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SLC delegation meets with ICC, in part to ease any concerns over undue government interference in board affairs

Madushka Balasuriya30-Aug-2018Sri Lanka Cricket will hold its board elections by February 9 next year at the latest. SLC confirmed this after a delegation, including Sri Lanka’s sports minister Faiszer Mustapha, petitioned the ICC for more time.Others members in the delegation, which met ICC chairman Shashank Manohar and CEO David Richardson, were SLC competent authority Kamal Pathmasiri, senior deputy solicitor general of the attorney general department Sumathi Dharmawardena, and SLC CEO Ashley de Silva.A four-member management committee is also to be appointed to run SLC affairs alongside the sports ministry-appointed competent authority, which has been running day-to-day operations since May 31.The SLC elections have been delayed indefinitely since May 31 after a court of appeal, adjudicating on a petition filed against then SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala by SLC presidential candidate Nishantha Ranatunga, found that the election protocol had been flouted.The petition itself had sought to disqualify Sumathipala’s candidacy on grounds of his familial relations to Sri Lanka’s gaming industry. While refusing that request, the court found constitutional discrepancies in election procedure during their deliberations, and subsequently suspended the elections.Since then, the court has lifted the ban, but the ongoing court case against Sumathipala has meant elections have failed to materialise. This has drawn the ire of the ICC, which has been critical of undue government interference in SLC affairs in the past as well.Mustapha’s meeting with the ICC was in part to ease any concerns on the part of the governing body, as well as to avoid any possible sanctions against SLC.Mustapha has provided assurances to the ICC that a fresh election committee would be appointed by the SLC general body at least a month prior to elections. That committee would then vet and finalise the voters’ list.There will be a one-week period allocated for all parties to challenge the selections made for the election committee with an appellate body consisting of three retired Supreme Court judges.

After a long break for rain, an unbroken stand of 165 between the Jacks – Leaning and Brooks – put Yorkshire in a position where they shouldn’t lose the Roses match

Paul Edwards at Old Trafford20-May-2017
ScorecardWhen deprived of time, cricket takes comfort from intensity. So it was in this Roses match when the players emerged from the dressing-rooms after five phone-goggled hours with Yorkshire’s batsmen seeking to establish a substantial first-innings score. We thought that Gary Ballance might then seek to put Lancashire’s top order under the particular pressure that only a few overs late in the day can apply. All that had happened in the 19 balls bowled before mid-morning rain swept in from the west was that Andy Hodd had played on to Tom Bailey and 14 runs had been scored. Now battle could be rejoined in a long evening session.But battle was not truly joined. Instead, travelling supporters were treated to the satisfying spectacle of Jack Leaning making his first century since June 2015 and the deliciously unexpected one of Jack Brooks making his highest first-class score and ending the evening playing a Boycottesque forward defensive in the hope that he will be allowed to score the six runs that will take him to a maiden century in the morning. Yorkshire are now 421 for 7 and they have seized control of this game. Leaning and Brooks’ unbroken stand of 165, an eighth-wicket record for Roses matches, has ensured that their team should not lose the match. It seems longer than a day’s play since Yorkshire were 178 for 6; since then they have scored 243 runs for the loss of Hodd’s wicket.The anticipation principle also applies to spectators, of course. Sometimes it is the waiting that makes one’s pleasures particularly enjoyable, although by most accounts Henry VIII did not subscribe to this view in the case of Anne Boleyn. Thus the hardy souls who had spent the middle of their Saturdays frowsting in the Old Trafford pavilion watched the last 37 overs of the day with even greater interest and if they wore the eleven-petalled White Rose, they were repaid by the beguiling sight of Leaning supporting Brooks, who went from 50 to 94 in 35 balls, hitting three further sixes in the process. Having spent their afternoon draining a glass or two in the afternoon, Yorkshire supporters suddenly found that their cups runneth over.Brooks’ pleasure can only be guessed at this evening and his celebrations, should he reach a century, may keep social media buzzing tomorrow, even on a day when a few association football matches are taking place. He reached the fourth first-class fifty of his career when he skewed a drive off Stephen Parry just past Haseeb Hameed at midwicket. Yet the somewhat fortunate fashion in which Brooks reached his landmark did not reflect the good sense and clean hitting which characterised his innings. Brooks has always been a capable if uncomplicated batsman, even if farming the bowling is an alien concept to him, something which Yorkshire’s England batsmen have discovered to their cost and mirth. Now he has the chance to do something very special; if he succeeds, his opening overs may be worth watching, too.If Jack Brooks reaches three figures, the celebrations should be worth watching•Getty Images

