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Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, has warned that Ben Stokes risks burn-out if England heap too many expectations onto his shoulders

Andrew Miller01-Nov-2016Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, has warned that Ben Stokes risks burn-out if England heap too many expectations on to his shoulders during the forthcoming Test tour of India. However, he also reckons that getting the ball out of Stokes’ hand in the big moments of the series will prove to be a management challenge for Alastair Cook.Stokes was England’s outstanding player during the 1-1 series draw with Bangladesh last month, especially during the first Test at Chittagong where he almost single-handedly hauled England to a 22-run victory. His total of 103 runs included a vital second-innings 85, while his six wickets in the match featured a key spell of reverse swing in Bangladesh’s first innings as he claimed 4 for 10 to secure a priceless first-innings lead.Throughout the two matches it was notable how Cook, a naturally conservative captain, turned to his seam bowlers in times of strife, especially given how little control he was able to exert with his spin attack. Stokes fronted up admirably with 11 wickets from 48.3 overs in the series – fewer than the first-choice spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, but more than any of the other quicks on show.However, he appeared to be hobbling when he came out to bat in England’s second innings at Dhaka and, with five Tests to come in the space of six weeks in India, Vaughan believes that Stokes may have to be protected from himself if England are to get full value from their most precious asset.”Stokes has got that ability to get in the opposing team’s faces with expertise,” Vaughan said during the launch of BT Sport’s cricket coverage. “Many players have tried to wind up the opposition by being forceful and aggressive without having the game [to back it up] but, with Stokes, you just know, every time he goes to the crease, things are going to happen.”I think the problem that Alastair will have is getting the ball out of his hands. He wants to bowl, he wants to compete – speak to Paul Collingwood, he bowls marathon spells for Durham, 16-17 overs – and he’s got that ability to produce magic with the old ball.”And even when he’s bowled badly, and sprayed the ball all over the place, he’s always created opportunities. Beefy Botham took a lot of wickets with long-hops and Ben Stokes is very similar, because he’s got that physical presence out in the middle. He does intimidate opposition batsmen, so he will create opportunities.”Vaughan sees inevitable parallels with England’s last genuine allrounder, Andrew Flintoff, whom he captained throughout the prime of his career from 2003 to 2006. And, like Flintoff, Stokes has already shown that his body may be vulnerable to the workload that he puts upon it, having undergone knee surgery early in the English season, before missing the final two Tests of Pakistan series with a calf tear.”The real question is injury,” Vaughan said. “We saw in the summer against Pakistan, he missed the two Tests that England lost [at Lord’s and The Oval]. The Chittagong Test win was 22 runs … without Ben Stokes England would have lost.”Many would say as a captain, did you go to bed at night and not sleep because of the toss or opposing team. No, the one thing that Cook will be saying at night is: ‘Please, Ben Stokes, don’t get injured’ because he’s that important to the team.”Like Flintoff, Stokes’ has a larger-than-life personality that can, on occasions, get him into scrapes. He was infamously sent home from England Lions’ tour of Australia in 2012-13 for persistently breaking the team curfew, and ruled himself out of the World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014 after punching a locker during a poor run of form during the ODI tour of the Caribbean.But Vaughan believes that Stokes’ exploits in recent months have shown a different side to his character. “He’s a quick learner and I think people possibly don’t see the amount of work he puts in. He’s a free spirit, and every now and again he will be talked about for doing the wrong things – punching a dressing-room door, partying too hard – but he wants to learn and get better, and I can only see that he is going to get better.”They will have to be wary of the amount of bowling he does in India, but he’s the kind of guy who wants to be in the game. I remember Duncan Fletcher used to say to the team, ‘get in the game’. If the game is flat, do something.”That’s the kind of player he is. Whatever the situation, you are looking at him and he’s in the game. Whether at backward point, or on the drive, or with the ball in hand, or striding out to bat. You just know things are going to happen.”Watch the first Test of the Australia v South Africa series exclusively live on BT Sport 3 from 2am on Thursday, November 4. BT Sport is your new home for Australia’s home international matches and Big Bash League, including the 2017-18 Ashes

Nicholson’s six-year stint included the Newlands ball-tampering scandal and more recently the Covid-19 fallout

