Kent cantered to their second Royal London Cup win of the season after dispatching Group A neighbours Sussex by eight wickets in sunny Canterbury

ECB/PA02-Aug-2015
ScorecardDaniel Bell-Drummond compiled an unbeaten 55 from 78 balls to guide Kent’s chase•Getty Images

Kent cantered to their second Royal London Cup win of the season after dispatching Group A neighbours Sussex by eight wickets in sunny Canterbury. Having dismissed the visitors for a modest 154, Kent sped to victory with 115 balls remaining courtesy of workmanlike unbeaten 55 from Daniel Bell-Drummond and decent contributions from Joe Denly and Sam Northeast.Kent, who reached the semi-finals of last season’s one-day cup, batted responsibly on a tricky, two-paced pitch to fully deserve their emphatic win. Denly and Bell-Drummond posted 58 for the first wicket before Denly holed out to long-on off the bowling of Chris Liddle, before Northeast also tamely chipped to mid-on against Michael Yardy – but they proved the only successes of a miserable day for the visitors.Batting first after losing the toss, the Sussex top order never mastered their timing on a pitch that offered some assistance to the Spitfires’ seam bowlers. Luke Wright threatened to break free with a couple of consecutive boundaries against Matt Coles, but otherwise Sussex’s innings was subdued from start to finish as they succumbed with 5.3 overs of their allocation remaining.Mitch Claydon started the rout with a sharp one-handed catch to his right after he had bamboozled Chris Nash with a slower ball. Matt Machan departed leg before wicket when he aimed to cut a delivery too close to him, a Claydon offcutter that jagged down the Canterbury slope to glance his back pad.Wright was bowled by a full-length ball from Coles that pegged back off stump to make it 33 for 3 at the end of the 10-over Powerplay.Australian batsman George Bailey joined the procession when he drove back a sharp catch to Darren Stevens, who then had Craig Cachopa caught on the ropes at deep midwicket. It was Stevens’ 100th wicket in domestic List A games.On his last appearance at the Spitfire Ground, Yardy went for a sixth-ball duck when he played around a Stevens offcutter then Will Beer nicked to slip to see James Tredwell snaffle a sharp chance at slip.Top-scorer Ed Joyce, having scored 36 in 100 minutes, fell victim to another stunning Kent catch when his miscued drive against Matt Hunn was superbly caught diving low down, one-handed and on the run by Blake coming in off the deep extra-cover ropes. Oli Robinson blasted a cameo 30 before holing out to mid-on then last man Liddle chopped on against Coles to leave Kent to chase a modest asking rate of 3.5 an over for victory.Stevens, Man of the Match for his 4 for 29, was comfortably the pick of Kent’s attack, while Claydon, Coles and Hunn chipped in with two apiece.Talking afterwards, Kent opener Denly said: “We clearly had the best of the pitch, so you’d say it was a good toss to win at 10am. As it turned out, it was a bit damp at the start there but our lads up front bowled beautifully on it. We were on it from ball one and put them under pressure.”Then, chasing a low target, we felt it was right to make a positive start and thankfully Daniel and I managed to do that. Once I got my first couple of boundaries away we felt pretty much in control and took the chance to put a big dent in the target.”Sussex head coach Mark Robinson said: “When you lose the toss and bat on a pitch made damp by early morning dew you need one or two things to happen – to play well, have a bit of luck and for the opposition bowlers to give you a few early gifts. None of that happened for us today.”Kent bowled well and we didn’t have too much fortune. Had we have scratched 240 together we may have had a chance, but it wasn’t our day and fair play to Kent.”

Virat Kohli sets out on his first full series as India’s Test captain aware that what his team will require most in Sri Lanka will be composure

