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The defending BBL champions have secured Munro on a two-year deal ahead of the overseas draft

AAP02-Jul-2024Brisbane Heat have taken a key step towards defending their BBL title by re-signing former New Zealand batter Colin Munro for a further two seasons.Munro, who announced his international retirement earlier this year after missing New Zealand’s T20 World Cup squad, has played 428 T20 matches in multiple competitions and scored 10,961 runs at a career strike-rate of 141.25, with five centuries and 67 half-centuries.Related

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The 37-year-old lines up for his third season with Heat and is the BBL’s fourth player to be signed under new rules which allow each club to sign one international on a multi-year deal ahead of the overseas player draft.Munro, who was a member of the Perth Scorchers’ 2021-22 BBL title win, has played the past two seasons with the Heat and scored 502 runs with blistering knocks of 98 and 99 not out.In both seasons he left early to join Desert Vipers in the UAE-based ILT20 competition but his new Heat deal will ensure Munro is available for all BBL matches, including finals.England international and former Heat star Sam Billings has joined Sydney Thunder next season while Heat cult hero and last season’s finals hero Josh Brown will link with Melbourne Renegades.Munro will lead a strong Heat line-up, alongside Australia’s Usman Khawaja and Matt Renshaw, and wants to be part of a championship side.”It was pretty poignant being away and watching the boys go one better to win the title, after going through the disappointment of the previous season when we got beaten at the death in the final,'” Munro said.”It’s a strong squad again and I’m looking forward to being part of what we can build together. There are always opportunities to get better and as a group, we should be excited about the new goals we will pursue this summer.”Heat have a new coach for next season with Johan Botha having replaced Wade Seccombe.

The fast bowlers have dominated the series so far but it is likely to be less seam-friendly in the series decider

Alex Malcolm21-Mar-2023

Big picture: Can the batters fight back?

Two of the best sides in the world. Two of the deepest batting line-ups in men’s ODI cricket. Yet in the first two matches of this series, the fast bowlers dominated. It is unusual to see back-to-back ODIs in India where the team batting first have failed to reach 200. India were left shell-shocked in Visakhapatnam after a shellacking from Australia to level the series at 1-1. Mitchell Starc tore through India’s top order again taking his 9th ODI five-wicket haul. Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis also took five between them as India were routed for just 117, before Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head mowed the total down in just 11 overs to hand India their largest-ever ODI defeat in terms of balls remaining.What then is in store in Chennai infront of an expected full house? Both teams will be looking for some runs at a ground that isn’t known as a high-scoring venue. There hasn’t been an ODI played at MA Chidambaram Stadium since 2019. Australia last played here in 2017 but it was a rain-affected match.Related

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For India, it is their last ODI until the tour of the Caribbean in August and they may only have three more at home before the World Cup begins. They experimented with three spinners in the line-up in Vizag but it was their batting that let them down. Whether they reshuffle the top order, particularly to avoid being so right-hand heavy when Starc is swerving missiles into their front pads, remains to be seen. Rohit Sharma noted after the second ODI that India’s batters know what to expect from Starc and simply need to handle it better.Like India, this is one of Australia’s last opportunities on Indian soil before the World Cup although they may play a warm-up series in October. They too don’t play another ODI until a tour of South Africa in late August. Their middle order hasn’t had much of a chance to settle in this series. In game one they tried to be too aggressive following Marsh’s early onslaught and in game two they were not required. The Marsh-Head opening combination has been a roaring success but David Warner’s impending return is likely to reshape the line-up.