Yet all this jollity was only made possible because Leaning and Hodd had batted so well on the first evening of the game and while the vaudeville of Brooks’ straight drives and lashes over cover and midwicket should be properly applauded, the merit of Leaning’s understated contribution is worthy of even greater credit. Last season was tough for a player who many critics believe capable of winning representative honours. Leaning played in only nine of his county’s Division One fixtures in 2016 and his application in this game was all the more admirable.He reached his century with a back-foot four off Simon Kerrigan, whose accuracy on a slow wicket was nothing like the equal of his colleague, Parry. But both bowlers came in for punishment after Leaning had reached his century in exactly six hours with half a dozen fours and a couple of sixes. Lancashire’s captain, Steven Croft, sorely missed the presence of Jimmy Anderson, who will have a scan on his groin injury on Monday, and also that of Jordan Clark, who was ruled out of this match with a back problem.Once Anderson had limped off the field on the first morning, Lancashire’s attack immediately looked thin but it took a day or so for Yorkshire’s batsmen to expose its full limitations. They eventually did so on a glorious Saturday evening and with the greatest relish. Jack Brooks – The Centurion? One fancies that Roy Kilner is laughing his head off.

An inability to agree on the time frame was the chief reason Cricket South Africa provided for the postponement of the independent review of the performance of its national teams

Firdose Moonda03-Jun-2016An inability to agree on the time frame was the chief reason Cricket South Africa provided for the postponement of the independent review of the performance of its national teams. That, however, was not the only bone of contention the review panel had with South Africa’s cricket-governing body. ESPNcricinfo understands there were also disagreements over the scope, process and costs of the review.The four-person panel was led by CSA’s HR committee head Dawn Mokhobo, and included rugby World Cup-winning captain Francois Pienaar, former Test batsman Adam Bacher and sports physiologist Ross Tucker. The panel was appointed in April following first-round exits of the men’s and women’s teams from the World T20 in March. The group was also due to look into the failure of the Under-19s side to defend their World Cup title earlier this year.”It is most unfortunate that this review needed to be placed on hold but I would rather not proceed in circumstances where the panel members and CSA are not comfortable,” Haroon Lorgat, CSA’s CEO, said.”After speaking with Dawn Mokhobo, it became clear to me that we should not continue with this review if members of the panel were not confident that they could meet my expectations and those of the CSA Board. We need to be completely aligned on what we expect to achieve from such a review and in what time frame. I respect the fact that certain members of the review panel were not comfortable and would prefer to step down.”While announcing the formation of the panel in April, Lorgat had stressed that there was no specific time frame for the panel to abide by.”While we plan to do this as soon as practically possible, we do not intend to place a deadline on this important piece of work as we presently have capable people and contracts in place,” Lorgat said at the time.The panel held preliminary meetings at the end of April to formulate a plan for the review. In an interview with journalists before their first meeting, Pienaar explained they would initially decide “where the key focus areas will be and how we divvy up the roles”.Later, Tucker confirmed that the panel had begun work but also encountered problems. “Ultimately we couldn’t agree with CSA on issues related to scope, process, time and resources. We had an idea for what we should do and how,” Tucker said. “But we then had to make a decision about whether to continue or not, and that decision was to step down from the process.”Tucker also expressed his disappointment at not being able to complete the review because he expected the outcomes to serve as “an example to other sports of high performance review and strategy”, which could be applied to various sports.The panel informed Lorgat of its decision to step down on May 25, the same day that the South Africa squad departed for the triangular ODI series in the Caribbean. CSA’s Board was not informed of the news until it broke in the media, despite a teleconference held three days after the decision was made on May 28.The breakdown of the review process was only made public on June 1, when Tucker, in conversation with a Twitter user, posted: “We never completed the review. Never even started. Couldn’t agree terms, times and scope/process so it didn’t begin. Pity.”In explaining CSA’s reasons for postponing the review, Lorgat said he was “also concerned by the behaviour of certain panel members who were not respectful of the clear protocols that we had agreed upfront. Using media platforms to shape an exercise of this importance is not the way to work.”Apart from Tucker’s tweets, Pienaar had also done some media interviews in which he spoke generally about the importance of understanding how high-performance structures obtain success. An insider in the panel contradicted CSA’s statement and told ESPNcricinfo that all members of the panel had wanted to step down. Statements to the media from panel members were reportedly issued with the aim of maintaining transparency.Despite the postponement of this review, Lorgat stressed that CSA will still look for a way to analyse last season’s performances and may even engage with some of the panel members who did not want to be part of the initial review. “The board is still keen to conduct an independent review of the performances of our national teams with those panel members who are keen to continue,” Lorgat said. “I remain impressed by what the review panel has started to consider in this regard as it could be a wonderful blueprint for South African sport.”

