All posts by n8rngtd.top

Chris Morris has showcased his credentials as South Africa’s No. 7, but will face a new challenge in restricting batsmen on New Zealand’s grounds

Firdose Moonda15-Feb-2017South Africa allrounder Chris Morris has never played in New Zealand before but one of the first things he saw there made his eyes light up.”I have never seen a boundary that small and that straight before,” Morris said at Eden Park, where the boundary is 55 metres away at its furthest.While not quite in the David Miller mould of targeting the trees, Morris enjoys a bit of big-hitting himself but is perhaps a little more concerned about not being on the receiving end of many, especially as South Africa intensify their search for a new-ball partner for Kagiso Rabada. Morris has already put himself forward as one of the prime candidates after a successful series against Sri Lanka in which he was the third highest wicket-taker, but more importantly had the lowest economy rate.Morris only cost his team 3.73 runs an over, impressive considering bowling coach Charl Langeveldt was particularly harsh on the bowlers being too expensive in the first ten overs. Morris has spent a lot of time on tightening his lines and he is pleased to see it paying off. “It’s been a lot of hard work and I have done a lot of work on my action and consistency. I know it’s been an issue for me in the past so I strive to get consistency and eliminate those boundary balls,” Morris said. “There’s been a lot of work in the nets, looking at my action, how to clean up my action, bowling straight lines and try to change my thinking about how I am going to bowl.”The changes came after Morris spent almost three months sidelined with a knee injury in the early part of the season. He only played one four-day game at franchise level before finding himself back in the international fold. “The biggest thing for me was to see how my body went. I hadn’t played a lot of cricket coming into that Sri Lanka series so I was a little bit nervous but seeing I could get through my ten overs without any niggles quite comfortably was good,” he said. “I tried to keep my pace back in the beginning and not bowl too fast but for me it was very good to get through those games and for my confidence it did a lot, especially in that last game.”Morris took eight wickets, including 4 for 31, in the series against Sri Lanka, but does not expect things to happen quite so easily against New Zealand. “There are some serious players coming from New Zealand. They are a very aggressive, attacking team. They do the basics well and they are quite good at home,” he said.South Africa know that only too well. The last time they were in New Zealand was for the 2015 World Cup semi-final when Eden Park witnessed one of the most nail-biting ODIs in history. AB de Villiers said the team have come with “unfinished business” to complete but not specifically Morris. He is not among the nine members of the touring party who have first-hand memories of that day to banish and he is quite happy to simply enjoy his first experience in a new place.”Fortunately I was not part of those memories. I watched it in South Africa and I was very emotionally attached to it. It was a very emotional day for our fans in South Africa and I am sure there will be a bit of emotion involved for the guys that were here during the World Cup but it adds to the fire of the game. It’s going to be exciting.”

Jason Behrendorff finished with 9 for 37, the fifth-best Sheffield Shield figures, to help Western Australia gain control against Victoria

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Jason Behrendorff returned the second-best figures by a Western Australia bowler in first-class cricket•Getty Images

In his first domestic match on return from injury, Jason Behrendorff produced the fifth-best figures in Sheffield Shield history, a sensational 9 for 37, to help Western Australia bowl out Victoria for 117. In reply, Western Australia closed the first day in control at 178 for 4.Behrendorff began Victoria’s slide from the third ball of the match, having Marcus Harris pinned in front for a first-ball duck. In his next over, he had Marcus Stoinis caught behind before Victoria put on a temporary fightback. In the 12th over, Aaron Finch was caught off David Moody for 34, the only batsman not dismissed by Behrendorff. Daniel Christian top-scored with a quick 39.Opener Jon Wells carried Western Australia through with an unbeaten 70 off 164 balls. Along with a 59-ball 43 from Michael Klinger, Western Australia went to stumps with a lead of 61.

South Africa’s batting coach Neil Mckenzie wants his team to add another 60-70 runs to set an imposing fourth-innings target for New Zealand but admits there may not be enough time to do so given the weather and the scoring rates in the match