Form guide

India LWWWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Australia WLWWW

In the spotlight: Suryakumar Yadav and David Warner

Two balls, two first-ball ducks. Suryakumar Yadav has had a torrid start to this ODI series with Starc pinning him lbw twice in two deliveries with searing inswingers. Rohit has stated that he wants to give the world’s No.1 T20I batter 7 to 10 games to find his feet at ODI level. Former Australia captain Aaron Finch observed that he needed to be sharper in his first few deliveries. For as good as Suryakumar has been at T20 level, he rarely has to deal with swinging conditions but with two new balls in play in ODIs it is different to T20Is. He has twice entered when the new ball has been less than three overs old in this series and Starc has still been swinging it. He has walked out to bat inside the first three overs in three of his last six T20Is, but twice he has faced a spinner first-up bowling with the new ball. Batting No.4 in ODI cricket when the ball is swinging is a different challenge.David Warner has not played since he was subbed out of the Delhi Test with concussion. He also suffered a hairline fracture of his elbow in the same innings. Marsh has made a strong statement in his absence blasting 81 and 66 not out at the top of the order. Warner and Head have been an equally devastating opening combination sharing stands of 284, 269 and 147 in three of the seven innings they have opened together. While Warner’s Test form over recent years has waned, his white-ball returns have been outstanding during the same period. He remains committed to playing in Australia’s next two World Cups across ODI (2023) and T20I (2024) cricket. He batted for around half an hour in the nets on the eve of the match in Chennai and, if in the XI, will have a point to prove to dispel any hint of a thought that Australia might be better served with Marsh and Head remaining at the top of the order.

Team news: Spin to win

India will consider three spinners again despite the conditions conspiring against them in Vizag. They may go back to the well again with the same team to give the batting group and the three-spin combination another chance in friendlier conditions in Chennai.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav/Washington Sundar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mohammed SirajAustralia will continue to experiment. If Warner and Glenn Maxwell are fit both are likely to return. Warner would open and Marsh could slide to either No.3 or 4 depending on how they want to structure the middle order. Marnus Labuschagne would likely miss out. Australia could trial an all-rounder-heavy line-up again. Marcus Stoinis did not bowl in the last game which may have been in part due to workloads but also because Nathan Ellis played as a fourth specialist bowler, meaning he was not needed. Ashton Agar could be a chance if the pitch looks like it will take spin with an all-rounder at No.8, two spinners and one quick an option Australia could consider.Australia (probable): 1 David Warner, 2 Travis Head, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Alex Carey (wk), 6 Cameron Green, 7 Glenn Maxwell, 8 Marcus Stoinis, 9 Sean Abbott/Ashton Agar/Nathan Ellis, 10 Mitchell Starc, 11 Adam Zampa

Pitch and conditions

It rained in Chennai on Monday which interrupted Chennai Super Kings training but it is expected to clear on Wednesday. It could be hot and humid again though so there is the prospect of more swing and seam movement available, although MA Chidambaram Stadium is known to be far more spin-friendly in limited-overs cricket in recent years, especially in the IPL.

Stats and trivia

• India and Australia played the first ODI ever at MA Chidambaram Stadium in 1987, which was a World Cup thriller where Marsh’s father Geoff Marsh starred making 110. Australia have played four ODIs in Chennai since but only once against India.
• Batting second has proved very beneficial in the series so far but 13 of the 22 ODIs in Chennai have been won by the side batting first. But West Indies beat India chasing in the last ODI here in 2019.
• KL Rahul has 1954 runs in 50 ODI innings. If he scores another 46 on Sunday, he will be the joint second-fastest Indian behind Shikhar Dhawan (48 innings) to reach the landmark.
• Smith is 61 short of 5000 runs in the format. If he gets there in his next innings, he will be the joint second-fastest for Australia.

Says disruptions during England’s preparation before the series was a big reason for the poor performance, insists Test cricket remains the priority for the team

Matt Roller18-Jan-2022Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, has said that it is “laughable to point the finger at the Hundred” for England’s 4-0 Ashes drubbing in Australia, and insisted that Test match cricket has always been the priority for the team.”People that use that as an excuse don’t want cricket,” Morgan told talkSPORT’s Following On podcast. “Test match cricket has always been the priority: it’s the format for our elite players. Obviously times at the moment have been tough down in Australia during the Ashes [but] they always are: we’ve lost the last two series 5-0 [sic] and it’s no surprise that Australia are very, very good at home.”Given the prep the guys have had where since they’ve arrived in Australia, until the first Test match, it has hammered it down with rain… it’s laughable to point the finger at the Hundred. The Hundred is an unbelievable success. Our formats in county cricket and the Hundred, in the way they’re structured, it’s exactly the same as Australia’s.Related

