All posts by n8rngtd.top

He replaces Jason Holder, who had been at the helm for the last four seasons

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jul-2022South Africa batter David Miller has been named the captain of Barbados Royals for the 2022 CPL season, replacing Jason Holder, who had been at the helm for the last four seasons.Miller, who will return to the CPL for the first time in three seasons having last represented Jamaica Tallawahs in 2018 and St Lucia Zouks in 2016, was snapped up by Royals earlier this month along with his South African team-mate Quinton de Kock. He has scored 332 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 146.90 in the tournament.Miller is also coming off a superb run in the IPL, where he scored 481 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 142.73 for champions Gujarat Titans. He will now renew ties with a Royals franchise, having played for Rajasthan in the IPL in 2020 and 2021.”During my time at the Royals in the IPL, I always felt very valued and have been able to establish a deep connection with the team,” Miller said. “It is an exciting time for me to come to the Barbados Royals, and a privilege to have been appointed as the captain. It is a team that has an abundance of young and experienced talent from the Caribbean and I am looking forward to working with the entire group to get down to achieving our objectives for the 2022 season”Head coach Trevor Penney added, “Having worked with David (Miller) before at the Rajasthan Royals, we knew he has a cricketing brain which not only reads situations very well on the field, but is also very passionately involved off the field. He is someone who helps in creating a perfect environment for his team-mates to excel in, and that is what we are expecting out of him here at Barbados, where he will be leading the franchise. He has shown tremendous experience and guile in the last few months, and drove his team to IPL glory, unfortunately beating us in the final. We are all delighted to have signed him and look forward to working with him during the season.”Holder played a key role in taking Royals (then Tridents) to their second title in 2019. However, they endured back-to-back tough seasons, finishing fifth in 2020 and last on the table in 2021. Penney said the allrounder will continue to be a “pillar” for the side.”I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jason (Holder) for his contribution to the team as the captain, and for agreeing to our decision of having a new leader for the team. He is one of the pillars of this Barbados side and will continue to remain so going forward.”The 2022 CPL will be played from August 31 to September 30, with Royals kicking off their campaign against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots on September 1.

Australia have confirmed that Alex Carey will keep wicket, while India may look to try out KL Rahul with only five ODIs left before the World Cup

The Preview by Hemant Brar01-Mar-2019

Big Picture

Five. That’s the number of ODIs India play between now and the start of the World Cup. Though most Indian players will be in action during the IPL, the selectors need to have more or less firmed up their picks before that. So, when India face Australia in the first ODI of the five-match series on Saturday in Hyderabad, it will be another chance for the likes of KL Rahul and Vijay Shankar to push their cases forward.The same holds true for Siddarth Kaul in the bowling department. Kaul replaced Khaleel Ahmed, who had been part of India’s limited-overs set-up since making his debut at the Asia Cup last year. But now it looks like the selectors are exploring other options as well.Australia are slightly better placed on that front, as they play another five-match ODI series – against Pakistan in the UAE – before the World Cup. But with Steven Smith and David Warner likely to come back into the reckoning and, if fit, the selectors’ thoughts, there are question marks over their plans too.Though Peter Handscomb kept wickets during the T20I series against India and has also kept in ODIs previously, Australia captain Aaron Finch confirmed on the eve of the match that Alex Carey would return to the side and assume the wicketkeeping duties. He may, however, bat at No. 7.Glenn Maxwell’s form with the bat in the India T20Is must have given Australia some assurance, but his desire to bat higher up was dashed by coach Justin Langer , who said the team management would only do “what’s best for the team”.The visitors will be high on confidence after sweeping the two-match T20I series, but India might not make too much of a deal of that, especially in a World Cup year with the bigger picture to focus on.

Form guide

India WLWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia LLWLW

In the spotlight

Two fluent knocks – 50 in 36 balls and 47 in 26 – in the T20I series have once again made KL Rahul a serious contender for the World Cup side. He can be India’s reserve opener or a back-up No. 4 in England and Wales, but whether he makes that flight might depend on how he performs in this series.In his last ten ODIs, Aaron Finch has managed just 225 runs at an average of 22.50 and a strike rate of 76.27. In eight of those matches, he has failed to cross 25. In Australia, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had his number with the one nipping back into the right-hander. On Indian pitches – and with Bhuvneshwar not in the squad for the first two ODIs – Finch may find it a little easier to get in and go big.KL Rahul unfurls a reverse-sweep•Getty Images

Team news

India are likely to field the two wristspinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, with Vijay Shankar filling the allrounder’s spot in Hardik Pandya’s continued absence. If the team management decides to give Rahul as many chances as possible before the World Cup, Ambati Rayudu might miss out.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 KL Rahul/Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Vijay Shankar, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Jasprit BumrahCarey, who didn’t find a place in the playing XI during the T20Is, will return to his position behind the stumps. With Shaun Marsh unavailable, Australia may hand an ODI debut to Ashton Turner.Australia (probable): 1 Aaron Finch (capt), 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Peter Handscomb, 4 Marcus Stoinis, 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Adam Zampa, 9 Pat Cummins, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Jhye Richardson

Pitch and conditions

The Uppal pitch generally favours batsmen and that reflects in the average first-innings score of 286 at the venue. The forecast for Saturday is partly cloudy with the temperature hovering around the 30-degree Celsius mark.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have played two ODIs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium – in 2007 and 2009 – and won both.
• Rohit Sharma needs 192 runs to reach the 8000-run landmark in ODI cricket. He currently has 7808 runs in 195 innings at an average of 47.60.
• Ravindra Jadeja is ten runs away from achieving the double of 2000 runs and 100 wickets in ODI cricket. If he gets there, he will be the sixth Indian to do so after Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh.

