All posts by h716a5.icu

West Indies Under-19s will play in the domestic one-day competition, the Nagico Super50 Tournament, this season, as preparation for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2014West Indies Under-19s will play in the domestic one-day competition, the Nagico Super50 Tournament, this season, as preparation for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup. Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC), which was left out of the revamped first-class competition this season, will be the eighth team in the one-day tournament that begins on January 15.West Indies U-19s have been drawn in Group B, alongside Jamaica, Leeward Islands and Trinidad & Tobago, while CCC are in Group A with reigning champions Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands.After a round-robin group stage, the top two teams from each group will enter the semi-finals before the final on January 25.

The BCCI’s plan to regulate player agents, announced on Sunday, will begin with the centrally contracted players being asked to submit the names of their agents for the accreditation process

Amol Karhadkar19-May-2013The BCCI’s plan to regulate player agents, announced on Sunday, will begin with the centrally contracted players being asked to submit the names of their agents for the accreditation process. Sunday’s announcement, three days after the arrest of three Rajasthan Royals players on allegations of spot-fixing during the IPL, marks the first time the board has officially recognised the existence of player’ agents.The BCCI believes accrediting player agents will help them distinguish between genuine agents and others, and its change of stance is said to have been prompted by the presence of close friends of Sreesanth, one of the arrested cricketers, in Royals’ team hotel through much of the tournament.Jiju Janardhan, an alleged bookie who was arrested, is believed to be Sreesanth’s friend since their stint at the MRF Pace Academy almost a decade ago. Janardhan has been staying regularly in Royals’ hotel, and has been allegedly posing as Sreesanth’s agent with the betting mafia.While Jiju’s case has been exposed, many “close friends” and “agents” of regular India cricketers constantly accompany them, and are booked in the team hotel wherever the Indian team travels.”We will ask all the players to let us know who their agents are so that it would be easier for the ACSU officials to bifurcate between those who are in touch with cricketers constantly,” a BCCI official said.They hope to soon expand it and get all affiliated units to do the same when it comes to domestic circuit first, before filtering it down to age-group cricket as player agents have started playing a major role in junior cricket, especially since the advent of IPL.”There’s a need to regulate that aspect,” the official said. “We’ve to collect information about all the player agents so that the BCCI is aware of who are the people that are involved, and it would be easier to track the involvement of players with those who also stay in the same hotel where the team is put up.”The BCCI has always shared a topsy-turvy relationship with player agents. Agents are alleged to have played an influential role in national team’s selection in the past. In 2007, the BCCI had barred then chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar from writing syndicated columns for newspapers. The columns were syndicated by a sport management company owned by one of the major player agents.The BCCI contemplated cracking the whip on player agents in the wake of India’s disastrous 2007 World Cup by announcing a cap on a player’s endorsements before backtracking on it. Even then, all of BCCI’s official media releases used to be regularly copied to a few player agents.Soon after the conclusion of the inaugural IPL edition, the BCCI warned junior cricketers against some player management firms who were trying to lure talent into signing for them with an assurance of getting an IPL contract. One of the clauses in the contracts that were being offered maintained that the players had to pay the agency 20% of all earnings “including match fees”.The board’s announcement comes three years after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) put in place a new anti-corruption mechanism in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that resulted in the imprisonment of three Pakistan cricketers.One of the first rules instituted was the agents’ registration system, which was drafted by the PCB legal head Taffazul Rizvi. Under the new rule every PCB contracted player, both international and domestic, must be represented by a registered agent.The PCB also put a cap on the number of players an agent could represent. In addition, Zaka Ashraf, the tech savvy PCB head, pushed for a security and vigilance department to provide cover to the players. In fact a vigilance officer is currently travelling with the Pakistan squad on their trip to the United Kingdom.One of the main requirements that the PCB has placed on the agent is that they cannot have any prior criminal record. If it is an overseas agent, they need to get clearance from the Pakistan High Commission.Cricket Australia, in fact, has one of the most sound agent accreditation systems around. The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) and CA have “agreed to introduce a compulsory scheme for the accreditation and regulation of player agents representing professional cricketers in Australia.”Under the memorandum of understanding, the ACA and CA have agreed that, as from April 1, 2013 (with only limited exceptions), CA, state associations, BBL teams and the ACA will only deal with accredited agents in player contract discussions,” the CA website says. As of now, 26 agents have been accredited under this scheme.

