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The former Australia captain’s participation in the tournament had earlier been barred on technical grounds but not anymore

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Dec-2018The BCB has overturned its decision on the participation of Steven Smith in BPL 2018-19, allowing him to play now. It had barred him on December 20 after the other franchises objected to his appearance for Comilla Victorians, but yesterday, a majority of them wrote to the governing council, relaxing their stance.Each team is allowed to sign two players outside of the draft. Comilla brought on Sri Lanka allrounder Asela Gunaratne in this way but he had to be replaced in November. That’s when Smith joined the roster, only his name wasn’t on the draft list either, making the signing against the rules and triggering the protests.However, now that the other franchises have changed their views, the BCB has backtracked on its own as well. So much that it has changed the tournament rules, allowing a side to now replace a maximum of one outside-the-draft player with another.”We could have enforced the clause whereby the BPL can take any decision in the interest of the tournament but we wanted to be democratic,” Jalal Yunus, a BCB director who heads the BPL governing council, said. “The franchises didn’t agree at first but now majority of the franchises have said that Smith’s inclusion can only make the league better, more popular and glamorous. They have given this to us in writing which we conveyed to the BCB. They have agreed too. Now the team can complete his registration.”Such arbitrary tweaks are nothing new to the BPL, which has gone through several of them since 2012, sometimes even in the middle of the season.

The inaugural season of the GLT20, Cricket South Africa’s franchise T20 tournament, will not take place as scheduled in November and December

Firdose Moonda10-Oct-20172:06

The rise and fall of the T20 Global League

The inaugural season of Cricket South Africa’s T20 Global League, which was scheduled to begin on November 3, has been postponed to November 2018 instead.The franchises understood that the delay in securing a stable television broadcast deal and central rights sponsorship for the tournament were the main reasons for postponing the GLT20, the brainchild of former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat who had parted ways with the board last month.

SACA expresses “concern and disappointment”

The South African Cricketers Association has called for an “independent review” into what has caused the postponement of the T20 Global League.
“This has a very significant impact on a large number of local and overseas players, all of whom have signed contracts to play in the league,” Tony Irish, chief executive of SACA, said. “Some players turned down other opportunities in order to commit themselves to these contracts. We will be looking at all implications of this for players, including what compensation should be paid to them.”
“SACA is well aware of the fact that this will also affect various other groups including franchises, coaches and stadium owners. I think it will be necessary for CSA to appoint its own independent review into what has actually transpired here as there are significant implications across South African cricket.”

ESPNcricinfo learned that CSA had informed all the eight franchises of the decision over the past few days. “We have not come to this decision lightly,” CSA’s acting CEO Thabang Moroe said. “Having discussed it with all our stakeholders including the franchise owners, we believe that the interest of the league should be our first priority. We have re-assessed our strategy and believe that postponing the first edition of the T20 Global League to next year will serve us well. We will regroup and come back stronger and better.”With less than a month to go before kickoff, the event faced numerous logistical challenges, not least the inability to secure a broadcast deal or a title sponsor, resulting in hefty financial losses. Though local broadcaster SuperSport is understood to have been close to putting pen to paper, the deal was going to be worth much less than CSA anticipated.Last week, Moroe told reporters that CSA was bracing for a $25 million loss on the first edition of the tournament, which amounted to half of the organisation’s cash reserves. He also provided an assurance that the tournament would go ahead as planned.Moroe had taken over from Lorgat, who parted ways with CSA on September 28, after his relationship with the board became untenable. The board’s unhappiness with Lorgat’s methods of organisation of the T20 Global League was one of the reasons for his departure, but one of the GLT20 franchise owners told ESPNcricinfo that Lorgat’s absence had created “much bigger challenges” in putting the tournament together, because he was its driving force.”When you know that something is not right then you should not do it,” the owner said. “We are half-prepared and it will be a bigger disaster if we go this way.”There was no indication that any of the current owners, seven of whom are from overseas, would withdraw from the event. Moroe met with the franchise owners on at least one occasion and was confident they remained committed to putting the tournament together. However, the time-frame was too short to put together an event of the quality CSA and the owners wanted.The postponement of the GLT20 leaves an enormous gap in the South African cricket calendar. For six weeks in peak summer, neither the national team nor the domestic franchises will be in action because CSA had created space for the event. Zimbabwe are due to visit South Africa over Boxing Day for a four-day, day-night match that is awaiting Test status, which means that after Bangladesh’s tour ends on October 29, South Africans will not see any live home cricket until December 26, unless a contingency plan is made.

