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The PCB also decided to increase the player salary cap by USD 25,000 after all six franchises unanimously agreed

Umar Farooq13-Nov-2017The PCB has decided to increase the number of players per PSL franchise from 20 to 21 and raise the player salary cap by USD 25,000. Earlier, the purse allowed per team in the PSL was $1.2 million. Along with the existing squads of 20 players, each team will now be allowed to include a local player from the domestic circuit. The minimum squad of each franchise will consist of 16 players and can be extended to 21 with five supplementary players.”All franchises unanimously decided to increase the player salary cap by USD 25,000 allowing teams to pick a squad of 21 players for this season,” a PCB release said. “The newly inducted players will be from Pakistan and may include players unearthed through talent hunt programs or top performers from the National T20 Cup taking place in Rawalpindi currently.”A day after the draft was held in Lahore, the PCB held a meeting with all six franchises at the National Cricket Academy, touching upon a variety of issues for the improvement of the league going forward. The highlights of the meeting included the stance against anti-corruption, counterfeit merchandising and talent hunt programmes.Each franchise has a spending cap as players are picked through the draft system from five different categories – platinum, diamond, gold, silver, and emerging. But each category has a varying range and limit. A player can earn in the range of $140,000 to $230,000 for one full season.The players picked in the diamond category can earn between $70,000 and $85,000 while players selected in the gold category can take home up to $60,000 with the baseline of $50,000. Similarly, players selected in the silver category can earn from $22,000 to $33,000. Emerging players from the Under-19 circuit can be bought in the range of $10,000 and $12,000.

Quarter-finalists of the 2016 Under-19 World Cup handed the defending champions of the Asia Cup a rude shock in Kuala Lumpur

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2017Kaushal Adhikari

Nepal stunned defending champions India on the third day of the Under-19 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Playing a key role in the 19-run win was the captain Dipendra Singh Airee. First he made 88 in Nepal’s modest 185 for 8. Then he took 4 for 39 to wrestle India down from 91 for 1 to 166 all out.There were several points in the match when the eventual result looked quite unlikely. Like when Himanshu Rana got the chase off to a brisk start, smacking seven fours and a six in his 38-ball 46. Though he fell to Kamal Singh Airee, India seemed to have things well in hand. At one point, they only needed 96 runs in about 27 overs with nine wickets in hand.The game turned when Dipendra dismissed Atharva Taide. Pawan Sarraf (2-24) and Shalab Alam (2-11) also chipped in with a couple of wickets to ensure India’s middle and lower order felt the pressure of the chase. And eventually the quarter-finalists in the last Under-19 World Cup secured victory.It was perhaps the situation Dipendra had hoped for when he was batting earlier in the day, doing his best to repair the innings after the loss of both openers inside 10 overs. He added 49 for the third wicket with Jitendra Singh, before taking charge with an innings that included six fours and two sixes. Having faced 101 deliveries, he was dismissed only in the penultimate over.Nepal, who were beaten by Bangladesh by two wickets in their tournament opener, play Malaysia next on Tuesday, while India, winners by 202 runs against Malaysia, take on Bangladesh.

The wicketkeeper batsman, filling in for Tom Latham, capped off an eventful year by taking three superb catches to add to a sparkling half-century

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-2017New Zealand’s 47-run win in the first T20I in Nelson was studded with stellar individual performances, but the standout moment was Glenn Phillips’ outstanding catch behind the stumps to dismiss Chris Gayle.Running back from his wicketkeeping position, Phillips had passed the 30-yard circle when he dived forward at full length to complete the take. “I didn’t know where it went to start with,” Phillips said after the game. “I just started running back and then hoped that the two guys either side weren’t going to run into me. I just put out the big mitt and hoped that it stuck, and it did.”It’s an interesting situation because none of us actually called for it. When the sky is a bit blue like that, sometimes you don’t have anything to gauge it on. But the ball has a shimmer around it, so you just sort of hope you catch it, and thankfully I did today.”Getty Images

