To concede 593 for 9 against a county with designs on a third successive Championship, be riven by an injury crisis which saw their coach and analyst pressed into fielding duties on the final day and yet still emerge with a draw was a commendable effort b

David Hopps at Headingley20-Apr-2016
ScorecardAndrew Gale’s 46 steadied Yorkshire after a final-day wobble•Getty Images

To concede 593 for 9 against a county with designs on a third successive Championship, be riven by an injury crisis which saw their coach and analyst pressed into fielding duties on the final day and yet still emerge with a draw was a commendable effort by Hampshire as they braced themselves for the hospital waiting rooms that lie ahead.Fidel Edwards, Hampshire’s talisman as they escaped relegation on the final day last season, was the latest casualty after badly damaging an ankle in the pre-match warm-up and being carried from the outfield. It remained unclear whether the ankle was broken – he remained in Leeds after the match for further tests – but Hampshire are provisionally estimating a lay-off of two months, which equates to half the Championship season.A fortnight into the season, roughly half the Hampshire professional staff has been injured, included six frontline bowlers, a calamitous situation which makes draws against Warwickshire and Yorkshire, two sides with Championship pretensions, quite something.Loan signings are inevitable to see them through the coming weeks, although no Division One side is likely to be overly generous and the quality of any Division Two signing would be dubious. Any agent for Kolpak or dual national signings is likely to receive a call.Considering that Hampshire were also hampered by injuries in this match to Sean Ervine, who will discover back in Southampton whether he has rebroken the finger that disrupted his 2015 season; Liam Dawson, who has an abdominal strain; and Chris Wood, whose knee niggle did relent enough for him to bowl in the second innings, Yorkshire still had an opportunity for victory when Hampshire’s innings ended, 140 behind, half an hour in the final day.But their second innings faltered against excellent Hampshire bowling. From 43 for 4 in the 18th over, when the prodigious run scoring of Jonny Bairstow for once failed to deliver (Ryan McLaren producing a good one to have him caught at the wicket), it became evident that they had abandoned hope of working themselves into a position to declare. Bairstow has averaged close to 100 in the Championship since the start of last season, but he can expect a regular England Test place this summer and Yorkshire need to cover his runs from other sources.”It’s not panic stations – it the first game of the season,” said their captain Andrew Gale. “We were a bit sloppy and a bit soft. We have flagged it up and it won’t happen again. But there’s going to come a time in the season when you can’t rely on your Jonny Bairstows to keep standing up and making unbelievable contributions. The lad is playing a different game to the rest of us I think.”The alibi for Yorkshire’s caution was that this Headingley surface remained too true for any undue risk to be taken.
“A lot of credit to Hampshire who didn’t lie down and die,” Gale said. “I felt it was a good decision of theirs to bowl first on a pitch which flattened out a bit. I didn’t think that there was enough time to set a game up after we had lost a few wickets and we had to concentrate on a solid draw.”That flattening-pitch alibi looked just a little threadbare in the hour before tea, however, as Will Smith’s offspin found enough turn to suggest that it would have been more advantageous for Adil Rashid to be bowling in the final session instead of batting out the overs. It might have benefited Rashid, too – a rare chance to bowl in encouraging conditions at Headingley in April being not exactly a common one. Considering that 21 overs were lost to bad light on the opening day, and unbroken sunshine came to the batsmen’s aid, this surface does not deserve to be talked down.”The wickets we took early probably halted their progress, but with 40 overs to go I thought they might have a crack at us,” said Hampshire’s captain James Vince. “After 150 overs in the field maybe thought it wasn’t worth taking the energy out of their bowlers on a flat wicket.”There are concerns in Yorkshire’s top order, tempered naturally by the fact the season is one game old, including two failures for Alex Lees, the latest when he was lbw during a demanding new-ball spell from James Tomlinson. Lees, as a young one-day captain carrying much responsibility, will hope to reverse last season’s slip in form before life becomes too demanding. As for Tomlinson, he had wondered if his Championship opportunities might be limited after the signing of another left-arm quick, Reece Topley – another early-season casualty – but he was impressive here.It took 12 overs for Yorkshire to find the boundary and even they, two in succession, were leg byes. The most tortuous innings was played by Gary Ballance who took 28 balls to get off the mark and who needed 36 balls for 4, at which point he thrashed Chris Wood to a carefully-stationed short cover. Adam Lyth wafted a wide one to slip. Jack Leaning was beaten in the flight by Smith. Gale’s measured 46 guarded against disaster.Hampshire’s 12th man Mason Crane, coach Dale Benkenstein and analyst Joe Maiden had to field for much of the final day, presumably leaving Hampshire short of data as well as bowlers – just the sort of thing to send shivers through a modern dressing room. But who needs data when they can just wallow in memories of a draw as battling as this, one which leaves them with one defeat in eight since they began the recovery last season that ultimately saw them escape relegation.

