All posts by n8rngtd.top

The ability to watch international cricket was the second-highest priority for member nations according to ICC’s latest survey

Peter Della Penna25-Feb-2021Broadcast access to transmit live tournament cricket, in nations far off the beaten path of Full Member nations, used to be a major obstacle impeding the ability to grow the sport. But that may now be a thing of the past as the ICC on Wednesday announced a major agreement with IMG that will introduce web streamed broadcasts for more than 500 ICC global pathway events at men’s and women’s level through 2023.These will include regional qualifiers from each of the five Associate regions – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and East Asia-Pacific – for the next men’s and women’s T20 World Cups in 2022 and 2023 respectively, as well as the seven-team Men’s ODI League Two and Challenge Leagues being used as qualification for the 2023 Men’s World Cup.”The objective of the program is a response to a demand not only from fans around the world but that of the members,” Will Glenwright, ICC head of global development, told ESPNcricinfo in a phone interview after the ICC’s announcement on Wednesday. “We do an annual survey of the members, the 2020 version of which we just completed, and getting international cricket on television was the second-highest priority that they have communicated to us. Growing awareness of the game, in the eyes of the members, is the biggest inhibitor to the growth and development of the sport.”So this is a direct response to that demand that comes from our members and it is absolutely an awareness motive rather than a profit-driven or revenue-driven motive. Whilst it’s a good financial outcome for the ICC, it’s driven primarily about the need to get more international cricket and get more Associate member cricket to the fans around the world.”Over the past decade, traditionally strong Associate members such as Nepal have regularly commanded impressive viewing traffic figures thanks to broadcasts of events coordinated by local media houses. However, demand for access in recent years has spread further afield such that the regional T20 men’s qualifiers were web streamed throughout the summer of 2019 from locations such as Guernsey, Malaysia and Bermuda.Will Glenwright (left) and former Cricket Scotland chairman Tony Brian watch the final of the 2019 Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier•Peter Della Penna

The appetite for Associate content had grown exponentially in recent times. According to an ICC press release from February 2020, digital views from clips of various regional pathway events totalled more than 128 million. This culminated in the 2019 Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE which set a record for digital consumption with an additional 80 million views for digital clips across various ICC social media and web platforms during the three-week tournament in spite of the fact that neither Nepal nor Afghanistan – another major traffic driver before their elevation to Test status – participated in the final qualifying tournament. It was enough evidence to demonstrate that a bigger effort had to be coordinated to expand the ICC’s broadcasting footprint.”We know the quality of the cricket has improved from a high-performance perspective and we know the context of the pathway events makes for compelling viewing,” Glenwright said. “That, in addition to the demand that we have received from our members, the fact that lack of awareness of the game is one of the biggest barriers to growing the game for our Associate members, all pointed to us examining this properly.”I think it’s part of the digital evolution that we’re undergoing as an organization, the increased capability that we’ve brought into our team to deliver this, has meant that for the first time we’ve been able to give this the attention it deserves, to point the resources in the right direction and the outcome is as we’ve announced today a groundbreaking partnership with a reputable organization that’s going to deliver over 500 Associate member cricket matches to the world.”In the past, regional ICC events were broadcast on more of an ad hoc basis, often determined by the existing infrastructure and capability of host countries to facilitate a broadcast. That is now expected to be a thing of the past according to the new broadcast arrangement.”The broadcasting of those events was done sporadically and often depended on the capabilities of the host member themselves,” Glenwright said. “One of the criticisms that we faced from the members was that perhaps our minimum standards around that were too overbearing which made it difficult for the members to deliver and stream those events to those standards. That’s something we sought to overcome by standardizing it under this agreement with IMG.”Perhaps the most significant part of this deal is that, according to the ICC release, more than 50 countries will be featured on global broadcasts for the first time as a consequence of the new arrangement. That includes several women’s teams in countries that do not currently field a men’s team competitive enough to feature in the corresponding regional qualification pathway for a T20 World Cup such as the Brazil Women, who announced central contracts for 14 squad members in January 2020. The exposure that these web streams offer is something that can see new financial opportunities open up to many other countries in the same manner.”That’s not something that we take lightly at all,” Glenwright said. “It opens up all sorts of opportunities for the members, not only from a performance perspective but from a commercial and a fan engagement perspective as well. In setting the minimum standards, we’ve been mindful of the need to ensure that all of these events can be streamed by our smaller members as easily as it can be done by our more established members who have more experience in streaming and broadcasting their events.”Our member boards plus other sports have done some really innovative stuff, I think particularly during the pandemic around broadcasting and streaming and bringing content to fans around the world. The European Cricket League has been brilliant from a cricket perspective and initiatives like that of Finland, Japan and some of our smaller members to get their cricket streamed has encouraged us, motivated us, but more just strengthened the resolve of us as an organization to provide that exposure to all 92 of our Associate members. It is as important to our smaller members as it is to our larger members. We feel there’s an obligation as an international federation to facilitate that and that’s what’s driven us.”