Sharda Ugra in Galle11-Aug-20154:48

‘There is no lacking in the skills department’ – Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli sets out on his first full series as India’s Test captain aware that what his team will require most in Sri Lanka will be composure. That could, he knows, mark the difference between just playing India’s new, much-talked up aggressive brand of cricket and converting that into better results. And while the bowlers have often been cited as the weaker of India’s links, Kohli defended them, saying “aggression” did not require a uni-dimensional response to a variety of situations. Sometimes, he said, it was “a question of staying in the competition”. His bowlers were “not lacking in the skills department”, he said. “Where we lacked in Australia was in composure. That is something we spoke about as a squad.”The Australia example, where Kohli captained in Adelaide and led the team to an exhilarating final day before India lost by 48 runs, is being seen as a template of his captaincy. But he said he knows it is not the only way to go. The reason for being aggressive in Australia, he said, “was because the other team likes to play that way. If you are lagging behind at any stage with a team like that, they can take the game away from you… The idea was having the same kind of aggression and letting them know that the moment you give us a window, we are at the same level and we will cash in. It really depends on what the opposition is playing like or what the situation demands you do.”In a different environment, Sri lanka for example, India may have to “conserve energy or resources”. Kohli said: “There is no point going all out if there’s nothing happening, for example, in the wicket – for any bowler there is no point wasting his energy too much. You might have a plan B, which has to work at that situation. So all the things have to be taken into consideration.”Kohli said this is what he communicated to his bowlers too. “More importantly because the batsmen have done well in the past six months. The planning with the bowlers has been along those lines, that we react to situations and be smart about what we want to do on the field.”According to Kohli, in the practice match, his bowlers bowled “consistently on a wicket that was relatively flat in the afternoon sessions. I am happy with what I have seen till now.” The response to having a workload shared between five specialist bowlers, he said, “can only be analysed further when we have those tough sessions during the Test match, when the ball is not doing something and you have to bowl a good line and length”.This will be where the composure he talked about will be required. “You can see that the kind of times we had in Australia in those sessions where we did leak a few runs, that has hurt them [the bowlers] and they want to improve on that, which is a great sign.”The five-bowler formula will require that India’s batsmen, the top five particularly, “score the bulk of the runs so that they can take the pressure off” wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and R Ashwin. “We are looking to cement [Ashwin] in the team as an allrounder rather than a bowler who can bat because he has the ability,” Kohli said. “The responsibility is more on the top five to take on the burden of scoring till the time the guys lower down get more confident. Then you will have a complete batting unit, which is ready to go under any situation.”The three Tests in Sri Lanka, Kohli said, will help the team to work through its tactics over a period of time, and respond to varied situations. “Even if it’s an off day [on the field], you still have time to regroup and think about what went wrong. If it’s a good day, you can learn from it – the positives and the areas that need improvement.” As a captain, he said, it would give him “better chances of creating an environment that you require the team to be in.” The series, he said, was an opportunity “for not only me but all of us, for a new Indian team. We are all pretty early in our careers and it’s exciting.”Another aspect to improve upon will be India’s Test record in Sri Lanka – it has been more than two decades for the team without a series win there. When the 22 years were brought to Kohli’s attention, he laughed and said: “I have been reminded of that quite a few times and I know that now.”

Surrey remained in total control of their LV= Division Two match at Old Trafford and by the close of third day had set Lancashire 492 to win and thereby achieve the most unlikely of victories

ECB/PA16-Sep-2015
ScorecardKumar Sangakkara’s 118 led Surrey to their declaration•Getty Images

Surrey remained in total control of their LV= Division Two match at Old Trafford and by the close of third day had set Lancashire 492 to win and thereby achieve the most unlikely of victories. Should Surrey’s bowlers dismiss the home side they will clinch the title less than 48 hours before they play Gloucestershire in the final of the Royal London Cup.Having dismissed Lancashire for 272 in their first innings, Surrey skipper Gareth Batty opted not to enforce the follow-on but allowed his batsmen free rein to make 283 for 7 declared in their second innings, Kumar Sangakkara stroking a superb 118. Lancashire were 22 without loss in their second innings at close of play.In the morning session Surrey took Lancashire’s last five first-innings wickets for the addition of 131 runs with the last pair, James Anderson and Simon Kerrigan adding 65 for the last wicket before Anderson was bowled by Tom Curran for 42. Kerrigan remained unbeaten on 23.Earlier in the session, spectators at Old Trafford had been given another glimpse of the precocious talent of 17-year-old Sam Curran.After his brother, Tom, had taken the vital wicket of Ashwell Prince, caught by first slip Sangakkara for 45, the younger Curran removed Jordan Clark leg before for 29 and Tom Bailey, yorked first ball to collect the second five-wicket haul of his five-match career.Then Arron Lilley was caught at midwicket by Matt Dunn off Gareth Batty for 33 before Kerrigan was joined by Anderson in a stand which saw Lancashire collect their second batting bonus point. Sam Curran finished with a career-best 5 for 67.In their second innings Surrey’s batsmen were frequently able to score at will, particularly Sangakkara, who reached his hundred off 115 balls with 13 fours.Surrey were 161 for 2 at tea and the two wickets to fall were those of Ben Foakes, who was leg before to Tom Bailey for 14, and Rory Burns, who was caught at midwicket by James Anderson off Simon Kerrigan for 44.In the evening session Surrey traded wickets for runs and Lancashire skipper Steven Croft collected four cheap wickets for 35 runs in seven overs. No batsmen apart from Sangakkara scored more than fifty but Gary Wilson was 30 not out when Batty finally declared.Lancashire have never scored more than 404 to win in the fourth innings of a game and the chances of them winning this game are on the far side of slim. By close of play the Division Two trophy was on its way to Old Trafford in case Surrey are able to force a victory on the final afternoon

