All posts by n8rngtd.top

A conflict of interest has been removed and a former Rio Tinto executive hired in a major restructure of Cricket Australia’s management this week, ESPNcricinfo has learned

Daniel Brettig03-Feb-2017A conflict of interest has been removed and a former Rio Tinto executive hired in a major restructure of Cricket Australia’s management this week, ESPNcricinfo has learned.Following a raft of departures from the game’s Jolimont headquarters in recent times, the chief executive James Sutherland has informed staff of a new senior management model that constitutes the biggest changes to cricket’s day-to-day operations down under in five years.Chief among the changes is the creation of a new public affairs department overseeing communications, government relations and infrastructure, to be led by the former Rio Tinto executive Mark O’Neill, who had also served as an advisor to the former Prime Minister Paul Keating. O’Neill previously worked alongside the current CA chairman David Peever when he was Rio Tinto’s managing director in Australia.Ben Amarfio, formerly the head of communications, digital and marketing, has been moved to head the commercial wing of the game, a role left vacant by the departure of Mike McKenna to oversee Perth’s new stadium. Amarfio will still oversee CA’s digital arm and broadcast rights but will no longer be in charge of communications, a combination that had proven problematic as a conflict between growing CA’s website and working openly and effectively with other media.

Cricket Australia executive management team

• Game and market development- Andrew Ingleton

• Team performance – Pat Howard

• Events and leagues – Anthony Everard (acting)

• Broadcast, digital and commercial – Ben Amarfio

• Public affairs – Mark O’Neill

• Strategy and people – Kevin Roberts

• Chief financial officer – Todd Shand

• General counsel and company secretary – Christine Harman

Operations, meanwhile, will for now be the responsibility of Anthony Everard, who has been a vigorous and visible presence for CA as the head of the burgeoning Big Bash League and Women’s Big Bash League. In his email to staff, Sutherland said this area had been renamed from operations to events and leagues, with a replacement for the had of events and operations Chris Loftus-Hills (who joined McKenna in Perth) to be advertised shortly.The longtime head of finance, Kate Banozic, was another departure from CA late last year. Sutherland faced questions about the behaviour of some of his executives over summer, including allegations that Amarfio had been acting as an agent for the former Nine commentator James Brayshaw in talks for new roles with broadcasters.At the time, Sutherland stated that the matter would be dealt with internally. “Look I don’t think it’s right that one of our staff was acting as an agent, but let’s just say they’re things we’ll deal with behind closed doors at Cricket Australia,” Sutherland said in December. “I don’t think this is the place to be talking about that any further.”There were also reports that one senior executive had raised the ire of other staff by having his female personal assistant cook him hot breakfasts and lunches at Jolimont, an arrangement that flew in the face of CA’s efforts to promote inclusiveness and advance the cause of women as players and spectators.At a recent meeting of board directors, the Cricket New South Wales chairman John Warn and chief executive Andrew Jones made a presentation where the pair described how they had changed the culture and output of the state association following a dramatic power struggle at board level four years ago.CA’s senior management structure was last overhauled in early 2012, when the system of executive general managers replaced the previous senior management team. Those changes pre-dated the board’s move from state-appointed delegates to an independent board of directors later in 2012. Peever was among the first independent directors announced at that year’s AGM – the appointment of one of his former colleagues to CA management does not appear to have been a coincidence.

Two people were arrested with fake accreditations; on a different day, one man came in the garb of a cleaner

PTI05-May-2021Potential corruptors were spotted at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on different days of the IPL 2021 season, including during the May 2 match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) chief Shabir Hussein Shekhadam Khandwawala told PTI. Two people with fake IPL accreditations were arrested by the Delhi Police on the day of that Royals-Sunrisers match.In another incident – on a different match day, at the same venue – one man “in the garb of a cleaner” fled after ACU officials had caught him having a telephone conversation. He is currently being traced by Delhi police after the ACU managed to retrieved two mobile phones from him.Related

