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Brook came in for criticism during a relatively lean Test series against Sri Lanka but he has gas left in the tank after a long season

Matt Roller18-Sep-2024It tells you just how serenely Harry Brook’s international career has progressed that he came under scrutiny after averaging 30 in a series win. But by his own admission, Brook finds himself trying to avoid paralysis by overanalysis as he prepares to captain England for the first time at Trent Bridge on Thursday after his approach was questioned during Sri Lanka’s recent victory at The Oval.Brook made 19 and 3 in the final Test of the English season, having made between 32 and 56 in his first four innings of the series against Sri Lanka. If the scores were underwhelming, it was his manner at the crease that drew most attention: he grew visibly frustrated when Sri Lanka bowled wide outside his off stump, to the extent Michael Vaughan accused him of “taking the mick out of the game”.Related

• Harry Brook approach in spotlight after Sri Lanka hit back

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• Champions Trophy looms into view as multi-format stars return

This has been a long season for Brook, who was England’s only ever-present across both June’s T20 World Cup and their six home Tests. He spent the three weeks between the West Indies and Sri Lanka series captaining Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, and will fly to Pakistan for October’s Test tour only three days after the fifth and final ODI of the Australia series.Brook seemed characteristically relaxed on the eve of his England captaincy debut at Trent Bridge, grinning through his pre-match press conference and laughing off the idea that he had ever craved leadership. He conceded that his Test summer had not quite gone to plan, but played down the suggestion that he was mentally drained after an intense season.”Because I wasn’t scoring the runs I wanted to, I probably was [feeling] a little bit [tired],” Brook said. “But if I’d have gone out and got two hundreds against Sri Lanka then I’d have been like, ‘I’ll just carry on’. But no, not really. I love playing cricket: I want to play as much as I possibly can. I do think breaks are important at certain times, but I was pretty chilled.”Obviously I didn’t do as well as I’d wanted. I want to get a hundred every innings, but it’s not going to happen, is it? Professional sport is not easy… I felt like I batted really well against West Indies and then didn’t play as well as I wanted to against Sri Lanka, but those things happen. You go away and think about it for a little bit, and hopefully come back stronger in Pakistan.”Harry Brook was in good spirits despite a long, busy season•Getty Images

Until the Hundred this year – where he oversaw five wins in six completed games – the majority of Brook’s captaincy experience came with England Under-19s, whom he led in 11 Youth ODIs, including five at the 2018 World Cup. Since then, he has played 50-over cricket only sporadically. Half of his 30 List A games have been full ODIs, and his record in them is underwhelming: 407 runs at 29.07, with three half-centuries.He will aim to keep things simple against Australia, batting at No. 4. “I’m just going to go out there and watch the ball as closely as possible,” he said. “If you have a few low scores here and there, you start thinking about different things and your technique and whatever. I’m just going to go out there, watch the ball as closely as I can and play on instinct.”Brook is only standing in as captain for Jos Buttler, who was with the squad on Wednesday as he continues his rehabilitation from a calf injury and will return for November’s Caribbean tour. “I might pick his brains here and there,” Brook said, “but he’s said I’ve got full rein to do whatever I want.”Buttler has challenged Brook to “identify those moments” in the field where he can change the game – something that Buttler himself has struggled with in ODIs. Brook showed signs of that instinct during the Hundred, and said that he would liberate his bowlers to make decisions: “Whatever you feel like doing, just do it. The only bad outcome is you could get hit for a boundary and the next ball could be a dot ball.”This ODI series is one of only three for England before February’s Champions Trophy, and the first since Rob Key announced that Brendon McCullum will take over as limited-overs coach as part of a “strategic restructure” of the senior set-up. The implication is that there will be greater convergence between formats, as evidenced by Ben Duckett’s promotion to open the batting on Thursday.Brook said that he has hardly spoken to McCullum, who has instead delegated responsibility to his Test assistant coach Marcus Trescothick. “It’s all going to merge into one at some point,” Brook predicted. “We want to go out there and entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers.”And after ending the Test summer on autopilot at The Oval, Brook hopes that this new challenge will prove reinvigorating. “I’ve only been here for two days, but the way the lads have gone about their business in training just seems so chilled at the minute. We’re all looking forward to going out there and having some fun.”

