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Tim Nielsen has stood down as Australia’s coach after helping the side to a series victory in Sri Lanka

Daniel Brettig and Brydon Coverdale20-Sep-2011Tim Nielsen has stood down as Australia’s coach after helping the side to a series victory in Sri Lanka. Nielsen, who took over from John Buchanan in 2007, made the announcement after Australia played out a draw in the final Test at the SSC in Colombo, saying he accepted it was time to go as part of the fall-out from last summer’s 3-1 Ashes defeat.His decision means Australia will have an interim head coach – possibly one of the assistants, Justin Langer or Steve Rixon – for their upcoming tour of South Africa. Nielsen faced the prospect of having to reapply for the job as head coach after the Argus review recommended a more wide-ranging brief for the team’s mentor.Nielsen said the past month since the release of the review had been exceptionally taxing, and felt hurt that he was asked to re-apply for the job given how closely CA had seen him work over the past four years.”It has been a tough month,” Nielsen said. “I feel as though through something totally independent and external to what I do, I feel as though my role has been changed and my job has been spilt to other applicants. I understand that, I can understand where they’re coming from, we are trying to improve our sport.”The only thing I’m a little disappointed in is that my role as Australian cricket coach doesn’t just cover Test match cricket. We’ve maintained our No. 1 ranking in one day cricket over the last four years while I’ve been here, we’ve improved our T20 cricket and made some dramatic changes there to play in the last World Cup final. I feel as though we’re on the right track.”All of this has been brought to a head by the fact we played a very good cricket side in England last year and they outplayed us and beat us, and that happens sometimes. For 15 years before it was Australia doing it to other teams, and they had to lick their wounds. Now we’ve had a look at how we’re going to improve and move forward, and the result is this.”I feel as though whoever is given the opportunity is going to get a group of players who are in form, who have had some success, and I hope by it happening now, the place is in a better position than it was, maybe three or four months ago when it all happened.”Criticism of Australia’s coaching process seemed to reflect directly on Nielsen, though this was fervently denied by CA after the review was released. Nielsen also noted that many of the recommended changes to the structure were those that he had pushed for himself as coach.”There’s that personal side to it, no doubt. That’s the hard part, and that has played a little bit of a part in my thinking,” Nielsen said. “I feel like I’m doing an interview for the job every day for the last four years. Because they’ve changed some structural things, and things I can honestly say I’ve been talking about and championing for a while.”I would’ve appreciated an opportunity to work in the new system and the new role moving forward, but when you get beaten like we did by England, a very good cricket side, there is always fall-out, and we had to make some changes, and they’ve done that. I don’t hold any grudges about that, but I also would’ve backed myself to do the job, given the opportunity. Because of those things it is just the right time I believe.”The new position will be a more senior role, and will involve setting the direction of all coaching at elite levels within Australia. Nielsen, 43, has decided not to put himself forward for the new job, despite Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland saying less than a fortnight ago that he hoped Nielsen would be “a front-line applicant”.”Tim has been national coach during a period in which we have had a long list of great champions leave the game and has been a strong support for new players coming into the side over that period,” Sutherland said. “I was delighted when he agreed to renew his contract last year and had encouraged him to apply for the new, expanded and redesigned head coach role that the CA board approved last month after the tabling of the Australian Team Performance Review.”However, I have spoken to Tim and understand and respect his decision to now begin a new chapter in his professional life. He has contributed greatly to Australian international cricket in roles as assistant national coach, head coach at the Centre of Excellence and during four years as national coach. We all wish him well in the future.”Nielsen, a former South Australia wicketkeeper, took on the head coach role after spending three years as an assistant with the national team under Buchanan, and then becoming head coach at the Centre of Excellence. He guided Australia through 15 Test series, nine of which the team won.He now intends to move into another, yet to be announced cricket role, though it will not be with CA.”I’m a cricket coach, I’m a cricket person,” Nielsen said. “I wasn’t good enough to play cricket for Australia so I’ve been living the dream as players talk about, as coaches talk about, this has been the greatest job I could do and I’m very proud of the fact I’ve been able to do it for four years, which I feel is a long time in international sport. I certainly will be looking at other opportunities and considering anything that’s out there to use my skills and maintain contact with the sport I love.”We’ve had some tremendous times, some really positive wins as a group, and we’ve had some tough times. That’s the nature of international sport, that’s the nature of what I do. It’s basically got to a stage where we’ve sat down as a family and said are we willing to put ourselves in these positions, are we willing to put ourselves under this sort of pressure.”In the end I thought it was best for myself and for the team that I move on now to give whoever takes over the role to start in a really positive environment, which I believe we’ve set up over the past two to three months and been displayed here over the past six or seven weeks.”