• Betting in Associate and T20 leagues: Under the radar, over the top

• IPL 2021 postponed as Covid-19 count increases

It was suspected that he could have been engaging in ‘pitch-siding’, which is the act of relaying information from the ground to a remote location to beat the delay in the TV feed. It can be used to get an advantage while betting on passages in play before the live computerised odds shift.”One of my ACU officers caught a person and handed over the details to Delhi Police. While that particular offender managed to flee leaving behind his two mobile phones, ACU lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police,” Hussein told PTI on Wednesday.”We are thankful to Delhi Police that in a separate incident they caught two other persons from the Kotla on ACU tip-off.”So on two separate days, these people managed to get access to Kotla. The one who fled came in the garb of a cleaner. However, we have all his details as he was employed for the tournament. His Aadhar Card details have been handed over to Delhi Police,” Hussein said. “I am confident that he will be nabbed in a day or two. He is a small fry working for a couple of hundred or some thousand bucks may be.”The man who fled came under suspicion when he was spotted on the phone, by himself, in a secluded area.”He was standing (inside Feroz Shah Kotla premises) in a secluded area all by himself and so one of our officers approached and asked him: ‘What are you doing here?’ He said: “” [I am talking to my girlfriend].”My officer then asked him to dial the number he was talking to and then asked him to hand over the phones. Just when he was going through the contents of his phone, the guy fled from the spot,” Hussein said, without divulging which match-day this incident took place on.”It was one of the evening matches in Delhi. He was wearing an ID card. Also what raised suspicion was he had two mobiles,” he said.”The information he may be supplying could be to someone more influential among bookmakers, and so we needed to inform the Delhi Police. Delhi Police has responded positively and thus next instance two people were arrested.”Hussain also confirmed that the ACU didn’t receive any complaint of corrupt approaches being made to players or support staff involved in IPL during the 29 games that were held before the tournament was postponed.”Obviously with bio-bubble and no crowd around, it certainly becomes a bit easier to manage as there is no physical proximity of questionable characters. When there is a crowd, it becomes difficult to check anyone and everyone,” Hussein said.He also said that during the Mumbai leg, the hotel in which the Sunrisers team was staying had three people with questionable records, and whose names were in the ACU database. However, they couldn’t come in contact with any of the players.”The moment we had information, we got in touch with Mumbai Police. The Police Commissioner of Mumbai took immediate cognisance and the Mumbai Police got hold of those three,” he added.

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has expressed regret at the strained relationship he shared with Wasim Akram during their playing days

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Aug-20163:12

Waqar: ‘I regret having had issues with Wasim’

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has expressed regret at the strained relationship he shared with Wasim Akram during their playing days. Speaking on the fifth episode of to be aired on Friday night India time on Sony ESPN, Waqar said the “issues” between them didn’t help the team’s cause.”I am really good friends with Wasim , he has always been an elder brother,” Waqar said. “He has always supported and helped me on the field, off the field. Yeah, we had issues. He didn’t only have issues with me but we had issues in the team those days, which yes, if you ask me the truth, yes I do regret at times because you know it did not really help Pakistan cricket.”But then again if you look at it, we had issues off the field but when we walked on to the field it was different ball game altogether. We wanted to compete [with] each other, we wanted to take more wickets than the other one and I think in a way, it did help. But yeah, if you ask me that particular episode, yes, we all regret it because it shouldn’t have happened. It was ugly those days but those days we were younger and we didn’t know much, now [we are] probably wiser and we want to improve things. Yeah, you can say that it was a regret.”Waqar felt the standard of first-class level in Pakistan had diminished with too many teams being involved, and advocated “serious competition” to produce quality cricketers. “I thought the system was a little bit better than what we have now. We had lesser teams, we had more quality in cricket and also we had — we still got – talent,” he said. “I’m not saying that we don’t have talent but I think this talent has been expanded and it’s been lost a little bit because we got too many teams playing first-class cricket. In those days, we had only like eight first-class teams playing and competing against each other.”It was very difficult to play first-class cricket those days. But nowadays, I feel that cricket — first-class cricket has just been, you know, been gifted away, there’ve been too many guys playing cricket. I don’t want to take cricket away from any kid from Pakistan. They all deserve it. I come from a small town so I know the importance. But I feel when you look at the bigger picture, when you look at international cricket, I think it’s important that first-class cricket should be played by fewer people. There should be a serious competition, that’s how you produce top cricketers and I feel that that is lacking in Pakistan at the moment.”Waqar said bowling fast was a natural act and credited a system where he was encouraged to go full tilt without sacrificing on pace. According to him, most of his learning was on the job, from the likes of Imran Khan and Akram. “To make someone bowl fast…you cannot teach that. You’re born with it, I guess,” he said. “You can improve maybe to a certain degree, you can improve pace, you can improve a little bit, but when it comes to genuine pace, you cannot make a medium-pacer into a genuine pacer. So, I was born with it, I was very lucky that I had that skill in me, and on top of that I had put lot of hard work into it. And I was very lucky that I had Imran Khan as a captain, as a role model. He never allowed me to slow down or just hit the areas and all. So, I was lucky that he told me to do that and I kept on doing that till the time I played.”You know I had Wasim Akram who had already played for a little while, Azeem Hafeez was just sort of finishing, Saleem Jaffar was there, we had Imran Khan and we had some serious fast-bowling chain up at the top when I came. So it was just easier to learn just by watching them, not really telling them or asking them for anything, just by watching them it teaches you a lot. I back the system through which I have come but also there were people there to help you, there to show you how things are done and I was very lucky.”Watch at 9.30pm IST on Fridays, and the repeat at 12pm on Sundays, on SONY ESPN

