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Cricket administrators rarely win many plaudits. They are, like wicketkeepers and cars, generally only noticed when they fail

George Dobell at Trent Bridge12-Sep-2014Cricket administrators rarely win many plaudits. They are, like wicketkeepers and cars, generally only noticed when they fail.But as Yorkshire supporters celebrate their first County Championship title since 2001 and only their second since 1968, they might well raise a glass to the club chairman, Colin Graves.When Graves became involved with the club in 2002 it was, arguably, at the lowest point in its history. While the side remained competitive on the pitch, the finances of the club were in such a mess that its very future was in jeopardy.The club had no assets, huge debts and very little income. The bank was on the verge of taking possession of Headingley and, while cricket would, no doubt, have continued to exist in the county, there would have been no more international cricket and none of the facilities or structures that have led to the 2014 Championship title.Graves, who made his fortune as founder of the Costcutter supermarket chain, has not only ploughed his own money into the club – he reckons somewhere approaching £10 million in all – but has guaranteed the debts required to buy the ground and invest in its redevelopment. It is no exaggeration to state that Yorkshire cricket would not exist in anything like recognisable form without him. Quite how they could have continued as a first-class county is unclear.So it was understandable that he looked as delighted as anyone when the County Championship trophy was presented at Trent Bridge. Graves, a cricket lover who put his money where his mouth was, had earned it as much as any player or any coach.”There have been a lot of low points,” Graves said as he looked at the Yorkshire players drenching each other in champagne. “But today makes it all worthwhile.”What would have happened had I not got involved? That’s simple: they would have gone bust. The bank had already put a cross next door to the debt and Headingley was 48 hours from being written off. It was going to go.”They wouldn’t have been playing cricket there, that’s for certain. It was owned by Paul Caddick. The rugby side had all the income streams, they had everything. Yorkshire County Cricket Club didn’t own a blade of grass.”When I took it over they had debts of £8 million and no assets. They had no ECB staging agreement. How they got in that position I will never know but banking was different to what it is today. I thought ‘we have got a bit of a problem here.'”We have turned it around financially. Yes, we have debts – about £20 million in all – but people have to realise that we paid £13 million to buy the ground. There is now a £15 million asset in the land alone.”Why did I do it? A lot of people have asked me that and said I must be nuts. But, purely and simply, I couldn’t sit there and watch Yorkshire county cricket club go bust.”I have been a cricket nut all my life. I have played league cricket in Yorkshire and I enjoyed every minute of it. I have made a lot of friends in Yorkshire and cricket’s my passion, it’s my hobby and when I knew Yorkshire was in the state it was in there was no way I could sit there and watch it disappear.”Still, the task at hand for Graves did not really dawn on him until he started delving deeper into the club’s dire situation.”I didn’t realise what I was taking on at that time. The more I digged, the more stones I turned over and the more problems I found. I thought, ‘Christ almighty, what have I done now?'”When got relegated to the second division, I just couldn’t believe that had happened to us. After everything we had put in place and who we had in the team, it should not have happened. That was the low point to me.”But I never thought of walking away. It has been a massive challenge, but it’s great to be where we are now.While Graves’ money has been key, so has restructuring behind the scenes and most notably in the coaching set-up which included the shrewd appointment of Jason Gillespie as first team coach. However, it was not change that people immediately bought into and Graves ended up having to force it upon Martyn Moxon.”Until four years ago – before Jason Gillespie came – we had a coaching system that was creaking, a flat coaching structure, that wasn’t working. Martyn got sucked into a lot of things he shouldn’t have got sucked into.”As soon as we changed it and put in a pyramid coaching structure it worked straightaway. The main thing was, we got the right people involved and they took it forward in leaps and bounds. That’s what we needed.”Martyn appreciates it now. I was pushing for him to do it two years before but Martyn was loyal to the people around him. But when it didn’t start changing then I took the decision. I said ‘Right, Martyn, it’s my call now and it’s time to change.’ And that’s what happened. It was the best thing we ever did.”We have an Ashes Test match in 2019 and our sponsorship has grown dramatically. Hopefully we can kick on from here.”

