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Wayne Parnell takes five as Northamptonshire take upper hand on first visit in seven years

David Hopps29-Apr-2021In the week that Citizen Kane was said to have been ousted by Paddington 2 as the best film of all time, it was fitting to reflect that some people think Headingley has gone the same way. Overbearing and malevolent for much of its history, it is now held to be sweet-natured and adorable, spreading joy and marmalade wherever it goes.Well, just as reports that Paddington 2 was now No 1 film proved on further examination to be a little dubious, so the suggestion that Headingley is always awash with kindness was entirely lost on Yorkshire as they were brusquely turfed out for 206 by a Northamptonshire attack relishing their first Championship visit since 2014.Not that conditions were all that challenging. Leaden skies, and a couple of rain stoppages encouraged the decision to insert Yorkshire, but there was a good balance between bat and ball, leaving Headingley nicely placed between egomaniac newspaper baron and tiresomely cute bear.Yorkshire lie second to Lancashire in Group 3 and they are understandably regarded as one of the favourites for the Championship, but their top six remains flaky and they did not acquit themselves particularly well. Northants were then blessed by a sunnier evening as Ricardo Vasconcelos and Ben Curran scooted to 36 without loss in 11 overs to set up an enticing second day.If the weather remains crabby, Yorkshire are probably not too far off the pace, but it is interesting to note that the batter to make the most serious attempt to meet the challenge was Dom Bess, their newest acquisition, born in Exeter, schooled at Blundells, developed at Somerset. Yorkshire are having to import mental toughness these days – Dawid Malan, away at the IPL, being another example – and Bess’ 56 from 95 balls, compiled over more than two-and-a-half hours, was impressive in its responsibility.This was Bess’ first half-century of the season – and only the seventh of his first-class career – but it was perhaps the strongest indication yet that Yorkshire’s commitment to batting him at No. 7 can bear fruit. The hope will be that he can balance up the side in the way that the departed Tim Bresnan did, restoring order and common sense.Compact and judicious, he did just that. He was fortunate, on 29, that an edge against Tom Taylor reached the slips on the half-volley – had that been taken Yorkshire would have been even more in the mire at 80 for 6 – but he put away the bad ball, defended with soft hands, and his dismissal only came when he sensed he was running out of partners, as he pulled Gareth Berg to midwicket to become the ninth batter to fall.Berg, 40 now, is in danger of becoming an unsung version of Kent’s Darren Stevens, county cricket’s symbol of longevity. He also provides order – to Northants’ bowling – and he finished with commendable figures of 3 for 32 in 13 overs, also striking Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s off-stump and having Will Fraine lbw.Related

• Nottinghamshire near end of three-year drought as Derbyshire are batted to the brink

• 'I really did start hating cricket' – Dom Bess bounces back

• Notts quicks fire after Ben Slater century on 18-wicket day

• Clarke and Clark fit roles to give high-flying Hampshire a shoeing

• Gubbins, White give Middlesex the edge on solid first day at Taunton

Kohler-Cadmore has talent in abundance, but it is doubtful that there have been few looser opening batters in Yorkshire’s history. One wonders what Louis Hall, a Methodist lay preacher and tee-totaller, who carried his bat through an innings 15 times, 14 for Yorkshire, would have made of him. There again, even in the late 19th century, Hall was regarded as the odd one out in Lord Hawke’s side of “10 drunks and a parson” so maybe he would have just clutched his bible and thought: “Bloody hell, another chancy one”.Kohler-Cadmore was a picture of vulnerability, crashing along at nearly a run a ball in defiance of the fact that he has yet to make a half-century this season. He still hasn’t, although he did get to 42, with an uncomfortable number of them flying to third man off a thick edge. Perhaps two rain interruptions on either side of lunch did for him.Fraine was standing in for Joe Root, who was rested (non-stop cricket asks a lot of England’s players so nobody should chide) and even a double century in the 2s is no help when you are replacing the England captain. He was Kohler-Cadmore’s opposite, made 11 in 66 balls, and was dropped at second slip on 1 by Rob Keogh, who had been juggling handwarmers, but who failed to juggle the catch.The race to 1,000 runs by the end of May is well and truly on this year, with so many Championship rounds scheduled in this period, and a preponderance of flatter surfaces, so Graeme Hick’s status as the last batter to manage it in 1988 must be under threat. Adam Lyth is one of the early leaders, along with Durham’s David Bedingham; Lyth lasted one ball, unfortunate to be bowled by Ben Sanderson as he essayed a perfectly sensible leave-alone only for the ball to change direction after flicking his back pad.There were also five wickets for Wayne Parnell, which is an afterthought partly because he mopped up the tail, but he did make important inroads during a morning period when Yorkshire lost four wickets for 14 in 37 balls. He was all over the place, but he is an attacking bowler who makes things happen. Vascelonces, who is filling the role of captain, keeper and opening batter here, could have done with a bit less desperate diving around.Gary Ballance was an important scalp, caught at first slip by Curran after Keogh had knocked the ball up, one-handed, at second. Harry Brook registered a second-ball duck, notable for a big trigger movement where he set himself firmly back and across a full six paces before Parnell delivered. You didn’t have to be a qualified coach to wonder whether, for a left-arm inswinger as talented as Parnell, it was a bit of a gimme.

