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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered Sri Lanka Cricket a chance to play a day-night Test on their tour to the United Arab Emirates in winter

Umar Farooq14-Aug-2013The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has offered Sri Lanka Cricket a chance to play a day-night Test on their tour to the United Arab Emirates in winter. Two of three Tests on the tour are scheduled in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and these could be potential venues to host the day-night Test.The ICC last year approved the idea of day-night Test matches but left it to member boards to decide on the hours of play and the colour of the ball to be used. No board so far has considered playing day-night Tests, but the PCB has shown interest in trying out the format. The board has organised day-night first-class matches and a few MCC fixtures in Abu Dhabi have also been played under lights.”We have offered to play a Test match under lights,” Nadeem Sarwar, the PCB spokesman, told ESPNcricinfo. “We are keen to experiment with day-night Test cricket as we believe that this would help in reviving interest in the format. The major aspect in our discussion is the correspondence on the colour and brand of the ball. The venues are definitely ideal and there is no dew factor involved in December and January.”Sri Lanka have not conducted any trials for day-night first-class or Test cricket, but appear positively disposed to the prospect of being a part of the first floodlit Test.* Sri Lanka Cricket president Jayantha Dharmadasa said SLC had not yet discussed the subject at length, but suggested that unless major objections arose in talks, Sri Lanka would agree to play the match under lights.”We shouldn’t say no if the only reason is that it doesn’t suit us,” Dharmadasa said. “In the past we’ve had 50-over cricket come into the game, then Twenty20s. In the future it will be day-night Tests. It would be a good thing for us to be part of the first day-night Test. People will be looking at it. I’ve still got to talk to the cricket committee, the selectors, and the cricketers, so we’ll see what comes out of those meetings.”Sarwar said that a day-night Test could attract spectators and broadcasters. “Preliminary enquiries have revealed that there is an interest amongst sponsors and broadcasters in day-night Test cricket as it could add commercial momentum,” Sarwar added. “We also anticipate greater spectator interest compared to an all-day Test match. PCB has conducted trials of day-night, domestic first-class matches and, for us, this will be an exciting experiment, subject, of course, to agreement by Sri Lanka Cricket Board.”Pakistan will host Sri Lanka in the UAE between December 2013 and January 2014 for a bilateral series that includes three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s. The series, the second bilateral contest between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the UAE, will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. The first Test has been scheduled for December 31 in Dubai, while Abu Dhabi and Sharjah will host the second and third Tests, from January 8 and January 16.*07.15GMT, August 15: This article has been updated with the SLC’s response

Half-centuries from New Zealand A captain Tom Latham and Carl Cachopa ensured the second unofficial Test against India A ended in a draw

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Sep-2013
ScorecardCarl Cachopa helped himself to 76•BCCI

Half-centuries from New Zealand A captain Tom Latham and Carl Cachopa consigned the second unofficial Test against India A to an expected draw. The visitors were on 176 for 3 when rain brought a premature end to the match.Resuming the day at 408 for 7, India lost their remaining wickets to Mark Gillespie. He first had Dhawal Kulkarni caught and bowled for a hard-fought 10 off 79, ending the eighth-wicket partnership of 54. He followed it with the wicket of Manprit Juneja, who fell seven short of his double hundred, and then bowled Imtiaz Ahmed for a duck, giving New Zealand a slender lead of seven runs.When they came to bat again, Neil Broom did not last long, falling lbw to Kulkarni in the second over to bag a pair in the match. The dismissal brought Cachopa to the crease, and he and Latham struck 20 fours together, taking the visitors past 100.However, left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv dismissed both batsmen in quick succession, getting Latham caught by Unmukt Chand for 61 and trapping Cachopa lbw for 76. Derek de Boorder and Corey Anderson continued to resist before rain interrupted and only 1.2 overs were bowled after tea.The series was drawn and the two teams will now play three one-dayers starting on September 8, before New Zealand head to Sri Lanka.

