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Former Middlesex COO takes on full-time role with players’ organisation

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2020Rob Lynch, the interim chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, has been appointed to the role on a permanent basis, following the abrupt departure of his predecessor, Tony Irish, earlier in the year.Lynch, 38, has previously served as chief operating officer at Middlesex, and represented New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup in 2000 during a brief playing career with Auckland, before retiring to become a coach, administrator and a registered agent.”It is a great honour to have been chosen as the next Chief Executive of the PCA,” said Lynch. “Cricket may face significant challenges ahead with the Covid-19 crisis but this provides us with a wonderful opportunity to take a creative approach with key stakeholders, re-purposing the organisation and ensuring the health of our sport and members.”I inherit a very strong team and I would like to pay tribute to their consistent commitment since I joined. I would also like to thank the PCA Board, player reps and staff for their continued support as we drive the organisation forward together.”Daryl Mitchell, the PCA chairman, added: “It is great credit to Rob that he has made such a compelling case for his appointment as our CEO. In the most trying circumstances one could imagine, Rob has shown great leadership and provided much needed stability within the organisation.”His energetic, innovative approach and the respect he has built up with our members and key stakeholders make him the ideal candidate to steer the PCA through the uncertain times ahead.”Non-executive chairman of the PCA, Julian Metherell added: “Rob has provided outstanding leadership to all aspects of the PCA’s work over the last six months in his role as interim CEO. He brings an in-depth knowledge of the game and strong commercial skills to the role. The PCA Board looks forward to working with him.”

Bailey has retorted to questions about bias by saying “I’m not going to pick myself”

Daniel Brettig25-Nov-2019Former Australia ODI captain and current Tasmania batsman George Bailey is set to become the third member of the national selection panel alongside chairman Trevor Hohns and head coach Justin Langer, adding the contemporary voice that Cricket Australia has been searching for in their deliberations for the national team.Bailey, who is widely respected in Australian cricket circles, will be a departure from tradition by taking on a selection role while still a player, though numerous cricketers have been selectors either as captain or in the summers immediately after retirement, including Hohns, Peter Taylor and Greg Chappell. It was Chappell’s retirement from his role as selector following the Ashes series this year that opened up the place taken by Bailey.CA had previously flirted with the concept of having a current player as a selector when Hohns floated Darren Lehmann as a candidate prior to his retirement, before the concept was thwarted at board level. Usman Khawaja, the Queensland captain, spoke favourably of the prospect of choosing a current player as a selector when asked about it on Monday.”I think there is always an option there. I think there is no one more involved and more relevant in the game than people who are actually playing the game,” Khawaja said. “I think players are one of the biggest stakeholders, sometimes the most under-utilised and undervalued stakeholders in the game. I think it’s always important to have someone in the skin of the game.”Communication between selectors and players has improved over the years, but it is believed that the players have suggested it can get better still, something that Bailey will be keenly aware of. Equally he will bring along the perspective of a cricketer who has played more or less his entire career in the Twenty20 era, leading Australia to the global tournament in Sri Lanka in 2012 when they reached the semi-finals.Other candidates to make the final three included the former Victoria and South Australia batsman Michael Klinger and also Greg Shipperd, presently the coach of the Sydney Sixers. Langer had also spoken positively of wanting to find a role in Australian cricket for Trevor Bayliss after the conclusion of his time as England coach this year.”Really pleased with the people who put their hat in the ring for that role,” CA’s head of national teams Ben Oliver said on Monday. “There will be some people who are really disappointed no doubt [at missing out on the role] but they should all take great encouragement and they all have a lot to offer. Really looking forward to getting to the end of that process. Not quite there yet, but we’re not far away.”The panel, and all three, will be responsible for all Australian men’s teams. What we’ve tried to achieve in this recruitment process is adding in some complementary skills to support Trevor and Justin, and one of those is a consideration around short-format cricket.”Oliver explained that the national pathways manager Graham Manou, who had previously worked closely with Chappell in his role as national talent manager, would have a major linking role to keep the selectors abreast of developments in junior and pathway competitions, though like the national captains Tim Paine and Aaron Finch he will not be formally added to the panel.”It’s important for our selection panel to be across the talent that’s emerging through domestic cricket,” Oliver said. “Graham Manou as the national talent and pathway manager has a key role to play in connecting the domestic system but certainly we’re looking for this particular role that we’re recruiting for now, to have a close connection to Graham and to our domestic teams and our domestic coaches.”Sticking with three and Graham’s an important conduit between the panel and domestic cricket. He’s been helping throughout this period as well. At the moment sticking with three [selectors].”Bailey has retorted to questions about bias by saying “I’m not going to pick myself”, while Paine revealed during the Gabba Test against Pakistan that he was firmly in favour of the appointment. “In last week’s Shield game he was batting at five, I was batting at seven, so we were both sitting in the change rooms and set up a mock interview,” Paine told ABC radio. “He’s ready to go, so hopefully he gets the nod, I think he’d be ideal.”