An explosive surge from Kusal Perera gave Sri Lanka A a slender advantage against New Zealand A on day three in Pallekele

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2013
ScorecardAn explosive surge from Kusal Perera gave Sri Lanka A a slender advantage against New Zealand A on day three in Pallekele after Carl Cachopa’s 104 had earlier taken the visitors to 299 for 9, earning them a 47-run lead. However, Kusal’s brisk fifty means that the hosts also stand a chance of winning the match on the final day as Sri Lanka lead by 88 runs at stumps, with seven wickets in hand.Cachopa, who resumed his innings at 14 in the morning, added 49 and 110 for the first and second wicket with Anton Devicich and Daryl Mitchell respectively, and smashed a total of 10 fours and three sixes in his innings.At 175 for 1, New Zealand looked well set and to be heading towards a comfortable score, but the quick departures of Cachopa and Mitchell, followed by a lower-order collapse meant that they would not bat the hosts out of the game. Dilruwan Perera removed Luke Ronchi and Todd Astle in consecutive overs, before Chaturanga de Silva took two of his own. The slide had accounted for five wickets for 41 runs, when the captain Devcich declared the innings. Dilruwan finished with 6 for 87, while de Silva took 3 for 60, as all nine New Zealand batsmen fell to spin.Dimuth Karunaratne began Sri Lanka’s second innings briskly, making 11 from his first six balls, but although he was then caught behind, his opening partner Kusal continued to maintain the quick scoring rate. His 62 runs came from just 45 balls, and included 10 fours. Kusal has had a few lean months in both international and domestic cricket, and this innings could be the catalyst to his return to form.First innings centurion Kaushal Silva and captain Dinesh Chandimal fell cheaply, but Kusal found support from Kithuruwan Vithanage, who made an unbeaten 30. Sri Lanka A had hit 135 for 3 in 19 overs, and if they can maintain that tempo on day four, the hosts may hope to push the lead to beyond 200 in the first session to set up a tough chase for the visitors. New Zealand A,on the other hand, will hope to effect a collapse, if they are to achieve an unassailable position in the two-match series.

Another rainy day in a wet summer hasn’t stunted the growth of Yorkshire opening batsman Joe Root

Paul Edwards at Edgbaston15-Aug-2012
ScorecardJoe Root has been tipped as one of England’s next opening batsmen•Getty Images

