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“The character and the resilience to turn it around after those first three games shows volumes about this group,” Knight said

Valkerie Baynes03-Apr-2022Nat Sciver had carried the disappointment of scoring an unbeaten century in a losing cause against Australia throughout the World Cup. So, given the chance to put that right, she’d be damned if she was going to let it slip again.That’s how she played a remarkable innings in the final which might have left the most optimistic of England fans daring to dream and, by Meg Lanning’s own admission, made the Australia captain “nervous”. The problem was, just as in their first encounter on March 5, Sciver’s knock was only the second-best of the day.Related

• Meg Lanning: 'I think we deserved a victory today'

• Australia lift seventh World Cup with Healy's monumental 170

• WWC stats – Australia's overall dominance vs England's hot streak

Upstaged by Alyssa Healy’s record-breaking 170 off 138 balls, Sciver’s unbeaten 148 from 121 could not stop the Australian juggernaut that succeeded in a five-year quest to take the trophy from England, winning by 71 runs after posting a mammoth total of 356 for 5.Sciver was on a hiding to nothing after England’s bowlers were toothless against Healy and fellow opener Rachael Haynes, with whom she shared a 160-run opening partnership, not to mention Beth Mooney’s rapid half-century.Then there was England’s top-order collapse that reduced the defending champions to 38 for 2 and 86 for 3, leading to the inevitability that Sciver would run out of partners, notwithstanding a fifth-wicket stand with Sophia Dunkley worth 50 and the 65 she put on for the ninth wicket with rookie offspinner Charlie Dean.”After the first match, getting so close, I guess the disappointment was something that stuck with me,” Sciver said. “Getting a century against the top-ranked team was really special as well, so it’s weird how it’s worked out, how it’s been against Australia.”With my batting over this tournament, I felt pretty confident and I’d probably not done as well as I had expected having felt that way, so it’s nice to end with a good score, but it would have been nicer to have the trophy.”Australia won their group game by 12 runs after Haynes’ 130 put England’s target of 311 just out of reach, despite Sciver’s 109 not out. And Sciver was left wondering what might have been had those two half-century stands in the final – not to mention the 48 she shared with captain Heather Knight – gone bigger.”When Charlie Dean was there, we had a really good chat,” Sciver said. “If we were there with two or three overs to spare, we knew that it would be a big ask but there would be a chance we could get over the line.”You could tell that the Australians were really keen on taking our wicket and changing the momentum again, because we did have a bit of momentum, I guess.”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

As it happened, Dunkley fell for a run-a-ball 22 and Dean for a confident 21 off 24 to Alana King and Jess Jonassen, respectively, as the Australian spinners claimed three wickets apiece.And while Healy had hoped her innings would be seen as “brave” in that she played her way, regardless of the occasion, Sciver could perhaps take some solace from the fact that she had done the same.”When you’re chasing 350-odd, there’s only really one way you can play it,” Sciver said of her boundary-laden innings that featured the only six of the match, a pull off King over deep midwicket. “When you’re chasing, the mentality of scoring runs takes care of itself. You know that you need to be out there for a long time but also pick up boundaries where you can. Luckily, that seemed to come naturally, but it just got a bit too much at the end.”Knight said it had been a “50-50″ call when she put Australia in upon winning the toss but, in hindsight, she wouldn’t have changed it.”Something Australia do really well as a batting unit is when they get a partnership together they really make it a match-defining partnership,” Knight said. “They’re really ruthless with that and they extend those big partnerships, and I think it’s something we can certainly do a little bit better as a side.”Tonight, Nat had an outstanding innings, but we have someone else with her and with the potential of chasing that score – although we let them get a few too many with the ball.”I’m very disappointed but really proud of Nat and the fight she put on to give us a chance of winning. We, unfortunately, didn’t have anyone with her to be able to really maximise two set batters. We can take a lot of pride in what we’ve done as a group, the way we fought throughout the competition to be in this position and the way we fought tonight.”Lanning was also full of praise for Sciver.”There were a few nervous moments, there’s no doubt about that,” Lanning said. “She also played an incredible innings, Nat Sciver, that was something really special, and on another day, that wins your team the game, so we always felt under the pump a little bit while she was at the crease in particular.”But we were able to get wickets at the right time – whenever they were able to build a partnership we felt like we were able to break it. Chasing that total, you have to keep going the whole time, so we knew that if we could stick to our guns and just keep it really simple, it should have been enough, but absolutely, there were some nerves there.”The key feature of England’s campaign was that they bounced back from a three-match losing streak at the start of the tournament to win their next five games and earn the right to defend their title against an Australian side building a reputation as the best in women’s cricketing history. As a result, Knight said there were “a lot of positives” to take away.”The character and the resilience in the group to turn it around after those first three games when obviously we were in a pretty tough situation shows volumes about this group and the people that we’ve got in it and the staff we’ve got as well to get here with a chance of winning,” Knight said.”In terms of things we need to do differently, it will take a little bit of time to digest what went wrong and I think also, it’s fair to say, credit to Australia they’ve outplayed us tonight.”