That dismissal sent West Indies into freefall in their chase, and Phillips played a big role in it. He went on to take two more catches – including a diving take to his right to intercept a thick edge from Rovman Powell – and effected a stumping.Playing in just his fourth T20I, Phillips was filling in for the rested Tom Latham behind the stumps. With a sparkling show with the bat too – he made a 40-ball 55 that set New Zealand up for a strong total – Phillips may have given New Zealand’s selectors the option of playing Latham as a specialist batsman in the limited-over formats.The first sign of Phillips being considered for the 50-over format came earlier in the season, when he was picked in the New Zealand A squad for the tour of India. He finished the series as New Zealand A’s highest run-getter, including a top score of 140 not out. That earned him a berth in the T20 international squad for the three matches in India. “The desire would definitely be to go into that one-day format, and then, if the Test stuff ever happens one day, then I’d definitely relish the challenge,” he said.Phillips comes with the reputation of being a destroyer of attacks in domestic cricket. He was the leading run-scorer in the 2016-17 Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic T20 tournament, where he made 369 runs in 10 innings at an average of 46.12 and strike-rate of 143.02 in his first season.On Saturday, he showed not just brutal hitting abilities, but also tactical nous as he consolidated to ensure West Indies didn’t dominate. Phillips said that there were areas of his game he had to still work on. “I wouldn’t say me playing slowly early on was intentional. It was just that I wasn’t able to hit a boundary. But my finding ones needs to improve, that is what I want to try and improve at in the nets.”We would have been under a lot more pressure [if not for that final over off which Kesrick Williams conceded 25]. That could have made it 160 and that would have been a bit of an under-par total. We were aiming for 170 after we went through the first six overs, and we thought if we got 170, then anything over that would be good. If we had only got 160, then they would have been in with a bigger sniff.”

USA’s head coach is optimistic as they prepare to take part in West Indies’ regional limited-overs tournament ahead of theT20 qualifiers and ICC WCL campaigns later this year

Peter Della Penna12-Jan-2018USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has labeled USA’s upcoming tour of the Antigua for the West Indies Regional Super50 tournament as the team’s “most important preparation” for their upcoming tournaments this year, including the start of the qualifiers for the World Twenty20 in 2020, and the ICC WCL Division Three.”When you are playing those kind of tournaments, you have to play proper cricket and learn from those 20 days and you don’t get that opportunity for Associate players all the time,” Dassanayake told ESPNcricinfo following the news last week that USA will be a part of the ten-team competition this season.”If you take Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands especially, they benefited from being a part of the English system. Namibia continuously played in the South African first-class system. Afghanistan players individually have gotten to play in the Pakistan first-class system.”All of these things have really contributed for those countries. When we’re trying to develop as a country, neighbouring Full Member countries are important. If you can be a part of their first-class system, that’s the fastest way to develop a country,” Dassanayake said.Since the team returned in early December from their tour of the UAE and Oman, Dassanayake has been holding weekend camps with subgroups of the USA squad in Chicago as well as at his home base just outside of Toronto, with players traveling into Canada to meet him in preparation for the upcoming trip. Though the overall results were not great – USA beat Nepal but then lost four matches to Kenya and Oman – Dassanayake focused on the silver lining of building more cohesion and identifying more defined roles as a playing group while in the Middle East.”I’m happy about the bigger picture where we are playing as a team,” Dassanayake said. “I liked some of the plans that the captain and the bowlers are using. We have confidence slowly building on our fielding. We know if we put runs on the board then we are competitive at that level. [The batting] is an area we need to work on for the coming tour.”Dassanayake coached the combined ICC Americas squad at last year’s Super50 tournament which included players from USA, Canada and Bermuda. The idea behind a combined squad was to have strengthened quality by picking the best from each country. However, the squad lacked chemistry and Dassanayake says it was a challenge juggling selection at times taking into consideration the sensitivity of satisfying each country’s development interests.”We were not competitive because of the dynamic of the team with three countries’ players playing but of course it was a good experience for the individuals,” Dassanayake said. “There’s always pressure to give everybody opportunities because its three different countries, but the best performers were given opportunities to continuously play. The rotation was happening mainly with players who were not performing. But I was obligated to give opportunities to everyone.”Dassanayake also felt that the dangling carrot for squad members, a chance at being one of six players drafted by a CPL franchise team through good performances, was good for individual players but at times undermined team results. Even though it was a 50-over tournament, Dassanayake felt that the lure of the CPL draft, however well intended, influenced some players to play in T20 mode with an eye toward future opportunities rather than stay focused on the task at hand. It’s another reason why he feels being in charge of just the USA squad this time around will lead to better results.”When you get a combined team, to have the focus being on the team rather than a future with a T20 cricket [franchise] – it wasn’t easy,” Dassanayake said.”More than anything what hurt [team results] was that mainly the players were taking the tour as an entry for the CPL and the focus was on T20-type cricket [to get drafted], and we were not really looking to play as a team to win games and be more competitive. We got through games and were able to win one. I thought we could have won two or three more if we had been playing basic cricket right. But I think going as the USA team is going to have big value especially when we can play as a team.”USA’s squad for the Super50 is expected to be named over the weekend. They will depart for Antigua in the last week of January for four to five days of preparation locally ahead of their first match on January 31 against Leeward Islands.