Travis Head played a superb innings before Peter Siddle and Wes Agar helped all but end the Hurricanes’ chances of reaching the finals

The Report by Andrew McGlashan19-Jan-2020The Adelaide Strikers survived a return to form for David Miller to secure a ten-run victory in Launceston that moved them to second in the table and all but end the Hobart Hurricanes’ hopes of making the finals.Travis Head played a superb innings to put the Strikers on course for a hefty total but he was grateful for the experience of Peter Siddle, and four wickets from Wes Agar, as the Hurricanes tried to keep their season alive.Travis Head hits out•Getty Images

Head crunched 79 off 40 balls – and was a chance of making a century – before Jono Wells and Matt Short ensured a strong finish to the innings with a stand of 54 in 36 balls. The Hurricanes were always behind in the chase, but Miller and Ben McDermott added 60 to just about keep them in it, before Miller struck powerfully in the closing overs to ensure the Strikers were not secure until Siddle conceded just two off the first three balls of the last over.Tricky start, costly dropThere was a little bit of life in the surface and the Hurricanes made the early running through Scott Boland, who had 2 for 2 after his first seven deliveries, removing Phil Salt and Jake Weatherald – the latter to a reflex one-handed return catch. However, Clive Rose bookended the powerplay with a brace of poor overs – conceding 21 – which meant the Strikers still had a decent tally on the board. In the eighth over, there was what would become a key moment in the game when Head swept Qais Ahmad to deep square-leg where Miller could not hold on to a low chance.Head makes it countWhen he was dropped, Head was 21 off 14, an innings he would transform into a decisive display. The next over he faced from Ahmad, he slog-swept two sixes and another followed against Nathan Ellis – which went out of the ground – as he sped to a 31-ball half-century. In the 13th over, he took Rose for two more sixes in the space of three balls and there was time for him to make a huge total, but attempting to clear the rope again he found deep midwicket. However, he had shown the flexibility that has become part of his game and a reminder that before he became a Test cricketer it was the T20 format where he first made his name. The Hurricanes did reasonably well at the death – there were only two fours and two sixes in the final 7.2 overs – but Wells, whose 40 made him the Strikers’ leading run-scorer, and Short married good running with the occasional strong shot to ensure Head’s work didn’t go to waste.Peter Siddle bowled a fantastic final over to thwart David Miller•Getty Images

Wading into early troubleIt was the size of chase where the Hurricanes needed to come strongly out of the blocks, but it didn’t happen with Matthew Wade edging to slip in the first over and Caleb Jewell skying to mid-off in the fifth. Coupled with a sluggish start from Jake Doran at No. 3 – who was 15 off 18 balls at the end of the powerplay – it meant the Hurricanes had already let the asking rate escalate into double figures.Miller’s late arrivalMiller had made 91 runs in nine innings before today, but was able to get an early foothold this time although after ten overs, the Hurricanes’ requirement was a steep 122 off 60 balls. He and McDermott threatened to turn things around, but the Hurricanes were always behind even though Rashid Khan had a rare expensive day. The last five overs started with them needing 71 and McDermott picked out long-on against Siddle just as he was finding his stride. With 38 needed off 12 balls, Miller took two sixes in four balls off Michael Neser and if he could have managed a third, to bring the final-over requirement under 20, things could have been twitchy for the Strikers. But Neser went for just three singles off the last three balls – Khan pulling off a good save at deep square on the last delivery. With 21 needed off the last, Siddle had breathing space, but showed his T20 prowess with two yorkers to start with which killed the game off.