The ICC has announced that 32 people were chosen to work as part of four national advisory groups charged with implementing USA’s future growth from a strategic framework outline, which was unveiled late last year

Peter Della Penna05-May-2016The ICC head of global development Tim Anderson announced on Wednesday that four national advisory groups have been formed to implement USA’s future growth and development plans from a strategic framework outline, which was unveiled late last year. Thirty-two people have been chosen to be part of the four groups, including several former international players such as Ricardo Powell.

The four advisory groups

Participation
Kinjal Buch, Malika Frank, Shelton Glasgow, Jamie Harrison, Ajay Jhamb, Jamie Lloyd, Rizwan Mohammed, Priya Singh, Michael Voss, Brian Walters
Performance
Julie Abbott, Mir Ali, Aditya Mishra, Sushil Nadkarni, Ricardo Powell, Dean Riddle, Usman Shuja
Fan and Market Development
John Aaron, Lorna Austin, Kevin Hussain, Venu Palaparthi, Masaood Yunus
Sustainable Foundation
Dr. Vincent Adams, Gordon Alphonso, Donna Bowes, Dr. Linden Dodson, Jim Isch, Jagan Jagannathan, Priyantha Liyanage, Shiraz Najam, Syed Shahnawaz, Patricia Whittaker

“If I’m gonna be here in the US, I want to be involved in cricket in some way and I want to be involved in a way in which I know I can help cricket move forward,” Powell told ESPNcricinfo shortly after the announcement. Powell had moved to Florida in 2012 and frequently appeared at various T20 tournaments around the country over the last four years. He is now part of a seven-man group tasked with advising on player performance.”I’ve interacted with so many of the players here in the US and I’ve seen the talent group here,” he said. “I’ve played all over the US and seen the different talent and know what it takes to get to the next level and to be consistent at that level. For me it was ideal to look at the [performance] group because the players respect me as a player and as a person.”I don’t want to be involved in something where it’s a back and forth, things are stagnant or you’re going around in a circle so I wanted to be able to be clear on a direction in terms of what the group is doing or what position I’m going to be taking cricket-wise. Based on my discussion with [ICC Americas administrators] Tom Evans and Ben Kavenagh, I think they have a good idea of how they want to take cricket forward and I feel like I can contribute to that.”Former USA fast bowler Usman Shuja, who was part of the seven-man local advisory group formed last year by the ICC to help develop a strategic framework in the wake of USACA’s suspension, was also named in the seven-man performance committee.”I think the goal is to put a framework for a high performance programme for men, women and the youth team,” Shuja said. “The goal is to give them the right platform in terms of the selection process, the training and support through training and playing ahead of time for tournaments. In an advisory capacity, I think we can advise things that went wrong in the past and things that worked to help guide that and hopefully make a long-term impact.”Besides Shuja and Powell, Dean Riddle – a former England and Yorkshire strength and conditioning coach who now works as an applied sports scientist for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks – will help USA hasten the process of improving high performance objectives. Former USA batsman Aditya Mishra, former USA captain Sushil Nadkarni, former England women’s junior player Julie Abbott and USACA Central East administrator Mir Ali are also part of the group.One of the goals outlined in the strategic framework document released by the ICC is for USA to qualify for both the 2019 World Cup and the 2020 World Twenty20. Those goals have been met outside the USA with a bit of skepticism, considering USA’s current standing in Division Four of the World Cricket League. But Powell, who volunteered as one of the local coaches and talent evaluators assisting at the ICC Combine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last month, said they are entirely achievable.”I strongly believe it’s possible,” he said. “I’m not disrespecting any of the teams who have qualified to make it to a World Cup but when you look at these teams and countries, the USA has far more talent than these places that are qualifying for T20 World Cups and also the 50-over World Cups. In a country that has 50 states, if you tap into even a quarter of that with a proper system and a properly run programme, we can definitely enhance the talent and get them to qualify.”I’ve had several contacts with these guys, mostly with Usman Shuja and Sushil Nadkarni, who I know quite well and are pretty knowledgable players about the game. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone, getting to know everybody and their ideas and vision for cricket in the USA. With good brains coming together to make a way forward with no politics or favouritism involved and just sticking to the talent, I think this can be a very fruitful journey.”The three other advisory groups – participation, fan and market development, and creating a sustainable foundation – include a mix of long-time US cricket administrators. Two current USACA board members – Florida’s Rizwan Mohammed and New York’s Dr Linden Dodson – and former USACA board member Shelton Glasgow were included. Former American Cricket Federation (ACF) chief executive Jamie Harrison, current ACF board chairman Jagan Jagannathan as well as current ACF and former USACA executive secretary John Aaron were also chosen.Jim Isch, former chief operating officer of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, was included as part of the sustainable foundation advisory group. According to Anderson’s e-mail announcing the move, the sustainable foundation group “will have an important role to play in considering the development of a future constitution for US cricket.” It’s an indication that USACA in its current form may be expelled at June’s ICC annual conference in Edinburgh after making no progress on 39 terms and conditions of reinstatement following last year’s suspension.Some of the other noteworthy names who were appointed by the ICC include Venu Palaparthi, Lorna Austin, Michael Voss, and Patricia Whittaker. Palaparthi is a former vice-president of global trading and market services for the NASDAQ stock exchange and is now a senior vice-president at high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial in midtown Manhattan. Within the cricket community, he is known as the co-founder of and the DreamCricket Academy in New Jersey.Austin has been an administrator with the NY Public Schools Athletic League for more than 20 years and also serves as the cricket coordinator for the PSAL cricket league, the only high school cricket league in America. Voss is a former South African domestic cricketer for Western Province and now works in real estate development in California while Whittaker is a former West Indies Women’s Test cricketer who has spent more than 25 years as a lawyer in New York.

The last thing the NatWest Blast needed on its opening night was for the Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, to deem it “mediocre” before a ball had been bowled

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2016
ScorecardTom Curran had a fine night with bat and ball•PA Photos