Melbourne Stars are likely to resume negotiations with the allrounder upon his return from New Zealand following the Trans-Tasman T20 series final

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2018Brisbane Heat have pulled out of a proposed deal to sign up Australia allrounder Marcus Stoinis, who has turned out for Melbourne Stars since 2013. The franchise’s statement meant Stoinis will not line up with Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum in an imposing batting roster. Last week the Heat had made a lucrative deal believed to be worth about AUD 200,000 (USD156,000 approx) a season. The side was believed to have room in its salary cap that the Stars lacked.”We touched base with Marcus and put together what we felt was an attractive offer,”Heat General Manager Andrew McShea was quoted as saying to Cricket Australia’s website. “However, that offer is no longer on the table.”The news is likely to come as a relief to the Stars, who not only finished at the bottom of the table this season but also lost Kevin Pietersen, Luke Wright and Rob Quiney. According to Cricket Australia’s website, the Stars are understood to resume negotiations with Stoinis upon his return from New Zealand following the Trans-Tasman T20 series final on Wednesday. There is also speculation that Perth Scorchers might be interested in Stoinis, who had moved back to Perth last winter.Stoinis, 28, is part of Australia’s ODI and Twenty 20 squads, and is also seen as the back-up to Mitchell Marsh for the all-rounder’s spot in the Test squad, despite his struggles in the Sheffield Shield over the last two years. He was also retained in the IPL this year by King’s XI Punjab for USD 1.2 million approx. Stoinis was one of the Stars’ few bright spots this season, as he scored 179 runs from five innings at a strike-rate of 144.35, which was second only to Glenn Maxwell’s 154.12. In all, Stoinis has scored 493 runs in 28 games for the Stars at a strike-rate of 120.24 and has taken 19 wickets at an economy-rate of 8.5.

Sophie Devine’s 3 for 12, Amy Satterthwaite’s unbeaten 71, and Katey Martin’s 65 gave New Zealand a 2-0 lead in the T20I series against West Indies in Mount Maunganui

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2018Sophie Devine’s three-wicket haul – including contributions from the rest of the bowling unit – handed New Zealand a mammoth 106-run victory and a 2-0 lead over West Indies in Mount Maunganui. Earlier, half centuries from Katey Martin and Amy Satterthwaite had propelled the hosts to 185 for 3.Devine picked Deandra Dottin and Reniece Boyce in a space of three balls to reduce the visitors to 30 for 4, before accounting for top-scorer Kyshona Knight (20 off 35 balls) in the 17th over.Devine, who was instrumental in New Zealand’s ODI series win, posted a 33-run partnership with captain Suzie Bates before the latter was bowled by Shamilia Connell in the fifth over. Devine gave away her wicket to Akeira Peters two overs later after scoring a 21-ball 27. Martin then struck a 42-ball 65, while Satterthwaite notched up 71 off 42, and together put on a 124-run stand.In reply, West Indies fell flat in their chase as they slipped from 30 for 2 to 69 for 7, with none of the batsmen scoring over 20. Offspinner Leigh Kasperek contributed with 2 for 13, while Kate Heffernan, Anna Peterson and Lea Tahuhu picked one each to restrict them to 79 for 8 at the end of 20 overs.

