Cricket operations manager Saba Karim says hectic IPL season and logistical issues forced deviation from protocol

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jun-2018Saba Karim, the BCCI general manager for cricket operations, clarified that conducting the mandatory yo-yo tests after teams had already been selected for the England tours by India and India A was a “one-off”. Karim said that “logistical issues”, and the fact that the IPL was still going on then, left the board with no choice but to conduct the tests after the selection.”It’s (yo-yo test) always conducted before team selection. This time the change happened because of the IPL,” Karim told . “We have to pick the teams early because of logistical reasons, so we couldn’t drag out players during the IPL and make them go through fitness tests. That’s why we conducted it after the IPL was over. And all the players were given enough time to prepare for that.”A number of players had to be withdrawn for failing to meet the minimum standards in the test, leading to several questions about the timing of the tests. Mohammed Shami was withdrawn from the one-off Test against Afghanistan, and Ambati Rayudu was left out of the ODI squad for England after falling well short of the 16.1 parameter. Sanju Samson, meanwhile, was dropped from the India A squad for the one-day tri-series in England.All the squads were picked a month earlier, on May 8, during the IPL. While Shami featured in just four IPL games, Rayudu finished as Chennai Super Kings’ highest run-getter in a victorious campaign. Samson was second on the charts for Rajasthan Royals, who reached the playoffs.Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, who wasn’t at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru last week when Virat Kohli and other limited-overs regulars underwent their tests, cleared it on Wednesday. Rohit, not picked for the Afghanistan Test, had obtained prior permission from the board to appear later because of sponsor commitments.In the past year, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh have also been left out of the national team for failing the test. In October 2017, the teenaged allrounder Washington Sundar failed it and missed out on selection for a T20I series against New Zealand.”Earlier, if you see, in the case of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, the fitness tests were conducted before the team selection. It always happened like that in the past,” Karim said. “This time, the moment the teams were announced, whether that was the India A side or Team India, the players knew that they had to undergo fitness tests. So they had enough time to prepare. That is why so many of them prepared well and got through.”

Sussex stumbled after winning the toss, as the Gloucestershire faithful hailed the advent of a new young spinner

Paul Edwards at Cheltenham16-Jul-2018
ScorecardIt is many decades since eager spectators watched matches when perched atop ladders placed against the walls of the College Ground; and, yes, it is even a few summers since home supporters were unanimous this game had nothing to rival the batting of Zaheer Abbas. Yet Cheltenham is still at the heart of Gloucestershire cricket. One could see that heart beating in the bustling marquees on the first day of this 135th festival and you could hear it in the cheers which greeted offspinner George Drissell’s first senior wickets for the county.”What about Reg Sinfield?” asked one spectator loudly before going on to answer his own question and many others of his own devising as well. But this seemingly interminable monologue was halted in mid-afternoon when Drissell induced Ben Brown to hoist an attempted on-drive to Ryan Higgins at mid-off, thus ending the Sussex skipper’s 113-run stand for the fifth wicket with Harry Finch. Brown’s dismissal for 59 still left his side reasonably placed on 210 for 5 but it began a gentle subsidence to 286, considerably fewer than Sussex were hoping for when they won the toss but more than they looked likely to make when they were 90 for 4 just ten minutes before lunch. Drissell’s second contribution was the scalp of Chris Jordan, who was caught at slip for nought just after tea. He thus has 1141 fewer career wickets than Sinfield, a much-loved offspinner from a very different generation, but he is 19 years old and he has made a start.By the close Gloucestershire’s openers, Chris Dent and Miles Hammond, had made 42 without loss and Sussex were left to reflect on a day when they had passed up the opportunity to dominate the game. This will have been particularly annoying to the visiting coaches given that Luke Wells and Phil Salt had put on 74 for the first wicket before Wells skied an attempted clip off the toes and was well caught by Graeme van Buuren running back from midwicket. That was the first of three wickets taken in 15 balls by Craig Miles, who then yorked Phil Salt after the opener had made a fluent 57 and had Luke Wright taken lowdown at midwicket by James Bracey.Brown and Finch had steered their side to 125 for 4 at lunch but Sussex were still poorly placed in what is a vital game for them. “There are great spiritual advantages to be had in that town along with the air and the waters,” Bulstrode assures his wife in when telling her of their trip to Cheltenham, but Brown’s players are more interested in securing the win that will allow them to close a 33-point gap on second-placed Kent. The loss of their first four batsmen for 23 runs and their last six for 76 hardly helps that quest.But the fall of wickets in clumps was the only remotely clumsy aspect of this day’s cricket. As if to remind spectators where they were, the college has placed its badge on the outfield. “Labor Vincit Omnia” reads the motto beneath the noble crest and it is remarkable that a classically educated member of Momentum has not inserted a hubristic “u” within the Latin assertion. There were, as ever, many toasts to the good health of Bacchus and they were raised with particular fervour when David Wiese was leg before when playing no shot to Kieran Noema-Barnett on the stroke of the teatime patum peperium. Everywhere one looked there was easy affluence: not every outground has a garden enclosure with a gazebo and easy chairs; not every festival is sponsored by Aston Martin.On the resumption Jordan fell to Drissell – more raised arms, more infectious joy – and then Finch, having played with unfussy efficiency for his 76 runs, punched a drive straight back to Matt Taylor, who clung onto a fine one-handed catch. Sussex’s tail did what they could but Jofra Archer was caught at slip by Noema-Barnett for 21 when playing a horrid cut-cum-dangle. That gave Miles his fourth wicket and he finished the innings with 4 for 68, his best figures of the season. This first day ended with the home side’s openers playing fluently and the second morning at Cheltenham will begin with a young Gloucestershire batsman called Hammond resuming his innings.

