UAE picked up their first win in a first-class game since September 2013, and their maiden win of the 2015-17 Intercontinental Cup with a nine-wicket triumph over PNG

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2017
ScorecardFile photo – Mohammad Naveed took two wickets in the first innings and four in the second•AFP

Lega Siaka’s career-best 142 not out was not enough to prevent a nine-wicket defeat for Papua New Guinea at the hands of United Arab Emirates in their Intercontinental Cup match in Abu Dhabi. It was UAE’s first win of the competition, and their first since September 2013 in first-class cricket, also by the same margin. In the interim, they had lost three of their four matches – two of them by heavy margins – and drawn the other.”It’s an awesome feeling,” Dougie Brown, the UAE coach, said. “There has been a lot of work that has gone into this in the past three months, and all the credit for embracing the work and the vision we have presented goes to the players.”It was a pretty flat wicket. I thought the way the guys stuck to it with the ball and in the field was absolutely exceptional. Dominic Tello [UAE assistant coach] deserves a lot of credit for the hours he has put in, but the guys deserve most of the credit because they are the ones putting in the hard work.”UAE dominated the match right from the first day. Having chosen to bat, PNG were quickly in trouble as seamers Mohammad Naveed and Qadeer Ahmed dismantled the top-order to leave them 33 or 3. From there, it was all downhill. Jack Vare and Chad Soper, PNG’s Nos. 8 and 9, scored 38 each to lift them from 110 for 7 to 194. The new-ball pair of Naveed and Qadeer shared five wickets and spinners Imran Haider and Ahmed Raza took the rest.UAE gained a 247-run first-innings lead, courtesy a 63 from Rameez Shahzad and centuries from Muhammad Usman and Saqlain Haider. Both raised their maiden first-class centuries – both were playing their third game. Usman was dismissed for 103, while Saqlain remained unbeaten on 102 when UAE declared at 441 for 8. Legspinner Mahuru Dai took 4 for 126, his best returns in first-class cricket.”I think I’m right in saying the team haven’t scored 400 before in a first innings,” Brown said. “For them to get that and for us to be in a position where we can declare, to give ourselves the best part of five sessions to try to win the game, was fantastic.”PNG managed to make UAE bat again courtesy Siaka, who scored nearly 50% of his team’s second-innings runs. Siaka began day four on 51, having taken PNG to 152 for 4 (effectively minus 95 for 4) in the company of Sese Bau. Bau fell early, ending a fifth-wicket stand of 67. Thereafter, it was all Siaka until he ran out of partners. Legspinner Haider, who scythed through the top half of PNG’s line-up, and Naveed took four wickets each for UAE.UAE needed a mere 42 to win. They lost Laxman Sreekumar for 4, before Shaiman Anwar blitzed an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls as UAE knocked off the runs in just 5.5 overs.Dipak Patel, the PNG coach, put the defeat down to lack of first-innings runs, but added there was plenty to learn from it.”In the first innings we didn’t get enough runs,” Patel, the former New Zealand spinner, said. “There is a lack of experience among our batsmen. We are still learning. This is only the fourth time they have played a four-day game.”The natural instinct for our players is to play shots. We can take a lot out of it, particularly the classy knock by Lega Siaka in the second innings.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the first ODI between England and Ireland at Bristol

The Preview by Andrew Miller04-May-2017

Match facts

May 5, 2017
Start time 1100 local (1000 GMT)3:41

‘If I bowl to him, it’s another wicket’

