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Clyde Cumberbatch officiated in 12 Tests and 26 ODIs from 1981 to 1997 before serving as the chairman of West Indies umpires training and examination committee for 12 years

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jan-2018Clyde Cumberbatch, who officiated in 12 Tests and 26 ODIs from 1981 to 1997, has died aged 81, in Port-of-Spain.After his umpiring career Cumberbatch worked as the chairman of West Indies umpires training and examination committee for 12 years. After he stepped down from the committee in June 2017, he was bestowed with an honorary life membership.Peter Nero, who had replaced Cumberbatch in the committee, paid tribute to his predecessor. “I sent a message to my mother this morning and I told her I had just lost my umpiring father,” Nero told . “Mr Clyde Cumberbatch has been all the superlatives that you can think about to me since I first met him around 17 or 18 years ago – friend, mentor, coach, supporter, well wisher.”

Test captain turned down Trevor Bayliss’ offer of rest and could put name forward for IPL auction on January 27-28

David Hopps09-Jan-2018Joe Root’s decision to play in the Twenty20 Tri-series in Australia and New Zealand next month came against the advice of England’s coach, Trevor Bayliss, who initially suggested that he should recognise the perpetual demands upon him and rest for the duration of the tournament.Bayliss’ revelation that Root wanted to play in the tournament to re-establish himself as a T20 cricketer will quicken speculation that he could enter the IPL auction on January 27-28 and commit himself to a life of virtually non-stop cricket.That Root wants to play IPL is certain; the only question is when. At the very least, his intention is to put a marker down by playing in the tri-tournament and stressing that he wants to be seen as a cricketer committed to all three formats.As Bayliss recognised, “you’ve almost got to be Superman” to do that and that is before the additional responsibilities of the England captaincy are taken into account. Root looked drawn and dejected by the time England’s Ashes defeat was confirmed and, although a bout of gastro-enteritis which caused him to miss the final day of the series might have just been one of those things, it did serve as a reminder of the pressures upon him.Bayliss’ chat with Root about his plans for the rest of England’s winter came as the Ashes series ended and Australia unveiled their giant-sized Hand of Victory – the sort of marketing gimmick that must tempt England to try to stage-manage a 2-0 win next time in search of an appropriate hand gesture in response.”I suggested to him that he shouldn’t play, that he should have a break,” Bayliss said. “He feels that whenever he’s had a break in the last couple of years, it’s always been a T20 series, and he wants to play in 50-over World Cups and T20 World Cups, and he thinks if he keeps missing all the T20 cricket he’s just going to fall behind and not be up to speed when those come along. So you can understand where he’s coming from as well.”Bayliss suggested that he regarded the chat as unfinished which, although he did not say as much, might indicate that Root’s cricketing commitments until the start of the England international summer at the end of May have yet to be concluded.”The simple fact is you don’t want that to impact on his performances at Test and one-day level,” he said. “It’s just a Catch-22 situation: there are difficult decisions to make. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. One of the things I’ll be chatting with him about again is this T20 series, but after his illness I think we’ll have another discussion about that.”It’s long been accepted that stress can lead to illness but recently evidence has also accrued that some people have a tendency to become ill after a stressful period has come to an end.Joe Root plays through the off side•Getty Images

