Category Uncategorized

Sri Lanka’s interim coach commended India’s collective effort and work ethic, comparing them to arguably the most successful rugby team in the world

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-Sep-20173:14

‘India very like the All Blacks’ – Pothas

India were so clinical in the cross-format trouncing of Sri Lanka, that Virat Kohli’s side has drawn comparisons with perhaps the most successful rugby team in the world: the All Blacks.Kohli and his team have largely been confident in public but have veered away from effusive self-praise, nor have they dwelt much on the paucity of Sri Lanka’s performance. Sri Lanka’s own interim head coach Nic Pothas, however, has showered compliments upon the opposition, after his team succumbed to their ninth consecutive defeat of the tour – this one in the sole T20.”You look at their team and they are very All Black-like,” Pothas said. “There’s a lot of respect for the facilities and there’s a lot of respect for the opposition. They are very ruthless in the way they go about their work. Their work ethic is immense. They are what a lot of teams aspire to be. The most important thing for us is learning from our mistakes, but most importantly: learning from them.”Chief among Sri Lanka’s tormentors, as ever, was Kohli, who has lavishly walloped Sri Lanka in almost every series he has played against them. Where once there was some animosity towards him on the island, that has now been replaced by substantial respect. Kohli himself had also spoken well of the Sri Lankan public on this tour – even though at one point, an angry crowd disrupted an ODI for over half-an-hour.He was again in stirring form in the tour-ending T20, initially defusing the tenseness of the early overs of the chase before going on to make 82 off 54 balls, all of which sent India pelting towards their seven-wicket victory. It was his fourth half-century in as many T20 innings against Sri Lanka. The performance was worth a few glowing words from Pothas.”You see how Virat runs between the wickets, and you see the respect he commands on the field as a leader – he’s a role model to people and he pulls people with him,” he said. “When you look at the way they go about their work and the culture that Virat has created within that team, it’s very, very impressive.”Though once a player who could was considered to be in Kohli’s league – at least in the longest format – Angelo Mathews has experienced a striking dip in results over the past 18 months, in which his batting average has retreated across formats. He could make only seven from five balls on Wednesday before being undone by a sharp MS Dhoni stumping. Mathews had hit two successive fifties in the last two ODIs, but this still only brought his tour tally up to three fifties out of 12 innings.”It’s a funny one because you need to look at the dynamic,” Pothas said of Mathews. “It’s very tough on Angie as well. When you’re a senior player, obviously the opposition targets you. Then you have that pressure of being a senior player to perform. It’s very, very tough. Angie is a world-class cricketer and I don’t think you can ever judge any person over a short spate of games. We’re all clichéd about it, but form is temporary and Angie is a class cricketer. Outside of being a class cricketer he’s a very, very intelligent man. So he’ll go back, work on it, we’ll have discussions – I have no issues with Angie.”On the T20 itself, Pothas said he felt Sri Lanka should have scored more than the 170 for 7 they mustered. Having been 99 for 3 in the 12th over, at one stage Sri Lanka seemed to be headed for a score in the range of 190, but, as has often been the case through the tour, a collapse broke their batting momentum. They lost four wickets for 35 runs through the middle overs – all to the spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.”If you looked at how we played, we were probably 15 short of what we could have got on that wicket,” Pothas said. “We probably had a few too many little cameos that we could have dragged on a little bit longer. What we got was probably competitive but when you play a team of such quality, you’re going to have to be very good in the field and with the ball to try and stop 170 being scored.”

Rohit Sharma spoke highly of incoming India head coach Anil Kumble, describing the former India captain as an “inspiring” figure from whom he had learnt a lot

