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The India captain was full of praise for KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane after India’s 75-run come-from-behind win in Bengaluru

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Bengaluru07-Mar-20171:34

‘Pujara, Rahane showed why they’re India’s best in Tests’ – Kohli

Virat Kohli has called India’s series-levelling victory in Bengaluru the “sweetest” of his 16 Test wins as captain. Having lost the first Test in Pune and been bowled out for 189 on the first day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, India came back to complete a 75-run win on the fourth day.”For sure. Till now, this is the best one definitely,” Kohli said of the win in his post-match press conference. “I don’t want to say too much, because the game panned out the way it did, and there’s not much left to say. It was a quite emotional game for us, quite draining as well. Everyone got along together, we showed team spirit.”Kohli also said Australia had been too focussed on taking his wicket – referencing Nathan Lyon’s comment after day one comparing it to cutting off the “head of a snake” and “then hopefully the body will fall away” – to the detriment of planning against India’s other players.”A lot of people were talking about the head of the snake, but I think the snake did pretty well by itself, so it’s not just about one individual. I’m pretty happy if they keep focussing on the head of the snake, and the snake can sting from a lot of directions. I think some people need to keep that in mind, but I thought [this was] the sweetest victory for us.”India’s comeback began on the second day, when they took six wickets and only conceded 197 runs to stifle the momentum Australia had built on the first day. Kohli was full of praise for his bowlers for their efforts.”I think the first session on day two where we gave away only 45-odd runs [47 runs] and picked up two wickets when they could have taken the game away from us, I think that was probably the momentum change that we needed, and throughout the day we didn’t give more than 200 runs as we picked up six wickets.”I think that for us was quite important, and something that you look for as a team. Someone has to step up and do the job for you. I think [Ravindra] Jadeja was outstanding in the first innings along with our fast bowlers. Their spell again was very, very good, relentless pressure from one end by Umesh [Yadav] and Ishant [Sharma] and then Jadeja picking up those wickets later on. Those are the kind of things you need as a team to change the tide that’s going against you.”One thing is that we never stopped trying. We didn’t give in, we didn’t let the opposition totally roll over us, we knew if they didn’t get a big first-innings total, day three – end of day two and day three – is the best time to bat here and day four is going to be very difficult. We saw the first-class stats, and no team had chased 120 in the fourth innings, so we knew, once we get 150-plus, we have a fair chance to go at them, and eventually we surprised ourselves by winning by 75, honestly. I thought it was going to be closer than that.”Kohli on KL Rahul: ‘The last three innings have been his best three innings so far’•AFP

KL Rahul won the Player-of-the-Match award for half-centuries in both innings. These followed a first-innings 64 in Pune, and Kohli said these three innings were the best of the opener’s career, even better than his four Test hundreds.”I think the last three innings have been his best three innings so far,” Kohli said. “And I told him this, ‘you’ll cherish the ones that you don’t get hundreds in, but they’re so valuable for the team and you’ll understand their importance later’. And that happens to every batsman.”I think he’s in a very good zone. He wants to convert his own starts into big hundreds, which he has done in the past, but because it has been a bit difficult in the past with momentum not going our way, I think he’s stuck in really well. He’s shown a lot of character and I’m sure in the coming games he’d like to push that score forward and put the team into a more consolidating position. Hats off to the way he’s played. Young guy, big series, team up against the wall and he shows character, you know, three times out of four innings, so outstanding.”Rahul’s wicket in the second innings was quickly followed by those of Kohli himself and Ravindra Jadeja. When that happened, India were four down and leading by only 33 runs. India wrested back the momentum and set Australia a target of 188 thanks largely to a 118-run fifth-wicket stand between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane – the only century partnership in the entire match.”You need two-three people to step up and take responsibility, and I feel that the partnership between Ajinkya and Pujara, in a situation where the momentum was against us in the series, was outstanding,” Kohli said. “In the last two years, it’s one of the top two partnerships, or maybe No. 1, because retrieving the lost momentum and giving the team the lead was a question of character, and they both showed why they are India’s best Test batsmen.”After the first-Test defeat, India rejigged their combination in Bengaluru, going with an extra batsman and leaving out their fifth bowler. Kohli said India had been “shaken” after Pune and wanted the security of an extra batsman in their line-up, and that recent history at the Chinnaswamy Stadium suggested four bowlers would be enough.”I don’t think [on India being a bowler short], because we knew the Bangalore wicket, since it has been relaid there have been only one or two bowlers doing the job. One or two bowlers have been getting a lot of wickets [in each innings].”If you see this Test match as well, Lyon got eight in the first innings, then Jadeja got six, then [Josh] Hazlewood six and [R] Ashwin six. So I think one bowler has stood out, even in the first-class season we saw that.”From that feedback, we knew that we had to play an extra batter just to strengthen up our batting a bit, because we were shaken up in Pune a little. And you need guys to have that bit of cushion. So when you put runs on the board in either innings, then obviously it helps the bowlers to come and put pressure on the batsmen. I think it was more to do with how the games have panned out here and that’s why we decided to go with that combination.””I think this was the kind of game we needed to sort of forget that hiccup in Pune and move forward again as a pack. Yeah the spinners have been outstanding and they will definitely look to back their strengths and dominate the home season as they’ve done so far.”Talking about the third Test in Ranchi, Kohli expected the pitch there to be “slow and low”.”We can’t do much about the Ranchi pitch, you know how it has always been,” he said. “It has always been slow and low, they know exactly what to expect there and we know what to expect as well. It’s how you mentally prepare, mentally what kind of zone you’re in as a team.

