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He has been given a two-year contract by the Odisha Cricket Association

PTI14-Jul-2021Former Test opener and domestic veteran Wasim Jaffer was on Wednesday named chief coach of the Odisha senior side for the upcoming domestic season.”He [Jaffer] will be the head coach. He has been given a two-year contract,” Subrata Behera, Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) CEO told PTI.The decision was taken following a meeting of OCA’s Cricket Advisory Committee as Jaffer would replace former state captain Rashmi Parida, who was at the helm for two seasons.Related

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“Besides development of cricket across all age-groups, he [Jaffer] will also be a part of coaches development programme across the state,” OCA secretary Sanjay Behera said in a statement.This will be Jaffer’s second stint as the head coach of any state team. Following his retirement in March 2020, Jaffer, who is the leading run-scorer in Ranji Trophy, had coached Uttarakhand but he later resigned following a fall-out with the association.Jaffer, who played 31 Tests and two ODIs, is also the batting coach of the Punjab Kings in the IPL.The Mumbai stalwart later played for Vidarbha towards the end of his illustrious career winning back-to-back Ranji Trophy and the Irani Cup.Odisha had last reached the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals in the 2019-20 season when they lost out to Bengal after a draw.The camp for the senior team is slated to begin from July 25, subject to the state government’s approval keeping in mind the Covid-19 guidelines.The BCCI announced the return of the Ranji Trophy recently, to be played from November 16, 2021 to February 19, 2022.

Tim Murtagh has been given special dispensation to arrive late for Ireland’s tour of South Africa later this month, in order to play Middlesex’s County Championship decider against Yorkshire at Lord’s

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Sep-2016
Tim Murtagh has been given special dispensation to arrive late for Ireland’s tour of South Africa later this month, in order to play Middlesex’s County Championship decider against Yorkshire at Lord’s.Ireland take on South Africa and Australia in two ODIs at Benoni on September 25 and 27, two days after the conclusion of the final round of Championship fixtures, in which a Middlesex victory would end their 23-year wait for the title.”This match means a huge amount to both Tim and Middlesex,” said Cricket Ireland Performance Director, Richard Holdsworth. “Having played with the club for ten years, it would be the culmination of one of his most fiercely-held ambitions.”While the remainder of the squad will travel out tomorrow [Saturday], we felt this was an exceptional situation and a game which we should allow Tim to play in.”There has been a long and mutually beneficial relationship between Middlesex and Ireland, and we felt it would further strengthen our close ties by showing some flexibility on this occasion.”Middlesex have agreed to fly Murtagh out to South Africa as soon as the game finishes, in time for him to join the squad ahead of the first ODI against South Africa on September 25.
Ed Joyce, meanwhile, has withdrawn from the tour after being diagnosed with a progressive knee injury which requires minor surgery.Joyce, who turns 38 next week, will be replaced in the squad by Leinster Lightning batsman Sean Terry, who made his Ireland debut earlier this summer during the series against Afghanistan.”It’s obviously a blow to lose someone of Ed’s calibre, but Sean Terry is a batsman of undoubted promise,” said John Bracewell, the head coach. “Given the likely pitch in Benoni, and the likelihood we will facing two majority pace attacks, the selectors felt that Sean was the logical replacement.”

Babar Azam offers no excuses after his side loses to Zimbabwe, while Shoaib Malik asks for an international white-ball coach