Returns for the tour of Sri Lanka after a long injury layoff due to issues with her right knee

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2018Fast bowler Mansi Joshi returns to India’s squad for the tour of Sri Lanka in September after a long injury layoff. Joshi, who has played no top-class cricket in 2018 due to an injury to her right knee, made it to both the ODI and T20I squads for the Sri Lanka series. She had caught the eye at the Women’s World Cup in England last year, where she claimed figures of 2 for 9 against Pakistan, before injury sidelined her in late 2017.Tanya Bhatia, meanwhile, takes over keeping duties in both limited-overs formats, with Sushma Verma being left out from the ODI squad.Twenty-year-old allrounder Arundhati Reddy was picked for the T20Is, her maiden India call-up. The T20I team will of course be without the experienced Jhulan Goswami, with the veteran India quick having called time on her T20I career earlier today.Missing from both squads is batsman V Vanitha, who did not make the tour despite finishing second on the runs chart at the just-concluded Women’s Senior T20 Challenger Trophy. She had finished second to only Punam Raut in that tournament, with 128 runs at 25.60 and a strike rate of 102.40. Raut, who got 135 runs at 33.75 with a strike rate of 81.81 in that tournament, made a comeback to the ODI squad after missing their last ODI assignment, the home series against England in April.Uncapped allrounder D Hemalatha, who was called up for that England series but did not get a game, was picked in both squads here.India play three ODIs in Sri Lanka, starting on September 11, which count towards points in the ICC Women’s Championship. That is followed by five T20Is, between September 19 and 25. The T20s will be of particular significance for both teams, as they build up to the Women’s World T20 in November in the Caribbean – conditions that are largely likely to be similar to the slow, low surfaces of Sri Lanka.ODI squad: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-capt), Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, D Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Tanya Bhatia (wk), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Shikha PandeyT20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, D Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Tanya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi

Glamorgan cantered past that modest target in only 12.5 overs to complete their third straight victory and strengthen their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals

ECB Reporters Network05-Aug-2018
ScorecardBirthday boy Ruaidhri Smith recorded the best-ever economy rate by a Glamorgan bowler in T20 cricket as his side demolished Middlesex by seven wickets at Richmond.Smith celebrated turning 24 with the remarkable figures of 4 for 6 from four overs as the home side were rolled over for just 131 – and slid to their eighth Vitality Blast defeat in nine games.Glamorgan cantered past that modest target in only 12.5 overs to complete their third straight victory and strengthen their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals.Glamorgan elected to bowl first after winning the toss and that decision was proved resoundingly correct as Smith immediately blew away the hosts’ top order.Nick Gubbins was the first to go, neatly caught by Graham Wagg at short cover, and Stevie Eskinazi chopped on for a fifth-ball duck at the end of the same over.Eoin Morgan also played on and, when Smith uprooted the off stump of Paul Stirling, Middlesex were already sinking fast at a wretched 20 for 4.There was no sign of the carnage abating as Timm Van der Gugten removed James Franklin and Robbie White, both lbw in the space of three deliveries.James Fuller led a mini-recovery, hitting Craig Meschede for three boundaries in an over as he and George Scott put together a partnership of 40.Fuller’s undefeated knock of 46 from 30 balls at least dragged Middlesex’s total in the direction of respectability as they posted 131 all out which was aided by six penalty runs awarded for a slow over-rate.Glamorgan suffered an early casualty in their run chase as Meschede flicked the second ball of the innings into the hands of Gubbins at deep square leg.Aneurin Donald also perished, swinging at Steven Finn and missing but any whiff of hope for Middlesex was extinguished by Kiran Carlson, who set out to dominate from the off.He crashed Fuller through the covers for four, following that up with a leg-side six, and had reached 40 from 22 balls when he fell to an impressive catch by Eskinazi, diving forward at deep midwicket.Colin Ingram took up the baton, smashing an unbeaten 46 off 30 deliveries while Chris Cooke clubbed Stirling for successive sixes to finish on 25 not out and complete a comfortable win.