While the outfield in Bengaluru was rated as very good, it is understood that one of the main factors in Chris Broad’s pitch appraisal was the variable bounce

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Mar-2017The pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which hosted the second Test between Australia and India last week, has been given a “below average” rating by the ICC match referee, Chris Broad. Earlier, Broad had rated the pitch for the Pune Test, the first of the series “poor”.While the outfield in Bengaluru was rated as “very good”, it is understood that one of the main factors in Broad’s appraisal of the pitch was the variable bounce. In contrast to the series opener in Pune, which ended within three days, the second Test was low-scoring thriller that went into the final session of the fourth day. India finally prevailed on fourth afternoon, and levelled the four-match series 1-1 after Australia lost their last six wickets for 11.A below-average rating from a match referee is common and carries no penalty or fine. Of the six options available for the match referee to evaluate a pitch, a below-average rating ranks ahead of “poor” and “unfit”.A rough patch outside the right-hand batsmen’s off stump offered turn and bounce to Nathan Lyon, who took eight wickets on the first day. Second day onwards, the fast bowlers got quite a few balls to stay low and shoot through the ground. Virat Kohli, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith and R Ashwin fell to grubbers.Pune was the second Indian pitch to be rated poor in two seasons, after India beat South Africa in Nagpur in three days in 2015-16. Since the ICC began its pitch and outfield monitoring process in 2006, four of the seven Full-Member pitches rated poor or unfit have belonged to India.The third Test of the series will be played in Ranchi from March 16. Like Pune, Ranchi will be making its Test debut, and the pitch there has been a subject of speculation.

Rohit Sharma masterminded the regulation chase that became tight to give Mumbai Indians the lead in the standings, and put beyond doubt their qualification for the playoffs

The Report by Sidharth Monga01-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
2:41