Slovenia will host the ICC European Division Three Championship from May 11 to 14

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2011With a new European structure in place this year, Slovenia will host the ICC European Division Three Championship from May 11 to 14. The squads for the six teams taking part – Slovenia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Sweden and Turkey – have been finalised and success will bring the prize of a place in the ICC European Division Two tournament in Belgium in June. Beyond that, teams will look to the theoretical prospect of progress to Division One, the global qualifier in the UAE next March, and the World Twenty20 championship itself, to be held in Sri Lanka in 2012.Hosts Slovenia are unquestionably the most experienced side in the tournament, having taken part in European competitions since 2000. Most recently, they played in the ICC European Division Four of the 50-over championship in Cyprus in 2009, where they finished without a win.Batsman Tom Furness takes over the captaincy from Mark Oman, and the side will be reinforced by the return of Stephen Mayland, who missed out on the Cyprus event. The squad includes seven Slovenian-born players, including newcomers Blaz Praper and Primoz Pustoslemsek.Of the remaining sides, Sweden have the best credentials, having finished second to hosts Hellas in the Division Five tournament in Corfu two years ago. Seven of that squad will be in Slovenia, including the leading wicket-taker in Corfu, Afghan-born Azam Khalil, who took 16 wickets at an average of 6.31.A new-look Czech Republic team contains only four of the side from Corfu, including captain Scott Page. The squad includes three Czech-born 17-year-olds, in Adam Holub, Damian Kysely and Alexander Storek.The remaining three sides, Estonia, Turkey and Bulgaria, all made their international debuts in Corfu, each winning one match. Murali Obili, who was the leading allrounder from that event with 146 runs and 13 wickets at 9.62, will be a key member of the Estonia team, which also includes another 17-year-old, the Estonian-born Marten Kundla.Turkey will field seven new players, with Huseyin Sen again the only Turkish-born member of the squad. The captaincy has been assumed by wicketkeeper Muhammad Aasim.There are two venues for the tournament, Ljublijana Cricket Club in Valburga and Velden Cricket Club.Bulgaria Saif-ur Rehman (capt), Stuart Clarkson, Ivan Dimitrov, Ivaylo Dunchev, Mohamad Hanif, Amal John, Ivaylo Katzarski, Mushtaq Lone, Prakash Mishra, Vladimir Ruskov, Danail Trenev, Georgi Velinov, Lyubomir Zanev, Leven Kortel, Lyudmil TrenevCzech Republic Scott Page (capt), Sunil Ambar, Hugo Banks, John Corness, Sivagnanam Gnanatheeswaran, Adam Holub, Vojtech Hasa, Damian Kesely, Jobi Samuel, Brigmam Smith, Benjamin Soucek , Mikulas Stary, Alexander Arthur Storek.Estonia Sivalingham Arunachalam, Andres Burget, Vineeth Govind, Timothy Heath, Peter van Buuren , Marten Kundla, Murali Obili, Anil Puri, Moshiur Rahman, Nand Lal Riar, Oliver Slobodetsky, Mart Tammoja, Marko Vaik, Kalle VilslapuuSlovenia Tom Furness (capt), Urban Blaznik, Domen Bohinc, Rok Bohinc, Robert Crawford, Bradley Eve, Lalantha Karunatilake, Simon Kaučič, Stephen Mayland, Mark Oman, Blaž Praper, Primož Pustoslemšek, Nejc ZupanSweden Imran Amjad, Serge Conein, Sanaullah Habibzai, Azam Khalil, Maqsood Khawaja, Azam Mohammad, Shahid Mustafa, Ewan Prezens, Piyal Rahman, Sunny Sharma, Sadat Sidiqi, Bilal Zaigham, Hassan Zaigham, Ahmad Zadran, Aman Khan Zahid, Sandeep SharmaTurkey Muhammad Aasim (capt), Muneer Ahmed, Salman Ali, Sajjad Haider, Mubashir Khan, Nabeel Munir, Abdullah Numan, Mohammad Razak, Huseyin Sen, Imran Sharif, Ali Turkmen, Mecit Turkmenoglu, Hammad Ul Haq