Firdose Moonda in Dunedin11-Mar-2017South Africa will look for a lead of around 250 if they are to force the result their way in the Dunedin Test, but they have acknowledged that time may not be on their side. Apart from the possibility of rain shortening or completely washing out the final day, the slow scoring rates which have dominated this Test mean that the visitors may not be able to set a target they are comfortable defending and leave themselves enough overs to bowl New Zealand out a second time.”We definitely want another 60 or 70 more runs. It’s about dictating terms,” Neil McKenzie, South Africa’s batting coach, said. “The runs are not just going to come in 10 overs – that’s the nature of the wicket. We’ll have to graft up front. If we can look to take the lead beyond 260 or 270, then dictate when we are going to declare and have a look at them. I’m sure in their dressing room they will be saying that if they can get a few early and run through us, they could chase 220 or 230. Thirty or 40 runs on this sort of wicket makes a huge difference.”New Zealand are similarly skeptical about things speeding up as they go in search of a win. “We might rock and roll them, we might not,” Jeetan Patel, New Zealand’s offspinner, said. “We may take three hours to bowl them out but it leaves an opportunity to win a Test match and the excitement of that is massive. They (the team) probably need that little bit of confidence to keep going with their season.”Patel was particularly pleased with New Zealand’s bowling effort in keeping the scoring rate down even though they did not take all of their chances. “To keep them to 230 over that many overs, is pretty special. The guys need a pat on the back for what they did today,” he said.That New Zealand did it in the absence of Trent Boult, who has a sore hip, only makes Patel prouder. “That’s why I say these guys are an amazing bunch,” Patel said. “They find a way. Look at Wagner’s last spell, it was just as potent as his first. Maybe not so much with the pace or the kilometres on the screen but with the questions that he asked.”Myself, Mitchell Santner, Jimmy Neeshan, we’ve all got roles to play and that’s where we just pick up the slack. We’ve just got to find a way to get over the line and that’s all that matters.”Although Patel did not go as far as to say New Zealand would take a psychological advantage from a draw – if that is how this match ends up – he did say the team’s first innings lead was “a little win by itself”. McKenzie dead-batted any such suggestion.Neil McKenzie, South Africa’s batting coach, believes Quinton de Kock’s struggles against spin will make him a better, smarter player•Getty Images

“The Test has asked questions of both sides and both have stood up reasonably well. I don’t think any side, if there is no play tomorrow, will take any momentum or any extra one-ups into the next Test match,” McKenzie said. “A lot of the batters have got starts and got runs under their belt,. The bowlers have got a couple of wickets and Keshav Maharaj has got his maiden five-for, which will give him a bit of confidence. A lot of the New Zealand guys have also got something out of it.”With conditions expected to remain similar throughout the series, South Africa may use this match to ponder the make-up of their squad, which only includes one specialist spinner at the moment in Maharaj. New Zealand have showed that a second would not go amiss and even though South Africa may not need one for Wellington, they may call for a second spinner for the final match in Hamilton, which starts from March 25.”There is talk, given the nature of Hamilton, and having played the one-day games there and see the turn that was offered,” McKenzie said. “We are blessed with quite a few options so we will see how the next couple of days pan out. I don’t think Wellington will turn as much as Hamilton so we’ll have a couple of days to sort things out.”If South Africa send for reinforcements, they will likely choose between offspinner Dane Piedt, left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi or could even recall legspiner Imran Tahir, who has not played a Test since December 2015.What they won’t look for just yet is someone to give Quinton de Kock lessons on how to play spin. De Kock has been dismissed four times by Patel in as many innings, but McKenzie is confident he can turn that around. “It happens in Test cricket. I’m not too worried. Jeetan Patel is a serious player,” McKenzie said. “I have played against him and watched him bowl, he’s played county cricket for years and is a seasoned professional. He’s a quality performer playing against a quality batsman, but I’m sure Quinton will overcome most obstacles. He will think about it and come back a smarter, better player.”

Having restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 128, Kolkata Knight Riders survived a rain-induced scare to enter the second Qualifier with a seven-wicket win in a shortened chase

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy17-May-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:31