Bangar: Rohit at No. 4 makes sense without Rayudu

Rohit Sharma masterminded the regulation chase that became tight to give Mumbai Indians the lead in the standings, and put beyond doubt their qualification for the playoffs. It pushed the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore out of the tournament.On a pitch that was drier than the usual Wankhede belters, Mumbai Indians batsmen kept getting out after getting in. Two big ones – Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana – fell to Pawan Negi, who firstly gave Royal Challengers something to bowl at with his 23-ball 35 and then followed up with figures of 4-0-17-2. That left Mumbai needing 65 off the last seven, with Kieron Pollard out and Krunal Pandya – who took the wicket of AB de Villiers once again – injured, but Rohit signalled a return to form with a cool chase whose feature was calculated blows. He ended up with 56 off 37 without taking any big risks as Mumbai won with one ball to spare.One slower ball picked, another not pickedRoyal Challengers changed their opening combination again with Mandeep Singh coming in ahead of Travis Head. This was one of the six they had tried in 11 matches. Mumbai were missing their ace defensive bowler, Harbhajan Singh, and his replacement Karn Sharma was one whom Virat Kohli fancies the most. They also had Mitchell McClenaghan who had good numbers against Kohli, but again the big bowler Jasprit Bumrah had struggled against his India captain.Mumbai took the risk of bowling Karn in the fourth over, and that produced Mandeep’s wicket, with a slog settling with the only man in the deep on the leg side. In the next over, Kohli showed ominous signs when he picked the near unpickable Bumrah slower ball and dropped him over cow corner for six. At the start of the next over, though, Kohli failed to pick the McClenaghan offcutter, and chipped an easy catch to midwicket. Royal Challengers 40 for 2 in the sixth over. McClenaghan to Kohli in IPL: 28 balls, 20 runs, four wickets.De Villiers v Krunal, part 4De Villiers is arguably the most dangerous batsman in the world. Krunal has not even played international cricket. He made his first-class debut last year. Yet, in Twenty20 cricket, Krunal had got de Villiers out every time he batted against his team. In this match, though, de Villiers looked a million dollars from the time he cut the third and fourth balls he faced for four and six. In Krunals’ second over, de Villiers got a four and six more. The first one was a short ball, which Krunal doesn’t want, but the second was a slog-sweep against the turn, which Krunal has been making de Villiers do. In Krunal’s last over, de Villiers again pulled out the sweep for another massive six, reaching 43 off 26. The next ball, though, drifted a little bit more, and drew the edge from another attempted six.Interestingly, in the innings break, de Villiers said he could see Rohit was looking to squeeze in a few overs of spin and didn’t want to let him do that. Did Royal Challengers over-aim here? Shane Watson’s wicket followed soon, and made it 108 for 5 in the 14th over.Negi fights with the batNegi, though, made sure the familiar tale of Royal Challengers surrender didn’t repeat itself. He took toll of Lasith Malinga and Bumrah after picking their slower balls, taking three sixes in the 18th and 19th overs. The McClenaghan slower ball, though, got him in the last over, and controlled the late damage. What looked like 150 had rocketed up to 170 but had settled at 162 now.Negi fights with the ballDespite the first-ball loss of Parthiv Patel, Buttler and Rana ran away to a quick start against the pace, taking Mumbai to 55 for 1 by the end of the Powerplay. Watson and Negi pulled them back, with Watson bowling tight seventh and ninth over and Negi taking the set batsmen out in the eighth and 10th. Pollard fell soon, taking two risks in one Yuzvendra Chahal over, making it 98 for 4 at the end of 13 overs.Leave it to RohitKrunal, who had injured himself in the field, came out, presumably to counter spinners who were taking it away from right-hand batsmen, but found it too painful to carry on and walked back off. Mumbai did seem concerned about spin because they replaced him with another left-hand batsman, Karn Sharma. The one man not worried, though, was Rohit, who knew the asking rate was not enormous and waited for the occasional mistake from the bowlers.A square drive and an extra-cover drive in the 15th over followed by a punch in the 17th kept the asking rate in check, but with 30 required in the last three, Rohit might have thought of the match against Rising Pune Supergiant that he couldn’t finish off. He still remained cool, though, even with Aniket Choudhury bowling an exceptional 18th over with just five off the first five. Then a slower ball slipped wide, and the quicker ball was smacked for six by Hardik Pandya.Mumbai needed one more such blow to seal this, and Rohit struck that blow with a sweep off S Aravind in the 19th over, placing the slower ball into the vacant square-leg region. Watson bowled a tight final over, but it was always going to tough defending just six.

After being on the fortunate end of a washout in their first group game, Australia were denied victory at The Oval, where it began to rain after 16 overs of the chase

