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Two players hoping to be wear the baggygreen next week were in the runs while Joe Burns provided a reminder of why he shouldn’t be forgotten

Alex Malcolm28-Nov-2018Queensland opener Joe Burns sent a reminder of his class to the national selectors with a well-made 96 to help Queensland into a strong position against Victoria at the Gabba.Burns’ innings, along with 47 from Marnus Labuschagne, helped set up a 104-run first innings lead for the Bulls. The lead may have been more without a superb spell from Peter Siddle, who picked up four wickets.High-quality half-centuries from Test squad members Marcus Harris and Peter Handscomb saw Victoria claw back infront but late wickets ensured the stumps lead was only 50 with five wickets in hand and two full days to play.Burns looked set for a century early in the day after adding 25 to his overnight total before Scott Boland squared him up with an excellent delivery to get him caught at second slip.Siddle then ripped the heart of the Bulls’ middle order attacking the stumps relentlessly to remove Charlie Hemphrey, Jack Wildermuth and Jimmy Peirson in quick succession.Labuschagne was patient for his 47 but ran out of partners, eventually holing out at deep fine leg attempting to hook Boland who picked up three wickets of his own.Travis Dean then become the first Victorian opener in 13 years to bag a pair when he was given out lbw to Michael Neser from the first ball of the second innings. Seven balls later Victoria were in enormous trouble when Aaron Finch was also adjudged lbw to Luke Feldman. The ball nipped back and hit the top of the pads as Finch was up on his toes but the umpire believed it would have hit the top of the stumps, much to Finch’s displeasure.Harris and Handscomb proved why they are in the frame for the Adelaide Test with a fluent 104-run stand. Harris struck 10 fours in his 62 before he missed a ball slanting in from around the wicket from Mark Steketee. Handscomb reached his second fifty in the match before he fell to Neser, edging to slip trying to defend a good delivery on a fourth stump line.Glenn Maxwell made it to 29 at stumps but lost Seb Gotch in the last over in fading light. Labuschagne’s part-time legspin did the trick for skipper Usman Khawaja to leave Victoria with an uphill battle to set a defendable fourth innings total.

Worcestershire closed in on the points they need to secure promotion thanks to half-centuries from R Ashwin and Ed Barnard

Paul Edwards at New Road26-Sep-20171:46

County Championship round-up: Hampshire slip towards drop

The winds blew southerly and they blew soft on the second day of this game. They conferred a warm blessing on the cricketers as if healing them after a Monday filched from November when a heavy sky had lain over the ground like a grimy cloth and the talk had been of sad departures. The breezes allowed Worcestershire’s cricketers to collect four of the six bonus points they need to confirm promotion and they also allowed Durham’s players to show a little of the resilience which has always characterised their cricket, even in dark times. Perhaps the latter was the more important demonstration, although you could have found few people in the Basil D’Oliveira Stand ready to agree.Worcestershire need only mind their own business this week. Six points will be enough to secure a place at English cricket’s top table. Events at Grace Road may reduce that requirement but neither that game nor any other need concern Joe Leach or his players. Sometimes the simplest truths are also the most reassuring and so the large and rather boisterous crowd at New Road cheered each bonus point and applauded extravagantly as landmarks were passed or wickets taken. By the close Durham were still 193 runs in arrears and have only five wickets to spend. One imagines not only Worcestershire’s promotion but also their title will be confirmed very soon, although Paul Collingwood may have something to say about that.Three Worcestershire batsmen made fifties albeit that Joe Clarke had added only 19 runs to his overnight 46 when Graham Onions lured him cannily into the drive and Collingwood took the catch. Clarke had done his best work on a drear first afternoon when his eight boundaries had offered a riposte to the day.The rest of Worcestershire’s innings was dominated by contrasting half-centuries by R Ashwin and Ed Barnard. Ashwin batted with classical simplicity, reaching forward to drive the ball through the covers or to leg glance it to the New Road stand. His only inelegance was fashioned by modernity when he reverse-swept Ryan Pringle. Ashwin is already a popular figure at New Road, a development caused as much by his availability to the general public as his skill with a cricket ball. For his part Ashwin enjoys being a county cricketer; he can walk into Worcester and buy a coffee without being mobbed or needing bodyguards.Ashwin made 82 and seemed likely to pick up his seventh first-class century when he was leg before on the front foot to Liam Trevaskis, thus becoming the slow left-armer’s maiden wicket in the first-class game. One hopes Trevaskis will dine out on his success. By then, though, Ashwin had steered Worcestershire to their second bonus point and had added 86 for the seventh wicket with Barnard, who had brought up the 200 with a sweep to square leg off Trevaskis.That shot was typical of Barnard, who later hoisted Trevaskis into the pavilion and smacked Pringle for two sixes in one over when Worcestershire were nine down. The first of these smashed the front door of Foley’s café, which lies within the precincts of the ground and caused the establishment’s closure on health and safety grounds. Some of the regulars at New Road were ready to make the case that their own health was not assisted by the decision. Cakes and ale are a serious business in these parts.Graham Onions claimed a four-wicket haul•Getty Images

