Pravin Tambe, who played in a private T20 tournament in New Jersey that also featured banned Bangladesh cricketer Mohammad Ashraful, could avoid penalties because of the nebulous state of affairs at USACA

Nagraj Gollapudi05-Aug-2015Rajasthan Royals legspinner Pravin Tambe, and a host of players from various other countries, who participated in a private T20 tournament in New Jersey that also featured banned Bangladesh player Mohammad Ashraful, could avoid penalties because of the nebulous state of affairs at the USA Cricket Association (USACA).A day after ESPNcricinfo revealed that Tambe, who has also represented Mumbai in the Ranji trophy, had played with Ashraful in the Laurel Hill Cricket Twenty20 tournament in the last week of July, officials familiar with the code of conduct set up by the ICC watchdog ACSU said Tambe had not breached any regulations. Both the Mumbai Cricket Association and the BCCI have not yet given a formal reaction though.”He has not violated any code of conduct,” a BCCI official well versed with the anti-corruption code said. Though the ICC did not want to comment on the matter, a source revealed the prevailing view was that Tambe had not broken any code by playing alongside Ashraful.The BCCI official said that normally the blame for Ashraful’s participation would lie with the host country, but because the USACA had been suspended by the ICC in June, the case was not so straightforward. “Normally it is the responsibility of the host association to ensure that no banned player participates in any match organised by them. In this case it is not known if this match was played under the aegis of USACA.”According to him the BCCI or ICC communicates information on bans imposed to the affiliated associations only. “Hence there may be occasions when players are actually not aware of every player they are playing with or against.”He said Tambe could not be blamed directly. “If it was local club cricket and Tambe claims he did not know that Ashraful was participating, then we have to take Tambe’s word for it unless proved otherwise.”When asked if Tambe was at fault for not seeking a no-objection certificate from the MCA, the official said that it would not have been aware of Ashraful’s presence in any case. “Even if MCA had given him a NOC, MCA themselves would not verify the players playing. It is the duty of the host association to see no banned players are participating in the tournament.”On June 26, at the end of its annual conference in Barbados, the ICC announced it was suspending the Associate membership of USACA. The ICC thus became the adjudicator for sanctioning official tournaments in the USA. Other than the overseas players, when asked whether any of the USA or Canada players picked for an ICC Americas tryout scheduled for September in Indianapolis could face local sanctions for playing in the same tournaments as Ashraful, an ICC spokesperson replied in the negative.”The ICC is aware of the issue you have raised and will be reminding its members and other relevant parties of the regulations regarding players who have been banned by other boards,” an ICC spokesperson said in an email. “This matter will not affect players selected in the [Indianapolis] Combine.”

USA wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson has delivered a stinging critique of head coach Nasir “Charlie” Javed, blaming the leadership group led by him for the team’s failure to qualify for next year’s ICC World T20