Curiously for someone whose name suggests a secure, grounded quality, Joe Root was at a loose end on Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rain had ruled out any possibility of play on the second day of the England Lions match against Australia A and soon only the groundsmen and some security staff would be left at Edgbaston.”I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” the young Yorkshireman said. “I can’t play golf because it’s too wet and windy, and I’ll spend too much money if I go shopping, so I might have to spend the rest of the day in the hotel.”Frowsting in the dressing-room watching the rain tipple down has a limited appeal too. “We sit there and we wonder what time might we get out and we all pretend we’re really good weathermen,” Root said. “But at the end of it we’re in the changing room talking rubbish to each other, and today I’ve ended up doing an hour’s session in the gym.”As with all cricketers of whatever stamp, there have been too many such afternoons in 2012. Yet this summer has also seen Root emerge as perhaps the most likely candidate to fill an England opener’s spot should either Andrew Strauss or Alastair Cook break a finger. And in a season when James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow have both been summoned from the cab rank of English batsmen, it would suddenly not be too surprising if Root was the next to be called upon.Such impressions are only strengthened by innings such as that Root played in the second innings of the first unofficial Test against Australia A at Old Trafford. In a golden final session on the third day he stroked 13 boundaries in making 70 off 104 balls, adding 128 for the second wicket with Bairstow. One imagines that batting must be a very simple exercise when it is made to look so easeful.”Yes, but that is sometimes when it’s trickiest because you get lulled into a false sense of security and you’ve got to keep telling yourself to stay alert,” said Root, who remains keenly analytical in his approach and acutely self-critical. “Balls keep coming into your areas and you’re scoring quite freely and then suddenly you can get a good delivery out of nowhere and it can sort of surprise you. You have to keep yourself switched on. Jonny and I kept coming up to each other to make sure that was the case.”All of which made it the more disappointing that Root was caught when carelessly cutting left-arm spinner Jon Holland to backward point. “It was a poor execution of the shot and I was bitterly disappointed,” he said. “Unfortunately I just didn’t keep myself switched on, but as I keep saying, it’s a learning process and I hope I can go on from that and take the lesson on board.”There was also a rather painful masterclass for Root in the first innings, when he gloved a lifting delivery from Mitchell Johnson to the wicketkeeper, Tim Paine. If the 21-year-old opener had read any of the reports about Johnson’s inaccuracy, he insists that he paid little attention to them.”It was the first time I’ve ever faced him and he bowled exceptionally well in that first innings,” he said, of Johnson’s 4 for 47. “What was it – 20 overs, four for 40-odd? It was a great spell of bowling on what was a tough wicket and it just goes to show how well the lads handled him and how well they did to get us into the position they did. I got a good delivery and sometimes you have to give the credit to the bowler. It was another one that I’ll learn from. Johnson was number one bowler in the world at one time and if you come up against someone like that you don’t take them lightly. I can tell you now that none of the lads in the changing room were thinking he’d spray it around.”It has been a good season for Root in Division Two of the County Championship, although one strongly suspects that there will be better ones to come. He has scored 644 runs for Yorkshire in 13 innings, with two fifties and two centuries. His unbeaten 222 against Hampshire may eventually be viewed as something a breakthrough innings: it won plaudits from the press box and from both dressing rooms, where experienced Test players were amazed by the composure and maturity of the young batsman.Predictably, perhaps, Root is courteous in accepting the praise but he lets all the talk about England wash over him, insisting that he “doesn’t really think about it”. He prefers to focus on the achievement of Bairstow, his fellow Yorkshireman, whose 139 at Old Trafford helped win him a place in the England side for the final Test against South Africa. “Jonny played a fantastic knock and look where he is now,” Root said. “He got an opportunity in that second innings and he took it and well done to him. I’m really pleased for him.”Yet while Root concentrates on “staying in the moment” and enjoying the company of his colleagues, those who watched him bat at Manchester last week or at Southampton last month will still speculate as to the young man’s future and how he will cope should he eventually receive his first Test cap. It will take much more than a wet summer to blight the development of Joe Root.

In the end, England were so ruthless in their dismantling of the No. 1 Test side that it was hard to believe India had been in match-winning positions twice in the first two days

The Report by George Binoy01-Aug-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Tim Bresnan was England’s hero on the fourth day•Getty Images

In the end, England were so ruthless in their dismantling of the No. 1 Test side that it was hard to believe India had been in match-winning positions twice in the first two days. Before the fourth day was over in Nottingham, England had secured the two-match lead they need to win the series by to move to the top of the ICC rankings. Their lower-order batsmen ransacked a hapless bowling and fielding outfit, before their fast bowlers demolished India with venom the Nottingham crowd hadn’t witnessed since Stuart Broad’s hat-trick on the second evening. England had broken India and the upshot was victory by 319 runs, the largest margin in Tests after conceding a first-innings lead.Several England players have queued up to perform starring roles this series, and today the unlikeliest of them all took his turn. Tim Bresnan, who was selected only because Chris Tremlett was hamstrung, tenderised batsmen with accurate short-pitched bowling and his career-best performance of 5 for 48 helped blow India away for 158. His spell came after he had bashed the ball around Trent Bridge during a partnership of 82 with Broad at a run-rate of 6.30. Bresnan helped England score 103 runs in 19.2 overs and extend their lead from 374 to 477.Like their bowlers and fielders during England’s second innings, India’s batsmen showed no fight after they began the improbable task of surviving more than five sessions. Rather, England didn’t let them fight. Andrew Strauss’s team was streets ahead of India in terms of strength, fitness and preparation and that widened the gulf in form between the sides.James Anderson should have reprised his first-innings success of striking first ball, but Abhinav Mukund’s edge was dropped at slip. England, however, did not have to wait long, and Stuart Broad snagged the bigger fish. During the 30 minutes he had to survive before lunch, Rahul Dravid, India’s best batsman on tour, edged Broad to Matt Prior. India were 8 for 1 at the break.

