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Architect of 100-ball cricket will depart ECB role after 2023 competition

ESPNcricinfo staff23-May-2023Sanjay Patel is to leave his position as managing director of the Hundred following the conclusion of this year’s competition.Patel, the man behind the ECB’s introduction of 100-ball cricket, was previously chief sales and marketing officer before taking charge of the Hundred when it was unveiled as a concept in 2018.His departure comes at a time of uncertainty over the future of the competition, with newspaper reports in recent weeks suggesting the ECB could drop the format and refocus attention on its T20 offering.”I’d like to thank Sanjay for all his work and dedication at the ECB over many years, and wish him the very best for the future,” Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive officer, said.”There’s no doubt that the Hundred has been a success, helping cricket reach new audiences, bringing in important revenue and propelling the game forwards. It plays an important role in our game and I’m looking forward to a very long and successful future for the Hundred.”The Hundred has been controversial from the start, with the ECB accused of alienating cricket’s traditional fanbase in pursuit of new audiences. Its launch was pushed back a year to 2021 by the Covid-19 pandemic, while a recent report by Fanos Hira, Worcestershire’s chairman, suggested the competition had made a £9 million loss in its first two seasons.However, the return of cricket to free-to-air TV, via the BBC, and its role in giving the women’s game a higher profile have been credited with creating a more diverse appeal.Patel said: “I would like to thank Sky, the BBC, and all our commercial partners for their support.”I would also particularly like to thank my whole team for their hard work and dedication in launching the competition. I will always be grateful for their support and friendship. We have come a long way in a short space of time and it is down to their brilliance.”I will miss this job and the people immensely but once we’ve completed the third season of the Hundred I believe the time will be right for me to look for a new adventure.”

Markram and Nortje have been picked for all three matches while Qeshile has been selected for the last two games

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2019South Africa have named top-order batsman Aiden Markram, fast bowler Anrich Nortje and wicketkeeper-batsman Sinethemba Qeshile in the T20I squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, starting March 19. Markram and Nortje have been picked for all three matches while the uncapped Qeshile has been selected only for the last two.JP Duminy, meanwhile, has been named captain for the second and the third T20Is as designated captain Faf du Plessis will be rested for those games along with Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

SA v SL T20I series fixtures

• March 19, Cape Town (D/N)

• March 22, Centurion (D/N)

• March 24, Johannesburg (Day)

Markram has played 17 Tests and 18 ODIs for South Africa since his international debut in October 2017, and Nortje got his national cap in the recent ODI series against Sri Lanka. Qeshile, 20, meanwhile, only has 13 first-class and 12 List A appearances – for Warriors – against his name.”The first match forms part of our Vision 2019 to continue exploring our options for the ICC Men’s World Cup,” Cricket South Africa’s national selection panel convener Linda Zondi said, “and the squad for that match consists largely of the squads that have been doing duty in the Momentum ODI Series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. We would have liked to include Hashim Amla but unfortunately he remains unavailable because of his family situation.””Sinethemba Qeshile has had an outstanding rookie season of franchise cricket and is certainly one of the form batsmen in franchise cricket at the moment. He looks a really exciting prospect. JP Duminy will take over the captaincy for the last two matches while we give a short break to Faf du Plessis, Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi who are involved across all three formats for the Proteas.”We have used our T20 International matches in the past as the first port of call to widen the pool of talent. This has resulted in Rassie van der Dussen, Gihahn Cloete, Janneman Malan and Lutho Sipamla being brought through the pipeline with considerable success during the course of the current season.”South Africa squad for 1st T20I: Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der DussenSouth Africa squad for 2nd and 3rd T20Is: JP Duminy (capt), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Sinethemba Qeshile (wk), Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen

Australia and England pulling away from the pack, as “pervading culture of insecurity” undermines positive strides