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jun-2016India batsman Rohit Sharma has spoken highly of the side’s new head coach Anil Kumble, describing the former India captain as an “inspiring” figure from whom he had learnt a lot.Rohit played alongside Kumble towards the end of the legspinner’s India career. The two renewed their professional relationship when Kumble served as Mumbai Indians’ team mentor from 2013 to 2015, a period during which the team won two IPL titles and a Champions League T20 title. Kumble’s first assignment as India coach is the four-Test series in the West Indies in July and August.”I have two [three] years of experience [with him] at Mumbai Indians and I know the kind of things we spoke about. I was the captain and he was the coach and mentor of the team. I got to learn a lot from him,” Rohit said at an event in Mumbai. “I was fortunate enough to play with him during the last months before he retired. I remember in 2008, I was part of the Test squad to Sri Lanka and he was the captain. And he always had this attitude of never giving up, which as a young player is so inspiring.”You have to keep fighting no matter what. If the game is slipping away from your hands, don’t give up till the last ball is bowled. That’s how he played his cricket. You get the feeling that he was someone who wouldn’t let go too easily. That’s the kind of message that he wanted to send across. That’s the kind of message we also want as young players. He’s very inspiring.”Rohit was also full of praise for Ravi Shastri, whose 18-month tenure as India team director came to an end after the World T20 earlier this year. Shastri had been appointed to the role in August 2014, after India’s dismal loss in the Test series in England. During Shastri’s tenure, India made it to the semi-finals of successive global events – the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 World T20 – and briefly occupied the No. 1 Test ranking earlier this year. Shastri had applied for the position of head coach in June, but his application was ultimately unsuccessful as Kumble was chosen.”[Shastri] took up the responsibility when we were in a shambles,” Rohit said. “As soon as he came, he created a positive atmosphere around us.”Rohit added that Shastri had been “a big influence on Indian cricket for the past 18 months.”

Sri Lanka face off against South Africa in five ODIs and three T20Is, between July 20 and August 6

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-Jul-2013As Sri Lanka’s next ODI assignment in a year of Test avoidance rolls around, against South Africa, fans may be beginning to feel more than a touch of limited-overs fatigue. Neither team has played a Test since March and there have been no major triumphs for either team in ODIs either.The fact that this tour could have been so much better, had the Tests not been postponed to make way for a now kaput Twenty20 tournament, will make the bilateral series all the more tough to swallow. Moreover, with the battle royale unfolding in the UK, viewers are left with a very tempting alternative.However, this match-up does have a little about it that may help distinguish it from the glut of the modern-day limited-overs sludge.It’s not often that South Africa play Sri Lanka, particularly away from home. Their last ODI series here goes back as far as 2004, when a team featuring Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Nicky Boje, lost 5 -0. A three-ODI series between the two sides was planned in 2006, but was cancelled due to bad weather. The touring captain AB de Villiers has not played a single ODI in Sri Lanka, in an international career spanning eight years.The sides are well matched on paper. Neither team is a world beater in the limited-overs format, but can be formidable when their moods and conditions align. In the Champions Trophy in June, both teams were beaten comprehensively in the semi-finals, which once again prompted everyone to believe that while the teams have the skill and determination to consistently find themselves at the sharp end of tournaments, they lack the mental steel to close out results in high-pressure encounters. In fact, had there been more riding on this series, it might have even been billed as a “choke-off.”There is also a mutual onus on developing young talent. South Africa have arrived without Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Graeme Smith, in an effort to find the right combination and rhythm ahead of the 2015 World Cup. Men like Chris Morris and Aaron Phangiso have the chance to prove they should be part of South Africa’s long-term plans, and others like Rory Kleinveldt and David Miller must now add consistency to the qualities that has seen them emerge at the top level.For Sri Lanka, the series will provide another opportunity for the younger players to reassure their fans that the side will not slide into doldrums once Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan retire. All three seniors privately hope to play the next World Cup, but they cannot hope to end their careers with a major title unless the remaining batsmen become better than just adequate support players. The Champions Trophy might have been a disaster for Sri Lanka without the trio’s efforts in England, as none of the remaining batsmen could manage more than 74 runs during the tournament.Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, who have been made captain and vice-captain respectively for the first two games, will have the most to prove in this series. Their talent, particularly in Tests, is beyond doubt but neither is yet to repay the faith that has been afforded to them in the shorter formats. South Africa boast one of the world’s finest attacks but their inexperience in Sri Lankan conditions, and the absence of Steyn, will make them a slightly less intimidating prospect, and Sri Lanka’s middle order cannot complain that they are out of their depth.Sri Lanka and South Africa thrive in conditions that are almost diametrically opposite to the other’s favoured stomping grounds. South Africa may probably be slightly at ease, given the pace and bounce in the Sri Lankan pitches, but they must also be wary of the dustbowls at the Premadasa and in Pallekele.There has been some rain at both venues in the build-up to the series but in the past Sri Lanka’s groundsmen have always managed to maintain a turning track despite the weather. If they have done so again, South Africa will find it that much more difficult to turn around an abysmal ODI record on the island.There should be no pretensions that this series is anything other than yet another forgettable bilateral tie, robbed of much of its context because of the removal of the Tests. But for both sides, it will be another crucial step taken on their journey to Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

