All posts by n8rngtd.top

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has launched its own investigation into the corruption allegations emanating from the 2017 PSL

Umar Farooq20-Mar-2017Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched its own investigation into the corruption allegations emanating from the 2017 PSL. The country’s interior ministry also put four players provisionally suspended by the PCB in relation to the case – Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Irfan and Shahzaib Hasan – on an exit control list, preventing them from leaving Pakistan.Nasir Jamshed, the fifth provisionally suspended player, is based in England and his lawyer informed the PCB of Jamshed’s inability to travel to Lahore. Jamshed had been arrested in the UK as part of the PSL corruption case but was released on bail. The FIA has no treaty with England that allows it to bring Jamshed back to Pakistan for investigation.Latif and Irfan had appeared at the Lahore office of the FIA on Monday in response to a summons from the agency, which said a “enquiry has been registered on the complaint of Subhan Ahmed, Chief Operating Officer PCB” and their presence was required.The PCB, however, distanced themselves from the FIA’s inquiry and ESPNcricinfo understands the board had only written to the FIA requesting assistance in obtaining forensic information from mobile phones in connection to the PSL case.”No complaint has been made by PCB to FIA to launch an investigation into players’ conduct”, Ahmed told ESPNcricinfo. “We have simply asked FIA to certify the authenticity of the data in players’ mobile phones in PCB’s possession for submission to anti-corruption tribunal as evidence”.The PCB had formed a three-member tribunal headed by justice Asghar Haider (retired), and including former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia and former wicketkeeper Wasim Bari to hear the cases of Sharjeel and Latif, who had contested some of the charges against them. The hearing was set for March 24. Irfan and Shahzaib had not yet responded to the charge sheet.

Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, has declined to publicly air his views on the ongoing player pay dispute with Cricket Australia, but has emphasised the importance of the two parties getting a deal done soon

Daniel Brettig18-May-2017Australia’s coach Darren Lehmann has strong views about the fixed revenue percentage model that the players are presently battling Cricket Australia to retain in the next payment MOU. But he’s not going to air them publicly.Lehmann, a former player delegate and president of the Australian Cricketers’ Association and now a highly-paid employee of CA, sat firmly on the fence ahead of the national team’s departure for England and the ICC Champions Trophy – the last tournament to take place before the June 30 expiry of the current pay deal.Though he acknowledged that the dispute would be a distraction for the players over at least the next six weeks, he doubted the Ashes would be disrupted, saying “I wouldn’t think so, and I would hope not as a fan”. Most of all, he stressed the importance of the two parties re-opening effective, respectful communication to get a deal done.”Both parties have got to get talking, that’s what they’ve got to do,” Lehmann said the day after CA rejected the ACA’s request for independent mediation. “Once they get that they’ll get a deal done, and once that happens we’ll be right and get the game going the way it should be.”What I want to do is see both parties come to the table and get a deal done for the betterment of the game. From the grass roots right through to the elite cricketers. From a players point of view they’re sticking together, we support players and support CA. Everyone supports each other, it is just a case of getting a deal done.”Communication has been a hallmark of how Lehmann has coached Australia, and he has continued that theme during the dispute. He has discussed matters at length with the national captain Steven Smith during his IPL stint, and also indicated that he would open the floor to players to discuss matters together when they convene in England, for the start of a campaign that leads ultimately to the 2019 World Cup and Ashes double.”It is going to be a bit of a distraction there’s no doubt about that,” Lehmann said. “But at the end of the day we’re there to concentrate on the cricket, we’ve got to do the best job we possibly can so from my point of view they’ve just got to get talking, simple fact of life. They’re both adults, both will deal with it as best they can and get the outcome right for the game.”We’ll talk about it when we all meet. You have to do that, you’ve got to keep it open in communication so we know the direction everyone’s going. At the end of the day it’s about getting ready for that first game and playing well. The next three years we go to England for one dayers the following year and then we’ve got the World Cup, so it’s a pretty important tournament for us in many ways.”While pointing out that negotiations have often run close to the wire in the past, Lehmann admitted he had not seen such acrimony between the two parties since the 1997-98 dispute that ultimately led to the revenue-sharing arrangement that has existed over the past 20 years.”I was there as a player and a delegate and then president,” he said. “You have those issues, every sport has them, so it’s just about communication and getting the right outcome for both parties. That’s the key. Both sides I’m sure will get there. It traditionally goes quite late, so there’s no panic, it’s just about those two parties getting together.”

