Heavy monsoon rain in the first half of the day in Fatullah meant no play was possible on the second day of the Test

The Report by Sidharth Monga11-Jun-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
4:08

Muthu: India face opening dilemma

Heavy monsoon rain in the first half of the day in Fatullah meant no play was possible on the second day of the Test.A quick 150 from Shikhar Dhawan on the first day, complemented by M Vijay’s 89, seemed to have made up lost time on day one, but a loss of a whole day on a slow and low pitch was a severe blow to chances of a result.With only 56 overs of play possible on the first day and the forecast for the remaining three days not looking decidedly better, the one-off Test seemed headed for a draw. Which should not come as a surprise: there is a reason this is the first time a Test is being played in June in Bangladesh. June is when the monsoon hits the country with all its intensity.If the Test is drawn India, placed currently at No. 3, will slip to No. 4 in the ICC Test rankings. While a draw will give take Bangladesh to 41.21 rating points from 39, it won’t bring about a change in their ninth rank, ahead of only Zimbabwe.

Chris Gayle only met his Somerset team-mates hours before the match but three years after they first tried to sign him he delivered in style with a domineering innings to set up a last-ball victory

Tim Wigmore at Chelmsford29-May-2015
ScorecardChris Gayle delivered – and how – on his first appearance for Somerset [file picture]•BCCI

The Gayle has landed. Three years ago Somerset were salivating over the prospect of Chris Gayle playing for them in the T20 Blast, only for his rapprochement with the West Indies Board to scupper those plans. But Gayle had always said that, when he made his belated debut in England’s T20 competition, it would be for Somerset.The standing ovation that greeted his dismissal spoke of the impact Gayle had made upon the Chelmsford crowd, supposedly one of the most raucous away crowds he could have faced. So too did the desperation of hoards of fans afterwards to get autographs, selfies or, in the case of a few, even a kiss on the cheeks. It spoke of a cricketer with transcendental power.Chelmsford had enjoyed – endured even – an archetypal Gayle T20 innings, even down to the almost ostentatious care with which he played himself in. After leaving a succession of balls, holding his bat carefully inside the line, it took Gayle until his sixth ball, a gentle push to midwicket, to get off the mark. Eighteen balls in and Gayle had only six runs.

“Beautiful,” says Gayle

“Beautiful, it’s a great start,” Chris Gayle said after summoning a matchwinning 92 on his first innings for Somerset, hours after meeting his team-mates for the first time. “A last-ball thriller in my first game so I can’t really complain. We got across the line. It’s a short stay over here, so I’m looking forward to entertaining the fans as much as possible.”
As so often in T20, Gayle batted with caution in the Powerplay before exploding later.
“It’s too cold for me but I stuck it out,” he joked. “It was something myself and Trescothick discussed in the middle. I didn’t want to make such a slow start and then get out because I know with my capabilities, I knew the runs would come so I’m very happy.
“It’s been good, I haven’t really had a chance to have a net, I’ve been in London and this was the first day catching up with the team. It’s a mental thing, it won’t happen like that all the time.”

