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The New Zealand Cricket match officials manager said a review process had confirmed Shaun Haig’s error, and that the umpire had felt in the aftermath that he had let his fellow officials down

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2019New Zealand Cricket match officials manager Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri said on Tuesday that umpire Shaun Haig’s controversial DRS decision against Daryl Mitchell during the second T20I against India had, indeed, been an error and the on-field decision of out should have been overturned.Mitchell had been given out lbw by on-field umpire Chris Brown off Krunal Pandya, and Haig upheld the decision on review despite HotSpot showing a clear mark as the ball passed the inside edge. In a chat with , Eden-Whaitiri said on behalf of NZC that after a review of the officiating, it was acknowledged that Haig had mistakenly deemed that the mark on the bat shown by HotSpot during replays was from the inside edge of the bat brushing the pad.Eden-Whaitiri said the mistake, which was widely criticised by broadcasters, had affected Haig.”Shaun was really feeling it in the 24 hours post the match,” Eden-Whaitiri said. “He felt he let his umpire team down that night by not interpreting the information to get the right outcome. That’s in hindsight. He had to get back on the horse less than 48 hours later because he was on-field in Hamilton. Shaun took it the right way – how am I going to get better?”New Zealand Cricket make all umpiring appointments for T20Is in the country, since all umpires are from the host country and contracted to the home board. Eden-Whaitiri said the performances of New Zealand’s umpires in T20Is have generally been good, and that this was a one-off.”We made a lot of changes three seasons ago and in those three years, this is probably the only story that’s been on the back page,” he said. “So the umpiring standards internationally have been pretty strong the last three years – just one error by a TV umpire isn’t going to diminish all the good work we’ve done with Chris Brown, Shaun Haig, and Wayne Knights.”The ICC match referee logs every decision an umpire makes during an international match, while the umpires also do a self-assessment after every game. As such, it is not common for a board to come out and admit an error. But Eden-Whaitiri said the “stakeholders” of the game deserve it.”That’s the nature of the game – nine times out of ten, it’s the errors that stand out for the public, the stakeholders. We’re still talking about Wayne Barnes [Rugby referee] in 2007.”I’ve got no issue coming out and saying when we make an error; it’s part and parcel of sport, officials make errors. However, there are times when observations by commentators, journalists, etc aren’t quite correct.”Eden-Whaitiri also commented on a controversial decision in the third T20I on Sunday, when a close stumping appeal against Tim Seifert was given out by third umpire Brown.”We haven’t finished the review process of that match just yet – it’s been game-travel-game, it’s hard to get these things done and dusted. From early reports, that was deemed correct,” he said.

Tufan Ghosh has served nearly three decades in the healthcare and hospitality industries and was chosen in line with the CoA’s directives of finding a non-cricketing professional for the post

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Dec-2017The BCCI has appointed Tufan Ghosh as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. Ghosh has served in the healthcare and hospitality industries for 29 years, including a stint as CEO of the private healthcare group Columbia Asia in 2005.”The BCCI now owns a consolidated 40 acres of land at Arebinnamangala village near the Aerospace Park region in Bengaluru where it wishes to set up the new NCA. Ghosh will play a key role in setting up the facility and creating a Centre of Excellence,” a BCCI press release said.The appointment comes after a deliberate search for a professional with management experience from outside cricketing circles by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).”We have got a master plan, vision and concept for the NCA ready,” CoA chairman Vinod Rai had said in an interview to ESPNcricnfo in November. “We identified that we needed to find a project manager to realise the vision. The ideal person will not be a cricketer because we felt such a large project needed someone with management experience.””In the short term – first three to five years – the person we are looking for is one who has the experience of having built such similar, big projects. It is a full-time position and he would be in charge of the NCA. But this person will not deal with the cricketing element of the NCA,” Rai had said.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath is set to become the oldest player to lead a Test team for the first time since Somachandra de Silva in 1983, during Sri Lanka’s tour of Zimbabwe