Naved Arif, now 32, is not a household name in cricket, but neither is he a nobody

Andrew McGlashan22-May-2014Naved Arif, now 32, is not a household name in cricket, but neither is he a nobody. A first-class bowling average of 24.38 showed that he had some skill when it came to his left-arm pace bowling and he reached as far as Pakistan A in 2009 when he toured Australia, playing against the likes of Cameron White and George Bailey, and Sri Lanka.Now, however, the man given the nickname ‘Barry’ – as in Great Barrier Reef – while playing league cricket in Lancashire faces being known forever as a match-fixer if the charges laid by the ECB in relation to a county match in 2011 are made to stick.He joined Sussex in 2011 – ironically, it was announced on the same day as Sussex’s signing of Lou Vincent – a process eased by the fact his wife was Danish so he did not class as an overseas player. He had made his first-class debut in Pakistan in 2002, and marked the appearance with figures of 5 for 28 against Hyderabad.At the time, Mark Robinson, the Sussex coach, said: “Naved is a late developer, and with his background in Pakistan he’s had to do it the tough way. His record out there on unhelpful wickets is outstanding and he’s got the potential to change games.”His Sussex debut came in April 2011, against Lancashire at Aigburth, and it was undistinguished affair as he took 1 for 68 and made 6 and 0 in an innings defeat. However, a couple of weeks later against the same opposition he scored an unbeaten hundred – his only one in first-class cricket, he does not have another score over fifty – to earn Sussex a draw when defeat had looked likely. said Arif had mixed “studied defence with attractive leg-side blows”. He helped save the match in a last-wicket stand of 90 alongside Monty Panesar.He played just four Championship matches in the season, but claimed a creditable 15 wickets at 25.86. He was more of a regular in the 40-over team and on August 23 faced Kent in a televised match that has been long under the spotlight despite being cleared by ICC. Arif made 11 off 29 balls as, from a position of considerable strength, Sussex failed to chase down 217. He had earlier conceded 0 for 41 in six overs.In 2012 he made seven Championship appearances, his last against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in what was also his final first-team match for Sussex. At the end of the season he was released having appeared in just two more 2nd XI fixtures.In December of the same year he played two matches for Sialkot Stallions and his last professional game of cricket was against Lahore Lions, where he took 1 for 29.However, he did play club cricket again in England as recently as April this year when he appeared for Little Stoke Cricket Club taking 5 for 26 and making 52.If found guilty of the charges he faces Arif now faces a ban from all levels of cricket organised, authorised or supported by the ECB, ICC, any other National Cricket Federation and any member of any other National Cricket Federation.

GOAL predicts how the Lions of Teranga could line up in the semi-final clash against the Stallions at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Wednesday

Senegal will come up against Burkina Faso in the last four of the Africa Cup of Nations at Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium on Wednesday.

The Lions of Teranga are seeking their first-ever Afcon title at the 33rd edition in Cameroon despite making 16 appearances. Below GOAL predicts how coach Aliou Cisse could line up his players.

Getty ImagesGoalkeeper – Edouard Mendy

Despite conceding against Equatorial Guinea in the quarter-finals, the Chelsea shot-stopper has been in great form since recovering from Covid-19 as he managed to keep clean sheets against Malawi in their final group phase fixture and against Cape Verde in the Round of 16.

He will likely keep his spot as the Lions of Teranga target to reach a second successive final.

AdvertisementBackpagepix.Defender – Bouna Sarr

The 30-year-old, who features for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich has been instrumental for the Lions of Teranga in the right position, where he also overlaps from the wing and he will definitely remain Aliou Cisse's preferred player in that position.

