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NSW suffered a stutter in their pursuit of 128 when they lost three wickets in four overs after a 72-run opening stand, but Man-of-the-Match Daniel Hughes steered the side home

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2017
ScorecardFile Photo – Sean Abbott picked up a four-for in the second innings•Getty Images

New South Wales surged to their third successive win of the Sheffield Shield, with a six-wicket win over Queensland in Brisbane, needing a little over 30 overs to chase down a target of 128.NSW already had an upper hand when play resumed on the third day, having reduced Queensland to 5 for 129. The pace trio of Sean Abbott, Trent Copeland and Doug Bollinger went on to wrap up Queensland for 215, the only resistance coming from batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who battled to 88.NSW’s modest fourth-innings pursuit suffered a stutter when they lost three wickets in four overs. That slide, however, came after the openers David Warner and Nic Maddinson had already added 72 for the first wicket to take command. While Warner scored 37, Steven Smith was dismissed for 9, and it was left to Man-of-the-Match Daniel Hughes to see NSW home. Three of NSW’s four wickets were taken by Luke Feldman.

Naik Cricketers cruise in middling chase

05-Nov-2017Batting first, the Scorpions had a flying start, scoring 17 runs in 2 overs. The openers gave a start but couldn’t capitalize on the situation, by the end of 4th over, they were down to 36 runs for 3 wickets. Wickets kept falling in regular intervals due to aerial shots and run outs due to miscommunication between batsmen.Naik Cricketers controlled the runs from the 6th over, making the batsmen play defensive shots and hold their wickets. They ended their innings at 50 for the loss of 8 wickets.Chasing a gettable target of 51, Naik batsmen ensured to finish the match as early as possible, the opening batsmen played aggressive to reach 30 runs in 3 overs for the loss of 1 wicket.Dhanuka & Mandar ensured the runs kept ticking on the board. Usman who was the only bowler to take two wickets from Scorpions managed to take the partners out in the 5th over but by then the game was already over, a four hit by Imran ended the match and Naik winning comfortably.

The India fast bowler said the team hasn’t been provided with the pitches they wanted in preparation for the South Africa tour, but that they made for a good test of their fitness

Sidharth Monga in Delhi04-Dec-2017For long periods in the Delhi Test, it will have seemed India are not getting what they wanted from it – preparation for the South Africa tour – but there also would have been satisfaction that they could put in long spells in testing conditions and come back with rewards towards the end of the day.”The kind of wickets we wanted to prepare on before going to South Africa, we haven’t been provided with those kind of wickets,” Mohammed Shami, India’s big hope for away tours, said. “So it didn’t go as per our plans. But it’s a good thing that on these kind of tracks, you need to work hard as a bowler. These kind of tracks test your fitness as you get to bowl long spells. Overall as a bowling unit, all bowlers have together bowled more than 100 overs (130 overs). So you can see how much effort we are putting.”For Shami personally, it was a bigger physical test because he had a bit of a cold coming into the Test. However, he did acknowledge – unlike his bowling coach B Arun on day two – that the Delhi pollution can have a serious, adverse effect on those not used to these conditions.”I was a bit under the weather even before the match started,” Shami said. “I had a cold. Yes, pollution is an aspect that we seriously need to think about. But not to the extent that it was being portrayed. Also, it could be that we are more used to it and our ability. I think we need to check what are the reasons of pollution and try to minimise it. Look, we are used to suffering from all these problems.”Then there were dropped catches, all three at second slip, by Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. This will be a big concern for India before the big tour, because slip catching to fast bowlers is crucial in those parts. Shami said it does frustrate the bowlers but it was something they had to put behind them.”Fielders are not machines that they will grab anything that comes their way,” Shami said. “Yes, you might get angry when a catch is dropped but we are a team, and we play together all the year around for the country. You have to ignore and move on.”Asked if the bowlers get a say in deciding the cordon and possibly pick fielders they are confident of, he said it is best if bowlers are kept away from these decisions. “It’s after a long time this unit has dropped so many catches in a match,” Shami said. “You need to take it in your stride and move on. We need to work hard and improve.”