Daniel Brettig11-Oct-2020Alistair Nicholson has quit his post as chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) after an eventful tenure that began with the death of Phillip Hughes, rode out a spiteful MoU negotiation with Cricket Australia and the subsequent Newlands scandal, then ended with the game’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.The ACA was always likely to need to find a new CEO ahead of the next MoU negotiation, due in expire in 2022, and Nicholson is understood to have been pondering his exit late last year before ultimately staying on to navigate issues around Covid-19.The ACA, led by the duo of its chairman Greg Dyer and president Shane Watson, will now seek a new CEO who will take up the job around the same time as CA’s own next permanent chief executive begins next year, after Nicholson’s longtime adversary Kevin Roberts was deposed earlier this year – Nick Hockley is serving as interim.”I’ve been humbled to represent our player group and I’m very proud of what we have been able to achieve in my time at the ACA,” Nicholson said. “I have had to deal with unprecedented issues in the game but always tried to maintain principles of fairness and equity, representing the players as we worked to advance the interests of the game at all times.”I step down with some sadness as I love the ACA and the game but I look forward to watching from afar and taking a break to enjoy a summer of watching cricket after a particularly demanding tenure, including most recently through COVID. The season ahead is now as well planned as possible and I have great confidence in the ACA team to steer through the years ahead.”Pat Cummins, a member of the ACA executive, summed up Nicholson: “Al is trusted by the players. We knew he would always be tough but balanced when representing us and that our stance would be based on good principles. He is welcome back in the changeroom at any time.”Replacing Paul Marsh in 2014 after playing in the AFL for Melbourne and then working for the marketing and commercial firm Gemba, Nicholson arrived at the ACA at a time when its relationship with CA was deteriorating after some years of fruitful collaboration. The next six years were seldom uneventful as he found himself at odds with James Sutherland and his replacement Roberts, who had first served as a combative negotiator for the governing body in the 2016-17 MoU dispute.Nicholson and the ACA, chaired by Dyer, ultimately preserved their fixed percentage share of Australian Cricket Revenue after successfully having Roberts sidelined from compromise discussions, but not until after the vast majority of state and national contracted players went without pay for more than a month. The deal included women as well as men for the first time, while also enhancing a raft of player development and support programs, and giving the players a direct say in how a portion of funding for the game’s grassroots levels is used.Fractures between the players and CA did not aid the environment that was bubbling around the national team and exploded into the Newlands scandal in March 2018, as Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all banned for their part in a brazen ball-tampering attempt and subsequent cover-up. As he had done after the death of Hughes, Nicholson stayed close to the players and even called for the CA-imposed sanctions to be reduced.The subsequent review of Australian cricket culture outlined many of the sorts of complaints that the ACA, the state associations and CA’s many other partners had raised either side of the Newlands scandal, and left Nicholson working with an organisation that was in many ways humbled in its subsequent dealings. Nevertheless there were still issues to be debated, not least the harsh ban imposed upon the Hobart Hurricanes’ Emily Smith for a minor integrity infraction last summer.Old wounds left from previous battles between CA and the ACA were then laid bare by Roberts’ proposed response to Covid-19, principally pre-emptive cutbacks to staff, the states and also the players’ share of the season’s revenue. These pressure points ultimately overwhelmed Roberts, leaving the ACA to negotiate something of a “wait and see” compromise with CA.”Under Alistair’s leadership we’ve become much more professional and developed our capability to provide a much-expanded service offering for the benefit of all of our members,” Dyer said. “We’re now positioned to participate strongly in the game’s future as an enormously respected contributor at all levels of Australian cricket.”Alistair has made an incredible personal contribution to these outcomes, working tirelessly through some very difficult moments for the sport. He should be rightly proud of the players’ participation in grassroots programmes, in cricket’s position as the leader in gender equity and in the continuing dividend which the revenue share partnership model delivers.”Nicholson will exit the ACA post by the end of the year, as the board commences its search for his replacement.