（C）Getty ImagesDefender – Saliou Ciss

Despite being booked in the quarter-final game against Nzalang Nacional, Ciss, who turns out for French Ligue 2 club Nancy, has played a key role for Senegal in the Afcon campaign and will likely keep his position against the Stallions.

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Getty Defender – Kalidou Koulibaly

The 30-year-old Napoli defender missed the first two group matches owing to Covid-19 but has kept his position since making a comeback in the game against Malawi.

Being the captain of the side, Koulibaly will be expected to lead by example and help Seegal reach the final.

Ryan Harris has vowed to return from extensive knee surgery, expressing his desire to again experience the elation that washed over him after helping Australia to a thrilling win in Cape Town

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town05-Mar-2014If Ryan Harris never bowls again, he will be immortalised as Australia’s hero of Newlands, conjurer of the last two wickets on one functioning leg and another months overdue for the surgeon’s knife. But he has vowed to return after that extensive knee surgery, expressing his desire to again experience the elation that washed over him and the rest of the touring team as they won the match and the series over South Africa with a mere 27 balls to spare.By merely being in South Africa, Harris had already delayed his hospital check-in date. He felt increasing discomfort in his knee across a wildly successful Ashes at home, where he was instrumental in the securing of the 5-0 sweep. His difficulties increased across the tour, and were further compounded by a hip ailment so painful that he was unsure if he could even bowl in the second innings.But Harris has awed his teammates for some time with his ability to fight his way through pain barriers that would rule out any other player, and he did so again in their hour of need in Cape Town. His bowling on the final day went well beyond any expectations, as team management had reckoned him capable of only another 8-10 overs. Harris ended the match in his 25th.”Yesterday I didn’t think I was going to bowl another over to be honest,” Harris said. “I had a bit of a niggle in the hip flexor which was quite sore. A bit of painful treatment yesterday and last night got me up and going this morning. Now it’s worth it with the win, but it’s something I had to get through and got through okay. The doc [Peter Brukner] was dry needling me, I think I had 30-odd mills [of fluid] drained out of my knee yesterday as well which wasn’t great. But it’s all worth it now. To get through that and come out on top, it’s worth all that pain.”It was ridiculously sore, but a couple of Panadeine Fortes helped, and dulled the pain a bit. If the captain tells you to bowl you need to bowl, especially Test matches like that, that’s our job to win Test matches, but when you’ve got bowlers at the other end like Mitch, if you say no then it would have been embarrassing.”Harris had already gone beyond his limits by defeating AB de Villiers with the second new ball. But his penultimate over in the final session had all the hallmarks of a last failing effort. He had made Dale Steyn play at only two of six balls, and was withdrawn by the captain Michael Clarke. At this point, Harris felt he was finished, but resolved to be willing should Clarke call again. Desperate for a wicket, he did.”I thought I was done,” Harris said. “I wasn’t sure, I thought Michael would turn to me and say ‘I need you to bowl two or three’. I was hoping he wasn’t going to say that because I was feeling a bit sore, but when he turned to me and said ‘can you give me three’ I wasn’t going to say no. All the pain I went through last night and the night before is all worth it now.”All I know is I was trying to bowl as fast as I could. I didn’t even know I’d bowled Steyn until the boys celebrated. Personally it was great to get through it, the pain threshold. To be honest, the knee wasn’t much of a factor today it was more the other thing, but as a team it was getting close. I thought we really deserved the win. Mitch and Patto bowled really well, Mitch bowled 30 overs which is really ridiculous for a quick, but to get through and win it was all worth it.”There was a spell where I think at times I was really struggling to get to the wicket. I was working on different ways to run. I haven’t really run with a proper running action because the knee won’t let me fully extend my leg. I worked out ways of trying to dull the pain, some balls were really painful and some weren’t. I had to keep going and if Michael said to me I had to bowl I had to bowl, simple as that, it’s my job.”Now, Harris’ job is to get fit again in time for next summer. The coach Darren Lehmann wants to keep him operational until the Ashes in England in 2015, and Harris is adamant that he will push for that goal. Moments like Newlands have provided him with the greatest possible incentive.”I get back Friday, have a couple of days at home and head down to Melbourne on Monday and have it done Tuesday,” he said. “I’ve got a few bone spurs rubbing on my PCL and ACL so they’ll shave a bit of that off, and apparently because they’re shaving bone it’s going to be quite tender for a bit. It’s not exactly a clean-out, it’s a bit more than that – hopefully get rid of the bone that’s floating around in there which is the one I keep unlocking every now and then.”It’s going to take a bit of time, but I’ve worked out we’ve got five and a half months I think before hopefully Zimbabwe if I’m considered for one-day stuff then hopefully Dubai. I’ve got plenty of time so the first 10 days I’ll be feet up and on crutches and then go from there. The good thing is living in Brisbane I’ve got the NCC with all the facilities there waiting for me, and the physios and everything up there so I’ve got the best people there looking after me.”I’m bloody going to enjoy a break, I can tell you that. But knowing that, it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get up and going again. I’ve said all along that long breaks aren’t good for me but this is an enforced one and it’s something I’m looking forward to. Coming into this series I was a little bit underdone fitness wise, I need a good pre-season to build up some strength. My right quad, which I need to be strong is really small – it needs to be be big and I’ve got a lot of time to do that now. I want to keep playing here as long as I can – moments like today, there’s nothing better.”Clarke, for one, cannot wait for Harris’ return. “Ryan is one of a kind, he will run through a brick wall for me and for this team,” the grateful captain said. “He seems once he gets on the field the pain is gone, I don’t know what he has done to himself, I don’t know how bad it is. He just seems to find a way, you ask him to bowl he will bowl, he’s got no energy left his body is killing him he will find a way to take a wicket for us.”As captain you can’t ask for more and that’s where I am extremely fortunate with this team, no matter what the results are going forward, we will lose a lot of games, lets hope we will win a lot of games as well but I have players in this team who will jump off a bridge for me.”