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Oct-20161:01

Seventeen years after making his Test debut, Rangana Herath is set to captain Sri Lanka for the first time

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath is set to become the oldest player to lead a Test team for the first time since Somachandra de Silva in 1983, after he was named captain of Sri Lanka for the tour of Zimbabwe because Angelo Mathews is injured.Sri Lanka’s regular vice-captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was also unavailable for the two-Test series because of a thumb injury sustained during a domestic game, for which he had to have surgery. Herath, 38, will be only the second bowler to lead Sri Lanka in Tests, after de Silva.Mathews had torn his calf during the fourth ODI against Australia in August and had not recovered sufficiently, despite being named in the original squad for the tour of Zimbabwe on October 21. He is expected to be out of action for three weeks and is doubtful for the tri-series in Zimbabwe, also involving West Indies, that follows the Tests. No replacement was named yet for Mathews.Herath played 71 ODIs and 17 T20Is for Sri Lanka and did not captain in those formats either. He retired from limited-overs cricket in April this year to focus on Test cricket and played the defining role – 28 wickets – in Sri Lanka’s 3-0 whitewash of Australia in July and August. Seventeen years after having made his debut in 1999, Herath is set to make his captaincy debut, in his 74th Test.

Tasmania have picked 18-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Jake Doran and uncapped 21-year-old bowler Ryan Lees in their squad for next month’s Matador Cup one-day competition

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Sep-2015Tasmania have picked 18-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Jake Doran and uncapped 21-year-old right-arm pacer Ryan Lees in their squad for next month’s Matador Cup one-day competition. The 14-member squad also includes fast bowler Jackson Bird, who has not played a List A game for Tasmania since December 2012.The side will be captained by George Bailey, with Alex Doolan serving as his deputy. The squad includes left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty and allrounder James Faulkner, who, along with Bailey, were part of Australia’s World Cup-winning squad.Lees, who hails from Flinders Island, has represented Tasmania in the Imparja Cup and earned a rookie contract in the 2013-14 season. He was picked in the squad after strong pre-season performances, according to Michael Farrell, Tasmania’s chairman of selectors.Doran, who is uncapped in List A and first-class cricket and moved from New South Wales to Tasmania recently, has performed consistently in Under-19 cricket. The left-handed batsman is Australia’s highest run-getter in Under-19 cricket with more than 1000 runs in 30 Youth ODIs between 2013 and 2015. He was also the leading run-getter for Australia Under-19s in the 2014 World Cup and made his Twenty20 debut for a Cricket Australia XI against the touring South Africans last November.”Ryan Lees has been rewarded with selection due to strong performances in various games throughout the preseason, and we are delighted with the form of our newly recruited player Jake Doran,” Farrell said.Tasmania, though, will be without the services of fast bowler Andrew Fekete, who has been picked for the Tests against Bangladesh. Batsman Jordan Silk was unavailable for selection due to personal reasons, according to Farrell.Tasmania’s first match of the competition will be against Queensland on October 5.Tasmania squad: George Bailey (c), Alex Doolan (vc), Jackson Bird, Xavier Doherty, Jake Doran, Ben Dunk, James Faulkner, Evan Gulbis, Hamish Kingston, Ryan Lees, Dominic Michael, Tim Paine, Sam Rainbird, Clive Rose

Justin Langer, the former Australia assistant coach, has urged the national selectors to retain Phillip Hughes for the third Test against India in Mohali