Big picture

A decade has already elapsed since Ireland’s stunning awakening at the 2007 World Cup. Their elimination of Pakistan, and qualification for the competition’s Super Eights, counts among the greatest upsets in sporting history, while their encore against England at Bangalore four years later was arguably an even more complete team performance.And now, some 11 years since their accession to full ODI status, an occasion that was marked by an inaugural encounter with England at Belfast in 2006, they have finally been invited over for a reciprocal tour.Leaving aside, for a moment, the fact that this weekend’s twin ODIs against England at Bristol and Lord’s are a cause for celebration, it does make you wonder why Ireland’s nearest neighbours have taken quite this long to wake up to the fact of their existence.There have been fundamental points of political difference over the years – perhaps best exemplified by the heritage of England’s current captain, Eoin Morgan, not to mention other current Ireland players who have just happened to make their England debuts against the country of their birth down the years (oh, okay then, Ed Joyce in 2006, and the absent Boyd Rankin seven years later).Instead, rather than risk a dilution of their own status and support, previous ECB regimes have chosen to treat Ireland as a feeder nation, and cherry-pick the best of their assets, when a more enlightened set of leaders might have nurtured their ambitions for the greater good of the sport.But all of that is in the past now. The curtain-raiser to the English season in Bristol is a special occasion that stands as testimony to Ireland’s determination to be seen as equals, both in terms of their professional attitude at boardroom level and their reputation for over-achievement on the field of play.That said, these two matches couldn’t really have come at a more awkward juncture for a team undergoing a painful first transition. Most of the players who carried them to this level are on the wane or already retired, while the new generation has not yet bedded in at the levels now expected of one of the flagship Associate nations.In addition, they are about to go toe to toe with an England outfit that has never treated white-ball cricket with such seriousness, bordering on reverence. The 2019 World Cup is the ultimate goal for Morgan’s men, but next month’s Champions Trophy is a vital staging post and a very real opportunity to secure that elusive maiden 50-over global title.Even in the absence of several first-choice players, England will expect to win both games at a canter – not through the habitual arrogance that has tended to creep into such fixtures in the past, but through the necessity of living up to their tag as Champions Trophy favourites. It’s a situation that Ireland might well savour – the lower the expectations, the higher the incentive to land that giant-killing blow. But England are an impressive 50-over team with a serious game-face right now. Defeat in either of these contests would be a shock to rival any that Ireland have amassed down the years.Ed Joyce is one of several Ireland players to have also represented England•Getty Images

Form guide

England WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Ireland LWWLL

In the spotlight

The bench-strength of England’s batting is among the biggest reasons why they are being touted as Champions Trophy favourites, with a host of players competing for a limited number of berths, and disappointment inevitable for an unlucky few. And to read the runes of England’s squad announcement, Jonny Bairstow has more ground to make up than many, with Sam Billings earmarked to keep wicket in the absence of Jos Buttler, in spite of Bairstow’s solidity as the Test No.1. If that development has made him a bit grumpy, maybe it’s a tactic that will pay off. A blistering innings of 174 from 113 balls for Yorkshire against Durham on Wednesday was a timely reminder of his talents, to say the least.Tim Murtagh has not been a fixture for Middlesex in their Royal London campaign to date, but his intimate knowledge of, and skill in, English conditions will be an invaluable asset, both with the new ball and as a mentor to an otherwise young Irish attack. At the age of 35, he’s as long in the tooth as many of the veterans who remain from the earliest days of Ireland’s ODI status, but having qualified for the country through his grandparents in 2012, he has plugged a vital gap in their ranks, following the retirement of Trent Johnston, and the absence of Rankin, initially with England and latterly with injury.

Team news

With Buttler, Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes missing from these matches due to their IPL commitments, there is a limited opportunity for the selectors to experiment, with Billings and Bairstow the obvious beneficiaries in the middle order. However, it has been Eoin Morgan’s stated policy since the turn of the year to pick the side that is as close as possible to his Champions Trophy starting XI, so it would be a surprise to see many liberties taken in the line-up. The absence of a seam-bowling allrounder may tempt them to go in with one spinner, especially as a host of their quicks are on the comeback trail and need game-time, but the top four is set in stone.England: (probable) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Sam Billings, 7 Moeen Ali/Adil Rashid, 8 David Willey, 9 Liam Plunkett, 10 Jake Ball, 11 Mark WoodKevin O’Brien’s return from a hamstring injury is a welcome boost for an Ireland team who will need their veterans to rise to one of their biggest occasions in recent times. That said, his brother, Niall, could conceivably give way to Andy Balbirnie, with Gary Wilson taking the gloves. Murtagh will lead the line with his intelligent swing bowling.Ireland: (probable) 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Gary Wilson, 5 Niall O’Brien (wk), 6 Kevin O’Brien, 7 Stuart Thompson, 8 George Dockrell, 9 Tim Murtagh, 10 Barry McCarthy, 11 Craig Young