Debate continues to ferment over the future of England’s T20 competition, which whatever the outcome is unlikely to survive in its current form, but the last thing the NatWest Blast needed on its opening night was for the Colin Graves, the ECB chairman, to deem it “mediocre” before a ball had been bowled.Record attendances last season; record advance ticket sales this. The NatWest Blast might be in for a revamp, but a noisy full house for the TV match at Chelmsford – ultimately silenced as Surrey stole an eight-run win in an engrossing, fluctuating contest – was another salutary reminder that this competition has its fans.It has angered many around the counties that the “Graves digger”, whether by accident or design, almost buried the competition before it had begun.Surrey’s victory came from the unlikely position of 80 for 6 in the 11th over as one of T20’s ancients, Azhar Mahmood, combined with the up-and-coming allrounder Tom Curran to steel Surrey with both bat and ball.Mahmood smashed 42 off 22 balls as he put on 65 in seven overs in a bright and breezy seventh-wicket stand with Tom Curran to spark a mid-innings revival.And Mahmood had barely removed his helmet than he had reduced Essex to 26 for 3 with the key wickets of Jesse Ryder and Dan Lawrence in successive balls – Ryder outwitted with a slower ball, Lawrence strangled down the leg side. He ended with four for 38.New Zealand quick Matt Quinn had claimed career-best T20 figures of 4 for 35 in his first appearance for Essex only to finish on the losing side.Ravi Bopara’s decision to bowl in his first match as Essex’s T20 captain broke the Chelmsford habit and the second-wicket pair of Jason Roy and Kumar Sangakkara raised 50 b y the fifth over. Bopara was forced to recall Quinn, who had already dismissed Steven Davies, and he removed Roy at mid-off. Four balls later, he caused Sangakkara to miscue a hook.By the time Ryan ten Doeschate claimed a third catch, diving in on the deep square leg boundary to dismiss Sam Curran, Quinn had four wickets and, at 90 for 6, seemed to have settled the contest in Essex’s favour.But Tom Curran responded with 32 off 26 balls until he played over a slower ball from Napier. Mahmood went in the last over, toe-ending Bopara to Ashar Zaidi.Essex’s reply got off to the worse possible start when Bopara departed to the sixth ball, hooking Sam Curran high to Mahmood at square leg for one.Tom Westley held them together with 46 off 33 balls, but he was lbw, reverse sweeping Gareth Batty after putting on 60 for the fourth wicket with ten Doeschate and at 89 for 4 with seven overs remaining Essex were behind the pace.The burly figure of Azhar Zaidi joined ten Doeschate and took 18 off an over by Matthew Pillans, including a flat six to midwicket, and then hit another big six in a Gareth Batty over that went for 17.Ten Doeschate also launched Batty over the sightscreen for a maximum and before middling a delivery from Tom Curran to Sangakkara to depart for 36 off 32 balls. Zaidi also tried to reverse-sweep Tom Curran and departed for a quickfire 30 off 15 balls.When Tom Curran lost a skier in the floodlights, and a ball change also seemed to work to Essex’s advantage, suddenly they were back in the game with 17 needed from two overs.But James Foster and Napier fell in successive balls, leaving the ever-competitive Mahmood to dismantle Matt Dixon’s stumps and take a return catch from Quinn.

Former West Indies batsman Ricardo Powell will lead a new five-man selection panel in charge of picking USA senior men’s and U-17 squads for tournaments later this year, including the ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Los Angeles