Brydon Coverdale11-Mar-2013Justin Langer, the former Australia assistant coach, has urged the national selectors to retain Phillip Hughes for the third Test against India in Mohali, despite his awful results against spin in the first two Tests. David Warner also called for patience, saying he had not seen Hughes face much spin bowling before and that it would be only a matter of time before he worked out the best way to handle quality slow bowling.Hughes is in danger of being dropped when the third Test begins on Thursday after having failed in the tour match in Chennai and then in the first two Tests. His work against spin has been especially disappointing and he has barely looked like being able to score unless the fast men are on; the 51 balls of spin Hughes faced in the two first two Tests brought him six runs and cost him his wicket four times.But Hughes is far from the only Australian batsman to have struggled in India. Ricky Ponting did not score a century in India until his ninth Test there across five tours and finished with a record of 662 Test runs in India at 26.48. Hughes has not played Test cricket in India until the past three weeks and already he is in a precarious position, having only just regained his Test place for the home series against Sri Lanka following Ponting’s retirement.Already his batting coach Neil d’Costa has attacked Cricket Australia for refusing to allow him to give Hughes a crash course in how to handle Indian conditions before the tour, when Hughes was piling up runs in the ODI side. And Langer, who until late last year was the Australia assistant coach, said patience was required when young batsmen were exposed to new conditions.”I would be so disappointed if he didn’t play the next Test. He has been brilliant again all summer,” Langer said in Adelaide. “He is our most exciting and best performed young player and I hope they stick with him. Phil is a young kid who is playing Test cricket in India for the first time and you can’t just keep chopping and changing all the time. He has missed out but has shown over time he has the capacity to know how to score runs and work out strategies to score runs.”There is no question that Hughes has been in form this summer. Until the last round of matches he was on top of the Sheffield Shield run tally with 673 runs at 56.08. At the age of 24, Hughes has already compiled 21 first-class hundreds. But he is generally at his best when the ball is coming on to the bat, which is not the case in India. Warner, until last season a New South Wales team-mate of Hughes, said he should be given time to adjust.”I haven’t really seen a lot of spin bowling against Hughesy, so I just think it’s more of a time thing and being patient,” Warner said. “We all have to score runs and have a job to do. Phil is in a patch at the moment where he isn’t scoring as many runs as he would like, but I’m sure if the selectors stick by him he will come good. He is the type of player who always puts runs on the board, especially when he scores a hundred he scores a big hundred.”One of the problems that has afflicted Hughes and the rest of the batsmen on this trip has been a lack of quality spin bowling at Sheffield Shield level, meaning a majority of their experience is against fast men. The Shield pitches in recent years have often been green seamers and matches can be over quickly, with spinners either hardly required or asked to bowl in conditions that are more suitable for the fast bowlers.This summer in the Sheffield Shield, the top 15 wicket takers are all fast bowlers and the pitches are at their most favourable for the seamers early in the season, when the Test batsmen are more likely to be playing for their states. Warner said to help young batsmen become more accustomed to spin bowling the state teams should consider setting up centre-wicket training sessions when matches finish early, as the Test squad has done over the past two matches in India.”If you’re playing a four day game and the game finishes on day three, why not go out and practice on day four?” Warner said. “You’re a professional athlete, you’ve got the whole thing there for you on day four to practice as much as you want. It’s like us having a net out in the middle of the wicket [in India]. You very rarely get that opportunity in Australia. They will be watering the wicket straight away preparing for the next Shield game. It’s fantastic to get that opportunity.”

Pune Warriors have suffered a setback to their IPL preparations with a knee injury ruling out the Australian allrounder James Hopes

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Mar-2012Pune Warriors have suffered a setback to their IPL preparations with a knee injury ruling out the Australian allrounder James Hopes. That means Warriors now have two foreign players’ slots left to fill after the IPL governing council allowed the franchise an extra foreigner this season (in addition to the mandatory ten slots) to make up for the absence of the injured Yuvraj Singh.Hopes was bought by Warriors only last month from Delhi Daredevils. He was the second overseas player the franchise had signed this season, West Indies’ Marlon Samuels being the first.An experienced allrounder, Hopes recently led Queensland to the Sheffield Shield title with a half-century in the first innings and a five-wicket haul in the second.”It is definitely a setback to lose out on a senior player like Hopes. Having played the IPL in the previous years he would have been a handy player,” a Warriors official said.The official said the franchise was in no hurry to fill the two vacant slots. “It also does not necessarily mean we need to find an allrounder as a replacement for Hopes,” he said.According to the official there had been no fresh development on the Michael Clarke front. Warriors were reportedly talking to Clarke about him coming in as a replacement for Yuvraj, but nothing has been finalised yet.Edited by Dustin Silgardo