How the teams reached the knockouts, the leading performers and injury news

Andrew McGlashan24-Nov-2020

Melbourne Stars (1st) v Perth Scorchers (4th)

How the group stage wentIt took the Stars three matches before they could complete a game as rain ruined the first week of the tournament, but once the sun came out (mostly) so did the Stars’ class. A run of seven wins on the bounce did most of the qualifying work before a brief hiccup in a Super Over defeat against the Renegades. The Stars followed that up with two more victories, but lost their last two group matches – against the Heat and Sixers – and the way they did not respond too well to Alyssa Healy’s onslaught (albeit there was nothing riding on the innings) and briefly Laura Kimmince the game before was perhaps a template for others. You can’t sit back against them.The Scorchers’ opening pair of Sophie Devine, who was named Player of the Tournament for the second consecutive year, and Beth Mooney are certainly in the form to apply that sort of pressure, although their group campaign was less consistent. But four wins in a row in the middle of the competition was where things came together, before just one win in the last four – two of the defeats coming when Devine was injured – left things a little tighter than they would have liked.When they met in the groupMelbourne Stars won by eight wickets – Devine and Mooney were dismissed in the Powerplay and it was rarely a contest from there
Melbourne Stars won by six runs – At 1 for 82 in the 11th over chase 150, the Scorchers were well place despite the absence of Devine but Sophie Day and Alana King took 5 for 31 between them.StatsMost runs:
Beth Mooney (524)
Meg Lanning (458)
Sophie Devine (448)Most wickets:
Nat Sciver (18)
Sarah Glenn (16)
Taneale Peschel (13)Injury-watchElyse Villani tweaked her hamstring against the Sydney Sixers and Annabel Sutherland suffered a knock to a finger, but both trained on Tuesday with the Stars hopeful they will be available. Erin Osborne also missed the end of the group stage with a hamstring niggle. For the Scorchers, Heather Graham picked up a knee injury over the weekend but scans have cleared of a major injury and she is in the squad.Where the game could be decidedAn awful lot appears to rest on the shoulders of Devine and Mooney for the Scorchers. They are capable of doing it on their own, but the Stars feel like the team with more bases covered and more routes to victory. Mignon du Preez has been the glue below their powerful opening pair while Alana King’s form has answered added depth with bat and ball.What they said“I love knockout cricket because everyone starts from scratch and it’s game on. It’s the best type of cricket to play, puts you under pressure and everything is on the line.”
Sophie Devine“They [Devine and Mooney] have been pretty crucial during the season, but they have other girls in the line-up – including my team-mate Amy Jones – so it’s not only about the opening pair but they are crucial wickets.”
Nat Sciver

Brisbane Heat (2nd) v Sydney Thunder (3rd)