Peter Della Penna24-Jun-2016Former West Indies batsman Ricardo Powell will lead a new five-man selection panel in charge of picking USA senior men’s and Under-17 squads for tournaments later this year, including the ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Los Angeles. Powell, 37, was also named last month by the ICC to a seven-member advisory group focusing on high performance. This is one of the four national advisory groups created by the ICC to implement its strategy in the USA.The other four selectors serving under Powell are former Pakistan player Asif Mujtaba, former South African first-class player Michael Voss, former USA player Amer Afzaluddin and Barney Jones. Mujtaba served as an assistant coach for USA at the 2012 World T20 Qualifier and currently resides in Texas. Voss is based in southern California while Afzaluddin is out of the Chicago area. Jones – a former USA Cricket Association selection panel chairman – lives in Florida.”For me I take it as an honor to be a chairman of this selection panel, to be able to select the best team possible to represent the USA,” Powell told ESPNcricinfo from his home in Memphis, Tennessee. “I think that’s a very big task and I think it’s a lot of work and something I take very seriously. With the panel that we have, we have guys who are very knowledgeable but we are asking the US public as a whole, and the cricket community, to be patient because this is not going to happen overnight. It’s something we have to all work hard at.”Their first task is to select a 30-man squad to come to Florida at the end of July for a week-long camp to help narrow down the list to a final 14 ahead of Division Four. A 30-member Under-17 squad will also be chosen before a team of 14 is finalised for a tri-series against Bermuda and Canada in Houston from July 14 to 19.Powell, Mujtaba and Voss are new selectors. Mujtaba has also coached Central West Region men’s team since 2014 and has been a steadfast advocate of the country’s talent. Voss, meanwhile, played for Western Province and opened the batting alongside Gary Kirsten. He was appointed to the 10-person participation group, one of ICC’s four advisory panels.The ICC had taken a decision in the spring to dissolve the previous USACA five-man selection panel in the wake of USACA’s suspension last June and revamp the selection process beginning with a series of eight regional Combines. Jones, who chaired the USACA selection panel which had been dissolved by the ICC, applied to be part of the new panel as did his fellow former USACA selector Afzaluddin.”Having someone like Barney on the panel, who is also familiar with most of the players who have represented USA, makes a big deal for me in terms of having that knowledge,” Powell said. “But also for me going about selection, it will be done over a period of time. I want to be able to see these players myself and to basically analyse and see the best team that we can put out there for USA.”Powell, who played 109 ODIs and two Tests for West Indies between 1999 and 2005, served as a guest coach and talent evaluator at the Florida Combine held in Fort Lauderdale in April. He was frank with his opinion of the level of talent he saw there, compared to what he has observed in the past, and said he didn’t feel the best players were on display. He stated that he is open to evaluating players outside of the 30-man camp in July before deciding on the final squad for Division Four.”This initial camp that is going to be had in Florida, with the 30-man squad that we’re going to select, it’s pretty much just a start for me to look into the talent that is here in the US,” Powell said. “So that is not necessarily the final squad that’s going to be selected for USA, this is just a start based on the Combines that we just had. Going forward, I plan to continue to look for talent in the USA and not to be satisfied with what we have. I went to the Florida Combine and I was not 100% happy with the amount of talent compared to what we have in Florida. We did not have the turnout we expected. Maybe guys just did not get a chance to register or were just hesitant based on what was happening.”So hopefully we will be able to see more talented players as we go along throughout the year to come. What we have on paper right now is a lot of good talent, no doubt about that, but I don’t think it’s the end of the road in terms of guys out there who will not be selected in the 30. I think there are a lot of opportunities to come and there