Peter Della Penna28-Aug-2015USA wicketkeeper Akeem Dodson has delivered a stinging critique of head coach Nasir ‘Charlie’ Javed, blaming the leadership group led by him for the team’s failure to qualify for next year’s ICC World T20. The events at last month’s qualifying tournament in Ireland and the UK included a dramatic attempted revolt by players and staff against Javed.While a senior USACA official conceded to this writer they were aware of the incidents, Javed said the team’s inability to qualify for the World T20 was down to a lack of preparation and warm-up games. It’s not clear, though, how the crisis will be resolved, especially given Dodson’s blunt comments.”The reason why we lost and are looking back on it now, not finishing where we should have, is that we really lacked leadership and the positive kind of coach necessary for our team to succeed, especially a new team playing together for the first time without any practice,” Dodson told ESPNcricinfo following USA’s return from Ireland.”You need someone that is going to positively motivate them. Without practice games to get going, everybody was up in the air as to how to measure themselves and match up situations. What it needed was a coach and captain that is super positive and is able to give them the confidence they need.”The captain feeds off the coach and management staff and they are expected to work together. I really think that’s where we were lacking the most, the coaching. A lot of the decisions, the coach took into his own hands, especially the first three games and he shunned any outside opinions. He just wanted to do everything his own way.”Dodson also questioned Javed’s coaching credentials, saying that while he may have had an illustrious career as a legspinner for USA – tied for fourth all time in 50-over cricket with 41 wickets – he lacked any ICC coaching certifications.When contacted by ESPNcricinfo, Javed said that no member of the team confronted him during the tour regarding any issues they had with his leadership, and that his experience as a player and an apprenticeship as an assistant coach for USA under Robin Singh made him suitable for the role.”You have to read and see cricket,” Javed said. “I go to YouTube and read articles. I try to follow other people and how they execute the game. I’ve seen 700 or 800 games on TV and other places in clubs.”Having certified level one, two or three… I don’t want to criticise any players. I think they need to focus on their own games and how they performed instead of criticising the coach if he has a level one, two or three certificate or not. I’ve played enough cricket to know. I played in Australia and coached women’s cricket at Randwick Cricket Club in Sydney. I was over there and coached when I played. Geoff Lawson helped me in that time.”According to multiple sources in the squad, the tour management was especially fractious, with the staff split into different factions, and that problems had been brewing since the ICC Americas Division One tournament in May. An emergency meeting was hastily called the day after the loss to Namibia – USA’s third in a row in the World T20 Qualifier – in which all members of the squad were present except for Javed.Though Javed’s name was never mentioned, sources claim a team official spoke of “changes to management” that could be made and it was clear this meant Javed since he was the only person not present. The official claimed to have received authorization to make the change from USACA vice-president Owen Grey.Players were then asked by a show of hands to vote if they wanted Javed removed, but before anyone voted it is understood that team video analyst Sriram Somayajula intervened and advised the squad against taking drastic action in the middle of the tournament. The meeting adjourned and the following morning, members of the squad received an email from Grey indicating that no such authorization had been given to make a change and that the management staff would be in place through the end of the tour.”I started getting some text messages that there was a meeting about to take place but I really got involved after the meeting took place,” Grey told ESPNcricinfo. “I got the same feedback not only about Charlie but the entire management staff including the manager. It wasn’t just Charlie. Many players felt the entire management staff prevented them from moving forward to the World Cup.”As far as this incident, what happened is that a couple of players including the captain reached out to me at midnight saying that there was a meeting held in the assistant coach’s room about removing Charlie because the players were unhappy and they kept on going to the manager because they weren’t happy with Charlie’s leadership. This happened five hours before their next game against Jersey.”I sent an email back to the entire 15-man squad and said look, you guys focus on the game tomorrow. Stay together as a collective group. I did not authorise any meeting. Let’s move on. Whatever changes might be made will happen post-tournament, not during the tournament. Getting these messages about this meeting going on, I was caught off guard. That’s when I stepped in with the president and we addressed it. It goes right across the board, everybody had a big ego and a chip on their shoulder and they did not realize that their issues were distracting the team.”Several members of the team also stated that a players-only meeting was called in which the 15-man squad committed themselves to ignoring whatever instructions and assistance the coaching staff was providing because the advice was often conflicting due to the internal battles within the coaching staff. Dodson said it helped the team bond together and was a factor in winning their last three games.”No one was outwardly disrespectful or tried to shun Charlie but mainly the focus of most of the players was to focus on the game and block out negativity which unfortunately included the coach,” Dodson said. “When I say negativity, that’s very broad. The guys were trying to focus on their own game and play to the best of their potential with a clear mind. The way Charlie was trying to approach the game or trying to explain to us, it was very elementary, too basic.”Javed felt the team’s lack of preparation was the main cause of its failure to qualify, and said he was hamstrung by the lack of warm-up games or a preparatory camp by the USACA, since he and other members of the staff had never watched some of the new players in the squad.”Alex Amsterdam, I never seen this guy in my life, who he is or how he plays,” Javed said. “He just came [to Ireland the day before the first match] and I can’t just put him in to play. When he came at practice, he couldn’t touch the moving ball. Everybody plays on matting wicket or synthetic wicket in USA. When I reached Ireland, I don’t know Shiva [Vashishat]. I had never seen him or Amsterdam and one other guy. As a coach I knew some guys but not three or four guys. In my opinion, the selection process had hiccups. But these guys were good. I didn’t have a problem with anyone. They just needed to play [more games] together.”Regarding the team’s lack of preparation, Grey said the USACA was at fault and had let the players down but that the organisation was managing the situation with the resources they had at their disposal.”I’m very disappointed that the team did not qualify to the World Cup but I’m very proud that the team pulled together and performed extremely well in an adverse situation in the lead up to the tour. As a member of the board of directors, I feel responsible and you can hold me accountable for not giving the players the tools necessary to succeed. But I can’t do it by myself. We just didn’t have the resources. As a board, we need to come up with a plan so we can get these players and the team the resources in the future.”

Shoaib Malik said he was disappointed with bad light putting an end to Pakistan’s chances in the second ODI against Zimbabwe, but said “there are certain ICC rules and we have to follow them.”