Then it happened. Flats were cleared, marquee roofs were hit and dozens of spectators who had parked their cars were left fearing for the safety of their vehicles. Having cleared humongous grounds the world over, Gayle seemed like a man affronted by the puny size of Chelmsford’s boundaries. With laconic foot movement – and with such power and timing, why bother? – Gayle swatted deliveries through mid-on and cleared the legside boundary with six sixes, each more awesome than the last.Gayle’s impact goes beyond his mere runs. That much was clear from how Essex coped once he had located his swagger: they bowled five wides to him after he had reached 50. Straight after reaching that landmark, Gayle cut Reece Topley to third man. It was hard and low, but David Masters was in a perfect position and should not have shelled it. Gayle’s next shot seemed like an innocuous forward push, but thundered through mid-on for four. After another four, Gayle launched the final ball straight over the scaffolding behind the bowler’s arm.Suddenly, Somerset were cruising towards their target of 177. It looked, too, as if Gayle, representing his 12th club in T20 cricket, was en route to his 15th T20 century. But after he was sharply taken at Greg Smith at midwicket on 92, Somerset almost contrived to make a mess of the 13 required in ten balls.Tom Cooper nonchalantly flicked his first ball for six over square leg, but was run out in a moment of panic next ball. Essex entrusted Ravi Bopara with the final over, and he almost succeeded in preventing Somerset get the five more they required to win. But a single scampered from the final ball, after Lewis Gregory had dropped the ball into the legside, ensured Gayle’s belated Somerset debut had the result it deserved.However enticing the prospect of a Gayle-Trescothick opening partnership, the Chelmsford crowd also longed for Essex success after three defeats in their first four T20 games.And for all the focus on Gayle, exuding a typically unperturbed air patrolling the infield, Essex have a belligerent left-handed overseas opener of their own. In the third over of the innings, Jesse Ryder played three ferocious pulls off Sohail Tanvir, the second sailing over the square leg boundary for six. With his classical technique, Tom Westley provided an ideal folly; together the two added 90 in only 8.1 overs.It was a position from which Essex would have had designs on 220. Jim Allenby ensured otherwise, bowling wicket-to-wicket at a speed that forced the batsmen to generate their own pace. Besides the openers, no other player passed 16.Yet again, Somerset were grateful to the death bowling nous of Alfonso Thomas, whose final over yielded three runs and three wickets. In the process he became the fourth ever bowler to pass 250 T20 wickets. Few bowlers have more T20 pedigree, which is why South Africa attempted to entice him out of his Kolpak deal with Somerset in 2012 to play in the World T20.

David Warner has spoken for the first time about the prospect of a “rebel” cricket league bankrolled by the Essel Group tycoon Subhash Chandra

Daniel Brettig19-Jun-20151:58

Brettig: Warner’s Essel Group warning must not be ignored

David Warner has spoken for the first time about the prospect of a “rebel” cricket league bankrolled by the Essel Group tycoon Subhash Chandra, saying the vast sums of money mooted for the signatures of the world’s leading cricketers could be impossible to ignore.Alongside Australia’s captain Michael Clarke, Warner was reportedly near the top of the Essel Group’s list of targets, with a story in the suggesting he would be in line for a contract worth $50 million over 10 years if he made the leap. While stressing his commitment to Test cricket and national duty, Warner said such figures could not simply be rejected out of hand and challenged other athletes to be honest with the public about the role financial rewards played in their thinking.”At the moment I’m contracted to Cricket Australia, the fact is I’m playing for Australia, it’s what I do, it’s what I love,” Warner told ESPNcricinfo. “But these guys are talking about big sums of money and, let’s be honest, if people are saying to you that they don’t play for the money then they’re having a laugh, because every single person who gets offered this or gets offered that, what happens? They always take it. I think athletes in general have to be a bit more honest and say that’s what’s happening.”This is a company that’s coming in and trying to take over world cricket. At the end of the day if this company comes in and wipes out who you play for and you want to play cricket, what happens there? Who pays you? That’s the thing. Ultimately we’re working, we love what we do, I cherish the baggy green and if Test cricket exists I’ll continue to keep playing Test cricket, because from where I’ve started to where I am now, I love that and I’ll keep cherishing that.”David Warner: “I think at the moment the players have got a lot to think about and a lot to weigh up.”•Getty Images