Agarkar: Bengaluru is not a 180 pitch anymore

With half their Eliminator completed, Kolkata Knight Riders’ players must have sat in their dugout, cursing. Cursing the weather, the scheduling, themselves. They had won the toss and bowled excellently to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 128. Conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium were far from ideal to bat in, but only six teams had defended a 20-overs total of 128 or less in the IPL. All six instances had occurred in or before the 2013 season.And then it had rained, and rained some more.Were this match to be washed out, Knight Riders would be knocked out, since they had finished fourth on the league table and Sunrisers third. They had lost their last two matches and blown a massive chance to finish in the top two.Were the IPL’s playing conditions uniform across all matches, Knight Riders have been knocked out. But the playing conditions for playoffs allow for a five-over match to begin as late as 12.26 am – nearly four-and-a-half hours past the scheduled match start – and for a Super Over to be played as far into the night as 1.20 am.And so, three hours and 18 minutes after the rain had begun – a wait longer than most T20 games – Knight Riders’ batsmen began the task of following up their bowlers’ good work. Instead of 129 in 20 overs, they would now need to chase 48 in six.Panic set in. Knight Riders meddled with their batting order, and then lost three wickets in 1.1 overs. But a shortened second innings favours the chasing team in a most exaggerated manner. Given how they bowled, Sunrisers may have thought they could have pushed for a win in a full-duration game, but as it happened, Knight Riders strode home with four balls to spare, their captain Gautam Gambhir easing them past the early jitters with an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls.Knight Riders go short, Sunrisers fall shortThe Chinnaswamy of 2017 hasn’t been the Chinnaswamy of IPLs past: the average first-innings total during the league stage was 148. The pitch for the Eliminator wasn’t a belter either; it was full of cracks and dark spots, and proved, unsurprisingly, to be two-paced and grippy.Knight Riders’ spinners got the ball to turn sharply, which greatly exaggerated the difficulty of facing Sunil Narine in particular, and their seamers hardly gave the batsmen anything to drive. Of the 72 balls that Knight Riders’ three quicks sent down, 53 were pitched either short or short of a good length, with constant pace variations thrown in. Off those 53 short or shortish balls, Sunrisers scored 46. The short ball occasionally sat up to be hit – the pull was a productive shot for David Warner and Kane Williamson during a second-wicket stand of 50 in 46 balls – but short of good length proved almost impossible to hit: 18 balls, eight runs conceded.The Warner-Williamson partnership moved Sunrisers to 75 for 1 in 11.5 overs, which seemed a decent-enough platform on a far-from-straightforward pitch until both batsmen fell in the space of three balls. Williamson picked out extra-cover off a slower ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Warner was bowled playing across a Piyush Chawla flipper.Vijay Shankar flickered briefly to score 22 off 17, but there was little else of note from the middle and lower order as Sunrisers only managed 53 in their last 49 balls. Coulter-Nile finished with three wickets, and Umesh Yadav – who dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh – with two.A completely different gameGiven that the chasing team has ten wickets in both cases, getting 48 in six overs is an indisputably more straightforward ask than getting 129 in 20. Knight Riders still had to go out and get the runs. They opened with Chris Lynn, as always, and Robin Uthappa, for the first time this season. Lynn slapped Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s second ball over point to erase an eighth of the target, but top-edged to the keeper next ball. Yusuf Pathan, haring out of his crease for an impossible leg-bye, was run out next ball.When Uthappa picked out deep midwicket at the start of the next over, Knight Riders were 12 for 3. But they still only needed 36, with seven wickets in hand. It would only take a couple of boundaries to restore a sense of normalcy, and Gambhir produced them, top-edging Chris Jordan for six and putting Siddarth Kaul away for six and four off successive balls.

Umar Akmal failed two fitness tests in as many days and has been called back from England ahead of the Champions Trophy

Umar Farooq21-May-2017Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been asked to return from England after he failed two fitness tests in two days, ahead of the Champions Trophy next month. The selectors are considering Umar Amin and Haris Sohail as replacements.”He has failed two fitness tests during the ongoing camp there in England ahead of Champions Trophy,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan told ESPNcricinfo. “So since we have a policy not to carry unfit players, it has been decided to call him back and send a replacement. We have a deadline until May 25 so we are deliberating on the possible replacements.”Amin and Sohail have not played ODIs for a few years. Amin’s last match was in October 2014 while Sohail played his last ODI in May 2015 in Lahore against Zimbabwe.Akmal had been recalled to the ODI squad for the Champions Trophy, after being dropped from the team that toured West Indies in April. He had initially been excluded from that squad as well, after he was the only player, among 31, to fail the fitness test during the camp held at the NCA in March. However, he proved his fitness during the Pakistan Cup in Rawalpindi.In an annual assessment earlier this year, Akmal had weighed 91kgs with a fat-level reading of 115.6 – a measurement of over 100 is considered high.Fitness has become a priority for Pakistan in the recent past, with the PCB backing the selectors and the team management to enforce strict policies. “We had a set a fitness standard which isn’t really a tough one to start with,” chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said. “But he still didn’t meet the average level. So whoever the player is, whatever his performance is like, we could not select him. Akmal being dropped is a reprimand and it’s a major blow for any player. He is a good player, we needed him, but we had to take a decision.”Akmal has also been involved in several disciplinary issues since his debut. In March last year, former coach Waqar Younis recommended that Akmal be made to earn his spot again in the national squad with consistent performances in domestic cricket. Earlier this month, he was also involved in a spat with Junaid Khan during the Pakistan Cup.