Neither the team management nor the selectors have told the India batsman why he was sidelined for all five Tests in England, Nair said

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2018Middle-order batsman Karun Nair hasn’t had “any conversations” with the India selectors and team management about why he didn’t play in any of the five Tests in England. Nair was part of India’s original 18-man squad for the Tests in England, but watched Hanuma Vihari, who was called up as a replacement during the series, leapfrog him and make a debut in the fifth Test at The Oval.On Saturday, Nair was left out of India’s Test squad for the home series against West Indies in October. Before that squad was named, Nair, in an interview with , said of the situation in England: “We [Nair, the selectors and the team management] haven’t had any conversations. Nothing at all. It is difficult, but I haven’t gone forth and asked anything, but yeah, we haven’t had any conversation.”Nair largely spent his time in England working with the team’s fitness trainer, who, according to Nair, commended him for his fitness levels. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with [Shanker] Basu sir, our trainer, and Sanjay Bangar sir as well, our batting coach,” he said. “Obviously a lot of throwdowns and a lot of net sessions. But mainly I have been spending time with Basu sir. According to him, I am the fittest person in the team right now. I am very proud of that and I just want to keep improving on that.”Nair, who has played six Tests, became India’s second triple-centurion – after Virender Sehwag – when he scored an unbeaten 303 against England in Chennai in December 2016. Since then, he has played only three more Tests and none since March 2017. Those three Tests were in the home series against Australia, and Nair had a high score of 26 in four innings.Before the series against Australia, he did not make the playing XI in the one-off home Test against Bangladesh, and after Australia he was dropped for the home and away series against Sri Lanka, and the Tests in South Africa. He returned to the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, but not the XI. In July, he travelled with India A to England, where he made two fifties in six first-class innings against England Lions and West Indies A, with a top score of 93. That was followed by the England Tests, where Vihari played ahead of him.”It is difficult, naturally for a human being, it’s difficult to handle that situation, or to take that as a human being,” Nair said. “But the team management and everyone else involved make a decision, and me as a player has to accept it. There’s nothing else I can do. Whenever I get an opportunity, I will let the bat do the talking. I can’t be saying anything else on that.”Nair is currently captaining the Indian Board President’s XI against the touring West Indians in Vadodara. In the first innings of that two-day game, Nair was out to Shannon Gabriel for 29.

The ACA called it “hugely significant” that the cultural review had apportioned significant blame on Cricket Australia for events surrounding the ball-tampering

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-20181:56

ACA will be ‘relentless’ in aiming to overturn player bans

The Australian Cricketers Association has reiterated its call for the bans of Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft to be lifted in the light of the findings of the cultural reviews into Australian cricket.The Longstaff review said the events of Newlands were not a one-off and were caused by the pervading culture of Cricket Australia which the players association called “hugely significant.”Smith and Warner are currently serving a one-year ban while Bancroft was sanctioned for nine months for the ball-tampering scandal in March.”What the Longstaff Review reveals is that Cricket Australia itself must also take a share of responsibility for what happened in South Africa,” Greg Dyer, the ACA president, said. “Yes, this moment of madness was ‘individual’ but now there is evidence and independent verification of system failure as well. This is hugely significant.
“With this new information common sense, common decency, basic fairness, proportionality and natural justice demand that the punishment is reduced. The players have already lost time in the game, chances to play for Australia, endured public humiliation and faced massive financial penalties.”My message to Cricket Australia is a simple one: these contrite men have been punished enough. Let these contrite men play.”I add that the ACA will be relentless in pursuing this end.”Finally, I also offer a message to the Australian public on behalf of the ACA. In short, Australia’s cricket players ‘get it.’ We assure you. The players ‘get it.’ The players understand.”A Cricket Australia spokesperson said: “We have seen the Australian Cricketers’ Association press conference and note they will be making a submission to the CA Board in the next 48 hours. We look forward to engaging directly with the ACA in a positive and constructive manner in the best interests of the game.”Speaking in the wake of the publication of the reviews, CA chairman David Peever said there was no chance of the punishments being rescinded.”Sanctions were carried out and imposed by the board after a very full and thoughtful process. So the sanctions stand,” Peever said.On Tuesday, the new CA CEO Kevin Roberts also indicated there would be no early route back for the trio, citing the appeals path that was open to the players when the sanctions were handed down.”There’s no provision to review the sanctions,” Roberts told . “There’s an appeals mechanism which was available to the players before the sanctions were finalized. I really empathise with each of the three players and have chatted with them in recent weeks. They are experiencing a challenging time. They made a serious mistake. I’m getting as many people saying to me the sanctions are too harsh as those who say they aren’t harsh enough. We want to keep supporting the players.”