Smart stats

• For the first time since 1974, England have won two Tests in a home series against India.

• In Tests since 1990, this is the seventh time that India have lost by a margin of 300 runs or more (excluding innings defeats). In the same period, the 319-run loss is their largest margin of defeat against England.

• India’s score of 158 is their second-lowest fourth-innings total in a Test defeat against England in Tests since 1990. Their lowest total is 100 in Mumbai in 2006.

• Bresnan’s 5 for 48 is his first five-wicket haul in Tests. After Stuart Broad achieved the feat of scoring a fifty and picking up five wickets against India, Bresnan did the same in the second innings.

• England’s total of 544 is the second-highest total made in the team second innings against India. The highest is Pakistan’s 599 in Karachi in 2006.

• Since 1990, England’s total of 221 is their fifth-lowest score in the match first innings in a Test victory. Excluding the 2006 Oval forfeiture, their lowest first-innings total in a win in the same period is 180 against Australia at the Oval in 1997.

• James Anderson dismissed Sachin Tendulkar for the seventh time in eight Tests. He is now second behind Muttiah Muralitharan on the list of bowlers who have dismissed Tendulkar most often in Tests.

• England scored 73 fours in their second innings. In Tests since 1990, this is joint-fifth on the list of England innings with the most boundaries.

• Rahul Dravid’s first-innings century is only his third in a Test defeat and his second hundred in a defeat in this series. Of his 34 centuries, 14 have come in wins and 17 in draws.

When play resumed, Anderson took out India’s other second-innings pillar, bowling VVS Laxman with the perfect delivery. It drew the batsman forward, straightened off the pitch, beat the outside edge and still managed to uproot off stump. Laxman was left looking wide-eyed and bewildered. India were 13 for 2. And then it was over to Bresnan, who sent down short ball after short ball at batsmen ill-equipped to cope with such a hostile attack.He had Abhinav fending helplessly at a bouncer that lobbed off the glove to slip. He had Raina caught at long leg, playing an uncontrolled hook against a rising delivery. And after softening Yuvraj, who was hit on the body several times, Bresnan had him caught at slip too. Yuvraj had also fended haplessly, unaware that Alastair Cook had caught the ball until he saw the celebrations begin. Bresnan then dismissed MS Dhoni first ball, lbw after the Indian captain offered no shot. India were 68 for 6 at lunch.Of the specialist batsmen, only Sachin Tendulkar had resisted. He had begun his innings positively, driving down the ground repeatedly, but the speed of his scoring plummeted as the carnage unfolded at the other end. Tendulkar, however, only achieved his 60th half-century and not his 100th hundred. After he too was lbw, padding up to an Anderson inswinger, England were always going to win before stumps. Broad, who had twice rescued England with bat and ball, fittingly took the final wicket, bowling Sreesanth in the 48th over.The fourth day had begun as the third had ended – with India hunting leather. Bresnan, who had resumed on 47, reached his half-century with an edge that flew over the cordon to third man, which remained empty despite a glut of runs in the region. Prior, who batted aggressively last evening, also hit consecutive fours – a glance to fine leg and a cover drive off Praveen. He didn’t last long though, edging Praveen to Dhoni to end the seventh-wicket stand on 119 off 20 overs.Broad, however, gave India no respite. He and Bresnan, whose driving when offered full and wide deliveries was sublime, ran India ragged. Dhoni also turned to his part-time spinners – Yuvraj and Raina. Yuvraj dropped short on the off side and Broad clobbered him repeatedly towards the cover boundary. When Raina pitched short, Broad heaved consecutive deliveries into the cheering masses beyond the midwicket boundary. It was brutal.The partnership ended on 82 because of a rare moment of brilliance in the field. Broad pushed towards cover and set off for the single. The substitute Wriddhiman Saha rushed in, swooped on the ball and threw at the bowler’s end in one flowing motion, scoring a direct hit that caught Broad short. The rest of India’s fielders were utterly exposed. Bresnan and Broad only needed to place the ball slightly wide of the fielders to reach the boundary. India had not looked this outclassed on a cricket field in recent memory.