The opener said his Man-of-the-Match effort was “very satisfying” and gave the team confidence that could hopefully rub off on their supporters as well

Sa'adi Thawfeeq01-Jul-2017After scoring his maiden ODI ton, a Man-of-the-Match effort in a record chase, Solomon Mire said he was hopeful the result would encourage more people in Zimbabwe to support the team.”The win just allows hope for the fans and the people who are following the team. It allows them to stay in and stay involved. Hopefully we will get more support from our people back home and all round the world as well,” said Mire.”There is a bit more belief in the team. When we started today, at one stage we thought we would be chasing quite a big score – about 350. To be able to bring it back the way we did gave us a little bit of momentum going when we went to bat.”We had the belief that if we batted for a long period we would be able to compete in the game, and winning really capped it off for us. It’s such a huge thing for Zimbabwe cricket to be able to win against a top team like Sri Lanka,” he said.Mire, whose previous highest score in 17 ODIs was a 55-ball 54 against Afghanistan, described his 112 off 96 balls as ‘very special’.”It was a very satisfying, especially considering it was such a huge win for us. We have beaten Sri Lanka here for the first time so I am happy to contribute to the win. It was pretty tough and I was cramping up halfway through. I tried to keep re-hydrating, but it is something that takes a bit of time to get used to, the heat. Hopefully going forward we will be better prepared.”We challenged ourselves. We knew that if someone batted a long time and made a hundred, it would put us in a good position to be able to chase. We have been trying to work something like that in the last few months and it was due.”We needed someone to actually put his hand up and score some runs. Luckily, it worked for us today. Going forward the template we will be to try and bat as long as possible and the runs will come,” he said.Zimbabwe’s intent to bat long was studded with runs that came behind the wicket against spinners, particularly through sweeps and reverse sweeps. The opener said it was a conscious effort.”Coming into this series, we were sort of preparing to have those options [the sweep and reverse sweep] for us to use because we were thinking the wickets might be a bit challenging against spin. It worked today and is something that we would try and continue utilising.”

The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman is set to interview candidates to pick a coach for India, on Monday

PTI10-Jul-20171:02

Archive from 29 June: Team gives suggestions for coach when asked by BCCI – Kohli

The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman meets in Mumbai on Monday to scrutinise candidates for the high-profile job of India’s coach. Former team director Ravi Shastri has emerged as the frontrunner.The BCCI received 10 applications – from Shastri, Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Richard Pybus, Dodda Ganesh, Lalchand Rajput, Lance Klusener, Rakesh Sharma (Oman national team coach), Phil Simmons and Upendranath Bramhachari (engineer with no cricketing background). It is learnt that the CAC will interview six of these 10 candidates. As per sources, the six likely candidates are Shastri, Sehwag, Moody, Simmons, Pybus and Rajput.The position for the coach had fallen vacant after Anil Kumble resigned from the post before the West Indies tour due to what seemed like differences in the dressing room.Shastri had initially not applied for the post but when the BCCI extended the deadline to accept applications till July 9, the former India captain jumped into the fray and suddenly became the hot favourite. Given his cordial equation with captain Virat Kohli, Shastri, who had a successful tenure as team director with India reaching the 2015 World Cup semi-final, is the favourite.

Dwayne Smith’s second century of CPL 2017 kept the playoff hopes afloat for Barbados Tridents as they held off a furious charge from St Lucia Stars to win by 29 runs at Kensington Oval

The Report by Peter Della Penna01-Sep-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDwayne Smith scored a century off 64 balls•Getty Images