Isobel and Cecelia, who played for nearly two decades in the international circuit, announced their retirements after Ireland’s loss in their final group-stage match in the World T20

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Nov-2018Ireland’s Joyce twins, Isobel and Cecelia, announced their retirement from international cricket after Ireland’s eight-wicket loss to New Zealand in their final group-stage match in the World T20. It was also the last international game for their team-mates, Clare Shillington and Ciara Metcalfe, who had, in May this year, announced that the tournament would be their last. All four have been in the international circuit for nearly two decades, with 37-year-old Shillington having debuted in 1997.While Shillington and Metcalfe received a guard of honour from players of both teams before taking the field, the Joyces informed their decision to their team-mates only during the post-match huddle.
Allrounder Isobel, who made her Ireland debut in 1999, has played 79 ODIs and 55 T20Is, while opening batsman Cecelia, who entered the international circuit two years later, has played 57 ODIs and 43 T20Is. Isobel had also led Ireland in 62 games before stepping down as captain following the World T20 in 2016.”I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for us. The next 10-12 months will be about transitioning the team as we don’t have any international fixtures coming up,” Laura Delany, the Ireland captain, said.Earlier this year, their brother Ed Joyce, who has represented both Ireland and England, announced his retirement from professional cricket, following Ireland’s inaugural men’s Test match against Pakistan in Dublin. Five Joyce siblings have represented Ireland in all – Dom, who played three ODIs in 2006-07, and Gus, who played one first-class game for Ireland in 2000.Post-retirement, all four players are set to stay involved in the game, with Cecelia focusing on her role as vice-president of Ireland’s player association and the other three taking up coaching roles.

The India captain hailed series win in Australia as the biggest moment of his career yet

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2019Virat Kohli has picked out India’s historic series win in Australia as the “biggest achievement of his career” so far.”It has to be right on the top of the pile [of my achievements],” he said in the post-match presentation. “When we won the World Cup in 2011, I was the youngest member of the side. I saw people around me getting emotional, but I didn’t feel what they felt. Having been to this country for the third time now and to understand what we’ve achieved here has never been done before, we can be proud of it. This win will give us a different identity as an Indian team and can inspire kids to do the same for the country going forward.”It was in Sydney where he was appointed full-time captain, in January 2015. Clinching a historic first at the same venue four years later, he felt would give his team “a new identity.””This win is definitely a stepping stone [for Indian cricket],” he said. “If you see the average age of this side is quite low. The most important thing we have is belief. We believed in South Africa and England [even though we lost] that we are on the right track. We have results now. It’s not about what voices think of you from the outside. It’s about what you believe as a group. We’ve always been honest, going in the right direction. The intent has been good to take Indian cricket forward in the best way possible. Here we stand with the most-outstanding result we can think of.”Kohli also insisted it was “the team makes a captain look good”, and that he hadn’t been part of a better dressing room. “Firstly, want to say I’ve never been more proud to be part of a team than this one right here,” he said. “I think the culture we have been able to build over the last 12 months [has been fantastic]. I’m proud to be part of this team. To lead these players is an honour and privilege. They make a captain look good.”Kohli heaped special praise on “nicest guy” Cheteshwar Pujara for his batting. Pujara, who four years ago was left out of the Test XI at this very venue owing to bad form, returned to top score with 193 to earn the Player-of-the-Match award. He also finished the series as the highest run-scorer, making 521 runs in seven innings at an average of 74.42.”We spoke about as a team that we just wanted to go back to the basics, and not be flamboyant but have the old hard grind for runs,” he said. “A special mention to Pujara. He has been outstanding this series, after the kind of series he had last time when he came here. He’s one guy who was willing to accept things, take it in his stride and work on his game.”He’s one of the nicest guys around. I’m happy for him. Also a special mention to Mayank Agarwal, he stepped in and batted like a champion. To come in for the Boxing Day Test and play the way he did against a high-quality attack speaks volumes of the mindset and belief he has. As a batting unit, everyone contributed at different times. Rishabh coming in and dominating attacks like that augers well. Once batsmen start scoring, we knew our bowlers can be relentless and lethal.”Kohli was also effusive in his praise for the bowling group for doing the heavy lifting, not just in Australia but also in South Africa and England, where they kept putting India into positions from where they could force favourable results. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma picked up a combined 48 wickets.”The way the bowlers have dictated terms and dominated, not just here but on the previous two tours has been fantastic,” he said. “I haven’t seen in Indian cricket, playing four bowlers and getting the kind of results like this overseas. Hats off to their fitness and mindset.”They never look at a pitch and say things like ‘there’s nothing for us.’ They dictate plans to me and that’s a revelation for Indian cricket. It’s a lesson for all bowlers back home to get into that mindset early in their careers. These guys are going to be looked up to for a long, long time. Breaking records of the great West Indies fast bowlers is no small feat, very proud of it.”

