highlights of England Men’s and Women’s internationals broadcast across BBC
DURHAM
Previewed by Graham Hardcastle - ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Captain: Hollie Armitage
Head Coach: Dani Hazell
The big questions: Durham have assembled a squad including some star signings and some smart signings. Will they be able to hit the ground running at the start of a new era for women’s cricket in the county? Spin bowling looks to be their super-strength
Evie Ashton has won the coveted Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Journalist of the Year following the presentation of the 2024 Domestic Cricket Journalism Awards at Lord’s.
The new-look awards, now in their 14th year, were presented in conjunction with the Cricket Writers’ Club at the ECB Domestic Season Launch.
The awards featured three new categories – Podcast of the Year, Photo of the Yea
Shakib Al Hasan’s suspension from bowling in ECB competitive county cricket and The Hundred has been lifted.
The Bangladesh all-rounder passed an independent re-assessment on his bowling action at Loughborough University earlier this month.
The re-assessment found that Shakib had remedied his action to within the prescribed 15-degree threshold as defined in the ECB Bowling Review Regulations
The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has awarded Hampshire fast bowler Sonny Baker a Men’s Development Contract, which will run until September 2025.
Baker, 21, will join Hampshire for the start of the 2025 season after previously playing for Somerset. The pace bowler has excelled over the winter, culminating in a successful England Lions tour of Australia last month, which caught the at
Parties chosen after comprehensive three-round bidding process which attracted interest from around the world Subject to successful conclusion of deals, they will partner with host clubs to run each Hundred team and help realise global ambitions for the competition The eight teams have been valued at a total of just over £975m, with more than £520m set to be injected into the professional and rec
