Category Uncategorized

Tom Latham to lead while Kane Williamson has been rested for the three-match series

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2023New Zealand have called up three uncapped players – allrounder Josh Clarkson, fast bowler Will O’Rourke and legspinner Adi Ashok – in their 13-man squad for the ODI series at home against Bangladesh.Tom Latham will lead the side as regular ODI captain Kane Williamson, Tim Southee, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Glenn Phillips, and Devon Conway have been rested ahead of the home season.Michael Bracewell (achilles), Matt Henry (hamstring), Lockie Ferguson (achilles), James Neesham (ankle), Ben Lister (hamstring) and Henry Shipley (back) were unavailable for selection due to injury. Trent Boult made himself unavailable.Ashok, the 21-year old from Auckland, had made his T20I debut against UAE in August and will be part of the squad for the second and third ODIs, when legspinner Ish Sodhi takes a planned break after the first game. Ashok has 24 wickets from 18 List A matches.Clarkson, 26, has played 68 List A games, averaging 32.37 with the bat at a strike rate of 99.48. As a medium-pacer, he’s taken 27 wickets in 23 innings at an average of 26.55 with an economy of 5.31.Canterbury’s O’Rourke, 22, has played 17 games, and taken 27 wickets at an average of 23.25 and economy of 5.01.”The volume and intensity of the cricket over the winter this year means we need to strike a balance with workloads for players, particularly those that play multiple formats,” New Zealand selector Sam Wells said. “That need for balance also creates opportunities and it’s great to be able to give some players their first call-ups.”Josh is someone who, while still only young, has played over 150 matches for the Stags, developing his skills with bat and ball to become a consistent contributor. Adi and Will are both still fresh to domestic cricket but have been impressive in their early efforts and stepped up well this year in the New Zealand A matches against Australia A.”Both offer valuable skillsets, Adi with impressive control as a young legspinner, and Will with natural bounce and variation as a tall pace bowler.”The squad will assemble on December 14 in Dunedin, the venue for the first ODI against Bangladesh on December 17. The second ODI is in Nelson on December 20 and the third in Napier on December 23.

New Zealand squad for Bangladesh ODIs

Tom Latham (capt), Adi Ashok (games 2 & 3), Finn Allen, Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Henry Nicholls, Will O’Rourke, Rachin Ravindra, Ish Sodhi (game 1), Will Young

MIddlesex thwarted by middle-order pair after early breakthroughs, as eyes turn to Trent Bridge

ECB Reporters Network21-Sep-2022Leicestershire recovered from 66 for five to 273 for nine in reply to Middlesex’s 297 on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match, a day when finishing places in Division Two looked a little less clear-cut than they had before the current, penultimate round of matches began.With Nottinghamshire 27 points clear before play began on Tuesday, Middlesex were more concerned with winning the race for the second promotion spot but the Trent Bridge side’s troubles at New Road may yet bring the title back into play if Tim Murtagh’s team can conjure a win here.Yet that might be less straightforward than it looked when they had winless Leicestershire seemingly on the ropes at lunch only for Harry Swindells (67) and Tom Scriven (65) to rescue the bottom-of-the-table team with a stand of 125 for the sixth wicket before a gutsy unbeaten 31 from Ed Barnes helped close the deficit to 24 runs.The morning was dismal for Leicestershire, although it had started with a joyful moment after Michael Finan, their recently acquired new team-mate, took two wickets in his first over to record his maiden five-wicket haul in only his third first-class match.In claiming figures of five for 58, the 26-year-old left-arm quick finished off the Middlesex tail as the promotion-chasers were bowled out for three runs short of what might be an important third batting point.Leicestershire raised a few eyebrows when they handed Finan a two-year contract before seeing him play in a senior match but he is already developing stamina and control to go with his pace and looked a threat in each of his 18 overs here. He led his team-mates off the field, wearing a broad smile as he held the ball aloft.By lunch, though, the atmosphere in the home dressing room would have been markedly different. The Middlesex total, built around John Simpson’s patient 92 on day one, was already looking formidable as Leicestershire slumped to five down.With Hassan Azad and Rishi Patel left out for lack of form and leading scorer Wiaan Mulder back in South Africa, the 18-year-old rookie all-rounder Rehan Ahmed was required to bat at five. It looked a pretty thin line-up.In the event, Ahmed made 26 off 56 balls before an injudicious swipe saw him bowled by fellow leg-spinner Luke Hollman’s somewhat unthreatening opening delivery, yet he’d done better than the four before him.Sol Budinger went in the second over for seven, cutting Toby Roland-Jones for three and then four before edging to second slip to a visible send-off from the Middlesex seamer. Louis Kimber was bowled off an inside edge by a swinging ball from the ageless Murtagh.Sam Evans was bowled by a ball from Ethan Bamber that squared him up and nipped away to clip off stump. A full, straight one from Roland-Jones was too good for Colin Ackermann, who was leg before.Yet by tea Leicestershire were in a much healthier position, having negotiated a 38-over middle session without losing another wicket as Scriven – in only his fourth first-class match – and Swindells guided them to 184 for five, with the threat of a follow-on avoided.The sixth-wicket pair were impressively disciplined and narrow escapes were kept to a minimum. Scriven passed fifty for the first time in a first-class match for Leicestershire, reaching the milestone from 97 balls with a dab into the off side for one that also took the partnership to three figures. Swindells’s half-century came off 133 balls just before tea.Scriven fell seven balls into the final session for 65 as Murtagh found the edge. But Barnes helped add another 39 before Swindells was undone when Hollman made one rear up somehow and take the glove or shoulder of the bat to loop to second slip, where Steve Eskinazi plucked it out of the air one-handed.By the time the new ball was taken, Finan had come and gone, caught at third slip off Roland-Jones, but skipper Callum Parkinson helped Barnes add another 28 for the ninth wicket before the latter was lbw to Bamber.

