All posts by n8rngtd.top

Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin continued to be left out of West Indies’ limited-overs plans, as he was omitted from the 13-man T20 squad for the two-match series against Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2013

West Indies T20 squad

Darren Sammy (capt), Samuel Badree, Christopher Barnwell, Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles (wk), Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons
IN – Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels
OUT – Denesh Ramdin, Andre Russell

Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin continued to be left out of West Indies’ limited-overs plans, as he was omitted from the 13-man T20 squad for the two-match series against Pakistan. The squad includes Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, who missed the previous T20 series against Zimbabwe in March due to rest and injury respectively. Besides Ramdin, the only other player dropped is the allrounder Andre Russell.Ramdin was left out of the ODI squad in the ongoing five-match series against Pakistan, leaving the wicketkeeping duties to Johnson Charles. Ramdin has hit only one half-century since his recall to the West Indies one-day side in October 2011, and had been dropped in several recent matches, during the Champions Trophy and the home tri-series which also featured India and Sri Lanka. Kieron Pollard was retained despite his poor limited-overs form in 2013, making six ducks in ODIs.The two matches are scheduled on July 27 and 28 in St Vincent. This will be West Indies’ last set of international matches for the season before the inaugural Caribbean Premier League begins on July 30.

With the Lalit Modi episode set to conclude in Chennai on September 25, the BCCI is likely to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Inderjit Singh Bindra, the man who helped Modi make headway into cricket administration

Amol Karhadkar07-Sep-2013With the Lalit Modi episode set to conclude in Chennai on September 25, the BCCI is likely to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Inderjit Singh Bindra, the man who helped Modi make headway into cricket administration.Bindra, a former BCCI president and ICC principal advisor, has emerged as Modi’s only supporter as a special general meeting is set to act upon a disciplinary committee report and ban the latter from cricket administration for life. Bindra has opposed the board’s handling of the spot-fixing scandal in a working committee meeting on June 2 and has been critical of board and its policies in his blogs and on his Twitter page.”BCCI is as usual in fixing game… trying to fix Lalit Modi to cover up exposure of 10,000 crores,” Bindra tweeted on Thursday, attaching a few confidential documents, including minutes of a few BCCI meetings.It wasn’t the first time that Bindra had criticised the board and as a result, the BCCI is contemplating disciplinary action against him. The first step will obviously be to issue a show cause notice to him for having “tarnished the BCCI’s image”. However, a BCCI insider said: “It’s unlikely that the action will be initiated before the AGM.”To add to his criticism – including writing an open letter in June to ICC Board members to “disallow Srinivasan from attending any ICC meeting” until the enquiry against his son-in-law’s alleged involvement in the IPL spot-fixing scandal was complete – Bindra publicly endorsed Haroon Lorgat’s candidature for the post of Cricket South Africa chief executive.While Srinivasan and his top executives had categorically spelled out their “concerns” to CSA officials during a meeting in Chennai in March, Bindra, who doesn’t hold a position in BCCI anymore, went ahead and endorsed Lorgat, allegedly in a capacity that extended beyond his position as Punjab Cricket Association president.”He has supported Lorgat on behalf of BCCI. It’s a serious breach of BCCI rules and the whole episode has irked everyone in the BCCI, especially the president,” an official said.While Bindra has clashed with the current Srinivasan regime, he has been in controversies much before Srinivasan or Modi entered cricket administration. In 2000, during the match-fixing scandal, Bindra claimed, in an interview with CNN, that Manoj Prabhakar told him it was Kapil Dev who had offered to bribe him for throwing a match.The BCCI had issued a show cause notice to Bindra at the time, but he didn’t heed it. Though he wasn’t suspended, the issue was resolved after the Punjab Cricket Association assured the BCCI that he would not attend any board meeting for two years.

Former West Indies offspinner, Lance Gibbs, believes the current West Indies team need to build around their most experienced player, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, if they are to continue to achieve success at the Test level