Marcus Trescothick has confirmed he will play his 25th season for Somerset after signing a new one-year contract

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2016Marcus Trescothick has confirmed he will play his 25th season for Somerset after signing a new one-year contract.Trescothick, 40, made his Somerset debut in 1993 and is closing in on 25,000 first-class runs. Earlier this season he equalled Harold Gimblett’s record of 49 centuries for the county. This summer he has scored 978 at 54.33 in the County Championship.”I have made no secret of my desire to carry on playing for Somerset for as long as I can,” Trescothick said. “I’m really enjoying my cricket at the moment and I still have the hunger to succeed. I am delighted that I will be a part of this club for another year.”It’s a really exciting time for the County at the moment with the talent that we have coming through and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next 12 months.”Matthew Maynard, Somerset’s director of cricket, said: “Marcus still has so much to offer, both on and off the field. The runs he scores, the experience he brings and the knowledge that he passes on to the younger players make him a vital member of this squad.”

Jehan Mubarak expressed disappointment at squandering two starts in his first Test in more than seven years, but said he has refined his game enough to now belong at Test level

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Pallekele05-Jul-2015Jehan Mubarak expressed disappointment at squandering two starts in his first Test in more than seven years, but said he has refined his game enough to now belong at Test level. Mubarak had underwhelmed in several early stints in international cricket, averaging less than 16 from his ten previous Tests. However, a pair of exceptional domestic seasons has seen him selected for the national team again, at 34.”I did have the opportunities earlier on, but I didn’t do enough to cement my place in any form of the game,” Mubarak said. “I feel I am a different player from what I was seven years ago. A better player. I have come to know my game inside out. I understand what my strengths, weaknesses and limitations are. I worked on my weaknesses during the club season – I was not a sweeper but I started to sweep against the spinners and use my feet. I was hungrier for runs.”I always felt I was good enough to play at international level. Still feel I am good enough. Hopefully I can build on from what I have got. I need to step it up a bit more. But I think I can get there.”Mubarak made two modest scores in this match, hitting 25 in the first innings and 35 in the second. However, on each occasion he was involved in fifty-plus partnerships that stemmed the fall of quick wickets. On day three, he put on 81 alongside Angelo Mathews, to lift the team from 80 for 4.”I think it was very important to build a partnership there. Another wicket down and with five gone, it would have been tough. Pakistan would have been on top and they would have put lot more pressure. The bowlers were bowling really well at that time. The fast bowlers were bowling well with the newer ball and Yasir was bowling his best at that time.”I felt comfortable in the middle. I’m disappointed to get out after getting a start. Both innings it was a tough situation. I had done the hard work and reached a position from where I can consolidate, but couldn’t go on. Second innings I got a good ball out of the rough.”Sri Lanka had lost 22 wickets to Yasir in this series until today, and Mubarak said Mathews’ partnerships with him and with Chandimal helped defuse the legspinner’s threat. “As a team, we did the right thing by seeing Yasir Shah out. Our plan was to take Yasir to 20 overs and force the loose balls out of him. Then we saw that once he went past 20 overs, there were a few short balls and full tosses.”We’ve struggled against him this series – mainly the left-handers. He bowls tight lines with seven fielders on the leg side, and no scoring options.”Mubarak said Sri Lanka would feel comfortable with a further 80 runs on the board. Their lead is already 291 with two full days to play, though the threat of bad weather is ever-present at this venue.”We’d like to at least bat one session tomorrow. With two days left, there’s a result either way. If we can push the game away from Pakistan, we can attack all the time. If we can get something like 350 or 380, that will be a good target I think.”