The scope of Chandra’s plans remains somewhat murky, from the registration of business names and online domain names for alternative boards in all cricket’s major nations to less ambitious public pronouncements about an improved version of the Indian Cricket League of 2008. Warner, though, indicated that cricket’s present structure may not have room to co-exist with the new venture.”Everyone says you can’t put a price on the baggy green, and you can’t,” he said. “But the simple thing is if the rebel league comes and takes off, I don’t think there is going to be Test cricket. That’s where people are going to be like ‘who are these people, where is Cricket Australia going to go with this, how are we going to play every other Test nation when some of those nations are definitely going to go on board’.”I can’t talk on their behalf, but if you weigh the numbers up I think what they’re talking about sum-wise it’s going to be hard for a lot of the minnow countries to say no, and that’s the scary thing. Then it’s going to be Australia versus England versus India all the time. Cricket’s in a great position at the moment. It’s interesting times ahead and I think at the moment the players have got a lot to think about and a lot to weigh up.”Warner’s comments could raise some eyebrows, notably in the months after Cricket Australia sought to protect their playing stocks by offering numerous players the added security of multi-year national contracts, a privilege commonly reserved for only a select few.As of the start of Australia’s tour of England, these deals were yet to be formally signed by the players ahead of the expiry date of existing contracts on June 30. The team performance manager Pat Howard has been working diligently to find out as much as he can about the Essel Group’s plans.While the current mix of ICC-sanctioned international tours and domestic Twenty20 tournaments has provided plenty of additional income streams for players, the game is entering a newly uncertain and entrepreneurial phase with a succession of new tournament concepts springing up, many under the guide of “exhibition matches” for retired cricketers.”I consider myself lucky and others would as well, with what’s going on in today’s cricket,” he said. “The opportunities to play three different formats of the game in 10 different countries at different times of the year is a special thing, and the rest of the world is seeing a lot more talent out there.”

Rachel Priest’s maiden half-century in T20Is powered New Zealand Women to a six-wicket win against India Women in Bangalore, victory also sealing the series for the visitors

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jul-2015
Scorecard2:50

‘We want to have a clean sweep’ – Priest

Rachel Priest’s maiden half-century in T20Is powered New Zealand Women to a six-wicket win against India Women in Bangalore, victory also sealing the series for the visitors.Set 137 for the win, New Zealand lost their captain Suzie Bates off the second ball of the innings, and slumped to further trouble when Sophie Devine, who broke the record for fastest T20 fifty on Saturday, was caught by Jhulan Goswami off her own bowling. However, Priest led a recovery, marshaling a 71-run stand for the third wicket to Leigh Kasperek to put the team back on track. Priest drilled 10 fours and two sixes during her 34-ball 60, but both she and Kasperek fell within quick succession of each other by the 11th over to open the door slightly for India.
However, Amy Satterthwaite and Katie Perkins remained unfazed, chipping in with handy twenties to take the team home inside 18 overs.Earlier, India, after being inserted, were pegged back by early strikes from Devine and Hannah Rowe. Vellaswami Vanitha top-scored with 41 and strung together crucial partnerships with Harmanpreet Kaur (30) and Veda Krishnamurthy (29), but were unable to really accelerate and push on to a big total.

With three weeks remaining for the start of the Ranji Trophy, Jammu & Kashmir cricket is mired in another controversy with warring factions claiming rights to pick squads for various domestic tournaments