Chris Green, making a rare appearance for his state, picked up four wickets

AAP17-Nov-2022Daniel Hughes smacked yet another century before spinner Chris Green weaved his magic with the ball to lead New South Wales to a crushing 160-run win over Tasmania in the one-day clash at Blundstone Arena.Just days after missing a Sheffield Shield clash due to Covid-19, Hughes scored 101 off 114 balls as the visitors reached 8 for 300 after being sent in to bat.In reply, Tasmania were skittled for 140 in 28.1 overs, with Matthew Wade (42 off 49 balls) the only home batter to post a score of any substance. Green starred with the ball, finishing with figures of 4 for 20 off nine overs.NSW entered the match yet to taste victory this season in either the one-day competition or the Sheffield Shield.But the 207-run opening stand between Hughes and Kurtis Patterson (92) put the Blues on track to end the rut. Hughes has now posted three one-day centuries this season and he can consider himself unlucky to be overlooked for Australian selection following Aaron Finch’s retirement.Thursday’s innings took his average to 67.8 for the past four seasons with only Shaun Marsh having more one-day domestic centuries – 10 to Hughes’s nine – of current players.The left-hander was strong square of the wicket, cutting, pulling and pushing off the back foot whenever Tasmania dropped short.Sitting pretty at 0 for 194 after 32 overs, the runs dried up slightly for NSW after Patterson picked out the man on the legside boundary while trying to pull Tom Rogers.It kickstarted a collapse of 5 for 35 in the next six overs as Rogers, Nathan Ellis and Tom Andrew pulled back the Blues. Jason Sangha and Baxter Holt were the only remaining batters to pass 20, as NSW took just 63 runs from the last 10 overs.Tasmania’s run chase started poorly with the home side crashing to 3 for 35. Wade sent a scare through the camp when he was struck on the side of the helmet by a Liam Hatcher bouncer. The veteran had raced to 21 off just 11 balls but struggled for fluency after being hit.Wade even fell to the ground later that over while evading another Hatcher bouncer and he eventually holed out 10 overs later in the search for quick runs.The bonus-point win lifted NSW (five points) off the bottom of the ladder, but they are still five points adrift of the third-placed Tasmania (10 points).

Kent fast bowler’s slower than expected recovery from knee surgery prompts decision

Matt Roller20-Jul-2021Tim Groenewald has called time on a 15-year professional career by announcing that he will retire from professional cricket with immediate effect.Groenewald, 37, had surgery on his knee in April and said that despite “amazing support” from Kent’s medical staff, his recovery has not been sufficient for him to resume his playing career.Born in South Africa – and educated at the Maritzburg College in Natal, the same school as Kevin Pietersen – Groenewald juggled his early county career with winters back home but he made a breakthrough in 2006, making debuts for Warwickshire in all three formats, and played for the club as a non-overseas player thanks to his English mother.He left for Derbyshire at the end of the 2008 season where he quickly became an integral part of their bowling attack across formats, and took 42 wickets in their promotion season in 2012. He led the attack in Division One but turned down the opportunity to extend his contract and joined Somerset on loan in 2014 as a precursor to a permanent move.He became a fan favourite at Taunton, not only for his whole-hearted efforts with the ball but also for his knack of playing match-winning innings with the bat, dragging them to famous one-wicket wins against Surrey in the Championship and Gloucestershire in the Royal London Cup in 2016, with Jack Leach and Jamie Overton for company respectively.Groenewald joined Kent on a permanent deal ahead of the 2020 season and took seven wickets in his nine appearances for the club. Paul Downton, their managing director, confirmed that he would stay with the club in a coaching capacity until the end of the season.”I feel privileged to have played professional cricket for 16 years,” Groenewald said. “I will always be extremely grateful to the clubs I’ve represented and the opportunities they have afforded me. I’ve made some lifelong friends and memories along the way and will cherish those forever.”Groenewald retires with 625 career wickets, 403 of which came in first-class cricket at an average of 29.53, with 16 five-wicket hauls. While England Lions selection eluded him, he was part of the North v South series in the UAE in early 2017 after earning a spot through his performances in the Royal London Cup.