Liam Brickhill in Harare03-Oct-2015Shoaib Malik, whose unbeaten 96 had kept Pakistan on course during a severely tense chase of 277 in Harare, admitted he was disappointed by the way the match ended after the umpires took the players off for bad light. At the time, Pakistan needed another 21 runs to win in two overs with two wickets in hand. But with play being curtailed, Duckworth-Lewis calculations indicated the visitors were short by five runs.”The way we were batting then, I think the game was in our favour,” Malik said. “Obviously there are certain ICC rules and we have to follow them. I think overall it was a great game, but at the end of the day it’s a little bit disappointing the way it ended. But being a professional cricketer and representing your country, you have to follow certain rules and regulations.”Malik batted for almost 42 overs and helped Pakistan recover from a precarious 76 for 6. He added 111 runs for the seventh wicket with Aamer Yamin, who struck a maiden ODI fifty, and an unbeaten 63 for the ninth wicket with Yasir Shah.”I had one thing in my mind,” Malik said. “If we play the full 50 overs, then we might have a chance. The minute that Aamer Yamin came in he gave me that hope, ‘okay I’m here and I can hit boundaries’. So he started hitting boundaries and I started taking singles. And it was just one thing that I always had in my mind during the game: that I have to play until the 50th over. And whichever way the game goes, either to Zimbabwe or us, I still have to play the fifty overs.”Yamin departed with 90 still needed from 61 balls and Pakistan were left with three wickets in hand. But Malik insisted he never felt the game had slipped away. “I never thought of it that way. The way [Yamin] batted, he gave us hope. Even when Yasir Shah came in, the way he was batting I think the pressure was on the Zimbabwe team. It’s like a team thing. Obviously we lost, but at the end of the day we have achieved a lot from this game.”Earlier in the day, three of Pakistan’s top-four batsmen had fallen playing aggressive strokes. But Malik said an attacking approach had been part of the visitors’ gameplan. “The way cricket is going I think you have to play aggressive cricket, and that’s what we even talked about in our meeting before this game. Sometimes you lose wickets, sometimes you score runs. It’s part of the game.”Malik also gave credit to the Zimbabweans for the way they played, singling Elton Chigumbura out for particular praise. “We started off well bowling as a unit, but obviously we must also give credit to the Zimbabwean batsmen, especially [Chamu] Chibhabha and Chigumbura. Especially Chigumbura and the way he batted at the end. There are areas of improvement for us, which we’ll look at and come back hard.”

Spinner Sunil Narine’s return to international cricket after a 14-month hiatus could help solve West Indies’ lack of penetration in the middle overs, captain Jason Holder said

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Oct-2015Spinner Sunil Narine’s return to international cricket after a 14-month hiatus could help solve West Indies’ lack of penetration in the middle overs, captain Jason Holder said. Holder described Narine as the “best bowler in the world” as his team prepares for the first ODI against Sri Lanka, on Sunday.Narine’s international absence was partly due to trouble with his action. He has been reported twice for a suspect action in the past 13 months – first at last year’s Champions League [he was subsequently banned from bowling in the tournament final], and again during this year’s IPL.The bowler had remodeled his action after the first report, even withdrawing from the World Cup squad to focus on remedying the flex in his elbow. Despite that he was found to have returned to his old action when delivering offbreaks, at a biomechanical test in Chennai, in April. The offbreak was subsequently cleared within weeks. Each of these reports and tests had been carried out under the auspices of the BCCI, and not the ICC.Holder said he was “very, very happy” at Narine’s return, as it would elevate his attack’s menace during the middle overs. West Indies had regularly taken wickets with the new ball during the 2015 World Cup, but had then allowed batsmen to flourish after the 20th over, which in turn allowed oppositions to mount huge scores. South Africa had struck 408 against them in Sydney, before Martin Guptill’s 237 not out formed the guts of New Zealand’s 393 in the quarter-final.”Once we get early wickets it makes things a little bit easier in the middle, but in the past we’ve let the game – in a sense – drift from us,” Holder said. “We have Sunil Narine now, which makes me more comfortable. He’s a wicket-taking option whenever he comes into bowl. Hopefully he can take some wickets in the middle and maybe his pressure could create other wickets around for the guys he’s bowling in partnership with.”It’s hurt us in the past where we’ve had two set batsmen. But we have the best bowler in the world in Sunil Narine. Hopefully we can get those wickets at the end and have Narine at the forefront, leading the attack.”The ICC’s new playing conditions for ODIs may also help West Indies stem the flow of runs during the final overs. As West Indies have not played since the World Cup, this will be the first series in which Holder can place five men outside the 30-yard circle during the last 10 overs of an innings.”Having the five fielders outside the circle in the last 10 gives us a bit more leeway,” Holder said. “In the past we’ve really struggled with having four fielders out there. Most captains have struggled with having four fielders out in the last ten. A set batsman is always difficult to contain. We had a warm-up game, but unfortunately the rain came before the match progressed to those last 10 overs. I don’t think it will be a big change. It’s something similar to the T20 format.”Holder’s side had won that practice match against SLC Board President’s XI by 43 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method, after Carlos Brathwaite and Andre Russell had put on a sensational 193-run, eighth-wicket stand. Rain interrupted the match 21 overs into the hosts’ chase however, hampering the preparations of West Indies’ bowlers.”The guys got a chance to spend some time in the middle in the practice match,” Holder said. “Afterwards we came back and had a good blowout in terms of bowling. I would say the guys are well prepared. We also got a good net session under the lights, so the guys got a feel for the backdrop of the Premadasa Stadium. It’s very important that we start the series well because it’s a short series, and we’d like to build some confidence going into the T20 series as well.”