Amol Karhadkar and Nagraj Gollapudi09-Sep-2015With three weeks remaining for the start of the Ranji Trophy 2015-16, Jammu & Kashmir cricket is mired in another controversy with warring factions claiming rights to pick squads for various domestic tournaments.Players are being pulled in different directions by two rival factions, who have been conducting parallel selection trials and preparatory camps over the past month in Srinagar. While the newly elected body at Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, headed by J&K sports minister Iqbal Raza Ansari, has been conducting preparatory camps at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium, the Farooq Abdullah group, which has managed to get a stay order on the elections results, has also announced parallel selection trials at the Kashmir University grounds. The confusion has left players concerned over their future.Abdullah, the former chief minister and long-time head of JKCA, was defeated in the election in July, but still managed to get a stay on the election results. The J&K High Court is likely to pass an order on the issue this week, which would clear the confusion.The players, however, are desperate for a clear direction. Samiullah Beigh, J&K’s seniormost player and fast bowler, hoped for the BCCI’s intervention. “It would be better if the BCCI comes up with a statement because players who are missing can then come and join us.”A BCCI official, however, clarified that the board cannot interfere in internal affairs of any of its member units. The BCCI, according to him, can only interfere if any of the aggrieved parties complain to them.Barring two players – wicketkeeper Obaid Haroon and fast bowler Umar Nazir – majority of the players who featured in last year’s Ranji squad have been reporting to the camp organised by the Ansari faction.Beigh said that most of the players had been training at the camp for about a month. “We have been playing trial matches and training and attending fitness camps continuously at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium for a month or so now.”Beigh agreed that the Abdullah faction had attempted to get players to attend the camp, but did not think the players were confused by the scenario: “No, because the preparations are going as usual at the JKCA headquarters and players are attending this.”Told about the BCCI official’s reaction, one of the senior players, who requested anonymity, asked which faction the BCCI was supporting. “Who are they supporting? If the elections were held and the Ansari group has come to power how can the court overrule this?”He also said that the Abdullah faction was trying to create stumbling blocks that did not exist. “The other faction is trying to create confusion by saying the Sher-e-Kashmir is not ready, and BCCI should displace all the home matches away. But we have played two-day and three-day trial matches for more than a month now. The conditions are perfect. There is no need for shifting the matches.”The Abdullah faction, on the other hand, blamed the Ansari group for creating confusion. “We have got a court order to stay the election, so they don’t have any right to select the team. Just because they want to create confusion, they have organised selection trials and have announced Mithun Manhas as captain-coach. If Manhas wants to play, he will have to attend the official selection trials,” ML Nehru, a member of the Abdullah faction, said.Nehru, also a BCCI vice-president, claimed his group was taking players into confidence. “We have started our selection process and next week, the selection committee appointed by the executive committee will select the team for the Ranji Trophy. No doubt the players are confused but we have been doing our best to help them understand they need not worry about anything. Despite the two factions, there is only one official association and the players should to stick to the body,” Nehru said.Iqbal Shah, the general secretary elected during the July election and the spokesperson of the Ansari group, remained unavailable for a comment.Another question that remains unanswered is who will coach the J&K team. Sunil Joshi, the former Karnataka and India left-arm spinner, was the coach last year. Despite playing all their home matches outside their state due to the preceding floods, J&K produced mixed results under Joshi. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, J&K managed three wins in five games but finished last in Group A in the Ranji Trophy, winning just one game in eight matches.Joshi, currently playing in the Karnataka Premier League, was also unavailable for comment. It is understood he is still looking forward to continuing his role as J&K coach. However the Ansari faction, it is learned, is looking forward to having former Delhi veteran Manhas play the mentor-cum-coach role. Manhas has been training with the players at Sher-e-Kashmir, but no formal announcement has yet been made about the coach and captain for the season.

Michael Klinger described Gloucestershire’s Royal London Cup win as “fantastic for the whole club” and said it was something for them to build on

Alan Gardner20-Sep-2015Romance and drama. Gloucestershire’s Royal London Cup victory had great big dollops of those two vital ingredients. As they inexorably undermined Surrey’s run chase to secure the prize in the final over, it was tempting to imagine that the competition had regained, if only temporarily, some of the prestige the domestic one-day cups enjoyed during Gloucestershire’s period of dominance between 1999 and 2004.There were stories aplenty on both sides. Jade Dernbach’s hat-trick and career-best figures, the bowling of 40-year-old Azhar Mahmood and, at the other end of his career, 17-year-old Sam Curran’s valiant attempt to get Surrey over the line. For the victors, Geraint Jones’ fairytale send-off, the all-round contributions of Jack Taylor – who was banned from bowling two years ago and faced the uncertainty of having to remodel his action – and the stunning triumph of an unheralded collective.Gloucestershire had been glibly characterised as a one-man team in the build-up, dependent on their captain and opening batsman Michael Klinger. The Australian’s personal tale is also a stirring one but his dismissal in the first over of the match meant Gloucestershire had to win their ninth Lord’s final out of ten the hard way.The manner in which they scrapped their way to a par score, based around the nous of an old-stager in Jones, and then throttled their opponents in the field was reminiscent of the Gloucestershire teams led by Mark Alleyne more than a decade ago. Klinger, who has agreed another two-year contract with the club, now has the chance to try and create a dynasty of his own.