is a lot of cricket to be played in America. We are just a panel of five right now and it’s going to take a lot from us to see all the talent in America. We’ll be leaning on the general public in terms of the different cricket regions who helps with that.”Powell stressed his plans for developing better fitness standards for national-level players, something that has been a point of emphasis throughout the eight regional Combines. USA’s fitness has flagged behind other Associate teams, and while players have to juggle cricket around work due to the amateur status, many other Associates face the same issues but are able to maintain fitness.”These guys are playing back-to-back games when they go on tour so you have to be fit,” Powell said. “Overall there are a lot of elements that make up a good XI or a good 14 and we’ll be looking at all those different elements when it comes to cricket, from the skills, to the fitness to the discipline, to the ability to be able to execute, match-winners, guys who can think the game properly and, more so, team players.”There are a lot of components that we’ll be looking at to really come up with this final squad of 14 and I’m really looking forward to seeing these players on this stage, and really select the best for USA. As I said, nothing is written in stone. Guys have been representing USA for a while, they’ve been around but I think with this new panel, a few things will change. Players will have more responsibility, they will be accountable more for their on-field and off-field performance. So those are the things that this selection panel will be looking at.”

Seam bowlers continued to dominate on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Leicestershire at Cheltenham

ECB Reporters Network21-Jul-2016
ScorecardDavid Payne claimed 5 for 36•Getty Images

Seam bowlers continued to dominate on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Leicestershire at Cheltenham.David Payne finished with 5 for 36 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 218 in reply to the hosts’ 183, having begun the day on 122 for 5. Angus Robson top scored with 62, while Ned Eckersley and Ben Raine made important contributions.When Gloucestershire batted again there was more evidence of swing and seam movement as they progressed to 133 for 4 before rain brought play to a premature conclusion. Skipper Michael Klinger was unbeaten on 43, with Chris Dent having made 34. Neil Dexter claimed 2 for 11 to match his first-innings figures and the home side were precariously placed with a lead of just 98 going into the third day.The morning session saw the pitch still offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers after 15 wickets had fallen on day one. Leicestershire’s remaining batsmen had to show application to gain a slender, but useful first-innings lead of 35.Left-armer Payne took the last three wickets of the innings, sending back Clint McKay, Richard Jones and Charlie Shreck, having bowled without much luck on the previous evening.Robson, unbeaten on 49 overnight, had reached a battling half-century off 148 balls, with nine fours, before falling to Craig Miles, having added 73 for the sixth wicket with Eckersley, who also went to Miles, having faced 106 balls and hit three fours.At one point, Leicestershire looked well placed at 201 for 7, but Payne then ensured their advantage was a small one, wrapping up the tail with three wickets in as many overs.Lunch was taken at the change of innings and Gloucestershire made a solid enough start, with openers Dent and Will Tavare wiping out the deficit. But with the total on 39, Tavare edged Charlie Shreck through to Mark Cosgrove at second slip and departed for 18.Graeme van Buuren made only 3 before being bowled driving at Raine and it was 80 for 3 when Dent fell to a superb low catch by Cosgrove in the slips off Dexter.Hamish Marshall, playing his last Championship innings at Cheltenham before leaving Gloucestershire at the end of the season, also went cheaply to Dexter, edging to Robson at first slip. But Klinger showed his quality by stemming the tide and was unbeaten on 32 at tea, which was taken with Gloucestershire 113 for 4 and leading by 78.Jack Taylor followed his first innings half-century by helping his skipper add a further 20 runs after the break when rain started falling at soon after 4.30pm. It was light drizzle to start with, but when it became more persistent umpires Michael Gough and Graham Lloyd called play off for the day at 6pm.

