Middlesex taking their time over naming Richard Johnson's permanent successor as head coach. Application process imminent but not yet open, having been initially floated to begin in early October.

Interview with Tom Lawes, who was handed an England development contract last week, is nearing 100 first-class wickets, has added a yard of pace and counts Andrew Flintoff as a big fan.

County CEOs being informed today that the Champo/Kookaburra experiment is officially over.

Nice to speak to Matt Fisher, Surrey's newly crowned clubman of the year. Full circle for him from four years ago, when his Lions performances in Australia led to a Test debut. Loads of bad luck since, but one of the best in the country when fit.

Went to Loughborough earlier this week to learn from ECB performance director Ed Barney about what the England Lions programme has become and how it works.

Piece on a World Cup campaign as a microcosm of a far wider time period. Scorecards are rarely onomatopoeic.

It genuinely feels like every ball has gone to the boundary in the last half hour. Extraordinary knock, this.

Someone is going to have to explain South Africa's batting order to me.

England simultaneously haven't won a knockout game in three years but also have beaten South Africa in the last two ODI World Cup semi-finals. Chance to reach a third straight final by beating a team that - at the same venue - they walloped by 10 wickets three weeks ago.

So pleased to see Sarah Taylor loving life as a coach. Great to speak to her about working with England Lions, coaching in the men's game and how to bring through more female coaches. Just three women in head coach roles across tier 1 & 2 counties.

You can't control the weather, but you can control moving more than a third of the entire World Cup group stage to a city in monsoon season. Piece on a farce, evident to everyone months ago.

As The Cricketer's FPL-meets-county-cricket correspondent, it falls on me to report that Adam Lyth will walk out as Whitby Town FC's mascot tomorrow - against Rushall Olympic at the Towbar Express Stadium - as a forfeit for finishing bottom in a Whitby CC league.

Sarah Taylor once again part of the England Lions setup this winter. Among others, also joined by Glamorgan head coach Richard Dawson and former SA batter Neil McKenzie.

Two very different middle orders:

Let's say Pakistan were strong enough to get through the group and a semi, we'd be staring at the most farcical World Cup final imaginable. That we're going to avoid it shouldn't take away from one of the most ludicrous, inevitably awful pieces of "planning" (used loosely) ever.

Last week, Rebecca Blake became the fastest player to 1,000 T20I runs. Interview with the Southampton Solent lab technician, who was born in Bucharest, found cricket at an annual picnic in a French commune, has captained France, Romania and Hurlsey Park, and played at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

Much, merited criticism of England in the last year - as well as a share of luck in the last few weeks. But we've questioned their bottle in pressure moments, so they deserve plenty of credit for how they've managed to get over the line in this World Cup.

That is a remarkable win for England. India... you shouldn't lose needing 55 off 53 in conditions like those.

England's engine room is now 111 for 12 at this World Cup

If your entire gameplan is built around a big finish, you cannot finish like this, I'm afraid. A fine advert for Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who's sat in the dugout.

Felt so bad for Heather Knight when her hamstring went in the summer, after all that happened last winter and the manner of her sacking as captain. Safe to say, she is having the World Cup that she deserves. Still a serious, proper player.

Nice to talk to Ben Kellaway, who started the season as the guy who bowls with both arms but ends it with 25 wickets and 813 Champo runs, promotion, a uni degree, and - with Asa Tribe - the first England Lions call-up for a Glamorgan player since 2012.

England extremely lucky to escape that. Top order struggling against inswing/seam, middle order struggling against spin. Neither of these are new things. Hard to see how that top seven remains unchanged.

As per here, Jon Lewis is back in the game as Gloucestershire's director of cricket. First major foray back into the game since England Women sacking, having acted as Glos' bowling coach through the second half of last season.

As it stands, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight have scored more runs between them than the rest of their teammates, combined, at this tournament.

Lots of talk about England against slow spin in the subcontinent, but England against in-swing is a major issue, with far less mitigation. You can't keep getting done in the same way.

GMR news: Dubai Capitals' playing squad for the upcoming ILT20 includes Ritesh Mallikarjuna Grandhi, listed on Companies House as a director at Southern Brave and an officer at Hampshire Sport & Leisure Holdings.