The squad also sees the return of Morne Morkel and Chris Morris, who missed out on the Bangladesh series with a side strain and back issue respectively

Firdose Moonda25-Jan-20182:50

‘Zondo brings maturity and leadership’ – Cullinan

Lungi Ngidi and Khaya Zondo have been named in South Africa’s ODI squad for the first three matches against India starting on February 1. The pair are uncapped in the format, though Zondo was part of the limited-overs squad that traveled to India in late 2015. Ngidi has played three T20s but no ODIs, after a rib injury resulted in him missing out on the ODI series against Sri Lanka last January and he could not be considered for the Champions Trophy squad because of a back problem.The squad also sees the return of Morne Morkel and Chris Morris, who missed out on the Bangladesh series with a side strain and back issue respectively, as well as a return for Tabraiz Shamsi as the second spinner, behind Imran Tahir.The major surprise was the exclusion of Farhaan Behardien, who has been a regular member of the side and currently sits sixth in the one-day cup run charts, where he is averaging over 50, with a strike-rate of over 92. In contrast, Zondo is in 16th place with an average of 43.83 and a strike rate just over 65 but was preferred over Behardien as part of South Africa’s “vision 2019″ – their grand plan to fine-tune their World Cup squad.”It’s important for us to be clear in terms of where we are in our plans. We are starting our vision 2019, which are the players we are looking for,” Linda Zondi, South Africa’s convener of selectors said. “It is important for us to increase the pool and give opportunity so that we know by the time it comes to late this year, we don’t have to be clouded. This is a holistic approach in terms of giving opportunity. This is going to happen for the whole year. There will be guys, key guys, that we are going to rest and rotate.”The rotation policy will apply for the six-match India series and South Africa’s July-August tour of Sri Lanka, after which Zondi hopes to be “more or less close” to a World Cup pool.Zondo is a particularly interesting selection because of his backstory. He did not play a game on the India tour in 2015, even when JP Duminy was injured in the series. Instead, Dean Elgar was flown to India and played, prompting a furore from black African players in the country. They penned a letter to CSA, bemoaning the fortunes of black players and asking for fair opportunities. The following year, CSA made public a transformation target that requires the national side to play a minimum average of six players of colour of which at least two must be black African over the course of the season.South Africa have stuck to that target and Zondo is unlikely to go uncapped again. Zondi explained Zondo is being looked at as having a future in the middle order. “We feel he can play a role in terms of rotating the strike and he does have the strength in terms of clearing the boundary. He has shown potential and his skills in South Africa A,” Zondi said.But Behardien was assured his World Cup dreams were not over. He will come into consideration after the first half of the India series, when South Africa will reassess their squad. “He knows, every single player knows that after the third game, we are going to sit and decide. We will definitely be resting, rotating and giving opportunity otherwise we will be sitting with the same names as we prepare for 2019,” Zondi said.BCCI

Other positions that South Africa woud want to look at are of the spinner and the wicketkeeper, with Tahir and Quinton de Kock well established and a lack of serious candidates to challenge either of them. Shamsi has been around the squad but last played an ODI in February last year against New Zealand. He is the leading wicket-taker in the one-day cup, with 26 scalps, nine more than his nearest contender, at an average of 14.84, but faces some competition from Test tweaker Keshav Maharaj.”At the moment, I think Tahir is still our No.1 spinner. Shamsi will come into the picture,” Zondi explained. “There are a couple of spinners we need to look at. Maharaj is part and parcel. He bowls and he bats, he is a good fielder. Let’s see what Shamsi can bring to the table and we also need to see how we can bring Maharaj.”In the keeping department, South Africa have not named a reserve for de Kock but may do later in the series. “What happens if Quinton gets injured? Is AB going to take the gloves? Maybe not, but we have a plan in terms of a keeper,” Zondi said. “With the keeping situation, we’ve got [Heinrich] Klaasen, [Mangaliso] Mosehle and [Rudi] Second.”The only person who may have to wait his turn is Dale Steyn, who is recovering from a heel injury and is only expected to return to the international stage for the Australia Tests. Steyn has not played an ODI since October 2016 and has not played even domestic 50-over cricket since his shoulder injury 13 months ago. Though Steyn, like so many of South Africa’s seniors, has his heart set on the World Cup, it appears as though his place is not guaranteed.”For now, the main focus is to see how Dale Steyn does in the Tests. He needs to go back to the franchise and see where he is with white ball,” Zondi said. “I am quite comfortable with the manner that he performed when he came back. Now he has a different injury but I am very optimistic. He is part of this vision.”ODI squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Khaya Zondo

