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AB de Villiers has not played a Test since January last year, while Dale Steyn is expected to make a comeback from injuries in the franchise T20 competition, starting November 10

Firdose Moonda30-Oct-2017AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn should walk back into South Africa’s Test team as soon as form and fitness allow. That was the word from new head coach Ottis Gibson on completion of his first assignment in charge – a historic clean-sweep over Bangladesh across formats – and ahead of more challenging assignments against India and Australia at home.De Villiers, who has not played a Test since January last year due to a combination of injuries and a lengthy sabbatical from the longest format, is available for the Test team again but has accepted he will have to “work my way back” into the XI especially after playing just one first-class match this year and all the batsmen filled their boots against Bangladesh. Now, Gibson has hinted South Africa will make space for de Villiers no matter what, given his reputation.Asked by a journalist in Johannesburg, calling his own question “stupid”, whether there was space in the Test team for de Villiers, Gibson responded: “What was it you said first there?” – to much laughter, and then replied, “You’ve answered your question.”That means it is likely de Villiers will play in the inaugural four-day Test against Zimbabwe, which begins on Boxing Day, and in the home series against India and Australia. However, it remains to be seen whose place he will take in a line-up that has been shortened to six batsmen, an allrounder, three seamers and a spinner.Similarly, Gibson hoped Steyn, who is expected to make a comeback in the franchise T20 competition which starts on November 10, would also be back for those matches even though he has not played any competitive cricket since last November. Though Steyn will not have the opportunity to bowl lengthy spells before the Tests, Gibson will trust the seamer’s word on his readiness for the national side.”He has got a lot of T20 cricket to play and he has also got a lot of time where we can build up his workload and see that he is 100% fit,” Gibson said. “He is Dale Steyn. He is not some average guy from down the road. He is one of the best bowlers the country has ever produced. If you look him in the eyes and you say, ‘Dale are you sure you can make it?’ and he says he can make it, then he is getting the opportunity.”According to Gibson, South Africa can also look forward to a fully fit and committed Morne Morkel, when international action resumes. Currently nursing a side strain, Morkel had previously said he would decide his future once he knew if he would be part of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup plans and he admitted to being open to exploring options elsewhere. In his discussions with Morkel, Gibson established that the bowler will stay in South Africa and do everything he can to secure a spot in the World Cup squad.”Morne is pretty committed to the Proteas over the next couple of years,” Gibson said. “Obviously, the World Cup is a big thing. He is well aware that there can be no guarantees with regards to that. When it comes to 2019, it will be form, fitness, conditions that sort of that. We had a good, honest discussion and he has committed his future to us over the next couple of years.”Morkel is due to resume playing towards the latter half of the franchise T20, but national captain Faf du Plessis may miss the entire tournament as he recovers from two niggles. Du Plessis was ruled out of the T20s against Bangladesh when he injured his back during the third ODI. At the same time, he has had a shoulder operation for a long-standing concern which should not delay his comeback ahead of the international season in which Gibson is looking forward to working with him again.Gallo Images

“We have a really nice relationship; he is a nice guy,” Gibson said of du Plessis. “He is very passionate about playing for his country and leading his country. When he is back, he will be a lean, mean fighting machine.”While the experienced players make their way back, Gibson also expressed his excitement over the youngsters who were blooded during the Bangladesh series. He hopes to see more of them, especially at the limited-overs level, in which South Africa will continue to experiment, with an eye on preparations leading up to the World Cup.”Aiden Markram is a real talent and he has started really well. Hopefully, he will be able to carry on that form for the rest of the summer. And then young Wiaan Mulder came in; I saw him, I liked him, I spoke to the selectors about him. It was a good opportunity to get him around us in the Test series so he can get a feel for what international cricket is all about,” Gibson said.”I think there is a message in that for every young cricketer and every sort of high-performing cricketer in the country. Look at Robbie Frylinck – he got a debut in T20s. When I asked around the country about one-day players, everybody said he is one of the best white-ball cricketers in the country. It’s only fair that if we are going to widen the pool that we look at him. When you are picking a team for international cricket, you can only pick 11 people and sometimes a lot of people feel like they are not part of it. We are trying to widen the pool of opportunities to give as many as possible an opportunity.”