Doug Bracewell has recovered from a foot injury that kept him out of the recent England tour of New Zealand, and is fit and ready for the English challenge that awaits

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2013Doug Bracewell, the New Zealand seamer, has fully recovered from the foot injury that kept him out of the recent home series against England. He is expected to travel with the rest of the squad on Monday to England, where they will play in two Tests, three ODIs and two T20Is beginning May 16. The Champions Trophy, which begins June 6, coincides with the duration of the tour.Bracewell, however, realises the path back into the team will not be an easy one, as a few fresh faces have staked their claim on bowling spots within the team. “It’s changed a little bit,” he told the . “Obviously it’s hard when you get an injury. You’re out of the team, someone comes in and replaces you and they do quite well.”It’s a little bit frustrating to be left out. They [the selectors] will have their reasons and I’m sure we’ll talk about that in the future. I am sure the guys who are there ahead of me deserve it, so all I can do is train hard and work on my bowling and get back there. It’s been a good little break but I can’t wait to get over there.”Bracewell’s first major assignment will be the tour games against Derbyshire from May 4-6, and England Lions from May 9-12.

It was a relief for Scotland and Canada finally to get a cricket match, after their 4-day Inter Continental Cup match at Uddingston last week was completely washed out, and the two one-day internationals suffered a switch of venue.

Callum Stewart12-Jul-2012
ScorecardAlasdair Evans was the pick of the opening bowlers•ICC/Ian Jacobs

Calum MacLeod missed the chance of a hundred in bizarre circumstances but found joy all the same in his unbeaten 99 as Scotland took a step closer to World Cup qualification with a four-wicket defeat of Canada in Ayr.Scotland chased them a target of 177 in 42.1 overs, and took a step closer to the World Cup by overtaking UAE and moving into the second qualification spot.MacLeod would have had a chance for his century, was it not for an errant overthrow from a Canadian fieldsman, when the wicket keeper thought the game was already over.He said afterwards: “I was delighted with the team performance out there, and I’ve been fortunate to contribute in both ODIs, T20s and CB40s. Qualifying for the World Cup is the main goal, and it’s been a terrific job by the Ayr groundstaff this week to get the pitch playable.”This was no ordinary praise for the groundstaff. It was a relief for both teams to finally to get a cricket match underway after the four-day Inter Continental Cup match at Uddingston last week was completely washed out, and the two one-day internationals suffered a switch of venue and cancellation on three occasions.On the last possible day of play the sun was shining at Cambusdoon in Ayr. The ground staff had been working full time here for over a week just to make this game possible. Understandably, Scotland chose to field in the sunny, but damp conditions.Canada staggered to 177 all out in the last over, with Ruvindu Gunasekera providing the only real resistance with 53 before cheaply giving his wicket away.Canada’s opener Hiral Patel was trapped lbw early on by Alisdair Evans who was the pick of the opening bowlers. The gangly figure of Gunasekera produced some big if unorthodox shots and was the only Canadian batsmen to reach fifty, making 53 from 75 balls before he was stumped off the off-break bowler Majid Haq.It was a youthful Canada batting line-up. Nitish Kumar, 18, in at No 3, failed to live up to his reputation and was caught behind off the bowling of Josh Davey for just 9. Zeeshan Siddiqi steadied the ship, but was in danger of grinding Canada to a halt, as he stole most of the bowling at a strike rate of less than 50.Along with Damodar Deasrath he stopped the flow of wickets but allowed the Scottish bowlers to take control. Canada struggled to rotate the strike with the arrival of spinners Haq and Preston Mommsen who managed to pin down the run rate.Canada’s frustration eventually told. Siddiqi played a handful of erratic shots before trying to make room to cut the ball and chopping on, to the delight of the Scottish fielders. This was followed by a succession of three run outs, each due to miscommunication from the batsmen who could not decide whether they wanted a single or two, and then found themselves stranded in the middle.It all led to Scotland’s wicketkeeper Craig Wallace being involved in five wickets, with Haq bowling his allocated 10 overs for just 19 runs and taking two wickets.Scotland’s chase did not get off to an ideal start. They lost Northants’ batsman Kyle Coetzer in the second over when he played a flashing cut to a short ball, only to be taken by a great catch from Usman Limbada at backward point. This brought Davey to the crease at No 3 and he nudged and pushed the singles and rotated the strike along with MacLeod who despatched the ball to all corners from an early stage.MacLeod was the anchor of the Scottish innings as his team-mates came and went around him. It really was a solo performance as no other Scottish batsmen managed to get over 25.The pace bowling of Durand Soraine was expensive but yielded two key wickets. But Canada’s batting performance did not give their bowlers much to defend, and as such they were chasing wickets from an early stage. Scotland were always ahead of the run rate.