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Oct-2018The rapid growth in the profile of women’s international cricket is being undermined by continuing “amateurish” standards, particularly at domestic level, according to the findings of a global survey conducted by FICA, the players’ association.The FICA Women’s Global Employment Market Report and Survey 2018 is the first study of its kind since female players were formally brought under the auspices of FICA in 2016. In a 60-page document released this week, it outlines 20 key findings into the health of the game, as determined from interviews with players from the ICC’s 12 Full Member nations.The overwhelming conclusion of the report is that the game is “moving forward in a positive way”, with 89% of the 124 players surveyed, including 76 current internationals, stating that they were optimistic about the future of women’s cricket.However, the report also found that gender inequity was the biggest barrier to the game’s long-term future, with opportunities for participation still limited in many countries, as well as a continuing inequality of pay when compared to their male counterparts.”There has been a dynamic shift in the world, where businesses and sports are increasingly seeing the importance of equality,” Lisa Sthalekar, the former Australia allrounder and current FICA Board Member, states in the report. “Cricket is no different, with a watershed moment occurring in July 2017, when the ICC Women’s World Cup final was sold out at Lord’s.”That tournament, won by England in a thrilling final against India, transformed the profile of the sport and propelled many of its biggest names into a limelight that had never previously fallen on women’s cricket. However, the challenge of bridging that gap between the game’s possibilities and its current realities remains significant.The report states that the sport’s growth is currently being hampered by “the pervading culture of insecurity” that exists within the women’s game, and calls for minimum standards to be enforced in terms of playing opportunities and pathways, employment contracts, travel and accommodation.FICA’s research found that the global number of fully professional female players is currently “no more than 120”, adding that at present only Australia, with the Women’s Big Bash League, and increasingly England, through the advent of the Kia Super League, are in a position to offer professional cricket as a genuine career choice for women. As a consequence, the report states that “these two are pulling away from the rest of the countries”.Furthermore, four of the ICC’s 12 Full Member nations – Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan – were unable to provide sufficient information to offer a “realistic and balanced assessment” of the health of the women’s game in their countries.”Whilst the report recognises the great strides of the women’s game both on and off the field, there is still plenty of work to be done,” Sthalekar said. “Complacency is not an option if the game is to realise its potential and recalibrate the scales of equality in cricket.”

The sentence will be backdated to October 16, 2019, when he was provisionally suspended by the ICC

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Apr-2021Qadeer Ahmed, the UAE medium pacer, has been banned for five years by the ICC for committing six breaches of the governing body’s anti-corruption code. Ahmed’s ban will be backdated to October 16, 2019, when he was provisionally suspended by the ICC along with his colleagues Mohammad Naveed and Shaiman Anwar, both of whom have since been handed eight-year bans.The ICC anti-corruption unit found 35-year-old Ahmed, who played 11 ODIs and ten T20Is between 2015 and 2019, guilty on counts that included failing to disclose approaches during two bilateral series the UAE played away in 2019. The first was in Zimbabwe in April, where Ahmed was offered AED 60,000-70,000 (US$ 16,000 to 19,000 approx) by the corruptors. Then, in August in Netherlands, Ahmed was again found to be in contact with corruptors, and the ACU subsequently suspended him just at the start of the 2019 World Cup qualifiers, held in Zimbabwe in October-November.The ICC said in a media statement on Wednesday that Ahmed had failed to disclose details of the approaches from corruptors, or that he provided inside information in August 2019 to a person, who had played with club cricket with him in the UAE.Related

• ICC bans Mehar Chhayakar for 14 years on corruption charges

• UAE wicketkeeper Ghulam Shabber banned for four years

• Former Sri Lanka Cricket performance analyst Sanath Jayasundara banned for corruption