Nottinghamshire and Somerset continued to make the most of batsmen-friendly conditions after learning that their Division One status had already been preserved for another season

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Sep-2013
ScorecardJames Hildreth’s 161 took him beyond 1000 first-class runs in another solid season•PA Photos

Nottinghamshire and Somerset continued to make the most of batsmen-friendly conditions after learning that their Division One status had already been preserved for another season.Both sides would still have been vulnerable if Derbyshire had been able to win their final contest but as news filtered through of their defeat to Warwickshire, 17 miles away, attention returned to matters at Trent Bridge with a sixth-place finish up for grabs.Somerset collected four batting bonus points after reaching 372 in their first innings, with James Hildreth eventually falling for 161 and Harry Gurney returning career-best figures of 5 for 81.Beginning again, Nottinghamshire batted positively in advancing to 139 for 3, an overall lead of 173, with Steven Mullaney making a quickfire 59 for the hostsHildreth had earlier passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season during his stand of 248 with Nick Compton, who was eventually bowled by Samit Patel’s quicker ball for 87. Gurney, who had removed Marcus Trescothick the previous evening, boosted his own tally of wickets after the second new ball had been taken.Its first victim had been Hildreth, caught behind off Luke Fletcher – presenting Chris Read with his 750th catch for Nottinghamshire and a dismissal that heralded the start of three wickets falling in a seven-ball spell.Jos Buttler was then trapped lbw by Gurney for 13 and left the field without any obvious farewell gestures, despite the rumours of an impending move, before the left-arm fast bowler also removed Craig Meschede. Lewis Gregory chanced his arm in making an undefeated 40 which included an uncontrolled pull for six off Brett Hutton, but then ran out of partners as the innings was wound up.Peter Trego guided Gurney into the hands of point and the bowler’s first Nottinghamshire five-wicket haul and his 100th first-class scalp was Alfonso Thomas, well caught at slip by Riki Wessels.Mullaney set the tone for Nottinghamshire’s second innings, racing to a half-century in just 38 balls, with 11 fours but then drove Trego to mid-off. Wessels and Michael Lumb each added 20 but the day had a slightly curious ending as Craig Kieswetter removed the wicketkeeper’s pads to have a bowl but Trescothick – rather than Buttler – put them on for the final five overs.With both sides locked together on exactly the same number of points – Somerset having won one game more this season – Nottinghamshire will need to force the win on the final day of the season to go ahead of their west country rivals.

Pakistan A were led by Usman Salahuddin’s 86 not out, and Fawad Alam’s 64 to 287 for 5 on the third day, as the second draw of the series loomed, at Pallekele

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2015
ScorecardFile photo: Fawad Alam, who scored 64, added 123 runs for the fourth wicket along with Usman Salahuddin•PA Photos

Pakistan A were led by Usman Salahuddin’s 86 not out, and Fawad Alam’s 64 to 287 for 5 on the third day, as the second draw of the series loomed, in Pallekele. The visitors went to stumps trailing Sri Lanka A by 40 runs, in the first innings.Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera made Sri Lanka A’s first incision of the day, removing Khurram Manzoor for 13 in the 10th over of Pakistan A’s innings. Left arm spinner Dhananjaya de Silva and offspinner Tharindu Kaushal claimed a wicket each to leave the opposition at 84 for 3, before Salahuddin and Fawad came together. The pair made 123 runs together – Fawad striking at over 70 through his knock.Fawad was eventually caught behind off Chameera, before left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando dismissed Imad Wasim for 21. Chameera finished with the best figures of the day, but Fernando also collected encouraging returns. His 15 overs in the innings cost only 33.Salahuddin, who had a strike-rate of just under 40, had wicketkeeper-batsman Adnan Akmal for company when play ended.

Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa batsman and current Mumbai Indians fielding coach, will be in Sri Lanka from Tuesday for a 10-day stint as fielding coach ahead of the side’s home series against Pakistan next month

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2015Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa batsman and current Mumbai Indians fielding coach, will be in Sri Lanka from Tuesday for a 10-day stint as fielding coach ahead of the side’s home series against Pakistan next month.Rhodes will educate the coaches, the Sri Lanka players and other national, development and junior teams on the latest techniques of fielding.He had been in talks with Sri Lanka Cricket to work with the national side and the board had asked him for a program.

A superb partnership between Owais Shah and Sean Ervine of 85 from just 6.2 overs propelled Hampshire to a 19 run victory over Middlesex and to second in the South Group

Freddie Wilde at the Ageas Bowl05-Jun-2015
ScorecardOwais Shah’s late dash proved enough for Hampshire•Getty Images