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“People need something to blame so they’ll point at probably the furthest point to reality, because nobody wants to say: ‘you know what, we haven’t had the prep we would have liked, we probably haven’t played as we’d have liked, and we’ve lost’. That happens in all formats, but I stress: Test match cricket has always been the priority.”England’s convincing series defeat in Australia has prompted both Joe Root, the Test captain, and Tom Harrison, the ECB’s chief executive, to call for a “red-ball reset” and a shift in priorities within English cricket, with the implication that the balance has tilted too far in favour of the white-ball game since 2015. Some pundits have suggested that the Hundred – and its four-week window at the height of summer – has contributed to the malaise, pushing the County Championship to the start and end of the English season.Morgan arrived in Barbados on Saturday along with England’s T20I squad, which features only one player – Sam Billings, who is yet to arrive after a gruelling journey from Hobart – who was involved in the Ashes. They are scheduled to play five matches against West Indies, starting Saturday.In the aftermath of the Ashes defeat, it has been claimed that Morgan has been given full-strength squads throughout the last two years in preparation for T20 World Cups, but Morgan reiterated that players missing white-ball series has been “a constant theme for a number of years”.England have only played two bilateral T20I series since the start of the pandemic in which all of their available first-choice players were selected – against South Africa and India during the 2020-21 winter – while first-choice players were rested during the Test series against Sri Lanka, India and New Zealand in the first six months of 2021.”As a white-ball group, we’ve gone on tours and played in series at home where we haven’t had our full-strength side available – that’s been a constant theme for a number of years now,” Morgan said. “Obviously Test matches take priority and always do. Going through the exercise of giving younger guys opportunities is a really exciting time for us.”[Players] coming through county cricket, into the Hundred, playing in franchise tournaments around the world, are now going into our team ready to play international cricket. I’m excited about seeing some of the new players coming into the squad potentially get opportunities over the course of the five games, and hopefully winning a series.England’s Ashes defeat has prompted Joe Root to call for a shift in priorities within English cricket•CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“For the majority of my career, white-ball cricket was an afterthought – 95% of the time was spent around planning and prep for Test match cricket and then when we got to a World Cup, it was like, ‘well, if we do well, great, but if we don’t, it’s fine’.”With the skill level that guys are producing now on a consistent basis, proven over a long period of time, we’re considered one of the best in the world. Trust me, I’d much rather be considered that than an afterthought.”Morgan himself struggled with the bat in 2021, averaging 17.71 with a strike rate of 118.61 across 39 innings in all T20 cricket, but has insisted he still had the desire to captain England’s limited-overs sides moving forward, and reiterated that stance.”I’ve had three weeks off now,” he said. “After this trip, there’ll be a couple of months which I’ll be taking off as well to recharge even more to get the run-in to what’s going to be an unbelievably busy six months ahead, with the World Cup right at the back-end. We have a hectic summer and at the back-end of that we go to Pakistan for T20s as well, and then on to Australia, so there’s a lot of cricket.”[I have] a drive to want to leave the team in a far better place with the ambition of them continuing to get better down the line. I’ve really enjoyed playing with this group. I’ve loved captaining and, at this particular time in my career, I couldn’t be having a better time.”Turning up to a World Cup as either favourites or joint-favourites or real strong contenders is something that excites me. It’s something that I always think about because it makes me think about what we can change to get better, or how we can become more consistent as a side. Until that stops, I think things are good.”

Zak Crawley back in action for Kent but showers intervene before DLS can take over