The Strikers move to third place, while the opponents slip into strife

Alex Malcolm11-Jan-2021Adelaide Strikers sent Rashid Khan off in style with a hard-fought five-wicket win over Melbourne Stars to vault up to third on the BBL table and leave the Stars in strife.Wes Agar starred with 2 for 19, including a maiden, while Khan took 2 for 29, including the prize scalp of Glenn Maxwell, to restrict the Stars to just 7 for 149 after they won the toss. Marcus Stoinis played a lone hand at the top smashing 47 but he failed to kick on while Nic Maddinson made an excellent 48 not out to rescue the Stars after they had slumped to 5 for 92.The Strikers stumbled in the chase losing Phil Salt and Alex Carey in a failed attempt to claim the Bash Boost point. Adam Zampa’s sublime spell of 2 for 20 put the Strikers in a hole but Jono Wells and Ryan Gibson dug them out. Wells took his time before hammering Haris Rauf to finish with 36 from 27 while Gibson guided the side home with 22 not out from 13 balls. Fittingly, Khan was out there for the winning runs in his 50th game for the Strikers, and last for the season as he heads off to international duty.Wes Agar bowled an excellent spell•Getty Images

Stoinis needs some spiceAndre Fletcher was a late addition to the Stars squad for the BBL as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow. It was hoped he would provide a nice foil for Stoinis at the top of the order but his struggles have really hurt the Stars and again he failed to fire. He faced a maiden in the first over and although he struck two sixes in the third he faced nine dots in 12 balls before holing out to mid-on. The ball did nip and swing early and the Stars were wary of losing wickets. Nick Larkin faced another maiden in the powerplay from Agar while Stoinis was 8 off 11 at one stage.Stoinis made up for it with some sublime hitting but it was nullified by Khan’s double-strike. He bamboozled Larkin with a stunning googly, before Maxwell fell for his second consecutive golden duck slicing a full wide wrong ‘un to backward point. Stoinis clubbed the hat-trick ball through midwicket for four with contempt. He was fortunate to survive a dropped catch in the deep, but Agar got him four balls later with some extra bounce catching a leading edge. Hilton Cartwright also failed to leave the Stars 5 for 92 with just 36 balls left in the innings.Awesome AgarThe Stars left the Power Surge until the 17th over and Agar continued his outstanding form, delivering six straight yorkers to concede just four runs and two leg byes. Dan Worrall then backed it up taking two wickets to leave the Stars in a huge hole. But Maddinson kept his head to give the Stars a score to defend. He used the pace of Worrall to flick him over fine leg and uppercut over third man in between the two Power Surge wickets. He then smashed Agar over deep midwicket in the 19th over, but Agar still finished with the phenomenal figures of 2 for 19 from four overs. Maddinson finished the innings with back-to-back sixes off Worrall to reach 48 not out from 34 balls and lift the Stars to a competitive total.Bash Boost blunderThe Strikers needed just 68 for the Bash Boost point and had it under control through eight overs. Salt lost his opening partner early but struck four boundaries to reach 31 from 21 balls and leave the Strikers needing just 10 from two overs with Salt and Carey at the crease. But they made a mess of the short-term goal and did significant long-term damage to their chase.Maxwell backed himself and Zampa with 9th and 10th overs and came up trumps. Salt skied Maxwell to long-off with the first ball of the over, with Maxwell’s angle from around the wicket causing the miscue. Then Carey and Wells scored just seven singles from the next 10 deliveries to put the Bash Boost point in jeopardy before Carey committed the ultimate sin. Needing three for the point, he tried to loft a reverse sweep off Zampa and was caught at short third man with Maddinson moving well to take an excellent catch. It left the Strikers without the point and needing 85 to win from 60 balls as their captain trudged off.Gibson goes to the WellsWells remained composed despite Jake Weatherald also falling to the reverse sweep to Zampa. The legspinner delivered an outstanding Power Surge over as a part of a brilliant spell. Wells found an ally in Gibson and the pair of calm heads prevailed. They failed to take a boundary off Zampa’s last over but didn’t panic despite needing 30 off 18 balls.Wells waited for the pace of Rauf and used it to perfection. He carved him through point, clipped him through midwicket, and lofted him over the midwicket rope to reduce the equation to 16 off 14. Wells did hole out trying to go again over point but the damage was done. Gibson picked up the slack, slicing Rauf to third man to take 18 from the over and leave just 12 required from 12 balls.They only needed six. Gibson again found the rope off Liam Hatcher at midwicket. He had some fortune last ball when the substitute Tom O’Connell dropped him running back with the flight for the winning runs.