Hampshire swept Leeward Islands aside with ease, while Trinidad & Tobago took the hard route against Canada and won off the final ball

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jan-2011Johann Myburgh smashed half a dozen sixes in his half-century that boosted Hampshire to a match-winning total against Leeward Islands in Antigua. Myburgh, who shared an opening partnership of 63 in 7.3 overs with Jimmy Adams, scored 76 off 57 balls and batted nearly the whole innings. Hampshire’s middle order failed, though, until Benny Howell came to the crease and provided an aggressive finishing touch to the innings, ransacking 29 off 12 balls at the death. They reached a total of 156 for 5, with offspinner Justin Athanaze taking 3 for 24 for Leeward.Leeward made a steady start to the chase before Hamza Riazuddin struck in the fifth and seventh overs to reduce them to 38 for 2, after they had been 35 for 0. They then lost Kieran Powell for 29 before Simon Jones ripped out three more wickets, leaving Leeward in tatters at 67 for 6. Danny Briggs and Chris Wood also took two wickets apiece as Hampshire bowled out Leeward for 110 to secure a 46-run victory. It was Leeward’s third consecutive defeat and they have only pride to play for in their final league game.Trinidad & Tobago won a low-scoring contest against Canada off the final ball in Antigua. Chasing a target of 129, T&T had made a rapid start, passing 30 in just over three overs, when they lost Adrian Barath, who was bowled by Parth Desai. The run-rate dropped dramatically thereafter as Darren Bravo batted with a Test like strike-rate of 38 during his 8 off 21 balls. And after Lendl Simmons was dismissed for 29, Daren Ganga took charge of anchoring the innings and seeing T&T through to the finish. He too took 31 balls for his unbeaten 27 but ensured that wickets did not fall even though the scoring was slow. With the lower-order batsmen for company, Ganga secured T&T’s five-wicket win.Canada had also batted slowly after they lost opener Hiral Patel for 7 in their innings. Ruvindu Gunasekara made 39 off 40 balls, while Zubin Surkari contributed 42 off 49. They added 63 in ten overs for the second wicket, a sound platform but the innings desperately needed momentum. Sherwin Ganga dismissed two middle-order batsmen and ran out another to ensure that Canada would not be able to finish their innings on a strong note. They ended up with only 128 even though they had five wickets in hand.

Grave also backs centralising travel costs in the WTC, and spreading out hosting rights for men’s world events

PTI17-Jun-2024India has a “leadership role to play” in ensuring that Test cricket not just survives but thrives in regions like the West Indies, according to its CEO Johnny Grave.Grave, who joined Cricket West Indies (CWI) back in 2017, lauded the BCCI’s commitment to Test cricket despite a gruelling calendar but said more needs to be done at the ICC level to protect the red-ball game outside India, England and Australia.Out of the nine competing ICC Full Members, only these three will play a five-match series in the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle. Three teams – Ireland, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe – have never been part of the championship, which was introduced in 2019.Grave, currently busy with co-hosting the T20 World Cup, spoke on the future of the game and the role he expects the BCCI to play.”India have a leadership role to play,” Grave told PTI. “They’re now the No. 1 board when it comes to power, influence and resources. To date, they’ve been fantastic in how they’ve continued to play all three formats of the game, [and with] their commitment to Test cricket. I don’t think it has ever been as strong as it is now.”Is the BCCI doing enough in the leadership role? “I think they are,” Grave said. “They’re becoming increasingly influential in the key decisions that the ICC makes. The BCCI were hugely supportive in one of the biggest things the ICC have achieved in the last 12 months, which is getting cricket back into the Olympics after a gap of 128 years.”The fact that India came on board and supported that bid was absolutely, in my opinion, crucial for the result that the ICC got, which was the acceptance of cricket into the LA Games.”And we’re already seeing from the Associate world, in particular, that being an Olympic sport has a very big impact on them, positively, in terms of how they can get money from government, get money from the Olympic associations to drive the game at all levels.”

“Centralise travel costs and accommodation in WTC”

India have toured the West Indies three times in the last five years, providing a massive financial boost to the CWI, which largely depends on media-rights money from Indian and English broadcasters to keep the game afloat in the Caribbean.As of now, series in the WTC cycle are bilaterals with the home board pocketing all broadcast revenues and the visiting teams having to pay for their own travel. Grave wants the ICC to centralise the travel costs – West Indies have to spend quite a bit on travel in crisscrossing the globe.India have toured West Indies three times in the last five years•AFP via Getty Images

“We have to have a league mentality that we’re all in it together as the Test playing nations,'” Grave said. “And I think the World Test Championship is a start to that. I think it’s gaining some momentum. I think it can be improved.”Centralise flights and accommodation within the World Test Championship and take on those costs as the costs of the league rather than placing all that burden on the participating teams as we’re so negatively disadvantaged by that.”