ECB Reporters Network27-Aug-2020Kent suffered Vitality Blast agony after being denied an emphatic south group win over Hampshire by rain showers in Canterbury. Seemingly cruising to an opening round win at 52 without loss after only 25 deliveries of their reply, the heavens opened at 4.20pm forcing Kent’s openers off the field with only five more deliveries needing to be bowled to constitute a completed match.Though the hosts were way ahead of the asking rate required under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, the deluge forced the match officials to abandon the match 20 minutes later with the sides sharing a point apiece.Aware of the great risk of further rain, Kent started their pursuit of 140 at an asking rate of seven an over in a hurry as Zak Crawley, fresh from his record-breaking double ton against Pakistan, clubbed 16 off Chris Woods’ opening over. Daniel Bell-Drummond showed James Fuller similar distain by crashing another brace of boundaries as Kent had 25 on the board within two overs.The onslaught continued as Bell-Drummond clattered a four and six over midwicket during Ryan Stevenson’s first over, and then marched down the pitch to Wood to cart two more leg-side boundaries as Spitfires raised their 50 after 4.1 overs with a Crawley leg-glance against Fuller. But, with victory within the sight of five more balls, the rain returned and the players departed to dressing rooms on separate sides of the ground.Batting first after losing the toss, Hampshire’s Joe Weatherley held the innings together with a bright 49-ball knock worth 68 either side of a 20-minute rain breakGeorge Munsey started the boundary count with a slog-swept six in the opening over from Alex Blake, but Matt Milnes struck in his first over having Tom Alsop caught at deep cover off a skied leading edge.Sam Northeast, Hampshire’s acting captain and a former Kent skipper to boot, had only two runs to his name when, having been called through for a sharp single by Munsey, went run out after Fred Klaassen’s direct hit, left-handed from cover point. In the next over Klaassen’s bumper caused Munsey, on 19, to top-edge to midwicket where Jack Leaning took a fine diving catch and help restrict the visitors to 30 for 3 in their Powerplay.Having reached 61 for 6 at the midpoint, Hampshire struggled for boundaries until Weatherley, a Kent loanee in 2017, slog-swept the afternoon’s second six against Calum Haggett. In the next over Lewis McManus pulled another maximum from a short one from Grant Stewart as the fourth-wicket pair posed a 50 stand in 43 balls. The partnership ended for 71 just as drizzle arrived when McManus heaved a Milnes offcutter to long-on.With 17 overs completed, the rain strengthened leaving umpires Mark Newell and Nigel Llong with little option but to take the players off with Weatherley stranded seven runs shy of his 50.The shower abated, allowing Weatherley to resume his knock 20 minutes later and move to a 42-ball 50 with a slog-swept six over midwicket against Stewart. Left-armer Klassen continued to impress when he extracted extra bounce to have James Fuller caught behind then, in the final over, a Milnes slow-ball bouncer brushed Weatherley’s gloves and looped through to the keeper to end the innings on 139 for 6.Imran Qayyum conceded only 22 from his four overs of left-arm spin, but Milnes was the pick of the home seamers after a stint of 4-0-19-3.Describing the side’s heartbreak, Klaassen, the Netherlands ODI left-armer, said: “With only five balls to go it was excruciating to come off really. The batters were going so well, batting beautifully they timed it so well but couldn’t quite get us over the line.”It’s sad times with no one in the ground, it takes away a bit of the buzz, and we had to try and create a bit of it ourselves. There was no crowd, no music and even the electronic scoreboard was struggling to start with, but we were still going nicely as a team. Of course, we all miss the crowds. A full house here under the lights are the best nights I’ve played cricket for Kent.”

Bowler takes 1 for 6 off four overs as rain forces series opener to be abandoned

The Report by Danyal Rasool08-May-2019Pledging allegiance to England over his native sun-kissed Barbados may have had several advantages for Jofra Archer, but the weather would decidedly have gone into the “cons” column.On Wednesday, however, as a wet, stop-start day’s play drew to a close after just 19 overs had been bowled, Archer emerged as the man of the contest, conceding just six runs in a four-over spell of such ferocity that this incomplete, unsatisfying day of cricket may be the one that finally punches his ticket to the World Cup.The start was delayed by an hour and a quarter due to rain that never really went away, and Eoin Morgan’s decision to bowl first was the easiest one he will likely get all summer. Chris Woakes bowled the first ball of the match, but the action and excitement all lay at the Pavilion End with Archer steaming down against Imam-ul-Haq. Late movement with nearly every ball at pace often in excess of 90 mph repeatedly squared up Pakistan’s leading run-scorer of the past 18 months, and a wicket looked imminent.It arrived in Archer’s next over, with Fakhar Zaman getting an outside edge to the type of delivery Imam had – in hindsight, intelligently – been beaten by so regularly, and England began to take charge straight away. With Archer’s end tied up so mean-spiritedly, all Imam and Babar Azam could do was find the occasional release shot when Woakes bowled, but with the batting firepower at England’s disposal, a full game looked like it would only ever produce a result in favour of the hosts.That impression appeared vindicated even further when Babar fell victim to an uncharacteristically soft dismissal just as the pair had begun to get going, Liam Plunkett drawing the outside edge off the final ball of the 12th over. With Pakistan’s run rate well below four at this point, Morgan even had the cheek to bring in Joe Root as the first spin option.Shortly after, however, the heavens opened once more and the rain was accompanied by hailstones this time, and the ground staff were caught on their heels as the pitch took a peppering. That was, in effect, the end of all serious cricket for the day, even though the players did come on for another couple of overs half-an-hour later. By this time, the game had been reduced to 41 overs per side, but the idea that many overs would have been bowled comes across as mildly mirthful now.The only blot on an ideal 19 overs for England came off what ended up being the last ball of the contest when Adil Rashid beat Haris Sohail with a googly as the batsman charged down the wicket, only for wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to fluff the stumping that looked fairly routine. That was the cue for the rain clouds to gather once more.In the ensuing hours, the skies kept playing hide and seek with the sun, tormenting spectators and TV viewers with the fleeting prospect of more play. That was never to transpire, much to (one would imagine) Pakistan’s relief, who get a clean slate as the sides do battle all over again on Saturday.