Sri Lanka’s No. 3 also said they wouldn’t have crashed if they had played to a better plan

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Colombo24-Nov-2018Sure Ben Stokes and Adil Rashid were bowling aggressively either side of tea, but did Sri Lanka’s batsmen really have to play the attacking shots they did? Could they not have hunkered down, left the deliveries that weren’t on target, and seen out that testing passage of play?If you are wondering something along these lines after watching Sri Lanka lose their last eight wickets for 67 runs, you are not alone. Sri Lanka’s No. 3, Dhananjaya de Silva, who made 73 before the collapse, has asked the same quesitons. It was de Silva’s wicket, with the score on 173, that had precipitated the almighty fall.”When we were 173 for 1 and then I got out, I don’t think the others were able to take the game forward as much as they could have,” de Silva said. “When they tried to attack us, we went to our attacking shots. I don’t think that was a good option at the time.”Among those who fell playing attacking shots were Angelo Mathews, who edged a hook to the wicketkeeper, Niroshan Dickwella, who was caught down leg trying to glance Stokes to the boundary, and Kusal Mendis, who tried to pull out of a late cut against Rashid, but managed only to send the ball off the face of the bat to Stokes at slip.”Our batting was very weak. But even more than that they bowled really well with a plan. They dried up the boundaries and bowled aggressively. If we had played to a better plan, we wouldn’t have crashed like this.”Poor “option-taking” has been a buzzword for Sri Lanka right through the series, in which batsmen who have got themselves in on tough pitches have failed to contend with the various challenges England’s attack has posed. Sri Lanka’s coaches have tried to hammer in lessons about playing to the situation over the past few weeks, but this wisdom has not been absorbed, de Silva said.”Taking the wrong option at the wrong time is what has cost us. The batsmen should put a price on their wicket. When you play Tests, you have to spend time and try and tire out the opposition. Then only the runs start to come. We have to think about all of that. The batsmen have to come up with those solutions themselves. No matter what someone else tells us, it’s the batsmen’s own mistake. They have to figure it out.”

Given Lions’ desperation for stability following a season in which they have lost five players to corruption-related bans, Cook’s all-format appointment comes as an obvious choice