An emotional Graeme Smith has apologised for not explaining why he wasn’t with the South African team upon its return from the World Cup

Firdose Moonda05-Jun-2011An emotional Graeme Smith has apologised to fans for not explaining why he wasn’t with the South African team upon its return from the World Cup. Smith arrived in South Africa only on Saturday, and said he needed a break due to the “emotional stress” he experienced in the aftermath of South Africa’s dispiriting quarter-final exit.”I was feeling incredibly emotional at the time,” Smith read from prepared statement in Johannesburg. “Prior to the World Cup I had asked permission to go on to Ireland to attend to a personal matter. At the time I had faced a full media schedule and felt that signalled the end of the campaign. What I did not take into account was the public’s reaction.”Smith went to Ireland to propose to Morgan Deane, who is now his fiancée and then travelled to India for the fourth season of the IPL, where he was part of the Pune Warriors squad. South African fans reacted angrily to his no-show, some describing it as cowardly following his last assignment as ODI captain. He also stopped interacting with the public on social networking site, Twitter, that Cricket South Africa has encouraged its players to sign up on and use.Smith said his no-show was caused by anxiety and that he needed some time out. “The emotional stress was something that I hadn’t been through before in my career,” Smith said. “I felt it best to take a break from being stupid and saying stupid things. The fans have a first-hand line from their phone to my phone so I just wanted a break.”Smith said the World Cup campaign had exhausted him mentally, particularly because of the high expectation placed on the team. South Africa took what was believed to be their strongest squad into the tournament but were forced to exit at the quarter-final stage after a 49-run loss to New Zealand. South Africa failed to chase 222 in Dhaka, a performance that led to them being relabelled as chokers. It’s a term that has raised much controversy in South Africa and one that continues to haunt the national side.”I am still convinced that we adopted the right strategy in deciding to use three spinners in addition to two strike pace bowlers. This meant that all of our lower order had to bat one place too high,” Smith said. He did not make excuses for his team’s batting and admitted that the fault was with the top order, that, he said, “did not bat as expected and it is something we, myself included, need to work hard on.”Graeme Smith will stay on as Test captain•Associated Press

Smith has been through a patch of poor form in recent months; he notched up a top score of 45 in seven matches at the World Cup. In 12 ODIs this year, he has averaged 28.25, substantially less than his career average of 39.25. His Test average has also slipped, to 35.87 in five Tests in the 2010-11 season, compared to 49.71 over his career.”I admit that my own form has not been what I had hoped it would be of late,” he said, admitting that without strong performances with the bat, he will struggle to the formidable leader he once was. “Nothing that I say in the next few weeks is going to be worthwhile unless I can back it up with performance.”Smith has battled a knee injury since the IPL and said he hopes to develop a personal programme, with the new coach, who will be appointed on Monday, in order to make a full recovery. It appears that most of the healing has to happen in the mind, with Smith saying he would like to rediscover the joys of playing cricket. “The last two to three months have been the toughest of my career. I want to get back to enjoying my cricket again.” Without the responsibility of captaining in the shorter formats of the game, form is something Smith can concentrate on. He remains the country’s Test captain, despite speculation that he would step down at Sunday’s press conference.While Smith has used his time away to refresh his mindset and sharpen his physique (he looked distinctly slimmer than he has in a long time), he hopes the rest of the World Cup squad have also been able to get over their calamitous exit. “Time is a good healer and it gives you perspective. It’s easy to be emotional at the time.”There are a lot of exciting times ahead for us with the appointment of the new coach and ODI captain. We did a lot of work in the off season on our team culture. Ultimately, it’s always about the cricket and it always has been.”AB de Villiers is expected to succeed Smith as the ODI captain. South Africa take on Australia and Sri Lanka in their home season this year.