Umar Farooq23-Apr-2021Pakistan’s struggles with middle order were laid bare in Harare on Friday as the team slumped to a 19-run defeat, with Zimbabwe bowling them out for 99. Wobbles in the middle order had been a worry for much of Pakistan’s tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe, but the side had, by and large, escaped paying for it until now. Pakistan captain Babar Azam was sufficiently alarmed by Pakistan’s showing with the bat to warn solutions had to be found swiftly, with time running out before this year’s T20 World Cup.”It’s a very painful performance,” Azam said. “In South Africa, we had chased down 200; similarly here, we should have won this game comfortably. But unfortunately, we played poor cricket and continued to struggle in the middle order. Today, it was not just the middle order but our batsmen right through couldn’t perform the way we expect them to. It was a collective collapse and we lost as a group. But credit to Zimbabwe who came back so strongly today.”Zimbabwe beat Pakistan for the first time in T20I cricket in their 16th attempt, registering their first T20I win at home since 2016. The three-match series is currently level at 1-1, with the final game being played on Sunday.Pakistan have tried Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, and Haider Ali in the middle order since the South Africa tour, but none of them has had the desired impact. With the top order doing much of the scoring of late, opportunities to put the middle order to the test had been few and far between, though it was notable they had struggled whenever put under pressure.Azam refused to make excuses for the defeat. “The wicket was similar to the other day but it was suitable [for batters] and that is not an excuse anyway. As a professional, you adapt to every condition but I think we as openers didn’t give a good start from the top and then our middle order was struggling to step up. The World T20 is closing in and we have to sort this out as soon as possible. The next game we will come back and make a good combination.”With the middle order under scrutiny, Shoaib Malik is one of the prospects for the slot but has not played for Pakistan since the England tour last year. His name has often been floated in the media as a possible answer to Pakistan’s woes, but the selectors have so far opted against picking him. That Malik would like to make a return is well known, with the veteran playing in T20 leagues across the world during this time. After Pakistan’s defeat, the normally reserved 39-year-old took to Twitter to express his opinion.”Unacquainted decision makers need to take a step back; Babar and chief selector need to call the shots,” Malik tweeted. “In my opinion, we need an international white ball coach who understands cricket inside out & grooms our captain whilst giving clarity to our players for coming time. When your management relies on likes & dislikes especially when your cricket is just in surviving mode, then what else do expect as a nation? On top of that, when you don’t let your captain take decisions this is bound to happen.”There has been no official reaction from the PCB to Malik’s tweets yet, but as the fallout from Pakistan’s defeat grows, there are signs a man who made his debut in 1999 may yet be relevant to them in 2021.

Gregory plays aggressor during 98-run stand as Middlesex let winning positions slip

Matt Roller11-Apr-2021A nerveless, unbroken stand of 98 in 19 overs between George Bartlett and Lewis Gregory took Somerset to an improbable win at Lord’s, as they chased down their target of 285 with four wickets to spare.Victory had appeared unthinkable, both when they fell to 89 for 9 in their first innings and when Middlesex had compiled a lead of 254 with seven second-innings wickets in hand, but two spirited fightbacks – with Jack Leach at the centre on both occasions – set up an attainable target under cloud cover and floodlights on the third afternoon. Tom Abell’s fluent half-century laid the foundation before bad light and drizzle brought an early close, and once he had found his rhythm again under blue skies on the final morning, Somerset became favourites for the first time in the match.

Cricket to pay respect to Prince Philip

Play in the County Championship next Saturday will pause between 2.50pm and 4.10pm, to coincide with the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. The ECB has also recommended that play in recreational cricket stops between 3pm and 4pm, enabling players to observe the one minute’s silence at 3pm.

Then, a twist. Ethan Bamber took two wickets in 13 balls – Abell edging behind, Steven Davies trapped lbw by an in-ducker – to peg the chase back, and when Tim Murtagh induced the thinnest of edges from Craig Overton on the stroke of lunch as the clouds began to roll in, it seemed that the chase would prove too steep even for Somerset’s long batting line-up.But Gregory, fresh from a first-innings five-for, strode out after the interval and realised after poking defensively at his second ball, which jagged past his outside edge, that there was nothing to be gained from hanging in while Murtagh was nibbling it around. Instead, he used his considerable limited-overs experience to thrash 62 not out off 72 balls, dominating the seventh-wicket stand alongside the more reserved Bartlett. Gregory crashed Bamber through the covers to level the scores just as the drizzle returned, then clipped him behind square on the leg side to draw a guttural roar from the Somerset balcony.Bartlett has prevailed in tough situations before in his Somerset career, most memorably in another successful chase at Edgbaston two summers ago, but this innings – which spanned nearly four hours – was one of his best. It was not always pretty – plenty of his runs came through third man – but his support role in partnership with Gregory was vital. He was particularly strong cutting and pulling against the change bowlers, and vindicated the decision to pick him ahead of Eddie Byrom.Defeat would have left Somerset stuck in the red, following the rollover of their eight-point pitch penalty into the 2021 season, but instead they will head into their local derby against Gloucestershire on Thursday feeling bullish. “We tried not to read too much into it [the points deduction],” Abell said afterwards, “but this has done our confidence the world of good.”We speak about it quite often: it’s one thing being good as front-runners, but it’s another thing when your backs are against the wall, coming from behind in games and still getting results. The mindset was really positive, with the way we’d got ourselves back into the game. We let ourselves down in the first innings – I don’t think that was a true reflection of the wicket or how good we are as players – and we wanted to put that right.”Related