Nepal have hit some heights recently but they were unable to sustain the dizzying altitude achieved by winning their first World T20 match as they came up against the hosts, Bangladesh

Alan Gardner in Chittagong18-Mar-2014Nepal have hit some heights recently – coming from “the roof of the world” should mean they can handle them – but they were unable to sustain the dizzying altitude achieved by winning their first World T20 match as they came up against the hosts, Bangladesh, who had the bit between their teeth during an eight-wicket win.Victory against Hong Kong, although by a huge margin, had been founded on steady batting followed by disciplined attack with the ball against nervy opponents. Bangladesh were always going to ramp the pressure up a few notches, with reputation as well as qualification on the line, and although Nepal put in another solid display after being inserted they were unable to achieve the required upwards curve at the end of their innings.Nepal’s coach, Pubudu Dassanayake, was understandably pleased with the way his team had acquitted themselves in their first encounter with a Test-playing nation but regretted that the batting fell away again, this time to more costly effect.”They went through the plans well,” he said of his players. “We wanted to be 90-100 for not too many down in the 15th over. They did what we asked of them. But what we lacked was a good finish. If we had got 140-145 things might have been different. Overall I’m very happy with the quality of shots they played and the aggression that they showed. It was a good game for us, despite the result.”Nepal were 86 for 3 after 15 overs, with Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar well set after coming together with the score on 39. Fourteen runs came in the 17th over but they otherwise struggled to find the boundary, a situation compounded at the end when Al-Amin Hossain conceded just a single and a wide from the final six balls.As happened two nights ago, Khadka was forced to rebuild after Nepal’s openers perished for insubstantial scores. Dassanayake said that Al-Amin’s dismissal of No. 3 Gyanendra Malla for 13 was key and backed Subash Khakurel and Sagar Pun to continue developing into an effective partnership at the top of the order.”In the last two games I’ve been happy with the way Subash and Sagar shaped up,” he said. “We’ve had an issue with the openers for a while but we started believing in them and they have begun to play as a pair, as a partnership. They are showing the quality, but still they have to get more runs. That will come. Paras is leading from the front and showing his quality at this level. We missed Gyanendra a bit today, when he was dismissed early. He’s another one who can score at this level.”Nepal first planted a flag in world cricket by winning the Plate Championship at the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, with a team featuring Khadka, Vesawkar, Malla and spinner Basant Regmi, who claimed 1 for 14 from three tidy overs against Bangladesh. All of Nepal’s players are homegrown, in contrast to many Associates, and Dassanayake praised the system that has underpinned their impressive rise through the tiers of ICC competition, culminating in what has been a hugely impressive debut World T20 appearance.”Looking at Nepal, the national team and the youngsters, they’re very sound technically,” he said. “The most important part is that they train very hard and play very hard. That is what we are, our brand of cricket. If you saw the qualifiers in Dubai, we fought in every game to the last ball. Top-quality fielding, the bowlers stuck to plans, the batsmen were well aware of what was needed in a chase, how to plan an innings. Today was a bit different, because of the occasion of playing against a Full Member country.”Dassanayake stressed Nepal would not be looking beyond Afghanistan, their final opponents, but qualification for the Super 10 is still not beyond them, should Bangladesh suffer a shock against Hong Kong on Thursday. The way the hosts clinically disposed of Nepal suggests that is unlikely, with a significant swing in run rate required, and the coach was happy that his side had prevented the contest becoming a mismatch.”Batting 20 overs comfortably against a top quality team that is also the home side is an achievement,” he said. “We did have a few plans that we could not execute during the bowling part of the game but this is part of the learning process. The boys have shown that they are up to it.”

