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Tall fast bowler could be considered for Pakistan tour after return from Kolpak spell

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Oct-2020Blessing Muzarabani is in line to return to international cricket and could be considered for Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan later this month. Muzarabani, 24, has been unavailable since signing a Kolpak deal in 2018 but has now been released from his contract with Northamptonshire.The 6ft 6in pace bowler made his Test debut in 2017 and had been capped in all three formats before electing to pursue a career in England. However, the UK’s impending exit from the European Union means that Kolpak status will scrapped for the 2021 season.Muzarabani has reportedly been in talks with Zimbabwe Cricket about a comeback, having been added to the Takashinga squad to play in the National Premier League. ESPNcricinfo understands that he could be in contention for the Zimbabwe party due to play three ODIs and three T20Is in Pakistan, with an announcement expected soon.Muzarabani took 17 wickets at 27.47 in seven first-class appearances for Northants, as well as a further seven in white-ball cricket, and had a year to run on his contract.”Blessing has been a victim of the rule changes on Kolpak players,” David Ripley, Northamptonshire’s head coach, said. “It didn’t quite work out as we planned but he is young and will get other opportunities, I feel he will be a better cricketer for his two years with us.”If he returns to the Zimbabwe set-up, Muzarabani could feature alongside a couple of other players who had Kolpak spells in county cricket, in Brendan Taylor, the former captain, and Kyle Jarvis.

The opener isn’t worried about playing in empty stands, and says Pakistan are used to it

Umar Farooq17-Jun-2020Pakistan will keep a close eye on England’s three-match Test series against West Indies next month. This, according to their opener Abid Ali, will help Pakistan prepare for their own tour of England, which kicks off soon after West Indies’ visit. This will be Abid’s first tour of England, and he is already preparing to cut out some of his shots in conditions that are expected to favour seam bowling.”In a way the series between England and West Indies is going to help us in our preparation,” Abid said. “England didn’t start their domestic season [as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic] and their pitches haven’t been used, so we don’t know what to expect [from the conditions] this time, which is why the West Indies series is important for us to look at.”We can learn a lot, take a lot out of it, and it will also give us a pretty good idea how the conditions will play. This is my first tour with Pakistan but I have played league cricket there for 3-4 years and have some idea. We haven’t played cricket [as a team] for quite some time but [going to England] a month in advance with a very experienced coaching staff and the knowledge from the West Indies series is going to make a big difference in our readiness.”Pakistan last played a Test in February, and a few of the red-ball specialists played competitive cricket during the PSL in March. Since then, all the national and domestic players have been confined to their homes, and while they have worked on their fitness, they have been broadly inactive due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The PCB scrapped plans for a four-week training session in a bio-secure environment, due to a major spike in the coronavirus cases in the country.A 29-man Pakistan touring party with 14 officials will arrive in England on July 1. The tourists will spend five weeks training before playing a series of three Test matches, with the first Test in Manchester from August 5 to 9, and the second and third Tests in Southampton.Abid admitted that three months in lockdown have had some impact on him, mentally, but said he would work on that aspect in England as well as his skills. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Abid lost his uncle to the coronavirus in April. He didn’t attend the funeral to avoid any possible exposure to the virus, and was forced to stay at home and mourn privately. He later took to Twitter to urge people to stay at home and take the coronavirus seriously.Abid Ali drives•AFP