Laura Kimmince has hit a stunning run of form•Getty Images

How the group stage wentA story of two halves for the Heat, who looked a long way short of challenging at the midway mark of the tournament with one win in seven matches. “If we get on the board next game, look out, because we could be on from there,” Grace Harris said. And she has been proved spot on. Seven wins on the bounce and they were safely into the knockouts before the last match. Laura Kimmince has become the ace in the pack when it comes to closing out innings and the spinners have come to the fore.The Thunder laid down an early marker with three strong wins after the rain had cleared, but that was followed by four defeats in five which left them in the tight mid-table. Despite a defeat in the derby against the Sixers they pulled it together in the hectic final week with three wins, the last spearheaded by the outstanding spell from Shabnim Ismail.When they met in the groupSydney Thunder won by 14 runs (DLS) – The chase was reduced to five overs and the Heat were 7 for 30 in pursuit of 45. Sam Bates bowled a double-wicket maiden in the second over
Brisbane Heat won by eight wickets – The win that started the run for the Heat, set up by Amelia Kerr’s 4 for 20.StatsMost runs:
Heather Knight (403)
Georgia Redmayne (332)
Rachael Haynes (268)
Most wickets:
Sammy-Jo Johnson (18)
Amelia Kerr (16)
Jess Jonassen (16)Injury-watchSam Bates left the field at the end of her third over against the Hobart Hurricanes in the last group match after landing awkwardly as she dived from her follow through. However, she trained fully on Tuesday so there is no concern about her availability.Where the game could be decidedThe Heat know how to win, but they will have to be careful in the batting Powerplay where they will face the excellent Ismail and Bates. How the Thunder deal with Kerr is likely to be a key part of the match. Laura Kimmince is the x-factor, a player who can swing the match in just a few deliveries.What they said“We knew we were still playing pretty good cricket, we just weren’t winning the one or two overs within the game that in T20 can win you those games. We knew our plans were right, we just had to keep backing ourselves. We’ve fought hard the last seven games but really tried to enjoy our cricket at the same time.”
Delissa Kimmince“It turned into a bit of tournament play for us, having to keep on winning to get to finals, and now we’ve got the opportunity to play in finals it’s another really good experience for this group to play in big games, under pressure, it’s the reason you play and train.”
Rachael Haynes

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood manage two wickets in the day as Worcestershire recover from 75 for 8

Daniel Brettig at New Road08-Aug-2019During a pesky lower order stand between Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad that looked to have given England a significant advantage at the midpoint of the Edgbaston Ashes Test, a common refrain throughout was how the pace of Mitchell Starc and perhaps the bounce of Josh Hazlewood might have been handy to clean up the tail.Certainly both have been known to do the trick at times in the past, but their chances of selection for the Lord’s Test next week were not exactly aided by a day on which Worcestershire, having limped to 75 for 8 after a flurry of morning wickets, wriggled their way to 201 for 9 and gave their captain Joe Leach the pleasure of declaring the innings closed.Starc and Hazlewood’s chief frustraters were Worcestershire’s second-string wicketkeeper Alex Milton and the right-arm seamer Charlie Morris, who played their shots with steadily increasing ferocity across a stand of 88 that was only ended by the part-time legbreaks of Marnus Labuschagne.The union may have been ended somewhat earlier, only for Starc to have bowled a no-ball when he sent Morris’ off stump cartwheeling out of the ground on 12, before he and Hazlewood were spelled for much of the latter part of the partnership. Starc was back on, however, for the subsequent partnership of 38 between Morris and the last man Adam Finch, concluding an analysis that read 11.5-2-29-1 for the day.Hazlewood, with 3 for 34 from 15 overs for the innings and 1 for 32 from 11 for the day, took the best innings figures, though he too would have been somewhat nonplussed to have a diminishing impact as the innings went on. Michael Neser (2 for 32 from 12 overs) fulfilled the role he is on tour to perform as a back-up merchant for the frontline.Whether that is enough to convince the selectors that Australia could do with Starc’s speed or Hazlewood’s trajectory at Lord’s will be more or less up to the selection chairman Trevor Hohns and the captain Tim Paine, with the coach Justin Langer not venturing to Worcester and taking a brief sojourn in London between Tests – likewise Steven Smith, David Warner, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.The closure from Leach – who took some time to get the attention of Morris and Finch to actually do so – provided the Australians with the full final session in which to bat. Cameron Bancroft spent 40 halting balls over 7 before edging behind, but Marcus Harris was rather more fluent in gliding to 62 from 78 balls by stumps.Mitchell Marsh was promoted to No. 3 to be given the chance for some time at the crease. In being beaten numerous times outside the off stump he showed himself still to be more of a lower-middle order player on a pitch that had, by the evidence of Worcestershire’s tail, eased considerably on the seam it offered on day one.What happens next in this match will be largely determined by the forecast for Worcester over the next 24 hours, with heavy overnight rain predicted, almost to the level of the storms that forced Australia A’s earlier fixture here to be shifted to Kidderminster.