The opener scored at a strike rate of nearly 200 and helped Blitz make 172 after collapsing to 101 for 8 on a difficult surface

The Report by Varun Shetty01-Dec-2018Quinton de Kock struck his fourth T20 century – a superlative knock on a night where only two other batsmen made more than 30 – as Cape Town Blitz countered Nelson Mandela Bay Giants’ bonus point win on Friday with one of their own. This means that Blitz are now six points clear of the Giants at the top of the table. On the flip side, AB de Villiers’ Tshwane Spartans registered their fourth loss in six games, and will wonder how they managed to lose by 60 runs, having reduced Blitz to 101 for 8 at one point after electing to bowl.The pitch had bothered Quinton de Kock and Janneman Malan early on with its two-paced nature. But not to the extent it would cripple all the batsmen that followed the two openers, who still managed to strike at nearly ten an over during their 83-run stand. The introduction of spin through Jeevan Mendis’ legbreaks brought the dismissal Spartans were searching for. Pinch-hitter Andile Phehlukwayo was bowled by fast bowler Corbin Bosch next over and it was swiftly followed by two wickets in two balls by Sean Williams – Farhaan Behardien and Asif Ali both out after being beaten in flight by the left-arm spinner.And it just didn’t seem to stop. Batsmen fell rapidly against both pace and spin with the pitch showing a dramatic change in nature, and in five overs, Blitz crumbled for a collapse that read 8 for 18.But the return of Lutho Sipamla seemed to have encouraged de Kock, who had taken the bowler for 16 off 4 in the sixth over of the innings. In his third, the 15th of the innings, he hit him for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries. This gave him momentum going into the next over, where he spent the first four balls dismantling Mendis: a six over long-off to start, followed by boundaries at deep extra cover, deep backward square and wide long-on. In two overs, Blitz had moved from 101 for 8 to 133 for 8, and suddenly Spartans knew they were in for a brutal assault. Having galloped from 67 to 86 in five balls, de Kock didn’t take too long to bring up his hundred, a powerful drive wide of mid-off sealing that milestone for him in the 18th over.He fell in the 19th over with the score 158. And it wouldn’t have gone past 160 if Andrew Birch hadn’t overstepped first ball of the 20th. The seamer had managed to get Nandre Burger to sky a leading edge to third man, but his front foot landing ended up costing Spartans a further 12 runs in damage as Blitz remarkably managed to bat out their last 6.1 overs without being bowled out.De Kock’s innings would have encouraged Spartans, nonetheless. It showed that the runs were there to be had, and that Blitz may have well made more if their middle order had chipped in. However, they soon realised that the struggles they caused were more than cosmetic. Even while facing the new ball, strokemaking seemed almost impossible for openers Gihahn Cloete and Dean Elgar. The few boundaries that did come were not all controlled shots, and quite a few of them came off edges.In fact, it got so bad by the time the spinners came on, that No. 3 batsman Theunis de Bruyn couldn’t find the boundary a single time in the 17 balls he faced. When he pulled Mohammad Nawaz to long-on, Spartans were striking at less than seven per over at the halfway stage.Any hopes of recovering from those depths were squashed in the following over, with Malusi Siboto rattling de Villiers’ stumps. It was symptomatic of the pitch: de Villiers got an inside edge onto thigh guard that deflected onto the stumps. Like most other batsmen on the pitch, de Villiers simply couldn’t come to terms with the slowness during his 10-ball innings.Nawaz turned the screws further with his third wicket in the next over and finished with 3 for 14 in his three. There was little Spartans could do to recover, having gone six overs without a boundary after the eighth over of the innings. Attempts at aggression were futile in the end, and Burger used that to round off an impressive first game of the season with figures of 3 for 19.