Wally Edwards signed off as Cricket Australia chairman at its AGM on Thursday, leaving behind him a board of nine independent directors to further the interests of Australian cricket

Daniel Brettig29-Oct-2015When Wally Edwards first joined the Australian Cricket Board 19 years ago, its 14 directors squabbled frequently as representatives of their states, and were Balkanised even in their seating positions around the board table.

Challenge is to drive more people to the game, says Peever

David Peever, the new Cricket Australia chairman, felt it was important to drive forward the slew of recent changes in order to take the game to more people within the country.
“This is a key time for Australian cricket. A lot of significant change has occurred for the better on and off the field,” he said. “But in an ever changing world, I believe we have to work harder than ever before to maintain cricket’s privileged place as the Australia’s traditional summer pastime.
“For me, top of that list is encouraging more people to play the game. That means engaging young people, females and Australians of all of our nation’s diverse cultural backgrounds. I am keen that South Asian and other overseas-born fans who packed Australia’s grounds during the recent World Cup are able to maintain their passion for cricket as part of their adopted Australian lifestyles.”

“It was completely compartmentalised,” Edwards said. “I can almost remember where everyone sat. And it was state versus state basically, and a matter of how much you can take off the table. My job as a West Australian delegate was to get as much cash as I could back to WA.”It definitely wasn’t good for cricket when you look back on it. It was completely dysfunctional – it was hardly a board in that regard. You didn’t sit there and say ‘what’s best, let’s debate it and work out the best way forward’, it was more ‘we think they can operate on a $1 million less than that so we’ll all take a bit of money back’.”We kept the squeeze on management, and if they came up with a good idea that cost money that would definitely be voted out!”On Thursday at Cricket Australia’s AGM, Edwards signed off as chairman and left behind him a board of nine independent directors, chosen on basis of skills and compatibility to further the interests of Australian cricket in a unified manner. Edwards joined Sir Donald Bradman as the only chairmen to have played Test cricket, but no single figure in the history of the board has presided over more significant changes to the way the game is run.The chief executive, James Sutherland, knows this better than anyone. He reflected on the hoops management once had to go through. “Under the previous governance model it was frustrating and difficult,” he said.”The way I like to talk about it is when you had a proposal to put up it was always compromised by your thinking about how the voting would go, and who would like that and who would like this.”Instead of putting the optimal recommendation, you would put a compromise recommendation that kept everyone happy. Even when it came to debate it would get further compromise. But it was a progression over time.”In his farewell remarks, Edwards reserved a special tribute to the former Cricket Victoria chairman, Geoff Tamblyn, as a key figure in helping to usher through those reforms.He also observed that his predecessor Jack Clarke had been the man to commission the governance review that resulted in change. Asked to pay tribute to Edwards, fellow board director Tony Harrison said his chairmanship meant that in Australian cricket “parochialism is not quite dead, but it’s terminally ill”.Relations between board directors have improved notably, but so too has the link between the board and management. The independent director, Kevin Roberts, has stepped down to join CA’s management team, an unprecedented move that places him in line to succeed Sutherland whenever the CEO chooses to finish up.CA’s balance sheet was shown to be in rare good health, not least as a result of a season that featured a Test tour by India and also the wildly successful 2015 World Cup, which Edwards had no little pride in declaring “the best ever” and featured 20 sellouts among its 49 matches.Revenue for the year totalled Aus $380.9 million, resulting in a surplus of Aus $99 million for CA after its annual distribution to the six states. Of this, $60 million will be set aside for long-term, strategic investment. As the board’s CFO Kate Banozic put it, “there is a lot of money in the bank right now”.Of course the cycle of global tours means there needs to be – this summer’s tourists New Zealand and West Indies will not turn in anything like the same cash as visits by India – and Edwards is hopeful that his legacy will feature better cricket played by more nations around the world to ensure the financial reliance on Indian tours is lessened. He remains defiant about ICC reforms that have been heavily criticised by the documentary ‘Death of a Gentleman.’But as of Thursday night, such concerns are no longer those of Edwards, who noted the significance of the man replacing him. David Peever, the former managing director for Rio Tinto in Australia, will be the first CA chairman not to have risen through the ranks of state and national boards.Due in large part to the CA board reforms of the past five years, Edwards was able to say of Peever that “success is assured, it’s just a matter of how much”.