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Abell’s own innings in the cold had set things up overnight, in a 79-run stand with Tom Banton for the second wicket, and with Gregory finishing things off with his counterpunch after lunch, all three of Somerset’s Covid contingent made significant contributions despite their abbreviated pre-season following three weeks in solitary confinement. “When we were in the field yesterday and it was freezing cold, I said to Lewis, ‘It could be worse – at least we’re not in hotel isolation in Karachi’,” Abell said. “We’re so happy to be back playing for Somerset – it’s very special to be back with the group, and to get the first win is even sweeter.”For Middlesex, this was a chastening loss. Stuart Law had dished out some hard truths in the dressing room on Saturday night, but all five of their bowlers conceded more than three runs an over across the third innings and struggled to keep a lid on the scoring rate. Leach’s success in the holding role served to highlight the lack of a spinner in the Middlesex attack – though Thilan Wallawawita might well have played if he had been fit – and Stevie Eskinazi, the stand-in captain, was not proactive enough on the final day, particular when Gregory was seizing the initiative after lunch. He will be relieved to hear that Peter Handscomb should be out of quarantine in time to lead the side in the Surrey fixture on April 22.Since Law took over at the start of the 2019 season, Middlesex’s five first-class wins have all been relatively comfortable – four by 78 runs or more, and one by five wickets. Their title win in 2016 featured close wins at Taunton and in the decider against Yorkshire at Lord’s, and they prevailed in a number of tight games in the two difficult seasons that followed, but on this week’s evidence, that killer instinct seems to have deserted them.

Earlier in the day, Bonner, Joseph and Da Silva stretched West Indies’ total to 409

Debayan Sen12-Feb-2021Stumps After having lost the ODI series 3-0, and chased much of the first Test before chasing down 395 on the final day in Chattogram, Kraigg Brathwaite and his West Indies team hold all the aces after the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka. It was made possible largely due to a new-ball burst by Shannon Gabriel, backed up by some imaginative captaincy from Brathwaite, after career-best knocks of 92 by Joshua Da Silva and 90 from Nkrumah Bonner, aided by an enterprising 82 by Alzarri Joseph helped the visitors stretch their overnight 223 for 5 to 409.For Bangladesh, Abu Jayed picked up his third four-wicket haul to finish with 4 for 75, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz stayed tantalisingly poised on 99 Test wickets, after picking up the wicket of Bonner. At close of play, Mushfiqur Rahim had batted fluently to post 27, while Mohammed Mithun looked a bit more nervy in making 6 off 61 balls.West Indies walked out after tea with the weight of runs on the scoreboard, and Gabriel helped drive the advantage further by dismissing Soumya Sarkar, caught chipping a straight ball delivered from round the wicket to Kyle Mayers at short mid-wicket for a fourth-ball duck in the first over. Off Gabriel’s next over, Najmul Hossain Shanto, who had earlier taken a firm blow on his right shoulder off the bat of Bonner while fielding at forward short leg, drove an overpitched delivery for four. Next ball, Gabriel pitched it up but offered some width, and Shanto slashed it to Bonner at gully to leave Bangladesh at 11 for 2, the two wickets having come in the space of nine deliveries.With Brathwaite shuffling Gabriel, Rahkeem Cornwall and Joseph with the new ball, Tamim Iqbal launched a counterattack in the company of his captain Mominul Haque, as the two senior batsmen added 58 off a little over 12 overs. With Haque’s discomfort against short balls an open secret, the West Indies seamers placed a leg gully, and two men out in the deep for the miscued hook, but both Iqbal and Haque handled the fast bowlers well. Iqbal took a special liking to Joseph, who strayed on to the pads far too often, and both also used the upper cut over the slips cordon to good effect, when it seemed like the game was just beginning to drift towards Bangladesh.That’s when Cornwall was brought back on by Brathwaite, and Haque ended up playing a cut to one that was too close to his body, and was snapped up by Da Silva for 21. Iqbal’s thrilling 44 off 52 balls, with six fours and a six, came to an end off Joseph, when he failed to keep a flick down and Shayne Moseley plucked an easy catch at short mid-wicket. At 71 for 4, Bangladesh had again lost two quick wickets inside six balls. Rahim and Mithun saw out the rest of the evening session – Mithun was incorrectly given out caught behind down the leg side against Joseph when he hadn’t even got off the mark, but the decision was overturned on review since the ball had come off his thigh — and the only point of criticism one could have for Brathwaite’s captaincy was that his most successful bowler from the first Test, left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican, only came on to bowl in the 30th over, well after the two right-handers had come to the crease.The theme of West Indies domination on the day was set from the outset, with Jayed overpitching the first delivery of the day down the pads for Bonner, who would whip it away through mid-wicket for three. In the same over, Bangladesh used up one review for a leg-before appeal where the ball seemed to be heading down leg, and off the next delivery, Da Silva pumped a short ball through point for the first boundary of the day.Joshua Da Silva brought up his career-best knock of 92•AFP via Getty Images