Mahela Jayawardene’s second fifty as an opener and Travis Head’s beligerence converted a potential tricky chase of 176 into a cruise for the Adelaide Strikers

The report by Will Macpherson08-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMahela Jayawardene’s second fifty as an opener converted a potential tricky chase of 176 into a cruise for the Adelaide•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Beware the wounded cricketer. At the end of the fourth over of Adelaide Strikers’ chase, Mahela Jayawardene – looking in simply sumptuous form – pushed Josh Lalor to short fine leg, and sprinted through for a single, as fast as his little legs would carry him. In doing so, perhaps with all 38 of his years showing, he overstretched, and felt one of quadriceps sting.This would be a situation relished by Brisbane Heat, on their last legs in BBL 2015-16. But, after five minutes of work treatment by the physio, Jayawardene picked himself up, pulled up his trousers (literally) and drilled James Hopes on the up through the covers for four to move to 31 off 13. By the over’s end, the Sri Lankan had driven Hopes down the ground for a stunning six. Jayawardene was not going to die wondering, and it was the foundation he set up courtesy a 30-ball 53 that helped the Adelaide Strikers move up to the top of the points table as they chased down 176 with eight balls to spare and eight wickets in hand.By the time Jayawardene’s innings had died, in the tenth over, wrongly adjudged leg before attempting to reverse sweep off a Samuel Badree googly, the Heat were on their knees, and the damage had been done. Before his injury, Jayawardene had consecutively top-edged Andrew Fekete for six, cover driven for four, then middled a pull for six; afterwards (despite some near-suicidal running from Tim Ludeman) he was ramping Ben Cutting over the keeper’s head, and skipping towards Badree and firing the ball back past him for four to bring up a second consecutive half-century since moving to the top of the order against Scorchers on Tuesday.A loss here meant Brisbane Heat’s last two games – both away from home – are irrelevant. Heat have been much improved, but they ran into a more efficient unit on Friday. Earlier, for once, Chris Lynn did not top score; Jimmy Peirson notched a fine half-century, standing and delivering, carting the ball down the ground, and targeting the leg-breaks of John Holland, before falling to Travis Head’s part-timers when ready to push on.Lendl Simmons was given leg before to Michael Neser’s second ball, but Chris Lynn appeared to shine briefly to help overcome the early damage. Billy Stanlake’s rangy seamers were dispatched for three fours in an over. Ben Laughlin was consecutively driven for four, past the umpire, then through the covers, but the introduction of Adil Rashid – now the competition’s highest wicket-taker, with 12 scalps – did for Lynn, as he tried to slog sweep against the spin and was caught at deep midwicket.Rashid’s four overs went for just a single boundary, and 17 runs, and his last delivery snared the Heat’s last dangerous hitter, Ben Cutting, bowled by a beautifully disguised googly. When Rashid was done, lusty hitting from Nathan Reardon, and a wonderful finish from Hopes, who took Neser’s final over for 17 with some impressive swiping across the line, carried Heat to 175 for 6.In response, Jayawardene’s early assault had done the damage, but Ludeman and Head picked up where he left off, accepting regular gifts from the Heat. If it was careless to allow a limping Jayawardene to amble between the wickets for ones and twos, it was downright irresponsible to drop Head on 4 (Sam Heazlett at backward point) and 7 (Josh Lalor, running in from backward square); plenty more sloppy fielding followed.As Ludeman anchored, playing conventional strokes, including a glorious cover driven four to move to 49, Head played himself in then freed the arms. They would become the first top three in BBL history to all reach 50 in a single innings, a stat in stark contrast to Peirson’s being the first 50 for the Heat this season not coming from Lynn’s bat.Lalor found a fine 14th over to briefly put Strikers’ brakes on, before Head began batting like it was the last night of 2015 all over again. Andrew Fekete played the role of Sean Abbott, driven over long-off, then twice pulled over square-leg, all for six. When he was caught swinging across the line (a ball after hitting Cutting down the ground for another six to bring up his half-century), Brad Hodge came out to drive down the ground and see them home. As their march toward a home semi-final continues, Strikers will hope the quad injury of their other elder statesman (and new lynchpin) Jayawardene is not too serious.

Sri Lanka will look up to their dynamic young group to deliver again, and help the visitors wrap up the series in Ranchi

