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Kusal Mendis has been omitted from Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh; Kusal Perera’s inclusion subject to fitness

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Apr-20171:03

Fernando: Selectors seem to want Kusal to focus on ODIs, Tests

Kusal Mendis has been omitted from Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the two-match series against Bangladesh, while spin-bowling allrounder Shehan Jayasuriya has been called up. Also in the squad is Thisara Perera – who had not been in Sri Lanka’s recent T20I squad to Australia – and opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who returns to the T20 XI after recovering from injury.Kusal Perera has also been named, but his participation is subject to recovery from a thigh strain that ruled him out of the ODIs. If he fails the fitness test, Sandun Weerakkody – the batsman who made his debut in South Africa – will take his place. Upul Tharanga leads the side in Angelo Mathews’ continued absence.T20s have been Mendis’ least successful format – he averages 9.25 with a strike rate of 123 in eight T20 international innings. Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya said he may not be picked in T20s in the near future, so that he can concentrate on the longer formats, in which he has begun to excel. Mendis was the player of the series in the recently-concluded ODI series against Bangladesh. He was also the player of the tournament during the tri-series in Zimbabwe last year, and has played at least two match-winning Test innings over the past year.”Kusal Mendis has got a long career ahead of him and we do not want to burden him with too many things,” Jayasuriya said. “He had a very good Test and ODI series against Bangladesh and at this stage we don’t want him to alter too many things in his game.”Thisara’s reinclusion is thanks largely to his good performances with the bat in the recent ODIs, in which he struck two half-centuries in three matches. Jayasuriya meanwhile, has been playing for Sri Lanka’s Emerging Team in the ACC competition currently being played in Bangladesh.The first of two T20s – both to be played at R Premadasa Stadium – is scheduled for April 4.Sri Lanka squad: Upul Tharanga (capt.), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Perera (subject to fitness), Lasith Malinga, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dasun Shanaka, Vikum Sanjaya, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Seekkuge Prasanna, Chamara Kapugedara, Thisara Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Shehan Jayasuriya.On standby: Sandun Weerakkody

Wayne Parnell has been included in Kent’s squad for Friday’s Royal London match against Sussex despite a health scare earlier this week

George Dobell04-May-2017Wayne Parnell has been included in Kent’s squad for Friday’s Royal London match against Sussex despite a health scare earlier this week.Parnell, the South African seamer who is with the club on a short-term stint as an overseas player, left the pitch feeling unwell after bowling four overs during Tuesday’s match against Somerset. He reported an elevated heart rate and feeling light-headed.While he was keen to return to the action after a few minutes, the club’s medical team insisted he sit out the remainder of the game as a precaution. Parnell was hospitalised in 2013 after complaining of similar symptoms while playing for South Africa A against India A. Subsequent tests revealed no long-term problem, with the issue instead put down to a virus.He did not go to hospital on Tuesday and instead travelled back to Kent on the team bus at the end of the game.He saw a doctor on Wednesday and underwent a series of basic tests. The club insist that some reports of his condition have been “greatly exaggerated” and suggested that they would not have named him in the squad for Friday’s game if there was any risk to his welfare.Cricket South Africa have been kept fully informed of Parnell’s condition and condoned his return to action.It is not certain he will play on Friday, though. He will undergo a fitness test ahead of the game before any final decision is made.

Australia’s players have been considering the possibility of strike action since as early as January, according to the former Test captain and Cricket Australia board director Mark Taylor