Graeme Swann has backed Stuart Broad to break records after taking his match haul against West Indies to 11 wickets and becoming only the fourth player to score a hundred, take five in an innings and 10 in a match at Lord’s.

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's20-May-2012Graeme Swann has backed Stuart Broad to break records after taking his match haul against West Indies to 11 wickets and becoming only the fourth player to score a hundred, take five in an innings and 10 in a match at Lord’s. However, it is far from certain that Broad’s career-best performances will secure England a victory after a day of resilience from West Indies’ batsmen before two late strikes by Kemar Roach set pulses racing.When Broad removed Darren Sammy, who played a key part in extending West Indies’ lead to testing proportions, he became the first England bowler to take 10 on this ground since Ian Botham against New Zealand in 1978.”Hats off to him he’s on all three honours boards which is almost unique,” Swann said. “He’s going to be a guy who breaks record after record in his career and I’m just glad he’s in my team. He admitted he’s not been in the greatest of form for Nottinghamshire but he’s a big match player and as soon as he got his first spell out of the way in this match he’s bowled superbly.”However, it was Swann himself who claimed the wicket England most cherished when he finally trapped Shivnarine Chanderpaul lbw to end his 250-ball 91 which took his match occupation of the crease to 425 deliveries.”It’s always nice to get him out. It would have been nicer if he’d missed a sweep on 10 or 11 rather than 91,” he said. “His partnership with [Marlon] Samuels showed if you bat with application on that pitch you become difficult to shift.”Application is something England will need plenty of on the final day after closing on 10 for 2 following the late dismissals of Andrew Strauss and nightwatchman Jimmy Anderson. During the winter they failed to chase 145 in Abu Dhabi, collapsing to 72 all out albeit on a very different surface, but Swann, always a glass-half-full cricketer, said the task was still well within hand.”It’s unfortunate to lose the skipper but it was always going to be a tricky 15 minutes batting in the gloom against a world-class bowler like Kemar Roach. Luckily we’ve got through relatively unscathed, we’ve got Trotty and Cooky at the crease so we’ll very confident that they can see us through.”We know the wicket is very good for batting, if anything it’s better than the first two days. That tends to happen at Lord’s. Hopefully the ball won’t talk much like it didn’t for us today. Once it gets to 30-35 overs old it seems to go a bit out of shape and not be very responsive. We beat the outside edge a lot but couldn’t pick up the edges we did in the first innings. That was frustrating to say the least but I thought we stuck at our guns very well and to get a chase of less than 200 we’re happy with.”Ottis Gibson, West Indies’ coach, took great heart from his team’s performance especially that of the batsmen who kept England in the field for most of the day. Regardless of the result on Monday he knows that the visitors have already surpassed many of the expectations surrounding them when they arrived.”I haven’t seen any fifth-day tickets so I’m not sure they expected it to go five days,” he said. “We are coming back to make them fight for the rest of the runs. If we do well enough to win then great, we’ll celebrate, but whatever happens when we get off that bus tomorrow we are coming here to fight. It will be a battle but we are up for that.”If we can make some early inroads, like Trott and Kevin Pietersen who can take the game away from you, we’ve always felt we have an attack that can cause quite a few problems. It will be a good opportunity for them tomorrow.”