The Preview by Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Feb-2016

Match facts

February 12, 2016
Start time 1930 local (1400 GMT)1:35

‘We’re game to play horses for courses’ – Shastri

Big Picture

In the first match, India’s batsmen seemed not to know much about the pitch in Pune. They also seemed not to know much about Sri Lanka’s second-string seam attack. Actually, no one did. Why would they? After a year of modest performances, and with the frontliners all in the sick bay, these new guys were selection Hail Marys. For a change, someone up there answered the prayers of Sri Lanka’s fan base.The result suggested there was truth to what Sri Lanka’s local coaches have been saying all along. The domestic structure is so sick it could be used as a pro-euthanasia poster case. The administration sometimes veers towards the ridiculous. But there is no shortage of talent in Sri Lanka, even if, judging by the size of some players, there could be a dearth of protein. Kasun Rajitha was sharp, and seamed it beautifully away. Dushmantha Chameera’s pace is beginning to trouble batsmen all around the world. And if Dasun Shanaka’s batting is anywhere near as good as the balls he sent to Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni, he could be settling in for a long career.India were left reeling, but they will most likely land on their feet in Ranchi, and find the track there is much more to their liking. Dhoni seemed unfazed by the loss, because in the fantasy land of limited-overs batting, the Pune pitch was an anomaly. The top order is still rocking – it hasn’t been long since they were so good as to make the middle order obsolete. The spin attack also seems well drilled, and Ashish Nehra was effective with the new ball in Pune.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: LWWWL
Sri Lanka: WLLLW

In the spotlight

Sri Lanka did not like facing R Ashwin in the longest format last year, and now he is troubling them in T20s. On a night that belonged to the seam bowlers, Ashwin spun the ball sharply to take two wickets in Pune. A return to slower conditions will tip his offbreaks with a little more venom. Ashwin will understand a little of the weaknesses of the Sri Lanka top order, and will also know that as a group, they have not played spin well over the past year. Ashwin’s 31 not out with the bat was not enough to cover for the top-order collapse, but on other days, such runs could be invaluable.Like the man himself, Sri Lanka have seemed a bubbly, dynamic unit with Dinesh Chandimal at the helm. In the past, Chandimal’s major worry has been his own batting. Chandimal’s leadership was coming along, but that T20 international average continued to flounder. Even now, it is less than 15. There won’t be many matches in which Chandimal can afford to soak up balls and play himself in, as he did on Tuesday, but if that innings can serve as a launching pad for the series, Sri Lanka may begin to consider him for more permanent leadership roles.

Teams news

India may opt to give left-arm spinning allrounder Pawan Negi a debut, and assess him ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20. Hardik Pandya, who managed only two runs in his first outing with the bat in addition to going wicketless, in Pune, is likely to miss out.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Ajinkya Rahane, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 MS Dhoni (capt.)(wk), 6 Yuvraj Singha, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish NehraTillakaratne Dilshan is available for selection again, following recovery from a hand injury. He will probably take the place of Niroshan Dickwella. With plenty of spin cover via Milinda Siriwardana and Dilshan’s finger spin, Sri Lanka will likely look to give their quicks another run, regardless of the surface’s nature.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Niroshan Dickwella, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Dinesh Chandimal (capt.)(wk), 4 Chamara Kapugedara, 5 Dasun Shanaka 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Seekkuge Prasanna, 9 Sachithra Senanayake, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Kasun Rajitha

Pitch and conditions

Ranchi has never hosted a T20 international, but two of the three ODIs played there have yielded moderately high totals. The track for the second match appears dry, and the weather is expected to remain good for the encounter, with temperatures in the low 20s.

Stats and trivia

• In 15 T20s at the helm, Dinesh Chandimal averages 12 and has a strike rate of 90. His 35 on Tuesday was his highest score as captain.
• India’s home win-loss ratio is 0.625 – worse than all the full member teams apart from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
• Sri Lanka have the highest away win-loss ratio, with 13 victories from 17 away games.

Quotes

“[Pune did] A little too much but we should have adapted well. We should have got 140. That would have been a competitive score on the surface. What we have to learn is very early you have to make sure what the conditions are, what the pitch entails and what is a competitive score on that pitch is.”
“It’s very important that people in Sri Lanka know that there are back-up players. When most of the seniors play in the last few years, we need back-up players [now]. It’s good to see them do well.”

Women’s team coach says timing of coronavirus pandemic has minimised Cricket Australia’s financial impact