Renaldo Matadeen 09-Oct-2013Former West Indies offspinner, Lance Gibbs, believes that the West Indies need to build their current team around Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the West Indies batsman, if Test success is to come into the frame once more, as November’s India tour looms.Gibbs indicated that Chanderpaul’s experience and talent are the right ingredients to nourish younger batsmen such as Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo in the subcontinent. “Chanderpaul is one of our premier batsmen – the premier [one] actually,” Gibbs said. “We need to bat around him and mature these inexperienced players in his presence. That maturity is not there right now but, as with many teams, we all have our ups and downs, but now we need to turn that proverbial corner which everyone always speaks of, every time we do well.”He backed Darren Sammy as Test skipper but noted that for Dwayne Bravo to continue the strides of West Indies’ T20 world title last year, and in hopes of improving their results in the 50-over game, Bravo needs to improve as limited-overs skipper. “Dwayne tries to do too much. He needs to focus on certain areas and not try to do so much. We saw his death bowling exposed in the CPL, but I have faith in him as much as I know Sammy will deliver in India. The squad’s a good mix. Hungry and young too.”With the likes of Kirk Edwards and Narsingh Deonarine impressing during the present A team tour in India, Gibbs reiterated that there was a good blend of youth and experience in the Sammy-led 15-man squad, which also faces New Zealand in a hectic run-in to end 2013.”We haven’t played Tests in a while but the state of our cricket and Test team isn’t too bad. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were good to practice against in the last year, and we did improve. Each nation goes through these motions in the sport and we as a team need to move from strength to strength. Let’s play good cricket and get the fundamentals right. You can see a team like England and say they’re the best, but it’s only in the past few years they’ve stepped up so I’m confident in the Windies.”When asked if T20 cricket had hampered the progress and development of the region’s youngsters, and even star players such as Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, he said that players should play all disciplines. With the aforementioned players still to make Test waves in recent months, Gibbs added that he didn’t think the lore of Tests or romance of ODI cricket had dissipated. “It’s an evolution of the game. Test cricket is the ultimate, but we have to roll with the times for the sake of the crowds. T20 has given exciting cricket as seen in the IPL and CPL, but remember, Test cricket stands on its own.””We all start off in the Caribbean playing 10, 20 or 40-overs, then we develop our 50-over game, our county cricket and as first-class players. Things change and we can’t look back, only forward. Players make a living from this now and back in the day, footballers, cricketers, boxers and such were barely making money but now, all kinds of sports are lucrative once you have the talent.”He indicated that once the talismans of the sport gave back to the game, things would bode well. He referenced the CPL’s youngsters rubbing shoulders with various West Indies and international stars, which acted as a nursery to their learning and growth earlier this year. “CPL had stars from Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand come over so I think we’re well-prepped for what’s to come ahead.”West Indies will play two Tests and three ODIs, with the first Test match set to start on November 6.

The ICC is investigating the Essel Group’s mooted plans for an alternative world cricket structure, even as former IPL chief Lalit Modi revealed he stepped away from the project after deciding it was not something he could deliver

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-20151:44

Essel Group to create breakaway league?

The ICC is investigating the Essel Group’s mooted plans for an alternative world cricket structure, even as former IPL chief Lalit Modi revealed he stepped away from the project after deciding it was not something he could deliver.An emergency ICC committee – comprising its chairman N Srinivasan, ECB’s Giles Clarke, and CA’s Wally Edwards – has been set up to investigate moves made by the Indian billionaire Subhash Chandra, owner of the Essel Group and also Zee TV, of which the subsidiary Ten Sports owns home international cricket television rights for numerous Full Member countries including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.”Yes, we discussed it at our board meeting and the three-member committee is looking into the issue,” Srinivasan told . “At the moment we’ve very little information about the whole thing. We’ve to see whether this is something serious or just speculation. We’ve started the process and will report to the executive board once we get the facts.”ESPNcricinfo understands that the committee will also look into the recent activity of Modi and his business partner Dean Kino, the former Cricket Australia head of business and legal affairs and also a key figure in the development of the Champions League Twenty20.Speaking to the , Modi said he had done some early work on Chandra’s plans over several months, before stepping back. However, he warned against underestimating Chandra, who had previously bankrolled the rebel Indian Cricket League that was snuffed out by the emergence of the IPL – ironically under Modi’s stewardship – and left around $2 million in unpaid wages for the players and staff who took part.”I looked at the plan and discussed it. We had conversations for months – but I usually don’t touch something I cannot deliver, and this I cannot,” Modi said. “It’s not something you can just do and launch – it will take years and it won’t happen overnight. It is not putting a tournament together, it’s about building the sport from the grassroots up.”You have to understand Subhash Chandra as a man. If you do, you will know he goes after what he wants and he does not stop. Whether he will succeed is the billion-dollar question. Subhash is a powerful body no doubt but it is a foolish plan at the moment. But he does what he wants and I wish him all the luck. It could be very close, who knows? If he presses the button and puts the money on the table things could start very quickly. The ICC should be fearing him.”Another report, in the , has outlined plans for international players such as Michael Clarke and David Warner to be offered as much as $50 million each over 10 years to add their names and reputations to the breakaway venture. Modi said that players had been made aware of the project and that trust could be won by payments up front, but there were greater issues of logistics and infrastructure.”I don’t think players have signed anything yet but a few know about it,” he said. “They will come, but it is too early for that. The plan requires billions up front. Trust would be a serious issue but they could overcome that with advance payments. If somebody had three or four billion to play around with, with it could be done very easily. Anything less? It would be very difficult.”Logistics are the big issue and infrastructure the bigger issue. In my case we had one competition and had the cash and the infrastructure available, with partners and stadiums in place. On a green field project like this, where are the stadiums? They need to find them, create them or convert existing ones – the gestation period for that is quite long.”The ICC executive board has faced a wave of criticism following the adoption of a “Big Three” model in 2014 driven by the financially strongest boards in world cricket – India, Australia and England. The Big Three model was pushed through by current ICC chairman N Srinivasan as former BCCI president, outgoing ECB chairman but incoming president Giles Clarke, and CA chairman Wally Edwards over a six-month period. The nuts and bolts of the new administrative and revenue plan for the ICC was worked out by the backroom commercial executives of the three Boards. At the time, that group had comprised Kino, as general manager of legal and business affairs, Cricket Australia, Sundar Raman, chief operating officer, IPL, and John Perera, commercial director ECB.The model changed the administrative structure and revenue distribution model of the international game, with most of the decision-making positions and finances gained by the cricket boards of India, England and Australia.Srinivasan, Giles Clarke and Edwards are known to have discussed the possible breakaway at their most recent ICC meetings in Dubai earlier this month.

