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Colin Graves, the ECB’s new chairman, has moved to defend himself from accusations that he misled Kevin Pietersen in encouraging the batsman to play county cricket in order to win his England place back

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-20151:23

KP can feel aggrieved – Bell

Colin Graves, the ECB’s new chairman, has moved to defend himself from accusations that he misled Kevin Pietersen in encouraging the batsman to play county cricket in order to win his England place back.Pietersen abandoned his IPL contract in order to join up with Surrey at the start of the season, after comments from Graves in which he suggested there could be a way back. “If he plays county cricket and scores lots of runs, they can’t ignore him,” he reportedly told the .Despite Pietersen scoring 355 not out for Surrey this week, Andrew Strauss, newly installed as England’s director of cricket, confirmed the door remained closed due to “issues of trust”. Pietersen subsequently used his newspaper column to say he had been “deeply misled” and accuse the ECB of being “deceitful”.Graves, who was officially installed as Giles Clarke’s successor at the ECB AGM on Thursday, has consistently underlined since then, both publicly and privately, that selection was not in his remit and that he made this abundantly clear at the time. He has now responded to Pietersen’s claims via an official statement.”In the past few days my integrity has been called into question, something I can’t accept,” he said. “Throughout my business career and my years at Yorkshire, integrity has been my watchword. It governs everything I do and is an important part of what I bring to the ECB. So it saddens me that what was a private conversation with Kevin in March has been used to do just that.

What Graves actually said

• BBC Sportsweek: “The first thing he’s got to do certainly, if he wants to get back, and that’s if he wants to get back, is start playing county cricket for somebody. The selectors and the coaches are not going to pick him if he’s not playing, it’s as simple as that… At the end of the day, it’s down to the selectors, it’s down to the coaches, what they see as best for English cricket. They will make the decision and I will support them when it comes to that decision.”

• Quoted in Daily Telegraph: “It is very simple. What has happened in the past is history and there is no point talking about it. I was deputy chairman when the decision was made and I supported it so there is no point pulling that to bits. But if he wants to play for England then he has to play for a county. That is his decision. If he does that and scores a lot of runs they can’t ignore him I would have thought, but that is up to him. You can’t pick someone when he is not playing.”

“Back then, when we talked on the phone, Kevin asked if I thought his England career had ended in the right manner following the last Ashes series in Australia. I agreed that nobody particularly emerged with much credit from the whole episode, particularly given his achievements for England.”Kevin felt he had a lot to offer and was interested in a dialogue with the ECB, sorting things out and working together. He would love to play for England again but he wanted to contribute, whether as a player or not.”I didn’t make any promises. There were no guarantees that if he chose to exit his IPL contract, play county cricket and score runs he would be selected for England. And I said he should make any decision on his future on that basis.”Graves added that “something has been misunderstood around the conversation and in the following debate” and that had never intimated that he could – or would – influence selection. “What I did stress was that when I took over as chairman I would back those people whose job it was to take decisions on team selection. I stand by that.”Referring to Pietersen’s score-settling autobiography and the history of issues with team-mates, Graves reiterated that “trust needs to be restored”. He did, however, hold out hope for the future. “Despite everything, he can work with us to rebuild the relationship and make a further contribution to English cricket,” Graves said.It seems clear that Graves was taken aback by the level of resistance to Pietersen within the ECB, including from the captain Alastair Cook, and that when Andrew Strauss emerged as the favourite as the first director of England cricket, the slate was not quite as clean as he had imagined.Pietersen was expected to be recalled by his IPL franchise this week but sustained calf and Achilles injuries while scoring his maiden triple-century against Leicestershire, ruling him out of the rest of the competition. He is due to play in the Caribbean Premier League in July but his future commitments with Surrey remain unknown.

Brian Lara will travel with the Trinidad and Tobago team for the Champions League in India in a non-management role in order to help guide the team

Renaldo Matadeen12-Sep-2013Brian Lara will travel with the Trinidad & Tobago team for the upcoming Champions League T20 in India, although he will not be a formal part of the management group. Lara had performed a similar role as unofficial adviser to the T&T franchise during the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL).”It’s an honour to be part of the upcoming trip. I’m happy to be associated with Trinidad & Tobago’s participation. We have a team that will make us proud,” Lara said. “I am just going to be there, not a part of management but as a former cricketer. I am willing to lend a hand in any way I can. I hope I will have a chance to interact with the guys while in India and in whatever way I can help.”Having recently been called an instrumental adviser by West Indies limited-overs captain, Dwayne Bravo, Lara was eager to continue in such a capacity. “I have always had an open door policy and I look forward to working with you guys (the cricketers), the management, the captain, Denesh Ramdin, and all the other players.”Bravo was optimistic about Lara’s role within the team: “Brian’s always giving us advice as a team and individually. He also boosts my confidence as a captain and loves helping T&T cricket,” Bravo had said at the recently concluded CPL.Bravo will line up for Chennai Super Kings this edition but Lara was keen to point out that with Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, and other exciting youngsters such as Adrian Barath and Nicholas Pooran coming to the fore, he expected T&T to be competitive.