“Maybe in the coming years it might also lead to a World Test Championship [for women]. You never know.”

Annesha Ghosh15-Jun-20212:29

Mithali Raj: I would have liked to play more Test matches earlier in my career

Mithali Raj believes India Women’s return to Test cricket after a gap of nearly seven years could pave the way for multi-format, points-based bilateral series becoming a regular feature on the women’s cricket calendar. This, she said, could even begin the pathway towards a multi-team global tournament for women’s teams fashioned after the men’s World Test Championship.”I feel this Test match and even the pink-ball Test, which is in Australia in the coming months, it’s just the beginning of having a three-format bilateral series,” Raj, India’s Test and ODI captain, said on the eve of the one-off Test against England in Bristol. “It probably opens up the channel to have another format added in a bilateral series and that will clearly help the overall standard of women’s cricket.”Also, the players – I mean, you ask any modern-day cricketer, they still want to play the longer format because they eventually know that the format tests the skill of a player.”The last time India played two or more Tests in a year was in 2014, which was also the last time they appeared in the format. The Bristol Test, which marks their return to red-ball cricket after a break of 2401 days, carries four points for a win under the multi-format system for the tour, which also includes three ODIs and three T20Is.A draw will fetch the teams two points apiece and one point will be awarded for a no-result. Wins in the white-ball games will be worth two points each. The Ashes, which has been the only occasion that has involved Test matches in women’s cricket since 2014, follows the same grading system.Related

• Saba Karim calls for 'strong foundation' to speed up the growth of women's cricket in India

• 'We may not have much practice, but mentally we're prepared' – Harmanpreet Kaur

• Stats – India in sight of most consecutive wins in women's Tests

• 'Mental make-up will make huge difference' – Ramesh Powar on lack of practice

“It’s good to have the Test match in a series,” Raj said. ‘We [already] had the one-dayers and the T20Is. Maybe in the coming years it might also lead to a World Test Championship [for women]. You never know. This is just the beginning. I hope we continue to have bilateral series where all three formats are there.”While a Women’s WTC may seem a distant prospect at the moment, there is a chance that more teams might play Test cricket regularly over the coming years, with the ICC awarding Test status to all Full Member women’s teams in April.The announcement of both the Test against England and the pink-ball game against Australia, scheduled for September-October, was an unexpected development in Indian women’s cricket. On the international circuit, the ODI World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, to be played in the T20 format, both scheduled for next year, and the 2023 T20 World Cup remain the focal points of India’s long-term preparations. In domestic cricket, no red-ball tournaments for women’s cricketers have been held in India since the 2017-2018 season.Longest gaps for India Women in Tests•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Head coach Ramesh Powar and Test vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur identified the dearth of adequate preparedness as a challenge going into the Test in Bristol. Raj echoed her colleagues, but said efforts had been made by senior players like herself and premier fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, as well as Powar, to help the inexperienced members of the 18-member Test and ODI squad to hit the ground running.”There were a few sessions that we tried to have in the whites so that the girls don’t get [intimidated] when they walk into the ground tomorrow because for most of them it’s their first time getting into the ground in the whites,” Raj said. “That is one thing [Powar] tried to get into the sessions. There were four-five sessions where we trained together as a team in the whites, so we get a feel of it in the nets sessions and it doesn’t feel alien for the girls when they get onto the ground.”He also got the seniors to speak to the other players who are less experienced about the format about the last time we played a Test match, so there was a lot of communication with Jhulan talking to the fast bowlers and I’m talking to the batters. So, I think when you have this communication going, it sort of gets the team get collectively prepared for the Test match.”India have won each of their last three Test matches – played over an eight-year span from August 2006 to November 2014 – which puts them level with Australia in terms of most consecutive wins in the format. Raj said the squad hadn’t been thinking about the record, but hoped the players would put in a strong performance, particularly since the Test match will be broadcast live.”In terms of marketing the sport, I think it is great to have a Test match live on television because clearly, a lot of people will follow, now with the pandemic [on] and there’s partial restrictions everywhere [because of lockdowns], so a lot of people will be watching the game,” she said. “As far as the players are concerned, it is equally important [to play well in this Test match]. Seven years back, the scenario was very different for women’s cricket.”Having said that, that team never really thought whether the match is [covered] live or not; it never really crosses a players mind as long as we get in there and we put forward our best performance. Whether it is covered live or not, that’s [not] the players’ lookout. We are there to get there and give our best standard, and if it’s covered live, nothing like it because that’s how the sport will grow being viable.”