Daniel Brettig14-May-2017Australia’s players have been considering the possibility of strike action since as early as January, according to the former Test captain and Cricket Australia board director Mark Taylor.As the Australian Cricketers’ Association responded to the threat of CA’s chief executive James Sutherland that the players will cease to be paid after June 30 unless the ACA agrees to the board’s current pay offer, Taylor revealed the depth of the players’ feeling while describing his frustration at the lack of any constructive negotiation.Following ESPNcricinfo’s report on Sutherland’s letter, numerous Australian players, including Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Aaron Finch, took to Twitter to maintain their strong support for the ACA, using the #fairshare hashtag. Starc wrote the dispute “makes for an interesting men’s and women’s Ashes”, while the former England batsman Kevin Pietersen wrote “Fairly big player strike soon in Aus…””The board and CA in general have been frustrated by the fact there has been no negotiation. I had players say to me in January of this year ‘we could well be on strike by July’. This is before this MOU was presented,” Taylor, who was captain of the national team when the first MOU was struck in 1998, said on Channel Nine.”I’m not surprised James has done what he’s done. Things haven’t been going anywhere for months now, and I know Cricket Australia feel the ACA aren’t negotiating at all. CA want to change the MOU, want to get away from the revenue sharing model, although the deal being offered to the players is still revenue sharing to a certain extent. No-one’s worse off, women are going to be very well paid in the new model.”But right from the word go, the ACA – I’m not so sure about the players – have not wanted to engage at all on this deal that’s been offered. It’s all about status quo or the highway, and I don’t think you can negotiate that way.”Taylor said CA was intent on breaking up the fixed revenue percentage model because the board did not think it was sustainable. “It doesn’t make business sense for Cricket Australia,” he said. “Every time you make money you have to give away a certain percentage of it. The costs of revenue are going up in sport all the time, every sport will say that.”This could be a win-win. Both side have to negotiate, Cricket Australia has said right from the word go there is our deal. There has been no discussion, or any negotiation on the detail of that deal. The deal they want is status quo.”Alistair Nicholson, the ACA chief executive, criticised what he called CA’s attempt to “drive a wedge in Australian cricket” and reiterated the association’s call for independent mediation of pay talks.”Clearly, we are disappointed that CA are threatening the players,” Nicholson said. “It’s also a window into the nature of CA’s behaviour in these negotiations so far. There is incoherence and aggression in what we have experienced at the negotiating table from CA. This has further been demonstrated this week with some top players being offered multi-years deals one day only to now be threatened the next.”However, despite these threats, the players affirm their offer to participate in independent mediation. Quite simply, one side entered these negotiations in good faith with an intent to provide a win/win result, and the other is trying to remove player unity and drive a wedge in Australian cricket. Further lighting the fuse on this dispute on the eve of the Ashes and during discussions with potential broadcasters and sponsors is quite baffling.”The point lost on CA is that the players will not respond to threats, whilst broadcasters and sponsors need certainty. That’s why we state again, for the good of the game, that it is time to sit down in mediation rather than make unnecessary threats and create such uncertainty.”

After the end of the last round of league matches in the ongoing Champions Trophy, India captain Virat Kohli and Australia quick bowler Josh Hazlewood have risen to the top of ICC ODI rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jun-20171:00

Josh Hazlewood – most wickets for a seamer in ODIs since January 2016

India captain Virat Kohli surpassed AB de Villiers and David Warner to reclaim the top spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, meanwhile, topped the ODI bowlers’ rankings for the first time in his career. South Africa quick Kagiso Rabada, who had gained the No.1 spot last month, dropped to fourth place.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Unbeaten knocks of 81 and 76 against Pakistan and South Africa in the ongoing Champions Trophy helped Kohli overtake Warner and de Villers, who had climbed to No.1 in March this year. Kohli, who had briefly held the No. 1 ranking in January, has a one-point lead over Warner. De Villiers, who had scores of 4, 0 and 16 in the Champions Trophy, dropped two places, and trails Warner by 14 points. Joe Root and Kane Williamson were ranked fourth and fifth respectively.Hazlewood, who took nine wickets in three Champions Trophy matches, became the first Australian to top the ODI bowlers’ rankings since Mitchell Starc in October 2015. Imran Tahir and Starc retained their second and third rankings respectively. Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan gained 18 places to surge to seventh.India opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is the leading run-getter in the Champions Trophy so far, leapfrogged five of his peers to return to the top ten. Dhawan scored 271 runs in three innings during the league stage of the tournament, with two fifties and a century.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

In the allrounders’ list, Ben Stokes gained one place to displace Mitchell Marsh at No. 6, while Shakib Al Hasan retained his place as the top ODI allrounder. Stokes did much better on the batting rankings, gaining nine points to climb to a career-best 20th, following an unbeaten 102 against Australia.South Africa, who exited the Champions Trophy after two losses in three league matches, retained their No. 1 spot on the team rankings, leading Australia and India by two points. England gained two points to climb to fourth and have a three-point lead over New Zealand. If the final of the Champions Trophy is contested between India and England, and if India win, they will secure a slim lead over South Africa and become the No. 1 ODI team.