Cheteshwar Pujara, who played the last of his three Tests in January 2011 in South Africa, is eager to make a comeback to the Indian Test side

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2012India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who played the last of his three Tests in January 2011 in South Africa, is eager to make a comeback to the Test side and following his injury problems, his focus is on fitness.”I am very conscious about my fitness now. I am aware and try my best to avoid injuries,” Pujara told . “I have a fitness routine and I follow it religiously. It hurts when I miss a training session. The best chance to avoid injuries in cricket, where you throw yourself on the field, is by trying and following certain training programmes.””I am following a schedule prepared by the NCA physios. I am working on strength and stability.”After making a dream debut against Australia in 2010 – where he scored a matchwinning, fourth-innings 72 – and being part of the team that later toured South Africa, Pujara was sidelined for much of 2011 with a knee injury.Pujara had a modest Ranji Trophy season with Saurashtra last year on his return, managing only 200 runs with two half-centuries. But the recent India A tour of the West Indies – he was the top scorer with 252 runs in three matches in difficult batting conditions – renewed the selectors’ faith in him and he was included for India’s Tests against New Zealand.”It feels good. I’ve worked really hard for this. Now that I have got my chance, I want to bat the way I did on my debut against Australia. I was also part of the squad to South Africa. I didn’t get too many runs there, but it was a great learning experience. I got a feel of Test cricket in 2010 and I want to use that confidence and start all over again. Unfortunately, I was out for six months but then injuries happen. The good thing is that I am fit now. I did well for India ‘A’ in the West Indies.”In the first match against West Indies A in Barbados, Pujara followed up his first-innings half-century with an unbeaten 96 that helped India A to fashion a dramatic two-wicket win. He scored another half-century in the second match.”The conditions were tough; the wickets were up and down. The ball jumped from a good-length spot and it was difficult for the batsmen to adjust,” Pujara said of the West Indies series. “But I never let the conditions affect me. I backed myself and played my natural game. I knew a good tour would help me get back into the Test side.”Pujara made his first-class debut seven years ago, and since then he has amassed 4639 runs at an average of 53.32. But the New Zealand series will be an important one; he might especially be scrutinised now, with India looking for a replacement for Rahul Dravid and there often being comparisons made between the two players. But Pujara wants to just focus on his game: “I think there shouldn’t be a comparison. Rahul Dravid scored more than 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. And I have just started off. But I respect the faith people have in me.”

The ECB has bowed to pressure within the county game by deferring a decision on the Morgan Review and instead deciding to will conduct further research throughout the summer into the future structure of the county game.

George Dobell08-Mar-2012The ECB has bowed to pressure within the county game by deferring a decision on the Morgan Review and instead has decided to conduct further research throughout the 2012 season into the future of professional cricket in England.Growing opposition to Morgan’s recommendations, which included a reduction in championship matches from 16 to 14, a return to 50-over cricket and 14 Twenty20 matches, left the ECB Board unable to adopt a report that had been months in the making.County chief executives, coaches and the Professional Cricketers’ Association had all lobbied the ECB in the belief that in his urge for compromise Morgan, a former chairman of ECB and ICC, had failed to provide an inspirational blueprint for the game.Morgan did receive more support for his conclusion that a more concerted approach must be developed among the ECB and the 18 counties towards the future financing of the game. Central marketing strategies will be strengthened.Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman, said: “Cricket has a unique opportunity to capitalise on its enviable financial strength from recently secured long term commercial partnerships.”Whilst many of the recommendations will be implemented immediately, it is important that thorough consumer research and financial analysis is carried out on the detailed strategy to ensure that we have a balanced domestic playing programme which suits the lifestyles of the modern consumer and allows for the production of outstanding players with international potential participating in vibrant domestic competitions.”Morgan achieved that rarest of things in county cricket: unanimity of sorts. The PCA, the vast majority of the county chief executives, coaches and chairmen, the ECB’s cricket committee and, according to unofficial on-line polls, the majority of spectators, all expressed their reservations over Morgan’s recommendations. The recurring theme of their issue with the report is the reduction in the championship programme and the subsequent compromise to the integrity of the competition.That left the board with few options. While they were loathe to be seen to U-turn on such a key issue, they were also reluctant to so blatantly ignore the views of all the parties. The solution — to defer a final decision pending more consultation – could almost be an ECB catchphrase.But the ECB board, which had already approved the report in principle and had vowed not to tinker around the edges, had to retreat or run the risk of unrest around the counties.
Scrapping the report at this stage will be an embarrassment for Morgan, one of cricket’s leading administrators, who claimed to have spoken to 300 people before drawing up his findings.David Collier, the ECB’s chief executive, and the newly-appointed managing director of the professional game, Gordon Hollins, have now been charged by the Board with producing “a robust financial plan to ensure the long term sustainability of the game and its stakeholders from grassroots cricket to the Test match arena.”Edited by David Hopps

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran30-Jul-2012

Match facts

Tuesday, July 31
Start time 1430 (0900 GMT)Irfan Pathan played a crucial role in India taking the series lead•AFP