Pitch and conditions

Morgan felt that the pitch had a touch less grass on it than he might otherwise have imagined but, with the weather set to be overcast, England’s most full-throttle batting may not come immediately to the fore.

Stats and trivia

• Bristol is set to host its 14th ODI, and 16th international fixture all told, following two T20Is in 2006 and 2011.
• Of those, England have featured in 10 of the last 11 ODIs, dating back to 2001, but their record is inauspicious. The last of their three victories came against West Indies in 2009. The following year they lost to Bangladesh for the first time in their history.
• England’s last two fixtures at Bristol have failed to be completed. The match against India was abandoned in 2014, while there was no result against Sri Lanka last year.

Quotes

“We’re not at the level we were. We’ve been hit by four or five big retirements and that’s made life very difficult for us.”
“No, that’s very cheeky. No chance, no chance.”

Worcestershire’s bowlers bounced back in impressive style from their weekend semi-final mauling in dismissing Kent for 260

ECB Reporters Network19-Jun-2017
ScorecardJoe Leach’s early spell set an impressive tone for Worcestershire•Getty Images

Worcestershire’s bowlers bounced back in impressive style from their weekend semi-final mauling in dismissing Kent for 260 on day one of the Specsavers County Championship promotion battle at New Road.But then Kent responded themselves with the ball despite a boundary-laced cameo from England all-rounder Moeen Ali as Worcestershire closed on 95 for 3.The home side, who conceded 363 runs in the Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Surrey, may have feared the worse after Kent skipper Sam Northeast won the toss on a good batting wicket in the blazing heat.Skipper Joe Leach and 19-year-old Josh Tongue in particular impressed with the ball and Kent, despite lower order resistance from Matt Coles and Adam Rouse, would have been disappointed to be bowled out in 73.1 overs.All of their batsmen except openers Daniel Bell-Drummond and Sean Dickson got into double figures but no-one went past 50.As well as Leach and Tongue bowled, some of the shot selection of the Kent batsmen was questionable and their score was below-par.Leach bowled an inspired opening spell and sent back openers Bell-Drummond and Dickson during an initial burst of 7-3-7-2.Bell-Drummond nicked through to Daryl Mitchell at first slip and then Dickson tried to work the ball on the leg side and the ball struck his pads and bounced onto the stumps.Joe Denly drove Ed Barnard straight to Brett D’Oliveira at point and then Tongue bowled a fiery spell after lunch which accounted for Northeast and Will Gidman.In between Joe Weatherley wafted at a wide Leach and was caught behind and then Darren Stevens flat batted John Hastings straight into the hands of deep extra cover.Kent were then 139 for 7 but resistance came at last from Coles and Rouse who opted to counter-attack in adding 79 in 16 overs.It needed the return of Tongue to break the stand shortly before tea as Rouse provided Mitchell with a third catch and then Coles played back to Moeen Ali and was lbw.Leach finished with 3 for 42 to take his season’s wicket tally to 36 and Tongue, in his first season of senior cricket, 3 for 56 to move onto 24 victims.The wickets were soon tumbling when Worcestershire launched their reply and D’Oliveira failed to trouble the scorers before he was pouched at second slip off Stevens.Moeen was ultra aggressive in his approach with nine fours in his 37 off just 16 balls, a mixture of glorious cover drives and edges which just eluded the slip cordon.But then he fell for the three card trick and was caught at deep midwicket off Coles who then had opener Mitchell taken at third slip.
The positive aspect for Worcestershire was Joe Clarke looking like he was returning to form during an unbeaten 34.He received good support from George Rhodes, in his first senior appearance of the season during an unbroken stand of 47.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has admitted that the differences between former coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli had not been handled properly