Head coach says stats suggest “seam is the way forward” at Centurion

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2019England are contemplating whether to field an all-seam attack for the second Test running, according to the head coach, Chris Silverwood. The tourists’ build-up for the Boxing Day Test at Centurion has been disrupted by illness in the camp, with frontline spinner Jack Leach one of the players affected, and Silverwood said the stats suggest “seam is the way forward” at SuperSport Park.In their previous outing, on last month’s tour of New Zealand, England picked four seamers and Ben Stokes at Hamilton, but only succeeded in taking 12 wickets in a rain-affected draw.England’s selection discussions this time around will be coloured by the fact that Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer missed both warm-up games with sickness, while James Anderson is in line to play his first Test since August, after suffering a calf injury that ruled him out of the Ashes. Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Craig Overton are the other quicks in the party, along with Mark Wood, who is working his way back to fitness and won’t be available until the third Test.ALSO READ: England’s bug-struck trio play no part in warm-up“Yeah, I think it is,” Silverwood said in response to whether it was possible England could play an all-seam attack. “Obviously in Hamilton we looked at all the stats, who took wickets at the ground, and it showed that spin didn’t really play much part in the games, or certainly have much effect on the games.”We look at the stats for this ground, it’s the same thing, you’re looking at wickets taken by seam, wickets taken by spin and the averages that go along with them, it suggests that seam is the way forward, and the thing that has most effect on the game here, so we’re certainly looking at that.”Leach played in Mount Maunganui at the start of the New Zealand series, taking 2 for 153 as England went down by an innings, but was then hospitalised by a bout of gastroenteritis in Hamilton before falling unwell on the team’s arrival in South Africa. Uncapped legspinner Matt Parkinson was the back-up slow bowler originally selected in the party and England have also called up Leach’s Somerset team-mate Dom Bess as cover.”We’ve got some good resources in the spin department, Leachy is coming back to fitness now, we’ve got Dominic Bess here as well, Parky who bowled nicely in Benoni. So we’ve got the resources but we’re looking at it for what it is, what has most effect in this game. We’re not definitely going down the road of all seam, but it’s something we’ve got to discuss over the next few days.Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad were both fit to train•Getty Images

“It’s not rocket science, every team has these stats. You look at what’s effective on that ground and then you look at what you’ve got in your arsenal and try to put out the best side you can.”Broad and Archer both delivered five-over spells at training in Centurion on Monday, as well as batting in the nets, as they looked to prove their match fitness for the first Test. Silverwood echoed Joe Root’s view that England will be relying on “trust” when it comes to their capability of getting through a full five days, although he admitted there “maybe a little bit more caution” over Archer, who is just six Tests into his career.”I think they’re exactly where we’d hope they would be really, if they continue with another couple of good days training, all being well they’ll be able to throw their hats in the ring for selection for the first Test,” he said.Asked if it might be considered a gamble to go into the Test with Broad, Archer and Anderson in the same XI, Silverwood replied: “I don’t think so, as long as from the medical point of view they feel good.”Anderson was the pick of the England bowlers in their three-day game in Benoni that finished on Sunday, claiming tidy figures of 3 for 41 as South Africa A made kept Root’s men in the field for 93.2 overs. With the bat, England saw Joe Denly and Ollie Pope score centuries, and Silverwood was pleased with the application that underpinned a total of 456 for 7 declared.”I thought both teams came away with something positive, I know we certainly did,” he said. “If you look at it from a first-innings runs point of view, we’re continuing to build those methods and create good habits there. From a bowling perspective we got over in the legs of Jimmy and the rest of the bowlers, and they all started finding their rhythm, which was great.”

Wayne Madsen scored his 27th first-class hundred for Derbyshire but Northants made a good start to their pursuit of 314 to win

