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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Ed Joyce, meanwhile, has withdrawn from the tour after being diagnosed with a progressive knee injury which requires minor surgery.Joyce, who turns 38 next week, will be replaced in the squad by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.”

BCCI pencils window between September 26 and November 7, subject to ICC postponing men’s T20 World Cup

Nagraj Gollapudi18-Jul-2020The 2020 edition of the IPL being played entirely in the UAE is now a distinct possibility, and ESPNcricinfo understands that the BCCI has earmarked a tentative window between September 26 and November 7 for it.A final decision will be taken by the BCCI once the ICC announces the likely postponement of the men’s T20 World Cup, scheduled between October 18 and November 15 in Australia. The ICC Board is scheduled to have a call on July 20 to discuss the matter, and a final decision on the World Cup is likely to be taken then. It is understood that the BCCI has written to the Indian government seeking permission for the tournament to be shifted to UAE and also get the necessary travel permission for the players and officials of the teams.On Friday, the BCCI’s Apex Council discussed the possibility of the IPL being played in the UAE in its entirety. It is understood that the BCCI would still prefer conducting the tournament in India, but the Covid-19 situation – the number of infections in the country are on the rise – has meant that the UAE has been identified as the next-best option.In April, the BCCI deferred the IPL indefinitely because of the pandemic. With over a million cases at the moment, India is third on the list of countries in terms of infections and has officially recorded over 26,000 deaths.The BCCI had originally wanted to conduct the IPL behind closed doors in limited venues and singled out Mumbai as the hub, but India’s commercial capital has a huge number of Covid-19 infections in the country, making it unfeasible.In June, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly wrote to the state associations, stating the board was “optimistic” about the IPL taking place this year and “all possible options” were being worked out including playing in “empty stadiums”.If the tournament does shift to the UAE, it would be the second time for the IPL there, after the first 20 matches of the tournament were staged in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah in 2014 because of the general elections in India.In April, the Emirates Cricket Board had written to BCCI, offering UAE as an alternative venue for the tournament. And the board is ready to play host now, if the BCCI green-lights the switch. “We are ready to fully support the IPL if it chooses to come and play in the UAE,” Mubashshir Usmani, ECB secretary, told ESPNcricinfo. “We will provide all the support concerning the protocol and government permission required to host the IPL. We are waiting for written confirmation from BCCI.”The tournament is expected to be played at the three main grounds in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, while it is not clear whether the oval at the ICC Academy in Dubai, too, could be used as one of the venues with the tournament likely to be played behind closed doors.As far as the franchises are concerned, they discussed playing in the UAE during an owners’ call on July 13. With most of the global pool of players homebound due to the pandemic, the franchises are primarily concerned about the players getting enough training ahead of the tournament, which could go on for at least six weeks. If the tournament does move to UAE, it is understood that franchises are likely to set up their bases a month in advance, for training and also to cater to any quarantine measures imposed by the UAE government.It is understood that the main reason for marking November 7 as the date for the IPL final was to ensure Indian players get enough time to travel to Australia for the four-match Test series, set to begin in December.

This is the first time players attached to Sri Lanka squads have tested positive for Covid-19

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Jan-2021Seam bowler Binura Fernando and seam-bowling allrounder Chamika Karunaratne have tested positive for Covid-19 after having begun training as part of a 22-member limited-overs squad ahead of next month’s tour of the West Indies.Both players have since been removed from the training group and asked to quarantine. *The remainder of the squad have also now been asked to isolate, because the players who returned positive results were involved in an all-in fitness test. The support staff involved have been instructed to isolate as well.According to an SLC release, the squad began training on January 18, and underwent a PCR Test on January 20, the results of which showed Fernando and Karunaratne to be positive for the virus. The players will have another PCR Test on January 26, following several days of isolation. If everyone (apart from the players who have tested positive) returns a negative PCR Test, the squad will return to training in three isolated groups.Sri Lanka will travel to the West Indies towards the end of February for two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.This is the first time players attached to Sri Lanka squads have tested positive for Covid-19. In 2020, SLC had run residential training camps through the middle of the year, and had also staged the Lanka Premier League without any major Covid-19 scares (two players had tested positive on arrival, but were quarantined immediately).These two players testing positive for Covid-19 does not have any effect on the biosecure bubble for the ongoing Test series involving England.*Aspects of this story have changed since new information has come to light.