Misbah-ul-Haq avoided making pronouncements on his future as Test captain as Pakistan prepared for the final match of the series against England

Melinda Farrell10-Aug-2016There are few things so certain in life as death, taxes and Misbah-ul-Haq facing questions about his future before the final match of a Pakistan Test series. While it is hardly unusual for an international captain to be grilled about their motivation to continue – even Alastair Cook, 11 years younger than his counterpart, was asked similar questions in his press conference – at 42, Misbah knows there are many more Tests behind him than there are ahead.And no matter the result of the match at The Oval, the topic will almost certainly be broached once more at its conclusion; such is the reality of professional cricket life after 40.Misbah’s captaincy of Pakistan is arguably one of the most impressive in the history of the game: that he has rebuilt a team in tatters after it was almost ruined by scandal, led them to become one of the world’s best sides despite never playing at home and helped them regain the respect of the international cricket community ensures his legacy will be monumental whenever he does decide to call time on his career.While winning the Investec Test series is now impossible, levelling the scoreline would still be an impressive feather in Misbah’s already distinguished cap given the current status quo, in which the disadvantages of playing away from home are so difficult to overcome.”Yes, of course, it is a crucial Test for us,” Misbah said. “A win will square the series and it will be really good for morale, also for the team, and it is very important for me also.”Obviously they have the momentum in their own conditions, they are confident but we believe we can come back from any position because this is a do or die Test match for us so we have to really play well.”Throughout the series, Pakistan have struggled with the balance of their side. They gaze at England’s allrounders with all the envious desire of a child at a sweet shop window. Their fast bowlers – unused to playing more than three Tests in a series, unfamiliar with the burden of extra overs required in seam-friendly conditions – have been worn down by a grinding England.Somehow, Misbah must find a way to pick up his bowlers and infuse them with the energy required to take 20 wickets and inspire his batsmen, both in-form and struggling, to give him something to defend. But, having banished thoughts of retirement after the series against England in the UAE last year, he maintained he isn’t afraid of any consequences for his captaincy should they fail to square the series.”I don’t have that sort of fear otherwise I would have retired long ago,” Misbah said. “I am always up for challenges and never thought of the results. I believe in just looking at the challenges and trying hard.”Another daunting Test tour looms in Pakistan’s near future. After returning to the UAE to host West Indies, they will head to New Zealand for two Tests and then Australia for a three-Test series where the experience of Misbah and Younis Khan, in particular, could be crucial. Misbah has been Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in England, with 267 at 44.50, but would not be drawn on how much longer he hopes to continue playing.”It’s really difficult for me to leave the team on these difficult tours,” Misbah said. “That’s why I’m here on this tough series. I’ll be looking forward to that [Australia tour], but let’s see how it goes after this series, and how I plan my future.”That could be really hard for someone young – even as a batsman to replace me in Australian conditions – and obviously it would be a challenge for a young captain.”Of course, there will always be challenging tours and series and, no matter when Misbah does decide to move on, he will leave an enormous crater for Pakistan to fill. But, in the meantime, there is The Oval, there is a chance to level the series and there is the possibility – albeit a slim one – that Pakistan could become the No. 1-ranked side in the world for the first time since the implementation of ICC rankings.”I will keep trying throughout this Test and if Pakistan needs me afterwards, that’s another point. I will think about that after the series but for the moment this is important for me and the Pakistan team. I will just go about this Test match.”