A superb partnership between Owais Shah and Sean Ervine of 85 from just 6.2 overs propelled Hampshire to a 19 run victory over Middlesex and to second in the South Group. Shah, who scored 58 not out and Ervine who scored 42 not out, elevated Hampshire from the fragile position of 87 for 3 after 13.4 overs to 170 for 3, a total which proved too many for Middlesex who will be disappointed that they didn’t mount a more serious challenge.After winning the toss and electing to bat Hampshire were perilously poised after sixteen overs having scored only 106 on a typically high-scoring ground. Indeed, the concern in Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein’s voice as he spoke to Sky Sports in the sixteenth over was palpable. “We need to be looking at ten an over from here on in,” he said. He got that, and more.Despite the eighteenth over only going for five, Shah and Ervine blitzed 61 off the other 18 balls of the final four overs, including six sixes and three fours to haul Hampshire from weakness to strength in less than fifteen minutes.Shah and Ervine are two very different batsman. Shah is an almost prototypical example of classical batting evolved, while Ervine, although versatile, is less subtle; more force than flair and more beast than beauty. But regardless of their differences the havoc they wreaked was undistinguishable. The sixteenth over, bowled by James Franklin was plundered for 16 before 25 came off the penultimate over bowled by Steven Finn who looked down on pace and, from England’s perspective, worryingly lacklustre. Shah reached his fifty with a scampered two in the final over before smiting the last delivery of the innings for six to elevate Hampshire to 170 for 3.Hampshire’s problem earlier on was that of the top three batsmen only Michael Carberry could get in. James Vince struggled desperately, scratching around for 24 painful minutes and 16 balls for the reward of just 9 runs before he fell in the seventh over dragging on to Franklin. Jimmy Adams too faced six balls before being caught for 3. Adams has scored just nine runs in his last three innings.A couple of trademark pull shots from Carberry and some proactive running between him and Shah at least instilled some momentum into Hampshire’s innings, but even when Carberry moved to and beyond fifty there was still a sense that Hampshire were behind were they needed be and when Carberry fell for a well-made and platform laying 57 there was still plenty of work to be done. Even after Shah and Ervine’s partnership however, Shah felt that Hampshire were perhaps ten runs light of a winning score.Shah’s assessment was of the conditions however, and not necessarily the match and its protagonists. Although Middlesex began their innings on the back of two consecutive scores of 200-plus, the second of which was the highest ever score at Lord’s, Hampshire’s bowling attack is well-practiced at defending scores of around 170, especially at home, and they proved effective in doing so once again.Although four fours were taken from Jackson Bird’s first over once Middlesex lost Nick Compton and Dawid Malan in the space of nine balls in the Powerplay they were quickly playing catch-up.However, although Middlesex were behind the rate from very early on, while international pairing Eoin Morgan and Joe Burns were at the crease there was a chance that they would launch an assault, but it never materialised. Hampshire bowled well, conceding no boundaries between the fifth and ninth over, and Vince shuffled his attack with practiced ease. The trademark Hampshire Squeeze was on.As the innings turned, Middlesex’s patience did too. Burns was caught in the deep by Carberry off the bowling of Yasir Arafat before Morgan fell less than two overs later to leave Middlesex 86-4 and the required run rate almost at 13. Franklin and John Simson briefly threatened to spring a surprise but Hampshire’s canny and experienced bowling attack always came back with answers, to restrict Middlesex to just 153 for 6. Will Smith, Danny Briggs and Yasir Arafat all conceded less than 6.30 runs per over and stood out from a decent bowling performance. Six Middlesex batsmen reached double figures, three scoring more than 27, but none managed more than 31 and ultimately they lacked the innings-shaping performance of which Hampshire had three.

A court-appointed arbitrator has asked the BCCI to pay Kochi Tuskers Kerala compensation of approximately Rs 550 crore ($87 million approximately) for terminating the franchise agreement in September 2011

Amol Karhadkar08-Jul-20153:54

What are BCCI’s options after the Kochi Tuskers setback?

A court-appointed arbitrator has asked the BCCI to pay Kochi Tuskers Kerala compensation of approximately Rs 550 crore ($87 million approximately) for terminating the franchise agreement in September 2011. While the IPL governing council is considering an appeal against the order, the owners of the Kochi franchise are believed to be seeking re-entry into the league as opposed to a cash award.”We are in possession of the arbitrator Justice Lahoti’s report and a majority of the governing council members are in favour of appealing against it. We have sought an opinion from our legal team,” IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla said after the governing council’s meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.Mukesh Patel, chairman of the Kochi Tuskers consortium, said he could not comment on the matter since he was out of town.An appeal against an arbitration proceeding, which is usually agreed upon mutually by both the parties at the start, can be admitted by a high court if it feels that one of the parties is hard done by the outcome. The BCCI feels it may have a case here since they had followed their rulebook while terminating the controversial Kochi franchise in 2011.The order, issued by the former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti, was issued last week. Although the order doesn’t make a mention of Kochi returning to the IPL umbrella, a BCCI insider revealed that the Kochi franchise owners have expressed their desire to feature in IPL again.If the BCCI appeals against the arbitrator’s order and if the appeal is admitted in the high court, then the question of Kochi Tuskers playing the IPL again will not arise unless the dispute is resolved in court. If the BCCI’s appeal is dismissed, then the Kochi owners will have to file a plea in the court should they wish to be a part of IPL again.The Kochi franchise, which was controversially admitted into the IPL in 2010, made its debut in 2011. But an internal dispute among co-owners resulted in the franchise defaulting on submitting the 10% bank guarantee of the total franchise fee ahead of the season. The BCCI claimed that several reminders sent to the consortium didn’t elicit a response and, as a result, the franchise was terminated.Although the Bombay High Court declined to stay the BCCI verdict two days after the franchise’s termination, the consortium then filed a plea objecting to the BCCI’s manner of ousting them from the IPL. It had led to both the parties agreeing on arbitration proceedings.