The Report by Mohammad Isam05-Jun-2017Match abandoned

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:34

Fleming: Frustrating for everyone but Bangladesh

After being on the fortunate end of a washout in their first group game, Australia were denied victory against Bangladesh at The Oval, where they were firmly in control of a small chase when it began to rain after 16 overs. They needed to play four more overs to ensure a result but the London weather did not allow it.The last action on the field, before the players went off at 6.43 pm, involved Steven Smith simply blocking five deliveries from Mashrafe Mortaza without attempting to score, in the hope of speeding up proceedings to get to 20 overs. Australia would have been well ahead of the par score. The match was eventually called off at 9.18 pm.With two points from two washouts, Australia now have to beat England in their final group game to have a chance of making the semi-finals. Bangladesh, who have only one point after two games, are not yet out of contention either.It had drizzled towards the end of Bangladesh’s innings and there was a small delay in the start of the chase. Australia began it confidently. Aaron Finch and David Warner clubbed a couple of boundaries each and the pace did not flag even after Finch fell lbw to Rubel Hossain. Warner became the fastest Australia to 4000 ODI runs.Bangladesh bowled only one over of spin, not hurrying the over-rate along by using their quicks for 15 overs. As Smith and Warner began a fluent partnership, their race was not against the bowling but the weather, and ultimately it was futile.The weather was fair for much of the first innings but Bangladesh’s batting was not, with the exception of Tamim Iqbal, who waged a lone battle against Australia’s pace battery.His 95 came off 114 balls, and included six fours and three sixes, but Tamim had little support from his team-mates and had to readjust his tempo every time a wicket fell. The first three went in the space of 11 overs – Mushfiqur Rahim did not review his lbw through he had got an inside edge – and Tamim began to rebuild the innings with Shakib. Their partnership had grown to 69 before Shakib was given out lbw to Travis Head; Nigel Llong’s decision appeared spot on despite the batsmen being well down the track.Legspinner Adam Zampa debunked any doubt about his inclusion by taking two wickets in consecutive overs, though Smith brought him into the attack in the 35th over.Mitchell Starc then ripped out the last four Bangladesh wickets in the space of nine balls, including three in one over – Tamim was caught pulling to fine-leg, before Mashrafe Mortaza and Rubel Hossain were bowled by full and fast deliveries. Mustafizur Rahman narrowly survived Starc’s hat-trick ball but Mehedi was clean bowled in the next over.The weather had begun to worsen, though, and the players spent the best part of the evening indoors.

Mark Taylor, the Cricket Australia board director, has admitted that compromise must be found between the game’s governing body and the Australian Cricketers Association before the game suffers further damage

Daniel Brettig11-Jul-20173:46

What exactly is the Cricket Australia-ACA pay dispute?

Mark Taylor, the Cricket Australia (CA) board director, has admitted that compromise must be found between the game’s governing body and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) before the game suffers further damage, in an ugly pay war that has put the national team’s upcoming series at risk of abandonment.In speaking at an Ashes event organised by the Nine Network in Melbourne on Tuesday, Taylor became the first senior CA figure connected to the MoU debate to offer a public opinion on the dispute in more than six weeks, since the chief executive James Sutherland was interviewed by the ABC on May 25. Taylor also remains the only board director to have spoken publicly about it at all.Prior to that, Taylor had spoken firmly about CA’s desire to breakup the revenue sharing model on Nine’s programme on May 14. But he took on a more conciliatory tone this time, 11 days after the expiry of the most recent MoU between the players and the board left more than 230 of the country’s cricketers unemployed and a mounting mess of commercial problems for the board. Not least of these is reassuring its chief broadcaster Nine – for whom Taylor commentates – that the Ashes will go ahead as planned.”I think there’s got to be compromise on both sides, I really believe that,” Taylor said on Tuesday. “I think at any negotiation you give and you take. I think when you get to that situation, which I hope we are getting very close to now, then you get close to a resolution. I’m confident there will be a resolution soon. I don’t know when but I just hope both sides keep working hard at it.”I think everyone has probably read and heard enough about things that don’t involve people scoring runs and taking wickets, me included, and I think that [the cricket] is what we all want to see. That includes sponsors, TV networks, past players, commentators, and I think the quicker we get to that situation the better for the game.”I’m still very confident there will be an Ashes series and I’m very confident there will be some Test-match cricket played by Australia before them. That’s certainly what I’m working towards and I’m assuming both parties are working towards that. It’s far from ideal and it’s cost an Australia A tour of South Africa which is disappointing, no doubt about it. But at this stage we haven’t lost a Bangladesh tour and we certainly don’t want to lose an Ashes tour here in Australia.”While Taylor has only recently returned home from holidays, he said all board directors had been kept informed of progress in talks by CA’s lead negotiator Kevin Roberts, including conference calls every three days that he had dialled in to from overseas. ESPNcricinfo understands that some progress appeared to have been made by the middle of last week before regressing and forcing the cancellation of the Australia A tour. While talks go on, little if any movement from entrenched positions has been discernible since.Mark Taylor said it was necessary for everyone involved to “be adult” about the pay dispute; Ian Chappell said while his sympathies lie on the side of the players, give how protracted this dispute is, there has to be fault on both sides•Getty Images