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-20172:19

‘Kumble and Shastri approaches different, but goal the same’ – R Sridhar, India’s fielding coach

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has said that the differences between former coach Anil Kumble and captain Virat Kohli had not been handled properly. Ganguly is a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) that is tasked by the BCCI with identifying India’s new coach, and had zeroed in on Kumble last year. The CAC, it is understood, was also entrusted with the responsibility of breaking the impasse between Kohli and Kumble, but after discussions with Kohli, it reported to the board that the relationship was beyond repair.”The matter between Kumble and Kohli should have been handled a lot better, by whoever in charge. It was not handled properly,” Ganguly told reporters in Kolkata on Tuesday.On Sunday, during the state associations’ meeting with the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators, Ganguly disagreed that the CAC was undermined by the Kumble-Kohli episode. He had then pithily spelt out what kind of coach the committee was looking for: “[The one] who can win cricket matches.”With the deadline for applications for the job of coach extended till July 9 following Kumble’s exit, Ganguly, along with his former team-mates Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, will now have to look into the applications of the five candidates that have already submitted their resumes – Virender Sehwag, Tom Moody, Lalchand Rajput, Richard Pybus and Dodda Ganesh – as well as those of anyone else who applies for the post. The latest contender is former India team director Ravi Shastri, whom Kumble replaced last year. Shastri told ESPNcricinfo that “he will apply for sure”.Incidentally, Ganguly and Shastri were involved in a spat during the interview process to appoint the coach last year. While Shastri was affronted by Ganguly’s absence during the interview, the latter took a dig at Shastri not turning up in person to make his presentation. Now, asked about Shastri’s application, Ganguly said: “Everybody has got the right to apply. We will find out. I can also apply, provided I am not an administrator.”Kumble’s resignation came four days before the limited-overs tour to the Caribbean began, with him deeming his partnership with Kohli to be “untenable”. The exit had come following media reports that Kohli had told the BCCI that some players weren’t comfortable with Kumble’s “intimidating” approach to managing players. Consequently, despite Kumble’s successful one-year tenure, the board invited fresh applications for the head coach’s position instead of extending his contract, which ran till the end of the Champions Trophy.Kumble, who was given a direct entry, reapplied for the job, and was learnt to have accepted the BCCI’s offer to extend his contract for the West Indies series. He subsequently said, however, that he couldn’t continue given the reservations that Kohli had with his methods.

Half-centuries from both opening batsmen took the total to 208 for 3, which was well beyond the Jamaica Tallawahs’ reach

The Report by Peter Della Penna22-Aug-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsChris Gayle notched up a half-century in his 50th CPL match•Ashley Allen – CPL T20 / Getty