A combination of belligerent hitting by Virender Sehwag and potent seam bowling helped India storm to the final of the tri-series

The Bulletin by Kanishkaa Balachandran25-Aug-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIt appeared as though Virender Sehwag was batting on a different pitch•AFP

A combination of belligerent hitting by Virender Sehwag and potent seam bowling helped India storm into the final of the tri-series against Sri Lanka with a comprehensive thrashing of New Zealand in the last league game. On a day when a majority of the specialist batsmen on both sides batted with two left feet in bowler-friendly conditions, Sehwag found a way to carve out an aggressive century, scoring more than what all 11 New Zealanders managed between them. The target of 224 was soon out of New Zealand’s reach after their top order crumbled against a four-pronged seam attack, a bowling combination you wouldn’t associate with Indian sides, especially in the subcontinent.By the end of the night, you could imagine batsmen queuing up outside Sehwag’s door for the inside story on how he managed to dominate everything thrown at him. It was as though he was batting on another surface. Sehwag was unfazed by the early movement and nip off the wicket, which made the seamers potent. He played in a style known only to him and, with the final in three days’ time, his innings today will undoubtedly be analysed in detail.MS Dhoni took the gamble of batting on a fresh pitch, despite India having collapsed for 103 after batting first in their previous match against Sri Lanka. New Zealand’s seamers nipped out four wickets by the end of the 13th over with a combination of swing, cut and bounce, which strikes took the sheen off an entertaining start from Sehwag.Not known for exaggerated foot movements, Sehwag used the crease to loft the seamers over the off side. He barely moved across the stumps but such was his confidence that he stretched to scoop and slash powerfully over backward point. He backed away and slapped the slower bowlers past the infield as well. A more conventional punch through cover brought up his 1000th ODI four, one that was part of a sequence of three consecutive fours off Tim Southee.India were lucky to have Dhoni at the other end, for he rotated the strike and built a solid partnership with Sehwag. Their stand produced 107, but India needed more from their last capable pair, having only Ravindra Jadeja, who is still trying to find his feet in ODIs, and a long tail to follow. Sehwag, however, didn’t alter his approach. He continued to charge the spinners, lifting Kane Williamson inside out over extra cover for boundaries, and also cleverly picked the gaps at fine leg off the seamers. He played an upper cut over the vacant slip cordon shortly after getting to his century, but the fun ended for India when Sehwag found deep midwicket when on 110. His dismissal was against the run of play.Dhoni, who had batted carefully, had to try to reclaim the advantage for India, but New Zealand took control. Having grafted to 38 off 75 balls, Dhoni edged a Nathan McCullum delivery while trying to drive. The dismissals of Sehwag and Dhoni in quick succession meant a premature end to the innings was inevitable. Soon after New Zealand picked up the final wicket, though, their control over the game came to a grinding halt.They had no-one with Sehwag’s calibre and temperament to take the initiative, irrespective of the damage being done at the other end. They were exposed against the moving ball and even seasoned performers struggled. Praveen Kumar started the slide in conditions tailored to his variety of bowling, trapping Martin Guptill leg before in first over.There was no respite from the other end as Ashish Nehra, with his extra pace when compared to Praveen, got the ball to nip in sharply to the right-handers, slicing them in half. A lot depended on the experienced Ross Taylor, but he was just as circumspect as the rest. He expected the ball to move in, but it went the other way and took a thick outside edge, giving Praveen his second wicket.New Zealand’s chase was irreparably damaged when their senior-most batsman, Scott Styris, chopped one on to his stumps without moving his feet. Grant Elliott knew that the best way to counter the swing was to cover the line and smother the movement. He regularly shuffled across the stumps, committing to the movement even before delivery, but his method didn’t yield runs as almost every defensive push found fielders. Williamson, who finally scored an international run in his third innings, was dismissed by an Ishant Sharma delivery which cut in and took the edge onto the stumps. Munaf, who was miserly to begin with, bagged two lbws with with his probing line.Kyle Mills’ blitz only succeeded in saving New Zealand the embarrassment of being bowled out for less than 100.