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has admitted his team may have misread the conditions in Dubai after their three-wicket loss to Pakistan in the first Twenty20

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Dec-2013Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal has admitted his team may have misread conditions in Dubai after their three-wicket loss to Pakistan in the first Twenty20. Chandimal had said his team should have aimed to score 150 batting first at the toss, but after the match he suggested the pitch played better than he had anticipated, and a score closer to 160 should have been their goal. Sri Lanka made 145 for 5.”In the last year this pitch has been really slow, but this time the ball was coming nicely on to the bat. I think we were about 10-15 runs short as a batting side. After that, our bowlers didn’t bowl in the right areas and we gave away some 10-20 runs. Our fielding was also below par. That’s why I think we lost the game.”Chandimal lost the toss but had intended to bat first, believing dew would be less of an impediment to the side bowling second than it proved to be.”After about 10 overs, the dew factor came into play. Then our spinners couldn’t grip the ball. At that time, we couldn’t bowl really well, and also the ball came onto the bat really well after 10 overs. The dew factor also contributed to us losing the game.”We came to the ground on the previous night to check the dew, but last night there was no dew. We had a game plan, which was to bat first because they have some good bowlers, and we wanted to put the runs on the board and put pressure on them. In the end Shahid Afridi played a good cameo role. His innings was the turning point.”Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez had anticipated the dew, and he lauded his bowlers’ for restricting Sri Lanka to a manageable score. Sri Lanka could not score at more than 6.5 runs an over for much of their innings, as Afridi and Saeed Ajmal pinned them down during the middle overs, with regular wickets slowing their progress.”We were expecting the same total,” Hafeez said. “We were thinking if we can restrict them under 150 or 140, we would have a good chance because we’ve got a good batting unit, and also allrounders like Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti and Sohail Tanvir can give us more strength in our lower order. Once we restricted them to the 140s, we knew we could do it. We were very confident we could chase it. The way Shahid Afridi finished the game was pleasing to see.”The victory was largely scripted by Pakistan’s more experienced players, but 24-year-old opener, Sharjeel Khan, made a promising 34, though bowlers Bilawal Bhatti and Usman Khan had less successful outings. Hafeez suggested inexperienced players would be trialled again in the next match, with a view to playing them in the World Twenty20 in March.”The mega-event is about to come, so that’s why we tried some of the new guys – Bilawal Bhatti, Sohaib Maqsood and Sharjeel Khan. We are planning for the World Twenty20, and what we wanted was for seniors and juniors to play together. Going into the mega-event, the juniors will get a little bit of feel of international cricket, and they are performing very well and showing great character. At the same time the seniors are playing their role. We are happy with the momentum we are getting.”