Rising Pune are worried about a Mumbai Indians backlash after emerging victorious on each of the three occasions this season

Arun Venugopal in Hyderabad20-May-20171:18

Rohit Sharma hails Mumbai’s teamwork

Mahela Jayawardene, the Mumbai Indians coach, used the phrase ‘wake up call’ thrice, and with good reason, at the pre-final press conference. On the surface, it might have seemed more for effect, as the question to him was about Mumbai Indians’ consistent run in IPL 2017. But, Jayawardene’s iteration was for the three losses they’ve been handed by Rising Pune Supergiant this season.After Rising Pune had nutmegged them off the penultimate ball in their opening fixture, Mumbai went on a six-match winning spree before they were halted again by – no surprises there – Rising Pune. This, too, was a close defeat following which Mumbai went unbeaten in all but two games, but who do they run into in the first Qualifier? Rising Pune.The stakes were higher this time as the winner would get a direct passage to the final. Given how things had panned out, the result wasn’t hard to predict. The consolation for Mumbai, if any, is that they have been comprehensively bested and not handed out a last-over heartbreak. As for Rising Pune, they have now won all their games at the Wankhede. In fact, so absolute has been their dominance over Mumbai that you will have to ferret out a scorecard from last May to look up their only defeat in five games.After a disappointing 2016 season, Jayawardene said Mumbai had made it a point to address their notoriously sluggish starts to IPL campaigns. He also suggested that Rising Pune was the bogey team his team needed to sharpen their competitive edge against. “The first game was against Pune and they gave us a wake-up call,” he said. “We realised that we had to play better cricket than that. We got a little bit of momentum….we won some close matches, made sure we kept going and again they gave us a wake-up call in the middle of the season.”We made sure we regrouped and didn’t slack as a group towards the later part of the tournament. It’s been a good team effort and a lot of boys put their hand up in tough situations and won matches. I think it’s a tough tournament because any team could beat you on the day, home and away conditions are different. But credit to the boys, they have really performed well. And again they gave us a wake-up call in the knockout stages. We had to go to Bangalore, regroup again and play a good game of cricket which is good because it keeps everyone on the toes going into the final.”The Rising Pune question, specifically the defeat in the first Qualifier, was put forth to captain Rohit Sharma as well. Should Mumbai win, this will be their third title – after 2013 and 2015 – with Rohit at the helm. His response to the two questions was a potpourri of processes, results and focus. But eventually, he made the point that Mumbai had never lost a Maharashtra derby, in Hyderabad.”It’s true we haven’t played well against Pune. But now we’re playing them in a neutral venue,” he said. “They have been playing some really good cricket and it’s just that we haven’t been playing too well on those days. Conditions will be different for both teams. The aim is to avoid whatever mistakes we have done in the past against them. Hopefully, we’ve learnt from the mistakes and don’t repeat again tomorrow. We’ve got to make sure we’re better and we play good cricket and focus on what we need to do.”3:37