India’s captain Virat Kohli has admitted to being disappointed after rain denied his team a chance to go 2-0 up against South Africa, but said his squad’s mindset was still positive

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Bangalore18-Nov-20153:42

‘Nothing has changed from Mohali’ – Kohli

India are 1-0 up at the halfway point of a four-Test series against the No. 1 side in the world. Under normal circumstances, Virat Kohli would probably be pleased with the scoreline. But having won the first Test inside three days and ended the first day of the second Test in a hugely advantageous position, Kohli was frustrated that rain denied his side a shot at 2-0.”It was very disappointing,” Kohli said, after a fourth successive cricket-free day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “The second and third day were especially very frustrating because we had a very good first day. The toughest task is to set up a Test match and then you have to win the important moments later on.”We were on course to do that, to get control of the important moments of the game and capitalise. We had a good chance of putting South Africa under more pressure, but as I said the weather turned out to be in such a way that we had no control over it for the course of the next four days. It is always annoying for any side to come to the ground and have no play. The covers come off and the rain falls again. I think that was something that was disappointing.”Kohli felt India could have put South Africa under pressure even if rain had relented just enough to allow two more days of play.”If we had proper two days of play even from fourth day to the end of the fifth day, we were still looking at it as a positive where we can bat for a full day and try to get as many runs as possible and then put pressure on the opposition. I am not saying that we would have certainly bowled them out, but you can actually put them under pressure even if we had two more days of play. That’s how well we played on day one and that gave us the liberty to think of something like that on the fourth and fifth day.”The rain ruled out even that possibility, but Kohli said it hadn’t dampened his side’s spirits or dissipated any of the momentum they had built.”The momentum, I don’t see any change in that, the mood is absolutely the same that we had in Mohali. We had a really positive day one, bowled the No. 1 side out in under three sessions, bowled them out on a decent batting wicket, there were no demons in the wicket I can say for sure. And we batted pretty well in whatever time we had in the middle. Shikhar [Dhawan] getting some runs was a big positive as well.”All in all, we had been in a very good space and we have maintained that. Even in the last four days, we haven’t really thought about what the rain is going to do, we have just reacted to how the weather has turned out which is very, very important. Thinking about the weather can put you off, which the team has not done, so I would like to give credit to the guys to still stay in the zone. Nothing has changed in the last four days at all.”At stumps on day one, India were 80 for no loss in response to South Africa’s 214, with Shikhar Dhawan batting on 45. Dhawan had failed twice in Mohali, and was coming off middling form in the ODI series that preceded the Tests, but Kohli didn’t feel he was coming out of a lean patch. Keeping the formats separate, he harked back to the hundreds Dhawan had made in his last two Tests before this series, in Fatullah and Galle.”If you call scoring two hundreds in three Test matches struggling then I don’t know what ‘in form’ is,” Kohli said. “[Dhawan’s] last three matches, he has got a hundred in Galle, he has got a hundred in Bangladesh, unfortunately he got injured after and he played first Test match after that in Mohali.”So let’s not be too hard on someone because of two innings or three innings. This is international cricket, you are going to play numerous innings and we have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we possibly can. When he gets going he wins you the game, that is a surety.”I don’t think he has been out of form at all, he has been batting beautifully. Sometimes you will not get the scores that you desire, but it is important how you are playing at that moment. He is certainly hitting the ball very well, and as I said he got runs here, which is good for his mental set-up. We don’t see any issues with his batting or his confidence for sure. We have to let the individual sort of come into his own, not to put too much pressure on him.”We have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we can” – Virat Kohli•Associated Press

“I am sure he is happy with the way he batted here as well, if he had more overs to bat he would have been 70 or 80 not out or possibly could have got a hundred as well if we had some amount of the game left. He is that sort of player who can take the game away very quickly. I am delighted that he is feeling good about his batting at the moment and I am sure he would want to score big runs in this series and in future as well, every batsman wants to.”Having played five specialist bowlers in Mohali, India left out one of their spinners and brought in Stuart Binny to play the role of a seam-bowling allrounder after weighing in the conditions in Bangalore. Kohli said the presence of multi-skilled players such as Binny and Gurkeerat Singh – who was called into the squad on the eve of the second Test – allowed India a certain amount of bowling depth in any kind of conditions.”[Binny] is an allrounder who can bowl you really consistent medium-pace and can be very handy with the bat,” Kohli said. “Then we have Gurkeerat. [Ravindra] Jadeja is potentially the right kind of allrounder for us. It’s just about being in a confident zone. We can play him as a frontline spinner or an allrounder as well. That depends on what sort of space an individual is in. I think you have to choose an allrounder according to the conditions.”You can’t be stubborn about saying ‘This guy has ability and he will do the right kind of job in every condition’. Some people will be more effective in different conditions. I’ve mentioned in the past, this team is all about flexibility.”We did not play Amit Mishra here, and he has been bowling really well in the last few months. But he understood that we probably needed someone like Stuart in these conditions. Because Bangalore always tends to do something on the last couple of days, that is the feedback we got from the guys who have played here and guys who have bowled on this pitch. There’s no set combinations in this team. Everyone is ready to play at any stage and willing to perform for the team, which is a positive sign.”With less than four full days of cricket possible in the first two Tests, and given that the first Test was a low-scoring game, India’s batsmen haven’t had too much of a chance to play themselves into form yet. Kohli didn’t think this was a concern going into the third Test.”Not at all. As I said, everyone is in a good space. It doesn’t matter, you know. You don’t need to put a certain number or score in front of your name to make sure you make an impact. Someone scoring 30 runs also [can make an impact].”You take Jadeja’s knock of 38 [in Mohali]. Nobody talks about it but it was as important as [Cheteshwar] Pujara’s and [M] Vijay’s runs in the course of the Test match, seeing the first innings and how it went. [Wriddhiman] Saha’s [20] in the second innings was as crucial as [the runs made by] Pujara and Vijay early on because that gives you a competitive target.”This team is not worried about personal performances or putting numbers in front of names. We just want to go out there and win a Test. And if we feel someone makes an impact, even if he makes a 30, we surely let him know that ‘your knock was as important’, so that he knows he is making an impact for the team.”We need to find the right balance between batting and bowling. You certainly need that to win a Test match and that’s exactly what we did in Mohali. Day one here was a balance of both as well. I’m sure when you get going, any batsman wants to make it big like I said. And everyone is in that zone of performing for the team firstly and not worry about themselves getting to a hundred or fifty. That’s the most pleasing thing about the confidence and mindset of this team right now.”