The spinner was a leading candidate for the role ever since the franchise signed him for USD 1.1 million at the player auction in January

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Feb-20182:25

Can IPL 2018 revive Ashwin’s limited-overs fortunes?

Kings XI Punjab have announced that R Ashwin will captain them in the 2018 season of the IPL. The India spinner was a leading candidate for the role ever since the franchise signed him for INR 7.6 crores (USD 1.1 million) at the player auction in January. While he has never captained in the IPL before, Ashwin has frequently led his state Tamil Nadu in various domestic competitions.”The best quality in Ashwin is that he is very smart and he understands this T20 format better than anybody else,” Virender Sehwag, Kings XI team director and mentor said. “This year we decided to do something different and I think he is the perfect choice for the captaincy.”Ashwin, 31, played for Chennai Super Kings from 2009 to 2015, before spending the 2016 season with Rising Pune Supergiant following his hometown franchise’s suspension from the tournament. He sat out the entire 2017 season with sports hernia.This season is a new beginning for Ashwin in more than one way. He has expanded his bowling skillset, and has revealed he will bowl legspin as well as his regular offspin. A good IPL season could also push his claims for a recall to India’s limited-overs sides; while he is firmly India’s No. 1 spinner in Tests, he has not played an ODI or T20I since July 2017.This season will also be his first for an IPL team not led by or including MS Dhoni, and is therefore an opportunity for him to show his leadership skills. Ashwin is known to be an innovative captain in domestic cricket, frequently setting unorthodox fields and making imaginative tactical decisions.

Bracey, 20 years old and Bristol-born, impressed at the end of the 2017 season

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2018Gloucestershire have signed James Bracey until the end of the 2019 season.Bracey, 20 years old and Bristol-born, impressed at the end of the 2017 season. He made a maiden first-class century – 156 – against Glamorgan in the penultimate round of games and followed it with an unbeaten 82 in the final round against Derbyshire.He also kept wicket in both games, having made his first-class debut as a teenager at the end of 2016 as a specialist batsmen.Bracey, who has represented Gloucestershire at age-group level since he was 11 and signed an academy contract in 2015, will join up with the club at the end of his summer term at university. He is in his final year at Loughborough – studying Sports Science with Management – where he has also represented the MCCU at first-class level.”James had an excellent end to the 2017 season and showed the players and supporters the potential that he has,” Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said. “Therefore, I am delighted that he has signed a two-year contract with Gloucestershire where he can continue to improve and build on this talent.”Keeping our best homegrown young talent is a major goal and doing this will help continue to improve the team over the coming seasons.”

Batsman bows out ahead of Pakistan leg of PSL, to bring end to colourful and controversial playing career

