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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”.

West Indies Cricket Board’s chief executive Michael Muirhead will step down from his position after a four-year stint in the role

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Sep-2016West Indies Cricket Board’s chief executive Michael Muirhead will step down from his position after a four-year stint in the role. Muirhead’s contract was up for renewal on October 14, but he has opted to quit the WICB.Muirhead, who had replaced Ernest Hilaire the WICB CEO in 2012, said he had helped the board turn its finances around.”I came in at a time when the state of finances at the board were in deficit and in my brief tenure I have managed to turn around and will be leaving with a surplus,” Muirhead told ESPNcricinfo.With a banking and marketing background, Muirhead was focused on the numbers and the money element and worked in close association with WICB president Dave Cameron.Although Muirhead counts as having contributed to West Indies’ two World T20 wins, his tenure, along with Cameron’s, will be remembered for their run-ins with senior West Indies players over issues like the pay disputes and selection. A dispute related to payment structure between the players, the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Assocation resulted in the team pulling out of their tour of India in October 2014. The board faced a crisis before this year’s World T20 in India after the players appeared to collectively reject the contracts offered by the WICB due to what they perceived as “huge financial reductions”. Following West Indies’ title win, Darren Sammy and a few other senior players had criticised the WICB, and were reprimanded by the ICC after the tournament.Muirhead agreed the chasm between the board and the players has been always there, but the divide is steadily being bridged. He pointed out that when he entered the WICB, there was constant strife between the board and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA).”When I came in it was extremely hostile between us and the players’ association. We were in court regularly,” he said. “There was judgement and arbitration against us. I think I played a more conciliatory role instead of being antagonistic to the point that we have not had petitions against us. Our legal fees have gone down significantly. And we have a good relationship with the union (WIPA).”Before the two-match T20I series against India in Florida, WIPA and the WICB hosted a symposium where players and administrators met in an effort to resolve longstanding disputes. “A lot of players were able to speak quite frankly. The lines of communication are now re-opened,” Muirhead said.

Nepal’s wretched tour of Ireland wrapped up in timid fashion on Saturday as Jersey easily beat them by seven wickets at Malahide with 23 balls to spare

Peter Della Penna in Malahide18-Jul-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsNepal’s wretched tour of Ireland wrapped up in timid fashion on Saturday as Jersey easily beat them by seven wickets at Malahide. Another insipid batting display from Nepal, who were 2014 World T20 participants, after being sent in to bat left their bowlers a target of 106 that was far too few, which made them the first team eliminated from contention for the knockout stage in Group A.On the other hand, Jersey can still reach the knockout stage with a win over Ireland on Sunday but will need help in the form of two Hong Kong losses and will also require Papua New Guinea to beat USA.Nepal came into the match needing to not only win but do so by a massive margin to have any chance of keeping their playoff hopes alive. However, they lacked intensity throughout the majority of the morning. In the first 15 overs, they struck only two boundaries, both of which came off edges past Jersey keeper Ed Farley.Left-arm spinner Nat Watkins removed both openers inside the Powerplay to leave Nepal at 19 for 2 after six. Binod Bhandari’s dismissal summed up Nepal’s struggles, as a waist high full toss was spliced to cover in the second over. Pradeep Airee fell for 2 off 13 balls edging a desperate drive to Ben Stevens at backward point in the fourth over.Captain Paras Khadka’s disappointing tournament concluded with just 48 runs in five innings as he managed to york himself against the left-arm spin of Ben Stevens for 11 to start the ninth over. Rajesh Pulami was done in by a slower ball from left-arm seamer Cornelis Bodenstein, which was patted back for a simple return catch.Gyanendra Malla sliced a cut to short third man for 26 with one ball to go in the 15th over to give Watkins his third wicket and with nothing else seemingly working, Sharad Vesawkar tried a reverse sweep but was bowled behind his legs for 16 to make it 79 for 6.Making his senior team debut, 20-year-old Siddhant Lohani was the only batsman who demonstrated any sort of vigour. He top-scored with 27 off 16 balls, including two sixes over midwicket and long off. Thanks to his late boost, Nepal managed 44 off the last five overs but it was never enough to make up for their lifeless start.Lohani fell in the final over attempting to slog another off Anthony Kay, the first of two in the last over. Basant Regmi was the eighth man down, caught at midwicket mistiming a pull and Nepal finished on 105 for 8.Shakti Gauchan struck in the second over to remove Farley for a duck, but Jersey cruised to the halfway stage at 61 for 1 behind a half-century stand engineered by captain Peter Gough and Jonty Jenner. A flick behind square was bracketed by two sweeps through the leg side by Gough in a 12-run eighth over to get Jersey on the move.Momentum was briefly halted with a double-strike in the 11th as Khadka nabbed Gough spooning a drive to mid-on for 27 before Jenner ran himself out two balls later for 30 calling for a run to backward point. Lohani swooped in to field and throw in one motion, catching Jenner just short.Bodenstein and Stevens took Jersey the rest of the way with an unbroken 44-run stand for the fourth wicket. Stevens finished 13 not out while Bodenstein ended unbeaten on 27, including the winning boundary hit over midwicket with 23 balls to spare.