Marcus Trescothick has never known a season like this one. Not, personally, with the bat and neither, collectively, as a team

Ivo Tennant at Taunton30-May-2013
ScorecardMarcus Trescothick looked as though he was regaining his form•Getty Images

Marcus Trescothick has never known a season like this one. Not, personally, with the bat and neither, collectively, as a team. He was averaging 27.72 before taking guard against Yorkshire, with the little matter of 301 runs required to save the follow-on and, maybe, Somerset’s season. This is a plight that the captain has not experienced at the County Ground before now.Trescothick responded manfully, all his know-how and expertise to the fore – and a degree of his familiar sublime timing. It is not hard to ascertain when he is feeling his way back into form. The body weight is swiftly transferred onto the front foot, the ball is struck with the minimum of follow through and is sent scudding to the boundary. It is what the West Indians would call ‘a not a man move’ shot. The inner ring give up any pretence at a chase.He had made 74, with 12 fours, his highest score of the season, when he played outside the line of a straight ball from Richard Pyrah and was palpably leg before. That one misjudgement indicated he is not yet back to his best: a few more such innings are necessary before we can state that. Or, much more to the point, he will start to feel this himself.Still, May is not yet out. Two drives in one over from Steven Patterson, one uppish and the other along the ground, both straight, were indicative that, although he will be 38 later this year, the runs will keep flowing for quite a while yet. Of rather more concern to him will be the two slip catches he missed, both off Steve Kirby, when Andrew Hodd was in at the start of the day.Otherwise, Somerset’s batting lacked consistency, which has been the case all summer. Arul Suppiah, whose average for the season remains in single figures, was leg before to Patterson, similarly playing down the wrong line. Lewis Gregory, surprisingly given the chance to come in first wicket down, went the same way, although in his case padding up.Dean Elgar tucked the ball off his legs in a manner which suggested his five-week stay might well prove fruitful, but he, too, got himself out. A short ball from Ryan Sidebottom was slapped straight to the fielder at point. There were others, too, who needed to play a long innings. James Hildreth, for one. There were signs here, as well, of a return to some sort of form as he reached a half century off 78 balls.These batsmen are too good to be out of touch for long. The same cannot necessarily be said of Alex Barrow and Peter Trego, who went to Adam Lyth’s little used offspin – the light was poor at this stage – in two balls.At the other end of the run-making spectrum is Adil Rashid, who is averaging more than 200 this season. In six innings he has compiled three centuries and a half-century. Having made a considerable start overnight, he progressed immediately to 50 off 59 balls and, wristily finding the gaps against an attack which appeared jaded on a pitch offering little by way of succour, reached 100 from 119 balls with 14 fours.Yorkshire could well have batted on, but chose to declare now. Hodd, having survived those two dropped slip catches when on 41 and 50, achieved his highest score for Yorkshire, his 68 coming off 99 balls with eight fours. Against an opposition of scant achievement this season, they would consider that a total of 450 would be sufficient; Yorkshire’s prime obstacle, though, is the weather.

Hollioake too won’t join the depleted coaching staff as planned due to covid reasons

Andrew McGlashan02-Jan-2022Covid continued to stalk England’s preparations for the Sydney Test with Adam Hollioake unable to join the depleted coaching staff as planned, a scare involving the net bowlers at the ground on Sunday and a positive test for head coach Chris Silverwood.Hollioake, the former England ODI who now lives on the Gold Coast, had been due to join the squad which has seen Silverwood, pace bowling coach Jon Lewis, spin coach Jeetan Patel and strength and conditioning specialist Darren Veness all isolating in Melbourne. However he became a close contact and was forced into seven days isolation.It was confirmed later on Sunday that Silverwood had now tested positive. “He will remain in isolation until January 8. Silverwood is asymptomatic and is fully vaccinated,” the ECB said in a statement. “He is expected to return to the England party in Hobart ahead of the fifth Ashes Test.”During the team’s first training session at the SCG the net bowlers had to be withdrawn after one returned a positive test and the others were deemed close contacts.Both squads have been undergoing regular Covid-19 tests since the first case emerged in the England touring party on December 27. So far Travis Head is the only case among the Australia squad.England’s lack of coaches and net bowlers meant that captain Joe Root was among those who spent time giving throwdowns during today’s session. Assistant coach Graham Thorpe has taken charge for the Sydney Test supported by Ant Botha and James Foster.”We’ve had a lot of support staff missing,” Zak Crawley said. “But the lads have all worked together today, we’ve tried to all help out. We’ve all pulled together and have pulled through.”Crawley added that he would be comfortable if protocols were increased around the teams to ensure the series could be completed. Currently, the squads are under CA’s Level 4 restrictions which means they can still dine outdoors and have some level of freedom. New South Wales reported over 18,000 Covid-cases on Sunday.”We haven’t got long left,” he said. “I can’t speak for everyone on that but I want to play the two Tests.”Glenn McGrath has also tested positive meaning he will be unable to take part in events leading into the Test which raises money for the Jane McGrath cancer foundation.