Baroda’s young captain admits to have wasted opportunities, but insists he’s worked hard to bring in game sense and match awareness over time

Annesha Ghosh in Mumbai14-Nov-2017Deepak Hooda, the Baroda allrounder, has admitted that failure to put a price on his wicket has curtailed his progress in first-class cricket, specially after a prolific start to the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy, when he scored three centuries in four innings, including an unbeaten 293.Hooda, 22, gained prominence after the Under-19 World Cup in 2014 and some daring cameos in IPL 2015 for Rajasthan Royals. This eventually fetched him a princely sum of INR 4.2 crore from Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2016 auction. However, Hooda’s performances since then have been inconsistent.Part of the India A team for the one-dayers against the touring New Zealand A side in October, Hooda returned a half-century and an unbeaten 35, coupled with two wickets in four matches – modest, at best. Once he returned to the first-class set-up, he was entrusted with the captaincy after the selectors left out the experienced Irfan Pathan in a bid to look for better results.Baroda, languishing in the bottom half of Group C, needed Hooda’s heroics desperately to turn around their campaign. The team nearly pulled off a coup in Mumbai’s historic 500th Ranji Trophy match, with Hooda contributing 75 in Baroda’s total of 575 for 9. However, as has been the case in the past, his inability to convert a start into big runs stood out.”Yes, that’s (form in first-class cricket) been a bit of a concern to a certain extent,” Hooda told ESPNcricinfo after the match on Sunday. “But red-ball cricket is a different proposition altogether. I try and limit my strokeplay, and not try and do anything fancy. The more I abstain from offering shots to deliveries, the more compact I feel. Less is more and better. I have about seven hundreds so far, but I reckon there could have been two or three more, easily.”Last season, Hooda accumulated 789 runs in 13 innings, but his form tapered off after a strong start. While his first four innings yielded 557 runs, in the next nine innings, he scored in double-figures on only four occasions. Overall, in addition to seven first-class hundreds, Hooda has seven fifties in the format. After the match against Mumbai, he admitted his vulnerability after crossing a score of 70, a weakness underlined by the fact that four of his seven fifties have been scores of 75, 85, 86, 98.”I tend to lose my wicket after nearing that 70-run mark. . [It happens in my urge to score quickly sometimes]. If you look at the game against Mumbai, I was going well, but failed to value my wicket after I got to 75. That shot [pulled one straight to deep midwicket] was what you can call a pretty needless one. But these are important learnings for me, and I am sure I will apply myself better the next time.”Despite the challenges, Hooda considers himself fortunate to have had mentors like former India batsman VVS Laxman at Sunrisers Hyderabad. Hooda admits he felt low at certain times during IPL 2016, his first season with the franchise, where he scored 144 runs in 15 innings at an average of 10.28. It was Laxman who drove into him the need to be calm when confronted by tough situations and to work on consistency.”To be in the company of VVS sir is a matter of great fortune. I was feeling very low at one point last season,” he said. “VVS sir explained to me how every cricketer goes through their share of highs and lows – everybody has a graph with peaks and troughs. But, to succeed at this level, I should learn to keep my graph steady – . (shouldn’t be too up and down).”I need to be mentally steady even when things may not be going my way. I have tried to follow his advice ever since. A positive outlook towards life and cricket has been my biggest takeaway from my time with Sunrisers. Earlier, I’d do a lot of overthinking on both fronts, and I would mostly rely on my instincts. But (Now, I’ve developed cricketing sense).”At 19, Hooda was fast-tracked into the Baroda senior side on the back of an impressive two-year run in the youth ODIs that culminated with the Under-19 World Cup in 2014. Now, having got a taste of top-level cricket across formats, his sole objective for the near future is to fulfill the dream of playing for India, one that has been collectively nurtured by him and his family. “Consistency at first-class, IPL, can help me achieve that.”

Australia captain Steven Smith admitted that he may have to use more of his top hand and be slightly less wristy after copping a freakish blow to his hand at training ahead of the fourth Ashes Test