Ireland’s victory over England has thrown Group B wide open, but the match between Bangladesh and West Indies in Mirpur is still a crucial one, and both captains think they can win

Sidharth Monga in Mirpur03-Mar-2011Months before the World Cup started, when the groups were drawn up, instinctively one match was looked upon as the potential knockout before the knockouts. That match is upon us. Bangladesh, ranked higher than West Indies in the ICC one-day rankings, and not undeservingly so looking at the results over the last year or two, meet West Indies at home. However, Ireland and England have jumbled up the equations a bit, and this match is not as simple as a winners-go-to-quarters affair.That doesn’t make the game any less importance though. The team that loses this one will have to travel a long road back into contention. The captains of the sides sought to not talk the game up.”To me nothing has changed,” Darren Sammy said of the upset that Ireland pulled off on Wednesday night to become one of the outside contenders themselves. “Every team in this tournament came out to give a good account of themselves. For me every match is a very important match. We have played two games, we focused on each team on the day we played. Now we focus on Bangladesh, and are looking to go out there and execute whatever plans we have in stock.”Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, said this was not their last chance. “Obviously we want to go to the next round,” Shakib said. “It is not as if we to win tomorrow because we will have three more matches, but a win will surely take us a step forward.”Ireland’s win over England has thrown the group wide open, but Bangladesh do not want to think too far ahead at the moment. “I don’t know how the Ireland game will benefit us,” Shakib said. “It will do so only if we beat England too.”Shakib Al Hasan said Bangladesh’s win in the West Indies in 2009 would give them confidence•Associated Press

Coming back to Friday’s game, both the captains said they could win, the rider being if their sides played as well as they are capable of. “If we play well West Indies are definitely beatable,” Shakib said. Bangladesh swept a two-match Test series and a three-match one-day series in the West Indies in July 2009, but Shakib said he realised that was not a full-strength squad (several West Indies players had skipped the series due to a feud with the board over contracts). “That team did not have some senior players,” he said. “They have all gained in experience, and with the return of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they are a better side now.”But in the back of our minds we will always know that we have beaten them at their home. We will not go onto the back foot even before the start. It is our home and we have so much support. If we consider that, I think the advantage they think they have because of the return of their seniors will be neutralised.”Sammy was expectedly asked about his side being ranked lower than Bangladesh. “Cricket is played on the day,” he said. “You saw what happened on Wednesday night. England scored 327, Ireland chased it down. You can say Bangladesh are ranked higher than us, but we have to go out and play to the best of our ability. We won’t be taking them lightly, but at the end of the day, they are beatable; we have done it before.”Playing to the best of their ability seemed to both captains’ refrain of the day, and if their sides heed their call, it will be some game.

The Delhi Daredevils assistant coach has said his main aim would be to ensure a finals spot in the third season of the IPL