T20 World Cup to offer economic boost of US$300 million in the region

In Grave’s words, the CWI has not been in a better place financially after multiple tours from India and England in the post-Covid era. The T20 World Cup, which is the first ICC men’s event held in the Caribbean since 2010, will also add to the coffers of CWI, which generates an annual revenue of US$50 million.The six chosen venues needed urgent renovation to be World Cup ready and that has cost $50 million approximately, with half of the amount spent on the Kensington Oval in Barbados, where the final will be staged.Related

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“It’s been 14 years since we hosted our last men’s event,” he said. “And it’s hugely important [that we get to host world events].”[Building infrastructure] is a huge part of hosting a World Cup because the legacy of that means that the six grounds that are playing hosts for this World Cup will have facilities that we, Cricket West Indies and our home boards, can benefit from for hopefully for the next decade.”West Indies are co-hosting the T20 showpiece with USA, and going forward, more world events will be jointly hosted and not just by India, England and Australia, as it has been the case in the last ten years.”We made the point that we think there should be more equal revenue sharing of ICC distributions [BCCI currently gets nearly 40% of the share]. And part of that equality was the spreading around [the hosting rights for] the men’s events.2:19

WI captain Rovman Powell on what a home World Cup means for West Indies

“Some of the bigger host countries could be making $100 million from hosting a men’s event based on the revenues that they would keep.”And therefore, it’s another way in which if you’re not spreading around those events, that the few nations that do host are benefiting more than others, as well as getting on-the-field home advantage and playing in home conditions that they should know better and be able to adapt better.”It’s an important part of the change of the next cycle, there’s going to be multiple teams hosting.”

Prospect of full houses at height of summer, including India Tests and first season of the Hundred

George Dobell22-Feb-2021Relief and cautious optimism appear to be the dominant reactions from around the English game, after Boris Johnson announced the UK’s intended roadmap out of lockdown.With Prime Minister Johnson outlining his intention to lift all restrictions on social contact from June 21, English cricket can look forward to the realistic prospect of full-house crowds for the Test series against India (which starts in August) and the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan (which get underway on June 23). Recreational cricket should also be able to resume from March 29, boosting hopes of an uninterrupted season for club and school cricket.There are various caveats in place should a new wave of Covid-19 take hold. However, it currently seems likely that grounds will be able to welcome crowds to the inaugural season of The Hundred (which starts in mid-July) and the majority of The T20 Blast (which starts in mid-June).”It seems like good news for cricket fans,” Surrey’s chief executive, Richard Gould, said.The changes would appear to come too late to allow full houses for England’s Test series against New Zealand, however. The first Test gets underway at Lord’s on June 2 with the second Test following at Edgbaston on June 10. Government guidelines currently state that outdoor seated events will be able to operate with 25 percent capacity from May 17. There will also be constraints on indoor hospitality, which is generally a crucial source of revenue at such events.It is possible, however, that Lord’s and Edgbaston will argue their Tests should be viewed as pilot events for the return of full crowds and, as such, request that 50 percent capacity is permitted. It is likely that discussion on the subject will take place between the game’s representatives and The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) in the coming weeks.There could be a similar request in regard to County Championship spectators. Although the competition generally attracts a modest number of spectators – a maximum of 3,000 might be expected for a typical day’s play at an early-season match – attendance is probably disproportionately important to many county members, whose fees continue to play a crucial part in the survival of some clubs. News that they will not, at present, be able to attend matches before May 17 will therefore result in frustration.At present, shops, outdoor zoos and theme parks will be permitted to open from April 12. Cricket is sure to argue that it seems illogical to allow shoppers indoors but prevent a modest number of county cricket spectators watching a match while sitting outdoors. As a result, the ECB may request permission to hold trial events during this period which could result in a limited number of spectators attending Championship games before May 17. The County Championship season is scheduled to start on April 8.”With outdoor leisure attractions like Thorpe Park, London Zoo and pub beer gardens all allowed to reopen on Monday April 12th, we very much hope that we will be permitted to open up the Kia Oval to some Surrey Members for our first home game of the season, three days later,” Gould said.”After this, we will continue with a phased reopening of the ground, working towards the government’s subsequent key dates of Monday May 17th and Monday June 21st, when we host a T20 match against Essex.”Related