Daniel Brettig24-Mar-2020A postponement in moving Cricket Australia’s headquarters and a drastic cut down in travel may be among the measures the governing body will make to save cash in the time of coronavirus, while any decisions to reduce staff or salaries will be delayed as CA attempts to “absorb” the global pandemic within the business.CA has been compelled to look into a raft of saving measures to keep what cash the organisation can. This is over and above cash reserves that were around A$26 million entering the summer, augmented by the recent payment of rights fee instalments from Fox and Seven. CA had been planning to move its headquarters into rented office space while renovating its longtime headquarters in Jolimont, Melbourne, one of two large office properties the governing body can name as assets, alongside the A$29 million National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.Matthew Mott, coach of the T20 World Cup winning women’s side, said that while the message to all staff had been that CA would do its best to absorb the global suspension of sport to limit spreading of coronavirus, ways and means of becoming more efficient needed to be found in all departments of the organisation.”I can only go on the messaging we’ve had from our senior management, and this is an awful thing to happen to the whole of society, but in terms of timing we’ve been incredibly lucky,” Mott said. “We can shut down over Easter, we can shut down a few off-season programs. There will be huge financial implications, but timing wise if we were going to suffer something like this, the timing is not too bad.”We’ve been assured we’ve just got to make sure we come up with some really constructive feedback on how we can save some money going forward, but the expectation at the moment is that CA as a business can absorb this.”Obviously the longer it goes on, it’s going to put more pressure on everyone. I haven’t got a crystal ball, I don’t know how long this is going to last, nor does anyone, but in the short to medium term we’ve been assured that we’ve got enough equity and agility within the business to be able to absorb it, and we just need to be smart and pretty clinical about how we prepare and get our players ready.”In addition to having all staff work from home as of last week, CA will be able to find savings from a dramatic reduction in domestic and international travel, while the taking of paid annual leave among staff will be another option available to take cost off the governing body’s books. Mott was certain, however, that the women’s game would not be subject to cost-saving that might serve to stem the momentum that flowed from the World Cup and its technicolour finale, when Australia beat India in front of an 86,000-plus crowd at the MCG.”What we saw at the MCG just showed if you put the work in behind the scenes and you promote the game then the audience is there,” Mott said. “I think if anything the whole business is just going to have to be more efficient, and there’s going to be things that are cut out, it’s just the nature of where we’re at. I’m sure there’ll be input in both male and female programs about how we can get the best bang for our buck, and how we can be a lot more efficient. Everyone needs to work out what’s going to be the best for their programs, and how they’re going to make them run most efficiently.”It is a common lament among retired athletes that they never get the chance to stop, reflect and make balanced life decisions in the hurtling momentum of careers that last far less than half as long as those working regular jobs. Now, all of the world’s athletes will be taking stock, no matter where they sit on the road from rookie to veteran.”We’ve certainly put out messaging to our players, we’re going to have a break during this period here now, but often in those breaks you still think ‘I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that’. Not just cricket but sport and the community, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on what’s important,” Mott said. “I think it’ll wear thin after a while, but I’ve absolutely loved being able to hang out with my family on the weekend, cook meals together and spend time together and just hang out.”There’s no pressure to be catching up with other people or stuff like that. I do think it is a great opportunity for everyone just to take stock, work out what’s really important in their lives, and just plan out what are the next steps. All these things have a funny way of happening for a reason. I think if you take a positive mindset towards them, you can really make them work for you.”I know there’s going to be people out there that are really struggling making ends meet, and it’s going to put a huge amount of financial pressure on a lot of people in our community and that’s incredibly sad, but there’s a lot of people also who can use this as a real positive driver to just work out what’s really important in your lives and make sure that when we get out of this situation, which we will, that we can really crystallise what’s important for us as a community and how we want to take ourselves forward.”Two players who were already looking at time for reflection were Ellyse Perry (torn hamstring) and Tayla Vlaeminck (foot stress fracture) who did not make it to the end of the World Cup campaign. Mott said that both were tracking to be fit to play within the normal timeframes for their respective injuries. Whether there will be any cricket to play yet by the time they are ready is another matter entirely. “It probably eases both their minds a little bit,” Mott said, “that they’re not missing out on as much as they would if we were over in South Africa.”

The allrounder and Western Australia captain, slammed an unbeaten 80 to drive his side to a six-wicket win in the final against South Australia in Hobart

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2017
ScorecardThe victorious Western Australia team with the trophy•Getty Images