Calling the ball-tampering incident a “sad moment”, the South Africa batsman suggested it could push the global game to take another look at the way individuals and teams act

Firdose Moonda in Johannesburg28-Mar-2018Few will be surprised that it has been left to Hashim Amla to bring some perspective to a series that is now dominated by a ball-tampering saga, which has had grave consequences on the careers of three Australian cricketers. The schadenfreude running through the South African fan base is at an all-time high, more-so because of some of the other side-shows which have included Darren Lehmann calling sections of the crowd “a disgrace”, but Amla has provided a measured reminder that the battle is not a battle.”It’s not war. It’s ridiculous to think that playing cricket is like war because, if you know the realities of war, you can’t equate the two,” Amla said. “Yes it’s a tough battle of skill, but you’ve got to have respect for each other.”While players on both sides have been involved in verbal stoushes, and Australia have made no bones about their intention to use some of South Africa’s mistakes to sledge them on the field – Vernon Philander’s “hacked” Twitter account came up as an example – Amla is talking the silent approach.”I don’t say much. I try to afford as much respect as possible. I don’t try and demean anybody,” Amla said. “For me it is a skills-based sport and I try and support my team-mates as much as possible. What’s happening in their camp, I don’t want to comment too much. They have their issues to deal with.”Chief among those issues are the integrity questions surrounding the Australian side, especially on social media, with its dressing-room culture being put under the spotlight by former players. South Africa are too close to the situation to comment, but Faf du Plessis would not be drawn into whether his team felt cheated in the immediate aftermath of the Newlands Test.Similarly, Amla only went as far as to calling the incident a “sad moment” for the game. “We were surprised. That was it. There was so much that happened afterwards, but at that particular moment, we were like, okay… We know there are a lot of cameras around. For that to happen, it’s a sad moment for international cricket.”He also suggested the fall-out could cause global cricket in its entirety to relook at itself and the way individuals and teams adhere to the code of conduct. “It probably gives every team in the world a reality check: ‘What kind of cricket do you want to play?’ It’s probably given the ICC a lot more headaches, and the opportunity now is for the governing bodies to show us, ‘Hey, where is this line? We don’t know what’s going on,” Amla said. “I’ve always believed we have played our cricket as best we can with a few errors here and there, but that’s the stuff that you learn from and move on.”South Africa’s own errors may be part of the reason they are hesitant to condemn Cameron Bancroft’s actions. In the last five years, South Africa have been found guilty of ball tampering three times, with Faf du Plessis the offender on two of those occasions.Amla was the player who chose to front up to the media in Melbourne 16 months ago, when visuals of du Plessis emerged, shining the ball with a mint in his mouth. With the whole South African team behind him, Amla insisted “Faf has done absolutely nothing wrong”, and went on to explain how players often took to the field with something in their mouths. He also called the claims against du Plessis “sour sweets for people in their heads that we’ve played really good cricket and the timing of it is that it’s a bit weird too”.South Africa were 2-0 up at that stage in the series and four days later, du Plessis was found guilty of ball-tampering and fined 100% of his match fee. Du Plessis faced no further sanction from Cricket South Africa, and was in fact backed by then CEO Haroon Lorgat, who called on the ICC to clarify what constituted a “foreign substance” in terms of the code of conduct. Du Plessis appealed the verdict and failed.Amla was also the captain when Vernon Philander was caught on television cameras in Sri Lanka scratching the ball with his finger and thumb and fined 75% of his match. He was not part of the XI in Dubai, when du Plessis was caught rubbing the ball on his zipper in 2013 because Amla had returned home on paternity leave.With that track record, South Africa can sympathise with the position Smith, David Warner and Bancroft find themselves in.”We know how hard cricket is, so when things like this go on we do feel sympathetic to a person who has made a mistake and paid a price for it,” Amla said. “There’s no holier-than-thou attitude that anybody comes with because we know that everybody makes mistakes in their lives. You hope you learn from the mistakes and move on. We have sympathy for the guys who are under the pump now.”