Root succinctly described his IPL dilemma in September. “It would be a great way to try and improve my white-ball game but ultimately I’m an England player and I want to be at my best when playing for England,” he said.That he has the talent to play all three forms of the game should be taken as read – but does he have the energy and resilience? He might not be the biggest hitter in the game, but his strokeplay has become increasingly dextrous – never better showcased than in Mumbai during the WT20 in 2016 when his brilliant 83 from 44 balls anchored England’s world-record run-chase against South Africa.Besides Root, only Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and, increasingly, Jonny Bairstow, are multi-formated internationals, but the financial rewards on offer are not easily ignored.”There is so much cricket these days, it’s very difficult to be playing all forms of cricket,” Bayliss said. “England, Australia and India play so much cricket. You’ve almost got to be Superman to get through it. I’m quite sure the players themselves would like it if there wasn’t quite as much cricket.”Since May last year we’ve had 21 months of cricket in 23. For someone like Joe Root, who plays in all formats, to get through all of those without missing a game is impossible. So separation of the two teams is happening naturally a little bit, because guys do find it very difficult – not so much to swap from one team to the other, but actually to put up with it. That’s just the way the game’s going.”Two years ago, Root shunned the IPL auction because he wanted to establish himself as a high-quality England Test batsman. In February last year, he had just succeeded Alastair Cook as England’s Test captain and also had the arrival of a new baby to contend with.That he would receive big bids in an IPL auction is inevitable – if not as big as the £1.7m that Rising Pune Giant paid to make Ben Stokes the most expensive overseas player in IPL history a year ago.That Root will play IPL one day soon is seen by Bayliss as inevitable. “It is just the way the world of cricket is going. If you don’t get involved in it you run the risk of dropping behind the rest of the players in the world and the rest of the teams in the world. You’ve just got to go with the flow and see where it takes you.”The official line from Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, is now firmly entrenched that the IPL is an opportunity for professional as well as financial advancement.Strikingly, Bayliss even suggested that the pre-Test county warm-ups might have to be jettisoned for players such as Root, demanding that he switches from format to format at will. He played two matches in 2017, as did his Yorkshire team-mate Bairstow, and they managed 30 runs between them.”If you look at the Aussies, they hardly play at all for their states but Joe does play a few for his county,” Bayliss observed. “Is that another opportunity to rest him? Rather than play in the last county match before a Test match we look at it from a longevity point of view and say don’t play these four days.”I’ve said to the players before, I’d much rather you miss a county match than miss playing for England, but it is a Catch-22 because you want guys in form to come into a Test match but if they do that, by the end of a home series they are flagging and we’ve got to rest them from England matches.”For county appearances to disappear entirely for the likes of Root in a desperate attempt to balance an overcrowded fixture list would be no surprise at all, but it would hardly begin to address the extent of the workload challenge faced by the world’s most sought-after, adaptable cricketers as the battle continues for their services.

An aggressive unbeaten 85 from Virat Kohli led India’s response to South Africa’s 335, but South Africa kept chipping away at the other end to end the second day firmly in front