• How Heath Streak was caught by the ICC investigators

• 'Mr X', who gave bitcoins to Streak, is Delhi's Deepak Agarwal

That person is understood to be Mehardeep Chhayakar, named “Mr Z” in the ACU findings, which were published by the ICC on Wednesday. Chhayakar knew Ahmed while playing domestic cricket in Ajman in the UAE.On Wednesday, the ICC also charged Chhayakar for breaching half a dozen counts of the anti-corruption code. He was charged for “attempting to contrive to fix aspects” of games in the Zimbabwe vs UAE series in April 2019 as well as at the Global T20 Canada league in 2019. Chhayakar was also charged with trying to “induce and/or solicit” a participant involved in both the Zimbabwe-UAE series as well as at the GT20 Canada. Chhayakar, who the ICC said has refused to cooperate with the investigation, has 14 days from April 15 (the day he was charged) to respond.Ahmed is originally from Pakistan, and has been there since leaving the UAE midway into the ACU investigation. Before that, Ahmed had attended two interviews with the ACU team, held on October 6 and 9, 2019. He would talk to the ACU team again in April 2020, before quitting midway through again.How was Ahmed approached?
Ahmed told the ACU that Chhayakar had been a “close associate” and he had helped him get into various teams in the UAE club circuit. In early 2019, Chhayakar told Ahmed he could help him get into one of the T10 franchises in a tournament scheduled for November 2019 in the UAE. To that end, Chhayakar put Ahmed in touch with a “Mr Y”, who ESPNcricinfo understands is Dinesh Talwar, who is on the ACU’s list of corruptors.”[Mr Z] [Chhayakar] had previously connected him with an individual named [Mr Y] [Talwar] (a known corrupter), on the basis that [Mr Y] might be able to get him into a T10 team which [Mr Y] was looking to buy into,” the ICC elaborated.Chhayakar and Talwar then made their first approach to Ahmed just as he was preparing to leave for Zimbabwe. “About a week to 10 days before Mr Khan [Ahmed] travelled to Zimbabwe in April 2019 to participate as a member of the UAE squad in the Zimbabwe v UAE series, [Mr Z] and [Mr Y] approached him and offered him 60,000-70,000 dirhams to “do bad bowling” in the Zimbabwe v UAE series. In particular, they asked him to give away 70/80 runs while bowling.”It could not be confirmed if Ahmed ended up receiving the money. Ahmed, the ACU found, continued to meet Chhayakar, who would contact him before a series or tournament. Ahmed then shared inside information, especially of bowling plans in case he was playing, from the series against the Netherlands.”He had provided Inside Information to [Mr Z], at [Mr Z]’s request, in August 2019, namely which overs he would be bowling if he played in the Netherlands v UAE series that month.”Ahmed agreed he was aware of the ACU rules that he had breached, as he failed to come clean about being approached, being offered money, and providing inside information to corruptors. However, the ICC said that Ahmed had questioned the timing of suspending members of the UAE team just prior to the World Cup qualifiers.”He questioned why the ACU had acted against members of the UAE team prior to the start of the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in October 2019 because if it had not, he said that the ACU would have been able to collect a lot of information about corruption (i.e. inferring that the ACU’s action in questioning members of the UAE team had disrupted planned corruption).”According to the ICC, Ahmed suddenly left for Pakistan on October 11, 2019 without the knowledge of either the ACU or the Emirates Cricket Board. The ACU did track Ahmed down and conducted another interview on April 18 last year. However, Ahmed “stopped the interview halfway through, stating that he had to go to work”. Subsequently, he “refused” to complete a rescheduled interview and said he would face the ICC anti-corruption tribunal instead.Last week, on April 14, Ahmed agreed to all the ACU sanctions without facing the tribunal.Alex Marshall, general manager of the ICC’s integrity unit, said in a statement, “He [Ahmed] has accepted he did wrong and requested an agreed sanction in place of a Tribunal. His five-year period of ineligibility is a reflection of the seriousness of his breaches and the number of charges. He has accepted responsibility for his actions and expressed regret for those he has let down.”