Daniel Brettig at the MCG25-Dec-20170:58

May have to play less wristy shots – Smith

Australia captain Steven Smith admitted that he will have to find a slightly different way to bat after suffering a freakish blow to the hand at training. However, that is just about all Smith wants to change as the hosts chase the first of two wins that can give them a 5-0 Ashes whitewash to reprise those of 2007 and 2014.Given the runs he foresaw on the surface, Smith was more than comfortable with the prospect of England pitching short at him to target his right hand, which was already sore from slips catching before it was struck by a ricochet from a Cameron Bancroft shot in the nets on Sunday. But that soreness is enough for Smith to concede that he may need to be a more orthodox, top-handed player in this match.”I hope [they target my hand] on this wicket. It doesn’t have quite the same pace and bounce as the WACA did, so if you’re bowling that length out there, it’s not a bad thing,” Smith said. “I’ll still be [fielding] in the same spot. Maybe I’ll just have to use a bit more of my top hand throughout this game, a bit less wristy.”It’s more the back of my hand. I copped a few in the nets in Perth and a few more in the game, and it just seems to be whenever you’re getting hit in a spot it just continually gets hit. Yesterday was a little bit bizarre. The ball came over the nets, I didn’t see it, someone called heads, I sort of tried to put my head down and of course it hit me in the same spot. It was a little bit sore playing a few shots after that. It was a little bit sore today playing a few different shots, but I’ll be able to deal with it and l get on with it.”The decision not to risk Mitchell Starc’s bruised heel on Boxing Day was given further context on match eve as Smith stated how flat and unforgiving the MCG’s drop-in pitch appeared to be. While the surface has, in past years, been left with some moisture in it to aid bowlers in the early stages, Smith said this time it had been ready to play on for several days already – reverse swing looms as one way to break any batting deadlock that ensues.”The wicket’s been pretty good, pretty flat the last few years. It looks much the same this year,” Smith said in Melbourne. “It was probably ready to go three days ago. It’s a wicket that really hasn’t broken up much over the last few years, it’s stayed pretty good for five days. Hopefully, I can cash in again this week. It doesn’t look like there’ll be great deal of sideways movement, maybe a bit of reverse swing as the game goes on. But it looks a pretty flat wicket.”We’ve been able to get results here in the last couple of years. Hopefully we can do that again. We’re going to have work hard, first-innings runs are going to be crucial again. Hopefully, we can get the ball reversing, and hopefully, there’s a little bit of spin for Nath [Lyon]. He didn’t get a great deal last game at the WACA, the ball just went straight on for pretty much everyone. So if there’s a little bit of spin, it’ll certainly bring him into the game as well.”The inclusion of Jackson Bird for Starc will offer Smith the chance to operate with a somewhat different bowling balance. The Tasmanian can deliver longer spells that in turn should allow Pat Cummins, in particular, to stay at his optimum pace in shorter bursts. Bird has previously enjoyed success taking the new ball on Boxing Day, on debut against Sri Lanka in 2012, but Smith stopped short of saying who would share the new ball with Josh Hazlewood.”He deserves a go, he’s worked very hard,” Smith said of Bird. “He hasn’t played since this game last year. He’s been on a few tours, guys have come in and jumped him. He’s been great around the group.”He works incredibly hard, and when he’s gone back to Shield cricket, he has dominated. He bowled exceptionally well in the first couple of Shield games this season. He bowls well out here, so he deserves a crack and hopefully goes really well.”Having secured the Ashes in the minimum three matches, Smith said he had not yet pushed the concept of 5-0 with his players, preferring to maintain the level of focus on the next game that had served Australia well in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. For all their success this summer, it should not be forgotten that this is still a young team with a spotty record – as of this match they remain the No. 5-ranked team in the world.”We’re obviously pretty confident, it’s been a good summer so far,” Smith said. “We’ve won back the urn, which was the objective at the start of the series. We’ve now got an opportunity to keep winning, that’s been my message to the boys: don’t worry about 5-0 at this stage, you’ve got to win this one first and keep winning games of cricket. Winning can become a habit. For us, it’s about staying in those good habits.”

Opener Hasitha Boyagoda racked up the highest score in Youth ODIs, 191 off 152 balls, as he took Sri Lanka to their highest-ever Under-19 total of 414

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2018Sri Lanka players celebrate a wicket•Getty Images