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy14-Jan-20183:10

Chopra: South Africa marginally ahead in the game

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAn aggressive unbeaten 85 from Virat Kohli led India’s response to South Africa’s 335, but South Africa kept chipping away at the other end to end the second day firmly in front. Fighting against a five-man attack that hardly ever let up the pressure, India went to stumps trailing by 152, with only five wickets in hand. Kohli was still at the crease, and with him was the combative Hardik Pandya, their sixth-wicket partnership worth 19.On a pitch that didn’t offer a great deal of bounce or seam movement, Kohli put South Africa under pressure by trusting in his subcontinental method of taking a big stride forward and trying to score quickly off good-length balls. According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, he scored 47 runs off 51 “good-length” balls from the fast bowlers. His cover drives, as always stood out, but there were a couple of gorgeous straight-bat punches past the bowler too.For all that, he did not succeed in shifting South Africa away from their length. To Kohli, the four quicks bowled 41 balls just short of a good length, conceding 14 runs off them, and only eight balls that were either “full” or “short”. Those numbers summed up how well they bowled.Yet, the conditions were the most subcontinental India could have hoped for on this tour, and a couple of sizeable top-order partnerships could have put South Africa under serious pressure. Instead, India gifted them a couple of soft early wickets, back-to-back, and a third after their only major partnership, 79 between Kohli and M Vijay for the third wicket.In a series notable for the volume of the stump mics in the TV broadcast, two Kohli comments and their aftermath summed up India’s day.First, as tea approached, he yelled out to Vijay, in chaste and not-entirely-repeatable Hindi, that South Africa would be extremely worried if their partnership were to extend deep into the evening. This was true. Vijay was batting with a certain degree of comfort against the fast bowlers, and, having overcome a slightly iffy start, was defending and leaving vigilantly.Then, after tea, he grew a little loose against the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj. It’s a feature of Vijay’s game, a tendency to drop his guard against spin after focusing hard against pace. Time and again, he kept trying to cut balls from Maharaj that were neither short enough nor wide enough. On 46, the inevitable happened, and a top-edged cut settled inside Quinton de Kock’s gloves.Given India were only playing five specialist batsmen, the difference between 107 for 2 and 107 for 3 was significant. Especially when South Africa’s attempts to find reverse-swing were beginning to bear fruit.Kagiso Rabada came back into the attack immediately after Vijay’s dismissal, and his first ball was a sign of what was to come – a back-of-a-length ball in the corridor that reared up and seamed away to beat Kohli’s outside edge.Over after over, Rabada kept hanging the ball outside off stump, getting it to move away from the right-hander, testing their patience, and making them wonder when the inswinger would come. Towards the end of the fourth over of his spell, Kohli yelled out to Rohit Sharma, ” [he won’t bowl any more, it’s his fourth over!]”Rabada kept going, eventually sending down two more overs. The inswinger arrived twice either side of Kohli’s yell, both delivered at the perfect moment, with perfect control, after dragging his prey across the crease. Both produced big lbw shouts. Kohli was adjudged not out, and South Africa lost a review on height; Rohit was given out, and India retained a review but lost a wicket, with ball-tracking returning an umpire’s call verdict on height.There was no real pressure release when Rabada’s spell ended. Lungi Ngidi, the debutant, replaced him with no major loss in pace or wicket threat. An inside-edge saved Kohli when a full ball pinged him on the front pad, mid-shuffle, but Parthiv Patel, who scored 19 in a fifth-wicket stand of 32, had no such luck when he nicked a lifter in the corridor – an excellent way for Ngidi to pick up his first Test wicket.It wasn’t Ngidi’s first major intervention of the day. In the tenth over of India’s innings, he had moved swiftly to his right from mid-on, picked up, turned around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler’s end to find a diving Cheteshwar Pujara short of his crease while going for a suicidal single off the first ball he faced. This ball came right after Morne Morkel had dismissed KL Rahul, whose leaden-footed push at a full ball only succeeded in spooning a return catch. India had gifted South Africa two early wickets.In the morning session, a half-century from Faf du Plessis had helped South Africa add 66 to their overnight total for the loss of their four remaining wickets. A rash of missed chances – including two dropped catches off R Ashwin off successive balls to let off Rabada – frustrated India somewhat during a 42-run eighth-wicket stand between du Plessis and Rabada, but they created enough chances in an improved bowling performance for the let-offs to not cost them too much. Ishant Sharma ended up with three wickets, and Ashwin – who wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Morkel for the sixth time in six Tests – with four.

With little more than 12 months left for the 2019 World Cup, Jonny Bairstow and Eoin Morgan are seeing plenty of positives in the way England have performed in New Zealand