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.

Surrey youngster delivers on his promise with key role in memorable 3-1 victory in SA

Andrew Miller28-Jan-2020Ollie Pope has said he is ready for the step-up in scrutiny following his breakthrough series in South Africa, and believes that the positive influence of Joe Root and Ben Stokes will help him to translate his impressive form in South Africa on to the slower, spinning decks of Sri Lanka in March.In a series studded with crucial contributions from a variety of England players, established and new, Pope’s haul of 266 runs in three Tests at 88.66 was instrumental in their 3-1 victory.He bounced back from missing the first Test through illness to record a matchwinning maiden Test hundred in the innings win at Port Elizabeth, and confirmed his reputation, at the age of 22, as one of the best young batsman in the world.ALSO READ: Marks out of 10 – Stokes, Wood, Pope shine for England“It’s an amazing feeling,” Pope said, after England had wrapped up the series with a 191-run win at the Wanderers. “I went through all the emotions on that final day. They got a few good partnerships early on but we trusted our bowlers to go on and take the wickets, and it happened pretty quickly at the end.”However, with England’s next Test challenges looming large in Galle and Colombo, Pope knows that he and the squad will not be able to rest on their laurels – but nor will they be allowed to, thanks to the drive for constant improvement that he said has been instilled by the captain and vice-captain.”Looking at the guys around you, you definitely never stand still,” he said. “You’re learning from Rooty and Stokesy – they set a benchmark from a batting point of view. They’re always looking ahead, always thinking about that next series coming up and how they can prepare themselves best for that. That’s definitely what I’ll be learning to do from now on as well.”Pope has already shown he is a fast learner in the course of his brief career. Less than three years have elapsed since he made his first-class debut for Surrey, at the age of 19, while his Test debut followed a year later, against India at Lord’s in August 2018.He finished his first full season of Championship cricket with 986 runs at 70.42, including four hundreds, and even managed to improve on that average in his five appearances for Surrey in 2019 (561 at 80.14), despite missing the bulk of the season after dislocating his shoulder in a fielding accident.And with all that in mind, Pope insisted he will have no qualms about the heightened expectations that come with his efforts in South Africa.Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes added 203 for the fifth wicket•Stu Forster/Getty Images