Victory ‘surreal’ admits Dawson

Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson said it would take a while for his team’s dramatic victory over Surrey to sink in. Gloucestershire held on in a tight finish to win by six runs and claim their first trophy since 2004.
“It is brilliant, it is an amazing feat from the players,” Dawson said. “They take a lot of credit, in fact they take all the credit.
“It was one of those things where you get on a roll and you think get past the quarter-final, get up to Yorkshire, get past Yorkshire and you end up here. It is all a bit surreal. I’m sure it will sink in the next few days.
“There is a lot of talent in the changing room. Being led by Michael especially, leading from the front with the bat and showing commitment coming back from Australia. We have had to call on the squad when there was injuries and people stood up and performed.
“That has been the best thing about the whole tournament, we have asked people to do a job and they have come in and nailed it away.”

“You don’t want to look too far ahead but it could be the making of something special,” he said. “Each team will get better and we need to get better so there is a lot of hard work to do. In this comp, unlike sometimes in the T20, we’ve performed really well under the pump.”Knowing we can win in high pressure situations will serve the team well. It’s fantastic for the whole club – the supporters, the members, those who work in the office – 11 years without a trophy, this will lift everyone going forward. It’s a big achievement for the club and proud to be part of it.”Although Gloucestershire finished second in Group A, behind Surrey, their lack of recent success in limited-overs knockout competition meant they were largely unfancied. A narrow victory over Hampshire – winners of the 40-over Clydesdale Bank trophy in 2012 – in the last eight was followed by a more emphatic, Klinger-led triumph at Headingley against county champions Yorkshire to send them back to Lord’s.Success has come in Gloucestershire’s first season under the new coaching team of Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey, and while Klinger admitted it was perhaps ahead of schedule he sensed it was something the group was ready for.”You could probably say it’s come a little bit quicker, but I said to the boys before the quarter-final sometimes you win them before you are ready – sometimes it’s your time. I tried to put that message across, that it’s our time. Now it’s a great opportunity to build on that over the next couple of years and hopefully it will be a stepping stone. The previous coaching group worked really hard and now Richard Dawson and Ian Harvey have been brilliant and taken us to another level. The players have a willingness to work. It’s a very proud moment to see how we’ve progressed.”Despite making a duck Klinger still finished atop the run-scoring charts, as his players successfully muzzled Jason Roy, Steven Davies and, after a clinical half-century seemed to have put Surrey on their way, Kumar Sangakkara. Without his runs to rely on, it made Gloucestershire’s victory all the more impressive.”I was just disappointed I didn’t contribute at that stage,” Klinger said. “I pride myself on scoring runs in big games, but not today but that’s how cricket works. I was still very confident the boys would get the job done. They showed that 220 was just enough. To be honest I don’t think anyone would have cared who did well today, so long as we finished on top.”He also had special praise for Man of the Match, Taylor, whose punchy innings helped Gloucestershire up to what turned out to be a winning score. He then took the crucial wickets of Sangakkara and Rory Burns in his 3 for 43 and held on to the final catch as Lord’s erupted in an outburst of west country pride.”Not only today, but all year in all formats – particularly the T20 and one-day stuff. He’s won us games with the bat, his bowling has been very consistent and his fielding has improved a lot in the last two years. He’s a serious all-round package. Today, under pressure, he got the job done. That cameo he played got us a total we needed. Then to bowl like he did was fantastic.”

Brendon McCullum will miss New Zealand’s pink-ball preparations ahead of the first ever day-night Test due to his role as a witness in the Chris Cairns perjury case