Justin Langer has extended his coaching contract with Western Australia until the end of 2017-18, putting an end to speculation that linked him with the England and India coaching jobs

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2015Justin Langer has extended his coaching contract with Western Australia until the end of 2017-18, putting an end to speculation that linked him with the England and India coaching jobs.Langer said he was flattered to have been mentioned as a potential candidate for the international positions, but he believed his immediate future remained at home. Langer is considered the most likely man to eventually replace Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann, whenever Lehmann’s tenure should end.As coach of Western Australia since 2012-13, Langer has led the state to two Sheffield Shield finals and to the Matador Cup one-day title last summer, along with the past two BBL titles as coach of the Perth Scorchers. Prior to coaching Western Australia, Langer served as Australia’s batting coach from 2009 to 2012.”I am flattered to be associated with potential international coaching opportunities, but the timing isn’t right for my family and I still feel there is much work to be done here in Western Australian and Australian cricket,” Langer said on Tuesday.”Having spent nearly 20 years on the road with the Australian team as a player and then coach, I respect what an enormous commitment it is to be away from your family for almost 12 months of the year.”There is no doubt I have aspirations to coach internationally, but that will depend upon timing and opportunity in the future. I look forward to continuing my work at the WACA and I am excited by this challenge.”

A second Championship win for Essex, this one by an in innings, sees them get off the bottom of Division Two. Their 23 points achieved in three days work here takes them to sixth in the table, with nine left to play.

Vithushan Ehantharajah at Chelmsford16-Jun-2015
ScorecardGraham Napier helped whittle out the Derbyshire lower-order•Getty Images

A second Championship win for Essex, this one by an in innings, sees them get off the bottom of Division Two. Their 23 points achieved in three days work here takes them to sixth in the table, with nine left to play. Should they go on a run reminiscent of last season’s home-straight of six wins out of their last seven they would be, as they say, “in and amongst it”.Certainly Essex are a side that thrive of momentum – not too surprising given the players they have: an array of attackers in each discipline that thrive with time on the field and wither without it. No one typifies that more than Graham Napier who has gradually been building up to a performance like today.His 4 for 64 in 23 overs, a season best, was a triumph of the endurance he has built up through managing niggles in the middle of an unrelenting schedule. At times in four-day cricket he has switched to an abbreviated run-up, mid-spell. On the third evening, there was nothing by half as he produced a match-winning cameo of six overs, 3 for 13. As the ball approached its seventies, it started showing signs of reversing. With that, it was handed to Napier at the Hayes Close End and he used it to gut the Derbyshire middle order. It was a reminder that Napier is one of the best reverse-swing bowlers on the county circuit.