India’s captain MS Dhoni believes that the presence of an extra fielder outside the ring during the slog overs has made it “difficult” for batsmen to find the “big shots”

Alagappan Muthu in Chennai22-Oct-20151:51

Dhoni on the effects of the new ODI rules

One-day cricket in India appears to have been given a makeover according to MS Dhoni. A total less than 300 could still be match-winning, and the back end of an innings might actually end up as one of the lowest phases of run-scoring.Dhoni’s reasons: the ball goes soft, so it does not come onto the bat, and therefore stroke-play becomes hard. Also, dry pitches and outfields ensure the ball gets scuffed up and offers reverse swing. And finally, the option of having an additional fielder on the boundary – five instead of the earlier four – means big shots will not necessarily fetch big runs.”Now as we are seeing in the 40th to 50th [overs], it’s not easy just to go in and slam the big shots and get 80-90 runs. You’ll see most of the sides saying, ‘Last 10, if you are chasing, you shouldn’t have more than 65 runs or 70 runs’. That also you have to have a good day,” Dhoni explained.For context, in the last 10 overs in Chennai, India made 69 and lost five wickets. South Africa hit 64 and lost three. A similar break-up happened in Rajkot as well: India 67 for 4, and South Africa 60 for 3. Only once has a team scored over 100 runs in this period, with AB de Villiers at the helm in Kanpur.”But it may change, depending on the wicket, the amount of reverse swing that the bowlers are getting [here] if it’s not there then maybe they will score a bit more. Or if the bowlers don’t execute well. But on a good day, when they are bowling well, it will be very difficult to get something like 80 or 90 in 10 overs. That used to be the case with the previous rules.”Dhoni believes slow pitches will allow bowlers a lot more margin for error in the slog overs. He feels more teams will stop drilling their bowlers to deliver inch-specific yorkers and will follow a “new strategy” of bowling length and back-of-a-length deliveries to curb the batsmen. Having extra protection in the deep has also helped in that regard.”And more than the short deliveries, it’s the length deliveries that’s more difficult to hit because with the reverse swing, the bowlers they can actually cramp you. Even the ones that are short, they are short enough but they don’t get to the same height [as the batsman is expecting] which means you have to take that risk of playing the big shot. So it’s like the new strategy that has been put by a lot of sides.”On a slower wicket, it’s not easy to play the big shots and these are the bigger outfields. And that scuffed up ball, it doesn’t come off the wicket so when you dig in short you have to play the big shot and it’s not easy to always clear the boundary. So with the new rule changes, with that extra fielder outside, the batters who come after especially the 40th over, straight away if they are supposed to go in and play the big shot they’ll find it difficult.”Bowl just back of a length, slip in the odd yorkers, but as of now on these conditions and these wickets, it’s something that’s really working. But it’s important to be ready with a plan B because it will work but you don’t know how long it will work because batsmen will also look to try and get new ways of scoring runs and you may not get the same kind of reverse swing in every game. The ball won’t get scuffed up in every game so all of a sudden, when you play on a wicket with a bit more pace, you can use the pace of the fast bowler. In smaller outfields, maybe the fast bowler will find it slightly difficult to have the same strategy.”