Big Picture

India’s win on Saturday has left Sri Lanka needing to win both remaining matches if they are to take the series. None of the players involved in the series had made their ODI debuts when India last lost a bilateral series in Sri Lanka – that was way back in 1997, when Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva were at the peak of their powers.India’s successful chase of 287 was the sort of result which would have been extremely unlikely on the pre-World Cup Premadasa track where batting under lights was a challenge. On Saturday, on a pitch with little in it for the bowlers, both sides showed off some high-class one-day batting. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, as they have done countless times before, revived the Sri Lankan innings with unhurried ease, knocking the singles around. That set the stage for Angelo Mathews and Jeevan Mendis to explode at the end, as India leaked 97 in the final ten. For India, it was Gautam Gambhir who top scored with a controlled innings of 102, where he highlighted his nifty footwork against both pace and spin, before Suresh Raina extended a rewarding recent ODI run, with this third half-century in five innings.The run-fest raised questions about the strength of both sides’ bowling. The spearheads, Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga, did their job, but the support seamers rarely threatened and the spinners could, at best, contain the runs. Isuru Udana hasn’t been an adequate replacement for the injured Nuwan Kulasekara, and India’s gamble on Ashok Dinda didn’t pay off either.

Form guide

Sri Lanka LWLWW (Completed games, most recent first)
India WLWWL

Watch out for…

Jeevan Mendis took 5 for 76 in the last two ODIs he played in 2011 before he dropped off Sri Lanka’s one-day plans, perhaps because he failed with the bat. Given another chance in the final ODI against Pakistan last month, he stepped up with a tight spell, and also a steady 19 towards the end of a tight chase. He boosted his case for a longer run in the side, with a hard-hitting 45 on Saturday, which justified his promotion over the in-form Thisara Perera.India’s death bowling has long been a problem area. In the third ODI, Zaheer bowled eight of his overs in the first two Powerplays, leaving Irfan Pathan and Dinda to finish out the innings. With the strategy of using two fast bowlers to end the innings not working for India, perhaps it is time they used R Ashwin at the death.

Team news

There have already been plenty of headlines about Rohit Sharma’s prolonged lean spell, and his golden duck on Saturday is likely to have opened the door for Manoj Tiwary. Legspinner Rahul Sharma did well enough to merit another chance, but Dinda didn’t, which could mean that Umesh Yadav will return.India: (probable) 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 5 Manoj Tiwary, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Rahul SharmaSangakkara’s finger injury means he will miss only his second ODI in more than two years. The only other one he sat out was a one-dayer against Scotland in 2011. He could be replaced by Lahiru Thirimanne, with Dinesh Chandimal stepping in as wicketkeeper. Udana could be left out after two underwhelming matches, with Nuwan Pradeep as his replacement.Sri Lanka: (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Lahiru Thirimanne, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Pradeep, 10 Lasith Malinga, 11 Rangana Herath

Stats and trivia

• If Gautam Gambhir scores 11 or more on Tuesday, he will become the second quickest Indian to reach 5000 ODI runs.
• Lasith Malinga is four wickets short of 200 ODI scalps. He is on track to become the fifth fastest bowler to reach the milestone, and easily the fastest Sri Lankan.

Quotes

“We had a plan to score four to five hundreds as individual batsmen and we have done it twice. Virat [Kohli] and Gautam [Gambhir] scored hundreds, Viru (Virender Sehwag) fell short but, our goal is yet to be reached.”
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Misbah will announce the squad for the Zimbabwe and NZ series before a new chief selector takes over from December

