As James Taylor and Alex Hales helped England to victory in their One-Day International series against Pakistan, further former and current Outlaws have been in action across the world.
Jake Libby has headed back to Latrobe Cricket Club for a winter in Australia whilst Adam Voges scored his second Test century in the recent New Zealand Test.
Elsewhere, the Sheffield Shield, Ram Slam T20 Challenge and the George Pie Super Smash continue with a number of county cricket players involved.
Here’s a round up of this week in cricket.
Jake Libby
The Nottinghamshire opener, who hit a century on debut against Sussex back in 2014, has returned to Latrobe Cricket Club in Australia, where he starred during last winter with both bat and ball. With the first part of the season revolving around one day cricket, Libby has continued his usual role of opening the batting, scoring 200 runs across the first seven games, at an average of 28.60.
Even more impressive has been his bowling in both the 50 over and 20 over formats, the off spinner adding nine wickets at 15.10 to his top order runs. Over the recent weekend, he took 4-23 to help beat Wynyard Blues in the 50 over competition on the Saturday before adding 33 from 26 with the bat 2-8 from three overs with the ball against Ulverstone District Cricket Club.
Adam Voges
Also in Australia, Adam Voges scored his second Test century during the recent match in Perth against New Zealand, in a game dominated by double hundreds and the news of Mitchell Johnson’s retirement. Following David Warner’s first innings 253, Ross Taylor hit 290 as New Zealand responded with 624 all out, a lead of 85 runs.
Without Usman Khawaja through injury and after the loss of two early wickets, Voges joined Steven Smith at a crucial time in the Test as Australia looked to preserve their 1-0 lead. The pair took the score from 46-2 to 270-3 as they both reached their hundreds, Voges eventually out for 119, his second Test ton after his 130* against West Indies during his first series.
With the retirement of Johnson, Voges remains one of the more experienced heads in the Australian order and his middle order runs are likely to be crucial for years to come.
T20’s Around The World
The Cricket All-Stars series came to a close with Warne’s Warriors completing the clean sweep with a hard fought four-wicket victory in Los Angeles. Sachin’s Blasters posted 219-5 off their 20 overs with Tendulkar (56 off 27) and Sourav Ganguly (50 from 37) both making fifties as former Outlaw Daniel Vettori dismissed both men on his way to 3-13. The Warriors edged over the line with one ball remaning though, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara all scoring 40s, Graeme Swann’s 2-21 from his four overs not enough to secure victory.
Elsewhere, the New Zealand’s Georgie Pie Super Smash has seen a resurgence from Auckland, where Andre Adams is a coach, as they move up to second and the Ram Slam T20 Challenge in South Africa enjoyed its last glimpse of Kevin Pietersen, the right hander signing off with 59 to add to his previous scores of 68, 100*, 115* and 22 in the competition.
Sheffield Shield Round Up
Ed Cowan and Peter Siddle were the Outlaws representatives in the current round of Sheffield Shield matches with neither player falling on the winning side. Having signed a two-year with Nottinghamshire starting next year, the paceman captained Victoria for the first time to a near victory over Western Australia, the visitors just holding on during the final day.
Cowan’s New South Wales were well beaten by Tasmania in Sydney as Ben Dunk’s 144* was the different between the two sides. Former Nottinghamshire opener Cowan couldn’t match Dunk’s scores in either innings and despite Ryan Carter’s 77 in the last innings, NSW fell to a 223-run loss.
Elsewhere, Queensland secured an easy innings and 14-run victory over South Australia, with James Hopes’ match figures of 8-85 and Marnus Labuschagne’s century, his maiden ton in first class cricket, proving the standout performances.
The 2015 season has seen dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.