England far from perfect, but hard to go too far wrong if you get Nat Sciver-Brunt and Sophie Ecclestone near their best.

PCA chief exec Daryl Mitchell expecting back-to-back Blast matches to be "significantly reduced rather than completely eradicated" in 2026. Also says that he's spoken to Alan Fordham about the draft structure for next year, which threw up several issues.

Linsey Smith out in the middle for England at No.10, which makes her the first left-handed batter to face a ball at a World Cup for England Women since Lydia Greenway in 2013. By ending 5*, she becomes England's fifth-highest left-handed run-scorer at Women's World Cups, ever.

Some very mediocre third-umpiring at this World Cup so far, but expediting ball-tracker where the ball's pitched outside leg ahead of Ultradge is a long-overdue development.

Adi Birrell could be set for a new role in next year's Hundred | @nickfriend.bsky.social

Always good to chat with Kate Cross, who hasn't yet decided whether to keep playing next year after losing her central contract.

Interesting move from England Women. Understand that their two bowling coaches - Matt Mason and Chris Liddle - have effectively swapped jobs. Mason becomes national fast-bowling lead, while Liddle takes his place as an assistant to Charlotte Edwards.

Has gone under the radar, but Luke Williams is now England Women's assistant coach. Between him and Charlotte Edwards, as arguably the two leading head coaches on the women's franchise circuit, they've won all three WPLs, two WBBLs & been to four Hundred finals. Interview:

Don't need to be captain to lead from the front. Clutch, tournament batting from Heather Knight:

Heather Knight: 15 off 50, then 64 off 61 with wickets tumbling around her. Serious knock, her first proper hit since May. Still absolutely massive for this England team.

Three winters ago, Nathan Sowter was released by Middlesex and thought he was done. Last week, now firmly established as one of the country's best white-ball spinners, he picked up a £75k deal at the ILT20 auction. Interview about heartening career arc.

England love Linsey Smith because of the way that she simplifies the game. Pretty straightforward sport if you just bowl at the stumps. Few in the women's game do it better.

Bomb proof doors. Barbed wire. Coordinating with police. Community security service. Drilling congregants about the security protocol. Withholding the details of events publicly for security reasons. Always being on high alert. The list goes on. And it’s still not enough. What more can we do?

I was at Radlett for Thomas Rew's One Day Cup debut in August. Very early days, but you suspect his career will reach grander venues, beginning with a winter Lions tour. Nice to sit down with him: a wise, level head on extremely talented shoulders.

Kinda weird story, this. Gloucestershire head coach Mark Alleyne has become Marlborough College's head of cricket. The club insist that this basically amounts to a slight reduction in his winter hours, but optically a strange situation.

Henry Cullen hitting the winning runs in the One Day Cup final was a beautiful, poignant thing. He and Josh Baker were best mates, and the last 16 months have been incredibly tough. It was emotional listening to him. Special guy, who deserved that moment.

Gloucestershire "almost certainly" in for an overseas quick, plus another domestic seamer, in their attempts to rebuild their bowling attack. Just 79 of the wickets taken by their bowlers in this season's Champo are set to be at the club in 2026.

Middlesex stepping up plans to offer contracts to players in their tier-two women's team "in the next six to nine months". The standout team this year's competition, and aiming to force the ECB's hand around tier one promotion.

Final game to finish in the last round of matches. Middlesex got Fletch, their outgoing head of comms, to do the team-talk. As far as late-September dead rubbers go, a very decent game.

Expect Dane Vilas to have a good chance of becoming Middlesex's head coach on a permanent basis, but not a guarantee: they're opening applicatons for the role next week.

A day full of grim irony for Gloucestershire: five wickets on a flat pitch for Ajeet Singh Dale in his last appearance before joining Lancs; then two wickets for Zafar Gohar, a quality spinner who played for them until this summer.

Women's T20 County Cup retained for next year's schedule after this summer's launch. Slight tweak expected - will be played across the summer rather than jammed into May, following various issues with venue availability.

"Please recognise that our voting against 12-6 was not a vote for the status quo." Confirmation from Gloucestershire that they would have abstained in the schedule vote if given the option. On the field, they spent the day chasing Leus du Plooy's 171*.