A look at security arrangements ahead of Karachi’s biggest cricket event in nearly a decade

Umar Farooq in Karachi24-Mar-2018After nine years with no cricket of comparable magnitude, Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, is gearing up to host the Pakistan Super League final. This is the second major venue after Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium to host a high-profile game in recent years, and it is considered a crucial step on the long road to reviving international cricket in the country.The final between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi will be played at the National Stadium and the entire route from the hotel to the stadium will be lined with guards from Pakistan’s paramilitary force, the Rangers, and the Sindh police. A full house (around 33,000) is expected, with tickets sold out hours after they were released. There is a three-tier security layer, heavily guarded by security forces. Deputy Inspector General Traffic Imran Yaqoob Minhas, while addressing a press conference, said a total of 8500 police personnel will be deployed around the stadium for the match.The landscape of the city has changed drastically over the last nine years and the law and order situation has improved significantly. Karachi still remains the venue of the last completed Test match in Pakistan, a few days before the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.Karachi is generally viewed as a more challenging city in terms of its law-and-order situation, and providing a complete security plan, what with the nearest hotel being at least 12 km from the National Stadium, is harder than it is in Lahore.The stadium is situated in the centre of the city, and all major routes from all four directions that connect with the stadium will be closed for the general public. The two biggest hospitals of the city, Agha Khan and Liaquat National, are located close to the stadium, but the roads leading to them will be open. A shuttle service will be in place to take fans from the parking area to the stadium gates. The flow of traffic is likely to be reduced, but a strict directive has been issued to follow the day’s plan to avoid congestion. The fact that the game will be held on Sunday will help.”It’s a big occasion for Karachi and the whole country,” said Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper who is now team director at Karachi Kings. “I am very much thankful to the PCB for making this possible. This was a much-needed step because you cannot revive cricket by playing at one venue. It’s important to involve at least three or four cities to get this going. Otherwise, you cannot have a positive impact. Karachi is a huge city and I cannot explain in words how big this would be for us and for this country.”We have played a month in Dubai and Sharjah but we actually felt the intensity when cricket came to Lahore for the playoffs. We realised how people are hungry for cricket and how desperate they are to have cricket back in their stadiums. This is huge for fans; they are really passionate about the game and during isolation we have suffered a lot in world of cricket.”I think the security is somewhat overdone. I don’t want to be critical but I feel security should be given to the foreigners only, not to us. When we were in Lahore for playoffs, even local players and officials were restricted from going out freely. So this shouldn’t be the case because this will give off a bad impression among the overseas players.”The security protocols are being overseen by international security consultant Reg Dickason who has praised the “remarkably thorough” security arrangements for the final, saying they were “as good as I have seen in all my years”.The PCB plans to bring a major chunk of the next edition of the PSL to Pakistan, with at least three venues hosting more than 15 games in total. “We plan to have half of the PSL next year in Pakistan,” Najam Sethi, the PSL chairman, said on Friday. “But for that, we need four stadiums. As of now, we have Lahore, Karachi and Multan ready to host big matches, so now our focus is on preparing the stadiums of Rawalpindi and Peshawar. We’ve been working day and night to bring international cricket back to the country.”