Andrew McGlashan in Christchurch10-Mar-2018Jonny Bairstow called England’s series-clinching performance in Christchurch “ruthless” and captain Eoin Morgan acknowledged such a display in a deciding match was significant.Having been well to wrap up the series in Dunedin – both before and after their collapse – it was another example of the belief, and depth, in England’s one-day cricket. Bairstow, who was not opening the batting a year ago, and now has four centuries and on Saturday, he added 155 with Alex Hales, who had sat out the series until now and only played because of Jason Roy’s back injury.Nothing can replicate the pressure of a knockout game in a global event, but with teams now entering the final 12-month build-up to the 2019 World Cup, any kind of practice is useful. England made the most of it, New Zealand faded badly.”We’d spoken many times about it being 2-2 and a huge game,” Bairstow said. “The way the guys came out, people had compared it to a knockout game, and the guys said this is how we’ll react. There was disappointment in the last game, huge credit to Ross for the innings he played, but that wasn’t good enough from us. We knew we needed to get better in certain areas and put in a clinical, ruthless performance and that’s what we did.”The ruthlessness was in no small part due to Bairstow as he crunched a 58-ball century, England’s third-fastest, to follow his 138 in Dunedin. “I’m happy, really happy to be honest with you,” he said. “After being in and out of the side, getting the odd game here or there, to then come in and contribute in a role I’ve not done a huge amount previously – you are still learning – is really pleasing. To score hundreds is your job.”And before the innings, Bairstow had taken a magnificent running catch around the deep midwicket boundary. “It’s been a good day. Really pleased to hold a catch like that, around the boundary at full tilt and it’s not far off your ankles. At first you aren’t sure if you are getting there, you have a second or two to judge it. It’s a split-second decision, sometimes you get it right.”Before the one-day series in Australia, Morgan had spoken about how he thought these two series would expose some of England’s weaknesses so was delighted to come out with 4-1 and 3-2 victories respectively. They had the Australia series wrapped up after three matches, but in New Zealand, they had to come back from a match down and then face a decider.”Reproducing things you do every day under pressure is something we do as professional sportsmen but doing it in a must-win game is that bit more important,” Morgan said. “We haven’t necessarily played our perfect game this winter but we’ve shown a lot of fight and character. We’ve won some games where, perhaps, we didn’t deserve to win them and that’s a really good sign for the team.”Morgan highlighted the bowling as the major area of gains over the last 10 matches and it was with the ball that England set the foundations for victory in Christchurch. Chris Woakes, who was named Man of the Series, did not go for more than 18 in any of his opening spells and again removed Colin Munro early in this match while Mark Wood claimed Kane Williamson cheaply too.”I think the bowling has come on hugely, probably our biggest improvement this winter,” Morgan said. “Defending a score without Liam Plunkett in Sydney or the Wellington match here. Never believing we are out of the game.”For New Zealand, this game had all but gone when they slumped to 93 for 6 in similar fashion to their defeat in Mount Maunganui, with the middle order struggling again in the absence of Ross Taylor.”The disappointing thing today is that there were too many soft dismissals through that middle order, we failed to adapt on a surface that was a little soft to start and the ball stood up but it was a good surface,” Williamson said. “There were definite decision-making errors on our part and that was the frustrating thing”England were good throughout this series and they never gave us an inch and today.”

Rain could be a dampener as Royal Challengers Bangalore begin a sequence of four straight home games, against Delhi Daredevils

The Preview by Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Apr-20184:29

Tait: De Granhomme is a death bowling option for RCB

Big picture

Four games into the season, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils occupy the bottom two spots on the IPL table. It’s not an unfamiliar position for either team. Both are coming off heavy defeats, and both have pressing issues to sort out if they are to make anything of this season.

Form guide (most recent match first)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: lost to Mumbai Indians by 46 runs, lost to Rajasthan Royals by 19 runs, beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets
Delhi Daredevils: lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 71 runs, beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets, lost to Rajasthan Royals by 10 runs (D/L method)

Bowling has been Daredevils’ failing so far: they have been the most expensive Powerplay attack this season, going at 10.75 an over in this phase, and the second-worst team in the middle overs (8.17). RCB have been just as bad: they have the worst economy rate of all IPL teams in the middle overs (8.47) and the death (12.5) this season.On the batting front, Daredevils have done okay, barring a disappointing chase against Kolkata Knight Riders, and by and large have their best line-up sorted out. Not so in RCB’s case: how else would you explain Virat Kohli playing for net run rate as soon as his team was two down in a big chase against Mumbai Indians?RCB will need to find a way to distribute Quinton de Kock, Kohli and AB de Villiers effectively through their batting order, determine how to make the best of a not-too-convincing second line of Indian batsmen, and figure out who among Brendon McCullum, Corey Anderson, Colin de Grandhomme, Tim Southee and Moeen Ali will most effectively plug whichever hole remains after attending to the first two tasks.Saturday’s match is the first of four home games in a row for RCB, which gives them an opportunity to play back-to-back games in similar conditions and get some consistency going. The weather, however, might not be their friend: it rained on the eve of the match, and more showers are expected on gameday.

In the news

• Rain forced both teams to cancel their training sessions on the eve of the match.
• An illness had kept Tim Southee from joining the RCB squad in India, but he has now arrived in Bengaluru.