Northamptonshire ended Leicestershire’s 100 per cent record in this year’s NatWest T20 Blast with a two-run Duckworth/Lewis win at Grace Road

ECB Reporters Network21-Jul-2017
Rob Keogh was influential in Northants’ win [file picture]•Getty Images

Northamptonshire ended Leicestershire’s 100 per cent record in this year’s NatWest T20 Blast with a two-run Duckworth/Lewis win at Grace Road.The Foxes, batting second, had only themselves to blame, having been ahead of the D/L calculation for much of their reply after the Steelbacks had scored 165 for 8 on a hard and true pitch.Northants were indebted to a partnership of 75 between captain Alex Wakely and Rob Keogh, who came together after Richard Levi was well caught low down at deep square-leg by Dieter Klein off Gavin Griffiths for 41, leaving the score at 68 for 4 in the 10th over.But Wakely and Keogh kept the scoreboard moving, the former hitting consecutive boundaries off Klein before 21 came from the 17th over, bowled by Mat Pillans.Both bowlers came back strongly, Pillans knocking back Wakely’s leg stump as he stepped to the offside and tried to lift the ball over short fine-leg, and then Klein picking up the wickets of Steven Crook and Rory Kleinveldt with consecutive deliveries to restrict the Foxes’ target to under 170.They were given a good start by Luke Ronchi and Cameron Delport, who added 45 for the first wicket before the New Zealander steered Ben Sanderson to backward point, where Ben Duckett took a smart two-handed catch.Off-spinner Keogh bowled Delport for 30, but Mark Cosgrove, who was particularly severe on left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, hit 41 off just 26 balls to leave the Foxes in control.Leicestershire were still ahead on D/L when the Australian was bowled swinging across the line at Kleinveldt.But neither Colin Ackermann and Mark Pettini were able to get the ball to the boundary before umpires Steve O’Shaughnessy and Ian Blackwell took the players from the field, with the home team having fallen fractionally behind the required rate.

Reigning champions Southern Vipers are through to the final of this year’s competition after an unexpected end to the group stages of the Kia Super League

ECB Reporters Network26-Aug-2017Mignon du Preez took Vipers to a defendable total•ICC/Getty Images

Reigning champions Southern Vipers are through to the final of this year’s competition after an unexpected end to the group stages of the Kia Super League.Vipers did their bit by ending Yorkshire Diamonds’ hopes of joining them at Finals Day when they won by 30 runs at Arundel.Meanwhile, Surrey Stars’ unexpected defeat to Loughborough Lightning meant Vipers overtook Surrey to finish top of the group. They will play the winners of Surrey’s clash with Western Storm at Finals Day at Hove next Friday.Vipers made 138 for 6 after they were put in on a slow pitch. Diamonds began their reply promisingly but from 31 for 0 in the third over they collapsed horribly, losing five wickets for just four runs in 18 balls. Katherine Brunt top scored with 42 but they were bowled out for 108 in the 19th over.For once Vipers’ batting fired without the prolific Suzie Bates. The New Zealander was brilliantly caught at long on for 12 in the fourth over by Sune Luus but her fellow overseas players made up for her rare failure.Opening partner Hayley Matthews scored 40 off 38 balls with three fours and two sixes, both struck cleanly down the ground, before Mignon du Preez went to her first half-century in the tournament from 35 just deliveries. The South African hit six fours as Vipers accelerated towards the end, scoring 37 in the final four overs.Katie Levick picked up two wickets in the last over to finish with 3 for 21 but a target of 139 on a slow pitch was always going to test Yorkshire, even though Linsey Smith’s absence, after she suffered an asthma attack before the start, left them a specialist bowler short.They began well with Sri Lankan Chamari Atapattu hitting two fours and two sixes in the first four overs. But when Lauren Winfield was smartly stumped by Carla Rudd off Arran Brindle the innings went into steep decline. Luus was run out two balls later then Bates claimed the key wicket of Atapattu (21), who was leg before swinging across the line. Sophie Devine fell in similar fashion and Yorkshire were 35 for 5 when Jenny Gunn was bowled round her legs by Tara Norris.Brunt hit eight fours to keep Diamonds in with a chance but when she was run out backing up too far by Bates’ deflection onto the stumps in the 17th over Yorkshire’s race was run.

The franchise is gunning for its second CPL title, and will play Guyana Amazon Warriors in the second qualifier on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Sep-2017Yasir Shah, the Pakistan legspinner, will join Trinbago Knight Riders as the team makes a bid for its second Caribbean Premier League title. It will be the 31-year old’s second stint in T20 franchise cricket abroad, having played for Dhaka Dynamites in the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League.Yasir replaced his countryman Shadab Khan, who has to return home to play the three T20Is against a World XI side in Lahore from September 12.The Knight Riders coach Simon Katich was pleased with the like-for-like addition to their roster. “Winning matches in T20 cricket is so often about claiming wickets at vital times, and a leg spinner of the quality of Yasir will do just that. We are at the business end of the tournament and Yasir’s experience and skill will be vital as we look to claim our second Hero CPL title.”Yasir’s ability is well documented in Tests, with his 149 wickets in 29 matches, but he has been a lesser force in limited-overs cricket for Pakistan. He has not played an ODI since August 2016, and his previous T20I was six years ago. He was impressive the last time he toured the Caribbean though, picking up 25 wickets from three Tests to help Pakistan win the series 2-1.Yasir hasn’t played any competitive cricket since joining the MCC team to play against Afghanistan at Lord’s in July. Prior to that, he played for Kent in the English county championship, picking up 14 wickets in three games.The Knight Riders face Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday in a knockout match for a place in the final on Saturday.