Paul Grayson, Essex head coach

On day one “It was a very important toss to win on day one with those cloudy conditions, but we exploited those conditions well. Young Jamie Porter bowled outstandingly well and we probably could have bowled them out for a bit less if we took our catches.”
On Essex’s sole batting effort “It was an interesting scorecard because we didn’t get a hundred – quite rare when you get a good score like that. It was great to have Cookie back, especially when he’s in this form. Browne looked great again and it was just a great first innings performance that we’d talked about as a group. We’ve got to take control of games more.”
On results up till now “We’ve felt like we’ve played some half decent cricket but we’ve been punished from mistakes in previous games. There were signs against Northants last week where we showed character and fight to get back into that match. We got a strong side out this game and I was expecting a strong performance.”
On Napier’s 23 overs, 4 for 64 “I think Napes was outstanding today when we needed him. He’s put a massive shift in today. He looks fit at the moment, he’s signed a new contract and he’s bowling well – long may that continue.”

Essex added 24 runs to their overnight score, 21 of which came from the bat of James Foster. It was Wayne White who kept the home entertainment to a minimum by removing Aron Nijar lbw and then dismissing Foster, who guided him perfectly to Billy Godleman at third man. The wickets gave White his second consecutive six-wicket haul, after a career best 6 for 25 against Kent in the previous round of matches.Derbyshire, 325 behind, got off to the worst possible start when Ben Slater chipped Jamie Porter’s fifth ball to Napier at mid-on, who pulled off an impressive jumping catch. It looked from a distance that the ball might have stopped in the pitch; Slater seemingly checking his drive, as if reacting late to the ball not quite coming onto the bat. Soon after Billy Godleman followed him back to the pavilion when he flicked Porter straight to Ryan ten Doeschate, who had been moved to leg slip a couple of balls earlier.And so began a third wicket partnership that would take 43 overs to break. The respective shapes, mannerisms and backgrounds of Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen suggests more buddy-cop flick than strong-willed resistance. Hughes used his power to punish anything juicy that came his way; Madsen simply drove and guided out of habit. Against the spin of Tom Westley and Nijjar, Hughes at times looked edgy, and frenetic. As it started to look like Westley had Hughes’ number – with Hughes on 25, Westley had a big lbw shout turned down – the Derbyshire No. 3 ended a sequence of nine dot balls against the offspinner with a powerfully struck six over midwicket. Madsen on the other hand was a picture of serenity. Still, they both took it in turns to pummel the back of Ryan ten Doeschate who, at short-leg, felt the full force of their cuts and pulls on five or six occasions.Their partnership of 166 showed that the pitch rewarded patience. But when Hughes departed for 80, bowled so emphatically by Ravi Bopara that just one stump was left standing, that was the end of any real accompaniment for Madsen.By the time the Derbyshire captain had reached his hundred from his 179th ball faced – his first of the season and career-first against Essex – Wes Durston had perished to the second ball after lunch. At that point, the deficit was down to 70 and there was a chance that Essex would need to bat again. Then Napier happened. The last six wickets fell for 33, with Ryder removing Scott Elstone thanks to a brilliant catch from Foster, diving high to his right, bowling White and then having Mark Footitt caught at mid-off to finish the match.But it was Napier’s spell that allayed any fears that Essex might not convert this to a win. When Madsen nicked him to Alastair Cook at first slip, the crowd jumped to their feet – well rose slowly, carefully and surely – in appreciation that one of their experienced first team bowlers was fit and firing.Speaking at stumps, Essex coach Paul Grayson confirmed that David Masters, who missed this match with a groin strain, is likely to play back-to-back on Thursday and Friday night in the NatWest T20 Blast. Currently, it remains to be seen whether he will be able to make it through a four-day game. An assessment will be made after Friday night as to whether he will make the squad for Gloucestershire on Sunday.As for Reece Topley, who spent the day as a net-bowler for England at Trent Bridge, things are a bit different. With the back problems he has had over the last year, a specialist has advised the club that the left-arm seamer cannot play two four-day matches in a row. Having played at Northampton, he was subsequently unavailable for this game and will come back into squad for the trip to Bristol. Essex and Grayson will operate on those terms until the end of the season before reassessing Topley in the winter.