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The chances of a major reworking of the schedule have diminished, however. There had been talk, in recent weeks, that the counties might seek to amend the domestic schedule to increase the chances of welcoming spectators to the T20 Blast competition which plays such a key role in their cashflow. But with the Blast starting on June 9, less than two weeks ahead of the proposed date for the lifting of regulations, the initial reaction to Johnson’s announcement was that most want to stick to the domestic schedule which has already been published.There is, however, one other option. It could be that the two rounds of Championship cricket scheduled for the weeks beginning July 4 and July 11 are swapped with rounds of T20 fixtures planned for the weeks starting June 7 and June 14 respectively to optimise the number of spectators at T20 games. This option will be discussed in the coming days.”The ECB welcomes the Government’s decision to permit grassroots cricket to return across England in time for the start of the 2021 season,” the ECB said in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government on the return of recreational cricket in Wales.”We are also very pleased to see the return of spectators to grounds from mid-May. Our leading venues strongly believe they have the technology and know-how to return capacity crowds and we look forward to working in close partnership with the Government to identify ways in which this can be achieved in a safe and controlled manner this season.”There was also relief around the counties at the prospect of being able to renew the conferencing and events strands of their businesses which make up such an important part of the finances at many of the first-class counties. There will, however, be hopes that the government furlough scheme is extended until June 21, at least, so that staff costs can be minimised until clubs are able to open fully again.So, there are complications and there is room for improvement. But, after a grim few months, the game can look to the future with more optimism than for some time.

Australia, India and England are in the race to book a berth at the showpiece event at Lord’s

S Rajesh02-Feb-2021Does this mean New Zealand are through?
Yes. Australia, marginally behind New Zealand on the points table at this stage, will not get the opportunity to go past them now. India and England are both in contention, but since they play each other, only one of them can exceed New Zealand’s points percentage of 70. That means New Zealand versus…Australia, possibly?
Australia are not out of it yet, but they will be ruing the four points they dropped because of a slow over-rate against India in the Boxing Day Test. Had that not happened, Australia would have been level with New Zealand on 70, which would then have brought the runs-per-wicket ratio into play (that is the ratio of the runs scored per wicket lost, and the runs conceded per wicket taken). Australia’s ratio is currently 1.39 while New Zealand’s is 1.28.This means Australia would have stayed ahead of New Zealand if they hadn’t been docked those four points, and would have been certain of qualification. Now, they will need India and England to help them out: if the two teams share the total points on offer from the series in such a way that their overall percentages drop below Australia’s 69.17, then Australia can still make it to the final. That can happen only if the series is drawn (by any margin), or if England win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, or if India win 1-0.What do India need to do to qualify?
Both India and England will target Australia’s points percentage – whichever teams tops 69.17 will qualify.India need 70 points from the four-Test series to go past Australia. That means they need to win by at least a 2-1 margin – that will fetch them 30 points for each of the two wins, and 10 points for one draw; 3-0 or 3-1 or 4-0, of course, work even better.And England, don’t they have a shot too?
England need 87 points from these four Tests to go past Australia. That means they need to win at least three matches. History is against them there, though – the last time a touring team won three Tests in a series in India was West Indies, in 1983-84.Of course, both India and England will have to keep the over-rate penalties in mind: any points docked due to slow over-rates will make their task tougher.

In the last WBBL, Duffin scored 544 runs for the Melbourne Renegades

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2019Jess Duffin, the senior Australia cricketer, will become the first elite women’s player to be covered under Cricket Australia’s new policy on parental leave after announcing news of her pregnancy to the cricket board.The update also means that Duffin will not be in contention for a spot in the Australia team for the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup, starting February 2020.Although 30-year-old Duffin last represented Australia in 2015, she was named captain of the team of the season at the last WBBL after scoring 544 runs at an average of 68 for the Melbourne Renegades, making her a serious contender for a spot at the World Cup. Earlier this month, she had also turned down the opportunity to represent Australia A in their upcoming tour. “I found out when I was about four weeks (pregnant),” Duffin told . “I was pregnant through the whole Big Bash. When those conversations came up [in the media about Australia selection], I thought, ‘well everyone is going to laugh when they find out’. Cricket Australia were obviously stoked, and were like ‘we know now why you didn’t play the Australia A stuff’.”Under Cricket Australia’s new policy – developed in conjunction with the players’ association – Duffin will get a 12-month paid parental leave and have a confirmed contract for the next summer. Until she gives birth – in July 2020 – Duffin will also be able to take up non-playing roles within Cricket Australia’s system, and is eligible to return to playing whenever she is ready. Duffin is a double-sport athlete who also represents North Melbourne in the AFLW.