Barnard was last out when swinging wildly at Mark Wood but the most successful Durham bowler was Onions who added Leach and Josh Tongue to his bag with the second new ball. Onions finished with 4 for 68 from 22 overs, the sort of figures he has been returning for 14 summers at the Riverside. The elegiac tone already present at this ground was thus deepened by personal dimensions. Would Onions bowl for Durham again? Not if they lose by an innings.Certainly Keaton Jennings will play only one more innings for the county. The opener’s move to Lancashire was confirmed on Tuesday and one hopes he plays some more distinguished shots in his second innings than he managed in his first attempt. A couple of streaky fours were followed by an ugly cut at Tongue and an edge to Ben Cox. Tongue made a second breakthrough six overs later when he beat Jack Burnham for pace and then whistled one past the batsman’s chest before bowling him with the last ball of the over. Thus do chess players remove their opponent’s pieces for fun before executing checkmate.Durham’s fortunes declined further when Leach removed Cameron Steel but Collingwood, as if embodying defiance, added 76 with Graham Clark before being bowled for 27 when making room to cut Ashwin. And yes, the spinner’s variations of pace and spin adorned a long but rich evening session when the shadow of the pavilion lengthened over the ground and one was reminded how much one will miss this stuff.Then, as if to offer slapstick in the midst of soliloquy, George Rhodes bowled two quite execrable overs of offspin and was butchered for 36 runs by Clark, who scampered to his fifty in the embers of evening, hitting five fours and three sixes. But the epilogue to the day still belonged to Worcester and to their captain, Leach, who caught and bowled Clark off a leading edge for 60. Home joy was increased when news came in of Northants’ late loss of wickets at Grace Road. Perhaps Worcestershire’s promotion will be confirmed elsewhere after all. Perhaps it little matters now. The cricket had been enthralling; the game had reclaimed itself from its sadder tendencies.

Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm paceman, is facing shoulder surgery early next month which could sideline him for six months

Mohammad Isam30-Jul-2016Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm paceman, is facing shoulder surgery early next month which could sideline him for six months. The BCB are currently mulling whether to have the operation in England or Australia, and BCB media committee chairman Jalal Yunus said that a decision on a surgeon will be made by Monday, but that Mustafizur was mentally prepared for the operation.Mustafizur is currently in England having linked up with Sussex after extended delays but his stint came to end last week after two matches when he suffered the shoulder injury. He has seen a specialist in the UK, who recommended that the SLAP (Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior) tear – which involves the ring of cartilage that surrounds the socket of the shoulder joint – could be treated through a surgery, which may rule him out for up to six months. Such a lay-off would rule him out of England’s visit in October and the tour to New Zealand at the end of the year.”In the last few days we have sent his reports to a number of places,” Yunus said. “We want him to be operated under the best surgeons. We have found two specialists in the UK and one in Australia. By Monday we can decide who will operate on Mustafizur’s shoulder. He is mentally prepared for the operation.”This sort of injury usually is treated conservatively but we are not going that way with Mustafizur because the doctors have said that it might recur in the future.”Yunus said that Mustafizur has been BCB’s priority and has always been withdrawn from the game at the onset of any injury. The first such occurance was during the Zimbabwe series in January this year when he was down with an injured shoulder. He also missed much of the Asia Cup and World T20 through a side strain while hamstring and ankle injuries delayed his Sussex stint.”We are taking the best care of Mustafizur. We have always withdrawn him from matches whenever he has complained of any physical problem,” Yunus said. “We haven’t seen him in Test matches that much. He has focused mostly in the shorter versions.”We didn’t send him to the PSL because he had injury. He had offers from the CPL. So that he is not overstressed, we are not letting him play when he has a problem.”