A few days ago, West Indies barely had enough fit players to field an XI but, almost out of nowhere, they produced an outstandingly powerful display to square the one-day series 2-2

The Report by Andrew McGlashan08-Jan-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKirk Edwards celebrated his maiden ODI hundred•Getty ImagesA few days ago, West Indies barely had enough fit players to field an XI but, almost out of nowhere, they produced an outstandingly powerful display to square the one-day series 2-2. Their victory by the overwhelming margin of 203 runs – New Zealand’s second heaviest ODI defeat – was based around hundreds from Kirk Edwards and Dwayne Bravo who formed a 211-run stand for the fourth wicket in West Indies’ highest ever one-day international total.For Edwards it was his maiden ODI hundred while Bravo’s was just his second in a 154-match career where his runs return have been far below what they should have been for his talent. The overall total of 363 for 4 surpassed a mark from back in 1987 when West Indies scored 360 against Sri Lanka. Although West Indies had taken the opening match in Auckland, there would have been long odds on this team producing such a performance after two insipid displays in Queenstown and Nelson.They could hardly have wished for better conditions to try and overturn their poor batting form; a flat pitch, small ground and a fast outfield. Brendon McCullum was happy to bowl first, backing his team in a chase, but the final carnage was probably 80 runs more than he would have wanted. This was one of those occasions when mishits reached the boundary and chip shots clear them, but that is to take nothing away from the performances of Edwards and Bravo, who both produced textbook one-day innings consisting of a period of rebuilding, then increasingly fierce strokeplay as the innings progressed. The fact they did not join forces until the 25th over highlighted how dominant they were.Edwards had not previously passed fifty (which he reached with a flick for six over midwicket) in the first ten matches of his career, but was able to start his innings from a rare position of strength after Kieran Powell, who raced to 73 off 44 balls, had dominated an opening stand of 95 in 12 overs. His hundred came from 90 deliveries with an inside edge past the stumps – the second fifty requiring 28 balls as he cut loose in excellent batting conditions. He favoured the leg side, where he hit two of his four sixes, but also drove strongly through the covers as McCullum struggled to stem the flow.Bravo had joined Edwards with the innings at a tipping point on 143 for 3 after New Zealand had hauled back the early charge but after a few overs of consolidation – aware that West Indies did not have a huge amount of batting to follow – opened his boundary account with a six over long-off and produced the stylish strokeplay that has been so often lacking during his international career.This, though, has been a good series for him with the bat and he moved to his hundred from 79 deliveries (his second fifty taking just 25 deliveries) in the penultimate over of the innings which was followed by his third six, straight towards the sightscreen off Kane Williamson.The last 10 overs – six of which cost double figures for the bowlers, including 21 off the 44th bowled by Corey Anderson – produced some severe damage as West Indies scored 117 runs; the five-over block from 40-45 brought 75 runs. Although it was a tough ground to defend on, New Zealand’s bowlers did not help themselves by often delivering a hittable length.Powell, the tall left-hander, set the tone in the opening over when he collected consecutive boundaries off Tim Southee and in the paceman’s next over another pull carried for six. His innings kicked into a higher gear during the sixth over of the innings, from Mitchell McClenaghan, which cost 19 runs including another six: this time it was caught, one-handed, by a supporter in the crowd which earned the lucky man a prize of NZ$100,000.Powell’s fifty came off 28 balls and he was eyeing a rapid hundred when he went to sweep McCullum and was taken on the boot. Replays showed it would have missed leg stump but Powell declined to use the review available. In the 14 overs following Powell’s wicket, there were only three boundaries, the pressure helping to bring about Lendl Simmons’ wicket when he drove to point, but it was the only period where New Zealand were not chasing the game.Given what the home side achieved in Queenstown – albeit in a reduced game – they could not immediately be ruled out of the chase, but hunting down such a vast total is a very different challenge when compared to setting one. It needed a hundred from one of the top four, but instead they were all dismissed by the 11th over.Martin Guptill was beaten by a nip-backer from Bravo, Jesse Ryder top-edged behind square, Williamson walked across his stumps to the impressive Jason Holder and Ross Taylor edged a delivery that turned from Nikita Miller. When Brendon McCullum skied into the deep, the challenge was already verging on the impossible and the sight of him losing his bat trying to slog Miller was apt given he will see this as a series victory that his team let slip from their grasp.The final mention, though, should go to West Indies. The last two wickets came courtesy of a superb running catch from Bravo and a direct hit by Holder. They were as brilliant today as they had been woeful earlier in the series. It was only a shared series, but given their recent woes it probably felt like a lot more.