A director since 2004, apart from a brief absence in 2012-13 when the CA board was changed from a body of 14 state representatives to an independent group of nine, Taylor agreed that it was vital to find a way for the two parties to coexist in whatever new landscape was drawn up as a result of the next MoU.”Day to day it’s management’s job, I’ve been away for the last couple of weeks, only got back on Sunday night myself, but I’ve been kept abreast of the situation,” he said. “Calls every three days, sometimes a bit more often if need be, and now I’m back in Australia I’m well aware of the situation. And I’ll be doing everything I can to try and find a resolution to this.”I think we all have to be adult about it. It’s a big game these days. Players are fully professional. Cricket boards are trying to do what they think is right for the game in general, so there’s going to be times when you disagree and that’s where we are at the moment. But I think both sides have to work towards finding a resolution which is in the best interests of the game and the players.”From a game point of view, it’s far from ideal. We are in July, the Ashes are still four months away, but the Bangladesh tour is only a month away. The quicker we can get it resolved the better, the quicker we can move on and rebuild the relationship [that] I think is important between CA and the ACA. The quicker we can start rebuilding that, I think that’ll be good for the game.”The former captain Ian Chappell, meanwhile, termed the standoff as “the biggest bust up since World Series Cricket between players and administrators” and reckoned both sides of the argument, whatever their merits, had begun to be damaged from the moment the previous MoU expired on July 1.”I think once it went past the June 30 deadline I think it started to hurt the game from both points of view,” Chappell said. “I think the public were probably sick to death of it by then it was a plague on both their houses as far as the public are concerned. I think the quicker it gets resolved the better and if it’s going to be a partnership, which I think it needs to be, it’s not a boss-employee situation.”If it’s going to be a partnership there’s got to be give and take on both sides, and probably most importantly there has to be a bit more respect, that’s the first thing that needs to happen to help rebuild the relationship. My sympathies are always going to be on the side of the players, but when a dispute goes on this long there has to be fault on both sides.”The job of the players association is to work with the administrators. Your job as a cricketer is just to play the game and having come from an era where the players had to fight the fight, that’s not an ideal situation at all. To me it’s up to the players association to get the thing sorted out with the board, and for the players to just play their game.”

A concise look back at the events that led to the pay-dispute crisis between the Australian players and their cricket board

Daniel Brettig30-Jun-20173:46

What is the CA-ACA pay dispute?