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.

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.

India’s Supreme Court has told the BCCI that it might be inclined to send a few of the recommendations proposed by the Lodha committee back to the three-member panel for review

Nagraj Gollapudi03-Mar-2016India’s Supreme Court has told the BCCI that it might be inclined to send a few of the recommendations proposed by the Lodha committee back to the three-member panel for review. The two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Ibrahim Kalifullah, did not, specify, however, which recommendations it could ask the committee to review.The court made this observation on Thursday afternoon after hearing the arguments presented by BCCI counsel, KK Venugopal, who said that majority of the recommendations made by the Lodha committee ought to be reconsidered. The court set March 18 as the next date of hearing and has asked the BCCI and state associations to submit audited accounts of the expenses over the past five years through separate affidavits.As reported on Tuesday, the BCCI had expressed its reservations about the recommendations of the report. In an exhaustive affidavit, a copy of which was accessed by ESPNcricinfo, the BCCI listed it was against the following major recommendations proposed by the Lodha committee: one state one vote; drastic reduction on advertisements; inclusion of Comptroller & Auditor General of India’s nominee on managing committee and apex council; representatives of two franchises on the IPL governing council; prohibition on re-appointment for members of managing committee and cooling-off period; prohibition on association of ministers/government servants/persons holding posts in another sports body in honorary capacity; restriction of simultaneously holding office in a state association and the BCCI; age cap of 70 years for an office bearer; formation of players’ association funded by the BCCI; doing away with existing BCCI committees; bringing the board under the Right To Information Act; and legalising betting.

The Supreme Court’s sharp retorts

• BCCI: Yes Minister. Court: No Minister – The BCCI had also objected to the recommendation that barred ministers from holding a position in the board or in a state association. When the board’s counsel raised this point on Thursday, while pointing out the example of former BCCI president NKP Salve, who was also a government minister, Justic Thakur retorted: “So just because NKP Salve was there, you want every other minister also to be there? You are finding fault with having a nominee of the Comptroller and Auditor General on your governing council, but you don’t mind a minister?” Chief Justice Thakur said.

• “At 70, sit at home, watch TV” – The BCCI had also stated in its affidavit that if an office bearer was elected in democratic fashion, then there should not be an age cap of 70 years imposed, as had been recommended by the Lodha committee. “Merely because a person has attained the age of 70 years it does not mean that he ceases to function efficiently,” the BCCI affidavit said. When the BCCI counsel KK Venugopal raised the point, the court told him, “Lawyers like you get better with age, is that so with cricketers too? I don’t know. We feel 70 is a good age for retirement. At 70, they should sit at home and watch cricket on TV.”