The left-arm swing bowling allrounder leaves the game 17 years after he became a cult hero in India

Shashank Kishore04-Jan-2020Seventeen years after he became a cult hero in India, Irfan Pathan has called time on his professional career. The left-arm swing bowling allrounder burst on the scene by dismissing Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist in a sensational spell of reverse swing bowling in Sydney in January 2004 and three years later went on to become a World T20 champion.”I knew I was not going to make an international comeback after 2016,” Irfan told . “I was the highest wicket-taker and the best allrounder that season (2015-16) in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but I wasn’t picked. The selectors were not very happy with my bowling, I was told. Around 2016, I knew my time was up.”Irfan hit the headlines in November 2003 when he picked up 9 for 16 in an Under-19 clash against Bangladesh in Lahore. He was to be part of India’s Under-19 World Cup plans in 2004, but was fast-tracked to the Indian squad for the tour of Australia in 2003-04. After sitting out of the first Test, he was called in to replace an injured Zaheer Khan in the now-famous Adelaide Test, well remembered for Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Ajit Agarkar’s exploits.Irfan finished with 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20Is that brought him 100, 173 and 28 wickets respectively. He last played for India more than seven years ago, during the World T20 in 2012, but continued to be a regular presence in the domestic circuit.ALSO READ: Interview: ‘I asked for help, but didn’t get it’
He made his debut for Baroda in the 2000-01 season and went on to captain the state before switching to Jammu & Kashmir in a player-mentor capacity in March 2018. His last competitive game was in February 2019.In 2006, Irfan became only the second Indian after Harbhajan Singh to take a Test hat-trick – against Pakistan (Karachi 2006) and was Player of the Final in India’s historic T20 World Cup win in September 2007. Overall, he picked up 10 wickets at 14.90 in the tournament, including a crucial 3 for 16 against Pakistan in that final.Later that year, Irfan made a maiden Test century, also against Pakistan. His Test career hit an even higher note when he starred with both bat and ball during India’s historic win in Perth on the 2007-08 tour. It was India’s first win at the storied venue.Irfan finished that Test with five wickets and scores of 28 and 46, which came from No. 3 in the second innings to help arrest a top-order wobble. He would play only two more Tests, the last of which came against South Africa at Ahmedabad in 2008.”People starting peaking in their careers around 27-28 and then go on to play till they are 35. When I was 27, I had taken 301 international wickets, and that was it,” Irfan said. “That’s the only regret I have, that I wish I could have taken that tally up to 500 or 600 wickets and scored more runs, but that did not happen.”Though his international career hit a dead end, he was a prominent feature in the IPL until 2016. In all, he represented Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Gujarat Lions, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant.Over the last two years, Irfan has risen to become a sought-after commentator and Hindi cricket analyst in India. He also runs a cricket academy in Vadodara, which he founded with his older half-brother Yusuf Pathan.

At an event to rename the Daredevils, Parth Jindal indicated his franchise might not show much interest in English or Australian players, since they were set to leave early

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-20181:08

‘We wanted to give the team a new identity’ – Delhi Capitals co-owner

Availability of players, and not the venue, will be the key factor ahead of the forthcoming IPL auction, scheduled on December 18. That is is the opinion of Parth Jindal, co-owner of the Daredevils franchise which was renamed Delhi Capitals on Tuesday.IPL 2019 is likely to be advanced, keeping in mind that most international players will have to attend preparatory camps for the World Cup, which starts in England on May 30. The IPL had already informed franchises earlier this year that both CA and ECB would be restricting the participation of those in their World Cup squads till May 1 only. Moreover, the venue for IPL 2019 is still undecided, with the tournament being held at the same time as the general elections in India.Jindal confirmed that English and Australian players in particular, were likely to be less desirable at least for Delhi at the auction. “We’ll plan to target players more based on availability,” Jindal said. “Where the IPL is held is obviously relevant, but having players who are available throughout the season is very important. We know that the English players will leave after May 1, as will the Australians. Barring those two countries, as of now we are given to understand that most of the other countries’ players will be available.”Jindal also said that franchises were yet to get clarity on the availability of marquee Indian players, especially the fast bowlers, following media reports that Indian captain Virat Kohli had told the BCCI that the workload of certain key players should be managed in the IPL to keep them fresh for the World Cup. The BCCI is likely to bring the IPL start date forward to March 23 as a part-solution to this, which would also help Indian players get a two-week break before they start their World Cup campaign. “There is talk that Virat Kohli wants some of the Indian fast bowlers to be rested,” Jindal said. “Luckily we don’t have anyone in our team who is in the Indian ODI squad. But as much of an unknown it is to us, it’s the same for the other seven teams. So everyone will go into the auction on an even playing field.”The Delhi Daredevils franchise was remaned Delhi Capitals•Delhi Daredevils