Roshan Mahanama, Brendon Kuruppu and Graeme Labrooy are among the other former players the board is attempting to align with in its efforts to arrest the decline of the national team

Andrew Fidel Fernando11-Sep-2017Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Brendon Kuruppu, Graeme Labrooy, perhaps even Mahela Jayawardene – these are the names Sri Lanka Cricket is attempting to align itself with as the board looks to arrest the decline of the national team.Even more crucially for SLC, getting former players with good reputations on board may also help turn around its ailing public reputation. The board is now not only widely believed to be detrimental to the development of cricket, it is also seen as one of the most toxic governing bodies in the country.Whether these former players are willing to become associated with SLC given its present state remains to be seen. But as far as some board officials are concerned, they have several vacancies to fill, and would like for these men to be installed in those positions. De Silva, for example, would return to his role as cricket advisor, some board officials hope. They would also like Mahanama, Kuruppu and Labrooy to become selectors, to replace the Sanath Jayasuriya-led committee that resigned earlier in the month. Ideally Jayawardene might also come in as a consultant. And the only reason officials have not set their sights on Kumar Sangakkara is because he is still playing cricket overseas.Of these ex-players, Labrooy and Kuruppu have confirmed that SLC has approached them, while Mahanama has said he has not been approached so far. Labrooy is currently an ICC match referee.There is some irony in the board gunning for the aid of these former players at this juncture, because some of them are the same men it has spent the last 18 months alienating. Kuruppu was part of the selection committee that was sacked by Thilanga Sumathipala and the board just 48 hours from the team’s scheduled departure from the 2016 World T20, for example. Jayawardene’s plan to take cricket into the provinces was scrapped and criticised, and he was ousted from his position in the SLC cricket committee. De Silva had held the cricket advisor post for about 12 months, but then quit earlier this year, due to strong differences with SLC.Two developments have precipitated this drastic change of approach. In the wake of the 0-9 drubbing by India, and indeed the unprecedented losses to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe earlier this year, members of SLC’s executive committee have become convinced that the board’s existing trajectory was untenable. Those defeats have also substantially weakened Thilanga Sumathipala’s political grip within the organisation, with pressure now having been placed on him from higher political offices in the country.Sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara has repeatedly said that he would not dissolve an elected board to appoint an interim committee, so the Sumathipala presidency is safe for now – at least until the board elections early next year (they could be brought forward to December).However, other board officials have now taken strong issue with the manner in which Sumathipala has conducted business at SLC, particularly his alleged meddling with team selection and direct influence over cricket matters. These agitating officials claim that should any of the former players they are trying to woo take up positions at the board, those new appointments should “have a free hand”, in contrast to what had previously been the case. It is perhaps relevant that Graham Ford resigned in June exactly because he felt his role was repeatedly encroached upon.The sports minister is also hoping to get many of these former players together for a brainstorming session on how SLC might turn cricket around, over the next week or so.Essentially, amid a significant decline in influence for Sumathipala, there is now substantial will within SLC to change tack. Early indications from the former players they are chasing, however, is that they would rather await fundamental change in SLC – either the election or the appointment of a fresh board – before they become involved.

Kuldeep Yadav’s 5 for 55, the bowler’s maiden first-class five-for, spliced through the heart of India Green’s line-up on the third day of the Duleep Trophy match to render an already tough chase of 497 all but impossible

Arun Venugopal25-Aug-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Kuldeep Yadav combated dew to claim his maiden first-class five-for against India Green on Thursday•ICC