Here’s something that might surprise you. Simon Katich is statistically Australia’s most successful Test opener of all time. Not Matthew Hayden, not Bill Ponsford. Simon Katich

Brydon Coverdale at Lord's13-Jul-2010Here’s something that might surprise you. Simon Katich is statistically Australia’s most successful Test opener of all time. Not Matthew Hayden, not Bill Ponsford. Simon Katich. As Katich shuffled off to the Lord’s pavilion having been caught behind for 80, he sat atop the list of averages for Australians who have opened in at least 20 Test innings.Loping out to the crease to replace Katich was Marcus North. The Australians were hoping Katich’s consistency would rub off on North, who stalls on start-up more often than a learner driver. Three balls later, he was heading back from whence he came, bowled for a duck by a high-class inswinger from Mohammad Asif.How North must envy Katich at the moment. The bookends of Australia’s top six share much in common – they are unfashionable left-handers, they learnt their trade on the bouncy WACA pitch and they’ve each scored four hundreds since the beginning of last year – but consistency isn’t one of those traits.While it’s been a feast-or-famine year for North, Katich has been dining out on opposition attacks and scoffing down every last scrap of a score he can find. Australia’s opener has been so dependable that when he slashed a typical Katich boundary, an uppish cut through gully to reach his half-century, it meant he’d passed fifty in nine consecutive Tests, stretching back to The Oval last year.The innings was pure Katich: barely a memorable shot until he’d reached a half-century, then a few boundaries crunched off loose balls, especially against Shahid Afridi. As he crab-walked across his stumps he was opening himself up to a Pakistan attack hooping balls around corners, but aside from a lucky let-off when he should have been trapped on 2, he was Australia’s rock on a difficult day.”There’s no doubt that it was a tough day all the way through, given the conditions,” Katich said after Australia reached 229 for 9. “At no stage did the clouds break and the sun came through. We knew that it was going to be a hard day out there with the ball swinging around consistently. It would have been nice to get more but at the same time we’ve got nearly 230 runs in the bank.”None of those runs came from the No. 6. Undoubtedly, North deserves his place in the team after rescuing his career with a century and a 90 in New Zealand, but in addition to his four Test centuries, he has been dismissed for 10 or less in more than half of his Test innings.His high backlift makes him especially vulnerable to full, swinging deliveries and that’s precisely what Asif served up. North was lucky to avoid a golden duck, when he could have been lbw had Pakistan noticed the ball hit pad before bat, and two deliveries later his stumps were shattered by a peach of an inswinger. It was that sort of day for the Australians – get your eye in rapidly or get out even quicker.”If you get in, it can certainly be a great place to bat because the outfield is quick,” Katich said. “Once you get used to the pace you can really get set. But vice-versa, there’s always enough happening on days like today where it can be hard for the new guy. I don’t think we saw too many poor shots or anything like that.”It’s true that North was done in by superb bowling, and his position is rightly not in danger on this tour. However, he is the man with the most to lose if Steven Smith performs with the bat in his debut series. Should Smith convince the selectors that he is a viable top-six option – and with a first-class average of more than 50, it’s possible – they will be tempted to push him up and enjoy the luxury of an extra specialist bowler.Fortunately for North, there were no such signs on Smith’s first day of Test cricket. Smith was lbw for 1, one of six Australians who failed to reach double figures. They all needed a little of Katich’s consistency to rub off.