Sri Lanka opener Hasitha Boyagoda and left-arm spinner Haren Buddila lead a brutal rout of Kenya, of 311 runs in the ninth place playoff in Lincoln. Boyagoda racked up the highest score in Under-19 ODIs, scoring 191 off 152 balls, as he took Sri Lanka Under-19 to their highest-ever ODI total of 419 for 4. In reply, Kenya were bowled out for 108 with a four-for from Buddila.Opting to bat, Sri Lanka’s openers brought up 87 runs in 11.2 overs. Boyagoda went on to stitch a 147-run partnership with Nishan Madushka (60) for the second wicket, and was then involved in an 89-run partnership with Jehan Daniel (37 off 24). Kenya seamers Sachin Bhudia and Jasraj Kundi were thrashed for over 60 runs in their respective six-over spells. It was Rene Were who found some respite with Boyagoda’s wicket, but after the batsman had struck 28 fours and two sixes. Soon, an unbeaten 21-ball 53 from captain Kamindu Mendis took Sri Lanka’s total past 400.Kenya slid in the chase from 18 for 0 to 49 for 6 in a span of nine overs, as Nipun Malinga removed the openers before Buddila ran through the middle and lower order. Allrounder Thomas Ochieng provided the only resistance, scoring 45 off 63 balls. Only two other Kenya batsmen reached double-digit scores, as they were flattened in 35.5 overs. Buddila finished with figures of 4 for 27 in 10 overs.

He was bought by the franchise in February’s auction INR 7.4 crores (USD 1.1 million). It will be his first season with KKR. Robin Uthappa has been appointed vice-captain

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2018Dinesh Karthik will lead the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2018. It will be his first season with them, having been bought at the auction in February for INR 7.4 crores (approx USD 1.1 million). An old hand, Robin Uthappa, who was also among the top contenders for the job, has been appointed vice-captain.

Venkatesh Prasad joins Kings XI Punjab

Venkatesh Prasad was announced as Kings XI Punjab’s bowling coach on Sunday. He had recently quit as chairman of India’s junior selection panel in anticipation of picking up a job at the IPL and keeping both positions would have left him on the wrong side of the conflict of interest rules as advocated by the Lodha panel.
Prasad was the bowling coach at Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008 during the first season of the IPL. He then took the same role at Chennai Super Kings from 2009-10 before moving back to Royal Challengers between 2011-13.

Karthik, 32, has been part of the IPL since its inception in 2008, and he has played for five different teams – Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and most recently Gujarat Lions. He has also been stand-in captain for some of those teams, and has long been part of the leadership group with his home state Tamil Nadu.”I think the thing that stood out is that DK is at the age now in his career where he’s got the best years of his career in front of him,” assistant coach Simon Katich told . “He’s been involved in the IPL for 10 years. He’s got a fantastic domestic record captaining Tamil Nadu in the T20 tournament there. I think he’s got a 72% win-rate which is outstanding as a T20 skipper.”Karthik takes over from Gautam Gambhir, who is the Knight Riders’ leading run-scorer and took them to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014. Venky Mysore, the CEO of the franchise, said they were keen to retain Gambhir for the 2018 season as well but the player had asked for a fresh start. It appears KKR are also chasing the same by putting a man who is yet to make his debut for them as their captain.”The team that Gambhir led in the last seven years, I think he’s done a fabulous job. “Karthik said. “He’s left a sort of legacy which is the kind of thing I’d like to do, where you leave the team in good hands, and you take a team that was probably doing well and take it to a different level altogether. I would definitely like to be a part of that journey.”Knight Riders went all out to pick up the lynch pins of India’s Under-19 World Cup winning squad – Shubman Gill (approx USD 281,000), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (approx USD 500,000) and Shivam Mavi (approx USD 468,000) – and Karthik was keen to see how they fare in the IPL. “It’s a very young side. There are few very interesting talents from the India Under-19s that we’ve picked up. I’m really looking forward to meeting them, interacting with them and getting the best out of them.”Uthappa, the 32-year old who has played for the Knight Riders since 2014, might have missed out on the chance to lead them on account of limited captaincy experience. He has been at the helm of eight T20 matches, whereas Karthik’s corresponding figure is 18.”To come in at this role is really exciting for me,” Uthappa said. “I’ve been able to add value to the team in the past in different scenarios in different forms. This gives me a more direct impact within the decision-making group so I hope to be adding the kind of value that bring us championships.”I’m sure all of Kolkata will be right behind DK, as will I and as will the rest of the team. I’m going to be available to DK anytime he needs me, always ready to share my inputs. DK and I have known each other since our Under-17 days, so looking forward to working with him”The 11th season of the IPL begins on April 7 in Mumbai.