Western Australia captain Mitchell Marsh led his state to a comfortable victory over South Australia to lift the domestic limited overs trophy at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Saturday.South Australia made a swift start after winning the toss, but the loss of regular wickets limited their chances of posting the sort of totals that had allowed them to beat Western Australia in the qualifying rounds and Victoria in the elimination final.Western Australia, who had been unbeaten before the SA loss, were then able to reel them in with 38 balls to spare, largely due to the efforts of Mitchell Marsh and Cameron Bancroft, the sometime-Test opening contender, but now a free-scoring gloveman.While Mitchell Marsh was named Man of the Match, at a time when his recovery from shoulder surgery rules him out of bowling and by extension an Ashes berth, it was his brother Shaun Marsh who was named Man of the Tournament for a string of outstanding displays at the top of the batting order.South Asutralia had started fluently through a first-over boundary from Alex Carey, but the early dismissals of the wicketkeeper and dual tournament centurion Jake Weatherald set a pattern. South Australia scored freely but lost regular wickets, which meant the later acceleration typical of their bigger totals was instead a steady stand between Tom Cooper and Cameron Valente followed by a late rush of wickets.Their new-ball bowling had been another feature of their progress, but after Michael Klinger fell early and Shaun Marsh had not fired from the start, Mitchell Marsh and Bancroft missed scarcely a beat in bringing the target under control. Long touted as a future leader by his coach Justin Langer, Mitchell Marsh has aced his very first exam as state captain.

The company’s move aligns well with the PCB’s in-principle decision to scrap departments from the first-class structure

Umar Farooq in Lahore03-Apr-2019Habib Bank Limited (HBL), one of the strongest domestic cricket teams in Pakistan, has scrapped its cricket department after 43 years of being an integral part of the circuit.The bank’s sports division was set up in the early 1970s, and a cricket team emerged in 1975. Since then, HBL has been a mainstay, not missing a single season of domestic cricket. But the bank has decided not to renew contracts with cricketers after they expired on March 31, effectively shutting down the sports division, which had already stopped investing in football, hockey, table tennis, volleyball and badminton earlier, by 2016.The shutdown has been on the cards for a while, though it is not linked to recent moves to remove department sides like HBL from the domestic structure. Over the last six months, especially, the bank has pondered ways to cut costs – the cost of running the cricket team (departments finance their teams, while PCB sponsor the regional teams) was around $ 350,000 annually.HBL has, however, confirmed that though the cricket team will stop existing, the bank will continue to invest in the Pakistan Super League, which it has been the title sponsor of from its inception in 2016; the current deal is pegged at over $ 12 million.”HBL’s title sponsorship of the PSL, over the last four years, reflects our passion for the development of youth and the discovery of cricketing talent,” an HBL spokesperson said. “The PSL has given an opportunity to countless young cricketers to display their talent at a national and international level. This has led to an unprecedented talent pipeline for Pakistan cricket and has played an instrumental role in discovering players like Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Hasan Ali and many more.”With PSL, international cricket has returned to Pakistan. We are also delighted to see cricket facilities being uplifted in Pakistan and fans once again packing the stadiums to enjoy cricket. To continue to invest in PSL, and in the larger interest of cricket in Pakistan, HBL will redeploy its valuable resources from other avenues. This reinvestment will be partially achieved by exiting departmental cricket. HBL has had a long history in departmental cricket and recognises its valuable contributions to Pakistan cricket. Consequent to our enhanced focus on HBL PSL, the HBL cricket team will be demobilised.”Javed Miandad was one of the first major Pakistan stalwarts to play for Habib Bank•Getty Images

The entry of banks in Pakistan’s domestic cricket began in the early 1970s, with Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan’s first Test captain and then board chairman, encouraging them to provide employment opportunities for players. AR Wadiwalla, a senior vice-president at HBL in the mid-1970s, was the pioneer of setting up the HBL sports division with the promise that HBL’s name would be on every newspaper’s “sports pages all the time”.Wadiwalla convinced players to choose the bank to further their careers, and helped them secure their future post retirement from the game. Big names such as Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Mohsin Khan, Sultan Rana and others were recruited in the Wadiwalla years, and players like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul have since been regulars for the team. The last team included Fakhar, Faheem Ashraf, Ahmed Shehzad, Imam-ul-Haq and Abid Ali.Till the end of the last millennium, players were employed with the company, but after the privatisation of the bank in 2004, players were handed contracts, which were renewed ahead of every season. With the latest development, as many as 26 players and six support staffers have lost their contracts.The Habib Bank team played in the Pakistan domestic circuit for 43 years•Getty Images

“HBL will look after the interests of its cricket team members in line with its policies,” a statement said. “It foresees a great future for cricket in Pakistan where PSL will remain a catalyst for bringing international cricket to Pakistan and enabling more matches to be played in the country.”HBL’s move aligns well with the PCB’s in-principle decision to scrap departments from the first-class structure.The PCB recently put together a model in which department teams such as HBL, Water and Power Development Authority and Pakistan International Airlines would remain stakeholders alongside regional sides – although initially even the PCB had decided to strip departments of their playing rights.But this idea was knocked down by Imran Khan, the Pakistan prime minister, who does not want departments in the system in any capacity. He has instead directed the PCB to rework the structure to include just six provisional teams – two from Punjab, and one each from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.Imran had been a strong advocate of a domestic structure with only regional sides for much of his playing career, enamoured as he was especially by the Australian structure. There are many now – as there were then – who believe such a model will not work in Pakistan, where the population is nearly nine times that of Australia.