Greg Barclay hopes Jay Shah brings “India into the international fold even more” but without making cricket “under the yoke of India”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2024Greg Barclay, the outgoing chair of the ICC, has acknowledged the game he governed for four years is “a mess” and has warned of more challenging times ahead as he gives way to Jay Shah. In an interview with the , Barclay, who had two two-year terms at the helm from 2020, also cautioned Shah against taking the game “under the yoke of India”.Barclay stepped down on December 1, in the midst of an ongoing crisis over the Champions Trophy venues, and he admitted there was so much cricket being played that he had lost track of who was playing whom. In his tenure, three more major franchise-based T20 leagues cropped up, in the USA, the UAE and South Africa, further cramming an already packed calendar. He blamed the members’ self-interest for the situation.”I reckon, gee, I’m at the apex of the game and I can’t tell you who’s playing around the world. In fact, I didn’t realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen’s seven wickets this morning,” Barclay said. “So we’ve lost perspective. It’s not great for the game at all. It’s a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it’s almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one’s going to give up their content.”Related

• Two-tier model for Test cricket – ECB wary, CA 'open'

• Can cricket shrink to save itself?

• The resolution of the India-Pakistan Champions Trophy standoff was a win? Not by a long shot

• Cricket Australia chair defends Afghanistan stance despite 'hypocrisy' accusation

• CA: No cricket with Afghanistan till 'a level of progress'

Barclay said he hoped Shah would be able to leverage India’s stature take the game out of the mess it was in. “I think he’s got a great opportunity to use what he’s got in his background to help India take the game to another level, but without making it sort of under the yoke of India as well,” Barclay said. “We’re really lucky to have India, they’re a massive contributor to the game across all the measures, but one country having that amount of power and influence does distort a whole lot of other outcomes, which is not necessarily helpful in terms of that global growth.”Jay has the ability to bring India into the international fold even more. There are a number of things that India could do to help unite and grow the game, including commercially helping to pool off-shore rights, using their teams to give opportunity to smaller Full Members and emerging countries, using their clout to open new territories and markets, collaborating closely with the ICC to help benefit members, as examples.”Barclay also warned of an impending financial readjustment the game might be forced to make, in the shape of its next media and commercial rights deal. The current rights deal is the most lucrative the ICC has signed, worth over US$3 billion. The bulk of that value has come from the Indian market where Disney-Star* hold the rights to broadcast ICC events until 2027. That has resulted in revenue distributions to Full Members of a size they have never seen before, and it has become particularly important for members such as the PCB, NZC, CWI, SLC and CSA for whom annual ICC revenue makes up a significant chunk of their total earnings.Barclay said the deals were ultimately “way in excess” of the actual value and that there will be, in time, a correction.”At some point, it is going to correct,” he said. “It’s a market. Is it going to be a sharp, severe correction? Or is it going to be a long, slow one? Or maybe there’s going to be an alternative broadcaster that comes to the market? But people have been saying that for 10 years now. New Zealand cricket had a deal with Amazon, but it didn’t work, so I don’t think they’re going to be the white knight that everybody is anticipating. I just think what we’ve got in front of us is what we’ve got.”I know that when we did our current deal it was way in excess of what the valuations we got before we went to market. We got £2.4 billion just out of India. The next biggest one is UK Sky. They did an eight-year deal, which was £237 million, so that’s 10% of the India deal for double the length of time. So if we go back to what the original projection was of £800 million it more than halves ICC revenue. It could even be less than that. There’s no discernible replacement for that at the moment.”One of the prominent issues that marked Barclay’s time was the Afghanistan Cricket Board not being allowed by the country’s Taliban government to field a women’s team. Fielding a women’s team and programme is a central tenet of Full Membership and despite calls to suspend membership, Barclay said the ICC had been right in not sanctioning Afghanistan’s membership status.Greg Barclay cautioned Jay Shah against taking the game “under the yoke of India”•Associated Press