Chris Lynn’s run of injury misfortune continued during the tri-series final at Auckland, after he suffered a dislocated right shoulder while diving in the field

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2018Chris Lynn looks set to be ruled out of the Pakistan Super League, and will return to Brisbane for further assessment, after suffering a dislocated right shoulder while diving in the field during Australia’s T20 Tri-Series final victory over New Zealand.It was another cruel stroke of injury misfortune for Lynn, who left the field midway through the ninth over of New Zealand’s innings after attempting to intercept a clip through midwicket from Ross Taylor. Sprinting to his left, he reached for the ball with his right arm, in an apparent attempt to protect his troublesome left shoulder, on which he has undergone three bouts of surgery in recent seasons.However, he appeared to jar his right arm on the turf, and it was later confirmed that he had popped the shoulder out of its socket. Although the team medical staff were able to put the joint back into place, he took no further part in the match after being sent for a scan.”Chris dislocated his right shoulder after landing awkwardly on it when fielding the ball,” said Australia’s physio, Alex Kountouris. “His shoulder was able to be put back into place at the ground and he was consequently sent for X-Rays which revealed no major bone injury.”At this stage Chris will not travel to the Pakistan Super League in Dubai. He will return to Brisbane to undergo further scans and assessment and from there we will have a better understanding of the ongoing management, along with the return-to-play timeframes.”Lynn had previously said he would avoid diving in the field in a bid to prevent any further shoulder problems.”It’s something that’s played on my mind for about four years,” he said. “Let’s go one step at a time – I want to dive, there’s no doubt about that, I want to do well and contribute. But at the moment, I don’t want to have another setback because I feel like I’m making good ground.”Lynn had been due to travel to Dubai imminently to take part in Lahore Qalandars’ first match of the Pakistan Super League, on Friday, against Multan Sultans. The Qalandars will be hoping Lynn’s injury is not serious, considering the explosive Australian was their first pick at the PSL draft.Another franchise that will be anxiously hoping for a swift recovery for Lynn is Kolkata Knight Riders. Lynn was the Knight Riders’ most expensive buy at the IPL auction last month, fetching $1.5m. The team is yet to announce its captain and Lynn was one of the names on the shortlist.

Australia’s captain said it was the decision of the team’s ‘leadership group’ to try and rough up the ball in an effort to get it to reverse, and that the coaches had nothing to do with it

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town24-Mar-2018A match and series slipping away and a ball that could not get past the bats of South Africa’s batsmen drove Australia’s captain Steven Smith to an orchestrated attempt to cheat by tampering with the ball, a task carried out by the team’s youngest member Cameron Bancroft with the use of adhesive tape to try to pick up some rough earth from the Newlands pitch.After Bancroft was informed by the match referee Andy Pycroft of a formal charge with attempting to change the condition of the ball on Saturday night, he joined Smith to admit before the world what television cameras had captured a strong circumstantial case for. The Australians had cheated, knowingly and collectively, in an attempt to change the momentum of a match where they find themselves 294 runs behind with two days remaining.Smith said the team’s collective integrity would rightly be called into question by events in Cape Town, and said he was far from proud of the events that had transpired. He added that he would still have felt regret about the team’s actions even if they had not been picked up by television cameras at the ground.”The leadership knew about it, we spoke about it at lunch. I’m not proud of what’s happened, it’s not within the spirit of the game,” Smith said. “My integrity, the team’s integrity, the leadership groups integrity has come into question and rightfully so. It’s certainly not on and it won’t happen again, I can promise you that under my leadership.”I’m not naming names but the leadership group were what talked about it and Bangers (Bancroft) was around at the time and we spoke about it and thought it was a possible way to get an advantage. Obviously it didn’t work, the umpires didn’t see it change the way the ball was behaving or how it looked or anything like that, so it was a poor choice and deeply regrettable our actions.3:30