ICC chairman N Srinivasan believes there will be great difficulty setting up and sustaining rebel cricket leagues despite the amount of money they might offer players

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jun-20151:58

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

ICC chairman N Srinivasan believes there will be great difficulty in setting up and sustaining rebel cricket leagues despite the amount of money they might offer players.His statement comes on the back of the Essel Group, who were behind the Indian Cricket League in 2007, outlining the possibility of another rebel tournament in May. Reports said they had approached players like David Warner and Australia captain Michael Clarke with hefty contracts.But Srinivasan said the current system is prevalent in too many places and has existed for too long to be shaken.”Any attempt to form such a rebel league is not easy to succeed,” he told the . “Cricket as we know has been established over a long period of time in various countries. It is based on domestic structures that have been put in place for centuries as in the case of England and Australia, and 80 to 90 years in India.””Just because ICC events are popular and receive broadcasting rights, it doesn’t mean it can be duplicated overnight. The assumption that a substantial chunk of players will go away and be part of a league that will sustain itself over time … it is hard to see that happening.”The seriousness of the issue though cannot be brushed aside: “This is a company that’s coming in and trying to take over world cricket,” Warner had said, offering a player’s perspective. “At the end of the day if this company comes in and wipes out who you play for and you want to play cricket, what happens there? Who pays you? That’s the thing.”With the threat of a possible takeover of world cricket, the ICC had appointed a committee comprising Srinivasan, Cricket Australia chairman Wally Edwards and ICC finance and commercial chairman Giles Clarke to investigate the matter.The same men had been at the forefront of a shake-up themselves when the Big Three position paper was pushed through at the ICC, giving CA, the ECB and BCCI greater decision-making powers. That had been met with a good deal of critique as well, but Srinivasan maintained his defence, listing an increase in financial benefits and a shot at Test cricket for Associate countries.”The criticism is unfair. One looks at the financial model, the distribution is fair as far as the BCCI is concerned. They used to get a far lower share than what the region contributed. During this cycle, all Full Members will get more than in the previous cycle. Associates and Affiliates will get more, the glass ceiling is broken. The top associate will get an opportunity to play Test cricket. And there will be more opportunity for them to participate in ICC World Cup and Twenty20 events.”Another point of contention that has followed Srinivasan and the BCCI has been their stance on DRS. Srinivasan, although no longer BCCI president, was happy with the continued opposition to it.”When I was president, BCCI, for several valid reasons, did not agree to the use of DRS. The system includes ball-tracking technology as well as hot spot, snicko, etc. I am glad that the present BCCI management is doing the same.”

A round-up of the first day’s action of Group B matches in the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2012
Scorecard
Yo Mahesh scored his top first-class score: 81•K Sivaraman

Haryana’s batsmen continued their horror run in the Ranji Trophy: two weeks after being shot out for 55 by Vidarbha, they crumbled to 66 all out against Odisha in Lahli. Astonishingly, they did put up a decent batting performance in between these two massive failures, posting 334 against England in a tour match.Odisha coming off a washout against Tamil Nadu and a resounding defeat against Delhi, had just the day they needed to start getting their campaign back on track. Basant Mohanty, their senior quick bowler, did much of the damage, finishing with five wickets as only two Haryana batsmen managed to make it to double digits – Abhimanyu Khod (12) and Rahul Dalal (21).Odisha capitalised on the advantage provided by their bowlers, reaching 177 for 6 with the help of 40s by their captain Natraj Behera and Biplab Samantray. Quick bowler Mohit Sharma turned in his best first-class figures of 4 for 37 to make sure Odisha didn’t completely run away with the game.
Scorecard
Tamil Nadu’s formidable top five faltered badly against Maharashtra in Chennai, but the home side were rescued by a trio of half-centuries from the lower-order. Less than a week after a high-scoring draw against Karnataka at the same venue, Tamil Nadu lost M Vijay and S Badrinath for ducks, and their other two big-name players – Abhinav Mukund and Dinesh Karthik – also couldn’t make much of a contribution.Baba Aparajith, one of the heroes of India’s Under-19 World Cup win, also fell cheaply, leaving Tamil Nadu at 87 for 5 in the first session. Fast bowler Shrikant Mundhe did the early damage, striking in each of his first three overs.Maharashtra who had had to wait 118 overs to get five wickets in their previous Ranji match, had as many wickets within 31 overs this time. If they were thinking of rolling over Tamil Nadu early, they were thwarted by a 110-run sixth-wicket stand between R Prasanna and Yo Mahesh, who went on to his highest first-class score. No. 8 Malolan Rangarajan then lifted Tamil Nadu towards 250 with his maiden first-class half-century.
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Karnataka’s bowling had as many as three debutants but they didn’t fade against a strong Uttar Pradesh batting line-up that was fresh off making 669 for 7 against Maharashtra, and beating a full-strength Delhi outfit in the first round. Fast bowler HS Sharath had the best day of the trio, running through the middle order to finish with 5 for 60, to ensure Karnataka didn’t miss the services of the injured Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun.That UP didn’t have too bad a day despite the failure of Suresh Raina was thanks to the experienced Mohammad Kaif, who gritted it out for a patient century even as the rest of the specialist batsmen stumbled. They were reduced to 40 for 4 after the first hour, but with several lower-middle order batsmen chipping in with 20s and 30s, Kaif put together a string of partnerships that gave the UP score some respectability.
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Delhi captain Shikhar Dhawan might begin to wonder whether his decision to field on a dead track was the correct one or not after Baroda reached 252 for 3 on the first day at the Feroz Shah Kotla with minimum difficulty.Baroda, led by their stand-in captain Ambati Rayudu in place of the injured Yusuf Pathan, showed that the conditions weren’t too tough at the Kotla. Rayudu ended the day on 83 and 25-year-old Abhimanyu Chauhan was with him on 82 to make it a long day for Delhi’s bowlers.
For more, read the full report.