After seam bowlers and batsmen aced the pink-ball test on the first two days, it was the spinners’ turn to join the party. Kuldeep Yadav not only turned up, but did a merry jig too, as he spliced through the heart of India Green’s line-up to render an already tough chase of 497 all but impossible. His maiden first-class five-for reduced India Green to 217 for 7, still 280 runs adrift of the target, after India Red had galloped to 486 in the afternoon.India Green were in a reasonable position at 184 for 4 before Kuldeep struck twice in the space of five overs to dismiss Saurabh Tiwary and Sandeep Sharma, leaving captain Suresh Raina as the sole recognised batsman going into day four. Kuldeep did not have everything going his way as he had to combat the dew – he admitted to finding it “very difficult” to grip the wet ball – and two ball changes which, according to Robin Uthappa, helped the batsmen as the ball came on to the bat quicker.Kuldeep also played a useful hand with the bat, as his 49-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Anureet Singh supplemented Gurkeerat Singh’s robust 82 off 96 balls. His performance also overshadowed fellow wristspinner Shreyas Gopal’s skillful show, which had earned the latter five wickets.While the eventual score might bear little trace of it, India Green’s pursuit initially acquired a sturdy set of wheels as they soared to 52 for 0 in six overs. With Nathu Singh and Anureet unable to find swing or lateral movement, Uthappa and Jalaj Saxena made the right noises. While Uthappa scorched drives down the ground, Saxena got away with whips that saw his bat descending in a risky, angular arc.India Red wrested some control through Ishwar Pandey, who operated on a run-drying line, and bowled Saxena as he attempted to guide a straight ball. It wasn’t until the 15th over that Kuldeep was introduced, but all seemed well at that stage for India Green with Uthappa sustaining the initiative. Kuldeep, however, deceived Uthappa with a ball that went with the angle and the batsman edged it to first slip. Two balls later, Rajat Paliwal was lbw after he pre-empted a googly only to get a chinaman.While Uthappa handled Kuldeep relatively easily, what was less noticeable was Parthiv Patel’s struggles against the chinaman bowler – he managed only two runs off the 47 balls he faced from Kuldeep in both innings, and fell to the bowler on both occasions. In the 27th over, Parthiv hung back to a fast-ish googly that skidded on to catch him in front of the stumps; the previous ball, he had thrust out a diffident prod to another googly.Suresh Raina also started off nervously against Kuldeep. At one point he was harried into swishing across the line with no foot movement. But, along with Tiwary, who had scored a fifty on the second day, Raina cobbled up a 54-run stand for the fifth wicket, only for Kuldeep to wreck the innings with his late blows.That the pink ball retained its shine helped Kuldeep get the ball to skid on, although the fact that there were two instances of the ball losing shape – in the 19th and 32nd overs – might be a worrisome aspect.In the afternoon, India Green might have reconciled to copping another round of brisk pummelling had rain not made its now-customary appearance. In a little over an hour, India Red had jogged along to 67 runs in 14.4 overs, although India Green had mitigated things somewhat by removing Abhinav Mukund and KB Arun Karthik.It was after the early, rain-enforced tea break, however, that India Green, aided by Shreyas, looked like they were in control for the first time in the innings. With Sandeep Sharma and Ashok Dinda doing little to curb Gurkeerat’s scoring-rate, Raina turned to Shreyas, who showed his variations while cutting through the India Red middle order.Gurkeerat had a jolly good run up to that point, camping in his crease, and either guiding or slashing the seamers behind square. Four overs into the second session, Shreyas sent down a delivery that would also define Kuldeep’s performance later in the night: the ball veered in, dipped and turned away from Gurkeerat, who had lumbered forward and lost his balance as Parthiv quickly swiped the bails off. Not long after, Shreyas had Akshay Wakhare lbw, but Anureet and Kuldeep frustrated India Green before the side was bowled for 486.

Mumbai Indians completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the eight-year history of the Indian Premier league by transforming a terrible start to the tournament – they were at the bottom of the table for the first two weeks – into a title win

The Report by Devashish Fuloria24-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:16