Voges: Australia’s reputation comes in question now

“We saw this game as such an important game, not that other games aren’t important as well, but an opportunity. We’ve seen the ball reversing quite a lot throughout this series and our ball just didn’t look like it was going to go. That’s a mistake on our behalf again. It’s such poor actions and deeply regrettable and certainly won’t happen again under my leadership I can promise you.”Some footage suggested communication between the coach Darren Lehmann and the 12th man Peter Handscomb, who relayed a message to Bancroft. However Smith denied the idea had anything to do with the coaching staff, or that the Australians had used the tactic previously to try to speed up the process of roughing up the ball for reverse swing.”No the coaches weren’t involved, it was purely the players and the leadership group who came up with this and it’s not on and I can promise you it won’t happen again,” he said. “You can ask questions as much as you like but I can promise you this is the first time it’s happened and I think I’ve made it clear, we’re regrettable and we’ll move on from this.”Hopefully we’ll learn something from it. I’m embarrassed, I know the boys in the shed are embarrassed as well, and I feel for Cam as well. It’s not what we want to see in the game, it’s not what the Australian cricket team’s about, and being the leader of the team I’m incredibly sorry for trying to bring the game into disrepute the way we did today.”Bancroft, who over the course of eight Test matches has developed a strong reputation for doing whatever he can to help the team succeed, found himself taking blame for volunteering to carry out the ideas discussed during a break in play by more senior members of the Australian side. The “leadership group” alongside Smith has at various times featured the vice-captain David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.”I’ve just had discussions with the match officials and I have been charged with attempting to change the condition of the ball,” Bancroft said. “We had a discussion during the break and I saw an opportunity to use some tape, get some granules from rough patches on the wicket to change the ball condition, it didn’t work, the umpires didn’t change the ball.Gallo Images/Stringer

“Once being sighted on the screen I panicked quite a lot and that resulted in me shoving it down my trousers. We have this yellow tape in our kit and it is connected to some padding but the sticky stuff is very sticky and i felt like it could be used to collect some stuff from the side of the pitch and I have been charged with ball tampering.”Unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I want to be here because I’m accountable for my actions as well. Like the captain said, I’m not proud of what’s happened and I have to live with the consequences and the damage to my own reputation that comes with it. I’ll do my best to move forward and play cricket. I was in the vicinity of the area when the leadership group were discussing it. I’ll be honest with you, I was obviously nervous about it because with hundreds of cameras around that’s always the risk, isn’t it? I sit before you today and I’m not proud of what’s happened.”Smith said that while he took responsibility for the events at Newlands, he would not consider stepping down as captain. He is yet to discuss the episode with the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland or the chairman David Peever. “No, I won’t be considering stepping down. I still think I’m the right the person for the job,” Smith said. “Obviously, today was a big mistake on my behalf and on the leadership group’s behalf as well.”But I take responsibility as the captain, I need to take control of the ship, but this is certainly something I’m not proud of and something that I can hope to learn from and come back strong from. I am embarrassed to be sitting here talking about this. We’re in the middle of such a great series and for something like this to overshadow the great cricket that’s been played and not have a single cricket question in here, that’s not what I’m about and not what the team’s about.”We’ll move past this. It’s a big error in judgement but we’ll learn from it and move past it. It’s not what we’re about, it’s a poor reflection on everyone in that dressing room, particularly the leaders of the group. So absolutely if we weren’t caught I’d still feel incredibly bad about it.”

Cricket Ireland has moved away from the mainstream media to ensure uninterrupted coverage of the Test against Pakistan

George Dobell06-May-2018Guerilla Cricket, the alternative commentary provider, has been appointed by Cricket Ireland to provide ball-by-ball commentary of their inaugural Test against Pakistan.Guerilla, which was previously known as Test Match Sofa, has spent much of its existence fighting off legal threats from national boards and their broadcast partners. Commentating from TV pictures in the comfort of their own homes or studios – a policy the ECB and some other broadcasters feel contravenes and compromises rights deals – they have adopted a deliberately irreverent style designed to appeal to an audience either unable to afford subscription TV or left cold by the more formal Sky or BBC commentary.While it is understood the BBC and TalkSPORT were also, initially at least, in discussions with Cricket Ireland, it seems that Guerilla’s commitment to broadcast every ball of the match proved crucial. Both the BBC and TalkSPORT have pre-existing obligations – TalkSPORT, for example, left their IPL coverage to cover races at Aintree – meaning they were struggling to provide such a guarantee.It is also understood that Guerilla were obliged to pay a modest fee – perhaps amounting to little more than a few hundred pounds a day – to secure the rights for the Test that starts on May 11.”When it came to ball-by-ball radio commentary of the Test Match it was imperative that we find a broadcast partner that would guarantee Irish cricket fans innovative, worldwide and uninterrupted coverage,” Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, said. “For such an historic sporting occasion, we believed the fans shouldn’t miss out.”While a number of possibilities were assessed, what eventually won Guerilla Cricket the radio broadcast rights was their ability to deliver unique and uninterrupted coverage. For our fans this means that every ball and every key moment should be available.”Quite what listeners in Pakistan will make of the Guerilla style – which includes jingles (the one for Mohammad Amir has been the noise of a cash register), a revolving door of commentators and guests and liberal use of swearing – remains to be seen. But a key characteristic of the service is a commitment to involve listeners through reading out as many of their tweets, texts and emails as possible.While Guerilla have launched a funding campaign to ensure the best possible service – and Ireland player George Dockrell, omitted from the squad for the Test, is rumoured to have been recruited to add some insight to the commentary – they have also promised not to stray from the style that has earned them many long-term supporters.”It’ll still be the irreverent commentary with which our long-term listeners will be familiar,” Nigel Henderson, a co-founder of the commentary team, told ESPNcricinfo. “Maybe we’ll try to be a bit slicker, but we won’t suddenly start talking about cakes and buses and all that stuff. And if someone says we can only swear twice a day…well, really, who only swears twice a day?”Either way, the news is a coup for a commentary company served by volunteers and which survives through donations from its listeners. Set up as Test Match Sofa a decade ago, the service has experienced many highs and lows including losing its founder and lead presenter, Daniel Norcross, to their BBC rivals, Test Match Special, while a partnership with The Cricketer ended in tears when the ECB applied increasing pressure to silence the broadcasts and key figures at The Sofa and The Cricketer fell out. Re-born as Guerilla Cricket in 2014, the somewhat iconoclastic commentary has retained a loyal support base and hopes Ireland’s first Test provides an opportunity to reach a new audience.”We are grateful to Cricket Ireland in showing the foresight to allow a new form of cricket broadcasting to be heard in a mainstream context,” Henderson continued. “It’s the same kind of enterprising spirit that has enabled Ireland to develop so rapidly at international level. We are thrilled to be part of this historic occasion.”