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, who signed the affidavit, said that although the Lodha panel had sent the board office bearers an exhaustive questionnaire, it had not consulted the top brass while finalising the recommendations. “During my interaction with the Lodha committee, the committee did not seek my views on the proposed recommendations which ultimately find place in the [Lodha] report,” Thakur wrote.Chief Justice Thakur, however, was unimpressed by that statement. “It was international news that we had formed the Justice Lodha committee to suggest reforms in cricket. The whole world knew it. Now you come to us and say the recommendations were a bolt from the blue for you and you were not consulted… What were you doing? Waiting at the fence for a written invitation?” the Chief Justice told the BCCI’s legal counsel, according to the .On the one-state-one-vote recommendation, the BCCI feared that some states could easily “abuse” their vote, which would encourage corruption. “For instance, the one-country-one-vote system followed by FIFA has resulted in the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal where countries where there is little or no football activity were allegedly bribed by FIFA officials to vote in a particular manner.” To this the bench said: “If this is the first scandal in 50 or 100 years, it is hardly a test on the workability of the policy.”When Venugopal argued that it would disrupt the voting process practised for decades by the BCCI, the court suggested that the state associations should vote by rotation.The BCCI also argued strongly against the presence of a nominee from the CAG’s office on the proposed apex council, saying it was “contrary to law”, since the BCCI constitution does not allow a non-member to sit on the managing committee of the society.Venugopal also said that the ICC rules did not allow government representatives to be part of the Full Member boards and the global body may take the appointment of a CAG representative as government interference and, hence, derecognise the BCCI.The BCCI counsel said the board would accept a CAG nominee in an advisory role without any voting rights. The court, however, did not relent. “You don’t even want the CAG nominee on the outside as your conscience keeper?” Chief Justice Thakur said. “Suppose we ask you to put this nominee on the board, you fear that the ICC will disenfranchise you for complying with an order of the Supreme Court of India to have a person who gives you good advice… surely you don’t grudge good advice, do you?”The BCCI also disagreed with the recommendation to restrict advertisements during a match telecast to drinks and session breaks, instead of advertisements between overs and at the fall of the wicket. The BCCI said such a move would “cripple” its income as the broadcasters would pay a “fraction” of the sum being paid for ODIs while paying nothing for a Test match.According to Anurag Thakur, Star India, the host broadcaster, had apparently sent an e-mail to the BCCI on February 21, seeking “renegotiation of the amounts currently payable by them under the existing contract if advertisements are restricted as recommended.”When Venugopal read out figures accrued as profits from broadcasting revenues that were later disbursed to state associations, the court asked the BCCI and the state associations to file individual accounts for the past five years. “The prominent spirit should be viewer enjoyment. Do you mean that your commerce should overtake the enjoyment of the game?” Chief Justice Thakur asked.In addition to the BCCI, various state units – Mumbai Cricket Association, Maharashtra Cricket Association, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association – filed their individual presentations objecting to the Lodha committee report.When prominent lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing the Baroda association, said that his client would want approach the Lodha committee directly to suggest “certain amendments”, Chief Justice Thakur brushed the suggestion aside.”There is no question of you wanting it. We, the Supreme Court, will decide whether we are inclined to send some restricted issues back to the committee for its decision, that too within a limited span of time… Lodha Committee costs a lot of money for BCCI. It is not an easy committee,” the Chief Justice said.

Simon Jones, the former England seamer, is going to pursue a career as a T20 freelance after announcing his retirement from first-class and List A cricket from the end of the season

Alan Gardner12-Sep-2013Simon Jones, the former England seamer, is going to pursue a career as a T20 freelance after announcing his retirement from first-class and List A cricket from the end of the season. He is expected to play for Glamorgan in the Yorkshire Bank 40 final on September 21 and will then focus on securing potentially lucrative contracts to play in T20 competitions around the world.Jones is coming to the end of a two-year deal with Glamorgan but will discuss a potential T20 contract with the county’s incoming chief executive, Hugh Morris, in the close season. Injuries have blighted Jones’ career since he became an Ashes winner in 2005 but the 34-year-old is not quite ready to follow his former England team-mate Matthew Hoggard into full retirement just yet.”If I get the gigs I want to get I won’t be resting much,” Jones said. “T20 is the option that we’re looking at and I’m excited at the prospect of playing in different tournaments if I can. Getting back on the park is something I’ve worked for a long time and for me to carry on playing it’s the obvious choice, to go down that route, as the likes of Shaun Tait have done.”There’s a lot of opportunities out there but you’ve got to get a gig. I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully I get the opportunities I feel I deserve, because I still feel I have a lot to offer the game.”Jones will certainly be the first Welshman to take the path of the T20 itinerant. Andrew Flintoff, another of Jones’s 2005 team-mates, planned to end his career that way, before injury had the final word, and while Tait, the former Australia bowler, is among several one-time internationals – such as New Zealand’s Scott Styris and Jacob Oram – to play just the shortest format, few England-qualified players have seriously entertained the idea.The choice may seem a little surprising, given that Jones only made his senior debut in the format in 2008 and managed one T20 appearance for Glamorgan in 2013. His T20 record comprises 43 wickets at 21.46, with an economy of 7.43.”It’s giving me the opportunity to play for another couple of years,” Jones said of his decision. “I still feel good in my body, I still feel good in my mind and I still feel I’ve got the skills and the pace to perform at the highest level. We’ll see what happens.”Despite plans to play Championship cricket this year, Jones has only featured in Glamorgan’s limited-overs teams, missing the early part of the season due to continued problems with his knee. But he hopes to end on a high with victory at Lord’s a week on Saturday and could still be turning out in Cardiff next summer.”If Glamorgan do want to keep me for the T20 I’d be delighted to stay but if they don’t I’m going to pursue other options,” he said. “I’ve had some niggles this year, which have happened in the gym. Glamorgan have a settled team in the four-day stuff and I wasn’t quite going to get in there. It has been a frustrating season but this will hopefully be another chapter in my cricketing career.”Glamorgan’s head of elite performance, Matthew Mott, who will be leaving the county at the end of the season, added: “Simon has shown great character and determination to keep pushing himself despite his time out of the game at Glamorgan. We wish him well in his endeavours to concentrate on T20 and thank him for his contribution both on and off the field.”It is a smart and well-thought out decision and I am sure that a number teams around the world will be keen on him given his increased availability for T20 competitions. He is still in great shape and has the passion to keep playing and bowling quick for a few more years to come. Hopefully he can sign off his one-day career with Glamorgan in a winning team at Lord’s.”Simon Jones was speaking ahead of the Yorkshire Bank 40 final at Lord’s on Saturday September 21. Tickets are available from tickets.lords.org