Cricinfo staff10-Mar-2010Eric Simons, the Delhi Daredevils assistant coach, has said his main aim would be to ensure a finals spot for his side in the third season of the IPL. Having made the semi-finals in the two previous editions, Delhi choked against eventual winners Rajasthan Royals and Deccan Chargers respectively.Simons, who is also India’s bowling coach, strongly suggested that a rotation policy was a key strategy to ensure his players’ freshness for the big games. “The key is to peak at the right time and we need to find ways for that,” Simons told the . “Rotating the players will play a key role.”He also gave his full backing to new captain Gautam Gambhir, who took over from Virender Sehwag, and said he should have no problems with the rotation policy. “He’s [Gambhir’s] a mature and clear-thinking individual,” Simons said. “He has got no ego and is the perfect man to lead. Captaincy is all about taking information from others and making the right decisions and he will be able to do that.”Simons, 48, served as South Africa’s head coach from 2002-2004 and later held various capacities at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. He also has some coaching experience in the IPL, having worked as a consultant with Ray Jennings last year for Royal Challengers Bangalore when the tournament moved to South Africa.He will be assisting Greg Shipperd, having filled the position left vacant by Australia’s David Saker on March 3 this year, and focus on working with the large bunch of young bowlers in the Delhi squad. However, Simons said he has not had much time with the local players for the tournament beginning March 12. “I haven’t seen the local players yet. I think, after three or four nets, I should get an idea.”For a team boasting many international stars – Dirk Nannes, Paul Collingwood, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Farveez Maharoof, David Warner, AB de Villiers, Moises Henriques, Andrew McDonald and new purchase Wayne Parnell – the choice of playing four players from the contingent could be tough.”That is where the balancing act needs to be done,” Simons told . “It is important to manage international players. We have to make sure our top players are not jaded and, hopefully, this time we can manage that. At the moment, everyone is fit and raring to go. It is going to be an arduous six weeks of the tournament and we are hoping to keep everyone on the field. This is where the role of the backroom staff will be very important.”The pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi’s home ground, has come under criticism in the recent past. The abandonment of the fifth ODI between India and Sri Lanka in December last year, resulted in a one-year international ban from the ICC. However, the venue will host IPL matches as the tournament, being a domestic one, is out of the global governing body’s purview.”We had a practice match last night where one team scored 200 and the other got really close,” Simons said. “There were a few occasions when batsmen were hitting length balls over the bowlers’ heads, which I always believe to be a fair indicator of how good a pitch is.”The surface seems kind of cold, so I think they have left some moisture on the surface which is helping it stay together. We had played on another wicket a few days ago and that had seemed slower, so it is getting better for sure.”

Teenage spinner now has 15 wickets in five One-Day Cup appearances as Lancashire stumble

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay22-Aug-2025Warwickshire 253 for 5 (Shaikh 75, Malik 72, Blatherwick 4-48) beat Lancashire 249 for 9 (Tazeem 3-39) by five wicketsHamza Shaikh made 75 and legspinner Tazeem Ali took 3 for 39 to help Warwickshire beat Lancashire by five wickets at Aigburth and thereby consolidate their bid to reach the knock-out stages of the Metro Bank One Day Cup.Having restricted the home side to 249 for 9 on a pitch that aided spin, Ed Barnard’s side reached their target with 61 balls to spare, Kai Smith finishing on 45 not out having put on 77 with Shaikh.The one consolation for a severely under-strength Lancashire was that Jack Blatherwick took a career-best 4 for 48 but Marcus Harris’s side have now won just one of their seven matches in this competition and their own slim chances of making further progress had vanished with Wednesday’s defeat to Durham.Michael Jones was caught behind without scoring off Ethan Bamber’s second ball of the game but George Bell and Kesh Fonseka then batted positively against the Bears’ seamers to give their side a respectable platform of 69 for 1 after 15 overs.However, 33 of the next 35 overs were bowled by the Warwickshire spinners and scoring runs never looked as straightforward as it had done in the first hour of the game. Lancashire’s second-wicket pair put on 87 before Fonseka was caught at cover by Shaikh for 43 when driving Tazeem and the legspinner took his second wicket in his next over when Bell was leg-before for 46 when attempted to sweep.Harris and Harry Singh then tried to rebuild the innings with a stand of 68 in 13 overs only for Singh to depart for 29 when he pulled Rob Yates straight to Alex Davies at deep midwicket and the left-handed Harris to be bowled for 41 by a lovely offbreak from Yates.File photo: Shaikh led the way in Warwickshire’s run chase•ECB via Getty Images