Australia captain Steven Smith has hinted that David Warner could have a fluid batting position in the World T20 despite his recent success at No.4

Arun Venugopal in Kolkata12-Mar-2016Australia captain Steven Smith has hinted that David Warner could have a fluid batting position in the World T20 despite his recent success at No.4. Australia experimented with Warner in the middle order in the T20I series against South Africa and reaped instant rewards. In the second T20I, he smashed 77 off 40 balls in Johannesburg and was involved in a record 161-run stand with Glenn Maxwell as Australia nailed a chase of 205. Warner’s role in the decider in Cape Town was also crucial, as his 27-ball 33 complemented Smith’s knock in propelling the team towards the target of 179.Australia tried out three different opening combinations in South Africa using Aaron Finch, Shane Watson and Usman Khawaja with varying degree of success. Smith also suggested that the batting order could be altered to facilitate a left-right combination in spin-friendly conditions. By Khawaja’s own admission, he isn’t a certainty in the playing XI but Smith asserted that Australia’s batting order wasn’t cast in stone. “We have obviously got a lot of guys that can bat at the top of the order and he [Warner] has fitted in quite well at No.4,” Smith told reporters at his arrival press conference in Kolkata.”That doesn’t mean he’s going to bat at No.4 in this tournament. I think for us it’s about being flexible and summing up the conditions and who we are playing against and try to match up as well as we can. But he certainly did a very good job at No.4 as well.”Australia have tried out a number of players before eventually settling on the fifteen they have for the World T20. There is a fair bit of inexperience in the squad as well with Peter Nevill, Ashton Agar and Adam Zampa having a collective experience of six T20Is. Smith, however, reckoned a “squad mentality” would help overcome such limitations and that the 2-1 series victory in South Africa was perfect preparation ahead of the World T20.”We feel pretty settled. We have got 15 guys that can give this tournament a real shake, and I thought we played some pretty good cricket over in South Africa to win that series there,” Smith said. “South Africa produced some wickets that sort of replicated these conditions as much as they could which was nice and guys have stepped up and are in good form.”We’ve got a good squad together and it’s going to take squad mentality for us to do well in this tournament. Selecting the best XI comes down to a lot of different things – who we think is going to be best suited for each opposition at each ground we play at. I think we’ve got 15 guys that can all do a job in these conditions.”Smith also defended the inexperience in his spin attack and was particularly pleased with Zampa’s evolution as a leg spinner. Zampa is yet to take a wicket in two T20 internationals but he bowled economically in South Africa, giving away only 6.12 runs an over.”I don’t think our young spinners are a weakness at all. They are very confident in the skill sets and they have proven themselves and have bowled really well in the big games,” he said. ” I think he [Zampa] has improved a lot over the last couple of years. I thought he bowled beautifully in South Africa, thought he bowled really well in the ODIs he played in NZ as well.”I’ve seen him play for a long time. I know his skill set very well. That helps a little bit when you’re captaining someone you’ve pretty close to. He’s got a lot of variations, he reads the batsmen very well which is very important in this format of the game and he is very confident in his skill sets. Hope he can have a good tournament for us.”

Sri Lanka legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay said that his side’s ability to pick wickets in clusters made the difference in the tri-series final against Zimbabwe

Liam Brickhill in Bulawayo27-Nov-2016Sri Lanka legspinner Jeffrey Vandersay picked up three wickets to help to set up Sri Lanka’s six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the tri-series final, and his dismissals of Craig Ervine and debutant Tarisai Musakanda proved to be the turning point in the match. Vandersay, who last played an ODI series for Sri Lanka in January, said that his side’s ability to pick wickets in clusters made the difference against Zimbabwe.Vandersay snapped the 53-run stand between Ervine and Musakanda when he had the former caught and bowled, and two overs later he had Musakanda caught at slip for a run-a-ball 36 as Sri Lanka asserted their dominance. “It was not only [the two early wickets I took], but the quick sessions we bowled where wickets were falling regularly,” Vandersay said. “We kept it going, kept building up the dot balls, and that built pressure.”Under low cloud, on a tacky track, Vandersay finished with three scalps, while Sachith Pathirana took two of his own and Asela Gunaratne’s slow-medium off-cutters helped to wrap up the tail. It was as much as Sri Lanka might have hoped for after losing the toss – though had they won it, they would also have batted first.”We wanted to bowl second, mainly because we thought it was going to spin in the second innings,” Vandersay said. “That’s what we were thinking. So I’m not surprised Zimbabwe took that decision, batting first.”Vandersay had been picked to play in Sri Lanka’s last match against Zimbabwe, but inclement weather meant the game was washed out. Given another chance today, he made the most of helpful conditions to add his name to the list of young Sri Lankans who have excelled on this tour.”Even the first game that I got with Zimbabwe, when it was rained off, it looked like a turning wicket,” he said. “Today, of course we saw so much turn, so it was definitely the right track for me to play on. I’m really happy that we won the series, first of all. Personally, I’m happy that I was able to play today and get a few wickets. It’s been a good series.”Players like Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, even Asela Gunaratne, they’ve been performing consistently. The younger guys have shown some maturity, and done really well in the series. It is quite a satisfactory feeling for us as a team. We lost Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal before this series, and they’re consistent performers. To see our guys putting their hands up and performing well for the team, without some of the seniors being here, is quite satisfying.”