“With the circumstances around coronavirus, it’s mentally tough as we can’t keep our mind of it but we have to adapt ourselves,” Abid said. “It is indeed a challenge playing England in England and with the coronavirus it’s a bit tough as well. But we are professional players, we understand that we have to strengthen our mindset and live with the fact that life is going on. This [coronavirus] is not going away soon so we have to live with it and focus on playing cricket. Once we get back on the ground it will be easy for us to take our thoughts away [from the pandemic]. It’s great that we are touring England, we are confident to start again and we will try hard to give our best.”Abid played nearly 12 years of domestic cricket before getting his chance to play Test cricket at the age of 32. He made an immediate impact, however, with an unbeaten century on debut against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi and lighting up the historic occasion of Pakistan hosting a Test match for the first time in ten years. He followed up with a 174 in his second Test in Karachi, and currently averages 107 after three Test matches. Earlier in the year, Abid had scored a century on his ODI debut as well – he is the only player to have achieved the feat in both Tests and ODIs.”I made an impressive start by the grace of Allah,” Abid said. “I had a good start but that is in the past now and I want to look ahead. Being a professional player I want to be ready any possible way. Unfortunately we didn’t get to practise outside and missed cricket in these last few months, but I am ready. Over the last one year, the the pressure of expectations has elevated a lot, but then the pressure is everywhere, what important is how you handle it and then how you work on your mental growth.”With bigger opportunities you also work on raising your game to face the best bowlers in the world and prepare yourself. I have individual targets and have made small plans and hope to execute them one by one. I know playing in England is challenging and their bowlers are great but I am watching the ball, not the bowlers. I love to play shots all around [the ground] but it’s not necessary that I am going to play all my shots there. I want to score runs and people like Misbah [ul-Haq, the head coach] and Younis [Khan, the batting coach] in the coaching staff are going to help me to pick my scoring shots.”When asked about the prospect of playing in front of empty stands, Abid pointed to Pakistan’s Tests in the UAE as well as domestic first-class cricket back home – both of which are largely played in front of sparse crowds – and said players still find a way to motivate themselves.”For Pakistan empty stadium doesn’t count, but it may effect England,” he said. “Pakistan played for 10 years in empty stadiums, and even the first-class games we play with zero crowd, so we are used to it. But yes, we have a big following in England that comes to stadiums to support us and we are going to miss them, but it’s beyond our control. Coronavirus has affected everyone everywhere. So for the sake of fans’ own self these are the safety precautions, but they can still watch us on TV.”

Surprised by the outcome, the Australia captain has declared the appeal verdict sets a troubling standard for allowable physical contact in the game

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town21-Mar-20183:24

Brettig: Can sense surprise over Rabada decision from Australia

Australia captain Steven Smith has declared that the Kagiso Rabada appeal verdict sets a troubling standard for allowable physical contact in the game. He also indicated that Australia’s long-time policy of not contesting the charges of ICC match referees may well change after South Africa’s successful legal challenge.Clearly surprised by the outcome, Smith questioned why he had not been asked for his version of events as the other party in the incident, for which the match referee Jeff Crowe had found Rabada guilty of making “inappropriate and deliberate” physical contact with the batsman after dismissing him on day one of the Port Elizabeth Test. Either way, Smith said a precedent had been set.”The ICC have set the standard, haven’t they? There was clearly contact out in the middle,” Smith said in Cape Town ahead of Thursday’s third Test. “I certainly won’t be telling my bowlers to go out there and after you take a wicket go and get in their space. I don’t think that is on and part of the game.”I certainly think he bumped me a little bit harder than it actually looked on the footage. It didn’t bother me too much. I guess the emotion after you get out you don’t really … he’s won the battle. What’s the point of over-celebrating? And getting in the face of a batter, you’ve already won the battle. But they’ve obviously decided what’s deliberate contact and what’s not, and apparently it wasn’t.”Since 2011, Australia have only once asked for a hearing to contest a sanction, ironically for physical contact between Mitchell Johnson and Ben Stokes when Crowe was also presiding as match referee, and chose to drop the charges against both players for their mid-pitch collision during the 2013 Adelaide Test. However, Smith said the Rabada case had changed the landscape considerably, both in terms of allowing physical contact and opening up the possibility of further challenges.”You always want your best players available to play so maybe, particularly now that we know people can get off, that’s for sure. That’s a possibility in the future,” Smith said. “They obviously appealed this one and it looked like a pretty long process in the courtroom. But if you see guys getting off then perhaps guys will appeal a bit more in the future to try and get off certain things.”Looking at the code of conduct process, Smith said he was mystified as to why he was never called to give his account of the confrontation.”The other person involved not getting asked about it is pretty interesting, I thought,” Smith said. “You still want to come up against the best players. That’s part of playing the game and Kagiso is No.1 in the world. It was interesting the way things played out and that he was able to get the charge brought down with an appeal.”South Africa’s captain Faf du Plessis was at the hearing and said it was a fair process, before quipping that “I wish I had this judge with me in Australia,” in reference to his previous unsuccessful appeal of a ball-tampering charge in 2016 and the New Zealand QC Michael Heron, who overturned Rabada’s ban. “I think it’s really good for the game, I don’t see a problem where a neutral guy sits and makes a decision and listens to both parties.”I was there and said to our people that even if we didn’t win the case I was very impressed with the judge and how he listened to both sides. He was very fair in the questions he asked. I think the process is good. You should have a platform if you feel you haven’t done something wrong, and have someone who sits in the middle and has a fair, objective point of view of listening to both sides and making a decision. “Du Plessis also disputed Smith’s contention that he should have been called to give evidence. “He wasn’t charged, if he was charged probably he would have been asked, KG was charged so he’s defending himself,” du Plessis said. “The judge has to decide if he sees it as intentional. Nothing I was going to say was going to have any impact on that, I wasn’t even needed to talk. His decision was made on the deciding factor if it was on purpose or not.”Having already met with the incoming match referee Andy Pycroft for the final two Tests of this series, Smith said he would seek further clarification of the appeal decision, and stated that Crowe had the right to feel “annoyed” that his deliberations had been cast aside by the appeals commissioner Michael Heron.”The way he handled both sides throughout the two Test matches, I thought he did a terrific job,” Smith said of Crowe. “I’d be feeling a bit annoyed if I was him, to be perfectly honest.”A new match referee coming in so he wanted to have a chat with the senior players so myself, Davey and Nathan Lyon. I think he’s going to chat to Faf [du Plessis], AB [de Villiers] and Hashim [Amla] as well. Just to ensure that the series is continued to be played in pretty good spirit.”I thought it was pretty good last game, after couple of isolated incidents in the first Test match and just to make sure cricket is still the winner. I might have a chat to him around what’s gone on. Obviously they’ve deemed the contact not to be deliberate and set the line in the sand of what is appropriate and what’s not. We’ll see what he has to say.”As for the “hacked” tweet from the account of Vernon Philander, Smith described claims that he had tried to “draw the contact” from Rabada as “a load of garbage”. However, he said he would ensure his players stayed in line at Newlands, after Cameron Bancroft had indicated the tweet may be used as material with which to go after Philander.”I think that’s a bit over the top,” Smith said. “I was just going down to chat to Shaun [Marsh]. I had just been given out. So trying to see whether I could find a way to still be out in the middle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I think that’s all a load of garbage to be honest.”I think we’ve played in a pretty good spirit the last game and again it’s about continuing to play our hard, aggressive brand and making sure we stay within the parameters of the game. Hopefully, we can do that and get ourselves up 2-1 in the series.”