November 11: MoU negotiations between Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) formally begin in Melbourne, with a meeting between CA’s chairman David Peever and his opposite number Greg Dyer. The meeting was preluded by news that the ACA was chasing a more expansive definition of Australian Cricket Revenue – the agreed pool of money from which their payment has been drawn – to include digital revenue.December 7: Australia’s captain Steven Smith and deputy David Warner dine with CA board directors where the governing body’s desire to break up the revenue sharing model is discussed. It is an evening that begins a trend of CA trying to go around the ACA to deal directly with the players.December 12: CA sends its initial pay submission to the ACA and players, detailing plans to break up the revenue sharing model and offer fixed wages to domestic male and female players, while only offering surplus profits – capped at A$20 million – to international men (subsequently expanded to also include international women). A particular sticking point is the pregnancy policy for female players.December 19: CA suspends pay talks with the ACA after the pregnancy clause revelations, locking the players’ association’s negotiating team out of a scheduled meeting at the board’s Jolimont headquarters – this is the first major breakdown in pay talks between the two bodies in 20 years.December 22: Australia’s men’s and women’s captains Steven Smith and Meg Lanning write to the CA chief executive James Sutherland requesting that the board respects the ACA as the players’ collective bargaining agent and asking that they cease attempts to deal directly with individual players.December 27: Sutherland seeks to take some heat out of discussions by stating during the Boxing Day Test match against Pakistan that Australia’s players’ association and board have “more in common than not”.January 24: The ACA claims that it is not being offered substantial financial details on which to judge CA’s proposal and weigh it up against its own.March 5: Sutherland maintains CA’s desire to break up the revenue percentage model while visiting India for Australia’s Test tour.March 21: Players are presented with CA’s formal pay offer, which adds some detail and some adjustments to the December proposal but remains largely unchanged in its modelling and overall thrust, seeking to breakup the revenue sharing model and return wage control to the board. The offer also outlines what CA intends to do with the money raised by changing the model – expanding its media wing and investing in other new projects in addition to https://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/story/1087893.html” target=”_blank”>funding the grassroots.April 19: Tim May, the former ACA chief executive and an architect of the first revenue sharing MoU in 1998, challenges CA to provide a more substantial case for breaking up the model.April 27: CA’s head of cricket operations, Sean Cary, one of few board employees to work closely and consistently with the ACA, quits to take up a tennis job in the United States.May 11: Mitchell Starc insists that no Australian players will entertain contract negotiations until a new MoU is agreed upon, following revelations that CA’s team performance manager Pat Howard has offered multi-year deals to the top five players – Starc, Steven Smith, David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.May 12: Sutherland writes to his opposite number at the ACA Alistair Nicholson, criticising the ACA’s approach to negotiations and informs all players coming out of contract that they will be unemployed as of July 1. The ACA requests mediation to move pay talks forward after numerous rounds of fruitless meetings between the players’ association and the board.May 15: David Warner further inflames the dispute by saying CA might find itself without any players for the Ashes if the two parties cannot reach an agreement.May 17: CA’s chairman David Peever rejects the ACA’s request for mediation, stating that negotiations had not yet begun.May 18: The ACA unveils a contingency fund for players left out of pocket in the event of the pay dispute going beyond June 30.May 25: The ACA announces the foundation of The Cricketers Brand, a commercial wing of the association for the use of the players’ intellectual property, which passes out of the hands of CA beyond June 30 when the MoU expires.May 27-28: Peever rejects the ACA’s calls for mediation a second time as CA again attempts to deal directly with the players. Australia’s federal minister for sport, Greg Hunt, reveals the government
would be prepared to provide mediation for the two parties if the dispute were to threaten the Ashes.May 30: CA releases a video featuring lead negotiator Kevin Roberts explaining CA’s pay offer to players, with another released the following week. One of the graphics accompanying the video states that the Big Bash League lost A$33 million for CA over its first five years, a claim attacked by the ACA’s Simon Katich.June 8: Warner criticises CA for the release of the videos to players in the middle of their Champions Trophy campaign. Australia would be eliminated in the first round after a pair of washouts are followed by a loss to England.June 20: South Africa launches its new Twenty20 tournament and it is revealed that numerous Australian players, including internationals, have expressed interest in the event which will clash with the home season. At the same time it emerges that players have discussed playing exhibition matches should the dispute be lengthy.June 21: Following the announcement of the AFL’s pay deal with its players, the AFLPA chief executive and former ACA chief Paul Marsh criticises CA for endangering the international game. At the same time CA’s lead negotiator Roberts goes on a national roadshow to explain CA’s position to the players.June 23: CA offers a pair of concessions relative to its previous offer – increasing payments for domestic male players and also linking all players to the capped bonus system originally offered only to international players – at the same time as sending contract offers out to all players. The ACA, angered by the offers being sent out without an MoU, rejects the concessions.June 27: Players meet at an annual golf day in Sydney and implore CA’s chief executive James Sutherland to get directly involved in negotiations. Sutherland, who has kept at arm’s length from talks, arrives back in Melbourne from ICC meetings a day before the MoU expires.June 28: Players are sent a communique from the team performance manager Pat Howard outlining arrangements beyond the expiry of the MoU, including a warning that any players taking part in exhibition matches will be banned from the Ashes. Limited talks between the two parties go nowhere substantial.June 30: MoU deadline day arrives, and CA marks it by hardening its stance against the players, announcing that all money originally intended to be paid to out of contract players will instead be diverted to grassroots funding programmes until an MoU is agreed upon. This move enrages the players
further.