Firdose Moonda07-Aug-2017South Africa’s discarded Test opener Stephen Cook is set for a bumper summer at home. Not only has Cook been included in the South Africa A side to play India A in a bid to reclaim his Test place, but he will also captain his domestic franchise, the Lions, in all three formats.At face value, that may present an immediate contradiction. If Cook is able to get back into the national team, he will leave his franchise without a leader. Considering Aiden Markram is the favourite to take over from Heino Kuhn as Test opener, and the Lions’ desperation for stability following a season in which they lost five players to corruption-related bans, Cook is an obvious choice. He has led the team in first-class cricket before, but had not been a regular member of the white-ball teams. Now though, he has been confirmed as a participant in all three formats.”We have been impressed with the manner in which Stephen has been able to head up the team […] it is aligned to our brand and is themed with discipline, diligence and a fighting spirit,” Dr Oupa Nkagisang, chairman of the Lions’ board said. “We are clear in our goal to improve on the performance of last season and to put the loss of experienced players behind us. On paper, we have a talented squad that can go head-to-head with the best out there and we are relying on Stephen and the coaching squad to ensure that the performance on the field resembles that.”The Lions went without a trophy last season and have struggled for consistency amid a glut of player departures. Apart from those who were involved in the Ram-Slam corruption saga, Lions also lost Quinton de Kock and Chris Morris to the Titans since both live in Pretoria; and Temba Bavuma has returned to his home in the Cape. For the coming season, they have acquired the services of Omphile Ramela and Beuran Hendricks from the Cobras, and Craig Alexander from the Dolphins. Cook hopes Lions’ transition phase is ending.”We have had time to recover from the movement of players and just seeing the incredible players coming through our ranks, the time is right for us to execute our skills and be a formidable opponent,” he said.Still, the Lions have some uncertainty over personnel as they enter the home summer. Their coach Geoffrey Toyana applied for, and was interviewed for the position of South Africa head coach, until Ottis Gibson’s name was mentioned. Up until that point, Toyana was considered to be the favourite for the post. Toyana has been with the squad during the pre-season, but he may still be lost to the Lions given he could become the national assistant coach. The Lions have recently appointed a batting coach, Justin Sammons, and there is talk the national under-19 coach, Lawrence Mahatlane, may be on their radar as well.

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.”

Yuvraj Singh, the India allrounder, is back in the country after two and a half months in the USA, where he had received treatment for cancer

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Apr-2012Yuvraj Singh, the India allrounder, is back in the country after two and a half months in the USA, where he had received treatment for cancer. Yuvraj arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, and was received by his mother and several fans.Yuvraj was diagnosed with a type of cancer called “mediastinal seminoma”, a germ-cell tumour located between his two lungs, in February. He underwent three sessions of chemotherapy in Indianapolis, at the IU Simon Cancer Centre at the Indiana University Medical Centre, under Lawrence H Einhorn, who headed the treatment of cycling champion Lance Armstrong in 1996. He finished the last cycle of chemo in mid-march, and his response it had left his medical team “fairly confident” that he would not suffer a relapse. He had spent a few days in London while recuperating from the side effects of the treatment.He arrived on a Jet Airways flight, sporting a red sports cap – he has suffered hair loss, a common side effect of chemo – and flashing a victory sign to the waiting crowds. A friend who was with Yuvraj in London said the cancer is “completely out of his system”, reported. Yuvraj had tweeted about his homecoming on Sunday.
While in the USA, where he was since the last week of January, Yuvraj had done as much gym work and played pool as was physically possible during his treatment. He will hold a press conference on Wednesday, to presumably talk about his treatment and his comeback plan.

The battle for top spot between the two forces, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Army, continued with the former taking the lead on the third weekend of matches in the Premier League Tier B

Sa'adi Thawfeeq10-Feb-2012The battle for top spot between the two forces, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Army, continued with the former taking the lead on the third weekend of matches in the Premier League Tier B.Navy thrashed Police SC by an innings, the key features of the match being the legspin bowling of Dulanjana Mendis (he bagged nine wickets in the match) and a maiden first-class hundred from Chanaka Ruwansiri that enabled Navy to recover from a shaky 99 for 4 to 309.Army were held to a draw by Panadura, who took a first innings lead of 142.
Burgher RC moved to third place with their first win of the season. They beat Saracens by seven wickets with left-arm spinner Malan Madusanka picking up nine wickets in the match.Gayan Manesha, the former Maliyadeva College left-hand batsman, narrowly missed scoring a century in each innings of a match, making 115 (his maiden first-class century) and 94 in Kurunegala Youth CC‘s drawn encounter against Sri Lanka Air Force at the Welegedara Stadium.