Warwickshire bagged four wickets for four runs in the space of 10 deliveries to take command of their clash with Middlesex in Uxbridge

09-Jul-2013Middlesex 177 for 4 (Voges 81*, Simpson 50*) trail Warwickshire 486 for 6 (Chopra 228*) by 309 runs
ScorecardEven though close to a career-best, Varun Chopra puts the team first•PA PhotosWarwickshire bagged four wickets for four runs in the space of 10 deliveries to take command of their clash with Middlesex in Uxbridge.After their acting captain Varun Chopra declared unbeaten on 228 and with his Warwickshire side sitting pretty on 486 for 6, Middlesex crumbled to 28 for 4 before launching a comeback after tea to reach 177 for 4 at the midpoint of the game.Having fielded in blazing heat for the best part of 10 hours, Middlesex quickly wilted in the face of some impressive new ball bowling by the reigning champion’s attack. Dawid Malan fenced at one from left-armer Keith Barker and nicked to third slip then, four balls later, Joe Denly was squared up by a leg-cutter to edge to the same fielder.Without addition to the total Sam Robson followed a lifting delivery from Chris Wright to pick out Jeetan Patel for a third successive catch at third slip then Neil Dexter feathered Wright’s next delivery through to the keeper to go for a first-ball duck.John Simpson survived Wright’s hat-trick ball and, after the tea break, joined forces with Adam Voges to frustrate Warwickshire’s bowlers throughout the third session.Voges, the Australian right-hander, posted a 70-ball 50 with eight fours and went in at stumps on 80 not out, while Simpson reached the landmark from 86 balls and with nine fours in an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 149. Even so, the hosts will go into day three requiring a further 160 runs to avoid the follow-on.Warwickshire batted for much of Tuesday’s opening two sessions before Chopra’s selfless declaration gave them a session and eight overs of day two in which to make inroads into the Middlesex top-order.Having featured in stands of 113, 113, 55, 100 and 66 Chopra – who was dropped twice on the opening morning before even scoring a run – finally said enough soon after 3pm having batted nine-and-a-half hours for his double century.When only five short of equalling his career-best 233 (scored for Sri Lanka Premier League side Tamil Union against Sinhalese SSC in Colombo, January 2012) and 14 short of his 1,000th run of the summer, Chopra called time on his marathon stay of 428 balls that led to 20 boundaries.Resuming on 141, Chopra soon lost his third-wicket partner Ateeq Javid for 22 when he prodded forward to a Corey Collymore delivery only to edge to the keeper. Left-hander Tim Ambrose marched in to add more pep to the innings with a brisk 60 from 78 balls before his push drive against off-spinner Ollie Rayner picked out Malan at short extra cover.Having gone it at lunch on 388 for 4, Warwickshire promoted Chris Woakes to carry in the impetus Ambrose had given them and he duly obliged with a straight six against Ravi Patel in a cameo 34 that ended when he chipped a return catch to Rayner.Middlesex dropped their fourth catch of the innings when Rikki Clarke, on 10, saw Joe Denly down a skier at long-on, but only 12 runs later Clarke miscued to cover against Collymore to see Voges pull off a fine over-the-shoulder catch running back toward the rope.Chopra declared soon after throwing the gauntlet down to his bowlers to extract some response from a, hitherto, extremely placid Park Road pitch – which they duly did.

There’s nothing big at stake but for a subcontinental cricket fan, especially in a small town like Cuttack, an India-Pakistan match is a major event

Amol Karhadkar in Cuttack06-Feb-2013Minutes after India’s humiliating exit from the Women’s World Cup, following a shock defeat to Sri Lanka in Mumbai, their captain Mithali Raj was asked during the media briefing about Thursday’s “big match” against Pakistan. Despite being teary-eyed, Raj managed a smile and said, “I am not in a state of mind to think about it right now.”There’s nothing big at stake in the match at the Barabati Stadium – it’s a playoff for seventh place and the loser will finish last in the World Cup – but for a subcontinental cricket fan, especially in a small town like Cuttack, an India-Pakistan match is a major event.After Pakistan’s loss to South Africa had put them out of the tournament hours before India’s exit, a policeman said to his colleague that it was only two more days until the neighbouring women left. But after India were upset at the Brabourne Stadium, and were going to travel to Cuttack to play Pakistan, the security personnel were taking all sorts of precautionary measures for the game to go off smoothly.”An India-Pakistan match is always an interesting affair. Even if it’s a seventh place playoff, it has generated excitement in town,” Odisha Cricket Association president Ranjib Biswal. “I am sure there will be a sizeable crowd in the stands tomorrow.”Regardless of their number, the people who come to watch will not be cheering the team they had adopted over the last week. A crowd of about 500-1000 was neutral during Pakistan’s opening game against Australia, and then cheered their good shots against New Zealand. By the time Pakistan played their must-win encounter against South Africa on Tuesday, the crowd had started cheering them on.”It was really a nice feeling to see the crowd cheering for us,” Pakistan captain Sana Mir said after their loss to South Africa. “This shows that when it comes to cricket, the rest of the problems are set aside. We have been taken care of very well and would love to come back to Odisha and explore the state, something that we couldn’t do this time around.”After a disappointing week, neither India nor Pakistan trained ahead of their final match of the World Cup. Pakistan will hope their batsmen improve on their best total of the tournament so far – 104 – while India will be desperate to avoid finishing last in a World cup they are hosting.