This season’s NatWest Blast has set new records for ticket sales, with official attendance rising to 883,000 overall

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Sep-2017This season’s NatWest Blast has set new records for ticket sales, with official attendance rising to 883,000 overall. Finals Day at Edgbaston is also a record sellout, while average attendances among the 18 counties were up to 7500.The return of the competition to a block in July and August – as well as soaring run rates – seems to have helped the Blast’s growth, despite poor weather causing 16 matches to be abandoned. Taking into account those through the turnstiles to watch the Kia Super League, 907,000 tickets had been sold for domestic T20, before the women’s Finals Day at Hove on Friday.The 2017 Blast figures were a 7% rise on the previous record, set in 2015 when the competition was played largely on Friday nights from May through to August. Last year saw a slight drop in attendances, partly down to poor weather.”It’s a genuine pleasure to be able to congratulate all 18 first-class counties for their outstanding efforts in making the 2017 Blast such a hit,” Gordon Hollins, the ECB’s chief operating officer, said.”The competition moved to a new place in the schedule this year, with all games played in a block in July and August rather than spread through the summer. That was welcomed by the players and has helped draw the crowds to NatWest T20 Blast – in bigger numbers then ever before.”The change created some fresh challenges for counties alongside the new opportunities but the record advance sales show how well the game has responded – the counties deserve huge credit. The quality of the cricket has been very clear too, with further records set for runs scored and sixes hit – our thanks to the players for producing such entertaining games.Blast Finals Day, in front of 24,426 people at Edgbaston on Saturday, will see Hampshire, Glamorgan, Nottinghamshire and Birmingham compete to the lift the trophy.From 2020, the ECB is set to introduce a new, 38-game T20 tournament, featuring eight regional/city-based team. The NatWest Blast is planned to continue as a secondary competition for all 18 counties to contest.

New Zealand A will be playing two four-day games and five one-dayers against India A in late September and early October

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2017New Zealand A, led by Henry Nicholls, will field a strong A team in India, in the two four-day games and five one-dayers to be played against India A in late September and early October. Of the 16 players picked for the tour, 13 have played international cricket.Nicholls aside, the 15 for the four-day games includes fast bowlers Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson, batsmen Colin Munro and Jeet Raval, and legspinner Ish Sodhi. The only change to the one-day squad is wicketkeeper Glenn Phillips comes in for Raval.

NZ A tour of India schedule

Sept 23-26, four-day match, Vijayawada
Sept 30-Oct 3, four-day match, Vijayawada
Oct 6, 1st one-dayer, Visakhapatnam
Oct 8, 2nd one-dayer, Visakhapatnam
Oct 10, 3rd one-dayer, Visakhapatnam
Oct 13, 4th one-dayer, Visakhapatnam
Oct 15, 5th one-dayer, Visakhapatnam

Offspinner Mark Craig and fast bowler Doug Bracewell were among a handful of players not considered for the tour due to injury.New Zealand Cricket selector Gavin Larsen, who will be the team’s manager on the tour, said such A-team programmes were vital to the senior team’s development. “Going into a significantly different environment to that of the New Zealand domestic scene is a huge opportunity to promote player growth,” Larsen said. “Preparing for international cricket is challenging, so this is a great chance for these players to improve their game in subcontinent conditions.”The party heading to India features three wicketkeepers in Tom Blundell, Tim Seifert and Phillips, and they will have former Otago gloveman Martyn Croy to work with them, Larsen said. “Having Marty Croy there to work with our three young wicketkeepers will be of immense benefit to their development. It’s obviously a very specific skill set and a position we need to build depth in.”The squads will be coached by former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond.Four-day squad: Henry Nicholls (capt), Todd Astle, Tom Blundell (wk), Tom Bruce, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Sean Solia, George Worker, Will Young, Jeet RavalOne-day squad: Henry Nicholls (capt), Todd Astle, Tom Blundell (wk), Tom Bruce, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi, Sean Solia, George Worker, Will Young, Glenn Phillips (wk)

Pakistan have left out former ODI captain Azhar Ali from their squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka in the UAE

Umar Farooq06-Oct-20170:51

Who is Imam-ul-Haq?