Having set his sights on turning out for Australia at the next World Cup, Brad Haddin believes the shift of the domestic limited-overs competition to a tight tournament format will enhance the national team’s chances of contending when the 50-over game’s

Daniel Brettig27-Sep-2013Having set his sights on turning out for Australia at the next World Cup, Brad Haddin believes the shift of the domestic limited-overs competition to a tight tournament format will enhance the national team’s chances of contending when the 50-over game’s major trophy is contested in 2015.Haddin will lead New South Wales against Tasmania in the opening match at Bankstown Oval on Sunday, heralding an event played entirely in Sydney across four venues inside the space of a month. In this it reflects the intensity and rhythm of a World Cup or Champions Trophy, a marked change from the spreading of fixtures across the entire summer.”I reckon the way they’ve set it out this year is outstanding,” Haddin said. “It mirrors what you do with the Australian team and it gets guys used to being in a tournament and building towards a final.”Tournament play is about getting better as you go along and I reckon this is a great way for state cricket to start in a tournament like this. I like that it’s all compressed into a tournament so from that point of view it’s good and we obviously should have a home advantage if it’s played in Sydney.”New South Wales have been rejuvenated by a series of off-field changes since the start of 2013, starting with the elevation of the new chairman John Warn and then a fresh chief executive in Andrew Jones. Trevor Bayliss has returned as the coach, while Haddin has happily accepted captaincy duties whenever Australia commitments allow him.”Leaving for the Ashes it wasn’t a great place to be around,” Haddin said. “But coming back with the work Andrew Jones and John Warn have done with NSW Cricket it’s just been a fresh start. So it was refreshing to walk back in after the Ashes campaign and see the headspace everyone was at. The office is now buzzing, we’ve got everything sorted, so it’s up to us to continue the momentum they’ve started upstairs and play some good cricket.”They will be helped in this pursuit by the limited-overs tournament being staged exclusively in Sydney, granting a major advantage to Australia’s most populous cricket state. Haddin admitted his competitors had a right to raise eyebrows at the loss of home ground comforts for the duration of the event.”I would ask some questions definitely [if from another state],” he said. “The one thing about playing for your state is you like to have the home ground advantage and make teams coming to your area as uncomfortable as you possible can. So a bit of luck the Sydney crowds will get out and make every team as uncomfortable as possible.”Among the anointed venues is the picturesque but small North Sydney Oval, a former favourite with limited-overs schedulers but now notable for how its small boundaries can be exploited by the spring-loaded bats of 2013. Last summer Victoria were set a distant 351 to win by the Blues, but David Hussey and Aaron Finch ran them down with 20 balls to spare.”We’re still looking for some balls Aaron Finch hit out there last year,” Haddin quipped. “It’s good for the crowd. North Sydney Oval traditionally was always a great place to start the tournament, we always used to play the first one day game of the year there, so it was a great event.”It’s a great ground to play at, as is out here [the SCG], but it is an interesting ground to play at now especially with the size of the bats. We won’t hide from the fact we’d like to play at the SCG, but I like the way the tournament’s set up, and these are the grounds we’ve chosen.”