A round-up of matches from the Caribbean T20 on Wednesday, January 16, 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Trinidad and Tobago continued their impressive run in the Caribbean T20, picking up their fifth win in six matches. They beat Barbados comfortably, by five wickets, in St Lucia. For their second straight game, the bowlers bowled economically, with five out of six bowlers used conceding less than six an over. The spinners Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine kept Barbados in check and Rayam Emrit picked up two wickets with his medium-pace. Ashley Nurse was the top-scorer for Barbados, making an unbeaten 24 in 19, but it wasn’t enough, as his team only managed 101 for 6.T&T openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis lay a good foundation for the chase with a 45-run opening stand. However, T&T lost their next four wickets for just 32 runs before Denesh Ramdin and Kieron Pollard steadied the ship, and took their team to the brink of victory, which was achieved with 29 balls to spare. They retained their position at the top of the table.
Scorecard
In a game that may not be of much consequence as far as qualifying for the knockouts is concerned, Leeward Islands won their first game of the Caribbean T20, beating Combined Campuses and Colleges by four runs. Spinners Ryan Austin and Akeem Dewar bowled miserly, wicket-taking spells, to limit Leewards to 127. The pair shared six wickets, and had left the opposition tottering at 81 for 8 before a late recovery from Justin Athanaze and Gavin Tonge pushed the score to a competitive one.Leewards managed to make steady inroads during CCC’s chase and at 72 for 5 in the 15th over, the former had the edge. But Sunil Ambris put together 26 for the sixth wicket with Akeem Dewar, who added a further 23 with Jason Holder. Holder also brought the required rate in control, smacking 20 off 8 balls. But Holder was run out off the last ball of the penultimate over with seven needed to win, and there were no runs scored for the next three balls during which Dewar was also dismissed. CCC only managed two off the final three deliveries, and Leewards snuck home.

Irfan Pathan has said he is fit and fresh, and in line to better his performance in his debut season for India