The Universe Boss marked his 50th CPL match with his 63rd T20 fifty as St Kitts & Nevis Patriots brushed past Jamaica Tallawahs by 37 runs to clinch a place in the playoffs for the first time in their three-year history.Chris Gayle made the most of a life on 15 to top-score with 71 not out off 55 balls as the Patriots racked up 208 for 3, the highest total of the CPL this season, and the second-highest including the previous four. Armed with scoreboard pressure, they were then able to restrict the Tallawahs to 171 for 7 in reply with left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi picking up 3 for 35 in four overs.A night to forget in the fieldTallawahs did themselves few favors over the course of the night, following up Kumar Sangakkara’s decision to bowl first by producing a slipshod fielding performance either side of a 35-minute rain delay at the eight-over mark. The Patriots had a comparatively modest start, only scoring 38 in the Powerplay, but a key moment occurred in the sixth over when Gayle was spilled at long leg by Odean Smith.Kesrick Williams tucked Gayle up trying to pull and sent the chance Smith’s way, but the 20-year-old was perhaps preoccupied trying to position his body to stay within the ropes. He wound up bobbling the ball initially before dropping it altogether as it bounced over for four. Smith followed up in the next over and was swiftly punished by Lewis three times to the cover and fine leg rope as he motored toward 69 off 39 balls. By the time the Gayle-Lewis stand ended, they had piled on 110 off 12.3 overs.The race for 200After Lewis fell, Carlos Brathwaite and then Mohammad Nabi teed off at the other end. Like Gayle, each had early let-offs. Brathwaite was put down by Andre McCarthy on 13 to end the 15th over before finishing with 26 off 13 balls. Nabi should have been taken on his first ball but Jonathan Foo bailed out of a chance.While Gayle was sedate for most of his innings – he took 46 balls to reach his half-century – he sprang to life in the 18th over, smashing Mohammad Sami for a four and two sixes off consecutive balls as part of a 25-run over. Two more sixes by Nabi off Rovman Powell and Williams off the last two overs took Patriots past 200.Shamsi’s squeezeTallawahs gave a hearty effort early in the chase but never seriously challenged the Patriots total. Jonathan Carter made the initial breakthrough as Trevor Griffith miscued a full toss on 42 in the ninth over.Tabraiz Shamsi burrowed his way through the Tallawahs in the middle overs, finishing with 3 for 35 as five of the final six wickets fell to spin. Glenn Phillips fell three balls after drinks, as he tried to hit Shamsi over midwicket for his second six in a row but only managed to pick out Shamar Brooks. Shamsi was involved in the wicket of Sangakkara next, snaring a catch at point off Nabi to set the Tallawahs back further at 87 for 3 in the 12th over.Lendl Simmons then found Brooks on the midwicket boundary again for Shamsi’s second wicket in the 13th over before Foo missed a sweep in Shamsi’s next over.

The actual cricket looks to have taken a back seat, but Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is eager to push it back into focus, looking to maintain Pakistan’s T20 ranking by winning games

Umar Farooq in Lahore11-Sep-2017The emerging theme from the series between Pakistan and the World XI is that it’s more than just cricket, with the feeling that this is the first time real, high-profile international cricket returns to Pakistan. The actual cricket looks to have taken a back seat, but Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed is eager to push it back into focus, looking to maintain Pakistan’s T20 ranking by winning games.The players comprising the World XI hail from seven different countries, and landed in Lahore with a view to reviving cricket in Pakistan. It is a series being celebrated around the country as the future of Pakistan as viable host hinges on the success of the series, which has been ratified by the ICC and holds T20 international status.”I think the burden of responsibility has been increased because we are playing at home but we take every series seriously,” Sarfraz said ahead of the first T20. “This might be a series for a great cause to revive cricket but we have to watch out for our T20 ranking as well. Our ranking is quite high (No. 3) and we want to maintain it so the series is equally important. We will try to win every game one-sidedly. But obviously, they are a strong team on paper and we will have to fight to win.”Sarfraz grew up in an era when Pakistan used to host international teams frequently. He played in the 2008 Asia Cup and was part of the Pakistan squad when Zimbabwe toured the country in 2015. He had also captained Quetta Gladiators in the PSL final earlier this year, but this will be the first instance of him captaining Pakistan on home soil in an international game. Apart from Sarfraz, as many as 10 players out of the 16-man squad have never played an international game at home.Amir debuted in 2009 but has never played at home while Babar Azam, Ahmed Shehzad, and Imad Wasim played their first international in 2015 against Zimbabwe. “I am very excited to have cricket back home after a long time and it is a moment of joy,” Sarfraz said. “Since the incident (Sri Lanka team attack in 2009) this is my third event in Pakistan.”As captain it’s my first, so for me, it’s a proud moment, as well as for all those who have been selected to play against World XI. I think nothing is more joyous for them than to be playing cricket in Pakistan and we are hopeful that after this series, cricket will be regularly played in the country. We have a young team building up and we are fully prepared ahead of the game. We played with a blend of young player in West Indies, as we are now, but at the same time, we have the likes of Ahmed Shezhad, with ample experience along with Shoaib Malik, so there isn’t any worry at all. We are actually trying to play young players who will step up to the plate.”