Leicestershire came out victors in the battle of the bottom two as Durham’s openers completed a miserable tournament

ECB Reporters Network07-Jun-2018
ScorecardAn impressive century from Cameron Delport ensured Leicestershire finished their Royal London Cup campaign with victory over fellow strugglers Durham at the Fischer County Ground.The South African left-hander hit 16 fours and two sixes in making122 from 128 balls as the Foxes chased down a Durham score that always looked to be well under par on a good, if slightly slow, wicket.”That’s my second hundred for the Foxes, but my first in the 50 over format, so it was a special one – the more so after losing my Mum back in March, she was in my mind,” Delport said.”I had a great experience with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, I learned a lot but it was a bit frustrating not to play games. My time will come out there, but it meant it was quite difficult to come back to England and hit the ground running on very different pitches.”Leicestershire had taken a total of just seven wickets in their previous five Royal London Cup matches this season, but began making inroads quickly after Durham skipper Tom Latham had won the toss and chosen to bat in bright afternoon sunshine.Opener Graham Clark had scored 13 when he came down the wicket and drove firmly at Ben Raine, only for the bowler to take a fine one-handed catch at the second attempt.Gareth Harte and Michael Richardson took the score on to 74, but Harte was always struggling to time the ball, and on 35 tried to work a straight delivery from Tom Wells into the leg side, missed and was given leg before.Latham went in the same over, the New Zealand international facing just three balls before edging a Wells’ off-cutter to wicketkeeper Lewis Hill, and when Michael Richardson, hampered by a hamstring injury, was dismissed in the same way by Richard Jones for 43, Durham’s prospects of setting a really testing target went with him.The more so when the middle order failed to contribute, Zak Chappell’s second five over spell yielding the young Foxes’ fast bowler three wickets for just ten runs. Fine catches by Harry Swindells, at midwicket off Will Smith, and by Cameron Delport, at backward point off Mark Wood, sandwiched a fine delivery which uprooted Ryan Pringle’s leg stump.Having been in danger of subsiding to their lowest List A score against Leicestershire (147), a ninth wicket stand of exactly 100 between debutant Ryan Davies and Barry McCarthy ensured the visitors avoided that ignominy by a distance. Davies, batting sensibly, reached his 50 off 49 balls before McCarthy’s attempt to step to the offside and scoop the ball over wicketkeeper Hill resulted in him losing his middle stump to Jones.But Durham’s coach Jon Lewis bemoaned: “Ryan Davies did well today, he probably showed a few of the guys up the order how it should be done, so credit to him. We’ve struggled in the competition because we haven’t had a 50 out of an opener in eight games, so there’s been nothing to build on.”An opening partnership of 93 between Delport and Horton, compiled in just 14 overs, meant Leicestershire were never under any real pressure in their chase, although the Foxes quickly lost another wicket when a misunderstanding with Delport ended with Raine being run-out at the non-striker’s end.Delport and fellow South African Colin Ackermann added 109 for the third wicket before Clark, bowling his occasional leg-spin for the first time in List A cricket, bowled Delport with his first delivery.Remarkably, Clark then had Ackermann caught behind four balls later, and when List A debutant Harry Dearden missed his attempted sweep and was also bowled two overs later, Clark had three wickets for just four runs. To the relief of the home support, Ateeq Javid and Tom Wells steered Leicestershire home without further alarm.