The farce in Port of Spain ended in bright sunshine with no play possible, just like the earlier three days

The Report by Sidharth Monga22-Aug-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

TTCB to investigate washout

After the Test, Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board president Azim Bassarath said the reasons behind the outfield’s condition would be investigated by his board.
“As hosts, the TTCB and Queen’s Park Cricket Club regret that limited play was possible in the fourth Test match between West Indies and India at the Queen’s Park Oval,” he said in a statement. “We have jointly launched an investigation to determine what occurred with a view to remedying the situation so that this does not occur in the future. Once this has been done it will be presented to the WICB.”

The farce in Port of Spain ended in bright sunshine with no play possible, just like the earlier three days. Called off at 9.30am on the fifth day, this was the third-shortest non-abandoned Test ever.This was the first Test played in August in Trinidad, which is the rainy season. The outfield had taken a lot of beating in the days leading up to the Test, but the ground staff was economical with covering the ground when it rained, leaving the bowlers’ run-up exposed. There was no super sopper available either. As a result the field didn’t recover from the rain on day one, and only 22 overs – all in the first session of the Test – were bowled.The draw meant India lost their No. 1 ranking to Pakistan one week after they had gained it thanks to the whitewash of Australia in Sri Lanka. They still won the series 2-0, the first time they won two Tests in a series in the West Indies.

Sarfraz Ahmed extended his T20I record as captain to three wins in as many matches, with Pakistan successfully defending 160 to take the series 2-0

The Report by Shashank Kishore24-Sep-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBefore this match, Pakistan had won 24 out of 27 T20Is defending 150-plus. On Saturday, they posted 160, which was 22 more than the average first-innings score at this venue. That meant West Indies had to achieve the highest successful chase to take the series into a decider. On paper, it was advantage Pakistan, but cricket is played out on the field, sometimes on greasy ones because of heavy dew that negates any advantage teams batting first conjure.Did it affect them? It didn’t look like, as yet another timid batting show that lacked application and self-belief resulted in West Indies falling 17 short of the target. It meant Sarfraz Ahmed extended his unbeaten run as T20I captain to three matches.On these outfields, it isn’t unusual to see teams trying to overachieve while batting first in their quest to negate the dew factor. Perhaps the experience of having played their home matches here since 2009 helped Pakistan set a clear mandate. If Shoaib Malik provided the fire through swift foot work and muscular hits in his 28-ball 37, top-scorer Sarfaz proved to be the ice in a 69-run stand off just 46 balls to drive the innings.West Indies didn’t help their cause with ordinary fielding – chances were dropped and extra runs conceded through misfields – to further give Pakistan breathing space; 60 were scored off the last six overs as they finished with 160 for 4.Sarfaz then went to his go-to new ball bowlers, and they didn’t disappoint. Sohail Tanvir stamped his class with an opening burst of 3-0-11-2, in which he troubled the batsmen with late away movement to all but seal the deal even before the halfway mark of the chase.If ugly hoicks mirrored West Indies’ effort on Friday, across-the-line swipes and ill-advised footwork resulted in their downfall here. Johnson Charles holed out to long-on, Evin Lewis nicked to the slips and Marlon Samuels was done in by late movement, partly because he was feeling for the ball from the crease. At 20 for 3 in six overs, the chase was in tatters.West Indies’ batsmen also kept playing for turn when there was none. Dot balls added to the pressure – 21 of them in the first six overs alone – as the required rate spiralled over ten runs to the over. When Dwayne Bravo, fresh off a half-century on Friday, was bowled playing all around an in-drifter from Mohammad Nawaz, the left-arm spinner, West Indies were tottering at 45 for 4 in 10 overs. From there on, it was largely a question of damage limitation. Not even Sunil Narine’s entertaining cameo, 30 off 17 balls, a majority of which came against the inexperienced Hasan Ali, came as a soothing balm to a side that was brutally exposed by the trying conditions.The start to the clash wasn’t exhilarating like in the first T20I. What was constant, though, was a string of dots forcing the openers to up the pace. For the second time in as many matches, Sharjeel Khan was bowled by Samuel Badree, in the third over, to give West Indies an ideal start.Khalid Latif and Babar Azam rebuilt through a mix of ones and twos, with the odd boundary laced in between. Latif, made to look ungainly at times, was reprieved on 26 by Nicholas Pooran at long leg. While he managed to add just 14 more, his second successive fifty-plus stand with Azam helped set up a foundation from which Pakistan could tee off in the end-overs.Azam threw it away after bedding in by dragging a pull to wide long-on, while Latif’s cramping legs and tiring body that drained out his reserve energy resulted in him being run-out in the 12th over.There was a ray of hope for West Indies, but that was quickly extinguished. Malik was quick on his feet to take second runs that seemed far from the realms of possibility, while Sarfraz, far from being intimidating, managed to pinch cheeky runs through his trademark whips and glides to give Pakistan a formidable total. That Pakistan consumed just 10 dots in the last eight overs exhibited their control to a certain degree. In the end, the good deeds with the bat meant it was 11th time in 13 T20Is that a side batting first had successfully defended a 150-plus total at this venue.