Warner’s captaincy has received praise from fellow opener Aaron Finch after the loss in Ranchi, and from his Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor VVS Laxman in the recent past

Arun Venugopal in Guwahati09-Oct-2017David Warner feels his style of captaincy is an extension of Steven Smith’s ethos, as Australia look to his leadership to reverse their trend of losses in India. Standing in for Smith, who injured his shoulder during the final ODI in Nagpur, Warner captained Australia in their nine-wicket defeat in the rain-affected first T20I in Ranchi. He stressed that the team was trying its best to win every game.”From my point of view, it’s about following on from what Steve’s values are and the standards of the team and what we do to respect him,” Warner said ahead of the second T20I in Guwahati. “I try to follow down the same key messages to the guys so we’re preparing as best as we can to go out on the field. We’re doing our best and that’s all I can do to the best of my ability. It’s up to the player to follow directions.”Despite Australia’s loss, Warner’s leadership came in for praise from different quarters. Opener Aaron Finch thought Warner’s experience of playing and leading in India was put to good use. “It can be quite refreshing when another skipper comes in who doesn’t have to worry about the off-field stuff quite as much as the regular skipper does,” Finch said. ” did a fantastic job under the circumstances. Dave’s obviously played a lot and captained a lot over here in the IPL. He knows the opposition very well, he’s very calm under pressure the majority of the time. He’s a fantastic leader. He’s the vice-captain of the country for a reason.”Former India batsman VVS Laxman, who mentors the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad – which Warner captains in the IPL – felt the opener was a more aggressive leader than Smith. On the subject of captaincy, Warner said it was “great fun” but came with its share of responsibilities.”From where I stand, it’s my mind, Steve’s mind, different players’ minds, we’ve all got minds of our own,” he said. “When you’re out there and you’re not captain, you don’t have the pressure on yourself to keep thinking all the time. I can just sit back and say I’d have done this, I’d have done that but the difference is you’re not captain. The ideas everyone brings to the table, you say that to the captain and bring in some ideas and that’s what we do to help each other out because it’s a tough job when you’re out there.”I think if you ask each individual, you have a sense of responsibility no matter what. It’s not just me but everyone, who puts that captain’s cap on. You’ve got a responsibility, you’ve got to lead your troops. It’s great fun, we enjoy it, but I enjoy going out there and winning games for my country and whichever team I’m in front of. And if I’m leading, I’m doing it to the best of my ability, even more than you normally would just to get the guys in the right direction as a leader.”And despite the team’s frequent middle-order collapses, Warner said he couldn’t afford to worry about them. “I don’t look too much into because if you get out early, then there’s a collapse in the middle after a partnership,” Warner said. “Everyone becomes frustrated with why it happens. No one means to get out.”There are always reasons about why it [collapse] happens. People talk about pressure, people talk about having two batsmen in and two batsmen get out. We have to play like the way we know and that’s the brand of cricket we bring to the table. You can’t worry about a collapse going to happen. No one is worried about that at all. We have to keep backing ourselves 100%. We know that when we do well we do very, very well.”