“I think you go through that whatever level you play at,” he said. “It happens in county cricket. When you’re first starting out, no one knows what you do, they might bowl to your strengths then they realise what your strengths are and bowl differently. But if I just keep working on my technique and my temperament at the crease, and whatever flaws I have got, if I can brush them out of the way then I’ll be ready to cope with whatever comes my way.”Pope’s range of experiences made be limited, but he will at least be travelling to Sri Lanka with some prior knowledge, having been an initial member of the squad that completed a 3-0 whitewash on their last tour of the country in November 2018.On that occasion, he proved surplus to requirements and decamped to join the Lions tour in the UAE, but he saw enough from his team-mates to know what type of approach could succeed, not least from his Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, who was named Player of the Series after scoring a century on Test debut in Galle.”It’s going to be completely different cricket to what it is out here from a batting point of view,” Pope said. “We play on pretty quick wickets out here and you might not face many overs of spin. In Sri Lanka, they might open with spin.”But from that time out there, I learned that you can go about scoring runs in different ways. I saw how Foakesy went about his innings, he batted time and backed his defence and picked off bad balls. He had a lot of success, then Jos [Buttler] had a lot of success as well. He probably took the more positive option – a lot of sweeping and you look at the scoreboard and he’d be 30 off 20 before you knew it.”There’s two different ways to go about it. I chat to people like Rooty who’ve done very well out there, and I bat in a similar tempo to him, and try to pick his brain a little bit and take that into that first Test if I do get picked out there.”In the latter stages of his Port Elizabeth hundred, however, Pope showed he is not simply a Root clone, with a remarkable array of one-day-influenced strokes, including a ramp over fine leg off an Anrich Nortje bouncer, and a full-blooded reverse-pull off Kagiso Rabada. And when the pair came together in their century partnership at the Wanderers, it was the younger man teaching the old dog some new tricks.ALSO READ: Dobell: Young England embrace old-fashioned virtues“It’s quite funny,” Pope said. “Rooty been one of my favourite players as I’ve been growing up over the last 10 years – watching him play has been awesome. He hit a shot – one of those ramps – and said ‘I learned that one off you!’ That’s a big compliment from one of my favourite players growing up.”But I learn a lot off him and that’s just the way batting works. Sometimes I’ll be bogged down and grafting a bit more and other times it will come a bit easier. That morning for me, I was just moving well and it’s a shame not to go on and make a bigger one [Pope made 56] but I really enjoyed batting with him.”My dream is to play all three formats for England,” he added. “I see myself as a white-ball player as well but our team is pretty established at the moment. They’ve got a great batting line-up, a great middle order, so if I want to get in that white-ball side I’ve got to bide my time, score my runs in county cricket and hopefully keep scoring some Test runs and that’ll look after itself.”Pope wasn’t the only young player to make his mark in South Africa. Dom Sibley also scored his maiden Test hundred in Cape Town, while Zak Crawley seized his chance to impress after Rory Burns’ ankle injury with a series of key innings at the top of the order.”The way this series has gone it’s been nice for Sibbers, Crawley and myself to get some game-time and get some runs as well, which has been really good for all of us going forward,” Pope said. “Obviously we’re still young guys and I think that’s what we needed – a few scores under our belts to give you the confidence to know you can do it at this level. Definitely doing it in a winning cause makes all the difference as well, from a personal point of view.”And after a stuttering start in New Zealand, where England were ground down on slow pitches to succumb to a 1-0 series loss, the confidence in a new-look squad is tangible.”I think it’s massive,” Pope said. “At the start of the New Zealand series we realised we’ve got a young group of players together as a team, and we knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight. Our target was to go and win this series out here.”It’s been an amazing experience to do that. But we also realise, hopefully, it’s just the start. Looking ahead it’s been nice to get some games under our belt, and a series win and now it’s massive taking that into Sri Lanka.”

Nooshin Al Khadeer, Tushar Arothe and Gavan Twining also part of backroom staff, where Mithali Raj is mentor and advisor

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Feb-2023Rachael Haynes has been appointed head coach of Women’s Premier League team Gujarat Giants, who have also bolstered their support staff roster with Nooshin Al Khadeer as bowling coach, Tushar Arothe as batting coach, and Gavan Twining as fielding coach. Mithali Raj had earlier been signed up to be the team’s mentor and advisor.”The likes of Rachael Haynes, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Tushar Arothe, and Gavan Twining will certainly take the performance of the team notches up,” Raj said in a statement released by the franchise. “Not only have they carved a niche for themselves in their roles, but their stories of resilience will [also] be an inspiration for the team.”Haynes, who retired as a player late last year after a glittering international, domestic and club career, won six world titles with Australia, and was the vice-captain of the team from 2017 to 2022. For Australia, she played six Tests where she had 383 runs at an average of 34.81, 77 ODIs where she scored 2585 runs at 39.76, and 84 T20Is with 850 runs at a strike rate of 117.72.Related

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Al Khadeer, apart from being at the helm when Supernovas had won the Women’s T20 Challenge in 2022, was the coach of the India team that won the women’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa earlier this week. An offspinner during her playing days, Al Khadeer played five Tests, 78 ODIs and two T20Is, picking up 115 wickets overall.And Arothe, a Baroda batting allrounder who played 114 first-class matches in a career of close to two decades, was the head coach of the India women’s national team for just over a year in 2017-18, before stepping down following reports of strong differences with some of the players. Twining, meanwhile, has been a part of the coaching circuit in Australia for a while, and most recently served as head coach of New South Wales women’s side in the Australian domestic set-up.The WPL is likely to be played between March 4 and March 24, between the Women’s T20 World Cup that ends in late February and the men’s IPL that is set to start one week after the women’s competition.WPL’s player auction, expected in just over a week’s time, will have auction purses of INR 12 crore (USD 1.46 million approx.) per team. Each sude can buy a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 players, including seven overseas ones, of which one must be from an Associate country. Unlike in the men’s IPL, WPL teams will have the option of fielding up to five overseas players in the XI, provided, again, that one is from an Associate team.A total of 22 matches will be played in WPL 2023, with each franchise playing the other twice to make it a total of eight games per team. The top-ranked side will enter the final directly, while the second- and third-placed teams will face off in a qualifier to determine the second finalist.