Sri Lanka Women started their preparations for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh with a convincing win against the hosts in the first of two matches

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Nov-2011
ScorecardSri Lanka Women started their preparations for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Bangladesh with a convincing win against the hosts in the first of two matches. Sri Lanka’s lower order made handy contributions to get them to 195 for 8 in 50 overs, and they then took early wickets to end the match as a contest. Bangladesh ended up crawling to 131 for 8 in their chase.Sri Lanka were put in and both their openers got starts. Sandamali Dolawatte came in and anchored the innings, scoring 41 off 102 balls. But the run-rate was slow and when Eshani Kaushalya was run out in the 38th over, Sri Lanka were 117 for 6. The lower order gave the innings the final push it needed and 56 were taken off the last eight overs. No. 9 Chamani Seneviratna hit 28 off 24 balls and No. 10 Sripali Weerakkody hit two fours in the six balls she faced. Bangladesh offspinner Khadiza Tul Kubra took 3 for 34 in her 10 overs. Bangladesh’s bowlers were generous and gave away 35 extras including 22 wides.Udeshika Prabodhani scuppered the chase with three early wickets that reduced Bangladesh to 31 for 3. Runs came in a trickle after that and spinner Suwini de Alwis bowled her 10 overs for just 15 runs. Bangladesh’s captain Salma Khatun scored 34 but Bangladesh were never in the chase and fell well short of the target.

Harbhajan Singh may have struggled with his bowling over the last year, but when it comes to a scrap, you want him in your corner

Sidharth Monga at Newlands04-Jan-2011Harbhajan Singh has come in for criticism for his bowling over the last year, not unjustifiably, as his average of 40.69 suggests. However, when it comes down to a scrap, you want him in your corner. And whether he was batting or bowling today, it was a scrap all right. There was no use hanging around with the bat, for Dale Steyn would have surely got him with one of those amazing outswingers, and Harbhajan took the sensible approach, getting his body out of harm’s way and slogging.To the day three years ago in Sydney, in another scrap, he gave Sachin Tendulkar similar support in securing India a first-innings lead. Today, he set South Africa thinking with one four down the ground off Morne Morkel and another huge hook off Lonwabo Tsotosbe that nearly ended up in the Newlands Train Station. That 76-run partnership with Tendulkar, 40 of which Harbhajan scored, set India on the road to sharing control of the game.”I always enjoy my batting,” Harbhajan said at the end of the day’s play. “I don’t have the technique to bat like Rahul Dravid or Sachin Tendulkar or Jacques Kallis. This is the way I play my cricket, and I knew [if the ball was pitched in certain] areas, it was going to disappear. I did hit a couple of big sixes today, but I am happy about it. Would have been nice to get another 50-60. I am always greedy.”He spoke about that Sydney partnership too, and how it has been great for him to have batted with Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. “When I have batted with Sachin and Laxman, they have been helpful. In Sydney I batted with Sachin and again today. They have a lot of things to tell me. When I was batting, Sachin told me to play my natural game and counter-attack was the best option. With the kind of technique I have, I could have got hit on my ribs or somewhere else. He told me just to play my shots. I felt I should play my shots, and they would try to do something else. I think that worked, and they didn’t bowl the right line to me.”When India came out to bat, South Africa got off to a solid start, but Harbhajan emphasised his presence with two late wickets. Given the way the pitch has behaved, Harbhajan could be a crucial factor on day four. “There is a bit of bounce, and it’s not even. Some balls are going down and some are bouncing little bit more than you expect. It’s good if you keep on hitting the right areas, you still have a chance of getting good batsmen out, like [Jacques] Kallis and [Hashim] Amla. Those are the two key wickets we need to get, and then we will be in the driving seat.”Another scrap where Harbhajan has been influential is in keeping Sreesanth calm. Sreesanth has courted controversy with his sledging and been taunted by the crowd, but Harbhajan has made a conscious effort to keep him in check. When Sreesanth got Amla’s wicket in the first innings, he seemed to want to run towards the crowd. Harbhajan, though, held him back. Physically. And mock-clapped at the crowd from afar.”Crowd tried booing me in Australia, it doesn’t affect me,” Harbhajan said. “Let them enjoy. They have come to see the game. And obviously Sreesanth is getting more famous with this. I have enjoyed in Australia, let him enjoy here. It is not a bad thing.”Regarding the general heating up of tempers in the series, Harbhajan suggested he was enjoying it. “This is how the cricket is being played. When No.1 and No.2 sides play, there’s a lot of competitiveness, but I think everything is under control. Yes, you have to play with aggression. You can’t just be quiet there and waiting for things to happen. If you feel this is the way to play, why not go out and express yourself? This is Test cricket, not some match in the park. You have to have aggression, and you have to have that thing inside you to win games for your country. They are trying to win games for their country; we are trying for our country. Whatever trouble it takes we will go ahead and make sure we get the result we are looking for.”