Kalra: Crowd short-changed with lack of contest

Mumbai Indians completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the eight-year history of the Indian Premier League by transforming a terrible start to the tournament – they were at the bottom of the table for the first two weeks – into a title win.The final, a repeat of their 2013 success at the same ground against the same opposition, turned out to be one of the easier outings after an unbridled early onslaught by Rohit Sharma and Lendl Simmons, both of whom hit half-centuries, stunned Chennai Super Kings – veterans of IPL finals – into submission. Super Kings were not even given a sniff.MS Dhoni’s choice of bowling first on a patchy Eden Gardens pitch was interesting, not because he might have over-compensated for the presence of dew later on but because it was a departure from a strategy that had worked for Super Kings during in their two previous title wins – bat first, score big, then apply the squeeze.The start was perfect; Faf du Plessis ran out Parthiv Patel brilliantly and Ashish Nehra ensured only one came off the first over. But that was it, because once Rohit tore into the second over, picking 16 off Mohit Sharma, Super Kings were always chasing the ball.R Ashwin was introduced in the fourth over, overstepped once and paid the price with a 12-run over. Jadeja was also bowled inside the Powerplay but Simmons smashed him for 14 runs to make it 61 runs off the first six. After seeing Rohit kick-start the innings with a flurry of boundaries in the first three overs, Simmons had played all but one ball in the next three and had overtaken Rohit.The spreading of field was not going to have an effect on the tiny outfield. Simmons continued hogging majority of strike and continued finding boundaries to reach his sixth half-century of the season in the 10th over.The run-rate showed no signs of stemming but Dhoni continued to hold back Dwayne Bravo, the leading wicket-taker of the tournament. As fate had it, it was Bravo who broke the dangerous stand in his first over – the 12th of the innings – by which time Rohit, too, had reached his half-century, of just 24 balls, and the run-rate was hovering around 10.An animated speech by Dhoni in the team huddle at Rohit’s dismissal had a brief effect: Dwayne Smith sent Simmons back with his first ball of the tournament and 30 runs came off four overs. But on 150 after 16 overs with Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu warmed up, Mumbai Indians were waiting to explode.Nehra bore the brunt – he was hit for three sixes and a four in the 17th by Pollard – and Mumbai Indians finished for only the second ever 200-plus total in an IPL final.Super Kings’ chase needed early thrust but it never came. Smith, as had happened throughout the season, struggled to time the ball. He did reach a half-century – his second this season – but Super Kings needed more from him than a strike rate of 118. Harbhajan Singh dismissed Smith an over after he had removed Raina, Malinga struck too and Mitchell McClenaghan collected three. Super Kings’ wait for their third title entered its fifth year.

Usman Khawaja and Nathan Reardon provided the bookends to a successful chase as Queensland prevailed over Tasmania with one ball to spare

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Nov-2012Queensland 5 for 278 (Khawaja 78, Reardon 71*) defeated Tasmania 275 (Bailey 102, Hauritz 3-53, McDermott 3-65) by 5 wickets
ScorecardUsman Khawaja and Nathan Reardon provided the bookends to a successful chase as Queensland prevailed over Tasmania with one ball to spare in the domestic limited overs match in Hobart.Sent in to bat by the Bulls’ acting captain Chris Hartley, the Tigers were sustained by a century from their captain George Bailey, who was supported by Alex Doolan, Jon Wells and some late hitting by James Faulkner to reach a total that had seemed unlikely at 2 for 8.The visitors’ pursuit was given a sprightly start by Khawaja and Hartley, who raised a century stand before Jason Krejza claimed the first wicket.When Khawaja departed Tasmania had a chance, and their hopes were raised further when Peter Forrest was controversially given LBW by the third umpire Paul Wilson after the on-field umpire Geoff Joshua had declined Faulkner’s appeal.Television umpires are permitted to intervene and change the on-field decision under Cricket Australia playing conditions in both televised domestic limited overs games and Big Bash League Twenty20 matches. The Bulls coach Darren Lehmann was notably unhappy with the call by his former South Australia team-mate, and was seen venturing to the umpires’ room.Nonetheless, Queensland kept up with the rate, in no small part due to Reardon’s clean striking, and inched their way home in the final over.

Cricket Australia will not rush in to naming Tim Nielsen’s replacement as head coach, even if it means starting the home summer with the stand-in Troy Cooley still in charge