On a day when 16 wickets tumbled, India Green lost their last eight for 34 runs as they conceded a first-innings lead of 166

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Sep-2017K Gowtham picked up his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket•PTI

India Green, steamrolled by the spin combination of Karn Sharma and K Gowtham, lost their last eight wickets for 34 runs as India Red took a first-innings lead of 166 in the opening fixture of the pink-ball tournament in Lucknow. By stumps on day two, India Red had stretched their lead to 185 for the loss of one wicket.Gowtham’s offbreaks fetched him his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, while the legspinner Karn collected four wickets to derail an India Green team that had looked on course to get close to India Red’s first-innings total of 323. India Green were 123 for 2, following a 113-run stand for the third wicket between Prashant Chopra (65) and Karun Nair (37), before the two spinners caused havoc. The only other India Green batsman to reach double-figures was the captain Parthiv Patel, and when he reached 5, he completed 10,000 first-class runs. Gowtham, however, removed all three players before they could cause too much damage, and then cleaned up the tail to finish with 5 for 46.In the afternoon, India Red added 101 to their overnight total of 232 for 5 before being bowled out. Dinesh Karthik, their captain, completed his half-century before he was eighth out with his team approaching 300. Part-time offspinner M Vijay turned out to be India Green’s most successful bowler: he finished with career-best first-class figures of 3 for 46.After 15 wickets were lost on the second day, India Red began their second innings with 13 overs still remaining. They finished the day on 19 for 1, with Vijay trapping opener Sudip Chatterjee lbw.

Captaining New South Wales, the 31-year old wicketkeeper is focused on making a strong start to the Sheffield Shield season

Daniel Brettig05-Oct-2017Peter Nevill made a lot of runs last summer, albeit not for the team that needed them most. He followed his dropping from the Australian Test squad by pulling together 625 runs at 56.81 for New South Wales, including three centuries in neat, unobtrusive style.Among these was an unbeaten 179 against Tasmania in his first Sheffield Shield match after losing his Test place, moving the national coach Darren Lehmann to offer a decidedly mixed assessment. “Yeah it was a fantastic knock. He played really well, we watched it. He’s a good young player. Would have loved that 179 in a Test match for us, so that’s the difference probably.”Whether playing a cover drive or bidding to play for Australia again, timing is all. A year on, Nevill is one of the wicketkeepers pressuring Matthew Wade to retain his Test spot.He will captain New South Wales against South Australia at Hurstville Oval on Friday as the stand-in for Moises Henriques, confident he has added greater confidence and technical proficiency to his batting, but without any illusions about how to get back to the top level – state first, country after.”I’ve been very conscious not to speculate as to what might happen,” Nevill said in Sydney. “I’ve got a very important role to captain the side for NSW now, so that’s got my full focus. I’ve never really sought the selectors out for any discussions anyway. You make runs, you keep well, you leave the decisions up to the people who are paid to make the decisions.”[I’ll be] doing whatever I need to do to help NSW win. We’ve got all our Test players back, everyone’s available for selection, so there’s a great opportunity there to be three wins and zero [losses] for NSW in the Shield at the start of the year. I’d like to do whatever I can to contribute to that, and play whatever role the captain needs me to play.”Nevill reflected on his time with the Blues after losing his Test berth as a period of reassessment and refreshment, noting the influence of the state’s then batting coach Dominic Thornely, who has since moved on to be assistant coach of the NSW women’s team.”He picked out a couple of key points that worked well for me for the back end of the Shield season and fortunately I was able to perform pretty well with the bat,” Nevill said.”I think it’s always an opportunity [to play for Australia], the next opportunity is just around the corner, you never know that’s going to happen. You’ve always got to be ready should that eventuate, but there’s no point focusing on it, it doesn’t really help matters.”Among Nevill’s other duties on Friday will be to keep wicket for the returning Mitchell Starc, placing him in a useful position to gauge the left-armer’s speed and rhythm on his return from a foot injury. “It’s always exciting, you always enjoy it, and you’re always very grateful that you’re not standing there facing him,” Nevill said of Starc. “You’re a long way back and just catching the ball, it’s much nicer than having to face it.”Starc and Nevill will both hope to be forming the same partnership during the Gabba Ashes Test match, but not before concentrating firmly upon the task of performing for NSW. Should they do that to a high standard, the rest will likely follow.