Captain scores career-best alongside return to form for Lions batsman

ECB Reporters Network16-Sep-2019Nottinghamshire 425 for 6 (Mullaney 179, Clarke 125) v Warwickshire
Centuries from Steven Mullaney and Joe Clarke enabled Nottinghamshire to deliver their best batting performance since early April in their Specsavers County Championship meeting with Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.The pair added 205 for the third wicket as Notts played with the freedom of a side whose fate has already been decided. Their defeat last week to Kent means that they’ll be playing second-tier cricket next season. That, coupled with their qualification for this weekend’s Vitality Blast Finals Day, enabled Notts to ring the changes and pile on the runs.By stumps they had reached 425 for 6 after being invited to bat first, their highest score of the season.Mullaney scored a career-best 179, from 173 deliveries, with 26 fours and five sixes. The Notts’ club captain, who has recently returned to the side after knee surgery, was crestfallen last week as the drop was confirmed. He shrugged off that disappointment to plunder boundaries all around Trent Bridge from a Bears attack that kept offering him the width to pepper the advertising boards at cover.Clarke, who has struggled for runs since the opening week of the season, regained his touch with a sublime innings of 125 – like Mullaney, reaching 100 for the 15th time.Three players were given a first-class debut by Notts, including Joey Evison who, at the age of 17 years 301 days, has become the first player born in the 2000s to represent the county. Evison immediately looked at ease and caressed nine fours in making 45 from only 54 balls before falling lbw to Henry Brookes.The other newcomers are Ben Compton, cousin for former England batsman Nick, who made 14 before being bowled by Will Rhodes and pace bowler Jack Blatherwick, who has made two one-day appearances for the county. Chris Nash, at the other end of his playing career, was bowled by Brookes without scoring.At lunch Mullaney was unbeaten on 90 and he wasted little time in advancing to his hundred soon afterwards, arriving at the landmark from 93 balls with 19 fours. Mullaney pepped up the already-impressive run rate with the first of five huge sixes coming off George Garrett’s bowling. He passed 150 for the fourth time in his career from 140 balls before lofting Jeetan Patel to Oliver Hannon-Dalby at mid-off.Clarke reached his hundred from 153 balls, with 18 fours and then accelerated to 125 before hitting Rhodes out to deep midwicket.Ben Duckett missed out, caught off Hannon-Dalby for eight but Ravi Ashwin and Paul Coughlin took Notts past 400 for only the second time this year.

Oman comfortably overcame Canada and PNG held their nerve against Hong Kong on the second day of the World Cricket League tournament