The USA Cricket Association faces an uphill battle to get its suspension lifted by next year’s ICC Annual Conference after the ICC sent a lengthy list of terms and conditions to USACA for it to be reinstated as an ICC member

Peter Della Penna05-Aug-2015The USA Cricket Association faces an uphill battle to get its suspension lifted by next year’s ICC Annual Conference after the ICC sent a lengthy list of terms and conditions to USACA for it to be reinstated as an ICC member. Failure to meet this list of 39 demands may result in USACA’s expulsion as an ICC member next June.At the top of the list, a copy of which has been obtained by ESPNcricinfo, the ICC stated that USACA must get ICC approval of a new USACA constitution no later than October 1. It must include recommendations made in 2013 by TSE Consulting in their independent review of USACA’s governance structures. The TSE recommendations that were delivered to USACA in October 2013 included setting term limits for board members and cutting the power of the existing board in half by replacing 50% of them with independent directors.The constitution must be approved by USACA members by February 1, 2016. A fresh set of elections must then be held by June 1, 2016 to be supervised by the ICC’s legal department. USACA first delayed a vote to approve the TSE recommendations at the November 2013 AGM under then chief executive Darren Beazley, instead opting to form a governance review committee to evaluate the recommendations. Another vote on a proposed new constitution at the November 2014 AGM was also deferred and the 2015 election went ahead under the USACA Constitution adopted in 2008.A series of finance-related demands have also been stipulated by the ICC. Among these are that USACA must turn over all of its bank account statements dating back to January 2013, all federal income tax returns since 2011, all payment receipts and invoices since 2013 and all budgets and accounts for USACA tournaments held in the last 24 months. USACA must also produce a five-year business plan demonstrating how it will be able to find its way out of the $4.1 million in debts it currently holds, assuming it can satisfy all other conditions for reinstatement.The ICC is also insisting USACA turns over all contractual information regarding its arrangement with Cricket Holdings America LLC, a joint venture with Rajiv Podar, Neil Maxwell and New Zealand Cricket that hoped to start a professional domestic Twenty20 league. The ICC also wants an update on negotiations with Overseas League Club of Bangalore and Arena Sports of Dubai, two organisations USACA has been negotiating with to fill the void of the CHALLC deal that fizzled. Both Overseas League Club and Arena Sports are linked with Robin Singh, listed as USA’s technical director as well as a coach with Mumbai Indians and Barbados Tridents.According to sources, USACA steadfastly refused to turnover the majority of financial documents despite multiple requests made by the ICC. The ICC initially raised concerns in a letter signed by ICC chairman N Srinivasan in January. They requested information again in April and also during the ICC’s task force trip to America to compile a report on the state of cricket in the USA when ICC staff met face-to-face with members of the USACA board both in New York and Dubai in May.As the ICC did in its report on USACA presented at June’s annual conference, the ICC’s reinstatement conditions also zero in on USACA’s legal issues and concerns over fake leagues. The ICC wants USACA to provide evidence “sufficient to rebut the allegations” set out in section 4.53 of the report, which accused 11 leagues of being “ghost” or “paper” leagues. Separately, USACA must provide details on the status of all legal actions against USACA, whether made or threatened regarding USACA elections and USA team selection processes.To demonstrate the lengths to which the ICC is seemingly determined to force a reformation of the USACA board in the hopes of finding more competent leadership, the ICC has mandated that “copies of the professional CVs for all current USACA board members” be supplied. Information regarding all candidates identified to fill the USACA chief executive position that has been vacant since April 2014 must also be provided.