Brydon Coverdale15-Mar-2013There are plenty of professional cricketers who live with their heads in the sand. Most followers of the game would argue that the well-rounded Ed Cowan is not one of them. But Cowan has forced such a mindset upon himself since becoming a Test cricketer, trying his best to ignore criticism from past players and journalists, avoiding Twitter and the often mindless condemnation that it facilitates between player and spectator. It is his self-imposed head-in-the-sand approach.Cowan’s critics have been many and varied. Ian Chappell has regularly argued for Shane Watson and David Warner to be reunited as Australia’s opening pair, and Shane Warne also left Cowan out of the preferred Ashes XI he published this week. After scoring a gritty 86 from 238 deliveries against India in Mohali, a strong effort considering Australia’s batting struggles in this series, Cowan was asked if he could see himself changing the mind of people like Chappell.”I’m going to have to score a hell of a lot of runs before that happens,” Cowan said. “One of the things with Test cricket is you work out pretty quickly that everyone has got an opinion, everyone is entitled to an opinion. Often it’s not the same opinion as what you have. I’ve taken a bit of a head-in-the-sand approach in relation to guys when they pick a team and you’re not in it. So be it. I’ve got the opportunity now and it’s important for the team now that I keep playing more innings like today.”I’m the first to put my hand up and say I haven’t been good enough in terms of making sure those 50, 60-ball innings become 180, 200-ball innings. That’s one area where I can really kick on and if I can turn a few more of those starts into long innings then I don’t really mind what Ian Chappell has to say. But I doubt that I’ll ever see myself in his team.”After Cowan scored his first Test century against South Africa at the Gabba, Chappell said he was impressed by the attacking mindset Cowan had shown at times during the innings. In India, Cowan has discovered that his best approach is to occupy time and force India’s bowlers to work out other ways to get him out, and by surviving for so long in the first innings in Mohali he ensured the rest of the batsmen had something to work with.That Australia finished the second day in another shaky position at 273 for 7 was not the fault of Cowan. He and David Warner provided Australia with a very solid platform, a 139-run opening partnership that was their second-highest in Tests. Their partnership average is now 48.07, which by Australian standards is above par for an opening pair. By comparison, David Boon and Geoff Marsh averaged 46.77, Bill Lawry and Keith Stackpole averaged 44.89 and Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer aren’t that far ahead at 51.88.Personally, Cowan still wants to see his big innings’ getting even bigger. He still has only one century, but his role in Australia’s team of stroke-players is that of anchor. There were plenty of jokes about Cowan’s so-called homework task for the coach Mickey Arthur during the week – it would win the Nobel Peace Prize, one theory went – but the truth is his personal goals were pretty simple.”What I said to Mickey was I want to be accountable to bat a long period of time and I put a figure on that which is between me and Mickey,” Cowan said. “My personal accountability is to bat a long time. I didn’t bat for as long as I would have liked but I felt I did fairly well today.”For me, today wasn’t about runs, it was about time and soaking up balls and soaking up pressure. It felt like that’s what the team needed in this particular game considering what has happened the last two. At no stage did I think, I’m getting close to a hundred. I wasn’t even looking at the scoreboard, I was looking at the clock on the other side of the ground saying ‘c’mon mate, just get to drinks or change of bowler, get through the next break’.”It didn’t bother me that I didn’t score a hundred, I was happy that I faced 238 balls. Deep down, I would have loved it to be 350 balls and if I faced that many balls I would have been a hundred. But that wasn’t the focus for me. The word contentment is pretty apt in that circumstance. Up against the wall in terms of the way the series has gone, I was happy I could contribute.”

Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been handed a Grade A contract by the BCCI for the 2014-15 season, a promotion from the Grade B contract he had last season

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-20143:51

Ugra: Clear the selectors don’t want to go back to Yuvraj, Gambhir

The BCCI’s contracts list for 2014-15

Grade A

MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
In: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Out: Sachin Tendulkar

Grade B

Pragyan Ojha, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami
In: Mohammed Shami, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane
Out: Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh

Grade C

Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul
In: Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Robin Uthappa, Manoj Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul
Out: Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat

Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been handed a Grade A contract by the BCCI for the 2014-15 season, a promotion from the Grade B contract he had last season. He joins MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and R Ashwin in the top level, after being one of the successes for India on the tour to England this summer, where he claimed 19 wickets from seven Test innings at 26.63.Mohammed Shami, Ambati Rayudu and Ajinkya Rahane have been promoted from Grade C to Grade B, while Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik and Jaydev Unadkat have been dropped from the contracts list.There are several players who did not have contracts last year but have been included in Grade C this time, including Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Robin Uthappa, Manoj Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul.Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma have been retained in Grade B, while Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha, Vinay Kumar and Mohit Sharma remain in Grade C.The BCCI said in a release that players who have not received contracts but play for India in any of the three formats this season will be given Grade C contracts once they debut.The only players in India’s 30-man probables list for the 2015 World Cup who had not made it to the contracts list are batsmen Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav, and fast bowler Ashok Dinda.Wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who was called up to the India Test team as injury cover for Saha and Dhoni during the series in England earlier this year as well as the ongoing series in Australia, has not been given a contract.The BCCI did not announce how much the players will be paid under each grade, since their fees are decided at the AGM. The AGM is usually held before September 30 every year, but has not been held for 2014-15 as the BCCI is embroiled in a legal tussle following the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. Last season, a Grade A contract came with an annual retainer of Rs 1 crore for Grade A players (US$ 158,000 approx), Rs 50 lakh for Grade B players (US$ 79,000 approx), and Rs 25 lakh for Grade C players (US$ 39,000 approx).

Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore01-Sep-2012Barely had the Saturday crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium finished savouring one of their favourite shots in cricket – a Sachin Tendulkar straight drive – when Tendulkar was bowled through the gate by Doug Bracewell and India were down at 80 for 4. As in 2010, the apparent no-hopers from New Zealand had again pushed India to a tight spot. The rescue artist VVS Laxman was no longer around, and it was down to the Test rookies to save them.Despite India still being nearly 300 behind, Suresh Raina didn’t opt for wait-and-watch cricket. Instead, he went on the offensive, with a hat-trick of fours off Bracewell, and a patented extra-cover loft for six off Jeetan Patel. Suddenly, the New Zealand attack was no longer as menacing and the Indian fightback was well and truly on.Raina said he was inspired by Ross Taylor’s hurricane hundred on the first day. “Whenever I got the ball in my area, I made sure to bat positively because Taylor was going really great against us so this is the style I would like to play in Test cricket,” he said. “At the same time I need to control my aggression, need to judge the line and length, so I am getting better. I have done well in one-dayers so hopefully I will be better in Test cricket too.”By the time Raina was dismissed for 55, India had progressed to 179 and Virat Kohli was looking assured. Though Raina was disappointed he couldn’t carry on to a bigger score, it was a vital innings for him, as his place is the most vulnerable in the Indian line-up. After the mauling in England last year where he looked completely out of depth, this is Raina’s comeback series and the challengers for his spot are plenty.Raina knows the importance of this series for him, and it helped that he is fresh off several match-turning knocks in the recent limited-overs series in Sri Lanka. “There was no pressure to score big runs but I always looked to enjoy the game,” he said. “I didn’t do well in England but I went back to the domestic cricket, played couple of matches, scored a double hundred and then played crucial knocks against Sri Lanka and did well in the IPL.”Now that we have a lot of young players, this is the time to score as many runs and book my place in the side because there are a lot of Test matches coming up in India and abroad as well.”With Raina’s exit, New Zealand had a look-in, but like India’s bowlers in the final session on Friday, the visitors also failed to produce breakthroughs late in the day, as Kohli and MS Dhoni helped India even up the match. Tim Southee, who justified his selection ahead of Chris Martin with three wickets, didn’t think his side flagged as the day progressed.”No, we’re still creating chances and getting edges,” Southee said. “I guess we didn’tbuild enough pressure through dot balls. The ball got a bit old and it wasn’t carrying. I thought we bowled well. It just gets easier as the ball gets older and unfortunately we couldn’t get it to reverse.. “I don’t think it was a very abrasive surface so the ball hasn’t scuffed up as much as we would have liked. That’s why we couldn’t get it to reverse.”With the old ball proving ineffective, Southee said the first hour on Sunday will be crucial. “The wicket is a pretty good wicket. So I guess now it’s a pretty important time for us with the second new ball (which is two overs away) to see if we can pick up the rest of the wickets.”