Jay Lenton was brought on for the final delivery so he could do the running, with Hayden Kerr on strike

Andrew McGlashan26-Jan-2022It will say retired hurt on the scorecard – and there was no doubting Jordan Silk’s hamstring injury – but cricket came as close as it ever has to a tactical retirement of a batter during the pulsating finish of the BBL Challenger final at the SCG.With one ball remaining and Sydney Sixers needing two to win, their coach Greg Shipperd, one of the most experienced figures in the game, signalled furiously for Silk to come off the ground so that Jay Lenton, a late addition after Josh Philippe tested positive for Covid-19, could do the running off the final delivery with Hayden Kerr on strike.Silk, who damaged his hamstring in the field, had come out three balls previously with Sixers hoping the right hander could target a short leg-side boundary. He limped through for a single off his first delivery, watched Kerr launch a six over deep midwicket then hobbled back for a second from the penultimate ball almost using his bat as a crutch.A batter is permitted to retire at any point – it doesn’t even have to be retired hurt – but initially Adelaide Strikers’ captain Peter Siddle appeared less-than-impressed as he approached the umpires although shortly after the finish had a more mellow view.”You can retire blokes, at the end of the day you can retire, it’s not actually a big issue,” he told Fox Cricket. “As soon as I brought it up with the umpires, obviously I was disappointed at the time, but it’s just a retirement…sometimes it happens at crucial times. It’s just part of the game.”Sixers’ captain Moises Henriques, who himself picked up a calf injury, explained the thinking behind Silk initially coming to the crease.”We sent him in at No. 8 to try to get a couple boundaries in that last over,” he told Fox Cricket. “As soon as he wasn’t able to face a ball and we needed a person to run, we knew he couldn’t run so we just thought we’d retire him and put out someone who can.When asked if there was any spirit of cricket debate to be had, Henriques said: “I don’t understand how so. They’re clearly within the rules of the game. Unfortunately we had a guy go down with a hamstring, one of the fittest guys in the league, probably something to do with our schedule, five flights in eight days and so many back-to-back games.”For Lenton, the last ball provided the final act in a whirlwind 24 hours where the former Sydney Thunder player, whose previous BBL match had been the Challenger final in 2020, had gone being an assistant coach giving throwdowns to being told to run as fast as he could to secure a place in a final.”I didn’t even bring my kit to training yesterday,” he said. “I was wanging balls then Mo said go get your kit and have a hit. About one o’clock today I got told I was playing.””I said to [Hayden], it’s the best nought not out I’ve ever had without facing a ball. Never been more excited for it, that’s for sure. It was bizarre…I’m standing there then all of a sudden it’s ‘get him [Silk] off, get him off’ I’m running. Pretty frantic, sums up the day to be fair.”

Rajah managed the men’s national team from 1992 till his retirement in 2011

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2021Goolam Rajah, the former manager of the South Africa men’s cricket team, has died of Covid-19-related complications in Johannesburg. Rajah was 74. He had spent most of the last two months on ventilator in a hospital in the city, but succumbed as South Africa, and the Gauteng province in particular, deals with a massive surge in Covid-19 cases.Related

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Rajah, a pharmacist by profession, managed the national men’s side from 1992 until his retirement in 2011, and was known to be much loved by the players. He was in the dressing room for many big moments, including the memorable 1999 World Cup semi-final, where he remembered seeing the players cry after South Africa were knocked out.Rajah had been with the team for more than 600 matches, working alongside as many as 107 players.”It is a very sad day for the South African Cricket Family,” CSA Acting Chief Executive Pholetsi Moseki said. “Goolam was a very special human being who has touched so many lives in a positive way in the 30 years we have enjoyed being a democratic cricket organization.
“We all have our special memories of him which we will treasure. He was truly a man who gave a great deal to the game of cricket and to everybody involved in it. “Former captain Graeme Smith said Rajah was like a “father figure” for most of the players.”He took care of everything with such detail that the players were able to focus totally on the cricket and that was why his tenure was so successful,” Smith said. “The players were particularly appreciative of the way he looked after their wives and partners on away tours. We will indeed be fortunate to see his like again.”