Legspinner Tarun Nethula has said he was surprised to know he’d been picked in the New Zealand squad for the three-ODI series against Zimbabwe starting on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2012Legspinner Tarun Nethula has said he was surprised to know he’d been picked in the New Zealand squad for the three-ODI series against Zimbabwe starting on Friday. It would have been be less of a surprise, he said, if he had been called up to the Test squad.”It was more a surprise because I’d never really put myself into contention for the limited-overs format,” Nethula told the . “I didn’t make any winter tours, either for the A side or Emerging Players. I thought there were a couple [of players] ahead of me. It took a while to sink in.”Nethula, 28, was born in Hyderabad but moved to New Zealand at the age of 11. He picked up 28 wickets in the 2008-09 season for Auckland, helping them with the first-class competition, and then moved to Central Districts.”The main reason was to try and really challenge myself to play all forms of the game,” Nethula said, explaining the reason behind his move. “I was desperate to play limited-overs cricket. Auckland had an abundance of allrounders and spinners. I approached CD and I’m quite grateful they gave me an opportunity.”Nethula has played 27 first-class matches, picking up 78 wickets at 35.92. He’s played fewer List A games, taking 17 wickets in 12 matches, and has 10 wickets in nine Twenty20 games. His aim is to keep his place in the squad for New Zealand’s winter tours to West Indies, India, Sri Lanka and South Africa.”It is one of my goals to finish the season in a really strong manner and put myself in the frame to get on a winter tour,” Nethula said. “If there is an opening for a second spinner, I definitely want to be the one putting my hand up. But it’s baby steps for now.”Nethula will not be playing the first ODI against Zimbabwe in Dunedin, as he’s not been picked in the squad of 12 for the game.