Essex have turned to South African Simon Harmer to answer their spin weakness

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2016Essex have signed Simon Harmer, the South Africa offspinner, on a one-year deal as they prepare for life in the first division of the Championship.Harmer will qualify as a Kolpak registration and will help address a glaring Essex weakness. They won the second division title largely without a specialist spinner – Ashar Zaidi played only two matches – even in a season when changed toss regulations encouraged spinners back into the domestic game.Harmer made his Test debut for South Africa in January 2015 and has five Test caps, with 20 wickets at an average of 29.40 with best match figures of 7 for 153. He will be available in all competitions next season.Chris Silverwood, Essex’s coach, said: “Simon is an exciting cricketer who has played at the top level of the game for his country. He will give us another high quality spin option in all formats.”Harmer said: “Playing county cricket has always been a boyhood dream of mine and to have the opportunity to fulfil that dream at Essex is very surreal.”I am really looking forward to adding as much value as I possibly can to the team and making sure our time in the Specsavers County Championship Division One is a long one.”Harmer has had a satisfying month. He was also appointed as Warriors’ captain in the Sunfoil Series when Colin Ingram stood down after knee surgery.Harmer is the second South African to win a non-overseas contract in county cricket in successive days, following Colin Ackermann’s signing for Leicestershire.

After the MCA and TNCA objected to the recheduling of two Ranji Trophy league matches being rescheduled, Ajay Shirke has said the BCCI’s senior tournament committee will look into the matter

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2016The BCCI’s senior tournament committee will review the decision to reschedule the two Ranji Trophy league matches that had earlier been abandoned in Delhi due to smog and pollution. BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke took the decision during the board’s Full Members’ meeting in Delhi on Friday.The two matches – involving Gujarat and Bengal from Group A and Hyderabad and Tripura from Group C – had been rescheduled to be played from December 15 to 18, four days after the completion of the final round. That led to protests from the Mumbai Cricket Association and the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association saying it would give the said teams “unfair advantage” to qualify for the knockouts.While Mumbai have already booked a quarter-final berth by leading the Group A table with 29 points, Tamil Nadu, placed third with 23 points, need an outright win against Gujarat, second with 24 points, or a first-innings lead and other results going in their favour. The last round of the league stage will be played from December 7 to 10.”Some members raised the issue in the meeting and in response to complaints received from members, our senior tournament committee will review the decision,” Shirke told the .”We are going to have a full, detailed inquiry of this. The whole problem has come because the match referees (P Ranganathan for the Gujarat-Bengal game and Sanjay Sharma for the match between Hyderabad and Tripura) didn’t wait to go into day three and day four. We are going to convene a meeting of the senior tournament committee, which is responsible to look into all such things. And once we hear from the persons concerned, we will take an appropriate decision in the matter. We are going to call the complainants also, who made the allegations.”Shirke is one of the members of the BCCI’s senior tournament committee, which is chaired by Gautam Roy, also a board vice-president.While the BCCI had stated in a press release dated November 6 that the board’s technical committee rescheduled the matches, Sourav Ganguly, the committee’s head, later told ESPNcricinfo that they had not made the decision to postpone the two matches.