The IPL 2019 auction will be held in Jaipur on December 18, and Delhi will have a purse of INR 25.50 crore, second only to Kings XI Punjab’s INR 36.20 crore. Jindal, who took charge of the franchise when JSW bought a 50% stake in the franchise in March 2018, said that since Delhi had deep pockets, they just needed to invest wisely.Jindal was also optimistic about bringing back Shikhar Dhawan, who was traded in from Sunrisers Hyderabad in exchange for Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma. “I’m still wondering why Hyderabad released him. He was Man of the Series in Australia too,” Jindal said, adding that having the best set of frontline Indian batsmen gave him confidence Delhi could reach the play-offs next season. “We are banking on our Indian players. Our core is Indian. If you look at our top four of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, it’s very strong. You look at any IPL team, none of them have four Indian players who are so dynamic at the top of the order.”Dhawan had played for Delhi in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, and will be returning for the first time since then. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to play for Delhi again,” he said in a video message at the team’s renaming event. “I’m coming back after 11 years, and we are going to play with a lot of passion.”Without divulging the auction strategy, Jindal said Delhi wanted to strengthen their bowling reserves. “We need bowling – Indian and foreign. We need allrounders, though we have Chris Morris, we need one more. And we have a big purse for the auction, so we’ll spend from that.”

The player is seeking exoneration and the board a stiffer sentence in Sharjeel Khan’s case

Danyal Rasool21-Sep-2017Sharjeel Khan has appealed his five-year ban for spot-fixing in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year. His lawyer Shaigan Ijaz told media that the appeal had been filed, and he was confident of getting the decision overturned.”We have find an appeal against the decision with the board of governors,” Ijaz said. “The file will be transmitted to an independent adjudicator and proceedings will go on from there. We have contested all five charges. We believe the decision of the tribunal was based on speculation, and our cross examination of the PCB witnesses was not read properly. We believe our chances of overturning the decision are bright.”Hours after the announcement, PCB chairman Najam Sethi took to Twitter, announcing that the PCB would also appeal the decision, believing the sentence handed to Sharjeel to be too lenient. “PCB has appealed the sentence imposed on Sharjeel by the tribunal and is seeking a stiffer sentence,” tweeted Sethi. An independent adjudicator to hear the appeal has to be nominated within a fortnight of any appeal being lodged.Sharjeel Khan was found guilty by a three-man tribunal of all five charges brought against him by the PCB, and had the minimum punishment – a five-year ban, half of which was suspended – handed down to him. The charges relate to spot-fixing allegedly committed by the player during the opening game of the Pakistan Super League earlier this year, where he stands accused of pre-arranging with a bookie to play two dot balls. He potentially faces a life ban.

A solid all-round showing from Theunis de Bruyn helped South Africa A clinch third place in the A-team quadrangular series in Australia without much bother

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Sep-2016
ScorecardDavid Miller scored his third score over fifty in six innings in this tournament•Getty Images

A solid all-round showing from Theunis de Bruyn helped South Africa A clinch third place in the A-team quadrangular series in Australia without much bother. They bowled out Australia’s National Performance Squad (NPS), which had chosen to bat, for 207, before cruising to their target with 11.4 overs and nine wickets to spare. De Bruyn first took career-best figures of 2 for 37 with his part-time medium pace, before batting through the chase for 90 off 119 balls.David Miller also fired for South Africa A, hitting his third score over fifty in the tournament to power the team home in an unbroken stand of 135 with de Bruyn.But most of the damage to the NPS was done in the first innings, when only three of their batsmen got into double-digits. Things looked bleak for them when they lost both openers cheaply and also lost Sam Heazlett on 35 to injury, but respectability was added to the total courtesy fifties from middle-order batsmen Sam Harper and Matthew Short. For 19-year-old Harper the knock of 60 was a second successive fifty, while for 20-year-old Short his 70 was his maiden List-A half-century. There was no support offered from the lower order, though, and the team was bowled out in 48.3 overs.Alongside de Bruyn, fast bowlers Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo also picked up two wickets apiece, but Pretorius was the most economical of the lot.