The Zimbabweans’ woes continued on their tour to Bangladesh, as they were convincingly beaten by the BCB XI in a warm-up game before five-match ODI series that begins on Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2014
ScorecardThe Zimbabweans’ woes continued on their tour to Bangladesh, as they were convincingly beaten by the BCB XI in a warm-up game before five-match ODI series that begins on Friday.The Zimbabweans chose to bowl in the 13-per-side game, and their bowlers enjoyed some early success, reducing the hosts to 51 for 3 in the 15th over. However a half-century stand was put on by Shamsur Rahman and Sabbir Rahman for the fourth wicket to make sure the team didn’t slump. They fell in quick succession, Shamsur for 49, before a 94-run sixth-wicket partnership at 6.55 between Shuvagata Hom and Nasir Hossain set them on their way to a very competitive 282. While part-time seamer Vusi Sibanda got the most wickets – four – he was expensive like many of his team-mates; only new-ball bowler Neville Madziva and legspinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi went at under a run a ball.The Zimbabweans had a promising start in the chase with 40 for the first wicket by Brendan Taylor and Regis Chakabva, and 77 for the third between Sikandar Raza and Timycen Maruma, but a slide followed and the team never recovered. They lost six wickets for 36 runs, going from 132 for 2 to 168 for 8. The BCB XI bowlers shared the wickets around, with, somewhat surprisingly, the seamers being more among the wickets than the spinners. The Zimbabweans were eventually bowled out for 194 in the 46th over.

West Indies coach Ottis Gibson says the two Tests against India could provide a true measure of his team’s current standing

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2013West Indies will begin their tour of India in November on the back of blanking their opposition in their last three Test series. But the achievement came against minnows Zimbabwe and Bangladesh and prior to that a young New Zealand side in the process of a rebuild and coach Ottis Gibson views the two Tests against India could provide a measure of his team’s current standing.”This series against India gives us an opportunity to see where we are as a Test side,” he said. “We’ve played some pretty good Test cricket, there’s a lot that’s been said about winning the last six [matches]. People have also spoken about the opposition [we faced] so the India tour gives us an opportunity to test ourselves against them. We are looking forward to that challenge and continue our winnings ways.”Though their last Test was in March, the players have had a busy calendar in limited-overs cricket, with the Champions Trophy, a tri-series featuring India and Sri Lanka, a limited-overs series against Pakistan, and the inaugural edition of the Caribbean Premier League. Gibson said he would have preferred some additional Test match practice ahead of the tour.”We have a week in India, but ideally, I would have the guys in the indoor school hitting balls and play a couple of practice matches because we’ve been off, especially in Test cricket, for a very long time. We haven’t had the physical preparation but there’s a lot of mental stuff we can do to make sure we’re ready for the two games in India,” he said.In lieu of that, the West Indies Cricket Board has arranged a team-building tour of Miami, which is targeted at building better unity within the side and helping them acclimatise to mental challenges, especially while on the road. After completing the India tour, West Indies will visit New Zealand for three Tests, five ODIs and two T20s, returning home in February 2014.”We’ll have some sessions with the sports psychologist,” Gibson said. “We’ll do things other than cricket as we bond and become a stronger unit. It’s a long tour, starting with India and then straight on to New Zealand and we’ll only be back next year. It’s new and the guys are looking forward to it.”Gibson is aware of the significance of the India tour, which features Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test following which he will retire from international cricket, but wants his side to concentrate on what they can do.”We understand the importance of the two games, the significance of Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test, but we have to be focussed on our job, which is to get there and give India a good fight and if after five days of fierce competition it happens that we are on top, then so be it.”