India’s T20I captain expected the Gwalior pitch for the first T20I to be conducive to run-scoring

Hemant Brar05-Oct-20242:03

Suryakumar Yadav ‘enjoying’ his role as captain

India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is aware of the impact Mayank Yadav can create with his express pace but he says it is important to “manage him well”.Mayank took everyone by storm with his 155kph pace during IPL 2024. Playing for Lucknow Super Giants, he picked up the Player-of-the-Match award in his first two games but was ruled out of the tournament soon after with an abdominal injury. He has not played any cricket since then but Suryakumar said he was back to full fitness.”He definitely has the X factor – it was evident when he played franchise cricket,” Suryakumar said ahead of the first T20I against Bangladesh in Gwalior. “He has that extra pace. I didn’t face him in the nets; our net plan was such that someone else faced him. But I have seen what potential he has and what difference he can make for the team. From that point of view, I feel he is a good addition to the Indian team and I am hoping he will do well.Related

• Mayank's fitness, Jadeja's replacement among India's priorities in Bangladesh T20Is

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• International cricket returns to Gwalior after 14 years, at a brand new venue

“It’s important to manage him well because of the amount of cricket being played. Everyone is playing for their state too. There was the Duleep Trophy recently. So it is important to pay proper attention and the BCCI is doing that.”Sunday’s match will be the first international at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium. In fact, the venue has not hosted any domestic cricket either. So there is an element of surprise about the conditions.While Bangladesh batter Towhid Hridoy expected the pitch to be “slow and low” with not much chances of a high-scoring game, Suryakumar Yadav had different views.”As you saw in Sri Lanka, Riyan [Parag] bowled four overs. If someone says he can bowl in the pressure situation, then why not”•Associated Press

“The pitch looks good,” he said. “We practised on the centre wicket, just two pitches away. We didn’t find it that low and slow – we practised all three days. So it [the match pitch] should not be much different.”For T20 cricket, these are good wickets. There will be good competition [between the bat and ball] but at the same time it looks good [for run-scoring]. The rest we will get to know tomorrow.”Yes, it’s a new ground but having practised here for three days, we know what the conditions are, how the pitch is, how the outfield is, what the wind factor is like, whether the dew settles in or not. We will like to play the way we did in the last T20I series. And if everyone does their job, you will get the desired results.”Until recently, India had the problem of their batters not chipping in with the ball in white-ball cricket. But that seems to be changing now, with India’s T20I squad including a plethora of allrounders and part-time bowling options.”It’s good if your batters can bowl an over or two,” Suryakumar said. “I think there is hardly anyone in this squad who doesn’t bowl. That gives you more bowling options on the ground. As you saw in Sri Lanka, Riyan [Parag] bowled four overs. If someone says he can bowl in the pressure situation, then why not.”

Ryan Burl’s career-best ODI score not enough as Zimbabwe fall short of 235-run target