Tait: Having beaten Mumbai last game, Pune should go in unchanged

Sitting on the other side of the table, Rising Pune coach Stephen Fleming and captain Steven Smith flashed knowing smiles when their counterparts were talking. Fleming said they would continue to stay low-profile in the final like they have all tournament.”We’ve faced a lot of challenges throughout this tournament and we’ve faced them well,” he said. “We’re quietly confident, pretty much like our entire campaign where we have flown under the radar and done things quietly. I don’t think we’ll do anything different when we get up. If we get up because there’ll be a couple of wily foxes [Rohit and Jayawardene] who’ll be trying to stop us. They’re well awake now,” he added for good measure with a laugh.While Rohit conceded there wasn’t much individual brilliance that contributed to Mumbai’s success this year, he saw that as a positive in how the team has collectively pulled its weight. “Whenever they had an opportunity they put their hand up, taken the responsibility and obviously made sure that team crossed that line,” he said. “Guys have come at different points and taken up the responsibility and goes to show that teamwork is so much important whether it’s batting or bowling.”Not everyone can have a good day every day, so it’s important guys coming at different points deliver.[I am] honestly not really worried about the key players not delivering consistently because they have not had opportunities consistently. A lot of the game if you see, the first half was batted by the top three batsmen and the middle order has delivered whenever it had the opportunity.”Rising Pune share a similarity with Mumbai, especially in the way young players have come to the fore. Two of their key youngsters – Rahul Tripathi and Washington Sundar – are playing their first IPL. Washington, in fact, was the thorn in Mumbai’s flesh in the first Qualifier. Smith felt their callowness might actually work in the team’s favour in a high-profile final.”That can play into your favour sometimes because you can just come out and play with freedom,” Smith said. “I thought Washington was absolutely fantastic against Mumbai the other night, for a 17-year old to come out on the big stage against some quality players and to do what he did was outstanding. Those guys, the young guys, have been a real big part of our success throughout this tournament. Hopefully, they can have a bit of success tomorrow night too. “For Fleming, the dynamic between Smith and MS Dhoni, who captained Rising Pune last year, was an integral part of the team’s success. “They’re both fine leaders with their performance. Arguably both are the best in their position. Certainly, MS for a period of time [has been up there with the best wicketkeeper-batsman] and Steve is right up there if not the best batsman in the world at the moment,” he said. “It’s just good communication between the two of them.”Much has been made of their relationship but certainly sitting with them it’s nothing but influential to the younger players and beneficial for the senior players and for me. It has been a great dynamic to be a part of. This is the first time I am working with Steve and I have enjoyed it thoroughly.”As for the coaches, how do they stay insulated from the pressure of producing results on the big night? Fleming felt most of the work was done at the start of the tournament and at the auction, and that this was the time to enjoy the fruits of the labour. “Then you bring the team together and find the right combination. If you’re lucky enough to find that in time, then it pretty much rolls along itself,” he said. “The finals should ideally be a time when you sit back because if you’re in the finals things must’ve gone right at the start. You don’t have to start over-analysing and make changes because it might not be beneficial to the team. Two of the most consistent teams are there and some great players on show. From a coach’s point of view, just a good seat in the house.”Jayawardene concurred with his counterpart’s assessment and said there was plenty of mutual respect between the teams. “You just have to be consistent throughout the tournament. For us as coaches, it’s good that whatever we planned from January onwards, how we wanted to have backups, a lot of boys were leaving, England boys and all that, so to plan all that and to get everything right and for us to be in this position is just brilliant. Right now, it’s just about having a good day tomorrow and letting the boys enjoy themselves.”

Cricket Australia has proposed independent arbitration with the Australian Cricketers’ Association if the ongoing pay dispute is not resolved by early next week