ESPNcricinfo has been named Online Publication of the Year for the fourth year running in the ECB’s annual County Journalism Awards

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2015ESPNcricinfo has been named Online Publication of the Year for the fourth year running in the ECB’s annual County Journalism Awards, following another domestic season in which the site’s ever-popular County Cricket Live blog anchored its peerless in-depth written and video coverage of the LV= County Championship race.Tim Wigmore, one of ESPNcricinfo’s regular county reporters, was named Christopher Martin-Jenkins Young Journalist of the Year, and receives a £5000 prize supported by the .The Times reclaimed the award as National Newspaper of the Year for the first time since 2011 (with a commendation for The Cricket Paper, last year’s winner).There are new winners for the Regional Newspaper of the Year Award, with The Journal and the Sunday Sun sharing the prize, for their coverage of Durham and county cricket in general. Two new names to the awards are commended in this category for different forms of coverage; the South London Press for its weekly coverage of Surrey, and The Sentinel, for its comprehensive coverage of Minor Counties and league cricket in Staffordshire.Clive Eakin, who covers Warwickshire for BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire, wins the County Broadcaster of the Year Award, one of two awards named after Christopher Martin-Jenkins, the former BBC Test Match Special commentator and cricket correspondent of The Times and the Daily Telegraph, who passed away in 2013.Mark Baldwin, the chairman of the Cricket Writers Club, a member of the five-strong judging panel, said: “The awards were started in 2011 to celebrate and encourage outstanding coverage of county cricket, so it was heartening for all of us to reflect on the quality of the competition this year.ESPNcricinfo general editor David Hopps and Young Cricket Writer of the Year Tim Wigmore collect the award for Online Publication of the Year in the ECB Business Awards•ECB

“In the Young Journalist of the Year category in particular, the standard was as high as it has ever been. Tim Wigmore is a worthy winner, having been commended last year, for writing with intelligence and authority across a range of subjects for different publications. He had to be, given the competition from several other entrants, all of whom relished the range of opportunities available to young writers across various platforms.”They include ESPNcricinfo, whose all-round coverage of the county game remains excellent, and also The Cricket Paper, whose continued commitment to county cricket was noted and praised by the panel. But we felt that The Times should be recognised both for continuing to invest in eye-witness coverage of county cricket, and for providing regular space for the county game.”Clive Eakin’s award is also deserved recognition for one of the BBC’s longest serving local radio commentators; he is someone who has an intimate knowledge of the county scene and is now gaining more exposure than ever before thanks to the BBC’s ball-by-ball coverage of domestic cricket.”ECB Chief Executive Officer Tom Harrison said: “At the end of a season which saw record attendances for domestic and international cricket, it’s important that we recognise the role played by a wide range of media in promoting county cricket to a wider audience.”These awards have once again attracted a high number of entries and demonstrated that our county game continues to attract significant interest from print, online and broadcast media nationwide. We send our congratulations to all the winners and would like to thank everyone who entered the awards and everyone who helps to support the county game. “

Chris Gayle has been fined $10,000 by the Melbourne Renegades for his comments during an interview with Channel Ten journalist Mel McLaughlin during Monday night’s BBL match in Hobart