The hosts were struggling at 84 for 5 before a 139-run stand between Shahadat Hossain and Jaker Ali helped them to 252

Mohammad Isam06-Dec-2022Mukesh Kumar’s six-wicket haul put India A in control of the first day of the second unofficial Test against Bangladesh A in Sylhet. The home side were bowled out for 252 with the Bengal seamer taking career-best figures of 6 for 40 in a bowling attack that also had Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini.A 139-run sixth-wicket stand between Shahadat Hossain and Jaker Ali rescued Bangladesh A from getting bowled out for a small total. Shahadat top scored with 80 with nine fours and two sixes, while Jaker made a more sedate 62 with six fours and a six. Earlier, Zakir Hasan, whose 173 had saved Bangladesh A from defeat in the first unofficial Test, scored 46 with nine boundaries.What would continue to worry the Bangladesh selectors is the form of Test regulars Mominul Haque (15) and Mahmudul Hasan Joy (12). Shadman Islam, too, fell cheaply for 4 when he became Umesh’s first wicket in the game.Mukesh’s initial burst of three wickets put Bangladesh A in a spot of bother. He removed Joy in the 15th over before captain Mohammad Mithun and Zakir also fell to his bowling as the home side slipped to 84 for 5. Mukesh later came on to dismiss Jaker, before taking the last two wickets.The two Yadavs, Umesh and Jayant, took two wickets for India A, too. At stumps, the visitors were 11 for no loss with openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran unbeaten on 8 and 3 respectively.

Earlier, Burl also grabbed two wickets, as the bowlers combined to restrict Ireland despite Harry Tector’s 47

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2023Player of the Match Ryan Burl went 6, 6, 4 off George Dockrell when Zimbabwe needed 23 off 15 balls and the game was in the balance. In the end, he finished with 30 not out from 11 deliveries to turn the screws in the chase of 142, as the hosts sealed the series 2-1 in Harare. That followed a haul of 2 for 28 with the ball, as the Zimbabwe bowlers combined to restrict the visitors to 141.It was a tricky situation on a pitch that continued to produce middling scores following totals of 114 and 144 in the first two games. Craig Ervine’s 54 off 43 balls set the base for Zimbabwe, for whom the required rate had touched nine an over when they had another 30 deliveries remaining. Ervine was involved in crucial partnerships of 42 for the second wicket with Innocent Kaia when Zimbabwe lost their first wicket in the third over.Another quick partnership of 24 from 14 balls was important from a situation of 92 for 4, as held the innings together before Burl, who also won the Player-of-the-Series award, got down to finish the game off.Earlier, it took a 70-run union between Harry Tector and Curtis Campher to help Ireland to a competitive total after they were 19 for 3 at one stage. Wessly Madhevere had struck in the first over to remove Ross Adair, and ended with 2 for 8 when he got rid of Tector for 47. But it was Burl who had dismissed Campher for 27 to break Ireland’s momentum, and drag Zimbabwe back in the match.Dockrell and Mark Adair added 31 to pump some life back into Ireland’s innings, but 141 proved short in the end, as Burl’s exploits ensured Zimbabwe won the match with an over to spare.

Naseem Shah has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a viral infection