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The likely XIs

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Quinton de Kock (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Mandeep Singh, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Corey Anderson/Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Siraj/Kulwant Khejroliya, 11 Yuzvendra ChahalDelhi Daredevils: 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Jason Roy, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (wk), 5 Glenn Maxwell, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Rahul Tewatia, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Shahbaz Nadeem, 11 Trent Boult

Strategy punt

Jason Roy’s vulnerability to legspin is well known (12 dismissals in 22 T20 innings since 2015, while scoring 123 off 112 balls) and it is quite likely RCB will look to exploit it by opening their bowling with Yuzvendra Chahal. With this in mind, Daredevils could perhaps promote Rishabh Pant to partner Roy at the top of the order. In T20s since 2015, Pant has scored 128 off 87 balls against legspin, while only being dismissed three times. This could force a scenario where RCB either hold back Chahal or risk him coming up against Pant.Gautam Gambhir, while generally reckoned to be a good player of spin, hasn’t been nearly as effective as Pant against legspin in T20s since 2015: 180 off 157 balls, nine dismissals.

Stats that matter

• Since the 2011 season, RCB have a 10-1 win-loss record against Daredevils
• AB de Villiers loves to bat against Chris Morris. In five T20 meetings, he has scored 50 off 21 balls against his compatriot without being dismissed.
• Glenn Maxwell, on the other hand, has poor T20 records against two key RCB bowlers: 26 off 25 balls with three dismissals against Yuzvendra Chahal, and 17 off 19 balls with three dismissals against Umesh Yadav.
• Rishabh Pant (3.25 balls per boundary) and Maxwell (3.33) have been two of the four most frequent boundary-hitters in IPL 2018, among batsmen who have faced a minimum of 30 balls. The other two in the top four are Andre Russell (2.90) and Dwayne Bravo (3.27).
• Umesh has been phenomenal against left-hand batsmen this season, conceding only 30 runs to them in 31 balls while taking three wickets.

Fantasy picks

In his last three innings, Quinton de Kock has scored 45, 26 and 19, showing glimpses of his best form without really being able to translate that into a big score. Perhaps Saturday is the day that happens, when he faces off against his former team.

Quotes

“In IPL, it never happens that you get a four-day break in between [matches]. We utilised that to gel together and have brain-storming meetings. Confidence is there because of how we beat Mumbai.”

Smith and David Warner will make their return to competitive cricket in the Global T20 Canada at the end of June