On a day when 21 wickets fell, Tamil Nadu coach M Sanjay denied that the Dindigul pitch was underprepared and pinned the blame on his side’s batsmen for not showing patience and application

Arun Venugopal01-Dec-2015On a day when the Nagpur surface for the third Test between India and South Africa was rated ‘poor’ by the ICC, and less than a week after Rahul Dravid delivered a stinging critique of pitches used in the Ranji Trophy, the first day of Tamil Nadu-Punjab game saw 21 wickets fall. Seventeen of them went to spinners, but TN coach M Sanjay blamed his side’s batting, and not the Dindigul pitch.Punjab were dismissed for 206 in 57 overs and Tamil Nadu were shot out for 68 in the 24th, their second-lowest total in Ranji Trophy history. While Sanjay admitted to the TNCA rolling out a turning track to strengthen Tamil Nadu’s chances of a knockout berth in a must-win game, he denied it was an underprepared pitch. “Basically we played too many shots too early thinking that the wicket is going to do [something],” Sanjay told ESPNcricinfo.”There is turn and bounce, it is a spinner-friendly wicket, but they have got 200 [206], so it’s not like it’s a bad wicket. I think it’s more in the mind than in the wicket.”The odd ball kept low, but it was prepared to be a turning track just like India are preparing wickets for home games. We had to because we need to have to six points.”So did the ploy backfire after Punjab took the chance to bat first? “The toss doesn’t matter at all on a wicket like this actually,” Sanjay insisted. “In fact, it might be better bowling first on a wicket like this because the bounce is there. We didn’t bowl too well also and we didn’t field well, missing three-four chances.”Sanjay said the concept of an ‘ideal’ surface – one that assists the seamers initially before flattening out and eventually crumbling on the last day to bring the spinners into play – however noble was largely impractical. “We have seen pitches all over India in the last few years; it doesn’t happen like that in reality.””I don’t think the curators really know to do that. Earlier they might have done it when the pitches were uncovered. But then they have standardised the preparation of pitches after experts were brought in from abroad and lot of scientific things went into it,” Sanjay said. “Anyway India is preparing turners. You have to know how to counter that with certain skills that are different from playing seam bowling but they are skills anyway.”Dravid had recently come down heavily on poor pitches in this season’s Ranji Trophy after several two- and three-day finishes. Sanjay felt it wasn’t fair to generalise like that, and stressed on the need for tighter technique to succeed on such tracks, something Ravi Shastri had advocated recently as well.”People are not understanding the differentiation. Because it’s getting over in two or three days they are clubbing underprepared wickets with prepared ones [where matches finish because of other factors],” he said. “The Nottingham pitch [in the Ashes], which got over in three days, wasn’t underprepared, for instance.”[For an] underprepared wicket, you don’t water it, roll it, you just leave it like that, and it takes its course. The ball rolls, one kicks up, that becomes dangerous. These wickets are not dangerous; the bounce is consistent but for the odd ball.”This generation, not just cricketers, doesn’t have patience and perseverance. In today’s game as well there were four or five soft dismissals. Other than R Sathish – he got a ball which literally rolled – and R Prasanna, who Harbhajan got out with a beauty, there were many soft dismissals: Dinesh Karthik out lbw deliberately padding; Abhinav [Mukund] top-edging a pull off a rank short ball; [B] Aparajith trying to sweep top-edged one; and Vijay Shankar being caught brilliantly on the line.”Dravid had spoken of the importance of looking beyond wins and develop cricketers for the international stage. While Sanjay agreed with this philosophy, he said the ground realities of the competition’s structure couldn’t be glossed over. “An outright [win] gets you double the points [as a first-innings lead]. The administration or the coach, team captain, especially when it comes to the last league game, are desperate for a win. You wouldn’t have seen so many such matches in the beginning.”It’s true that if you keep getting wickets like this, you won’t get runs and you will lose confidence. That’s true. But out of eight games, you will play two or three games maximum. Otherwise five games are on phenomenal pitches,” Sanjay said.