John Inverarity is confident he has kept close enough ties with the game to make a success of his new role as Australia’s national selector

Brydon Coverdale28-Oct-2011John Inverarity is confident he has kept close enough ties with the game to make a success of his new role as Australia’s national selector. Inverarity, 67, was a surprise appointment to the newly-created full-time job, with Rod Marsh and Trevor Hohns previously considered front-runners for what will be one of the most important positions in Cricket Australia’s new structure.A former allrounder who played six Tests for Australia, Inverarity was more prominent in Sheffield Shield cricket and was considered a great thinker and captain during his 23-year first-class career for South Australia and Western Australia. Since his retirement from cricket, he was headmaster of a prestigious boys’ high school in Perth, and more recently served as head of St George’s College at the University of Western Australia.However, Inverarity has also kept his hand in cricket coaching, first at Kent in 2001 and then during a three-year stint as head coach of Warwickshire, which ended in 2005. Cricket Australia’s chief executive, James Sutherland, said Inverarity’s varied experience made him the outstanding candidate to succeed Andrew Hilditch, the current part-time chairman, as the head of the revamped selection panel.”There’s no concern at our end,” Sutherland said of Inverarity’s age. “One of the things that we’ve worked through in the interview process and got absolute satisfaction on is the fact that John Inverarity is ready to do this job. In many ways, this is his time to be involved in cricket.”He’s pursued another career, he has continued to have an involvement and an interest in cricket through that time, but he’s pursued another career. As I see it, it’s a career that is very much complementary to what this role as national selector is. In terms of any questions about his age, I just don’t think that’s an issue.”Inverarity will begin his new role after the tour of South Africa, with Hilditch and the interim panel set to continue choosing the teams during that trip. Cricket Australia’s attention will now turn to finding two independent part-time selectors to join Inverarity and the captain Michael Clarke on the panel, which will also include the yet-to-be-chosen head coach.Their challenge over the next few seasons – Inverarity has been signed to a three-year contract – is to manage the development of a host of young players, while also steering the side through a transition phase with older men such as Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey nearing the end of their careers. Inverarity said he was confident he had not been out of the game too long to handle the responsibilities.”I’m 67 but I feel very young at heart,” Inverarity said. “I’d like to think that over those 67 years I’ve had a lot of experiences from which I have benefited. The key thing in this is exercising judgment. I have followed the game very closely. I think in my life outside of cricket, particularly in education and being the headmaster of a school and warden of a university college, your experiences and exercising judgments and dealing with young people [will help].”All my life I have sought challenges. I have sought challenges of trying to be in the area where I can influence a leadership or management role and trying to get a group performing at its best. Whether that’s been in a cricket team or club, or in a school or in a university college, that’s what motivates me. That’s what I really enjoy doing. I feel that over the years I’ve had some success in doing so.”Inverarity is the second key appointment to stem from the Argus review, after the former rugby international Pat Howard was named Cricket Australia’s general manager of team performance earlier this month. His appointment also came on the same day that his former Western Australia team-mate, Wally Edwards, was elected chairman of Cricket Australia.However, while Inverarity has a firm three-year deal to shape the future of Australian cricket, Edwards is less certain about the length of his tenure. The review into Cricket Australia’s governance is expected to be tabled later this year and could recommended the existing board being replaced by an independent commission.