Yuvraj Singh has been rewarded for his stellar World Cup with a Grade A contract from the BCCI for 2011-12, while Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma have both been given Grade A contracts for the first time

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Oct-2011Yuvraj Singh has been rewarded for his stellar World Cup with a Grade A contract from the BCCI for 2011-12, a year after being demoted to Grade B. Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma have both been given Grade A contracts for the first time.Rohit Sharma moved up from Grade C to B, as did R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but Ashish Nehra, who had a Grade B contract, did not make the list of contracted players at all. Harbhajan Singh, who was not picked for the one-day series against England or for the upcoming first Test against West Indies, remained in Grade A.Yuvraj had a forgettable 2010, with indifferent form and fitness dogging him through one of the toughest phases of his career. He bounced back superbly to be Man of the Tournament in the World Cup, before injury cut short his tour of England.The total number of contracted players ballooned from 24 to 37, with Umesh Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Rahul Sharma and Varun Aaron receiving contracts for the first time. Aaron and Yadav impressed with their pace in the recent home one-day series against England. The pair, along with legspinner Rahul Sharma, were included in the squad for the first Test against West Indies starting on November 6. All three players were given Grade C contracts.Munaf Patel, who missed out last year, was also in Grade C as was Ajinkya Rahane, who made his ODI debut in England this year. Cheteshwar Pujara, who recently recovered from injury and has not played since the IPL, retained his Grade C contract. Meanwhile M Vijay was moved from B to C after struggling on the tour of West Indies earlier this year.The annual retainers are worth Rs 1 crore (approximately $205,760) for Grade A, Rs 50 lakh (approximately $102,880) for Grade B and Rs 25 lakhs (approximately $51,440) for Grade C.The BCCI’s working committee also voted to classify the IPL as List A cricket at its meeting today in Kolkata and stated their opposition to the new sports bill being promulgated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.The ministry had drafted a sports bill ostensibly to bring accountability and transparency to India’s sporting bodies, but the idea met with stiff opposition. A first draft was sent back to the ministry for redrafting, and the BCCI said it would oppose the latest version as well.”While the BCCI is all for good governance and transparency in sports bodies, certain aspects of the bill seek to destroy the autonomy of the board and dilute the rights of its members,” the BCCI said in a statement. “Therefore the Board is totally opposed to this bill and will be communicating its objections to the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports shortly … The bill tends to encroach upon fundamental rights of sports bodies.”Among the committee’s other decisions was to appoint Evan Speechly as the Indian team physiotherapist on a two-year contract, replacing Ashish Kaushik. Speechly, a South African who was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team, will join the India squad for the third Test between India and West Indies.In addition the committee approved in principle a proposal to allot a certain portion of the gate receipts from the IPL playoffs for the benefit of retired cricketers. They also created an award for the best allrounder in the Ranji Trophy and India’s domestic limited-overs tournaments, named after the late former India captain Lala Amarnath. The award will comprise a trophy and a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 lakhs ($5000) in each category.Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma.Grade B: Praveen Kumar, R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja.Grade C: Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar , Ajinkya Rahane, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron.

A 134-run stand between Ed Cowan and George Bailey steered Tasmania to a four-wicket victory over Western Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2010
Scorecard
A 134-run stand between Ed Cowan and George Bailey steered Tasmania to a four-wicket victory over Western Australia and ensured that Test-reject Xavier Doherty’s fine spell of 2 for 46 from 12 overs did not go to waste.Cowan stroked 82 at better than a run a ball while Bailey finished unbeaten on 79 to guide his team home with four balls remaining despite a flurry of late wickets.Doherty had opened the bowling after Bailey chose to field first and despite his accuracy the visitors got off to a steady start with Shaun Marsh and Liam Davis. The pair reached 70 before Davis was trapped in front aiming a sweep at offspinner Jason Krejza for 35 but Marsh and Luke Pomersbach ensured further slip-ups before the 20-over suspension.In the second stint Marsh went on to make 52 before becoming the first of two victims for Doherty. Adam Voges contributed a quick-fire half-century, striking seven boundaries in the process but it was a 62-run sixth-wicket stand at the end of the innings that carried the total towards 245.The brisk opening stand between Mark Cosgrove and Rhett Lockyear was in stark contrast to the approach adopted by Western Australia and ensured the home side were in good shape responding to Western Australia’s 20-over score. The openers fell in quick succession, however, just before the break to give the visitors an opening before Cowan and Bailey’s steadied the ship.Tasmania needed a further 150 to win when Cowan and Bailey resumed their stand. While neither battered the boundary boards with expansive shots both ran well between the wickets and picked up runs smartly to build a perfect foundation to the victory. Cowan had reached 82 before he offered a catch to Marsh and Travis Birt was run out for 1 an over later. Jonathan Wells kept Bailey company in an important 35-run stand and despite two more wickets, Bailey held firm to give his team victory.