Nagraj Gollapudi and Tariq Engineer04-Dec-2011Irfan Pathan has said he is fit and fresh, and in line to better his performance in his debut season for India – 2003-04 – after emerging as the leading wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy’s Elite group so far, with 21 wickets. It’s a timely return to form with the selectors due to name Praveen Kumar’s replacement for the tour of Australia on Monday.”I feel I am one step ahead of what I wanted to be in terms of the way I am bowling,” he told ESPNcricinfo.He did not want to talk about selection but reasserted his goal. “My dream is still to play for my country, play for that jersey, play for the pride. I would do anything. I would go and bowl 100 overs if need be; I would keep performing to fulfil my goal.”Irfan’s last international match for India was during the 2009 World Twenty20; his last Test match was against South Africa in April 2008. He spent most of last season out with a severe back injury and even his IPL stock was plummeting as his bowling lost its prodigious swing.”The whole experience was enlightening,” Irfan said about his recovery from the back injury. “When you are fit you do not concentrate on yourself, you concentrate on the batsman – how to set him up, how to lure him into your trap. At least you try; it might work at times and it might not at other times. When you are not fit, when your action is not within your control; that is when the trouble starts.”The trouble, though, seems to be in the past. This Ranji season Irfan has had three five-wicket hauls – the first two, against Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, came in the second innings, but last week he overwhelmed Delhi in the first innings with both the new and old balls to pick up a seven-wicket haul.”At the moment the way the ball is leaving my hand is nearly the way I want it to leave,” Irfan said. “It is a very good sign. At the same time I have been quite lucky and quite blessed to perform well for Baroda so far. If things progress in the same fashion I really think this season is going to be even better than the 2003-04 one.” He had announced himself during India’s tour of Pakistan in March-April 2004 during which he took 12 wickets in the three Tests.In the past Irfan had said he regretted being the first-change bowler for India, as bowling with the old ball did not help him get as much swing as would have liked. Now, though, he says he has learned how to use the old ball much better. “The new ball has been wonderful, but I have a very good feel of the old ball and that is a positive sign for me. If you are getting set batsmen out with the old ball, it is most pleasing.”Irfan said the guidance of fast-bowling coach TA Sekar, who worked on Irfan’s bowling action after the 2011 IPL, has played a big role in him re-building his confidence. “He worked hard with me for a couple of months post the IPL with the idea that by the time the domestic season arrived my [tweaked] action would be second nature.”Sekar had helped Irfan in 2007 when Irfan had a disastrous year: he was sent back to India midway through the South Africa tour. He lost his confidence then but Sekar worked hard with Irfan to make sure he would not fall apart.This time the pair worked closely again with Irfan sending Sekar his match videos. Sekar even travelled to Rajkot to watch Irfan during the Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic Twenty20 tournament. “Primarily, he changed my whole body alignment going towards the target,” Irfan said. “In the past I was bowling with a mixed action but we corrected that. That has actually made my line much tighter, it has helped me keep my wrists straight and importantly allowed me to bowl where I want to bowl.”Irfan played the JP Atray tournament, the Challenger Trophy and the Syed-Mushtaq Ali Trophy to refine his action. “I knew by the time the Ranji Trophy comes I should be on top of my game, I should be match fit and I should be bowling the way I want to bowl. It was a process of two months but by the first match of the Ranji season I was on top of my game.”Irfan said he is spending less time in the gym than in previous years but “more and more” time on the ground.One of the reasons Irfan had been dropped from the India setup was that he had lost a few yards of pace. He said he is bowling at good speeds now but does not bother about what the speedometer’s readings say. “It is very important for me to have that zip off the pitch with which I can get a batsman lbw. When I lost out on a lot of things, when my action went wrong, people started talking about my pace, my wrist position, my swing. A lot of things were not going towards the target. But after the IPL if you look at my dismissals I have got them bowled, lbw, caught-behind or caught in the slips. That is a sign that I am getting the right zip from the pitch and I am bowling at the correct speeds.”I need to stop looking at the speedometer. If I can concentrate on dismissing batsmen by swinging it late, or making them play and miss, keeping them troubled with my lengths, then speed can take care of itself.”He said a good example of the way he should bowl was his performance on the first day of the match against Haryana, when he took just one wicket but kept the batsmen guessing. “I was beating the bat and I was very happy with my bowling.”

Round-up of the second day of the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy Super League