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jun-2018Australia’s former captain Steven Smith has revealed that he “spent four days in tears” as the magnitude of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal and its penalties dawned on him.On the day that he and David Warner were picked up by teams in the forthcoming Global T20 Canada tournament, as part of their plans to return to competitive action while serving 12-month playing bans imposed by Cricket Australia, Smith spoke at Sydney’s Knox Grammar School for the Gotcha 4 Life Foundation.”To be honest, I probably spent four days in tears. I was really struggling mentally and I was really lucky that I had some close friends and family members that I could speak to at all hours of the day,” Smith said in audio obtained by the .”The people that I had supporting me through that whole time made a huge difference to the head space I am in now.”While Warner took part in the New South Wales squad’s 2km time trial to start their pre-season training schedule, Smith is expected to keep training privately before making the trip to Toronto, for a tournament where he will donate his fees to community cricket projects in Canada and Australia.Warner will turn out for the Winnipeg Hawks in the tournament that runs from June 28 to July 15, while Smith – a marquee player – will play for Toronto Nationals. After this tournament, Warner has committed to playing cricket in Australia’s Northern Territory along with Cameron Bancroft, the third player to be banned during the scandal. They will play in Darwin’s limited-overs Strike League, with Bancroft committing to playing the entire tournament while Warner will play two games.The Global T20 Canada will take place at Maple Leaf Cricket Club located in King City, Ontario, a small rural village 25 miles north of downtown Toronto. Apart from Smith and Warner, some other high-profile internationals taking part include Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga, and West Indian T20 superstars Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo.SquadsToronto Nationals: Darren Sammy, Steve Smith, Kieron Pollard, Kamran Akmal, Hussain Talat, Rumman Raees, Nikhil Dutta, Johnson Charles, Kesrick Williams, Naved Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Farhan Malik, Nitish Kumar, Usama Mir, Rohan Mustafa, Mohammad Umair Ghani. Coach: Phil SimmonsVancouver Knights: Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis, Tim Southee, Chadwick Walton, Fawad Ahmed, Babar Hayat, Sheldon Cottrell, Saad Bin Zafar, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Srimantha Wijeratne, Kamau Leverock, Steven Jacobs, Salman Nazar, Rassie van der Dussen, Jeremy Gordon. Coach: Donovan MillerEdmonton Royals: Shahid Afridi, Chris Lynn, Luke Ronchi, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Christiaan Jonker, Wayne Parnell, Asif Ali, Hasan Khan, Agha Salman, Shaiman Anwar, Ammar Khalid, Satsimranjit Dhindsa, Ahmed Raza, Simon Pervez, Abraash Khan. Coach: Mohammad AkramMontreal Tigers: Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine, Thisara Perera, Mohammad Hafeez, Denesh Ramdin, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sikandar Raza, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, George Worker, Najibullah Zadran, Cecil Pervez, Ibrahim Khaleel, Dillon Heyliger, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyan Pathan. Coach: Tom MoodyWinnipeg Hawks: Dwayne Bravo, David Miller, David Warner, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Rayad Emrit, Ben McDermott, Ali Khan, Hamza Tariq, Junaid Siddiqui, Tion Webster, Rizwan Cheema, Hiral Patel, Mark Deyal, Kyle Phillip. Coach: Waqar YounisWest Indies B: Anthony Bramble (Captain), Fabian Allen, Alick Athanaze, Roland Cato, Justin Greaves, Derval Green, Kavem Hodge, Brandon King, Jeremiah Louis, Obed McCoy, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Shamar Springer

Returning from a long lay-off, fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has been picked in a 13-man West Indies squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, which starts on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2018Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has been picked in West Indies’ 13-man squad for the second Test against Bangladesh starting Thursday, returning after a long lay-off. Kemar Roach, who picked a hamstring strain in the first innings of the first Test which the hosts won by an innings and 219 runs, has been ordered to rest.Joseph, who last played a Test in August 2017, recently returned to action after more than six months on the sidelines because of a stress fracture he sustained in New Zealand last December. Once he recovered, Joseph was picked in a 12-man President’s XI squad to take on Bangladesh in a two-day game. He was the most impressive bowler for his team, finishing with 4 for 53 from 15 overs, taking the first four wickets of the Bangladesh innings – of Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Shakib Al Hasan.Joseph made his Test debut against India in 2016 and has played six Tests since then, picking up 15 wickets at an average of 38.86. He has also played 14 ODIs for 23 wickets, but has not made his T20I debut yet.The second and final Test of the series will be played at Sabina Park before the two teams play three ODIs and as many T20Is.Squad: Jason Holder (capt), Devendra Bishoo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Roston Chase, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shimron Hetmyer, Alzarri Joseph, Shai Hope, Keemo Paul, Kieran Powell, Devon Smith.

The former world-cup winning captain’s journey from cricketer to politician is finally complete