The former New Zealand allrounder, who is currently at the Bangladesh Premier League, on the origins of the shortest format and the benefits it has brought

Mohammad Isam10-Nov-2017From playing Cricket Max as a teenager to being a veteran plying his trade in T20 leagues these days, former New Zealand allrounder James Franklin has had first-hand experience of the shorter format’s transition in the last 20 years.”When I first started my career a wee while ago, Cricket Max was the game and, really, from Cricket Max, T20 cricket evolved,” Franklin said to ESPNcricinfo. “Martin Crowe was the founding father of the short format. T20 wasn’t the game he came up with but he came up with Max Cricket.”It was all double scores going straight, so that was the name of the game; you hit straight because that’s where you get full value for your team. I think it helped New Zealand cricketers come to the fore in terms of T20 cricket as well. We learned how to play the shorter format, which is why I think there are many good T20 players from New Zealand.”Franklin has built himself as a successful Kiwi export in other domestic competitions, particularly in T20s. In his second season for Rajshahi Kings in the BPL, Franklin has so far made 26 not out and 35, on both occasions looking to give his side a final flourish.Having played his last international match in June 2013, Franklin has mostly played through the English summer and also in the T20 leagues back home in New Zealand and, BPL aside, in the IPL, CPL and PSL.He said that adjusting to the team’s needs is one of the keys to being a T20 professional, to be able to understand the direction and dynamics of the group and then applying yourself as needed. It has become easier to fit into teams as he gets older, he said, because of his acquired experience.”You just have to get a feel for the group you come into, and culturally what’s different about each team, trying to grasp and understand the culture of the team and buy into what the captain, coach and the leaders in that team are trying to do.”Now being a more senior player, it is probably a bit easier to fit into a new team environment because you get experience of different teams through your career. I have had bit of experience playing in the subcontinent by playing in the IPL. A big part of my role now is to try to help the younger local players.”Franklin believes T20s can help players overcome two of cricket’s fundamental problems: having a career outside international cricket, and playing better in overseas conditions.”It is a global game now in terms of player movement. A lot of players can have their career now just playing T20s around the world. It is a true international game. I think we are seeing benefits with the skills that the players are being able to show in all conditions. We were used to seeing subcontinent players struggling in Australia or South Africa and vice versa. This is slowly being eradicated because players are spending more time in foreign conditions. They are used to playing on different surfaces so their skills get better. I think that has been the biggest thing to come out of it, I guess, the globalisation of the game of cricket.”Franklin said that the next step in such player movements would be for more subcontinent players to take their talents to South Africa and Australia. “England players were allowed to play in the IPL. They [the ECB] see a benefit to letting them go play, because they learn skills, they are playing in high pressure situations. The next step is obviously for more Bangladeshi, Indian players to go and play in competitions in South Africa and Australia. Then it truly becomes a global game.”

Andrew Strauss could face his “biggest decision”, Pietersen warns, as old tensions are rekindled

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Dec-2017Kevin Pietersen has become the first major England player, past or present, to state publically that Ben Stokes should play no part in the Ashes – and he has even reopened old wounds with his former adversary Andrew Strauss by suggesting that Strauss’ job could be in jeopardy because of the issue.The Crown Prosecution Service will decide whether charges will be brought against Stokes after receiving a report from Avon and Somerset Police about his alleged part in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September.Stokes is playing domestic cricket in New Zealand with the blessing of the ECB after voluntarily assisting with police interviews which, in his case, are now complete.But Pietersen told the that his mind is already made up and that it would be wrong for Stokes to take part in the Test series.Strauss, director of England cricket, was instrumental to the banishing of Pietersen from England’s set-up on the grounds that he undermined the team ethic.In a wide-ranging interview, Pietersen says he is not bitter, and that he is “in such a cool space” as he rebuilds his life on the T20 circuit and with a commitment to rhino conservation.But he warned: “The issue with Ben Stokes isn’t about Ben Stokes. It’s about Andrew Strauss. He’s the one who’s going to make this call about if and when Stokes returns. The CPS might make it for him but if they don’t, this is on Strauss.”This is his biggest decision. Forget what he’s ever done to me. This is his biggest call. He likes to do things by the book. By his book. He doesn’t have much hair at the moment. He could lose it all on this decision. It’s a monster.”

Vidarbha have beaten the odds on several occasions already this season, but can their dream streak extend for one more match?