Daniel Brettig and Brydon Coverdale27-Jul-20172:27

Brettig: CA under pressure from lot of sectors

Australia’s cricketers have been offered rollover contracts under the previous MoU as well as a process of independent arbitration to end a bitter pay war, which might ultimately help secure the status of future series against Bangladesh, India and the home Ashes.In a dramatic departure from Cricket Australia’s (CA) stated policy of keeping pay negotiations private, the board’s chief executive, James Sutherland, laid out the proposal on Thursday afternoon in the hope of sidestepping a looming firestorm of commercial and cricketing chaos.”What we’re proposing out of this is that we do go into some intensive discussions over the next few days that will hopefully see the matter come to resolution,” Sutherland said. “Failing that, we believe that the best course of action is to get the matter resolved through arbitration, get the show on the road and move on.”I think what we’ve put forward here is a good solution. It’s a fair-minded solution. It highlights where we’re up to. There’s no doubt there’s a bit of an impasse here, but I believe that with positive intent and the right people in the room, we can get this sorted in the next few days. Failing that, we’re prepared to say that we’ll put the issues to arbitration, we’ll accept the umpire’s decision, and the game goes on.”Critically, CA is prepared to pay male players under the terms of the most recent MoU while remunerating the women under the vastly improved financial terms of their recent proposals. It is not yet decided whether back pay would be given to more than 230 players, who were left out of contract when the previous agreement expired on July 1. Similar uncertainty looms over what will happen to more than A$58 million in adjustment ledger payments due to all past and present male players, who held contracts between 2012 and 2017.In proposing a short period of intensive talks, Sutherland also revealed CA’s preference for independent arbitration should these discussions fail. It was the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) that first proposed mediated negotiations between Sutherland and his opposite number Alistair Nicholson on May 12, the same day CA sent out a letter, warning that players would be unemployed if no deal was reached by June 30.CA does not want the arbitration to be conducted by the Fair Work Commission, Australia’s official industrial relations umpire. They prefer an eminent individual, agreed upon by both parties, who, in Sutherland’s words could be “someone like a retired supreme court judge”. At the same time, the contract rollovers would remove the threat of further tour cancellations, which is both the players’ strongest point of leverage but also the source of the most long-lasting damage to the game.Both parties came close to agreement recently, but CA’s continued reluctance to accept the concept of revenue sharing led the ACA to take their own “peace plan” to all contracted players and the public; in turn CA floated their counter-proposal via a report in the . CA has grown increasingly worried by the rapidly shrinking amount of time available to solve the impasse without major dislocation. Sutherland, on his part, suggested the ACA had been stalling in order to enhance its bargaining power.CA chairman David Peever and CEO James Sutherland (file photo)•IDI/Getty Images

“I think the concern that I’ve tried to reflect in talking today is that we seem to be bogged down at times in process and strategies that are perhaps designed to slow things down,” Sutherland said. “Certainly from our perspective we see the urgency and I think cricket fans see the urgency. I think cricket fans are probably tired of talking about it and reading about it in the newspaper. We need the show to get back on the road.”I’m raising the fact that I have increasing concerns about timelines. We’ve got a tour coming up against Bangladesh, and I think it’s really important that this issue is resolved right now, or in the short term. What we believe is we’ve got a fair mechanism to do that. Best intents and compromise on both parts will see the matter resolved in the next few days.Both parties involved in the debate have consulted with figures steeped in Australian industrial relations law. Greg Combet, the former Labor government minister and former head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, has advised the ACA. CA’s negotiation team has included the former IR commissioner, Ken Bacon, who has also consulted for the mining company Rio Tinto, where the CA chairman David Peever worked as managing director. The seriousness of the dispute has been underlined by the fact that the federal sports minister, Greg Hunt, contacted both CA and the ACA to urge a swift resolution.Sutherland said that the game could not be placed in a state of paralysis by the stand-off. The ACA’s most recent submission to CA included a prospective heads of agreement and draft versions of short-term contracts for the Test squad for Bangladesh, where the customary pre-tour security visit by CA and ACA representatives is currently taking place. Sutherland said these contracts, in particular, left room for considerable doubt about the tour’s status.”I don’t want to go into specific detail except to say that it leaves unresolved issues in such a way that the players may choose to not tour. Clearly we don’t want that situation. The Australian team is about to tour Bangladesh. It’s a very important tour. It’s very important for Bangladesh, it’s very important for Australia. We need that tour to go ahead, and we also need to start proper preparations for the summer of cricket ahead, both for domestic players and international players as well.Responding to CA’s offer, an ACA spokesman criticised the board’s late realisation of the need for urgency. However, he indicated the ACA would examine CA’s terms and maintain talks between Sutherland and Nicholson.”In the spirit of doing all we can to resolve the dispute, the ACA will examine the correspondence provided by CA and any suggested parameters for arbitration before making further comment. And will continue to work intensively in the CEO-to-CEO negotiations which are currently taking place with a view to achieving resolution.”

Faf du Plessis says that South Africa’s problems cannot be solved by waiting on AB de Villiers to make a comeback that may never happen

Firdose Moonda at Old Trafford07-Aug-20172:06

Will AB de Villiers be remembered as an all-time great in Tests?