AB de Villiers’ Test future appears to be up in the air once again, as he prepares to meet with the South Africa team management to discuss his role in the side

Firdose Moonda at the Wanderers14-Jan-2017AB de Villiers’ Test future appears to be up in the air once again, as he prepares to meet with the South Africa team management to discuss his role in the side when he completes his comeback from injury.Although de Villiers has completely recovered from the elbow surgery which sidelined him for the last three Test series since the end of the CPL in June, and was expected to slot straight back into the XI as soon as he became available, there are renewed questions over whether he wants to continue in the longest format.”We need to sit down with him and plan his future,” Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach said. “AB has got to make that decision, I can’t decide on whether he plays or not.”When I say that, I mean AB has got to make the decision about whether he is available and the selectors have got to make the decision whether he plays. He has obviously got to make some decision about his future in cricket.”Domingo’s comments came after current Test captain, Faf du Plessis, indicated de Villiers was wavering over whether to make a return to the longest format, and was looking at one-day cricket as a priority.”I’m not sure how AB will feel in terms of Test cricket so we will have to see,” du Plessis said. “We are excited to have him back in the one-day team. I am hoping he decides to play [Tests] for us. He is obviously a world-class batter and I, as a captain, would love to have him as a leader in our team, and obviously as a batter. He is a fantastic player.”Du Plessis, a long-time friend of de Villiers, was also asked whether the pair had spoken about de Villiers not returning to Test cricket. He claimed not to have not had that conversation but suggested de Villiers’ six-month absence from the game may prompt him not to continue anyway.”He hasn’t played for a while. The plan was for him to play in this series and then the one-dayers start, but now we will see what AB’s plans are – whether he wants to play,” du Plessis said.De Villiers, who was named permanent Test captain last January, stepped down in early December, before the Sri Lanka series, when it became clear he would not be fit to play in it. Having already missed the New Zealand and Australia Tests – in which du Plessis was a successful stand-in skipper – and with his recovery period becoming more drawn out, de Villiers felt the team needed to move on.During those series, Domingo was always firm in his stance that, when de Villiers was available, “someone will have to make way,” and a common talking point has been the identity of that player.With du Plessis installed as captain and JP Duminy finding form at No.4, the spotlight has been on Temba Bavuma, who has struggled in this series, but all official word, including that of the convener of selectors Linda Zondi who was speaking on public broadcaster SABC, is that Bavuma will be retained. That means it is difficult to make room for de Villiers, despite his reputation.Whether the pressure to find a place, or the concerns over how his elbow will hold up, are playing on de Villiers’ mind is not known, but this is the longest he has been out of the game since making his debut 12 years ago.Ultimately his decision may be based on something entirely different. De Villiers is in demand at T20 leagues around the world and even publicly revealed that he turned down an opportunity to play in the Big Bash last summer. He is also a hot corporate commodity and his MRF bat sponsorship was conditional on him playing all three formats. If that has changed, there is a chance that so too has de Villiers’ mind.Still, he would not be entirely lost to South Africa, and will still lead their ODI side. De Villiers will play a List A match for Northerns next Sunday and, if all goes well, he will play in the third T20 against Sri Lanka before assuming the captaincy ahead of the ODIs. His long-term plan is to take the team to the Champions Trophy and ultimately, the 2019 World Cup.Morne Morkel was also due to play in that Northerns’ match but has suffered a recurrence of some of symptoms of his back niggle. He will need to be reassessed before a call is taken on his availability.

The BCB’s cricket operations committee is in discussions to host one Test in addition to three T20s against Zimbabwe in January