A round-up of the final day’s play from the sixth round of Group A games in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Nov-2015
ScorecardFile photo – Stuart Binny claimed four wickets and was twice on a hat-trick•AFP

Karnataka’s only opposition on the fourth day came in the form of rain which almost washed out an entire session in Mysore before Odisha folded for 104 in just 36.1 overs. The innings and 64-run win – the hosts’ second straight victory – helped them surge to second in the points table.Trailing by 168, Odisha had already lost a wicket in the second innings before stumps on the third day, and their quest to secure a draw was helped by some inclement weather on the fourth. However, when play resumed, Govinda Poddar, the centurion in the first innings, was the first to fall on the fourth day for 7. Natraj Behera (19 off 43) and Anurag Sarangi (44 off 75) provided a period of brief resistance before Stuart Binny sparked a flurry of wickets by bowling Behera. Binny wreaked havoc on Odisha’s middle order as he picked up four wickets, and was twice on a hat-trick. Shreyas Gopal polished off the tail to finish with seven wickets in the match.
ScorecardAssam required 16.1 overs on the fourth day to knock off the 38 required to complete a six-wicket win against Haryana in a low-scorer in Rohtak. Haryana needed to strike quickly at the start to have any hopes of a comeback but the overnight batsmen Amit Verma and Gokul Sharma remained unbeaten and guided Assam to their second outright win of the season.
ScorecardBengal bowled Vidarbha out for 191, in their chase of 297, to secure their first win of the season in Kolkata. Beginning the day at 3 for 0, Veer Pratap Singh dismissed both the openers; Wasim Jaffer was trapped in front in the the second over of the day and Faiz Fazal was caught. Ganesh Satish and S Badrinath brought Vidarbha back into the game with a solid 67-run stand before Pragyan Ojha had Badrinath caught behind, initiating a collapse as Vidarbha slumped from 82 for 2 to 111 for 6.Satish waged a lone battle with his 96, an innings that featured 11 fours and a six, but with wickets falling regularly at the other end, Vidarbha never really stood a chance. Ojha picked up four wickets, to go with seven in the first innings.

The concern surrounding the pitches in this season’s BPL is getting louder as the tournament heads towards the more important stages

Mohammad Isam07-Dec-2015The concern surrounding the pitches in this season’s BPL is getting louder as the tournament heads towards the more important stages. There has been regular help for the bowlers, who have benefited from the two-paced nature of surfaces, and increasingly the toss has gained importance.In the first 24 games, 13 teams won after winning the toss and out of those, nine had decided to bowl first. Comilla Victorians have been the biggest beneficiary, winning four games after opting to chase. Among those who batted first overall, teams have been shot out for sub-100 totals four times including scores of 58, 59, 82 and 89. The first two scores came in the last two days.At the start of the tournament, the problem was for teams playing in the evening game on the same pitch that the afternoon match was played. Rangpur Riders captain Shakib Al Hasan said that the pitches were getting weary too quickly and the teams batting second were having to deal with lower bounce and more turn.The pitches in Chittagong were much better, offering everyone a chance. When Evin Lewis made the tournament’s only century, he was playing through the line consistently and connecting too. There was a feeling that perhaps the pitches there were also two-paced but it ultimately evened out in the day’s second match.The return to Dhaka has again been tough, particularly in foggy weather, and the lack of sun has meant moisture has not evaporated as quickly as it usually does in the afternoon. It has made the pitches softer, making it harder for those batting first.The improved run-making in Chittagong saw teams scoring 140 on average batting first, at 7.02 per over, after the first 12 games in Dhaka yielded an average score of 136 batting first, at 6.91 per over. However, in the four games since the tournament moved back to Dhaka on December 6, the first-innings average score has dipped to 89 at a rate of just 5.29 per over.Comilla Victorians beat Barisal Bulls by seven wickets by restricting them to 105 for 6 after deciding to bowl and their captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted that teams would be more inclined to field first on these “unpredictable” pitches despite short boundaries.”It is hard to score runs when you try to force it,” Mashrafe said. “These wickets are very unpredictable. Every team is looking to field first. Maybe they pulled in the boundary ropes because we were playing on the wicket on the other corner but it might also be to increase the run-making. But it is still very hard for the batsmen.”Barisal paceman Rayad Emrit said that the pitch was not ideal. “It is not the best of wickets for T20. It is very difficult to start for a batter and to bat first, especially,” he said. “We batted first in both games and you see the results.”They are probably trying to compensate for the wicket. It is not a wicket where you can go out and play shots. Maybe they are trying to get the fans involved, T20 is about runs. It is always a batter’s game and obviously the bowlers have to adjust quickly. If we had got 120-130, it would have been a different game.”Barisal have been guilty of playing poorly in the last two games despite the arrival of Chris Gayle to pair up with Lewis, who hasn’t made a significant contribution since his unbeaten 101 against Dhaka Dynamites. “We’ve lost two games back to back,” Emrit said. “It is a bit of a concern now. We have a strong top-order but we are very inconsistent in our batting. Our bowlers have done a terrific job. We know how dangerous the guys at the top are, as long as they get off.”While Barisal can take solace from knowing that Gayle coming good could solve their batting troubles, Sylhet Superstars exited the tournament by getting bowled out in the least number of overs in the BPL’s short history. On the previous day they had won the toss and bowled out Barisal for 58. On Monday they were bowled out for 59, after Rangpur decided to bowl first. The BPL isn’t for batsmen, at least from what we have seen on the 12 matchdays so far.