Danyal Rasool17-Aug-2018Imran Khan’s journey from cricketer to politician is finally complete, with the former captain and 1992 World Cup winner sworn in today, as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan. In an inauguration ceremony that saw dignitaries from several walks of life, cricketers featured heavily. Among those were several members of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup winning squad, including Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq – now chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team. Former India batsman Navjot Sidhu was also present, the only foreign cricketer to attend the ceremony.The oath of the Prime Minister was delivered by Pakistan president Mamnoon Hussain to a visibly emotional and slightly nervous Imran, who promised to: “Discharge my duties and perform my functions honestly, to the best of my ability… and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of Pakistan.”That Imran would become prime minister was only formally confirmed on Friday after the former allrounder won a parliamentary vote. But following the success of his party – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) – in elections across the country last month, his rise to the top political job had been a foregone conclusion for a few weeks. Eventually, he beat the rival candidate, Shehbaz Sharif, by 176 votes to 96.The inauguration ceremony might have had a few more cricketers from India had Imran decided to stick to its original blueprint. Initially, he had grand plans for the event, wanting it to be a celebration that extended beyond the political nature of the occasion, and hoped to invite a number of his cricketing contemporaries from India. Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar were among those. However, Imran backtracked later, opting for a more “austere” ceremony. Sidhu, who had called Imran a “pure soul who led from the front” after the elections, was present though.Imran’s dovish remarks about India since winning the election may have given long-suffering fans on both sides of the border hope that cricketing ties between the two countries could resume. Political tensions have meant India and Pakistan haven’t played any bilateral cricket since Pakistan toured India in 2012 for two T20Is and three ODIs, while the last time they played a Test match was back in 2007. Indeed, it wasn’t hard to notice the extension of the recent warmth spilling over into today’s ceremony, with Sidhu and Pakistan’s army chief sharing a gentle embrace following friendly conversation between the two. Pakistan and India’s next fixture is mere weeks away – a group stage tie at the Asia Cup in the UAE in September.Since retiring from cricket after winning the World Cup in 1992, Imran increasingly turned his attention to politics. He formed his own political party in 1996, but it wasn’t until 15 years later in 2011 that he emerged as a serious political force. His party was one of the main opposition forces after the 2013 elections, when Nawaz Sharif became prime minister.Now, with Imran’s rise to the job he had eyed for over two decades, there could be significant changes afoot in Pakistan, particularly as far as cricket is concerned. He has a famously poor relationship with the current chairman of the PCB, Najam Sethi, whom he has repeatedly accused over the years of helping Nawaz Sharif unjustly win the elections in 2013. With the prime minister allowed – according to the PCB constitution – to change the PCB chairman if he so desires, Sethi’s days at the helm of the PCB could be numbered.

Mitchell Marsh and Peter Handscomb struggled again while Mohammed Siraj bagged his second ten-wicket haul in three first-class matches

The Report by Varun Shetty in Bengaluru04-Sep-2018
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Australia A edged ahead at the end of the third day, thanks to Travis Head’s free-flowing 87, crucial contributions from the lower order, uneven bounce late in the day and a gifted wicket from India A. The visitors, who had begun the day on 42 for 1, added 250 to their overnight score and set India 262 for a win in the first four-dayer in Bengaluru. India A were 63 for 2 at stumps, with Mayank Agarwal and Ankit Bawne unbeaten on 25 and 6 respectively.Early in the day, Australia were forced to haul the momentum back once again after a middle-order slide. Usman Khawaja and Head, the overnight batsmen, were both in good touch through the morning session. In the opening 30 minutes, they were aggressive against seamer Navdeep Saini, picking up four boundaries off him in two overs and taking him out of the attack. Both left-handers were confident with their footwork, and neither of India’s two frontline spinners were able to trouble them as they extended their second-wicket stand to 81.Once again, the onus was on Mohammed Siraj to produce the breakthrough, and when he straightened one past Khawaja’s outside edge to hit off stump, the fast bowler completed his second ten-wicket haul in three first-class games.The wicket opened India up to a fragile Australian middle order comprising Peter Handscomb and Mitchell Marsh, and both the No. 4 and No. 5 batsmen were dismissed without getting past single-digit scores. Handscomb was out caught at slip, though it wasn’t clear whether his frustration was because he hadn’t got glove on it or because he has now made fewer than ten in five of his last six first-class innings.Marsh made his frustration clear, too, after being given run-out by the square-leg umpire, although it didn’t appear like he had a lot going his way during that sequence. Head had pushed the ball gently to the right of cover and Marsh had called through for a run he never looked like having the legs for. His big strides were languid, but he didn’t put in a dive in the end as wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat collected Shreyas Iyer’s throw and whipped the bails off.At 134 for 4, Marnus Labuschagne set out to perform yet another rescue act. Head was the more confident batsman during the 50-run stand for the fifth wicket, complementing his positive front-foot play with equal confidence off the back foot. On a slow track, the Indian spinners didn’t find too much bounce, and every time Head got onto the back foot for the cut, he had time to pick off runs on either side of sweeper cover.But it was exactly that sense of security that Gowtham sought to exploit when he pushed an arm ball through from around the wicket and Head, opening up his stumps for the cut again, was cramped by the extra pace, falling for 87. The top-order batsman, who is pushing for Test selection, is now without a century in 16 first-class innings.Unlike the first two days, reverse-swing wasn’t a feature at all on the third day, and the first, marginal signs of it came in the 61st over of the day. This meant the lower order, led first by Labuschagne, and then by Michael Neser, threw their bats around and added 108 for the last five wickets to push the lead past 200, a score that India A batsman Bawne had said they would be comfortable chasing.Left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav was inconsistent again, although the ploy to get Labuschagne driving against the turn from around the wicket was smartly executed by pushing long-off and cover back.With momentum from their batting exploits and a cloudy period at the start of the fourth innings, Australia’s bowlers came in at full tilt against India’s new opening pair. But Abhimanyu Easwaran, who replaced R Samarth as Mayank Agarwal’s opening partner, was trapped plumb in front by Chris Tremain in the third over as he tried to navigate the up-and-down nature of the pitch from the Pavilion End.India A captain Iyer then came in at No. 3 and unleashed some glorious strokes, driving Tremain for four wide of mid-off, and then flicking him over square leg for six. In the next over, he clubbed Jon Holland for two sixes over the leg side. But his innings was short-lived. He jumped down the track to the first ball of the spinner’s next over, despite a spread-out field, and injudiciously swiped a catch to long-off.