Important to focus and not let change in batting positions affect game, says India batsman

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Alur09-Nov-2017Mayank Agarwal’s classy century against Delhi on Thursday may have made him the star on most days. But for the few hundreds that gathered at the KSCA ground in Alur, Manish Pandey was all the rage. The Karnataka batsman was the sole recipient of applause from a clamouring crowd as he walked out to bat. Later, when a few members of the team cooled down with a light football session at the end of day’s play, Pandey was the centre of all attention again. It didn’t seem to matter that a few other heroes, who have also played for India, were in closer vicinity, jogging around by the boundary.This popularity of Pandey isn’t newfound, but it has certainly surged since he’s become a part of India’s limited-overs squad. Coming from the same batch of India Under-19s as Virat Kohli, Pandey hasn’t had the same opportunities or exposure at the senior level. He’s had to bide his time despite consistent scores in domestic cricket. His rise hasn’t been meteoric, but he’s still a popular player.Now, over two years since his international debut, Pandey is still fighting to nail a permanent spot. Constant changes to his batting position haven’t made the process easy. An average of 43 and strike-rate of 95 suggests there’s ability and potential, but it hasn’t always been enough. There’s been competition in the form of Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik and KL Rahul, his good friend and Karnataka team-mate. That is perhaps why every opportunity he gets at any level of competitive cricket is a blessing at this stage of his career.Barely a few hours after turning up for India in a T20 international against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram, Pandey hopped onto a flight to Bangalore and drove to Alur, on the outskirts of the city, to join his Karnataka mates ahead of a crucial Ranji Trophy game. The batsmen who preceded him had set it up nicely. The sunshine had eased out whatever moisture there was on the surface, and Delhi’s bowlers were tiring. Pandey walked in and stroked a half-century, the significance of which was magnified by the presence of MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors. After a punchy 74, Pandey acknowledged it was important to not let the bar drop.”It’s a completely different ball game [playing four-day cricket as compared to the limited-overs formats], you know,” he said. “I had more time to settle down and play my shots as the innings progressed. It’ll be important for me to continue batting like this and have fun.”It was quite easy. The plan was to come at No. 4, but with the jet lag and stuff like that, I came in at No. 5. I have been playing a lot of ODI and T20, which obviously starts in the later part of the day. It was good to come back and play Ranji Trophy cricket for Karnataka. It was amazing to see the boys again. The partnership before definitely helped.”Pandey had a rousing start to his one-day career, with a half-century against Zimbabwe in Harare. Three games later, he blitzed a match-winning century against Australia in Sydney. A middling series against New Zealand cost him his place, and it took nearly a year for him to get a chance again, after a highly successful series with the India A team in South Africa.Pandey announced his return with an unbeaten half-century in a crushing 168-run win over Sri Lanka. Since then, he has floated between Nos. 4 and 6, not remaining in the same position for more than three games in a row. It also hasn’t helped that he returned with two single-digit scores in the three innings that he batted at No. 4. With India still in the hunt for a permanent fix to the No. 4 spot, those were costly lapses.Pandey’s game is well-suited to the position as he has the wherewithal to play the big shots as well as build an innings, like he showed in that Sydney hundred against Australia. However, being denied the luxury of settling into a position has made the bid harder.”I didn’t think about international cricket or the memories from before. I only thought about Karnataka cricket and my batting today,” he said. “I was looking forward to play this game. It is a little difficult to adapt, but I think I have done this for a long time. It’s a part of the game where the team wants you to play No. 4 or 5 or 6, and it’ll be important for me to stay focussed and keep waiting for the call-up.”Pandey last played a first-class match in December last year, when Karnataka conceded the quarterfinal of the previous season’s Ranji Trophy to Tamil Nadu inside two days. Given how heavily involved he has been in limited-overs cricket in that time, the pace at which Pandey struck his runs on Thursday perhaps wasn’t entirely surprising. But he denied any conscious effort in tweaking his game.”You don’t look to score a boundary every ball, but I look to score a single every ball, be a little aggressive. Even if it’s a defence, the intention is to be aggressive. Because of a lot of T20 cricket that is happening, cricket has changed in such a way that batsmen want to score runs and score boundaries. In a way, that’s really good for cricket where it’s looking good from the outside. I think we should just focus on getting runs.”