Quotes

“It’s done. It was a short series and Australia played better than us and they deserved to win the [T20I] series. So, we will have to be at our absolute best to win this particular series and start well in this series. As far as I see it, there’s always an opportunity for a team to come back stronger and show character.”
“They [India] are a settled side, probably settled for such a long time now, and they are very good players. All those things go a long way to why they are so successful in India in particular.”

Former England batter issues statement after meeting with Rafiq organised by PCA

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2022Gary Ballance has issued an unreserved apology for using “racist” language towards Azeem Rafiq when the two were team-mates at Yorkshire.ESPNcricinfo revealed last year that the use of the word “P**i” by a player – subsequently identified as Ballance – when referring to Rafiq had been deemed “banter” by an independent report into allegations of racism at Yorkshire. Ballance at the time expressed his “regret” but said the language used came in the context of “a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other”.Ballance is one of seven individuals at Yorkshire charged by the ECB, alongside the club itself, after an investigation into the revelations that followed Rafiq’s emotional testimony before parliament in November 2021.Related

• Yorkshire racism report ruled Azeem Rafiq being called 'P**i' was 'banter'

• Gary Ballance admits to racial slur against 'closest friend' Azeem Rafiq

• ECB charges Yorkshire and individuals over racism allegations

• Lord Patel: Yorkshire would have gone bust if Headingley Test had been removed

• 'I have moved on with my life': Andrew Gale refuses to defend ECB racism charge

It was reported by that Ballance and Rafiq spoke earlier this week in a meeting facilitated by the Professional Cricketers’ Association. Ballance, who has not played at all this season due to ongoing mental health issues, subsequently released a statement through Yorkshire.”I have wanted to meet Azeem in person for quite some time, but I had to make sure I was in a good place when I did so,” Ballance said. “Azeem has been through similar mental health challenges and understands why this has taken me a little time.”I apologise unreservedly to Azeem for the words I used when we played together. I did use unacceptable – at times, racist – language. If I had realised how much this hurt Azeem, I would have stopped immediately. That’s why I wanted to meet him this week and be clear in person that I intended no malice. That’s not an excuse, I realise that the language I used was wrong.”I have accepted, from the outset, the words I used were wrong and I hope this statement brings Azeem some comfort. There is no place in our sport for this behaviour and I am determined to play my part in ridding the game from racism and make it more inclusive. To do this we all need to be honest and learn from our past mistakes.”Rafiq told that he had accepted Ballance’s apology and said that his “courage means he is now part of the solution” in the fight against the problem of racism within the game.”From day one of opening up about my experiences, all I ever wanted was acceptance and apologies for what happened,” Rafiq said. “Gary has been brave to admit the truth and I understand why the mental strain has made it difficult for him to make this apology any sooner. Gary must be applauded for his honesty and unreserved apology and must now be allowed to get on with his life.”Ballance has been in action for Yorkshire’s 2nd XI this summer, but his previous first-team appearance came in September 2021. It was reported earlier this month that he was considering switching his international allegiance back to Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, but ESPNcricinfo understands that there has been no contact with Zimbabwe Cricket.

India A’s lower-order trio of Parthiv, Shankar and Gowtham helped the visitors make 467 for 8, after which their bowlers were made to work hard for 55 overs

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2018Hamish Rutherford punches down the ground•Getty Images

The lower-order trio of Parthiv Patel, Vijay Shankar and K Gowtham propelled India A to 467 for 8 on the second day of their first unofficial Test against New Zealand A, after which the hosts put on a solid batting show to finish on 176 for 1. Opener Hamish Rutherford crunched his 13th first-class hundred following India A’s declaration post lunch. In the afternoon, the India A bowlers toiled for 55 overs to prise out a solitary wicket. With two more days of play remaining, New Zealand A trail by 291.Parthiv, batting on 79 overnight, fell six short of a 27th first-class ton after edging Blair Tickner’s medium pace to the keeper. But Shankar and Gowtham added 89 in a ninth-wicket stand that took them past 450 before India A captain Ajinkya Rahane declared in the 123rd over. Tickner’s dismissal of Gowtham on 47 was his fourth wicket; he finished with figures of 4 for 80.It took India A almost 38 overs to earn their first wicket as New Zealand A’s opening pair of Rutherford and Will Young added 121. Fast bowlers Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj went wicketless, as did Shankar off his medium pace. The only India A wicket-taker was Gowtham, whose offspin dismissed the captain Young one short of a 28th first-class half-century. But Rutherford pushed on, reaching his ton in 155 deliveries, and by stumps, New Zealand A ensured they lost no further wicket. Rutherford’s innings featured 16 fours and a six.

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.