“It is not the Afghanistan board’s fault. They used to have women’s cricket. I think our approach has been right,” he said. “It would be easy to kick Afghanistan out, but their board haven’t done anything wrong. They’re just working under a decree and a series of laws that says this is what you have to do. I don’t think it would make a jot of difference to the ruling party there to kick them out.”Maybe I’m a little naïve, but I think cricket is such a force for good there, and it brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. It is better to leave it there and hope that it can foster a bit of a change.”Instead, Barclay did point to the double standards of boards – such as Cricket Australia – that have cancelled multiple bilateral series with the Afghanistan men’s team as a sanction, but has played them at ICC events. “If you really want to make a political statement, don’t play them in a World Cup. Sure, it might cost you a semi-final place, but principles are principles. It’s not about having half a principle.”*

Birmingham maintain winning start as bumper Bank Holiday crowd sees lopsided contest

ECB Reporters Network29-May-2023Birmingham 99 for three (Davies 51*, Yates 30) beat Lancashire Lightning 98 (Briggs 4-15, Mousley 4-13) by seven wicketsBirmingham Bears extended their 100 per cent start to the Vitality Blast and ended Lancashire Lightning’s with a commanding seven-wicket victory in front of a sun-soaked 11,243 crowd at Edgbaston.After choosing to bat, Lightning tumbled all out for 98 after losing their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 35 balls. They were spun to destruction as Danny Briggs took four for 15, Dan Mousley three for 13 and Jake Lintott two for 24. Only Steven Croft (22, 13 balls) passed 20 for the visitors.Lightning desperately needed to strike early when the Bears replied but openers Alex Davies (51 not out, 39 balls – his maiden Blast fifty for the Bears) and Rob Yates (30, 24 balls) added an untroubled 50 by the seventh over to set up a victory stroll. The Bears reached 99 for three with 34 balls to spare.”We didn’t really sense that this was going to be a game for the slow bowlers but we talk about being adaptable because so much depends on who can adapt quickest,” Mousley said. “Maxy got the early wicket and then we thought, ‘okay. it’s going to offer a bit of assistance to the spinners’ and we took advantage of that.”I love bowling and playing away in the ILT20 last winter I just learned as much as I could by bowling to some of the best players in the world. It made me realise that I am actually okay at it and I have brought that confidence back here.”With Phil Salt ruled out by a back spasm, Josh Bohannon came into the Lightning side to open the batting but perished fourth ball, bowled through a mow at Glenn Maxwell. Luke Wells, scorer of a match-winning 66 against Derbyshire Falcons on this ground nine days earlier, fell in the next over to a superb return catch, clutched centimetres from the ground, by Mousley.Croft bashed 18 from four balls from Henry Brookes to get the innings going momentarily but the bowler gained his revenge when he was waiting at square leg to accept a catch when Croft lifted a sweep at Mousley. That was 62 for three and from that point the Lightning fell in a heap in the face of fine spin bowling backed up by brilliant fielding.Mousley switched ends to bowl the dangerous Liam Livingstone first ball back. Chris Benjamin took a stinging slip catch to prevent Colin de Grandhomme damaging his former team. Mousley made a steepling catch at long off from Daryl Mitchell look simple and Rob Yates took a blinder at extra cover to oust Luke Wood.Wood was the second of Briggs’ four victims as he plucked off the tail with three wickets in four balls and Lightning committed the heinous T20 crime of leaving 31 balls unused.Faced with such a meagre target. Yates allowed himself the Blast luxury of a leave, first ball, and the Bears openers killed the game dead with a stand 50 of in 39 balls. Yates top-edged a sweep at Matt Parkinson to short fine leg and Maxwell’s home debut knock yielded only two from three balls before he missed an attempt to carve Hartley through the off side, but it was already game over.Sam Hain reached the crease facing one of the less exerting equations he has faced over the years – 37 needed from 74 balls with eight wickets in hand. He was soon bowled by Wells’ third ball but Davies advanced smoothly to his 16th Blast half-century and the captain eased his side home to the jubilation of most in the big crowd, though you got the feeling a fair few of them would have swapped the cakewalk for a more gripping contest in perfect Bank Holiday weather.With three wins from four, Lancashire’s head coach, Glen Chapple, was philosophical. “We lost three wickets to very good catches and throw in a bit of bad luck and before you know it you’re six down. We’re not going to dwell on it, we’re just going to crack on.”