Vishal Dikshit in Indore28-Dec-2017The last time Faiz Fazal played a tournament final, he scored a century, took the Man-of-the-Match trophy and finished on the winning team when he represented India A in the Deodhar Trophy last year. With hardly any experience of playing finals until then, Fazal put his hand up at the crucial juncture, much like how his team Vidarbha has done in the Ranji Trophy this season.Vidarbha were the underdogs when they qualified for the quarter-finals, they were the underdogs against heavyweights Karnataka in the semi-finals, and now, eight matches later, they are still unbeaten after six wins this season. Are they the underdogs heading into the final against Delhi?”I don’t know actually,” captain Faiz Fazal said on the eve of the match. “We have six-seven outright wins so … but we don’t mind. In our minds we have to think that we don’t care even if we are called the underdogs. We don’t mind anything because ultimately winning this game is important for us.”Vidarbha’s spirit, courage and attitude have shown that they may not be the underdogs anymore. They are up against Delhi who last played a Ranji final in 2007-08, under Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy. Delhi hardly have an edge because they have only one player left from that Ranji win 10 years ago. If Delhi won three of their six league matches, Vidarbha earned four wins and topped their group. If Delhi won the quarter-final by beating Madhya Pradesh by seven wickets and the semi-final by an innings and 26 runs against Bengal, Vidarbha hammered Kerala by 412 runs – the biggest margin by runs in Ranji history – and beat all odds to edge out Karnataka in a thriller in the semi-finals.Fazal believes apart from veteran Wasim Jaffer’s wisdom and acumen in the dressing room and new coach Chandrakant Pandit’s philosophy, it is the discipline in the team that brought the best out of them.”The way we played the semi-final as a whole unit, it showed our character,” Fazal said. “We all believed we could win this game and we always thought that this is our game, we can’t lose this game. Even when they needed nine runs and we needed two wickets, we never thought that we are going to lose the game. We were really positive and focused because we needed only two good balls to get them out.PTI

“The discipline in the team, the way the routines and preparations we had before coming into the Ranji Trophy,” Fazal said in response to what changed their fortunes this season. “Except the nets, the match simulations we did, and one more thing is that we are a really happy unit. We all are really happy and we are enjoying our cricket very much. We always used to enjoy but I don’t know why we all believe that this season the trophy is ours. As I mentioned earlier, after quarter-final or the semi-final, that I want to have the feel of the trophy in my hands. I want to have that bite of success so let’s see.”Fazal exudes conviction and clarity when he talks. Unlike the 20-year-old Delhi captain Rishabh Pant, who was succinct and not too revealing in the pre-match press conference, Fazal was at ease, with the experience of 14 years of domestic cricket behind him.When asked about Vidarbha’s memorable season, Fazal went all the way back to their first match – against Punjab in Mohali, where the hosts were bundled out for 161. Vidarbha kicked off their season with an innings win and carried that form and confidence into the subsequent matches, to beat Services, Bengal and Goa in the group stage.It spilled over in the knockouts too, when they had already taken a first-innings lead against Kerala and were placed on a solid 431 for 6 in their second innings, with a massive lead of 501, with a day left in the game. Instead of batting on and on, they declared on the last day and then rolled over Kerala in just over 52 overs, led by left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate’s 6 for 41, to take home another six points.”The way we won against Punjab, they had all the stars in the team and we got seven points in that game,” Fazal said. “That start was really important for us. The way we’ve been playing the whole season, we always want to win the game, not only take the first-innings lead…like we played in the quarter-finals.”We could have batted the whole day and we could have just walked away. But we thought that let’s make a game out of this. We already had plans to declare after lunch and then give two sessions to them and the way we played then for the outright win, this is the way we’ve been planning to play this season and hopefully we’ll continue like this.”Starting on Friday, Fazal will now hope the team’s dream streak stretches for one more match, the players don’t buckle under the pressure of the big occasion and the law of averages doesn’t catch up with them so that he can actually taste success like never before.