AB de Villiers is unlikely to play Test cricket for South Africa again and they need to accept that, according to their captain, Faf du Plessis. In the aftermath of their 1-3 series defeat in England, where batting collapses were a significant cause of South Africa’s inability to compete, du Plessis admitted their problems cannot be solved by waiting on de Villiers to make a comeback because that may not happen.”I would love AB to play – we all know how good he is and we missed him, but we’ve spent too much time talking about when he is going to come back. The hope of him coming back is something we need to move past, we need to find someone else to fulfill that role. If AB comes back it’s a huge bonus but I don’t expect him to come back into the Test team,” du Plessis said.De Villiers’ last Test was 19 months ago against England in Johannesburg, when he was stand-in captain following Hashim Amla’s resignation. Since then, de Villiers had been confirmed permanent leader but had to sit out what would have been in first series in charge – against New Zealand last August – with an elbow injury. Du Plessis took temporary charge of the side and when they won away in Australia, was asked to do the job full-time. De Villiers needed more time to recover and conceded the Test team had made strides under du Plessis.Then, in January this year, de Villiers announced a sabbatical from the longest format until at least December, when South Africa are due to host India. He cited workload management, with an eye on the 2019 World Cup, as the main reason for his decision. However, during this tour, it emerged that de Villiers had actually wanted to retire from Tests completely in late 2016 but was persuaded to stay on by CSA. De Villiers has since said he will make a firm decision on his future when the board announce their plans for the coaching position at the end of this turn. Russell Domingo, who has de Villiers’ support, is out of contract and is expected to be replaced by Ottis Gibson which may bring on a full retirement by de Villiers, or at least a hanging-up of his Test whites.Du Plessis now wants the team to get used to the idea instead of wallowing in the what-could-have-beens. On this tour, they tried three different No.4s to replace de Villiers in JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma. With Duminy dropped and de Kock unlikely to be able to adapt his game to a more conservative situation, they seem to have settled on Bavuma to take the team forward.”We didn’t come here planning for JP to be dropped, we were hoping that he could bowl and play those x-factor innings,” du Plessis said. “The change with Quinton going in at four was to transfer pressure back on the England team and he is the one guy who can do that. He did that in the second Test with match-changing innings on a greentop but from a consistency point of view your number four needs to play the way the team needs him to play and Quinton plays the way Quinton need to play. In conditions like this, with the ball moving around, I think it’s better for Quinton to come in at six or seven like your Bairstow, Stokes and Ali.”Temba is probably technically our best player along with Hashim and myself. I love what I see in Temba’s character and he’s going to be an important leader for us in the team,” he added. “I’m a big believer that, if you see that in somebody you give them responsibility to bring the best out in them. When he batted at four he was our best player in really challenging conditions and that showed me that he has the capability of being South Africa’s number four for a long time.”Overall, du Plessis conceded that the series was lost with the bat but hopes South Africa will be able to find the personnel to bulk up their reserves and discover the team balance they need going forward. “From a batting perspective we haven’t been where we needed to be, myself included, and England has a really quality bowling attack so we knew the series was going to be won and lost there,” he said. “The learning for the batting unit will be important – we know there are holes we need to fix. Heino [Kuhn] didn’t do as well as he would have liked, he’s a quality player so we’ll have to look at that and, from a balance point of view, six or seven batsmen is always the question for us.”

Liam Livingstone took six wickets and notched a half-century as Lancashire closed in on victory in their Specsavers County Championship clash with Surrey at Old Trafford