MS Dhoni was full of praise for his bowlers, and the way his side showed character despite injuries to key players, following India’s clean sweep of Australia in the two-Test series

Sidharth Monga at the Chinnaswamy Stadium13-Oct-2010MS Dhoni was full of praise for his bowlers, and the way his side showed character despite injuries to key players, following India’s clean sweep of Australia in the two-Test series.Both Tests in this series were heading towards draws before India’s bowlers triggered Australia’s second-innings collapses, setting up close finishes in each of the games. “I think the effort put in by the players, especially the bowlers, was really outstanding because by losing tosses I am not really helping them out,” Dhoni said.”Every time, especially in the subcontinent, we are having to bowl first. First innings [in Bangalore] we couldn’t get any kind of reverse-swing because the wicket and the square were not so dry, which meant they had to turn up and look for alternative ways to get the batsmen out. Still they were more than willing to come up with spells whenever needed. This was not a track where a match can get over in four-and-a-half days. It was not a turning track where the spinners can just bowl and get wickets.”As has often been the case of late, India played a Test series without their first-choice XIs, and also lost players along the way. VVS Laxman and Ishant Sharma needed injections and tablets to stand up straight, but they rescued India in a famous finish in Mohali. Gautam Gambhir, too, injured his knee and had to sit out.All the three replacements, though, did their jobs in Bangalore, and Dhoni acknowledged that. “Not only in Tests, we have been playing series without our key players,” Dhoni said. “Consistently we have not played our strongest side.”I am fortunate to have a side that has performed very well in the past one-and-a-half years and the credit goes to them. Whether it is the youngsters or the seniors, they have always performed whenever they get the opportunity. Individuals like Murali Vijay, who is not consistently featuring in the XI because we have Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir doing the job for us. But whenever he has got an opportunity to play games, he has scored decent amount of runs. You could complain maybe that he got the kind of start he needed, but hasn’t scored big runs. In this match, he really made it big. He got the start, went onto cross the century barrier, and continued his innings. It was a good learning experience for him. In the same way [Cheteshwar] Pujara, too, batted really well.”Having beaten Australia, their biggest rivals over the last decade, 2-0 in their last two series, Dhoni said India needed to create bowling reserves if they were to dominate world cricket like Australia did. “If our bowling lot can grow – four-five good fast bowlers, and one or two more spinners, the workload can be spread,” Dhoni said. “It is very difficult for the fast bowlers to play every Test. Within the next 20 days, we will start another three-match series on similar wickets. You just can’t turn up there and put the ball there, these pitches take a lot of effort. There is a lot of pressure on the fast bowlers, and especially with the four-bowler combination, spinners have to bowl a lot of overs. Especially when the captain keeps losing the toss.”Dhoni also credited the side for having come together well despite the limited time for preparation. “The whole team didn’t get a chance to have practice sessions together because some of the boys were playing the Champions League,” Dhoni said. “We got limited time, but what is impressive is the way we utilised those practice sessions in the right manner. Everyone was up for it.”Dhoni made it a point to praise the team for handling the pressure situations well. “Most of the times, this is a series that has plenty of hype created around it, and it’s good that it ended without any controversy… One good thing in both the Test matches, even though the last-innings targets were not huge, was that there was pressure on both the sides. Ultimately it was a close finish in both the games. You may look at this scorecard and say this was an easy win, but still there was nervousness in the dressing room. I think it was a good short Test series we had.”