Peter Della Penna in Windhoek21-Apr-2019
Fast bowler Ali Khan produced his maiden List A five-wicket haul for USA just when they needed it most as his two wickets in the Powerplay were bookended by three more at the death to rally USA to a two-run win over Namibia at Wanderers. The tournaments hosts needed 14 off 12 balls with four wickets in hand when Khan took the ball for his final over in the 49th but he struck three times to turn the match on its head.Namibia’s last-recognized batsman in Christi Viljoen was the first to go in the sequence, pinned in front by a yorker missing a flick across the line for 30. Jan Frylinck put Namibia back in front carving a full toss through cover for four to bring the equation down to seven off eight balls. But Khan struck back bowling him with a full length delivery next ball before Bernard Scholtz ended the 49th skying a drive to Steven Taylor at wide mid-off leaving seven to get by the last pair off the final over bowled by captain Saurabh Netravalkar.After two singles to start the over, Zhivago Groenewald pushed to Taylor at extra cover for a non-existent single but Taylor’s throw from eight yards not only missed the stumps at the non-striker’s end but went for an overthrow to make it three from three needed. However, Groenewald lost his composure on the next ball, setting off when pushing straight back to Netravalkar in his follow-through who underhanded from five yards into the stumps with Groenewald nowhere close.The drama followed a pair of outstanding knocks on a flat batting wicket as Aaron Jones paced USA’s first innings with a chanceless unbeaten 103, his first century for USA. JJ Smit helped pin back USA at the other end claiming 5 for 63.After Khan began the chase dismissing both openers inside five overs, Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus put Namibia into a dominant position with 92 as part of a 149-run third-wicket stand with Jean Bredenkamp, who made 55. But Netravalkar dismissed both in consecutive overs in the 36th and 38th, setting the stage for the wild finish.
Oman captain Zeeshan Maqsood scored the second century of the day on the adjacent ground at Affies Park, propelling Oman to a 2-0 start as his side comfortably beat Canada by 99 runs, leaving them the only winless side in the competition after the first two days. Maqsood added 126 with Aqib Ilyas after coming together at 62 for 2 after 15 overs to put their side into a commanding position.Ilyas scored at better than a run a ball for the majority of his innings but slowed down considerably as he neared a century and eventually offered a return catch to the part-time medium pace of Navneet Dhaliwal in the 39th over. Maqsood kicked on though to three figures, reaching the landmark off 98 balls. He finally fell slogging to long-off in the final over but by that stage he’d given Oman more than enough to defend.Bilal Khan had Ruvindu Gunasekera caught behind off the second ball of the chase but Canada fought back behind a half-century from Nitish Kumar at No. 3. At 104 for 3 in the 22nd, Canada were still in a reasonable position but medium pace allrounder Sandeep Goud removed Kumar and then Bhavindu Adhihetty before fellow allrounder Mohammad Nadeem took the prized scalp of captain Davy Jacobs and at 139 for 5, Canada’s tail could not muster up a fight to get them back into the match.Zeeshan Maqsood walks off after notching another century for Oman•Peter Della Penna

In a scoring battle waged by opening batsmen, Tony Ura outdueled Hong Kong captain Anshy Rath as Papua New Guinea notched their first win of the event in tense fashion to beat Hong Kong by three wickets at United CC.Rath gave Hong Kong an outstanding platform after his side were sent in, scoring 85 off 98 balls including a pair of half-century stands with Kinchit Shah and Ahsan Abbasi. But from 155 for 2 in the 34th over, Rath’s wicket at the hands of Nosaina Pokana sparked a dramatic slide for Hong Kong. Ex-captain Babar Hayat fell for 11 to the legspin of Charles Amini and Hong Kong added just 48 off the last 10 overs to settle for a below par 222.Ura bolted out of the gates in the chase for PNG, swatting Tanvir Afzal’s medium pace for a pair of sixes in the first over and needed just 40 balls to reach a half-century. Ura added 71 for the first wicket with Sese Bau across the first 15 overs to put PNG on course for victory before falling at the end of the 31st over to Ehsan Khan, who triggered a middle-order slide to bring Hong Kong back in it with four wickets.But at 163 for 6, Hong Kong couldn’t finish off the tail. Chad Soper and Jason Kila held their nerve to add 58 for the seventh wicket before Soper fell with two needed to win. No. 8 batsman Kila saw PNG across the line, ending unbeaten on 36 off 42 balls.

Former England batsmen to assist staff during first two Ashes Tests, as he begins transition from playing career

George Dobell at Lord's23-Jul-2019Marcus Trescothick is set to join the England coaching team for the first two Tests of the Ashes series.Trescothick, the former England opening batsman, has recently announced his decision to retire as a player at the end of this season and is currently struggling to break into the Somerset side. He will spend the training days ahead of the Edgbaston and Lord’s Tests with the England squad at both training sessions and at the team hotel.Jonathan Trott has fulfilled a similar role with England ahead of the Test against Ireland.The appointment does not necessarily suggest that Trescothick – or Trott – is about to be appointed as the England team’s batting coach. The ECB have yet to identify a successor to Mark Ramprakash, who left his role a couple of months ago, but are using the likes of Trott and Trescothick to help ease the burden on Graham Thorpe – the ECB’s lead batting coach – on training days where coaches are expected to provide throw-downs for several hours at a time.Thorpe is currently suffering from a sore shoulder and missed England training on Tuesday due to illness.As a vastly experienced and successful player – the 2005 Ashes series was among his 76 Tests – Trescothick has the respect of all current players and understands the demands, both emotionally and technically, of playing at international level.He will be on hand both in training sessions and at the team hotel, to support players as required. And, aged 43, the sessions may also help him to decide if he wants to pursue a career in coaching.