Somerset built on Matt Renshaw’s audacious hundred on the opening day to lift hopes of that elusive first title

ECB Reporters Network30-Apr-2018
ScorecardSomerset’s seamers bowled them to a 118-run victory over Yorkshire at Taunton and a second success in as many Specsavers County Championship games this season.Craig Overton, Lewis Gregory, Tim Groenewald and Tom Abell shared the final day wickets as Yorkshire were dismissed for 202, chasing 321 to win. Jack Leaning offered most resistance with 68.It is the first time since 1993 that Somerset have won their opening two Championship fixtures. They took 20 points to Yorkshire’s threeStarting the morning on 49 for 1, needing a further 272 to win, Yorkshire lost Cheteshwar Pujara to the first ball, caught behind off Gregory, and went on to struggle against some accurate seam bowling.

Coaches’ verdict

Andy Hurry (Somerset director of cricket): “The magic wand behind winning our first two games is all the hard work put in by the players and the coaching staff during the winter. It was a tougher game than our first win over Worcestershire and it took a real team effort to come out on top.”
Andrew Gale (Yorkshire coach): “The difference between the teams was our first innings batting. I thought our approach was poor and that we could have put more pressure on the Somerset bowlers. Matt Renshaw has come out and played like it was a T20 game for them. He couldn’t trust his defence on that pitch so he went on the attack. I can’t remember seeing a Championship innings in April like it.”

Adam Lyth, on 34, edged Groenewald to James Hildreth att first slip and Gary Ballance was caught by wicketkeeper Steve Davies pushing forward to Gregory. Matthew Waite could make only six before being caught and bowled by Overton off a leading edge and when Andy Hodd fell lbw to the same bowler for a single Yorkshire were in disarray at 103 for 6.The afternoon session began with a stubborn partnership between Leaning and Tim Bresnan, who put together a stand of 56 without looking troubled.It took Abell bringing himself on from the River End to break the partnership. The Somerset skipper bowled an impressive spell, swinging and seaming the ball.Bresnan fell leg-before for 21 to a delivery that nipped back at him after Leaning had moved to an impressive half-century off 128 balls, showing commendable technique and patience.Jack Brooks counter-attacked to also make 21 off just 16 balls. His entertaining cameo was ended when Groenewald took a sharp return catch, one-handed to his right.Abell struck again when Ben Coad edged a good delivery to Marcus Trescothick at second slip and at 191 for 9 Yorkshire were a beaten side. The second new ball was taken and Somerset completed a comprehensive win when Leaning was caught at square-leg, top-edging a pull shot off Overton.They are dreaming of a title challenge at Taunton•Getty Images

A day of bright sunshine, with a biting wind, ended with home supporters dreaming that this might finally be the year Somerset clinch the Championship title for the first time in their history. There is a long way to go, but it has been a hugely encouraging start for new director of cricket Andy Hurry and head coach Jason Kerr.The one negative for Somerset was that Josh Davey pulled out of his run-up after bowling five balls of an over with the total 103 for five and took no further part.