Pat Cummins is finally set to play a Test on home soil in the Ashes and hopes to emulate Mitchell Johnson, whose carnage brought home the urn in 2013-14

Daniel Brettig12-Oct-2017Pat Cummins wants to be Australia’s Ashes enforcer, pinpointing Joe Root and Alastair Cook as England’s key wickets. He admitted the hosts will likely resort to bouncers – both verbal and literal – to regain the urn this summer.Ahead of a summer in which Cummins will finally play a Test on home soil – no less than six years after his storied debut against South Africa in Johannesburg – the 24-year-old is taking inspiration from how Mitchell Johnson intimidated England’s Ashes tourists four years ago, and has reasoned that the adjustment from softer northern hemisphere surfaces will offer a significant advantage for Steven Smith’s Australians.”We’re lucky there’s a few of us who are all pretty tall and get a bit of bounce with a bit of pace,” Cummins said in Sydney. “I’d love to play that [intimidation] role, hopefully the wickets have a bit of pace and bounce in them, getting the adrenaline up and running in and trying to bowl quick.”No one really likes it if you’ve got real pace and real accuracy. Especially those kinds of guys, they play on slower wickets where there’s not as much bounce. So over here and in South Africa as well it’s one of our biggest strengths, as batsmen we grow up on these wickets and as bowlers, getting bounce has always been really important. So I think it’s trying to make it as different to their home conditions as possible, bouncy fast wickets and short balls are definitely that.”Just playing a Test match in Australia will be a pretty weird feeling, I’ve played five now but none at home which is obviously what you grow up watching, so it’ll be great to be part of an Ashes series, it’ll be pretty amazing. I was over there a couple of years ago in England, running drinks, so the prospect of playing in front of a home crowd, I can’t wait.”The elevated place of Cummins in Australia’s planning for the home summer was underlined by how he was sent home early from the limited-overs tour of India to enjoy several weeks of rest before playing in the Sheffield Shield matches that lead into the first Test at the Gabba in late November. His memories of Johnson include the exhilaration felt by spectators and the hostility faced by the English batsmen, not only from the bowlers, but also the snarling presence of their team-mates in the field. Root and Cook can expect to bear the brunt this time around.”That series, one of the most exciting in recent times where fast bowling has really excited world cricket, and as a fast bowler I was super pumped to watch Jono [Johnson] and how he kept the whole morale of the side up at home in Australia against the Poms,” Cummins said. “That just shows the importance of having a really quick bowler and hopefully one of us three or four guys can do a similar job.”I think we all show our aggression differently, you probably tailor it towards which batsman you’re bowling to. That was one of the things along with the 150kph bouncers that really intimidated them, not just bowling. Hopefully that’s not our only tool – I’m not quite quick-witted enough to come up with too many sledges, but hopefully we can show our aggression in other ways.”Joe Root’s probably their most in-form batsman so I think he’ll be the prize wicket along with Alastair Cook, either of those two will be prime wickets.”While Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are returning to full fitness after foot and side injuries, Cummins has come through a severely taxing series of overseas assignments with a clean bill of health, even after taking the field as Australia’s sole fast bowler in enervating Chittagong heat against Bangladesh. He has taken plenty of confidence from the experience, after years punctuated by plenty of injuries, rehab sessions and only the occasional sequence of cricket.”I think more so having the captain and the selectors’ confidence to pick me as the sole fast bowler in a Test match [helped], a year or two ago I thought I was really far away from a Test match, let alone confident in my form and my body to be the only [pace] bowler,” Cummins said. “I feel like I’ve played a lot of cricket on the subcontinent this year, so I’m looking forward to playing some Shield games with the red ball and getting used to these conditions again.”It has been a little bit weird watching the Test matches throughout the summers, but I’ve probably felt for the last five or six years I haven’t been that close to [playing] a Test match. Watching the one-dayers and the T20 sides I feel like I should be out there, but the Test matches I haven’t really been close to, more watching as a fan. So to go out there and play will be doubly special.”Like Starc and Hazlewood, Cummins is expecting to play in two of three Shield matches for New South Wales before joining the Ashes squad in Brisbane ahead of the Tests.