Umar Farooq14-Oct-2020Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has decided to step down as the chief selector of the men’s cricket team, a role he held for over a year. Misbah, however, will continue as the head coach of the team, and will pick the squads for the upcoming home series against Zimbabwe as well as the tour of New Zealand in December.”I want to announce that I am leaving the responsibility as chief selector,” he said at a press conference. “The rationale behind my decision is that in the next two years, we have 10 major series and many of them are away tours. So it’s tough for me to work as chief selector while watching out for domestic cricket.”Anyway, there was always an understanding between me and the PCB that whenever I feel difficulty, I can leave this additional responsibility. I have thoroughly enjoyed the dual roles but after reviewing the past 12 months and looking ahead at the workload in the next 24 months of my tenure, it is the right time to take a call [so] that I can fully invest my focus on the coaching role.”ESPNcricinfo understands another reason that led to Misbah’s decision was the implementation of the PCB’s new code of ethics that was put in place to remove issues arising from conflict of interest. However, when he had taken over the dual selector-coach role in September 2019, this specific code of ethics – which was ratified in July 2020 – did not exist.In light of the code, Misbah’s case specifically came under the spotlight under a potential conflict of interest, with him being selector and head coach of the Pakistan national side as well as having a contract with Islamabad United as head coach for the fifth edition of the PSL. That season, though, remains unfinished and is likely to be completed in the second week of November.Misbah strongly quashed rumours that his decision was a result of him recently bypassing the PCB chairman and executive’s meeting with the Prime Minister Imran Khan – who is also the patron of the PCB – to voice his reservation against PCB’s policy on the current domestic structure. The meeting saw the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani face off with Misbah, Test captain Azhar Ali and senior player Mohammad Hafeez. It is understood that the entire saga left a bad taste in the mouths of Mani as well as the PCB CEO Wasim Khan.Misbah-ul-Haq looks on in training•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“There are rumours that my decision came after meeting with the PCB chairman about that [infamous] meeting with Imran ,” Misbah said. “I can confirm that there is nothing like this… If it had to go this way, then I could have lost both the roles and not kept the head coach’s job. This decision is absolutely my choice about how I want to move forward and how to focus on Pakistan cricket and players.”I think whatever work [I did] and the decisions I made during the [time] span [of being the selector], they were possibly the best and taken in the interest of Pakistan cricket. So many players got in and made their place with their performances, and I am satisfied that we are going in the right direction.”Coaching is my passion and my ultimate objective remains to contribute to the development of players and help the side achieve bigger successes. When I was appointed last year, I was offered the coaching role first and then given the option to also head the selection committee, which I had graciously accepted. I am grateful to the Pakistan Cricket Board for their understanding and for supporting my thought process.”With his exit, Misbah’s unprecedented influence over Pakistan cricket comes to an end as the PCB experimented with the idea of giving him extensive roles as head coach, chief selector and batting coach. He was given a three-year contract including annual appraisal as per his performance, while the role of selector was always supplementary. The debate in Pakistan on removing him from the dual role had started merely six months into his contract, as Pakistan were swept 3-0 in a T20I series at home against Sri Lanka.However, as chief selector, Misbah introduced Abid Ali, Naseem Shah, Musa Khan and Usman Khan Shinwari in Tests and blooded the T20I squad with youngsters Haris Rauf, Haider Ali, Ahsan Ali and Khushdil Shah.Misbah’s contract is being tweaked and he will formally step aside from the role of chief selector on November 30, with his replacement to take over from December. The body of the selection committee, though, will remain intact with head coaches of each of the six cricket associations acting as members of the committee to assist the chief selector.”Over the last two weeks, Misbah has worked closely with the other selectors to finalise the squads for both the upcoming series with Zimbabwe and the New Zealand tour, which will follow in November,” Wasim said.”With a new chief selector, we will revisit the selection criteria to ensure that there is complete alignment between the Selection Committee, the High Performance Centre and the national men’s cricket team. With so much red and white-ball cricket ahead, we will need to select squads that have a strong balance between youth and experience”.Misbah is due to announce the squad for the Zimbabwe limited-overs series on October 19 followed by the two squads – the national and A team – for the tour of New Zealand.

Colin Ingram has signed with the Hurricanes while Phil Salt has returned to the Strikers

Alex Malcolm and Daniel Brettig11-Nov-2020West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran has joined the Melbourne Stars for the start of the BBL season as cover for new signing Jonny Bairstow.*Bairstow, along with a host of other England internationals are unavailable until after Christmas due to England’s limited-overs tour of South Africa which finishes on December 9. Australia’s international border security rules due to Covid-19 require travellers from overseas to quarantine for 14 days in a secure hotel upon arrival.But Australia has a travel bubble with New Zealand where West Indies will be touring at the end of November with the T20I series concluding on November 30. Pooran, who is not part of the Test squad, is likely to be allowed to travel to Australia from New Zealand without quarantining having already done so in New Zealand prior to the series following his arrival from the IPL.Pooran was courted by several BBL clubs last year but was unable to play in the tournament. He will be available for six matches.The Stars have also confirmed that Haris Rauf, the Pakistan fast bowler who was one of the breakout stars of last year’s BBL, will not be available for this edition due to international commitments.Meanwhile, Hobart Hurricanes have signed South African Colin Ingram as cover for Dawid Malan in the early part of the tournament. Ingram previously played for the Adelaide Strikers and was part of their tournament triumph in BBL07, but left the club in abrupt circumstances the following year after captaining the Strikers for part of the season.Adelaide Strikers have re-signed Sussex opener Phil Salt after he made an impressive BBL debut last year scoring four half-centuries at a blistering strike-rate of 164.09.Australia’s hard international border will affect a number of the BBL clubs with Bairstow, Malan, Sam Billings, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone, Jason Roy all touring South Africa. Malan may get to leave for Australia a week earlier than his countrymen as he is only part of England’s T20 squad.*November 12, 9.45am: the story was updated to reflect confirmation of Pooran’s signing