Former South African captain Graeme Smith has shifted the spotlight off the field and onto the management in the aftermath of South Africa’s second successive series defeat

Firdose Moonda17-Jan-2016Former South African captain Graeme Smith has shifted the spotlight off the field and onto the management in the aftermath of South Africa’s second successive series defeat. Speaking on television channel Smith explained the responsibility for the recent performances should be shared by several senior personnel, including the coaches.”The players have to take responsibility for their performances, there’s no doubt about that, but the management do too. They haven’t quite come into the equation of late. At the end the day the performances of the Test team for the last year haven’t been good enough, so you have to ask questions of everybody,” Smith said.”How is management getting the best out of them, how are they preparing them, are they directed in the right way, do they need to be firmer, do they need to be softer? I don’t know.”Smith spent a session before the New Year’s Test in the nets with South Africa’s batsmen and was said to be in talks to take on a consulting role for the remainder of the series. But he was also contracted as a commentator for and and those prior commitments were in conflict with a coaching stint which has confined him to being behind the microphone and not in the dressing room which has left South Africa without a batting coach.Since Russell Domingo took over the coaching job in June 2013, he has made use of three former internationals to assist in the batting department. Gary Kirsten, Domingo’s predecessor, had a 50-days-a-year deal with South Africa through 2014 and Mike Hussey was on the support staff during the 2015 World Cup and briefly before the first Test on the tour to India in November. South Africa did not have any other batting experts with the squad for the rest of the India series, which they lost 3-0, or before the England matches.In India, they managed a highest innings total of 214, were shot out for their lowest score since readmission when they were bowled out for 79 in Nagpur and did not boast a single century-stand. When Smith criticised them on air, he was called in to help.His short time with the team did not have too much of an impact on their fortunes. Although South Africa showed more fight at Newlands, racking up 627 for 7 to put pressure back on England, they struggled at the Wanderers where they were dismissed for a paltry 83, their lowest at home. They have gone 12 months without a Test victory since beating West Indies in January 2014 and have conceded the No.1 ranking.With several issues raging in the background – the push towards aggressive transformation, a mid-series change of captain and injuries to key members of the pace pack – the squad appears to be struggling to keep morale up and Smith has sensed that.”Some of the decision-making around the space looks a bit worrisome for me. The team seems a bit flat. Some of the messages coming out in the press conferences don’t seem positive and it’s coming from senior players,” he said. “You’re in a big series and there is a lot of negativity among your senior players. It looks like someone needs to grab the bull by the horns and say, ‘listen guys, let’s wake up and let’s pull our finger out and let’s go and play some Test cricket’.”AB de Villiers has been of particular concern, especially for his pre-match comments ahead of the Wanderers Test, his first as captain. He did not deny reports suggesting he was considering early retirement and admitted he was “searching for answers,” on how to manage his workload. After the Test, he offered some reassurance by committing himself to Test cricket but the mood was still sombre. “I almost feel like all hope is gone,” de Villiers said.That kind of talk is what Smith is urging South Africa to avoid while still encouraging them to pay attention to what is being said in the public domain about their performances. “These are all questions that need to come out of the environment. When you are not performing well, people are going to ask questions and you’ve got to live with it,” he said.Smith is not the only former player to express this opinion. Mark Boucher posted a message on Twitter saying South Africa should go “back to the drawing board,” while Daryll Cullinan encouraged them to embrace, rather than ignore the chorus or criticism coming their way.”There is nothing wrong with criticism as long as it is backed up by facts and has credibility behind it,” Cullian wrote on Facebook. “One of the things that our cricket lacks is the maturity to embrace it, work with it and evaluate its value. This can only come from people who are secure enough in the own opinions and credibility. When they are not, they surround themselves with like-minded people, have a laager [siege] mentality, label the critics as negative who have nothing good to say and only out to breakdown our game.”