A record partnership of 223 and a record T20I individual score of 172 – Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short made a light snack of the Zimbabwean attack in the tri-series

The Report by Daniel Brettig03-Jul-2018Aaron Finch was in supreme touch•Associated Press

Rather than throw a kettle over a pub, it was Zimbabwe pasted all over the Harare Sports Club.Aaron Finch bludgeoned his way to within three runs of Chris Gayle’s world-record Twenty20 score and bettered his own chart-topper in Twenty20 internationals as Australia cantered to a second victory in as many days in the triangular series in Harare.Placing his stamp on the tournament and Australia’s short-form captaincy, Finch blazed 10 sixes in an opening stand of 223 – with a more subdued D’Arcy Short – that lasted until the final over of the visitors’ innings after they were sent in by Zimbabwe. Left with three balls to make the four runs he required to set a new world record score in all T20 matches, Finch was dismissed hit wicket when aiming for one more mighty blow. Still, he walked off having delivered a comfortably match-winning total for his team.Despite a rapid start, as Billy Stanlake struggled to replicate the rhythm he had achieved against Pakistan the day before, Zimbabwe never truly threatened in the chase. Ashton Agar and Andrew Tye both delivered tight spells for the Australians, on a sluggish surface that was by no means the easiest for batsmen.Given the heights to which Finch soared, the contrasting fortunes of Short put his innings in context, while evidence remained of Australian frailties against spin bowling via the isolated economy of the slow left-armer Tendai Chisoro, who gave up a mere 19 runs from four overs, six of those from one ball.Kyle Jarvis had dropped out of the Zimbabwe XI with a broken thumb, with his place taken by Chris Mpofu, while Australia were unchanged. Zimbabwe won the only previous T20 encounter between the two nations, at the inaugural World T20 tournament in Cape Town in 2007.Walking to the middle with Short, Finch found his range in the third over of the innings by clattering John Nyumbu for a trio of boundaries in as many balls, and the first six of the innings followed over wide long-on from Mpofu’s next over. From there the boundary was reached or cleared with alarming regularity for Zimbabwe’s captain Hamilton Masakadza, who tried hard but was unable to plug the holes in the field.Ryan Burl’s legbreak cost 30 runs from two overs, while a single over from Solomon Mire was hoisted for no fewer than 21. Finch’s half-century arrived in 22 balls, and he reached a second T20I century from his 50th. His previous T20 hundred for Australia had arrived in a flurry of shots at the Rose Bowl against England in 2013, where he set the mark for the highest international score of 156, made from a mere 63 balls.If Finch’s scoring pace was not quite that hectic this time around, there was a relentlessness in evidence that had him persevering until the final over of the innings, supported by Short who, while not striking the ball with anything like the same authority, showed a willingness to complement his captain by rotating the strike. Both were to depart in the final over of the innings, but only after the first ever 200 opening stand in T20 internationals and also the longest ever partnership in T20Is in terms of balls faced.Zimbabwe commenced their chase with only the faintest of hope, but the openers Mire and Chamu Chibhabha atleast provided the small crowd some reason for good cheer with an impudent opening stand that lifted the hosts to 42 in the fourth over. Chibhabha was then the victim of a curious caught behind decision, but Stanlake was unable to back up his Pakistan efforts, underlining the fact that a journey from promising fast man to consistent performer is still some way from completion.Jhye Richardson, Agar and Tye all fared rather better, steadily working their way through the Zimbabwe batting order while choking down on the run rate. Agar’s spin was at times beguiling, not least when he lured Masakadza down the pitch and then turned the ball past him for a deft stumping by Alex Carey.In the end, Zimbabwe were limited to the most minor of moral victories by not allowing themselves to be bowled out, but the margin was nonetheless Australia’s widest in T20 matches. Finch could not have done any more to make it so.