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mumbai’s defence of the Ranji Trophy ran into trouble with Rajasthan on the verge of gaining a first-innings lead and converting it into a substantial one with nine wickets still in hand. Vineet Saxena notched up his eighth first-class century, striking 14 fours and a six, while the experienced Hrishikesh Kanitkar, playing his 122nd first-class game, finished the day on 95.Rajasthan had gained the advantage at the end of the first day at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, and were in a dominant position at the end of the second.
Rajasthan’s battles were not only with the bowlers but with their own past and with Mumbai’s reputation of scripting great jailbreaks. They had twice come close to beating Mumbai in 2003 and in 2007, but had choked. Saxena had hit a hundred in the second encounter but had thrown his wicket away and was watched ruefully as his team lost by two runs. He was doubly determined to not let it happen again.It’s a tribute to Rajasthan’s focus today that the only wicket they lost today came due to an umpiring error. Aakash Chopra was adjudged lbw, when the ball appeared to have struck him high, in the fifth over of the day but that was to be the solitary moment of joy for Mumbai. Only 60 runs came in the first session but Saxena-Kanitkar combo had weathered the storm. Agarkar and Avishkar Salvi were the pick of the bowlers but even they couldn’t create any chances as Saxena and Kanitkar grinded out Mumbai with their patience. Saxena hung around for 53 minutes and faced 33 deliveries in his 90’s while Kanitkar had just 48 scoring shots from 255 balls. It was that kind of a day. As you would expect, Mumbai tried sledging Saxena into making indiscretions but in vain.A team that climbed up from the Plate league was doggedly determined to knock out the 39-time champions. Mumbai used as many as seven bowlers, who didn’t measure up to Rajasthan’s determined response. The slow pitch nullifed Ramesh Powar and Iqbal Abdulla and the debutant seamer Aaquib Sheikh proved ineffective Mumbai’s captain Wasim Jaffer was left hoping for a minor miracle : “The bowlers tried their best, but the wicket has flattened considerably. It’s difficult for bowlers but we still need a Rajasthan collapse. Otherwise, it looks very difficult for us at the moment.”
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Baroda’s batsmen gave their team a significant advantage over Railways at the Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. A maiden first-class century from Kedar Devdhar and a typically aggressive 68 from Yusuf Pathan put Baroda on course for a first-innings lead, and Ambati Rayudu took them past the mark with an attacking knock. Railways were 241 for 8 overnight with two set batsmen – Yere Goud and Nileshkumar Chauhan – at the crease. But Goud’s early dismissal in the day, trapped in front by Murtuja Vahora, meant only seven runs were added to the overnight score with Chauhan left unbeaten on 35.The Baroda reply began at a slow pace, with openers Conor Williams and Jaykishan Kolsawala biding their time. However, they failed to capitalise on their starts and Railways appeared to have pulled things back at 70 for 2. But Devdhar and Yusuf, their approaches contrasting but hugely effective, accumulated 115 runs for the third wicket to lay the stage for a lead. Devdhar played several delightful back-foot punches, pulls and drives to up the ante while Yusuf hit a breezy half-century with four sixes and six fours.Railways might have sensed an opportunity when Yusuf fell, to a good catch by Anureet Singh at cover, but Devdhar and Rayudu counterattacked in style. The pair raised 79 runs in just 42 minutes to propel Baroda towards the lead but Rayudu fell, attempting a sweep shot. Devdhar brought up his hundred by sweeping the legspinner Karan Sharma over square-leg boundary and stated his intent by on driving the last ball of the day to the boundary. Due to their collective effort, Baroda found themselves 55 ahead at stumps with six wickets in hand.Karnataka remained in control in their encounter against Madhya Pradesh at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. They gained a first-innings lead and stretched it to 106 by stumps with two wickets in hand. Following a solid start from the openers Robin Uthappa and KB Pawan, the middle order stepped up with Manish Pandey chipping in with 49, Amit Verma top-scoring with 85, Stuart Binny stroking a fluent 39 and wicketkeeper CM Gautam remaining unbeaten on 29. It could have proved much worse for Madhya Pradesh when Karnataka were 294 for 5 with Verma and Gautam going strong. But a three-wicket burst from Jalaj Saxena’s offspinners, for just as many runs, including the dismissal of Verma, gave Madhya Pradesh hope of fighting back and limiting the lead to an extent where a win still remained within reach.Tamil Nadu fought back on the second day against Haryana in Rohtak, but only after a majority of the day was lost to fog. Play began as late as 3pm but within the couple of hours of play that were possible, Tamil Nadu managed to pick up four wickets but Haryana were still in a strong position at 379 for 6. Seamer L Balaji picked up two wickets, including the centurion opener Nitin Saini who was finally dismissed for 150. Hemang Badani was trapped in front by former team-mate R Ashwin for 31, overnight batsman Ankit Rawat fell for 20 and Haryana were able to add 86 to their first-day score. Tamil Nadu didn’t help themselves by conceding 41 extras, and need to battle the weather and the tail to bowl the opposition out.