Jamaica decimated defending champions Trinidad & Tobago in the first semi-final of the 2016-17 Regional Super50 Competition, piling up 434 to set up a 292-run win

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2017
ScorecardJamaica piled up 434, the highest total in the Regional Super50 competition, to knock out defending champions Trinidad & Tobago and enter the final. Their 292-run win included centuries from Chadwick Walton and Jermaine Blackwood, but it was Rovman Powell’s all-round performance that throttled T&T.Having won the toss and opted to field, T&T watched as Walton and USA’s Steven Taylor shared an opening partnership of 174 which lasted a little over 21 overs. The pair dominated T&T’s attack from the outset, taking 25 runs off Ravi Rampaul in the sixth over of the innings and bringing up the century stand in the 12th over. Taylor, who reached his half-century off 35 balls, was eventually dismissed by Jason Mohammed for 88 off 71 balls, having hit five sixes and eight fours in his second fifty of the tournament.Walton and Blackwood then built on that foundation with a 95-run partnership for the second wicket. Walton brought up his maiden List A hundred off 84 balls and went on to score 117 off 96 balls with nine fours and seven sixes.Jamaica had reached 269 in the 36th over by the time Walton was dismissed, giving Powell enough of a platform to go after T&T. Powell smashed nine sixes and six fours in his 45-ball 95 during a third-wicket partnership of 163 with Blackwood that came off only 84 balls. Powell reached his half-century off 25 balls and helped Jamaica plunder 128 runs off the last 10 overs to bring up the ninth-highest total in List A cricket. It was also only the second time a team had put up a score of more than 400 in the regional competition. Blackwood, who also scored his maiden List A century, was unbeaten on 108 off 88 balls with six fours and as many sixes.Any hopes T&T had of chasing down the total were snuffed out by the seventh over when they were tottering at 40 for 4. Denesh Ramdin and Jason Mohammed (62 not out) resisted briefly, adding 63 for the fifth wicket, before Powell’s medium-pace wiped out the lower order. The allrounder took five of the last six wickets as T&T were bowled out 142 in 26.3 overs, the fourth-heaviest defeat in List A cricket. Powell took 5 for 26 in his eight overs while Jerome Taylor took 3 for 27.The second semi-final will be played between Barbados and Leeward Islands on February 16, with the final on February 18.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said the BCCI has put any plans for a mini IPL in the USA on hold, with T20 internationals being the preferred foray in the American market

Peter Della Penna31-Aug-2016BCCI president Anurag Thakur has said the board has put any plans for a mini IPL in the USA on hold, with T20 internationals being the preferred foray in the American market. The key obstacle, according to Thakur, was the time zone difference. Matches would need to start at 10am local time on the east coast in the USA, making mid-week fixtures difficult to draw big crowds and also limiting their options for alternate venues around the country.”I think we must understand the time difference,” Thakur told ESPNcricinfo. “IPL is seen in India from 7 o’clock to 11 or 11.30 at night. So you have to play somewhere in the east coast here (USA) so [that] the timing matches. If we have to play in the day here, the matches should be seen in India at night because broadcasting is a big thing. So you can’t make your home fan lose [by] playing outside India. So which are the provinces you can play in United States? That’s a big task.”IPL, we are not even thinking of hosting it outside India. It has to be hosted in India, but there are many other options what you can do which we’ll let you know over a period of time when we come out with a long-term plan for this market.”The BCCI had announced the idea of a “mini IPL” or “IPL overseas” in June when Thakur had said the board would host the tournament in September. A final approval was awaited after talks with franchises and broadcasters but no announcement has been made yet. During informal conversations with the BCCI, though, top officials have pointed out bizarrely that Thakur had never announced any plans for a tournament called “mini IPL.”The USA and UAE were options being discussed at the IPL governing council and working committee meetings earlier this year. “We have to look into various details: which country we can play in, how many teams, how many players should participate, who will be the broadcaster – all these issues need to deliberated, but we are keen to play in that [September] window,” Thakur had said in June.The BCCI had been trying to fill an empty window as India are not scheduled to play any cricket till the home Tests against New Zealand start on September 22.1:07

Anurag Thakur announcing the mini IPL in June 2016