ECB Reporters Network27-Sep-2017Liam Livingstone took six wickets and notched a half-century as Lancashire closed in on victory in their Specsavers County Championship clash with Surrey at Old Trafford.Lancashire took Surrey’s ten wickets for just 88 runs to set up a victory target of 176 after Mark Stoneman had given the visitors an excellent start to the day. It looked as though victory would be completed on day three as Livingstone’s fifty took Lancashire to within 44 runs of the win, but bad light intervened to force the game into the final day.The morning session mirrored day two in as much as a strong start by the batting side was undone by a flurry of wickets before lunch.Surrey resumed on 79 for 0, with a lead of 12, and Stoneman and Rory Burns went on to share a 150-stand for the opening wicket. Stoneman celebrated his call-up to England’s Ashes squad by racing to 98 from 113 balls before his wicket, taken by Livingstone, triggered a collapse by the visitors.Stephen Parry dismissed the other set batsman Rory Burns for 45 before Livingstone went on to claim career-best bowling figures. He removed Scott Borthwick for 4 and Ben Foakes, another Ashes squad member, for a golden duck with successive deliveries to mean that Surrey had lost four wickets in 12 balls for just six runs.The flow of wickets just continued before lunch with Olly Pope and Rikki Clarke both joining the list of victims claimed by Livingstone and Sam Curran departing first ball to Parry.At lunch Surrey were 197 for 7, leading by 130 with Kumar Sangakkara, playing in his last first-class game, still at the crease. He received a guard of honour from Lancashire’s players on his arrival and he went on to add 44 for the eighth wicket with Gareth Batty as Surrey attempted to respond to that flurry of wickets.But the last three then fell in the space of six balls. Livingstone claimed his sixth as Batty chipped one high back to the bowler and Parry proceeded to remove Stuart Meaker and Jade Dernbach – both without scoring.Surrey had slipped from 154 for 0 to 242 all out, leaving Lancashire that chase of 176. Sangakkara, in his last first-class game, was unbeaten on 35.Lancashire started their chase well, progressing to 40 without loss when Alex Davies fell for a classy 30. It was Livingstone, though, who continued to dominate the day. He guided Lancashire to tea at 73 for 1 and it looked likely that they could complete the chase with a day to spare.Rob Jones was dismissed by Batty for 35 with Lancashire exactly halfway to their target and Steven Croft became Clarke’s second victim as the hosts threatened a wobble. But Livingstone powered his way to his third half-century of the season to take Lancashire to within sight of their target when bad light stopped play at 16.49pm.They will return in the morning to attempt to complete the victory that would secure second place in Division One.

It would be the second year in a row that Kent have taken part in the Caribbean’s domestic one-day competition

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2017Kent and Hampshire have been invited to take part in West Indies’ Regional Super50 competition, the domestic one-day tournament, which is set to take place early next year ahead of the start of the 2018 English season.If the offer is taken up, it will be the second successive year Kent have been part of the competition. They finished third in Group A during the 2016-17 tournament with three wins from their eight matches.Last year’s edition started in late January and if either county did take part it would require a month-long stay in the Caribbean which would come with significant associated costs. The region has become a regular feature on the pre-season scene for English counties.There could be a significant presence for English cricketers in the Caribbean ahead of the 2018 English summer with the Lions touring for four-day and one-day series against West Indies A in February and March.

The former India captain fears aping Kohli’s aggressive words and approach might lead to youngsters not being authentic to themselves