The two middle-order batsmen went on a six-hitting spree in the final overs, one that Zimbabwe were powerless to stop

The Report by Mohammad Isam14-Sep-2019Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi belted seven sixes in seven balls as Afghanistan demolished Zimbabwe by 28 runs in Mirpur. The win ensured 11 consecutive T20Is without a defeat for Afghanistan – incredibly it’s the second time they’ve hit that number and only Australia have gone better (12).Zimbabwe have now played eight matches against Afghanistan and they have lost all of them. The bowling looked rather listless under fire the batting couldn’t get anywhere close to the target of 198 leaving the team in danger of early elimination.Seven sixes in a rowNajibullah and Nabi added 107 runs in just 6.4 overs, the second-fastest 100-plus partnership in T20Is, as well as the second-highest fifth-wicket stand in the format. Afghanistan also combined to hit 15 sixes, the most at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Najibullah switched into a higher gear the moment Asghar Afghan got out in the 14th over. He went after debutant Ainsley Ndlovu and Kyle Jarvis before Nabi struck Chatara for four consecutive sixes – twice over deep midwicket, one straight down the ground and the last one biffed over cover.That ended a 26-run over but the carnage continued as Najibullah struck Neville Madziva for three sixes from the other end, making it seven in a row. He went twice over midwicket and once behind square on the off side before swatting Jarvis over extra cover in the 19th over for the last of his six sixes. He finished 69 not out off 30 balls while Nabi, who fell on the last ball of the innings, made an 18-ball 38.Gurbaz’s flying startAfghanistan had already got off to a sound start thanks to debutant Rahmanullah Gurbaz who struck five fours and two sixes in his 24-ball 43. Gurbaz added 57 for the opening stand with Hazratullah Zazai but the pair fell within nine balls of each other. Zimbabwe must have thought they were back in the game when they picked up the wickets of Najeeb Tarakai and Afghan, but then came that flurry of sixes that even now has to be hard to for the team to take.Zimbabwe crash before RashidAfter Hamilton Masakadza’s run-out in the third over of the chase, left-arm quick Fareed Ahmad removed Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams in the space of three balls. It took out the steam from Zimbabwe’s chase before Craig Ervine’s wicket in the seventh over reduced them to 44 for 4.All of this happened before Rashid Khan, on his T20I captaincy debut, brought himself into the attack. He had Tinotenda Mutombodzi caught at midwicket for 20, before removing Ryan Burl, who made a fifty in the previous game against Bangladesh, for a run-a-ball 25.A very late resistanceMadziva and Regis Chakabva tried to push Zimbabwe towards the target with their 45-run seventh-wicket stand after they were reduced to 96 for 6 in the 14th over. Madziva struck two sixes in his 11-ball 15, while Chakabva top-scored with an unbeaten 42 off 22 balls with three fours and two sixes. But it came far too late and only reduced the margin of defeat.

Punia, the 22-year-old Delhi opener, earned her maiden India call-up, for the T20I squad