Mohammad Isam23-Dec-2015Two days after BCB president Nazmul Hassan said the Test series between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in January would be shelved to concentrate on limited-overs cricket ahead of the World T20, the BCB’s cricket operations committee has announced it is in discussion with their Zimbabwean counterparts to hold one Test in January apart from three Twenty20s.The cricket operations committee chairman Naimur Rahman said that Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) had proposed the teams play five T20s in Bangladesh after their series against Afghanistan ends on January 10. But Rahman said neglecting Test cricket was rarely beneficial.”Every team is playing Test cricket during this time,” Rahman said. “They will also play in the World T20, so we have to play all the formats. We cannot avoid any of these formats. Test cricket is the real deal. We can improve in other formats if we do well in Tests. But if we just play T20s, we can’t improve properly.”We have always spoken about increasing Tests in the FTP. So there will be a negative effect on us if we don’t play Tests despite the opportunity.”The original schedule for this series featured three Tests, then it was cut to two in September and now there is a possibility of a full, if split series – one Test in Bangladesh, two Tests in Zimbabwe after the World T20. “If we play one Test here, we can play the other two there in July next year, in addition to an ODI series,” Rahman said.Rahman also added the proposed series in January will likely be played in Khulna and Sylhet since most of the other venues in the country will be busy preparing for the Under-19 World Cup that begins on January 27.Naimur also said Bangladesh will not be playing the World T20 warm-up match on March 4 since it clashes with the Asia Cup’s schedule. They will only play the warm-up game on March 6. The operations committee has also called off an initial plan to hold a training camp in Dharamsala in late January because of the different weather conditions compared to the time the World T20 will be played there.

The BCCI will implement several measures targeted at players, support staff and team owners to curb corruption in the IPL

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2013The BCCI has announced its first set of proposals to “clean up” the IPL, measures ranging from financial disclosures by players and team owners to curbing the tournament’s controversial “entertainment” quotient, including putting a stop to cheerleaders and after-match parties.The measures are part of “operation clean-up,” announced by acting BCCI head Jagmohan Dalmiya at the end of a working committee meeting in Delhi on Monday. It aims to curb corruption and remove “sleaze” in the IPL by enforcing a “strict code of conduct” for players, support staff and owners, after the 2013 season was hit by charges of spot-fixing against players and by allegations that team owners were involved in illegal betting.Players will be required to reveal sources of their earnings, and owners will have to furnish details of payments and their contractual obligations with players and support staff.Access to the players’ dug-out and dressing room has been tightened once again, with Dalmiya saying that team owners will be restricted from these areas during matches. Owners were allowed in the dug-out and dressing room during the first season in 2008, but following complaints had been prevented from entering those areas thereafter. They now have seating arrangements close to the dug-out. Top officials of two teams, Gurunath Meiyappan of the Chennai Super Kings and Raj Kundra of Rajasthan Royals, have confessed to taking part in illegal betting, according to the Mumbai and Delhi police.Dalmiya also said that “no selector will be allowed to get associated with any franchise in any capacity.” No member of India’s current selection panel is attached to any franchise, but former selection chairman Kris Srikkanth was brand ambassador for the Super Kings for a period at the start of the IPL.Players and support staff will need to provide their telephone numbers to the BCCI before the IPL, and there will be a larger number of officials from the BCCI’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit at grounds and hotels during the tournament. It was also said that cell phone towers at the ground could be jammed during matches.No decision was taken on the strategic time-out, which accounts for five minutes of every IPL match and came into being in 2010. The two intervals of two and a half minutes each in every innings allow teams to strategise with support staff, and commercially it creates 300 seconds of advertising space. However, according to police investigations that led to more than 25 betting-related arrests in Delhi and Mumbai, the time-out was also an ideal period for the syndicates to adjust their session and spot odds. When Dalmiya was asked about this, he said: “We have not thought about it, it was just a financial exercise.”On Tuesday, BCCI’s secretary Sanjay Patel was quoted in the saying that cleaning up the IPL was an “ongoing process” and doing away with the strategic time-outs had “financial implications.” He did not rule out any future change, however, saying that the strategic time-out could form a part of “additional measures in our programme. We will discuss all other issues, including strategic time-out in our future meetings.”Operation clean-up is a work in progress, Dalmiya said, and IPL captains will be called for a meeting and franchises will also be consulted before a blueprint could be finalised at another working committee meeting.By Sharda UgraThe BCCI’s 12-point “Operation Clean-Up” should, in a twisted way, look like a giant leap for Indian cricket. It is the first formal, even if disguised, admission of errors, misdemeanours and lapses in governance that Indian cricket has made since it became the game’s financial behemoth.It was official acknowledgement that the dirt whirling around the IPL could not possibly be brushed under a carpet of delusion. It involved three players, two IPL team owners, the police of two cities, an umpire who was yanked out of the Champions Trophy by the ICC, two dozen illegal bookies and time in prison.Operation Clean-Up addresses IPL’s corruption issues at two levels. Putting an end to cheer leaders and after-match parties and planning to jam cellphones during matches is at worst a cosmetic change, at best tangential. Cheerleaders are not responsible for cricketers being lured by bookies or owners falling prey to gambling. After-match parties have been off limits in the post-Modi IPL world anyway. Jamming cellphones during matches serve no purpose if deals have already been done.The more serious aspect of the BCCI’s plans involve asking cricketers to spell out their financial investments and partnerships, and for IPL owners to come clean with the details of their payment structures with players and support staff. While it may not uncover ‘black’ or ‘grey’ money dealings but it is the most you can do. It must be hoped that these will be early steps towards financial transparency in the BCCI, signaling a departure from the IPL’s very smelly ‘secret tie-break’ culture.Whatever may have been included in the 12-point list, what stayed off it were the unmentionables. Whether BCCI officials would be willing to have their own financial backgrounds so thoroughly examined. To reveal the channels through which they make profits through cricket. Whether the BCCI would consider re-amending their constitution, rolling back the clause that gave N Srinivasan the latitude to buy an IPL franchise. Whether officials fighting misappropriation of funds cases against them could possibly continue in office.Operation Clean Up is a very small first step. It is the follow through that will tell us whether the BCCI has responded to perhaps the worst crisis in its history with a thorough overhaul of its governance structures, or mere window dressing.