Graeme Swann has blasted previous England regimes for their “arrogance” in sticking to outdated game plans in limited-overs cricket and suggested that they “massively cocked up” by not selecting Adil Rashid in the Test team for the series in the Caribbean

George Dobell19-Jun-2015Graeme Swann has blasted previous England regimes for their “arrogance” in sticking to outdated game plans in limited-overs cricket and suggested that they “massively cocked up” by not selecting Adil Rashid in the Test team for the series in the Caribbean.In a wide-ranging interview at a Chance to Shine school in Nottingham where he helped launch a new card game called “Switch Hits” for the charity, Swann celebrated the revival of England’s ODI side but suggested the team that he played in had been flattered by their rating as No. 1 in the world and claimed they had been “awful” since 1992.But despite his criticisms, Swann insisted that England are not the outsiders some suggest for the Ashes series and claimed Australia are not as good a Test side as New Zealand.While delighted by England’s improved performance in the Royal London ODI series against New Zealand, Swann remains frustrated that England persisted with what he believes was an “outdated” method for so long. “England were justifiably vilified in the World Cup,” he said. “They were so stuck in their ways. It was the most obvious thing in the world that we were playing an outmoded, outdated form of the game. But arrogance saw us stick to our guns and say ‘everyone is wrong’.”It is so refreshing that now they have said ‘yeah, tear up the old stats book, now we see what you mean we’re going to go for it’. The whole outlook has changed.”We were No. 1 in the world but if anyone says ‘that’s because you were the best team’ then that’s absolute bollocks. We were nowhere near the best one-day team in the world. We got extremely lucky. We had 18 home games, we had a series against India where, if we struggled, it rained. And it made people think what we were doing was right, hence the stifled approach up until three weeks ago.”It’s not Peter Moores’ or Paul Downton’s fault. It’s English one-day cricket from the year 1992 onwards when we were world leaders. Ian Botham opened the batting and we experimented and had exciting players. You can’t say they have been exciting ever since. They have been awful.”When Michael Vaughan was Test captain, he was nowhere near good enough to be in the one-day team. But he was captain of the Test team and that has always held that much sway in England. The Test captain is the be-all-and-end-all of English cricket.”Swann accepted there would be times when the new-found aggression would backfire and results would go against England. So he believes it is essential the team management show the resolve required to endure the fallow periods. He remains adamant the young players coming into the squad now have the quality to succeed.”We’re too afraid of failing in this country,” he said. “And we are a reactive public. So it will take courage to stick to the new approach. But they should take what New Zealand have done as a blueprint. There is no way on God’s green earth we have a worse talent pool than any other country. We’ve got these players who, if unleashed and given free rein, can be incredible one-day players. You’ve just got to stick with them.”Jason Roy will be brilliant opening the batting if given say, two years. He should be told: ‘it doesn’t matter if you keep failing, just keep going out there and whacking the ball’. Get James Vince in there, too. If they get given the same amount of time that the old England players used to get they will get the same results. They should be given more.”Swann, the top wicket-taker when England won the Ashes in 2013, believes Moeen Ali should start the series as England’s spin bowler. But he remains angry that Adil Rashid, the uncapped legspinner, was not given an opportunity to gain some exposure of Test cricket in the Caribbean.”England missed such a gilt-edged opportunity to see whether Adil could cut the mustard in the West Indies,” he said. “At the time we all said it was a joke, but it seems all the more a glaring klaxon moment now. It is laughable. I would love to have seen him play three Tests in the West Indies. There was, as Test cricket goes, as little pressure as an England player can play under at the moment. It was the ideal schooling ground and they massively cocked up there.”But the Ashes is a massive thing. Mentally it’s a step up from Test cricket, which is, in itself, a step up from county cricket. So, Moeen has to play in the first game. He has bags of ability. He just doesn’t have the 10 years of spin-bowling nous and experience he would have had had he been a spin bowler rather than a batsman who used to be thrown the ball a bit. Which in a weird way has put him ahead of the pack as he has avoided the coaching system that teaches spinners not to spin it in this country. He’s very natural. He rips it. I still think he’s the best option.”But I think the Ashes are going to be a lot closer than people think. I truly believe that Australia aren’t the best Test team in the world at the moment. New Zealand are. They’re a similar team to Australia. They’ve good seam bowling, aggressive batting and their spinner, although he takes wickets, is probably their weakest link.”They’re similar teams. And, when you see what England did to New Zealand at Lord’s, there’s no saying they couldn’t do that. If England fire – if Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler have good games – they’ll win a couple of Tests.”Chance to Shine Schools and Yorkshire Tea are giving young people the opportunity to play and learn through cricket. Download ‘Switch Hits’ for free at bit.ly/switchhits