Brydon Coverdale13-Oct-2011Cricket Australia will not rush in to naming Tim Nielsen’s replacement as head coach, even if it means starting the home summer with the stand-in Troy Cooley still in charge. The appointment of Pat Howard as general manager of team performance means that in theory the search for a new mentor can move forward, but it will be slowed by the fact Howard does not start his new job until mid-November.That leaves only a fortnight before the first Test of the summer, against New Zealand at the Gabba starting on December 1. Cooley, the head coach at the Centre of Excellence in Brisbane, is with Australia’s squad in South Africa as acting coach, and he could find himself filling the position a little longer, after Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland said the process would roll out over “the next couple of months”.”We know and understand that we don’t have a coach, we’ve got Troy Cooley, who is acting in the role at the moment,” Sutherland said. “We’re very aware of that. What I’ve always said is we will step up this process but we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We understand the urgency but we’re not going to compromise the process, because we have to make sure that we go through a rigorous process to identify the best person for the job.”It’s clearly a key focus and virtually the first thing that will come on to Pat’s radar. We’re in a position from today to go forward very quickly with that and roll that out over the next month or so, or whatever it takes – probably over the next couple of months.”Howard will be a key man in finding the new head coach, an expanded position that also involves directing the coaching strategy for elite cricket throughout Australia. He said the captain Michael Clarke would play an important role in determining the new mentor, as the pair would need to work closely together to push Australia back up the Test rankings.”He’s got to be complementary and work with the captain,” Howard said. “You can’t have antagonism working from day one – that’s never going to work. So the ability to have effectively what is the spine of cricket, the coach and captain, has got to work really well together. Those considerations have absolutely got to be part of how you fit that jigsaw puzzle together. Michael’s skills and strengths have got to be utilised and complemented.”Appointing coaches is nothing new for Howard. During his time as high-performance chief with the Australian Rugby Union he signed the New Zealander Robbie Deans as coach of Australia’s national side, a move that has resulted in the Wallabies reaching this Sunday’s World Cup semi-final against the All Blacks. Australia’s cricket team has never had a foreign head coach, and while that tradition is likely to continue, Howard will at least bring a fresh perspective to the search.”I see myself having a very strong role in that,” he said. “I have done a lot of coach recruitment – ACT Brumbies, the Reds in Queensland, who won the Super-15 this year, and Australia. I have a fairly strong history, albeit in another sport, in this.”I recruited Robbie Deans. That was a fairly unique time. It was what was required in the game at the time and we went through a fairly rigorous process in being able to deal with that. You’ve got to recruit the best person for the job. That factors in things like culture, it factors in where the team is at, and you don’t take in an pre-conceived ideas. A big thing for me is that it’s not about the names, it’s about getting the capabilities that the game needs right now to complement the other people who are there.”The other major appointment on the horizon is the national selector, a full-time role that will include heading a five-man selection panel. For the time being, the incumbent chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, remains in position along with the part-time selector Jamie Cox, while Greg Chappell, who will be cut when a new panel is appointed, is in South Africa as the selector on duty.”We’re probably more advanced in the national selector role,” Sutherland said. “We advertised a few weeks ago, so the search consultant recruiter that we’ve been working with has been meeting with various people and has gathered a list of names that has been waiting in abeyance for the general manager to be appointed. Now we’re at a stage where we can start talking about that a bit more freely and start getting down to a shortlist to identify that. It’s going to be a similar sort of time frame but we’re certainly very aware that the summer is approaching and we want to have someone on board as quickly as possible.”

Shahid Afridi has been cautioned by the PCB after expressing his unhappiness with the selection of the squad he will lead against South Africa in Abu Dhabi and Dubai later this month

Osman Samiuddin12-Oct-2010Shahid Afridi has been cautioned by the PCB after expressing his unhappiness with the selection of the squad he will lead against South Africa in Abu Dhabi and Dubai later this month. The board announced a 15-man squad to play two Twenty20s and five ODIs last week, but didn’t initially name a captain. Afridi was named captain a day later, but not before fuelling speculation that he and the board were unhappy with each other.”The team was announced without my input and advice,” Afridi told . “I wanted 2-3 players other than Sohail Tanvir in the side.” Afridi, currently in Lahore leading the Karachi Dolphins in the domestic Twenty20 Cup, said he would speak to the chairman Ijaz Butt about the squad. Butt is, however, currently in Dubai for an ICC meeting.But the statements have earned him an official rebuke from the board. “He has been sent a letter today [Tuesday] telling him to avoid giving such interviews,” a board official told ESPNcricinfo. The official clarified, however, that the communication was not a show-cause notice.Afridi’s comments strengthen suspicions of Butt’s growing influence in selection matters and the shaping of squads. ESPNcricinfo has been told, by reliable sources, that coach Waqar Younis was also not consulted over the selection. Waqar arrived in Lahore early Monday from Sydney and the source said he was “quite upset” about it. Last Friday, when Misbah-ul-Haq was appointed Test captain, chief selector Mohsin Khan had distanced himself from the decision and said that Younis Khan was the preferred choice of his committee.Traditionally, the PCB chief has only signed off on final squads and appointed a captain, not involving himself to any extent in the composition of the squad itself. That has been left to the chief selector, captain and coach. Butt’s two years as chairman, however, have seen six different captains, five chief selectors and three coaches; the constant state of flux, according to one ex-selector, has concentrated power in the chairman’s hands.”This has gotten particularly worse since Mohsin Khan became chief selector,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “Until Iqbal Qasim [predecessor to Mohsin] was there the chairman would never attend selection meetings. Now Mohsin doesn’t consult with his own committee and only gets instructions from the chairman and essentially says yes to whatever the chairman has said.” Earlier this year, in June, the same criticism was levelled at Mohsin and Butt during the announcement of the squad for the series against Australia in England.