Madushka Balasuriya04-Jul-2023For the second time in two Qualifiers, Zimbabwe have fallen short at the final hurdle, and as a result they won’t be at the 2023 World Cup. They needed to win one of their last two matches, just as in 2018, and they failed to do it, just as in 2018.It’s a fascinating quirk of sport that hindsight can completely colour the view of an event. When Scotland were being strangled by Zimbabwe’s bowlers throughout their innings, barely managing to keep their run rate at above four an over, it looked like Zimbabwe had by far the better of the proceedings.When Scotland somehow clawed together a total of 234, courtesy a burst of 54 runs in the last five overs, it looked like they had got up to a fighting total but not one that would realistically trouble an in-form Zimbabwe batting line-up littered with experience – especially in front of a home crowd that has been electric all tournament.But when Chris Sole’s express pace sent Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine and Sean Williams packing inside the first seven overs – the first caught behind, the other two clean bowled – that innings-long strangle began to take on a different sheen, one instead of steely resolve. And when all was said and done it was Zimbabwe that blinked first, falling 31 runs short, as Scotland knocked them out in dramatic fashion.If ever there was a team victory, it was this. Before Sole’s heroics, there were no less than six batters pitching in for 20 runs at least, on a sticky surface in Bulawayo, of which Michael Leask was the pick of the bunch with a 34-ball 48 .Leask aside, only Brandon McMullen (34 off 34) and Mark Watt (21 off 15) scored at even a 70-plus strike rate of the six batters who passed 20. But they ensured that Scotland ticked off the most important box on surfaces like this: they batted through their 50 overs.Then, with the ball, every one of the six bowlers used picked up at least one wicket, driving home the team ethos. Together they weathered a Ryan Burl-led counterattack, which included fifth- and sixth-wicket stands of 54 and 73 with Sikandar Raza and Wesley Madhevere – both partnerships ticking along at nearly a run a ball. The required rate throughout all this was just a touch above four. The pressure was on the Scottish bowlers, but they never lost hope, knowing that a wicket would change the game’s complexion. And so it proved.In an innings filled with wickets falling to good balls, Raza holing out at long-off would go down as an unforced error. It was at this moment that Scotland may have begun to believe.But then Madhevere – a player who hadn’t played an innings of note all tournament – strung together the game’s biggest partnership with Burl, as the pair found the odd boundary and milked the ones and twos. Enter Mark Watt, who had earlier stitched together 21 from 15, and he got one to grip and turn, trapping Madhevere in front to grab his only wicket of the game.This left Burl with just the tail for company. Burl soldiered on to a career best 83 off 84, but it wouldn’t be enough. With 38 needed off the last 11.3 overs, and with only two wickets remaining, he mistimed a slog-sweep to midwicket, having dispatched the previous two deliveries for four and six. In a game with so much on the line, such heartbreaks were inevitable.None more so than for Williams, the standout player of the tournament, with 600 runs at an average of exactly 100. He received a corker from Sole. This was a moment tailor-made for Williams but in life there are things you cannot quite account for – a 149kph thunderbolt nipping back in at your off peg being one of them.On the flip side of heartbreak is euphoria. Scotland had now beaten three Full Member teams in this tournament. Had they lost today, they would not have had the chance to play ODIs for another year at the least.They’ve topped league two on the way to these qualifiers, beaten sides more vaunted than them, and now have to go once more on Thursday against Netherlands. If they do what they need to do, they’ll have a whole lot more cricket to gear up for.

Cricket Australia and Australian Cricketers’ Association reach one-year pay agreement for 2022-23

Alex Malcolm12-May-2022Cricket Australia will expand the Women’s National Cricket League to a full home-and-away season under a new 12-month Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Australian Cricketers’ Association.The acrimonious negotiations of 2017 were avoided with CA CEO Nick Hockley and ACA CEO Todd Greenberg working closely together over the last 12 months, including travelling to Pakistan together in March, to deliver a new MoU that sees the 50-over WNCL expanded by four rounds alongside the 14-game WBBL season.Australia’s female domestic players contracted in both the WNCL and WBBL will now earn a base average of AUD$86,000.Australia are the reigning women’s ODI and two-time reigning T20 World Cup champions but there had long been a push for more state cricket.”Our female players are superb role models and as we continue to focus on increasing the participation of women and girls in cricket, a full home and away WNCL season is a logical step,” Hockley said.CA requested that a 12-month MoU be signed in the short-term due to the impacts of Covid, with another agreement needed to be reached for 2023-24 and beyond. The Australian cricket television broadcast rights, the key pillar in CA’s revenue and the players’ share, are to be renegotiated in 2024.”This is an excellent result for Australian cricket and I look forward to working with Todd and the Players’ Association for the next long-term MoU,” Hockley said. “Despite the impacts of Covid, the MoU has delivered an outcome for players that is beyond expectations.”We thank all the players for their enormous efforts in such a demanding time. To think that we managed to play every international game and the vast majority of domestic fixtures last season and enjoyed one of the most successful periods in our history is an extraordinary achievement from all involved.”The revenue share model, which was the cause of the rift when the last MoU was being negotiated, remains in place with the players, both men and women, to receive 27.5% of forecast Australian cricket revenue alongside a performance pool of 2.5%. The players’ retainers and match payments have been increased by 1% across all playing groups. The ACA has agreed to allocate $4 million to CA to assist in managing the ongoing impacts of Covid.Greenberg has been firm on the partnership model between the players and CA remaining in place and was pleased with the outcome.”It has served Australian cricket well in responding to the impacts of Covid, where player payments and benefits self-adjusted as the games’ revenues fluctuated, avoiding the challenging re-negotiations faced by other sports,” he said.