Brydon Coverdale05-Jan-20161:35

‘Meant no disrespect towards reporter’ – Gayle

Chris Gayle has been fined $10,000 by the Melbourne Renegades for his comments during an interview with Channel Ten journalist Mel McLaughlin during Monday night’s BBL match in Hobart. The Renegades CEO Stuart Coventry announced the sanction at a press conference in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon and said that Gayle’s fine would be donated to the McGrath Foundation.The incident was described by Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland as “borderline harassment”, but the Renegades stopped short of suspending Gayle. Coventry said he believed the incident – in which Gayle used a mid-match interview to ask McLaughlin out and told her “don’t blush, baby” – was a one-off.”We had a look at some history and precedents established in the past, the circumstance that was in place this time, and we think that this is a one-off scenario,” Coventry said when asked how the Renegades had decided on the fine. “We looked at Chris’ attitude over the last four or five weeks in the Big Bash and we think it has been outstanding. We’ve come up with a fine scenario.”Sutherland said that Gayle had been left in no doubt that any repeat behaviour would result in a far heavier penalty. “I reiterate my view that Chris got it badly wrong last night,” he said. “We are working incredibly hard to ensure cricket is a sport for all Australians – men and women, boys and girls – and we just won’t tolerate behaviour that undermines that ambition.”The public’s damning response to his comments demonstrate just what people expect of our elite cricketers. As the sanction has been imposed by his club, CA will not be laying a charge under our Code of Behaviour, but we will be formally putting Chris on notice that if anything like this happens again in the BBL, the consequences will be far more severe.”On Tuesday, other female reporters said they had experienced similar moments with Gayle, including the Fox Sports reporter Neroli Meadows, who described Gayle as “a repeat offender”. Coventry said he was “unfamiliar with what those journalists have said and the grounds behind that and the evidence behind that”.When asked if he acknowledged Gayle had had similar issues in the past, Coventry said: “Not that we’ve seen. We’ve done a fair bit of history and research today and we do think it is a one-off. As explained this morning we think it’s probably more of a cultural difference, why he said it, and it was done in jest, but it was inappropriate and we’ve taken this course of action.”However, a similar incident had occurred during a 2014 Caribbean Premier League press conference when Gayle was asked by a female reporter how the pitch felt, to which he replied “Well I haven’t touched yours yet, so I don’t know how it feels”. He went on to tell the reporter “I like your smile, that’s nice… yeah, that’s really good.”Following the incident with McLaughlin, Gayle made an apology of sorts at Melbourne airport on Tuesday morning, but he said he had been unable to speak to McLaughlin in person. Coventry said Gayle had “acknowledged that his comments were out of line” and that while he was surprised by the $10,000 fine, he had taken it well.”The club would like to extend a formal apology to Mel McLaughlin,” Coventry said. “Mel is an outstanding sports presenter. We think of her very highly, and the club and players will ensure we work with her in a professional and respectful manner in future.”

The ODI series between South Africa and England will be decided by the final match in Cape Town after South Africa won an enthralling penultimate game by one wicket with 16 deliveries to spare

The Report by George Dobell12-Feb-2016 South Africa 266 for 9 (Morris 62, Rashid 2-38) beat England 262 (Root 109, Hales 50, Rabada 4-45) by one wicket

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe ODI series between South Africa and England will be decided by the final match in Cape Town on Sunday after South Africa won an enthralling penultimate game by one wicket with 16 deliveries to spare.After losing the first two matches in the series, South Africa have now won two in a row with Chris Morris justifying his recall for this match – and his lofty IPL price tag – with a match-clinching innings under pressure.By the time South Africa lost their eighth wicket, they still required 53 to win and looked as if they were going to succumb to the sort of defeat that would do nothing to rid them of the tag of chokers.The top three were all bowled by good deliveries – Stuart Broad, in his first ODI since the World Cup, persuading Hashim Amla to play on in the first over – but then AB de Villiers was run out responding to a panicky call for a single from JP Duminy – Chris Woakes capping a fine recall with a brilliant pick-up and throw off his own bowling – and the middle order were exposed for their lack of calm.While Farhaan Behardien and David Wiese could probably be forgiven their inexperience, Duminy – not for the first time, befuddled by a spinner – looked oddly unsettled for a man playing his 150th ODI. But then Morris, driving fluently and picking up the short ball with impressive power, thrashed a maiden ODI half-century in just 30 balls to set-up the finale at Newlands.Four times he seized on deliveries pitched fractionally short – one from each of England’s seamers – to pull enormous sixes and suggest that perhaps the management of Delhi Daredevils (who bid $1m for his services a few days ago) are a better judge of a player’s value than the South Africa selectors.When he fell, beaten by a fine googly from Adil Rashid, the scores were level and Imran Tahir was able to cut his first delivery for four to clinch the victory.In truth, South Africa should probably have won this game far more easily. At the halfway stage of the England innings, they had reduced them to 108 for 6 before a brilliant innings from Joe Root – and some far-from-ruthless captaincy – saw a partial recovery.On a decent batting surface, the only quality South Africa were required to demonstrate in their run chase was calm. But, despite their talent, they succumbed to 210 for 8 against some impressive England bowling before Morris intervened.AB de Villiers was left on his knees but South Africa stayed standing to level the series•Getty Images