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Mar-2018Kevin Pietersen, one of the most brilliant and divisive cricketers of his generation, appears to have called time on his playing career with a four-word update to his 3.65 million Twitter followers.Pietersen, who had declared in February that this season’s Pakistan Super League would be his last tournament, tweeted “BOOTS UP! Thank you!” to his fans in the wake of what seems to have been his final appearance for Quetta Gladiators on Thursday night.Pietersen’s returns in the tournament were underwhelming as Quetta finished fourth in the table to earn themselves a play-off berth – he made 7 from six balls against Islamabad United in that final innings, and managed just one half-century in eight innings all told – albeit an explosive 52 from 34 balls against Karachi Kings.But now, with the tournament shifting to Pakistan for two Eliminator matches in Lahore before the final in Karachi on March 25, Pietersen has joined his fellow England cricketers, Eoin Morgan, Alex Hales and Jason Roy, in opting out of travelling to the country for security reasons.At the age of 37, Pietersen’s enthusiasm for the hard graft of competitive cricket has been visibly waning in recent months. He warned that he was “nearly done and dusted” during his stint with Melbourne Stars during the Big Bash, and prior to his departure for the PSL, he posted an emotional farewell to his family on Instagram, adding that “this evening is the last one I’ll ever have to do.”Pietersen added a further update on his Twitter feed on Saturday morning, which appeared to cement his decision. “Just been told that I scored 30000+ runs which included 152 fifty’s & 68 hundreds in my professional career,” he wrote. “Time to move on!”Though he has shown glimpses of his enduring class in his recent engagements, it is plain that the passion has ebbed away from Pietersen’s game – and flowed increasingly into his new love of rhino conservation, for which he is an increasingly committed spokesman. He is having a house built near Kruger national park in South Africa, and used two of his final appearances, for Surrey in last season’s NatWest Blast and Melbourne Stars in the BBL, to promote the cause with fund-raising “Rhino Days”.Pietersen leaves the sport as England’s second highest run-scorer across all forms of the game combined, including 8181 runs in 104 Tests between 2005 and 2013-14, until he was sacked in a dispute over team ethics in the wake of a disastrous 5-0 drubbing in that winter’s Ashes.The acrimony of Pietersen’s split with England clouded the final years of his career – not least because the ECB’s selectors have, arguably, never yet found an adequate replacement for him in their Test middle order.But Pietersen’s greatest hits will endure long after the bitterness of the latter years has faded. Foremost among the memories will be his unforgettable maiden Test hundred at The Oval in 2005, with which England secured the most absorbing Ashes contest of all time; his Man of the Tournament display in the Caribbean in 2010, when England won the World T20, their first and, to date, only ICC global trophy; and his central role in England’s series wins in Australia in 2010-11 and India in 2012-13.Michael Vaughan, Pietersen’s captain during that 2005 Ashes, led the tributes on Twitter. “Well done @KP24 on an fantastic career,” he wrote. “Not everyone’s Cup of Tea but you will do for me … Best Batsman I had the pleasure to play with … 1st England batsman that put fear into the Aussies .. #WellDone”

The BCB was disappointed that Cricket Australia cancelled their bilateral series in Australia later this year because it was not commercially viable

Mohammad Isam10-May-2018The Bangladesh Cricket Board has expressed disappointment at Cricket Australia’s decision to cancel their bilateral series in Australia later this year because the tour was not commercially viable.Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the BCB chief executive, said that boards like CA were expected to host teams regardless of the tour’s appeal to the home audience. He cited the example of Bangladesh hosting teams despite not having made profits for some tours. The BCB reportedly makes money only when teams like India, Pakistan, England and Australia tour Bangladesh.”It is disappointing,” Chowdhury said. “They looked at how financially viable the series will be for them, which is disappointing. Many of our home series aren’t necessarily beneficial. We have to host a lot of countries to maintain bilateral commitments. It is not always financially viable. If the BCB can afford them, then we would expect the bigger cricket boards to do the same.”The BCB’s response stems from the disappointment of Cricket Australia cancelling two trips to Bangladesh – in 2015 for a full tour and in 2016 for the Under-19 World Cup – because of security fears. CA was only convinced of security in Bangladesh after England toured in October 2016.A CA spokesperson said Bangladesh were “better aligned” at touring Australia ahead of the ICC World T20 in Australia in 2020. However, the Futures Tour Programme (FTP) that will be ratified in June this year does not include a Bangladesh tour of Australia in any format.Bangladesh have only toured Australia twice, for a Test series in 2003 and an ODI series in 2008. “The window allocated in the ICC FTP for Bangladesh to tour Australia in August this year has been postponed, by mutual agreement by both Cricket Australia and the Bangladesh Cricket Board,” the CA spokesperson said. “Both countries agreed to postponing that tour to be better aligned ahead of the ICC World T20 in 2020 in Australia.”The cancellation means top players like Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim could finish their careers without playing a Test in Australia. “It is up to the cricket boards. I don’t know why it got postponed. But we were really looking forward to it. We wanted to play in Australia,” Mushfiqur said. “I have never played a bilateral series there. It would have been something quite big for me. If it happens in the future, I will be happy.”The move hasn’t gone down well with Ed Cowan, the former Australia batsman, who tweeted his disappointment, saying CA wasn’t doing enough to be more inclusive as a cricket board. “In my opinion, administrators have a duty to grow the game both in their own country and also around the world,” he said. “This is sad on a number of levels. Players hear of CA wanting to expand the number of playing days in Oz. Evidently only BBL.”