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Dec-2018India middle-order batsman Veda Krishnamurthy has been dropped from both limited-overs squads for the New Zealand tour in January 2019, following a long run that yielded below-par scores since a reasonably impressive South Africa tour in February. Batsman Mona Meshram has replaced her in the ODI squad, while quick-bowling allrounder Shikha Pandey has returned to the T20I squad after being left out for the World T20 last month.Priya Punia, the 22-year-old Delhi opener, meanwhile, has earned her maiden India call-up, for the T20I squad, on the back of two centuries in the ongoing Senior Women’s One-Day League domestic tournament.Krishnamurthy had five single-digit scores during the World T20, including two unbeaten innings, and despite an 80-run knock for Railways in the One-Day League, her lack of consistency has resulted in exclusion from both sides. That was the only change from the ODI squad that played against Sri Lanka women in September.Pandey returned to the T20I set-up as a like-for-like replacement for Pooja Vastrakar who underwent an ACL surgery last week following a knee injury she sustained during a warm-up game ahead of the World T20. Devika Vaidya, the top-order left-hand batsman who had replaced Vastrakar in the side, has been dropped owing to her poor form for Maharashtra in the ongoing domestic tournament.The squads were announced by chief selector Hemlata Kala, following a meeting in Delhi which also had ODI captain Mithali Raj in attendance, and T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur joining in via Skype.Some of the players included in the two squads will be participating in the three-team senior women’s one-day Challenger Trophy in the first week of January, in Mulapadu. Pandey, Punam Raut and Mona Meshram have been named captains for the India Red, Blue and Green sides respectively.India are scheduled to play three ODIs, starting January 24, and as many T20Is in New Zealand. The ODIs are part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2017-2020, while the three T20Is will be double-headers along with the men’s T20Is in February.The tour will be the team’s first international assignment under newly appointed head coach WV Raman, who got the job in the aftermath of a mudslinging episode involving former interim head coach Ramesh Powar and Raj.ODI squad: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-capt), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, D Hemalatha, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Mona Meshram, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Shikha PandeyT20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Mithali Raj, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, D Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia

Alastair Cook says that he will retire from international cricket knowing that he managed to dredge every ounce out of his ability

Andrew Miller05-Sep-2018
Alastair Cook says that he will retire from international cricket at the end of the forthcoming Oval Test knowing that he managed to dredge every ounce out of his ability.Cook, who will retire after an England record 161 Test appearances, said that his decision to stand down had come during a six-month period in which he felt that he had mislaid the mental edge that had carried him to more than 12,000 Test runs over a 12-year career.”It’s hard to put it into words, but over the last six months, there’ve been signs in my mind that this was going to happen,” Cook told reporters at The Oval. “I told Rooty [Joe Root] before the game [at the Ageas Bowl], then told Trevor [Bayliss] during the game.””For me, I’ve always had that mental edge, I’ve always been mentally incredibly tough, and that edge had gone,” he added. “That stuff which I’d found easy before was just wasn’t quite there, and for me that was the biggest sign.”Asked if he had considered asking for a sabbatical to reassess his game after an extraordinary 158 Test appearances in a row, Cook insisted that burn-out was not the issue that he had been contending with, in spite of averaging less than 20 in nine Tests in 2018.”It did cross my mind briefly, as the decision became clear in my mind, but if you are looking over the last two or three years, I haven’t played a huge amounts of games, and I’ve never felt that getting on another plane has been the struggle. You can have six months off and come back, but I still don’t think it would have been there.”You ask people about [retirement] along the way, and they said that when you know, you know. And for me that was so true.”The rest of the team was informed of his decision the aftermath of England’s 60-run victory over India at the Ageas Bowl, a result which ensured a series win against the No.1 Test team and allowed Cook to go public with his decision ahead of a dead rubber in the final match.”In this day and age, it’s very hard to keep anything quiet,” he said. “If it was 2-2 I would have had to keep my mouth shut. But when you do media and are asked questions, it’s hard to constantly lie, to be brutally honest.”I was a couple of beers in and I needed to be, otherwise I’d have cried more than I actually did,” he added. “But I managed to hold it together. At the end of the game, I just said it might be good news for some, but sad for others, but it’s time. I’ve done my bit and, if picked, the next game will be my last game. That was all I said.There was a bit of silence, then Mo said something, and we got on with it and had a nice evening in the changing room.”The confirmation of Cook’s impending retirement was then announced on Monday morning, leading to a wealth of tributes across the cricket media.”It’s a bit surreal,” Cook added. “One of my friends rang to check I was still alive, because everyone had been talking as if I’ve died. It’s obviously nice to hear so many nice words said about you. For the last couple of days I’ve been back at home and hadn’t seen much of it, until I let myself have a look last night.”The eulogies were richly deserved, given how much Cook had given to England’s cause in the course of his record-breaking Test career. Inevitably, he picked out his central role in England’s victories in Australia in 2010-11 and India in 2012-13 as his finest hours.”You can’t really look past those two away series,” he said. “That was the best I could play, and in my career as a whole, I can look back and say I became the best player I could have become. That means quite a lot to me. I’ve never been the most talented cricketer, and I don’t pretend I was, but I definitely got everything out of my ability.”Cook admitted that his lowest ebb had come in the midst of the 2014 summer, when England lost first to Sri Lanka and then went 1-0 down against India, and all against the backdrop of the sacking of Kevin Pietersen, a situation that Cook admitted he wished had been handled differently.”The KP affair was a tough year, absolutely no doubt about that,” he said. “The fallout of that wasn’t good for English cricket or for me, but I was involved in that decision without being the bloke that made the final decision.”I think that’s when it was real tough but I didn’t throw the towel in,” he added. “I still believe I was the best man for the job and the right man to be England captain at that time. I could have taken the easy option and thrown the towel in, but I didn’t, and the team got the reward with the Ashes in 2015.”Asked if he was the last of a dying breed of Test specialists, Cook replied: “I think naturally kids are going to be more attracted by the razzmatazz of T20. I’ve seen it in the youngsters in the Essex team, their attacking game is better than their defensive game, and that is fact.”I’m not sure I’m the last of a dying breed but there are cricketers of my ilk who are naturally suited to the red ball rather than white ball. The kids have the diet of T20. We played T20 when we were younger, but we still built an innings in the first five overs, rather than whack it over the keepers’ head third ball.”As for his ambitions for the final Test of his career, Cook added: “It would be fantastic [to bow out on a high], but it would be great for England to win most importantly – 4-1 sounds better than 3-2. If I can play a good innings, that would be fantastic.”