Clubs who missed out on staging agreements could be given opportunities in tournament’s second year

George Dobell11-Dec-2018Some games in The Hundred could be played away from their host cities as the ECB bid to appease smaller counties.While the ECB have recently declined requests from some counties – notably Gloucestershire – to increase the number of hosting teams from eight to nine or 10, there does appear to be increased hope from some of those who missed out staging agreements that, in the competition’s second year, they will be given the opportunity to host games.So Durham remain hopeful of hosting one of the games given to Yorkshire in 2021 – it seems there is no such expectation in the tournament’s first year – while Somerset hope for a similar reciprocal agreement with the team based in Cardiff.With only four home games scheduled for the group stages of the competition, however, it seems there will be few opportunities for such agreements. The likes of Somerset and Gloucestershire, therefore, may be looking at hosting a game each every other year at best and it remains possible that such talk will come to nothing and is simply designed to pacify the counties.Disagreement is also likely over the branding and, perhaps, the naming of the new teams. While it was initially announced that crossovers between new identities and county brands would be avoided to ensure no cannibalism of existing brands, there is a concern from some within the game that the teams based in Cardiff, Lord’s and Leeds, in particular, will lean pretty heavily on recognisable images in an attempt to appeal to existing supporters.

He hit nine sixes in his 47-ball 72, but found little support from his colleagues as Sylhet now have two losses in three matches

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2019How the game played out

Dhaka Dynamites are now unbeaten after four games. The last of these wins came against Sylhet Sixers, who were beaten by 32 runs despite a spell of sensational six-hitting from the West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran. He hit nine sixes in his 47-ball 72, adding more than a dash of entertainment quotient to the evening. Yet, the result was never in doubt.Dhaka’s 173 for 7 was built around a second-wicket stand of 67 between Sunil Narine and Rony Talukdar, who made 58. Then they collapsed from 117 for 3 to 125 for 7 in the space of 18 balls. They found saviours in Nurul Hasan and Mohammad Naim, who struck two fours and a six between them in the last five overs to give the Dhaka a strong finish. With the ball, Taskin Ahmed took three wickets in an over to derail the chase.Turning points

Taskin removed big guns Andre Russell and Kieron Pollard and allrounder Shuvagata Hom in the 15th over, just as the Dhaka were entering the slog overs.Nurul Hasan and Mohammad Naim, both unbeaten on 18 and 25 respectively, revived Dhaka with their 48-run unbroken eighth wicket stand.David Warner and Liton Das fell inside four overs of the chase.Star of the day
Pooran preferred the straight boundaru, striking his West Indies team-mates Russell and Narine for big sixes. He also attacked Rubel, among Bangladesh’s best bowlers, while hitting Shakib twice over the square leg fence. The best hit was reversed for Shuvagata, who was reverse slog-swept into the second tier.The big miss

During the 17th over of the Dynamites innings, the ball slipped out of Sohail Tanvir’s grip and went flying high over both the batsman Naim and wicketkeeper Liton, bouncing a few times to the boundary as he conceded five runs in no-balls.Where the teams stand

Dhaka have made it four wins out of four while the Sixers have work to do, having lost two out of three games now.