One day after their historic win over India, Bangladesh limited Thailand to 60 in 20 overs to set up a massive nine-wicket win

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-2018
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsICC/Getty Images

One day after picking up their first win over India in women’s international cricket, Bangladesh demolished Thailand by nine wickets to register their third successive victory in the Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur. The win was fashioned by their bowling strength as they restricted Thailand to 60 for 8 in 20 overs. Bangladsh ran down the target with 11.1 overs to spare.Salma Khatun, the Bangladesh captain, led that stellar performance with 2 for 6 in four overs, while Nahida Akter, the left-arm spinner, took 2 for 10 from her four overs.Thailand were a miserable 39 for 7 when their best partnership of the innings came – 21 runs between Sirintra Saengsakaorat and the captain Sornnarin Tippoch. They were two of only three Thailand batsmen to make double-figures; Nattaya Boochatham, who top-scored with 15.Each of Bangladesh’s bowlers took at least a wicket each, with Jahanara Alam, who opened the bowling, proving to be the most expensive, going at five an over.The chase began with wicket in the second over – but Ayasha Rahman and Nigar Sultana put on an unbeaten 54-run stand at a run a ball to steer the team home. Both women made identical contributions, finishing on 25 each, with Rahman sealing the win with a six.

Jason Holder’s second five-wicket haul in three Tests consigned Bangladesh to another embarrassing meltdown

The Report by Mohammad Isam13-Jul-2018Jason Holder leaps to celebrate a wicket•CWI Media

Bangladesh were bowled out for 149 in reply to West Indies’ 354, producing yet another inept batting display. Jason Holder led the home side’s bowling attack with superb spells on either side of the tea interval. He removed three of Bangladesh’s four most experienced batsmen – Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – before completing his third five-wicket haul with the wickets of Mehidy Hasan and Abu Jayed.West Indies opted against enforcing the follow-on, but lost Kraigg Brathwaite, whose series ended with a low score when he was bowled by Shakib in the day’s last over. It was a minor slip-up in an otherwise superb day for West Indies, which they ended on 19 for 1.Till the tea interval, the two teams had taken one session each. Bangladesh had taken six West Indies wickets for just 59 runs in the first session, as the home side were bowled out for 354. But Jason Holder and Shannon Gabriel brought them back in control with two wickets each in the middle session, before a Keemo Paul beauty gave the fast bowler his first Test wicket. Tamim Iqbal, who had survived two reviews, a dropped catch by Devon Smith at slip and several close shaves, finally fell for 47 in the final session. Paul beat his outside edge with an angled delivery that many experienced fast bowlers find hard to create.Next ball, he had Nurul Hasan lbw for a golden duck although replays suggested that he had been struck outside off. But Mushfiqur at the other end didn’t offer any help as Nurul walked away.Mushfiqur’s stay didn’t last long either. He was caught by Shai Hope at gully, to give Jason Holder his third wicket. Miguel Cummins joined in the act with Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s wicket, another lbw decision that was upheld after the review.Holder’s fourth wicket was Taijul Islam, bowled through the gate with Bangladesh still five runs short of avoiding the follow-on,
The second session had begun badly for Bangladesh as they lost Liton Das and Mominul Haque quickly. Liton was slightly unlucky as replays showed that the Gabriel delivery would have missed his leg stump. Liton, too, didn’t review.Mominul’s difficulty dealing with the full ball continued when he edged to gully for the second time in the series while on the move. His dismal scores read 1, 0 and 0 so far.Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim handled the West Indies attack better thereafter, adding 59 runs for the third wicket. They struck a number of fours through point and cover, but had loose moments. An over after he was dropped, Holder removed Shakib with an incoming delivery that he misread and attempted to cut. Mahmudullah was then trapped leg-before for a second-ball duck.Bangladesh’s batting difficulties made it easy to forget how well Jayed and Mehidy had bowled in the morning session. Shimron Hetmyer, through his second Test fifty, showed glimpses of a classy left-hander willing to find gaps in the off-side ring. But on the second morning, there was no solidity of Kraigg Brathwaite at the other end, with whom he had shared a 109-run stand on the first day. Jayed removed him for the addition of only two runs to his overnight 84. Roston Chase followed soon, continuing his difficult year in Test cricket, as Jayed trapped him leg-before for 20.Mehidy removed Paul and Cummins to complete his five-for, but some lusty hitting in a last-wicket stand of 35 helped the hosts stretch past 350.