Ravi Thodge, a retired lieutenant general, joins Rai and Edulji, while Justice DK Jain takes over as board’s final adjudicating authority

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2019The Committee of Administrators (CoA), which is currently overseeing the functioning of the BCCI, has a new third member: Ravi Thodge, a retired lieutenant general of the Indian army. The Supreme Court made the appointment on Thursday, during a hearing of various issues related to the Justice Lodha Committee’s recommendations.Thodge’s appointment comes after months of heated and public disagreement over several issues between the two existing members of the CoA: Vinod Rai, the former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and Diana Edulji, the former India women captain.During the hearing, Justice SA Bobde expressed his displeasure at Rai and Edulji airing their differences in public, and asked the amicus curiae PS Narasimha to instruct them not to do so. Narasimha suggested that reconstituting the CoA to an odd number could help solve potential deadlocks, and Bobde wondered aloud if there should be five members. In the end, the court settled on three, making its decision in chambers.It is not yet known if Thodge will be part of the BCCI meeting on Friday, where top-level officials including Rai and Edulji are set to discuss – among other issues – whether to send the ICC a draft letter asking for Pakistan to be banned from the upcoming World Cup.The court has also appointed Justice DK Jain, a retired Supreme Court judge, as the BCCI’s ombudsman, the board’s final adjudicating authority under its new constitution.The post had been vacant since Justice AP Shah finished his term in late 2016 and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) had been asking the court for directions on a new appointment since Justice Shah’s departure.One of the first issues Justice Jain is likely to deal with is the recent suspension of Indian players Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul. The pair had been suspended pending an inquiry into their offensive comments on an television chat show, which the CoA concluded had violated the Code of Conduct. The players were eventually allowed to continue playing, subject to the case reaching its conclusion upon the appointment and adjudication of an ombudsman.When Justice Bodbe asked the amicus what the hurry was to appoint an ombudsman, Narasimha replied that the ombudsman was the dispute resolution mechanism, and there were quite a few issues where he could help. When the judge asked for an example, the amicus pointed to the alleged misconduct of the CEO Rahul Johri, an issue that was settled after an independent panel cleared him of sexual harassment allegations by 2-1 majority.It was a contentious verdict, with Edulji and two of the three BCCI office bearers disagreeing with it. It is likely that Justice Jain would need to study the final report of the independent panel before taking any fresh step.