Sri Lanka A’s bowlers ensured that there would be no fightback from the Pakistan A tail in Hambantota and that the match would end with bat having been utterly dominated by ball

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2010
Scorecard
Sri Lanka A’s bowlers ensured there would be no fightback from the Pakistan A tail in Hambantota and that the match would end with bat having been utterly dominated by ball. The hosts had 86 runs to defend on the third day of the second unofficial Test and five wickets to take, which they did while conceding only 46.Twenty two wickets had fallen on the first day, with both teams being dismissed for less than 100 in their first innings, but an improved batting effort from Sri Lanka A in their second had set Pakistan a target of 179. The visitors’ top order wobbled and they ended the second day on 93 for 5, with the promising Hammad Azam unbeaten on 23.Azam, however, was the first batsman to be dismissed today, falling lbw to Jeevan Mendis for 40 off 81 balls. With him went Pakistan A’s hopes and three wickets fell for one run to reduce the visitors from 123 for 6 to 124 for 9. Sachithra Senanayake, an offspinner, took two while Mendis bowled Zulfiqar Babar for a duck to complete his five-wicket haul. Suranga Lakmal picked up the final wicket, that of Junaid Khan, to consign Pakistan A to a 39-run defeat.

The two made short work of the 292-run chase against Rajasthan in Vadodara

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2025Unbeaten centuries from Karun Nair and Dhruv Shorey saw Vidarbha chase down their target of 292 in style against Rajasthan and march to the semi-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.Vidarbha captain Nair notched up his fourth consecutive century and his fifth in the season and finished with an unbeaten 122. He tops the run charts this year with a whopping 664 runs, which is also his average as he has only been dismissed once in six innings.Nair and Shorey shared an unbroken 200-run stand for the second wicket as Vidarbha gunned down their target in 43.3 overs. Shorey first shared a 92-run opening stand with Yash Rathod before Nair joined him at the crease.The two then made short work of the chase, with Shorey hitting ten fours and three sixes to finish on 118* off 131 deliveries. Nair was more aggressive in his approach, taking just 82 balls for his 122, with 13 fours and five sixes.After being put in to bat, Rajasthan started slow and had only managed 15 runs when opener Abhijeet Tomar fell to Nachiket Bhute in the seventh over. One over later, his opening partner Manav Suthar was sent packing by Yash Thakur.Mahipal Lomror and Deepak Hooda then stitched a 71-run stand before the two fell in the space of four overs. Shubham Garhwal and Kartik Sharma then added 82 runs for the fifth wicket before Thakur struck again, removing Garhwal for 59. Kartik then shared a 50-run stand with wicketkeeper Samarpit Joshi but the two fell in consecutive overs, with Rajasthan’s score still under 250. Deepak Chahar smacked three sixes and two fours en route to a 14-ball 31 that helped Rajasthan get close to 300. Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for Vidarbha, with figures of 4 for 39.Vidarbha will play Maharashtra in the second semi-final in Vadodara on January 16.

He last played for West Indies in 2019 and said it will be “business as usual” for him in the T20 circuit going forward

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Nov-2023Sunil Narine has called time on his eight-year international career. He last played for West Indies in a T20I in August 2019.”I appreciate it has been over four years since I last played for West Indies but today I am announcing my retirement from international cricket,” Narine wrote on Instagram. “Publicly I am a man of few words but privately there are a few people who have given me unwavering support throughout my career and helped me realise my dream of representing West Indies and to you I express my deepest gratitude.”Narine came into limelight in the now defunct Champions League T20 for Trinidad & Tobago in 2011 before making his international debut in an ODI in December later that year. He played 122 international matches, which included six Tests, 65 ODIs and 51 T20Is. He helped West Indies to their first T20 World Cup title in 2012 – their first World Cup win across formats since 1979 – with nine wickets in the competition. He would go on to play just one more edition of the T20 World Cup, in 2014.