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2017The impact of Virat Kohli’s in-your-face persona on young, impressionable cricketers is a cause for concern for Rahul Dravid. The former India captain feared aping Kohli’s aggressive words and approach might lead to youngsters not being authentic to themselves.While Dravid admitted to cringing at some “outrageous” things Kohli says on occasions, he also defended him by saying that so long as he was true to himself, and it helped get the best out of him it shouldn’t matter.”I think the game is still about performance. So let’s not take that way from someone like Kohli,” Dravid said at the Bangalore Literature Festival on Sunday. “That’s his personality. People have asked me, ‘Why didn’t you behave like that?’ But that’s not what got the best out of me. I would have been inauthentic to myself if I had tried to put tattoos and behave like Virat.”Sometimes, especially before an Australia series, you’ll find Virat saying the most outrageous things. And I read the paper and cringe at times. But then I think back, maybe he actually wants that contest. He wants that lip on the field because that gets the best out of him. Now that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. But at the end of the day, he’s got to do what gets the best out of him. Ajinkya Rahane is very different and he gets the best out of himself by doing different things. I think being authentic to yourself is very, very important.”If engaging in a contest, sometimes needling the opposition, is getting the best out of Virat – and it certainly is because his level of performance is second to none in the world today – then so be it. You can’t blame him for it.”What worries me a little bit is a lot of that gets translated into junior cricket. That’s the scary thing for me, not so much what Virat does. Kids at 12, 13, 14 want to become the next Virat Kohli, not realising that maybe that’s not authentic to who they are.”During the Test series against Australia earlier this year, Kohli took on Steven Smith and alleged systematic DRS abuse. He also said his relationship with the Australia players was irrevocably damaged. Dravid was happy that cricketers today were a far more confident lot and that the financial security that came with playing the game even at a lower level empowered them.”I think there’s a certain confidence and belief in Indian cricket today which has come about through results,” he said. “It’s definitely more evident today than from the time I started. I remember I was sitting on a flight and I was really excited going on one of my early tours and said, ‘It’ll be great if we can win the series.’ And what I got was, ‘We’ll be lucky if we can win one Test match. Let’s hope we can win one and draw the rest’. People expect India now to win. Certainly, there is a level of fitness, confidence and belief that probably didn’t exist when I was starting out.”When I look at a lot of the India A guys or Under-19 guys that I coach, I can see the fearlessness and confidence. It also comes with a certain level of financial security. For me, as a 21-22-year old, I knew that the B.Com degree I barely managed to get in college wasn’t going to suffice, and I needed to make cricket work. There was a pressure to make cricket work and make it possible for me to lead a good life. Today’s cricketers know that even if they don’t play for India, they can still make a very good living for themselves. I’m very happy about that.”Dravid, however, had one cautionary note for young players: they don’t need a player agent until the time they reach a high standard of cricket. “One of the things I like to tell young cricketers is that you don’t really need an agent. Okay, a Virat Kohli or a Mahendra Singh Dhoni today needs an agent because if they have to focus on their cricket and play at that high level, they need to ensure that somebody else is looking after their finances,” he said. “They don’t want to be chasing their dates, or chasing people for money that is owed. But at the younger age of 17, 18 and 19, having agents is definitely not necessary. I don’t see any big hoarding of a 17 or 18-year old. The only hoardings you see today are Kohli or Dhoni or one or two other Indian players. So it’s only when you reach that standard of cricket do you need agents to support and help you.”

Tim Seifert’s century set up a massive first-innings score of 456 before Ish Sodhi chipped away at Otago to return a match haul of nine wickets, including a five-for on the final day

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2017A century from opener Brad Wilson and fifties from Shawn Hicks and Anaru Kitchen were in vain as Otago suffered a 25-run defeat against Northern Districts in their pursuit of 344. The key performer for Northern Districts, in their first win of the tournament this season, was legspinner Ish Sodhi, who finished with nine wickets in the match, including a five-for in the second innings.Otago had resumed on the fourth morning at 15 for 0, and two early strikes by Sodhi reduced them to 47 for 3. A 142-run fourth-wicket partnership between Wilson and Hicks revived Otago but Sodhi and Anton Devcich quashed any chances Otago may have had with a series of quick wickets. The batting side went from 189 for 3 to 205 for 7, with Devcich claiming the big wickets of Hicks and Wilson, who had compiled 111 off 228 balls. The remaining 139 runs were too much for Otago’s tail-enders, despite a 62-run partnership between Kitchen (69 not out off 91 balls) and Nathan Smith.Earlier in the match, Sodhi’s 4 for 75 had complemented fast bowler Brent Arnel’s 5 for 76, as Northern Districts dismissed Otago for 248 to take a 208-run first-innings lead. Otago batsmen got starts, with Hamish Rutherford (67) and Derek de Boorder (55) going on to make fifties, but Northern Districts kept the pressure by not allowing partnerships to flourish.The 208-run lead meant that Northern Districts held an edge in the match, despite a second-innings batting collapse that saw them declare their innings at 135 for 9. Only three batsmen made a score in excess of 20, while the nine wickets were picked up by fast bowler Jacob Duffy (5-49) and left-arm wristspinner Michael Rippon (4-30).Northern Districts’ first-innings batting display was far more dominant, despite a middle-order stutter. Their score of 456 was underpinned by wicketkeeper Tim Seifert’s third first-class hundred – an unbeaten 167 that lifted the side from 198 for 5. Seifert had support from Daryl Mitchell (60) and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 116 with Ish Sodhi (48), before he took the lead in a tenth-wicket stand of 57 that took the side past 450.