A round-up of the fifth round of Ranji Trophy’s Group B matches on December 1, 2012

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Dec-2012
ScorecardIgnored for the ongoing Test series against England, S Badrinath made his 29th first-class century as Tamil Nadu ended on 235 for 3 against Vidarbha in Nagpur. Arun Karthik and Abhinav Mukund got starts but were dismissed by Shrikant Wagh. Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik then put on 133 for the third wicket to build the innings. Dinesh Karthik made 49 off 147 deliveries before he was caught behind but India Under-19 allrounder Baba Aparajith ensured Tamil Nadu finished only three down. Badrinath faced 190 balls for his unbeaten 101 and hit 14 fours and a six.
ScorecardAnkit Rajpoot, 18, playing only his second first-class game, took four wickets to help Uttar Pradesh dismiss Baroda for 254 on a Green Park pitch with lots of grass on it. Suresh Raina asked Baroda to bat and the visitors lost their openers with just nine on the board. When Rajpoot had Rakesh Solanki edging to the slip cordon, Baroda were struggling at 83 for 4. Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Devdhar added 104 to steady the innings but Rajpoot broke the stand by having the Baroda captain caught behind for 85. Devdhar under-edged a googly from Piyush Chawla to the wicketkeeper and the innings soon ended on 254. The UP openers batted out six overs without any damage.
ScorecardOdisha’s fairytale run continued when they had Maharashtra seven down for 264 in Sambalpur. Medium-pacer Basant Mohanty hardly gave anything away, and had figures of 22-13-35-2. Five other Odisha bowlers picked up a wicket each. Wasted starts were the story of the day for Maharashtra, with two batsmen, Harshad Khadiwale and Chirag Khurana, going in their forties, and Ankit Bawne falling for 51. Kedar Jadhav, who had made 327 against UP earlier, motored to 33 off 33 before being dismissed. Maharashtra were 139 for 5 when Jadhav fell but Bawne and Khurana helped stage a recovery.
ScorecardFast bowler Parvinder Awana took three wickets as Delhi reduced neighbours Haryana to 219 for 6 in Lahli, near Rohtak. The Lahli pitch has acquired a reputation for being a batsman’s nightmare but the surface for this game was bare without any grass. Rahul Dewan and Nitin Saini (45) put on 69 for the first wicket before Awana struck. Sunny Singh and Abhimanyu Khod did cause much damage. Awana did, with the second new ball, taking out Sachin Rana and Amit Mishra leg-before. No. 5 batsman Rahul Dalal remained unbeaten on 42.

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Sharjah

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran19-Nov-2011

Match facts

Sunday, November 20
Start time 1500 (1100 GMT)Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 64 in the third ODI was only his second half-century in 15 innings•AFP

Big Picture

The batting Powerplay played its role in adding to the excitement of the World Cup, often tripping up a batting side coasting towards a large score or jumpstarting a flagging chase. The rules have been tweaked since and though the Powerplay is now taken earlier, it continues to add an element of unpredictability to the game, and was pivotal to the results of the previous two one-dayers between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.Sri Lanka were reasonably well placed in their chase on Friday when they opted for the Powerplay. Cue 19 runs in five overs, the wickets of both their set batsmen and an arduous challenge that proved too much for the tail. It was similarly poisonous for Pakistan in the second ODI – 26 runs, three wickets and a chase that was virtually over. In what is a must-win game for Sri Lanka – Pakistan lead the five-match series 2-1 – how both teams handle the batting Powerplay could be crucial.Teams are yet to properly re-calibrate their approach during the later set of fielding restrictions. Previously they targeted about 50 runs in that five-over spell, while now they need to tone down their ambitions, given that a big chunk of the innings still remains after that Powerplay. Mahela Jayawardene has already predicted how the two new balls will lead to lower totals, suggesting that 250 could be the new par score.A par score of 250 seems like a throwback to the 1990s, a feeling that is only emphasised by Sunday’s game being played in Sharjah. This signals the return of top-tier one-day cricket to the venue that was the hotbed of ODIs during 90s. Sharjah Cricket Ground is the runaway leader in terms of number of one-days hosted, but it’s been eight years since two major teams contested a 50-over match there.

Form guide

Pakistan: WLWWW (most recent first)
Sri Lanka: LWLWL

Watch out for …

Imran Farhat’s place has been under scrutiny for much of his international career but he has finally begun to put together a string of performances that could satisfy the critics. Three half-centuries in five ODI-innings is a start, but he still needs to improve his conversion-rate.It’s been an up-and-down year for Upul Tharanga. There was the high of scoring loads of runs during Sri Lanka’s run to the World Cup final, followed by the low of a three-month drug ban. Tharanga may not attract the headlines as much as the current Sri Lanka captain and his two predecessors, but he has quietly accumulated 12 one-day centuries, the third-highest by a Sri Lanka batsman.