Root and Harry Brook seal win after Tom Wood impresses for Derbyshire

ECB Reporters Network20-Sep-2020Joe Root and Harry Brook led Yorkshire Vikings to a dramatic six-wicket victory off the final ball against the Derbyshire Falcons in the Vitality Blast at Headingley.Root scored an unbeaten 60 from 50 balls while Brook smashed 50 off 29 to take the Vikings to their target of 168 and end a run of four straight T20 defeats.They looked to be heading for another disappointment when Sam Conners removed Adam Lyth and Dawid Malan in the space of three balls and were well off the pace at 80 for 4.But Root and Brook shared an unbroken stand of 91 to overhaul the Falcons 167 for 6 which was built around a T20 best of 67 from 48 balls by Tom Woodwith Ben Coad taking 3 for 40.The Falcons, who finish bottom of the North Group, looked on course for a bigger total after Wood and skipper Billy Godleman plundered 80 from the first 10 overs.Wood ramped Coad for six and cut the seamer for four as 20 came from the third over and he reached his first T20 50 off 31 balls by pulling Root onto the Western Terrace for another maximum.Godleman swept Root to backward square in the 14th over and although Wayne Madsen marked his 500th innings for Derbyshire by launching Jordan Thompson over long on for six, the Falcons lost momentum in the closing overs.Coad completed an excellent comeback by having Wood caught at deep wicket and Leus du Plooy edged behind swinging at Thompson to give wicketkeeper Ben Birkhead his first Blast victim on debut.Madsen was well caught by Lyth at extra cover and Matt Critchley could only sky his first ball to mid-off.After Alex Hughes pulled Duanne Olivier to deep square, Luis Reece took consecutive fours off the South African but it had been a good recovery by the Vikings bowlers who kept their discipline to restrict the Falcons to 32 from the last four overs.Lyth started the chase with two boundaries from Madsen’s opening over but Conners struck two huge blows in the third.The Vikings skipper top edged a pull and was caught behind and Malan went two balls later when he got an inside edge driving at Conners.Will Fraine responded by pulling Madsen for six and Root pulled and clipped Conners for successive fours but the Vikings suffered another blow in the 6th over; Fraine chipped Dustin Melton to midwicket and at the halfway point, the Vikings were well off the pace, needing another 103 runs.Thompson opened the throttle by pulling Critchley for six as 13 came from the 11th over but he holed out to long-off in the next.Root launched Reece over the long-on boundary as 20 came from the 15th and Brook twice dispatched Conners for two fours to reduce the target to 33 from three.Brook drilled Melton for six over long-off and when it came down to nine off the last, Brook lofted the final ball for four to end a disappointing Blast campaign on a positive note.

Jamaica will be chasing a record fifth-straight Regional Four-Day Competition title when they take on Barbados in the final from Friday

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-2012Jamaica will be chasing a record fifth-straight Regional Four-Day Competition title when they take on Barbados in the final from Friday. It would be their 11th title overall, second only to Barbados, the most successful side in the Regional Four-Day Tournament with 20 titles in the 46-year-old first-class competition.Incidentally, they share the record for consecutive wins with Barbados – they won between 1977-80, after sharing the title with Trinidad and Tobago in 1976.In this year’s competition, Jamaica have been the form team, winning all six of their league matches including a 120-run win over Barbados. However, Barbados coach Hendy Springer is confident of a strong showing in the final.”We just need to stick to the basics and play a stronger, more intelligent type of cricket than we did when the two sides met in the [preliminary] round,” Springer said. “We have come here to be worthy opponents and the confidence level is high.”Jamaica, who are hosting the final in Sabina Park, are wary of the challenge. Junior Bennet, the Jamaica coach, said his team needs to stay focussed. “This is a final, and finals have always been high-pressure games,” he said. “But we are just looking to go out there to do what we have been doing over the last few weeks: play good, consistent cricket.”Barbados will field a side without Kemar Roach and Kirk Edwards, their second-highest run-scorer in the competition, both of whom are playing in the West Indies-Australia Tests.Jamaica Squad: Tamar Lambert (capt), Dave Bernard Jr, Jermaine Blackwood, Odean Brown, Sheldon Cotterell, Danza Hyatt, Xavier Marshall, Donovan Pagon, Jamie Merchant, Horace Miller, Nikita Miller, Brenton Parchment, Andrew Richardson