The two former allrounders have joined head coach Matthew Mott as part of preparations for the next two World T20s

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2018Australia have added two former allrounders – Shelley Nitschke and Ashley Noffke – as assistant coaches to their support staff, headed by Matthew Mott, as part of preparations for the next two World T20s. Both Noffke and Nitschke were also part of the support staff during the recent India tour.Nitschke will also support former team-mate Leah Poulton to develop the next generation of players in the Women’s National Performance Squad, while Noffke will assist on all domestic and international tours, as well as high performance camps.”I’m delighted to have Shelley and Ashley join the coaching group for the next two years. They both bring extensive playing experience to the group, which will be invaluable,” Mott said. “I’m looking forward to seeing them build on the strong foundation that (former assistants) Joe Dawes and Tim Coyle have laid.”Shelley has an impressive coaching resume and had a really positive impact on the group during the tour to India. She knows the women’s game inside out and is a great asset for our programs.”Nitschke has been in various coaching roles with South Australia, Cricket Australia and the Adelaide Strikers, whom she also played for, when she came out of retirement in the inaugural WBBL season. She is expected to continue as the Strikers assistant coach in the next WBBL season.During her playing career for Australia women from 2005 to 2011, Nitschke picked 153 wickets across formats with her left-arm spin and scored 3118 runs, including an ODI hundred, in 115 international innings. She was ranked the No. 1 allrounder and bowler when she retired in 2011, and had been named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2010.Noffke represented Australia in a solitary ODI in 2008 and two T20Is, and retired from first-class cricket in the 2010-11 season. He later joined the Queensland support staff as a bowling coach.Australia recently completed a successful tour of India where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 in the ODIs, before winning a T20 tri-series that also featured England.

The Committee of Administrators has ruled that the BCCI can press criminal charges against players found to be indulging in age fraud

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Jul-2018The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has ruled that players submitting false and tampered-with birth certificates as part of the age-verification processes for BCCI tournaments will now be banned for two years and could also face criminal action from the BCCI.At a meeting in Delhi in May, the CoA deliberated on the existing penalties for such an offence and decided that with a due mechanism to identify such fraud, the ban period should be doubled from the existing one-year period. Age-fudging is a prominent feature in India’s domestic system, particularly in age-group cricket, where parents and even coaches encourage the practice despite the risks of being found out. The loss of two years of top-level cricket, along with the danger of legal charges, the CoA hopes, will serve as a deterrent to any such attempts by players.Under the Indian legal system, it is a criminal offence to provide false birth certificates. The BCCI has now decided to adopt the same penalty wherever applicable. “Players who are found [after a proper enquiry] to have submitted false/tampered birth certificates will be banned from all BCCI tournaments for two seasons,” the CoA said as per the minutes of the May 18 meeting. “BCCI may also initiate criminal action against the concerned player and/or any other person responsible for submitting false/tampered birth certificates.”The decision comes almost three years after the current coach of the India Under-19s and A teams, Rahul Dravid, had called for a regulation at the state and academy levels to stop the “scourge of overage players” in his MAK Pataudi lecture, adding that age-fudging was just as bad as fixing.”The truth is that the player who has faked his age might make it at the junior level not necessarily because he is better or more talented, but because he is stronger and bigger. We all know how much of a difference a couple of years can make at that age. That incident will have another ripple effect: an honest player, deprived of his place by an overage player, is disillusioned. We run the risk of losing him forever,” Dravid had said during the lecture.At the time, bone-density tests were the only measure of determining a player’s age. A centralised database of birth certificates, Dravid had said, would be the way to tackle the issue.