Andrew Miller27-Sep-2022

Big picture

The deafening acclaim within the National Stadium on Sunday night told the tale of the tour so far. Even allowing for the emotion and excitement of England ending their 17-year absence in Pakistan, there had been fears beforehand that a seven-match T20I series was simply too much to take in, but they were emphatically scotched by the denouement of Game Four in Karachi.Haris Rauf’s raucous, raw pace bowling, and Shan Masood’s dead-eyed underarm from mid-on, combined to square the series in a game that England won, then lost, then won and lost again – much like their record in the series as a whole, in fact. And the upshot is that part two of the tour, in Lahore, will witness at least two live games out of three, and maybe even the sort of winner-takes-all scenario in Sunday’s seventh game that can serve as the perfect preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup.That, at any rate, is the spin that England are already putting on a series in which they seem, on paper and even for long passages of each fixture, to be by far the better, more rounded outfit – particularly with the bat. Yet they have twice been pegged back in contrastingly remarkable fashions, by ten wickets on Thursday, and then by two runs in Sunday’s cliffhanger.”Yes, we would love to have won, but I think when you head into a World Cup, you want to play against good opposition in tough games and it’s been every bit of that,” Matthew Mott, England’s head coach, said on Sunday night. For his own peace of mind, however, Mott will want this week to be the one in which his white-ball team secures their first series win of the post-Eoin Morgan era, after being knocked down a peg by India and South Africa in the summer just gone.England are at least getting a better idea of where they need to tighten up their gameplans. For instance Moeen Ali, the stand-in captain, did not bowl a single over of his offspin on Sunday night, given that his 21-run over against Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in Thursday’s thrashing had been the moment in which their spectacular 203-run stand went into overdrive. And by the time their subsequent stand of 97 had been mitigated by Pakistan’s sub-par 20-over total of 166 for 4, it seemed that England had the game at their mercy.In response, however, their own batting proved a touch too loose for the occasion. It was to England’s credit that they could recover from a scoreline of 14 for 3 after 12 balls and take the game so deep – and with Harry Brook and Ben Duckett in such thrillingly free-flowing form, the likes of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes have not been greatly missed in the collective line-up. But equally, Pakistan’s strength remains in its fast bowling, and as Mark Wood proved for England in his solitary outing of the tour to date, genuine pace is not an attribute against which many liberties can be taken.Wood might well be back in contention for this contest, as England seek a balance between match fitness and workload as he continues to return from an elbow injury, but Buttler will not be risked. His calf tear, sustained during the Hundred, remains a concern with just under a month until the start of the World Cup, and with three T20Is in Australia to come before England’s opening night against Afghanistan on October 22, it may even be that he’ll remain a bystander until they touch down Down Under.For Pakistan, meanwhile, the challenge is much the same as it has been all series long. Find a means to make a virtue of their clear and obvious strengths, but avoid falling in a heap when Plan A lets them down. So far their batting and their bowling has proven irresistible in one game each. That ratio doesn’t make them favourites, but it does reinforce the sense that you can never, ever write them off.

Form guide

Pakistan: WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)

England: LWLWL

In the spotlight

Buttler’s continued absence means an extended opportunity for Phil Salt to prove his mettle as a genuine frontline option in England’s World Cup ranks. As the heir apparent to Jason Roy, Salt has a number of compelling similarities – not least his endearing willingness to go hell for leather from ball one (and suffer the occasional indignity as a consequence, such as his first-over 8 from 4 on Sunday). And yet, the logic of Alex Hales’ recall – in spite of the line in the sand that his omission once entailed – proves that he will be the shoo-in come the main event next month, not least given his matchwinning half-century in the Karachi opener. Salt, by contrast, has 56 runs for the series from 47 balls so far. With Will Jacks another coming man at the top of the order, he needs to lay a marker soon.The Karachi crowd may have been starved of international cricket down the years, but to judge by the clamour for Asif Ali on Sunday night, their deep knowledge of the game has not been dimmed in the interim. The stadium was close to mutinous by the time Pakistan had held their heaviest hitter back until the final over of their innings, and sure enough his two sixes in three balls turned out to be the difference between the teams in the final analysis. Asif’s T20I average after 46 matches is an underwhelming 16.30, but few contemporary batters are better versed at smashing sixes to order – close to one in ten of his 353 deliveries have so far cleared the ropes. In a team that seems to be under perpetual scrutiny for its strike-rate, that’s a vital asset to have.

Pitch and conditions

Two strips have been prepared for the Lahore leg of the series, which implies that the surface for Wednesday’s match will be the same as the one for Game Seven, with the alternate used in between whiles. Heavy rain on match eve meant that both teams cancelled training and therefore a chance to gauge conditions at this stage, although the pitch currently seems dry enough to warrant an extra spinner.