Derbyshire’s last-wicket pair, Christopher Durham and Mark Footitt, survived 35 balls to deny Australia A victory in the opening match of their tour

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jul-2012
ScorecardDerbyshire’s last-wicket pair, Christopher Durham and Mark Footitt, survived 35 balls to deny Australia A victory in the opening match of their tour after Test duo Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Lyon had combined to take seven wickets.Australia A had declared an hour into final morning, following a stand of 73 between Ed Cowan and Mitchell Starc, to leave Derbyshire a target of 315 and the top order laid a solid foundation as Usman Khawaja hit 66. Daniel Redfern also compiled a confident half-century but the middle and lower order fell away against Johnson and Lyon.However, Durham, the 20-year-old wicketkeeper making his first-class debut, and No. 11 Footitt resisted for the final 20 minutes of the day to ensure honours were even after a keenly fought three days.Johnson’s figures of 3 for 47 were a marked improvement on the first innings where he went wicketless and the first of his three scalps came early when he removed Wayne Madsen. Khawaja, against his fellow countrymen, and Matt Lineker then added 92 for the second wicket to give Derbyshire hope of making a significant attempt at the target.Lyon broke through when Lineker offered a return catch and Khawaja was soon removed by Johnson to leave Derbyshire at 127 for 3. Redfern helped steady the innings but Australia A continued to chip away either side of the tea interval. Jackson Bird had Ross Whiteley lbw before Redfern was caught behind off Starc.Derbyshire, to their credit, did not go into their shells with Wes Durston putting pat to ball for 40 off 31 deliveries but the target was always a little out of sight. David Wainwright was stumped off Lyon and Tony Palladino, the first-innings century-maker, edged to Tim Paine off Johnson as Australia A closed in on victory but they could not quite cross the line.

Medium-pacer Zia-ul-Haq picked up three wickets, before a 96-ball 62 from Saud Shakeel helped Pakistan Under-19 to a three-wicket win over England Under-19 in Abu Dhabi

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2013
ScorecardPakistan Under-19’s bowling attack restricted England Under-19 to 168, before a 96-ball 63 from Saud Shakeel helped Pakistan to a three-wicket win in Abu Dhabi.Pacers Zia-ul-Haq and Irfanullah Shah led the attack for Pakistan, who after electing to field, bundled England out in 43 overs. The opener Ryan Higgins top-scored with 80 off 84 balls, but received little support from the rest of the batsmen. Zia finished with 3 for 32, while Shah and Karamat Ali chipped in with two wickets each to run through an England batting order in which seven of their players failed to get into double digits.England made a bright start during the chase as the seamer Josh Shaw picked up three early wickets to leave Pakistan rattling at 39 for 4 in the 11th over. But Imam-ul-Haq and Shakeel led the recovery, adding 71 for the fifth wicket, before the former fell for 49 in the 31st over. Saifullah Khan was immediately dismissed in the next over, but Shakeel and Zafar Gohar contributed 53 for the seventh wicket to all but seal Pakistan’s second straight win of the tournament.

A round-up of the action from the sixth day of play at the Regional Super50 2011-12

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2011Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) secured a four-wicket victory against Leeward Islands according to the D/L method in a rain-shortened match in Georgetown. The victory was set up by CCC’s left-arm spinner, Kavesh Kantasingh, who took the new ball and claimed a career best 6 for 26. His spell helped dismiss Leeward Islands for 174 in 49 overs. Jahmar Hamilton top scored with 45. Rain during CCC’s innings reduced their target to 148 in 34 overs and they achieved it with five balls to spare. CCC were reduced to 56 for 4 at one stage but Floyd Reifer scored an unbeaten 52 and Kyle Mayers made 31 to secure the victory. Legspinner Anthony Martin claimed 3 for 26 for Leeward Islands. Both teams failed to qualify for the semi-finals.Offspinner Sunil Narine took 5 for 37 to lead Trinidad & Tobago to a 36-run victory against Jamaica in another rain-hit contest at the Providence Stadium. The result secured T&T a place in the semi-finals of the Regional Super50. T&T were able to bat all their 50 overs but managed to score only 196, with Dwayne Bravo top scoring with 55. They were 154 for 4 at one stage before losing six wickets for 42 runs. Jamaica’s left-arm spinner Nikita Miller took 3 for 32. Jamaica’s innings was reduced to 40 overs and the D/L target was set at 191. Chris Gayle made 31 but he was one of Narine’s five top-order victims as the innings slumped to 46 for 5. Tamar Lambert was unbeaten on 48 and Andre Russell made 31 but they were the only batsmen, along with Gayle, to reach double figures. Jamaica could make only 154 for 9 in 40 overs.