Team news

Most of Pakistan’s XI picks itself. The only question is over which fast bowler will partner Umar Gul with the new balls. Aizaz Cheema got a look-in for the first two games before being replaced by Sohail Tanvir. After Tanvir’s lacklustre effort on Friday, Junaid Khan could well be in line for a place.Pakistan (possible): 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Imran Farhat, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 5 Umar Akmal, 6 Abdul Razzaq, 7 Shahid Afridi, 8 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Sohail Tanvir/Junaid Khan.Dilhara Fernando didn’t have the best of games on Friday. With Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera also being right-arm quicks, Sri Lanka may be tempted to add variety to the attack through the change of angle Chanaka Welegedara provides.Sri Lanka (possible): 1 Upul Tharanga, 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Lasith Malinga, 10 Seekkuge Prasanna, 11 Dilhara Fernando/Chanaka Welegedara.

Stats and trivia

• Of the major Test nations, only Sri Lanka don’t have any batsman with an ODI average above 40.00. Kumar Sangakkara, with 37.77, has the highest one-day average for a Sri Lankan
• Pakistan’s biggest ODI victory over Sri Lanka, and second biggest overall, came in Sharjah, when they won by 217 runs in 2002

Quotes

“It wasn’t easy early on in the previous match. The ball wasn’t coming onto the bat, but spending more time in the middle just gave us a bit more confidence.”

“We have to get used to it. I don’t think 300 and 350 runs are [now needed for] winning. Now 250 runs can be [enough for] a winnable target, with two new balls.”

Jesse Ryder is eager to put the past behind him and concentrate on his cricket. More importantly, he says he wants to change for himself and not in order to improve others’ image of him

Sriram Veera in Ahmedabad01-Nov-2010Jesse Ryder’s life and career have been a series of screaming headlines. Some of the recent headlines are: “Ryder has to help himself, says Greatbatch”; “Ryder in trouble for late night noise”; “Ryder feared for his career after hotel incident”; “Team manager pardons Ryder for abuse”.Ryder knows his past will shadow him wherever he goes. And it did in Ahmedabad, in India, where he is based now at the start of a tough series. Most questions were about his off-field troubles. At one point, his manager Dave Currie, the same man who had “pardoned” Ryder for abuse, even butted in to stop that line of questioning, but Ryder said he was ready to tackle it.Does he get tired of being reminded of his problems? “Oh yes. It does get tiring when you come into a big series like this and people focus on my negatives,” Ryder said. “But it’s been like that all through my career. But I have brought it upon myself by the way I have behaved. That’s the past, I am trying to move on, become a better player and become a better person.”It cannot be easy. Ryder says he is trying hard. “I have been off alcohol for probably the last 100 days. And I can see the results in the nets. I can see that my concentration levels and focus have increased. I have been so much clearer than what I would be if I were doing all those things. I have dealt with all the personal stuff. I have taken things in my head and dealt with them off the field. That’s why I am back in the Test side now. I have been preparing hard. I am trying to be more professional, training harder, keeping away from all the bad habits that I used to get into.”For many it’s the same old story. Ryder has been off alcohol in the past as well. They won’t believe he has changed unless he manages to avoid featuring in headlines for the wrong reasons. He knows that and says he can’t change his past or the perception about him. More importantly, he says he wants to change for himself and not in order to improve others’ image of him. He agreed with his coach Mark Greatbatch’s assessment that only he can help himself change.”It’s always on me, on my shoulders. Me being young and silly, I didn’t take the advice. But now I know how much I love the game and how much I want to play for the country. Things have changed. Every time I step on to the cricket field, I enjoy myself and I realise where I want to be – out there playing cricket. These are the moments you want to play for; you come to India and play against the amazing team they have at the moment. These are the challenges I am looking forward to.”Ryder said he has prepared for the tour by watching his old videos against India; he hit his maiden hundred and double-ton against India in the 2009 series. “I saw what I did well over there, what mental frame I was in then. It’s a big confidence-booster to know you have hit 200 against these guys. But home turf is going to be different challenge. My preparation is keeping it simple; see the ball, hit the ball and keep things in control.”My main goal is to just to stick to my game plan; the way it’s going in nets, I don’t see any reason why I can’t continue like that and reproduce it in the match.”Unfortunate it may be, but the story always returns to Ryder the man more than Ryder the batsman. Does he fear that if he slips up again he might not get another chance from the New Zealand board? “Hopefully there won’t be any more instances.” And he then added, “We won’t know, will we?”