Usain Bolt has spoken of his desire to play in the Big Bash League this year, and the Melbourne Stars are keeping the door open to potentially sign him

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Aug-2012Usain Bolt has spoken of his desire to play in the Big Bash League this year, and the Melbourne Stars are keeping the door open to potentially sign him. The possibility was first raised in June when Bolt was interviewed on Australian TV by Eddie McGuire, a presenter who is also the Stars president, and the team’s marquee player Shane Warne has also asked Bolt whether he was interested.Fresh from an Olympic campaign in which he won three gold medals, Bolt said at the weekend he was still open to the idea. “He [Shane Warne] contacted me and asked me about if I am serious and if I really want to do it then he can put in a few words that should get it done,” Bolt said on Channel Nine.”So we will see if I get the time off. I will try. Twenty20, I love it. Just the fact that it is so exciting, it’s about going hard the whole time, not just about playing shots. It’s about being aggressive and I like that style of batsman. If I get the chance I will definitely try because I know it’s going to be a lot of fun. I don’t know how good I am. I will probably have to get a lot of practice in.”One of the major issues would be whether Bolt could hold his own as a cricketer. Although he played junior cricket and famously bowled Chris Gayle in a charity match in Jamaica in 2009, facing the likes of Brett Lee and Pat Cummins would be another matter entirely.In 2006-07, the rugby league star Andrew Johns turned out in two Big Bash matches for New South Wales in an effort to boost crowd numbers and attention for the competition, but the move backfired for the Blues. On debut, Johns batted at No.11 and was at the crease when New South Wales needed 13 from the final over to win, but his partner Simon Katich refused to put him on strike and the Blues lost.The stakes have risen considerably since then, with the eight BBL franchises all competing not only for the trophy but also for two spots at the Champions League T20, where the winning team earns $2.5 million in prize money. Cricket Australia is cautious about the idea of Bolt playing in the BBL, declaring that the competition has moved past the “novelty factor” and that he would need to be able to play to the appropriate standard, but the Stars remain keen on the idea.”We’re going to wait until the Olympics is over and re-engage with him and his management company,” Clint Cooper, the Stars CEO told the . “We’ve got a couple of spots left on our list.”

Two bowlers who have been injured for most of the last two seasons helped Hampshire to their first Championship win of the season and inflicted a serious blow to Durham’s title hopes