Dwayne Smith’s second century of CPL 2017 kept the playoff hopes afloat for Barbados Tridents as they held off a furious charge from St Lucia Stars to win by 29 runs at Kensington Oval. Rahkeem Cornwall’s adventurous 78 off 44 balls made the Tridents bowling unit sweat in defence of 195 for 4 but his curious decision to retire hurt in the 18th over – he had been hit in the stomach by a Kieron Pollard short ball in the 16th over – with 49 needed off the last 17 balls was a symbolic moment for the downtrodden franchise as Stars became the first team in CPL history to record a winless season.Tridents’ top-order reshuffleComing out of their 59 all out debacle against Guyana Amazon Warriors two nights earlier, Tridents made a few strategic changes to the batting order in an effort to right the ship. Most significantly, Nicholas Pooran was promoted to open, with Kane Williamson dropped down to No. 3 to accommodate the feisty wicketkeeper. While it didn’t have the desired effect for Williamson, who was later stumped down the leg side off Cornwall for 2, Pooran wound up making a season-best 32 off 20 balls. The left-hander thumped four fours and two sixes in the Powerplay, including an audacious one-handed tennis backhand over the extra-cover rope. He perished attempting it again, skying a slower ball off Obed McCoy for an easy catch in the region of point for wicketkeeper Andre Fletcher.Strike a pose DwayneSmith played second fiddle to Pooran early in his innings and took 44 balls to reach his half-century, but was drawn out of his shell by Shane Watson in the 14th over, striking him for four, six, four off the last three balls of the over. The last stroke was his most elegant, a marvellous cover drive after which he held his pose for the cameras. He showed he was still in a modeling mood in the 18th over, once again freezing his frame after another sumptuous cover drive off Kyle Mayers. Only a floodlight failure stood in the way of triple figures with a 40-minute delay after the 19th over with Smith stuck on 90. When play resumed, it took him three balls to get on strike but he made his century with a ball to spare, smashing consecutive sixes over extra cover off Watson. His second fifty came in less than half the time as his first, as he moved from 50 to 100 in just 20 deliveries.Supernova chaseDespite losing Fletcher in the first over, Stars raced through the Powerplay behind a belligerent second-wicket partnership between Cornwall and Watson. Even after Watson fell for 22 off 17 in the sixth over, Cornwall continued undaunted, smashing Akeal Hosein’s left-arm spin for a pair of sixes in a 16-run seventh over. Stars were 92 for 2 in nine overs with Cornwall still striking at two runs per ball, though Christopher Barnwell spilled a basic chance five yards inside the long-off rope with Cornwall on 40 in the ninth over.Stars dimmed by PollardA key sequence occurred from overs 10 through 12 as captain Kieron Pollard lassoed Cornwall and Johnson Charles’ scoring. Tridents conceded just eight runs across the three overs with Pollard giving up just five across the 10th and the 12th while snaring Charles at deep midwicket. Cornwall got to his fifty off 26 balls but the required run rate, which had been manageable to that point, jumped from 9.45 to 12.Pollard then returned for his last over in the 16th and conceded just two singles off the first five balls before Cornwall took him for six over deep midwicket, leaving the equation at 51 runs needed off 24 balls. Despite not taking Cornwall’s wicket, Pollard’s fourth delivery more or less served the same purpose when he pinged Cornwall in the midsection.Initially the batsman was okay to continue but Cornwall wound up facing just five more deliveries. A delay ensured he faced one ball in the 18th over before deciding he could no longer continue. Pollard was unimpressed with Cornwall’s inability to fight through the pain, not to mention unsympathetic, and he gave the Stars batsman a verbal spray on his way off the field. Stars’ hopes for a win faded soon after.

Despite Ish Sodhi’s five-for, New Zealand conceded a first-innings lead of 173, and will go into the third day trailing India A by 109 runs with eight wickets in hand

The Report by Shashank Kishore in Vijayawada24-Sep-2017File Photo – Shreyas Iyer’s counter-attacking 97-ball 108 rescued India A from a precarious position•PTI