Pakistan have, unsurprisingly, kept faith with much of the squad that won them the Champions Trophy but with a couple of notable changes. They have left out former ODI captain Azhar Ali for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka in the UAE and included the uncapped batsman Imam-ul-Haq. Imam is the nephew of former captain and current chairman of selectors Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Pakistan squad

Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Imad Wasim, Shahdab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammed Amir, Ruman Raees, Junaid Khan, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq

Relieved of the captaincy, Azhar played some of his most assured ODI innings in the tournament, including fifties in the semi-final and final. But the knee problem that almost ruled him out of the Test series is one selectors want to rest. That is one of the reasons Imam, an opener, has been brought into the squad.Imam, 21, has been on the selectors’ radar for a few seasons now, especially when he was selected in the Islamabad side for the 50-over Pakistan Cup in 2016 – filling in for Misbah-ul-Haq. He scored a century in his first game. But questions will be asked about his inclusion on the back of what has been, at best, lukewarm form in the 50-over format. He played four games in the National One-Day Cup in January this year for Lahore Whites and scored only 96 runs (including an innings of 49). A month earlier in a National One-Day Cup for department sides, he scored 318 runs at 35.33 for Habib Bank. Over the last three years, Imam has played 24 List A games; in the last 10 months, he has played 13 matches, scoring 414 at 31.84.According to some board officials, in the past Inzamam had expressed reluctance in pushing Imam into the national fold – in one of his first selections ahead of the England tour last year, he said: “I’ve seen his [Imam’s] first-class record, he hasn’t scored many runs in this season and I have not selected him. That should be the way.”It would seem that has changed over the last year. “If you say he is my nephew then it was difficult,” Inzamam said of the selection in Dubai on the first day of the second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. “But if you look at his performances then I thought it’s ok. We wanted to keep the Champions Trophy team, to continue that, but unfortunately Azhar has a knee injury through which we had to bring an opener up. In my view, of all the openers who have performed recently, he was pretty good in that and deserves the pick.”The performances Inzamam spoke of have mostly been in the four-day game. Imam scored 848 runs at 49.88 in the last Quaid-e-Azam trophy, with three hundreds, including a double-century, for Habib Bank Limited. He has opened this season with a hundred for Habib Bank as well, against FATA at the end of last month.”We have to see what the talent is, what he can do,” Inzamam said. “His performances in the QeA everyone can see. He scored two hundreds in an U-23 tournament. Then recently in Sialkot he scored a hundred, so we look at performances but also how much talent a player has. Mickey [Arthur] and Sarfraz [Ahmed] and others were also involved in this decision. We give all the names but there is a discussion. So it would be better to not look at this selection in that way.”

BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said that it was “a principled, policy decision” of the board to limit the players’ participation to two overseas leagues per year

Mohammad Isam14-Nov-2017The Bangladesh Cricket Board will allow the country’s contracted players only two No Objection Certificates (NOC) per year to play in overseas leagues, according to board CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury.Bangladesh’s contracted players were informed of the decision – which is effective immediately – through a letter that detailed the new restrictions. The leagues included in the restrictions are of all formats, and the board made it mandatory for players to participate in Bangladesh’s first-class tournaments.”It is a principled, policy decision of the board,” Chowdhury said. “We will allow two NOCs per year. It will be on a case-by-case basis and it is with immediate effect. We want to give them enough rest and manage their injuries. We want to ensure all our players are available for international matches.”Debbabrata Paul, the secretary of the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh, disagreed with the BCB’s decision. “This cannot happen and this doesn’t happen anywhere in the world. It is being forced on the players. They are simply being deprived,” Paul said. “We were not informed about it. We will definitely have to talk about it with the players.”Chowdhury did not specify what triggered this decision, but ESPNcricinfo understood it had to do with Bangladesh’s disastrous tour of South Africa. The move would mostly affect Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh’s busiest cricketer, who has been playing the IPL, BBL, PSL and CPL for several years. The likes of Tamim Iqbal, Mustafizur Rahman and Mahmudullah had also started to feature in T20 leagues other than the IPL. Tamim, Shakib and Mustafizur were picked to play in a T10 competition next month.Limiting the number of NOCs is an unprecedented move from the BCB. The board has refused NOCs in the past, especially in the case of Shakib, when he was banned for six months in 2014. But Shakib’s punishment was soon lifted, after a string of strong performances from the allrounder for the national side.The contacted Bangladesh players, however, did not wish to comment. It was learned that the BCB had recently restricted national players from talking to the media about certain issues.