The Sri Lankan captain is unfazed by the fact that his seam attack is inexperienced and expects them to make a mark

Nagraj Gollapudi in Ahmedabad15-Nov-2009Sri Lanka are the world’s second-best Test side yet their fast-bowling line-up is unlikely to send shivers down a batsman’s spine. Their five-member pace contingent for the India tour, comprising Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara, Dammika Prasad, Angelo Mathews and Chanaka Welegedara, have played 27 Tests among them, sharing 68 wickets with only one five-for (Thushara). Yet, Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka’s captain, is not edgy about his inexperienced pace attack.Smart, ambitious and spirited leader that he is, Sangakkara knows the only way he can get the best out of his young bowlers is to encourage and challenge them. Sangakkara is well aware that the young blood understands no defeat. “Reputations are there to be made (on the Indian tour),” Sangakkara said after a long practice session at Motera on a hot Sunday afternoon.”When you bring in a lot of fresh guys who have perspective and fire in them, they have the great opportunity to pick up wickets of big names in Test cricket. And if they do that, they’ll have a reputation going into another series.”The Sri Lankans landed in India exactly a week ago and their stay so far has been a mixed experience. Cyclone Phyan skipped Mumbai but washed out the visitors’ only warm-up game ahead of the series, the three-day affair against Board President’s XI. It did not help matters when the SuperSopper at the venue (MCA Recreation ground) was moved to the DY Patil Cricket Stadium, which was hosting the final ODI of the India-Australia series. When it was brought back on the final day of the tour game, it started leaking oil. The visitors had to make do with nets, the fast bowlers hardly getting any freedom to charge in with a full run-up. Sangakkara admitted that it was a bit disappointing.Despite that, he remains confident of his team’s prospects of making history and winning their maiden Test in India in 27 years. “We have a much-improved pace attack. We have a good balance where we can play two or three specialist spinners and still have two fast bowlers playing in the side. That probably is the difference from the sides that came here in the past.”A major shot in the arm for the tourists is Tillakaratne Dilshan’s return to peak fitness after he suffered an ankle injury during practice in Mumbai. But today, Dilshan enjoyed a warm-up game of football and Sangakkara confirmed that he [Dilshan] would open the batting with Tharanga Paranavitana. Dilshan, who recently scored the fastest fifty (off 31 balls) by a Sri Lankan in Tests, in Galle against New Zealand, is a valuable addition at the top of the order. Sri Lanka would hope he can rein in his aggression to consolidate later on on a flat pitch, which both Sangakkara and his counterpart MS Dhoni, agreed would steadily get slower.One area where the Sri Lankans are spoilt for choice is the spin department, with three quality spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis and Rangana Herath. The visitors have a difficult task on their hands, considering Sangakkara had earlier pointed out that the chief yardstick to pick a player would be his form.Murali walks into the team by default, but Sangakkara said he would think hard before picking the second (or even third) spinner. “It is an interesting choice. But if Herath misses out, and if I were him, I would be very, very disappointed because he has outbowled both Murali and Mendis in the previous two Test series [New Zealand and Pakistan] so he has got a very, very good chance.”