Kelly took four wickets in Scorchers’ defence of 196

AAP11-Jan-2022Top-order runs proved the difference as Perth Scorchers took down Melbourne Stars in Thursday afternoon’s BBL clash in Geelong.In a GMHBA Stadium-record BBL total, the Scorchers made 3 for 196 batting first and were always in front throughout the chase, holding the Stars to 9 for 149. Beau Webster did his best for Stars, carving seven fours and two sixes in an impressive 63.The runs flowed instantly for Scorchers with opener Nick Hobson, playing his first BBL game since 2019, looking classy with 46 off 36 balls including six fours.But the real fireworks came from Laurie Evans and Ashton Turner; Evans clubbed 69 off 46 balls and helped himself to five huge sixes, before captain Turner sped to an unbeaten 47 off just 26 balls.Remarkably, the wrong batter took strike following the 10-over drinks break and it paid accidental dividends for Scorchers, with Evans hitting two sixes in an over that went for 18 runs. It provided a huge lift for the Scorchers, who took 117 off the second 10 overs.All Stars’ bowlers lacked impact, with only Haris Rauf taking multiple wickets.Problems struck almost immediately in Melbourne’s chase as Matthew Kelly knocked over Nick Larkin with his first ball, but Webster and Joe Burns steadied things up and were 1 for 57 after seven.As they looked to even the contest, Kelly drew a top-edge from Burns and dismissed him caught and bowled for 20. Plenty fell to returning star Glenn Maxwell but he sliced one from Peter Hatzoglou and went for 5, leaving Stars 3 for 69 at halfway,Webster brought up his 50 in 38 balls but the required run-rate crept up above 14 runs an over, and he holed out deep on the off side for 63 with his wicket signalling the end of Stars’ resistance.The red-hot Joe Clarke, who came in off the back of four straight 50s, batted down the order citing fatigue but only made 17. Kelly finished with the impressive figures of 4 for 25.

Cameron Bancroft’s first experience of county cricket proved to be a galling one after he was penalised under the ECB’s discipline code for dissent on his Gloucestershire debut

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-2016Cameron Bancroft’s first experience of county cricket proved to be a galling one after he was penalised under the ECB’s discipline code for dissent on his Gloucestershire debut.Bancroft showed his displeasure after he was adjudged caught at the wicket off Essex’s pace bowler Jamie Porter for a third-ball duck – his second single-figure score of the match while opening the batting in Gloucestershire’s opening Specsavers Championship match.He was reported by umpires Michael Gough and Jeff Evans for a Level One breach of the code (showing dissent at an umpire’s decision by word or action).Although Bancroft escaped with a reprimand, the penalty remains on his record for a period of two years and the accumulation of nine or more penalty points in any two year period will result in an automatic suspension.Bancroft, the Western Australia wicketkeeper-batsman, has signed for Gloucestershire for the first two months of the English season. He made his Australia debut in the final T20 against India in Sydney earlier this year.He is one of three Western Australia players signed by Gloucestershire. Michael Klinger, captain in limited-overs cricket, returns towards the end of May, alongside the T20 specialist Andrew Tye.Surrey’s Tom Curran was also reported by umpires David Millns and Tim Robinson for a Level One offence during Surrey’s Championship match against Nottinghamshire.

Updates, analysis and colour from the 2nd Test

Alan Gardner14-Feb-2021*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local

4.30pm: Stumps

India took giant strides towards levelling the series in Chennai after running through England and then building steadily on a 195-run lead. Fifteen wickets fell in the day, R Ashwin claiming five of them in an innings for the 29th time in Tests, as England’s hopes of hanging in the contest on a turning pitch were obliterated in two sessions of skittish batting.England were in trouble from the outset of their reply, losing Rory Burns in the opening over and Joe Root, the batting talisman during three consecutive wins in Sri Lanka and India, before he had managed double – let alone triple – figures. They sneaked past the follow-on mark thanks to a nuggety, unbeaten 42 from Ben Foakes, but India were doubtless content to bat again on their commanding lead, and leave England to worry about facing their demons again on days three and four.

4.20pm: Shots fired (or not)