The BCCI has confirmed that they will make a one-time benefit payment to certain former national and domestic players, amounting to approximately Rs 70 crore ($13,050,000 approx), in recognition of their services to Indian cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff12-May-2012The BCCI has ratified a one-time benefit payment to former national and domestic players, totalling approximately Rs 70 crore ($13 million), for their services to Indian cricket. The decision, first announced at the IPL opening ceremony, was confirmed at the board’s Working Committee meeting in Chennai today.

Some players who stand to benefit

• 100+ Tests, Rs 1.5 crore: Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar

• 75-99 Tests, Rs 1 crore: GR Viswanath, Syed Kirmani, Ravi Shastri

• 50-74 Tests, Rs 75 lakh: B Chandrasekhar, Mohinder Amarnath, S Venkataraghavan

• 25-49 Tests, Rs 60 lakh: Erapalli Prasanna, Salim Durani, Maninder Singh

The money will come from the proceeds of the IPL playoff games, BCCI president N Srinivasan had earlier said. “This is a small thank you to those who have done yeoman service to Indian cricket.”The scheme, applicable to players who retired before the 2003-04 season, stands to benefit around 160 cricketers. The payments will be made in seven categories, with the top payments going to players who have played more than 100 Tests. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar fall under this category, and will receive Rs 1.5 crore ($280,000 approx) each.Other retired Test players will get between Rs 35 lakhs and Rs 1 crore, depending on the number of games they have played. Domestic players who have played 100 and more first-class games will be awarded Rs 30 lakhs, while those who have played 75-99 first-class matches will get Rs 25 lakh each.It is not yet clear, though, whether Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma, who were both banned for life on match-fixing charges, will benefit from the scheme.The announcement was welcomed by two India greats, Chandu Borde and Bapu Nadkarni. “Good Lord, it’s fantastic,” said Borde, who led India in one Test on the 1967-68 tour of Australia, when the regular captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was injured and unavailable to play. He played 55 Tests between 1958 and 1969 and stands to gain Rs. 75 lakh.Borde’s team-mate, the allrounder Bapu Nadkarni, said he had been expecting this sort of an announcement for some time now, having pursued the matter with other former cricketers and former BCCI president Sharad Pawar.”To be frank, we have been discussing this with Sharad Pawar for the last two to three years. He had promised us it would be done. I heard after the last meeting of the Board that something was coming,” Nadkarni said. He will receive Rs 60 lakh for his 41 Tests, played between 1955 and 1968.”It was time we got something like this as expenses have been mounting with the price rise and medical expenses too going up,” Nadkarni said. “We are living on what we had saved from our jobs which, you are aware, were not high-paying in those days.”