With the national selectors trying out different options at No. 4 in the one-day set-up, Shreyas Iyer continued to present his case across formats. A month after hitting an unbeaten 140 that helped India A win the tri-series in South Africa, his counter-attacking 97-ball 108 rescued the side from a precarious 114 for 4 and put them on the road to victory on the second day of the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Vijayawada.Iyer, who walked in to bat at No. 5, following Karun Nair’s dismissal, amassed 78 of those in little over an hour before lunch to put New Zealand on the defensive quickly. In Rishabh Pant, Iyer found a partner who matched him stroke for stroke. Pant, who was not considered for the longer format during the A tour in South Africa, made an impression immediately, hitting 67 to swell India A’s lead to 173.In their second innings, New Zealand were on 64 for 2 when bad light forced a premature end to proceedings, and they once again wasted a steady start from the openers Jeet Raval and George Worker, who had added 41 runs. The visitors still need 109 to make India A bat again, with the possibility of a three-day finish looming large.The post-lunch session was particularly entertaining as it turned into a mini-contest between Iyer and Pant, both capable of playing audacious shots at different times. While Iyer drove, slapped and walked down the pitch to flat-bat fast bowlers over their heads repeatedly, Pant backed himself to clear long-off and long-on when spinners bowled in his hitting arc. Not even Iyer’s dismissal forced Pant to adopt a circumspect approach, an inside-out hit over long-off against the turn proving there was more to his range than just brute force. His 26-ball half-century was a chanceless fare in which he favoured the straight boundaries – six of his nine fours and both sixes coming in the region.The day began with much promise for New Zealand A as Ish Sodhi, who prised out Priyank Panchal and Sudip Chatterjee late on the opening day, had Nair chop on in the 31st over. The India A captain, who had battled calmly until then shaped to cut but erred in trying to play back to a flipper that cramped him for room. R Samarth, who progressed to make his third successive half-century for India A, then fell into the short-ball trap to give New Zealand more voice.Samarth gloved an attempted hook off Scott Kuggeleijn to George Worker, who was strategically placed at leg slip, to leave India A wobbling at 114 for 4. With the ball still fairly new, the visitors went full tilt with their pace battery. Setting attacking fields came with the risk of conceding runs in pursuit of wickets. On Sunday, however, Iyer’s breathtaking onslaught, which got him into his groove, had a cascading effect as Pant’s fearless innings handed India A a convincing lead.Amidst the carnage, Sodhi held his own, picking five wickets. Initially branded a flat and skiddy bowler, Sodhi, who spoke of having to reinvent his methods, tossed it up to get the batsmen to commit mistakes, even if it came with the risk of being tonked. The delivery that got Iyer proved his efficacy at doing the same. After being hit for a huge six over long-off, he tossed the ball again, but landed it wider, as an another attempt from Iyer at clearing the ropes resulted in a slice to cover. Pant carried on from where Iyer left off, but once he fell, the innings swiftly ended, with Todd Astle, the legspinner, bagging two lower-order wickets.New Zealand A started well in their second innings, with Jeet Raval and Worker blunting the India A attack for over an hour, the focus clearly being on crease occupation over run-scoring. But being circumspect against spin, even to deliveries which batsmen may try to put away most times, resulted in two false shots. Raval misjudged a sweep and was bowled to a Shahbaz Nadeem delivery that spun back in to hit the leg stump, while Henry Nicholls, the captain, was out lbw to Karn Sharma, beaten by sharp turn back in from the rough. Will Young and Worker, however, ended the day without any further hiccups.

The inaugural edition of the T20 Global League was postponed last week due to logistical issues and the prospect of heavy financial losses

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-20172:06

The rise and fall of the T20 Global League

Cricket South Africa will launch an investigation of “broad scope” into the factors that led to the postponement of the T20 Global League last week. The first edition of the T20 Global League, originally scheduled to begin on November 3, was instead postponed to November 2018 due to numerous logistical challenges as well as the prospect of heavy financial losses.CSA said that the investigation, which was approved at a follow-up board meeting on October 15, is already underway.”The scope of the investigation will in principle cover the planning and execution of the T20 Global League with specific focus on, inter alia, aspects of governance, agreements concluded, payments, staff recruitment, authorisation and delegation of authority, league development strategy, decision making etc,” a board press release stated. “The Board shall await receipt of the findings emanating from the investigation, and thereafter consider its options going forward.”Difficulties in securing a stable television broadcast deal and central sponsorship had dogged the league, which was the brainchild of CSA’s recently-departed chief executive, Haroon Lorgat. Although CSA was in negotiations with local broadcaster Supersport, the rights figure was expected to have been substantially smaller than the $20 million deal the board had first hoped to sign, and there was uncertainty surrounding the arrangement even as the scheduled start drew closer. Further, CSA was anticipating a loss of $25 million (approx R342.58 million) in the first year, amounting to half of the board’s cash reserves, and expected losses of $6-8 million every year for the next five years, according to acting CEO Thabang Moroe.The planning of the league was also hampered by Lorgat’s decision to part ways with CSA in September. This came about partly because the board was unhappy with his actions in putting together the league.Following the postponement of the tournament, Moroe had said that the board took full responsibility for the situation and also admitted to the failure of the board’s system of checks and balances.”The board takes full responsibility in terms of everything that’s happened,” Moroe said. “The board took its trust and placed it in the hands of a few individuals and obviously not all the information that the board needed to have in order for the board to be comfortable enough to continue with this league, that information wasn’t forthcoming and some of it is still not forthcoming.”The board stated that it was committed to “credible and valid investigations” for the benefit of the league and for a successful tournament in 2018 and said that it would make no further media comments on the matter “in order to give space and time to the investigations to be conducted”.