Vidarbha debutant Aditya Thakare dealt Delhi two early blows but their No. 3 and No. 6 batsmen fought back and steered them to a relatively safer position of 271 for 6 in Indore

The report by Vishal Dikshit in Indore29-Dec-2017
ScorecardVidarbha started their first Ranji Trophy final with a showing they will be fairly happy with, but would have been happier if they had capitalised on a mix-up to run Dhruv Shorey out on 33. Ultimately, Delhi’s No. 3 went on to score his third first-class hundred, the first of this season after three half-centuries, and steered his team to a relatively safer position of 271 for 6 in Indore.Shorey’s innings started with plenty of misses outside off but ended with several solid strokes, including numerous drives and cuts for 17 fours. Delhi were reduced to 99 for 4 just after lunch before Shorey’s composed knock combined with the attacking strokeplay of No. 6 Himmat Singh.The day started with ample swing on a pitch that could have enticed many military medium-pacers out of retirement. However, it was a bowler starting his career – 19-year-old debutant Aditya Thakare, coming in for Umesh Yadav – who troubled Delhi from the first over. His outswingers beat Kunal Chandela twice in the first three deliveries and then induced an edge for first slip on the fourth ball.Rajneesh Gurbani, though, did not bowl with as much precision and preferred shorter deliveries early on. Thakare, on the other hand, troubled Gambhir as he first sent the ball through the left-hander’s expansive drive in the third over and then produced three straight lbw appeals in the fifth over that were rightly turned down.It looked like Gambhir was settling in when spin was introduced as early as the 13th over. Akshay Wakhare came around the wicket to turn one away but the hard, new ball zipped off the deck and deflected off the pads onto the off stump. Wakhare had done his job and was taken off.Shorey, meanwhile, stuck to playing with the straight bat and the other batsmen kept surviving. In the 14th over, an edge flew off Nitish Rana’s bat just wide of gully and two overs later a leading edge went back towards the bowler but it was just wide of Gurbani. Thakare finally sent Rana back in his third spell by pinning him in front with an inswinger.Rishabh Pant, too, started with a leading edge and the pace bowlers swung the ball into him constantly, some of them off an uncomfortable short length. Vidarbha’s biggest chance to dismiss Shorey came on the fourth ball after lunch when he pushed one into the covers and both batsmen almost ended up at the non-striker’s end but the fielder threw the ball at the very same end. That incident, however, did not change Pant’s approach. He soon tried a wild heave against Thakare but could not get close to it at all and, two overs later, he almost endorsed a cement brand with his feet stuck to the ground and his bat chasing a delivery outside off for an edge. Delhi were reeling at 99 for 4.From there, Delhi fought back to strengthen their position in the second session. Shorey had ambled along to 38 and was joined by Himmat, who has three half-centuries in his four first-class innings – all this season – with a lowest score of 45. The pace of Himmat’s and Shorey’s innings were contrasting enough to force Vidarbha into several bowling changes. Himmat did not show the patience he should have early on by first slogging Wakhare to deep midwicket where the ball landed short of Ganesh Satish and hit his nose to make him leave the field. The very next ball, Himmat stepped out of the crease and a leading edge flew over the covers and he survived again.He did not curb his strokes, though. Himmat clubbed left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate for two sixes down the ground and brought up his fifty off 60 balls. In the third over after tea, he punished Gurbani for three consecutive fours but the pace bowler replied immediately with one that swung in sharply and late to take Himmat’s inside edge to the keeper.Delhi were 204 for 5 and Shorey, on 75, showed how unfazed he was when Gurbani pitched one up in his next over and Shorey produced an exquisite straight drive for his 12th four. Instead of chasing balls away from the body like some of his team-mates, Shorey preferred to let the ball come to him and played them late.When the Vidarbha bowlers tempted him to drive for edges, he either let them go or drove them off the middle to collect boundaries whenever the bowlers erred. His calm attitude did not waver because Delhi’s next wicket – Manan Sharma – fell when Shorey was in the nineties but he brought up his century with a single two balls later.Vidarbha took the second new ball after 83 overs when Delhi had crossed 250. Gurbani had left the field in the 67th over with some discomfort in his leg which meant the new ball was shared by Thakare and Siddhesh Neral, and they beat the batsmen a few times but Delhi finished the day six down with Shorey on 123.