Jayed was guilty of bowling either side of the wicket, while the spinners were frequently making errors in length, allowing Bonner and Da Silva to milk them for singles, and the latter to pick up the odd boundary. Bonner, who had flicked one overpitched Jayed ball through mid-wicket for his first boundary of the morning, eventually fell to Miraz, bowling from round the wicket, nicking one to Mithun at leg slip. He could scarcely believe his luck, having missed out on a maiden Test ton when in sight of it in successive innings in his first two Tests.If Bonner and Da Silva had ensured that there were no nerves in the way the hosts began, their advantage was driven further in the course of the Joseph-Da Silva partnership. Da Silva defended with ease, and reverse-swept the spinners to throw them off their length from time to time, while Joseph survived an early streaky boundary to play an attacking innings. He used his reach to good effect against the spinners, thrashing four of his five sixes through the deep mid-wicket region against them.The Da Silva-Joseph partnership was broken by Islam, who got a straighter one to sneak through Da Silva’s defence when on 90. With the lower order for company and 400 in sight, Joseph decided to take on Jayed’s short ball, hitting him for six and four to deep square leg and fine leg, respectively. Off the very next ball, he would edge through to Liton Das, depriving him of a chance of matching Bonner and Da Silva by going past his career-best of 86. The end was quick for West Indies, with Jayed going on to pick his third four-wicket haul, and Islam also picking up four for his troubles.While the pitch still looks like a good one to bat on, Bangladesh have a mountain to climb if they have to draw level in the two-Test series, with the hosts still needing another 105 to avoid the follow-on.

England quick marks BBL debut with four wickets inside the first three overs of Thunder’s defence of 196

AAP19-Dec-2021
Saqib Mahmood made BBL history before Brisbane Heat’s tail saved some face as Sydney Thunder won by 53 runs at the Gabba.On debut for Thunder, English quick Mahmood became the first man in the BBL and only the 10th person in T20 cricket anywhere in the world to take four wickets inside the first three overs of an innings.Mahmood couldn’t believe his luck when Jimmy Peirson clipped one to deep fine leg, giving him 4 for 9 from just 11 balls after his first delivery was sent to the boundary by Chris Lynn.Lynn, Ben Duckett and Sam Heazlett all fell though, with the chase of the Thunder’s 7 for 196 looking all but over.A horror run-out added to Heat’s misery, the hosts sinking to 5 for 15 inside the first three overs, before bowlers Xavier Bartlett and Mark Steketee combined for a BBL record 79-run eighth wicket stand.That pair’s partnership came too late for Heat to even salvage the Bash Boost point, Steketee eventually falling just as a miracle comeback victory was being entertained.Sam Billings (64 off 27) had earlier powered the Thunder’s innings, the English wicketkeeper hitting five sixes and five fours as he swept both spinners and pacemen over the rope. His innings came after Alex Hales and Jason Sangha had set the tone, leaving Heat a huge chase if they were to win a second straight game.It could have been an even steeper task if not for Mitchell Swepson bowling Sangha around his legs. Bartlett also took two wickets but went for 45 from his four overs, while Steketee also grabbed two wickets on his return from national duties where he was briefly called up to bolster the squad after Pat Cummins’ Covid close contact drama.Thunder held back the in-form Alex Ross until the final over despite him coming off three unbeaten knocks, his last a whirlwind 77 off 49.Ross thought he’d found a boundary, but his lap sweep was well caught by wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson. He had deflected the ball past his off stump towards fine leg, but Peirson reacted incredibly well to pouch the catch in his left hand.Tom Cooper entered the game as the Heat’s X-factor sub, in for Tom Abell after he jammed his hip while attempting an outfield catch in the second over.

All three were part of the Road Safety series in India recently

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2021On Saturday, Sachin Tendulkar announced on social media that he has tested positive for Covid-19. The former India batsman and captain added that his symptoms were mild, that no one else in his family had been affected and that he has gone into isolation.