Tazeem took his third wicket when George Balderson pulled him straight to Zen Malik and the remainder of Lancashire’s innings was dominated by Arav Shetty, who consolidated the good impression he has made during this competition by making 40 off 30 balls.Shetty, though, was one of two wickets to fall to Jake Lintott in the 49th over of the innings and the experienced Warwickshire wristspinner finished with 2 for 62 from his ten overs. Yates finished with 2 for 44 but it was Tazeem’s bowling that had taken the eye – and not for the first time this month.Warwickshire’s reply got off to a thunderous start, eight boundaries being struck and 44 runs scored in the opening four overs. But the visitors’ progress was slowed, first when Ed Barnard was caught by Bell when trying to scoop Blatherwick for 21 and then when Yates tried to slap Blatherwick through mid-on but only found Balderson’s safe hands and departed for 23.Former Lancashire batter Alex Davies was then surprised by the lift Blatherwick extracted from the Aigburth pitch and was caught behind for eight to leave his side on 71 for three in the eleventh over. That, though, was as near the home side got to upsetting the form book.Sheikh put on 97 with Malik, who reached his maiden List A fifty off 39 balls and seemed set for a century when his attempt to hit Blatherwick for six over mid-off only found the safe hands of Jones on the cover boundary and he departed for 72. Seemingly untroubled by this setback, Shaikh reached his own fifty off 74 balls and Warwickshire’s victory was all but certain long before Shaikh was bowled by Luke Hands when his side needed five runs.

Put in to bat, they raced to fifty in 3.3 overs and never looked back against Dubai Capitals

Hemant Brar17-Feb-20242:18

Pooran: ‘From day one, the agenda was to win and everyone was on board’

Nicholas Pooran’s MI Emirates lifted the trophy in the second edition of the ILT20 as they beat Sam Billings’ Dubai Capitals by 45 runs in the final.After Capitals opted to bowl, Muhammad Waseem and Kusal Perera gave Emirates a blazing start, smashing 72 in the first six overs. While the next six overs produced only 31 runs, Pooran’s unbeaten 57 off 27 balls towards the end steered Emirates to 208 for 3, the highest total of the season.In response, Capitals kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Their highest partnership was 38, between Billings and Sikandar Raza for the fourth wicket. Both sides were found wanting in the field, with Emirates dropping six catches in all. But they had enough run cushion to not let those reprieves hurt them.Earlier, Billings went against the conventional wisdom of putting up runs on the board in a big game, and Waseem and Perera soon made him rethink his decision. The two muscled Emirates past 50 in just 3.3 overs. By the end of the powerplay, Waseem had scored 43 on his own.Left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan broke the 77-run stand when Waseem, attempting his fourth six, miscued a wrong’un to wide mid-off. In his next over, Zahir could have had Andre Fletcher as well, but Billings fluffed the stumping chance.However, Capitals managed to put the brakes on the scoring rate. When Perera tried to break free, he ended up losing his wicket to Raza.Fletcher had looked clueless against Zahir and Raza, and was on 28 off 27 at one point. He finally picked up the pace in the 16th over, hitting Scott Kuggeleijn for two sixes and a four and bringing up his fifty off 35 balls.Fletcher departed in the next over, but then Pooran stepped up and took the Emirates past 200. Along the way, he belted two fours and six sixes.Akeal Hosein put Emirates further ahead when he removed Leus du Plooy for a two-ball duck. Tom Banton, who came in as a Super Sub, struck some lusty blows but legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth had him stumped for a 20-ball 35.A few overs later, Viyaskanth dismissed Raza as well to dent Capitals further. By the end of the 13th over, the asking rate had crossed 15. In an attempt to catch up, Billings gave charge to Waqar Salamkheil but failed to connect a googly and was stumped.Jason Holder got three lives in five balls, but the boundaries did not come as frequently as Capitals needed. After Trent Boult gave away only five in the 17th over, and also got rid of Rovman Powell, the equation for Capitals was 75 required from 18 balls with four wickets in hand. The Capitals innings lasted full 20 overs, but the contest was over much earlier.