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-2015Brendon McCullum will miss New Zealand’s pink-ball preparations ahead of the Test series in Australia, which is scheduled to include the first ever day-night Test, due to his role as a witness in the Chris Cairns perjury case. The New Zealand captain will be in London to testify in the case, for which proceedings begin on Monday, while the rest of the team has a two-day training camp under lights with the pink Kookaburra ball in Hamilton.Opening batsmen Tom Latham, speaking to , said the team will not lack direction in McCullum’s absence. “We’ve got plenty of leaders in the group, there’s plenty of senior players so we’ll go about our business as if we would if he was there,” Latham said. “Kane [Williamson] has captained us a little bit in the past, and there are plenty of other senior players.New Zealand play three Tests in Australia, starting on November 5, the final of which be a day-night match in Adelaide from November 27.The case against Cairns has been brought by the Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, stemming from what it believes to be criminal acts committed by Cairns during the 2012 libel case against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. Cairns has been charged with perjury – effectively lying in court. Apart from McCullum, other high-profile witnesses called up to give evidence include former New Zealand players Stephen Fleming, Shane Bond and Andre Adams, and New Zealand Cricket CEO David White.

A groundsman at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi has been allegedly assaulted by a senior Rajshahi official

Mohammad Isam25-Oct-2015A groundsman at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi has been allegedly assaulted by a senior Rajshahi official. The BCB has condemned the incident, saying it will investigate into the matter and take action.ESPNcricinfo has learned from multiple sources at the ground that Mahmood Jamal, the Rajshahi divisional sports association’s secretary, had asked the groundsman Russell to come to his room at the end of the first day’s play of Rajshahi Division’s NCL match against Barisal Division, on Saturday. Jamal had then allegedly asked Russel why he had repeatedly sprayed water on the pitch. Russell denied doing so, but Jamal, supposedly irked by Rajshahi’s dismal batting performance during the day, got angry at the denial and allegedly slapped him. Jamal is also alleged to have held Russell by his neck until the latter escaped from the room and informed the other groundsmen. One source, however, claimed that Jamal only “threatened to hit” Russell and grabbed him by the neck.When contacted, Jamal, a former BCB director, said he had “no recollection” of such an incident, while Russell’s phone was switched off.”I don’t know what you are talking about,” Jamal told ESPNcricinfo. “I went to the ground to see the match but I have no recollection of such a thing happening. The team management is there. They will deal with the pitches and what not.”Jalal Yunus, the BCB’s media committee chairman, said that the incident was uncalled for and that any complaints about the pitch should have been directed at the appropriate committee.”This is very unfortunate,” Yunus said. “One cannot manhandle anybody. This is against human rights. He [Jamal] could have lodged a complaint to the tournament committee. He cannot take the law in his hand. We condemn it very strongly. The board is very much aware and the board will further investigate the issue and will take action.”Akram Khan, the BCB’s tournament committee chairman and the person in charge of the first-class competition, agreed with that statement and said he will investigate the matter on Monday. Jamal, however, declined to comment on the BCB statement.Abdul Baten, the BCB national grounds manager, said that he only heard about the incident on Sunday, while the venue manager Saifullah Khan, who played 30 first-class matches for Rajshahi, said only the match referee Mujibul Haque could report the incident and not him. When contacted, Mujibul told ESPNcricinfo that he too had no idea of such an incident taking place.Sources have said that the Rajshahi team management had reported the allegation of watering the pitch to the BCB, and that the board’s anti-corruption officer present at the ground took Russell’s statement following the alleged incident.

Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall picked up four wickets each as South Australia consigned Tasmania to their third loss from four Sheffield Shield matches this summer

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Nov-2015
ScorecardChadd Sayers picked up 4 for 41 (file photo)•Getty Images and Cricket Australia

Chadd Sayers and Daniel Worrall picked up four wickets each as South Australia consigned Tasmania to their third loss from four Sheffield Shield matches this summer. The Tigers were chasing an unrealistic 502 for victory; their main aim was to bat out the day for a draw, having started the morning in trouble at 3 for 42.Half-centuries to Jake Doran and Beau Webster were encouraging but there was not enough resistance to prevent the Redbacks running through the order. Doran made 50 and Webster was lbw to Sayers for 59, with George Bailey’s 37 and Hamish Kingston’s 24 the only other double-figure scores of the day.Sayers finished with 4 for 41 and Worrall ended up with 4 for 59, adding two of the last three wickets after picking up two in his first over of the innings on day three. Tasmania were dismissed for 199, handing South Australia a 302-run win.