Indeed, England may well feel they squandered a great opportunity to wrap up the series. They wasted two chances to be rid of Morris early – once on 14, when he was dropped by Adil Rashid off Reece Topley at mid-off, and once, on 16, when Eoin Morgan failed to hit the stumps from very close range.Duminy, on 1, was also reprieved by Alex Hales, at second slip off Woakes, while de Villiers, on 9, was put down by Jason Roy at point off Broad. Jos Buttler also missed a stumping off Rashid when the Behardien had 15.But England should reflect that they lost the game far earlier in the day. Having progressed to 87 for 1 in the 18th over, they suffered a dramatic collapse from which they never fully recovered.It was, ironic though it sounds, the quality of the batting track that played a part in England’s downfall. So aware were the top order of the need to push on and set a defensible total on a surface where something in excess of 300 might have been considered par that they were drawn into a series of highly aggressive strokes which cost them their wickets.The turning point was the wicket of Hales. For the fourth time in the series, Hales made a mature half-century with his natural positivity tempered by enough restraint to give himself the best chance of success. But then, despite the presence of a man on the midwicket boundary – by far the longer of the square boundaries – he played a slog-sweep off Tahir only to see the ball carry unerringly to the fielder.It precipitated a collapse that saw England lose five wickets for 21 runs in seven overs; a passage of play that defined the match.Perhaps, if we admire the boldness of an England side that can make 400, we cannot carp if they sometimes fail in pursuit of such targets. They have certainly developed into an entertaining side. But England have become, in Blackjack terms, the team that says “hit me” in every situation. Maybe the more experienced gambler realises that sometimes 17 is enough to beat the house. Had they eked out another 10 runs in their final overs – rather than going down fighting with 13 deliveries of their innings unused – it may well have proved enough.Defeat was poor reward for another masterful innings from Root. With his second century of the series and the eighth of his ODI career, Root added 95 for the seventh wicket with Woakes in 16.4 overs to resurrect England. With Adil Rashid also contributing a swift 39, England’s lower order more than doubled the score.Unafraid to hit in the air and skipping down the pitch often to enable him to get under the ball, Root put the quality of the surface into perspective with an innings that leaves only Kevin Pietersen (nine from 123 innings) and Marcus Trescothick (12 from 122) with more ODI centuries than him of England players. This was Root’s 63rd ODI innings.He survived being given out on 95 – his use of the DRS showed an inside edge on the ball from Tahir that that had been adjudged to have trapped him leg before – and a top-edge on 55 that fell between fielders but, those moments apart, this was another excellent performance from Root.Perhaps they benefited from de Villiers’ decision-making. With England apparently there for the taking, de Villiers used his support bowlers to get through some overs rather than calling on his new ball men to finish their job. It allowed England a recovery which almost – but not quite – proved enough to snatch the game.

Essex have continued their strong coaching association with Yorkshire by naming Anthony McGrath as assistant head coach

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Feb-2016Essex have continued their strong coaching association with Yorkshire by naming Anthony McGrath as assistant head coach.McGrath becomes No. 2 to a former Yorkshire team-mate, Chris Silverwood, who was promoted up to the head coach role after the departure from the post of another Yorkshireman, Paul Grayson, late last season.McGrath, who has recently been fulfilling part-time coaching duties at Yorkshire, spent his entire first-class career with his home county, making 583 appearances across all three formats during a 17-year career. He also played four Tests for England.After his retirement, he was appointed by Yorkshire as a player mentor before his coaching duties expanded with the departure of Richard Dawson, the academy head, to Gloucestershire.Silverwood said: “I’ve known Anthony for a very long time, and he is a great addition to our staff. He has excellent cricket knowledge, and during his interview it was clear he had a real passion for this job.”He is a very good coach, and will help our batsmen improve their game. He has experience of working with some of the best batsmen in the country – names such as Bairstow, Root, Ballance, Lyth – so his experience will be invaluable to our players.”We have a strong batting line up, and I am confident Anthony will complement it perfectly.”For Yorkshire, who also lost Paul Farbrace to Sri Lanka – and then England – in recent times, it is another raid on their coaching staff to which they are now accustomed.Farbrace’s influence on Yorkshire’s academy was widely praised and his relaxed style as England’s assistant coach after returning to the international circuit has received widespread plaudits. Dawson, his replacement, has also had instant success at Gloucestershire, leading them to Royal London Cup success in his first season.”We are sorry to see Anthony leave the club,” Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon said. “He was a major part of our success over the past couple of years as a coach.”Mags has been at Headingley for nearly 20 years as a coach and a player. He has been an outstanding servant. It is a great opportunity for him and we wish him well.”