Team news

Shadab Khan is in the mix for a recall, not least because his fellow legspinner Usman Qadir didn’t bowl a ball on Sunday, having injured his thumb while taking a spectacular catch off Hales in the powerplay. Pakistan have confirmed that allrounder Aamer Jamal, who had a strike rate of 194.11 in this year’s National T20 Cup, will make his debut, while Naseem Shah has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a viral infection.Pakistan (probable): 1 Babar Azam (capt), 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 3 Shan Masood, 4 Iftikhar Ahmed, 5 Khushdil Shah, 6 Asif Ali, 7 Shadab Khan/Usman Qadir, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Shahnawaz Dahani, 10 Mohammad Hasnain, 11 Haris RaufChris Woakes could be in contention for his first white-ball appearance since November, as he continues his rehab from knee surgery, while Richard Gleeson has recovered from the back issue that hampered him in Karachi. After a tough start to the series on surfaces that don’t suit his game, Dawid Malan made way in Karachi to allow Will Jacks a (short-lived) go at No. 3. But as England’s lock at first-drop for the World Cup in Australia, he’s likely to get first dibs at the new venue. From the perspective of sealing the series win, England may prefer to recall Wood for this game, with a view to having him available for a decider on Sunday if needs be, rather than hold him back for a solitary outing in Game Six.England (probable): 1 Phil Salt (wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Ben Duckett, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali (capt), 7 Sam Curran, 8 Liam Dawson, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood

Stats and trivia

• England have never yet played a T20I at the Gadaffi Stadium. In fact, there had been just three such matches globally when England last played any international fixture in Lahore, on the ODI leg of their 2005-06 tour.
• Babar Azam needs 61 more runs to reach 3000 in T20Is. If he does so in this next innings, his 80th in the format, he will beat the record of 81 held by India’s Virat Kohli.

Quotes

“When we lost in the summer we were playing poorly. You are a bit more down about those results. It was disappointing result the other night but it was a great game of cricket. Okay, we lost, but I feel we are playing good cricket. We lost a lot of wickets in the powerplay but we managed to stay in the game until the very end.”

Moeen Ali is upbeat about England’s progress as they build towards the World Cup.

Visitors declare with 218-run lead before striking late on curtailed day

ECB Reporters Network14-Sep-2022Sussex 220 and 39 for 1 trail Worcestershire 438 for 5 (Libby 215) lead by 179 runsOpener Jake Libby made a career-best 215 as Worcestershire put themselves in position to push for victory over Sussex and keep their promotion hopes alive in the LV= Insurance County Championship. Libby’s maiden double-century came in a total of 438 for 5 before Worcestershire declared with a lead of 218 on day three at the 1st Central County Ground, having banked maximum bonus points.Play didn’t start at Hove until 4.10pm because of rain and 84 overs have been lost in the match so far but Worcestershire quickly made up for lost time, Libby leading the charge as they thrashed 149 in 20 overs against some toothless bowling before the declaration.Sussex were left with ten overs to negotiate, and they lost skipper Tom Haines for 13 in the penultimate over when he played on to Joe Leach. They closed on 39 for 1, still 179 behind.Sussex had taken the new ball when play eventually began after heavy rain but it was soon being dispatched to all parts by Libby and Jack Haynes. Pakistan allrounder Faheem Ashraf came in for some harsh treatment, his three overs costing 30 runs including three successive boundaries by Libby which took him past his previous best score of 184.He added 96 in 22 overs with Haynes, who played on to Brad Currie for 31, but skipper Brett D’Oliveira kept up the momentum when he joined Libby. D’Oliveira offered a difficult chance off a top-edged pull but Ali Orr, running round the boundary, couldn’t quite hold on as he stepped over the rope. Otherwise, the pair scored at more than seven runs an over even though Sussex had seven fielders on the boundary.Libby brought up his 200 with a single off James Coles and offered his first chance on 204, but wicketkeeper Oli Carter spilled a straightforward opportunity moving to his right. Libby was eventually dismissed by Coles shaping to cut, having faced 294 balls, hit 25 fours and a six in a highly impressive innings spanning six hours, 38 minutes spread over three days.It was his team’s second double-hundred of this season following Azhar Ali’s 235 against Leicestershire in May and the highest score by a Worcestershire batter against Sussex, beating Graeme Hick’s 186 at Hove in 1991. The declaration came when Ashraf had D’Oliveira, whose 43 off 38 balls included two sixes, was caught behind for 43.