13-Aug-2011
Scorecard
Two bowlers who have been injured for most of the last two seasons helped Hampshire to their first County Championship win of the season and inflicted a serious blow to Durham’s title hopes.With two innings forfeited in the rain-ruined match at Chester-le-Street, Durham were set what looked a generous target of 276 in 82 overs. However, the title hopefuls were all out for 225 with Dimitri Mascarenhas taking six wickets for 62 runs and Kabir Ali 3 for 69.Although he was playing only his third championship game in two years following his Achilles injury, Hampshire must have sensed conditions were tailor-made for Mascarenhas when they declared on 275 for 7. The former England one-day allrounder’s medium pace always proves very effective in the north-east whenever there is any moisture around and in his first eight overs he took 3 for 11.Although Michael Di Venuto had less than his share of the strike, he had faced 23 balls when he tried to cut a ball which was moving into him and edged to second slip to depart for 1. In the last over before lunch Mark Stoneman padded up to a swinging delivery from Mascarenhas and was leg before wicket.Then, straight after the break, Gordon Muchall played back to a ball which skidded on to him and lost his off stump. Will Smith made 31 before edging Ali to first slip and Durham were rocking on
79 for 5 before Dale Benkenstein and Phil Mustard revived them with a stand of 45.Both batsmen were on 28 when Benkenstein drove at left-arm seamer Chris Wood and Hampshire’s acting captain Jimmy Adams took a fine catch high to his left at wide mid-off.With Callum Thorp coming to the crease there were still 45 overs left and survival was not really an option. He took 10 off Wood’s next over, prompting the introduction of legspinner Imran Tahir.
Thorp hit him for two fours in each of his second and third overs to move to 29 off 22 balls at tea and with Mustard on 36 Durham were 163 for 6, still needing 113 off 37 overs.The target was down to 88 when Thorp departed for 43, replicating Ian Blackwell’s dismissal by trying to pull a short ball wide of leg stump from Ali, only to glove it to wicketkeeper Michael Bates.
In the next over Mitch Claydon drove at Mascarenhas and also edged to Bates, who completed his maiden first-class half-century in the morning.It was as good as over for Durham when Mustard fell for 56, cutting low to Michael Carberry at backward point. Finally Rushworth hooked Mascarenhas to long leg and Durham had taken only two points from the match. They lead by eight points from Lancashire, but their three title rivals can all overtake them next week, when Durham are not in action.Hampshire took 18 points but are still 32 adrift of safety and faced an unwelcome coach trip to Aberdeen after the match for a Clydesdale Bank 40 League match against Scotland, knowing the ground had been far too wet to stage today’s game against Leicestershire.

The spoils were shared between Australia, England and South Africa while Pakistan, led by Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, were not too far behind

Siddhartha Talya24-Aug-2010Australia and South Africa have the best bowling attacks in world cricket today, with Pakistan, led by Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, and England not too far behind, according to Ian Chappell, Allan Donald and Sanjay Manjrekar. Speaking on the latest episode of , they also agreed that India and Sri Lanka didn’t measure up to the rest.Among the parameters used to rate the line-ups was their effectiveness in all conditions. The ability of Australia and South Africa’s bowlers to challenge batsmen on placid surfaces gave them an edge over the others, said Manjrekar. “When you look at bowling attacks from around the world Australia will still perhaps be No.1, because you can imagine that attack being pretty good on Indian conditions, in Sri Lanka as well,” he said.”Getting everything in the air, trying to beat batsmen in pace and not using the surface at all by bowling the ball full – that’s where Australia are good. They have got Mitchell Johnson who uses the length well. Doug Bollinger is also quite happy pitching the ball up. Australia and South Africa to me are the attacks that can perhaps make an impression in all sorts of conditions.”England, with a strong pace attack and a successful spinner in Graeme Swann, Donald said, were formidable in home conditions. But he felt they would be tested in Australia later in the year. “It’ll be very interesting for them to go to Australia during the Ashes and bowl on those flat pitches,” Donald said. “With the new ball, they’re pretty good. James Anderson is the bowler for me who really stands out in that regard. Stuart Broad is pretty much a line bowler, he’s quite aggressive. But in conditions with the Kookaburra ball, they’re going to need something off the deck as well. So they’re going to be tested during the Ashes.”

The success of the Pakistan seamers in England would have earned them more points among the experts had it not been for some poor catching and a “horrible” slip cordon. “You never know what you are going to get from Kamran Akmal, some days he has got bricks in his gloves. So that makes it very hard for the bowlers, when sometimes you have to get the guy out three times,” Chappell said.Donald rated Dale Steyn as the best fast bowler in the world, though Chappell had his doubts. “There was a classic example when Phil Hughes got his hundred in Durban. Steyn did not go after him, after Hughes at all until he got the hundred. I was starting to wonder when you had a handicap in Test cricket where they let you get a hundred before they get after you. So that’s my query with Steyn. When he is good, he is very good; but he is a little bit moody.”The uncertainty with Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh’s lack of form in the recent past meant India were among the bottom-placed teams while Sri Lanka had much to thank Lasith Malinga for. “These are the sides that will struggle bowling people out,” Donald said.