England’s spinners had to beat the rain in the second ODI, and more of the same may be required at Pallekele

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Pallekele16-Oct-2018The northeast monsoon is in operation, more rain is on the way, and with further interruptions likely, spinners may again be asked to rush through the overs so that enough have been completed to constitute a game. This was what transpired in the second ODI in Dambulla. England’s quicks had reduced Sri Lanka to 35 for 4 at the end of nine overs, and in doing so had got their team miles in front of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score.With clouds gathering to the south, Eoin Morgan threw the ball to his spinners. Their mandate: to get through 11 overs as quickly as possible, so the minimum 20 could be completed. But in rushing through, England did give Sri Lanka a faint glimmer of hope, Dhananjaya de Silva forging recoveries with Kusal Perera initially, and then Thisara Perera. Having been allowed to ease themselves in through a period in which England’s priority was not on maintaining optimal pressure on the opposition, Dhananjaya and Thisara were approaching half-centuries when the rain did eventually come, and wash out the remainder of the match.England were still comfortable winners, but they have nevertheless taken stock of the fact that they were not as clinical through those 11 overs as they would have liked to be.”You’ve got to rush through the overs but not rush through your bowling,” said Moeen Ali, who delivered five of those 11 overs. “You’re rushing through field placings, and your thinking’s not as clear. I think once we got the 20 overs out of the way we took our time a little bit as usual. We’ve spoken about that and we’ve got to counter that and take that into the equation. There may be a time when the situation gets like that again, and we’ve got to be a bit smarter.”Batsmen have often spoken of being frustrated by rain interruptions, which serve sometimes to break concentration and sap their innings of momentum. Bowlers also have to adjust to shortened games, Moeen said, though with the rise of T20, defending a total over a fewer number of overs is perhaps not the challenge it once was.”With so much T20 around now it does help a little bit to adjust, because you know about the shorter game. Field restrictions are different. I think it’s more about staying in the moment. Each over that you bowl is very, very important.”Though England played no fewer than three frontline spinners on Saturday, with left-arm spinner Liam Dawson joining the more-established pairing of Moeen and Adil Rashid, England will be without Dawson for the rest of the series, after he suffered a side strain during that second ODI. As a result, England’s XI is likely to look more like the team they field at home, with a third seamer likely to enter the side in Dawson’s place.”We’ll just probably go back to the balance of the team we’ve had over the last few years,” Moeen said. “It’s a shame for Daws. It would have been a great opportunity to play regularly. I think that’s something he’s been wanting for a while. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened for him.”