Australia and Tasmania fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. Hilfenhaus, 32, said his many injury issues forced the decision

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Feb-2016Australia and Tasmania fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus has announced his retirement from first-class cricket. Hilfenhaus, 32, said his many injury issues forced the decision. He will continue to turn out in Twenty20 cricket, though, for Big Bash League team the Melbourne Stars.”I’ve had to make a decision with regards to my body not being able to perform at the level I’d like in four-day cricket anymore,” Hilfenhaus told Cricket Australia’s website. “Everyone gets old eventually and after a little bit of thinking, I think this is my best way forward – to hang up the boots from the red-ball game. It’s getting harder and harder to back up day after day and bowl the amount of overs that’s required for four-day cricket.”I’ve had a problem with my hamstring attachment for pretty much the whole summer. That hasn’t really gone away which tells me I need a little break from the game for the short-term, have a mini pre-season and get myself fit and strong and ready to play white-ball cricket for the Melbourne Stars.”Hilfenhaus played 104 first-class games – but none since November – including 27 Test matches. He took 99 wickets in those 27 Tests, at 28.50 apiece. He debuted against South Africa in Johannesburg in February 2009, and had two stand-out series in his international career: in the 2009 Ashes he took 22 wickets in five games at 27.45, and in 2011-12, against India, he claimed 27 in four matches at 17.22. Overall, he took 387 first-class wickets at 29.34, including 13 five-fors and a ten-wicket haul.Speaking of his international career, and having missed out on 100 Test wickets by a whisker, he said: “I’ll definitely take that. Over the past few years I’ve had a few niggles and things that have affected the way I’ve performed in red-ball cricket and it is what it is. To get the opportunity to play one Test was a great honour, so to play 27, I would have taken that at the start of my career, that’s for sure. And at the end of the day it’s just a number, isn’t it? Ninety-nine or 100?”He said he hoped to continue to play the shortest format for a few years at least, given he still enjoyed playing when his body allowed. “It makes the decision a little bit easier to hang up the boots from red-ball cricket; hopefully it will prolong my white-ball career. I’ve still got that passion to play at that level. I’ll try and play for as long as I can and I definitely feel like I’ve got a few years left in me, that’s for sure.”

Tim May has been reappointed to the ICC’s Cricket Committee, almost three years after he was squeezed off it

George Dobell25-Mar-2016Tim May has been reappointed to the ICC’s Cricket Committee as a present-players’ representative, almost three years after he lost his place on it.* May, one of two current players’ representatives at that time, was replaced by L Sivaramakrishnan in the 2013 elections that became controversial over perceptions that they had been influenced by the BCCI.May return is seen as a significant reflection of the changing attitudes at both the ICC and the BCCI following the appointment of Shashank Manohar as chairman and president respectively.May, the former chief executive of FICA (the Federation of International Cricketers Associations), was voted off the committee in 2013 in controversial circumstances. Sivaramakrishnan, a BCCI-contracted commentator, was among those who replaced him amid allegations that pressure was applied to several of the Test captains who elect their favoured representative.May subsequently resigned as chief executive of FICA in June 2013, citing his growing frustration with the administration of the sport.As inaugural president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association from 1997 and FICA CEO from 2005, May gained a reputation as a leading proponent of the rights of players. Few have done more to increase their pay, security or influence.Under the previous ICC regime, such activities were viewed as trouble making. But under Manohar, the ICC is taking steps towards embracing, if not the full Woolf Report – an independent governance review of the ICC in 2012 that recommended more independent representation on the board, more transparency within administration and less domination by the favoured few nations – at least aspects of its spirit.*07.30GMT, March 27: The article had erroneously mentioned that Tim May has been reappointed as a past-players’ representative. This has been corrected.