South Africa A legspinner Eddie Leie, who had best T20 figures for a South African on debut, says he is not thinking about the IPL yet as he is not looking too far ahead

Alagappan Muthu in Chennai08-Aug-2015Eddie Leie strode in like a man high on life. There was a cheery hello to a largely empty room. There were a few seconds of hyperactive mic testing. And then there was an engaging conversation, not a press conference. One during which he admitted, “All I know is that I’ll pay money to play in the IPL.”The statement was clearly meant as a joke, but the enthusiasm the 28-year old legspinner had for playing as much cricket as possible could not be hidden.”I watch a lot of IPL,” he said. “I recently played in the Caribbean Premier League in West Indies and I think I did okay there. But I’m not thinking that far ahead. If it happens, I’ll be happy. But for me, my focus at the moment is honestly on the game against India A tomorrow, if I get selected, and doing well. Honestly, if you take care of your performance, everything takes care of itself. So the IPL is not on my mind.”

Manish Pandey bowled despite illegal action

Manish Pandey, who is presently on the BCCI’s list of players with an illegal action, ended up bowling in the match against Australia A on Friday.
The on-field umpires Anil Dandekar and Nand Kishore caught on to the mistake soon after he completed his first over and asked India A captain Unmukt Chand to take him off.
Pandey, a part-time medium-pacer, was called when he had bowled for Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy game against Madhya Pradesh in January. His primary role is that of a batsman, though, but if he wants to add to the 193.3 overs he has bowled in eight years of domestic cricket, he will need a clean chit from the BCCI suspect action committee first.

Leie holds the record for the best figures – 3 for 16 – for a South African on T20 debut. So it should be no surprise that he has been persisted with for their next T20 assignment against New Zealand. Perhaps if he does well in the A-team tri-series currently underway in Chennai, he might come back to India for the World T20 in March.But, according to Leie, he is quite a way down the pecking order. “I’m not even the best spinner in the country, to be honest. We’ve got Imran Tahir, great spinner. Aaron Phangiso, great spinner. We’ve got Robin Peterson. So I don’t even think I’m first line for selection. For me, I just need to do well tomorrow so as to get one up in the series and go to the final. Not what the senior team does. That’s out of my control.”All he plans to do is work on his game, with a little help from YouTube.”I relied mostly on the videos of legspinners around the world – Danish Kaneria, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, my favourite, Mushtaq Ahmed, from back in the day,” he said. “So I try to learn as much as I can from them. My action might be a bit similar to most of them, with the arm coming from the top.”That isn’t the extent of his unconventional upbringing in cricket. Even the decision to become a legspinner was a fine story. An eight-year-old Leie was playing mini-cricket, a venture designed to bring more kids into the game in South Africa, when he was asked to go run an errand. Along the way, he figured out he had a nifty little talent.”With mini-cricket, everyone gets a chance to bowl, everyone gets a chance to keep, everyone gets a chance to bat. You rotate. So I was running in and just bowling and one day I got sent to the shops by my mother. But I was reluctant on going. So [on the way] I started playing with stones, just flicking like this [mimics the release of a legspinner]. Obviously, it was a gravel road and it kept on doing that [mimics the stone’s deviation] and when I went practice after that, I started getting a few wickets at training. So I just stuck to that.”

The WICB has named a 13-player West Indies Women’s squad for this month’s four ODIs and three T20Is against Pakistan Women beginning on October 16 in St Lucia

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2015

West Indies Women’s squad

Stafanie Taylor (capt), Shakera Selman (vice-capt), Merissa Aguilleira, Shamilia Connell, Britney Cooper, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Stacy-Ann King, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Tremayne Smartt

The WICB has named a 13-player West Indies Women’s squad for this month’s four ODIs and three T20Is against Pakistan Women beginning on October 16 in St Lucia. Stafanie Taylor will lead the side for the first time after being appointed captain last month, replacing Merissa Aguilleira who had served in the role since the 2009 Women’s World Cup.The selectors had named an 18-member training squad last month. The group got together in St Lucia last week, and at the end of the first seven days the five players released were Shaquana Quintyne, Chedean Nation, Karishma Ramharack, Vanessa Watts and Shemaine Campbell.West Indies Women defeated Sri Lanka Women in three of four ODIs in May, including two of three as part of the ICC Women’s Championship, during West Indies Women’s tour of Sri Lanka.West Indies currently sit third on the championship points table, one point behind South Africa and five points behind Australia. A series sweep over Pakistan, including the last three ODIs which are part of the ICC Women’s Championship, will put West Indies level with Australia at the top of the table.Pakistan Women currently sit tied for fifth with New Zealand Women on eight points. They lost two of three matches to South Africa in their last action held in March in Sharjah. Following the four ODIs, both teams will travel to Grenada for three T20Is beginning on October 29.