Barbados Squad: Shamarh Brooks (capt), Sulieman Benn, Tino Best, Carlos Brathwaite, Rashidi Boucher, Jonathan Carter, Shane Dowrich, Justin Greaves, Kyle Hope, Omar Phillips, Javon Searles, Dwayne Smith, Jomel Warrican

He says he will follow any guidelines the board may propose

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Aug-2020Among all the decisions to make around the IPL, the BCCI has another one: in its inbox are two emails from Sanjay Manjrekar, who has sought reinstatement to the board’s panel of commentators. Manjrekar says he will apologise if he has unwittingly offended anyone and will follow any guidelines the BCCI may set. He had tweeted in March this year that he had been dropped from the BCCI’s commentary team and that he accepted the decision as a professional.In the emails, Manjrekar has, while pointing to his track record as a key member of commentary panels, referred to possible reasons for his exclusion, while also expressing that he was shocked and hurt to hear of the decision.”I have publicly maintained that – the BCCI are my employers and they have every right to either have me or not, in their commentary panel. I have never considered being on a commentary panel an entitlement,” Manjrekar wrote in the email addressed to the BCCI’s Apex Council. “But here, amongst a small circle of important stakeholders of Indian cricket, friends and colleagues, please allow me to open my heart.”I was greatly hurt! Especially because this came as a real shock! Until this moment, I had been the leading commentator on the BCCI panel for many years fulfilling some of the biggest responsibilities there are in live broadcasting: lead commentator, post-match awards presenter, hosting the toss, doing player interviews and yes, impromptu BCCI functions on ground too. I am also one of the first Indian commentators that gets rostered for the World Cups by the ICC. I did my job with great pride and a 100 per cent commitment and suddenly not found to be good enough to be in the panel was a big jolt.”[…] this sacking for whatever reason, has shaken my confidence as a professional. If unwittingly, I have offended anyone I would be happy to apologise to the concerned party,” he said.The speculation around Manjrekar being dropped from the roster was that it had been a result of his calling Ravindra Jadeja a “bits-and-pieces cricketer” during an interview with a news agency last year, and he refers to the incident in his letter to the BCCI while pointing out that it was neither made on air, nor over Twitter. Jadeja had reacted to this comment through a tweet directed at Manjrekar, saying he was “tired of your verbal diarrhoea” and also gesticulated at the commentary box when he made a fifty during last year’s World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Following that, and an aggressive backlash from fans, Manjrekar had acknowledged on the post-match broadcast that Jadeja had “ripped him apart on all fronts” and proved him wrong. Manjrekar said that he had been told by a “senior office bearer” around the time of being dropped that some players had issues with him as a commentator, and that made the job “tricky”.”If we are not seen praising the iconic players all the time, the fans of those players tend to assume that we are antagonistic towards the players they worship,” he wrote.”That’s the professional hazard we have to live with doing our job. Anyone who has followed my career as a commentator would know that I have no malicious agenda against anyone and that my opinions come from a very pure place that I hold sacred. It’s cricket we are talking about, a sport that’s given me and my father so much.”My comments and opinions could be wrong, but they are never personal, derogatory or borne out of prejudice or cunning design, I am only biased towards excellence in performances, whether it’s a team or a player.”In support of that, Manjrekar attached an audio clip of the interview excerpt and told the Apex Council members that they would find the comment “benign” if they consumed the comment in context, and that “‘bits and pieces’ is a cricketing term commonly used for cricketers who are non-specialists”. He also indicated that he and Jadeja have since made peace about the issue privately.In a follow-up communication with the BCCI, Manjrekar has expressed his willingness to follow any guidelines they might propose as he sought to be reinstated to the bcci.tv production team, saying that “last time may be there was not enough clarity”.