ECB Reporters Network24-Jul-2018
ScorecardNorthamptonshire skipper Alex Wakely revived his team’s chances of pulling off a record-breaking run chase after another Wayne Madsen century set up the prospect of a thrilling finish to the Division Two match against Derbyshire at Chesterfield.Madsen made 116 and allrounder Matt Critchley 51 as Derbyshire posted 342 to set Northants 314, which would be the highest fourth innings total at Queen’s Park. Dan Wheeldon dismissed England batsman Ben Duckett to claim his maiden first-class wicket but 68 from Luke Proctor and an unbeaten 48 from Wakely took the visitors to 174 for 3, 140 short of their target.The first session was always likely to be pivotal and Derbyshire were the team who went into lunch in a position of strength thanks to Madsen and Harvey Hosein. Both played patiently to deny Northants early wickets and although the bowlers maintained discipline on another stiflingly hot morning, there were few alarms for the batsmen.By the time Hosein was bowled sweeping at Seekkuge Prasanna for 38, Derbyshire’s lead was 180 and Critchley helped Madsen add another 40 to that by lunch. Madsen completed his 27th first-class hundred for Derbyshire from 170 balls and although he fell to a smart slip catch soon after, he had given his side the initiative.Critchley acknowledged his fourth Championship fifty of the season before he was unluckily run out but Hardus Viljoen hit Prassana for two big sixes to take Derbyshire’s lead past 300.Northants knew they would have to bat exceptionally well on a pitch taking increasing turn and the odds against them appeared to lengthen when they lost Duckett and Ricardo Vasconcelos in the first 14 overs.Duckett was hit on the back leg by a good ball from Wheeldon and when Vasconcelos edged offspinner Hamidullah Qadri to slip, the target looked a long way off. But Proctor and Wakely showed good judgement and Northants’s hopes were starting to climb when Critchley got one to pop to have Proctor caught at leg slip.Another wicket would have made Derbyshire favourites but Wakely and Richard Levi batted through the last 10 overs to tilt the match towards Northants although the outcome remains in the balance.

Seventeen runs in the 17th over took Barisal Bulls home in an otherwise balanced contest, leaving Comilla Victorians winless in the tournament

Mohammad Isam11-Nov-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Samuels’ 48 was the game’s highest score, while Mashrafe’s wicket-less four overs went for 21 runs•Raton Gomes/BCB

Barisal Bulls opened their account in this season’s BPL with a six-wicket win over Comilla Victorians, whose fight fizzled out during a fourth-wicket stand of 49 between Mushfiqur Rahim amd Thisara Perera, which sealed the contest. Comilla, the defending champions, remain winless and would be worried by a brittle batting line-up, though bowling seems to be their strength.Set 130 to win, Barisal opener Dilshan Munaweera struck two pleasing fours before getting caught at mid-off in the fifth over but Dawid Malan quickly restored the pressure with two boundaries in the same over. Mashrafe Mortaza and Nabil Samad then bowled six overs to give away just 26 runs, increasing the required run rate from 6.87 to 8.55. It resulted in Shamsur’s laboured 26-ball 16 ending up in the hands of long-on in the 11th over.Mushfiqur broke the boundary drought with a slog-swept six in the 12th over, before Malan edged his third boundary in the following over from Sharif, though he was immediately caught off the next ball at cover for 26. With Mashrafe finishing his spell (0/21) with Barisal needing 52 off the last six overs, Mushfiqur and Thisara Perera struck boundaries off Sharif and Tanvir. They wrested back control of the game when they struck one six each off Imad, who conceded 17 runs in the 17th over.Their fourth-wicket stand ended when Mushfiqur faintly edged Tanvir to the keeper, but he got them closer to the win with his 23-ball 33. Perera eased Barisal’s nerves with two boundaries in the penultimate over, completing the win with nine balls to spare.Comilla could have slipped further from 73 for 6 in the 14th over, if it wasn’t for the 38-run seventh-wicket partnership between Marlon Samuels and Sohail Tanvir.Samuels – who came to bat after both openers fell within 3.5 overs – was involved in the run-outs of Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Imad Wasim, and saw Liton Das and Nahidul Islam fall meekly. So he had to get Comilla out of trouble. He started off the seventh-wicket stand with two fours off Al-Amin Hossain and nearly blew Thisara Perera away with a straight hit.Tanvir got into the act with a whack over midwicket for his first six. Mahedi Hasan dropped him on 13 in the 18th over, a sitter that ended up hitting him on the face, before hitting the floor. After Samuels departed for a run-a-ball 48, Tanvir struck two sixes over long-on in the last over, his unbeaten 30 off 19 balls giving Comilla the late runs that often make the difference but this time ended in futility.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Afr

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Dec-2015BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has taken exception to the ICC’s assessment of the Nagpur pitch for the third Test between India and South Africa as “poor” and said the debate over the quality of pitches in the ongoing Test series between India and South Africa is “overhyped”. He has also expressed reservations over the views of Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president and ICC chairman, that India cannot dominate the world body by virtue of its financial clout.

Have written to MEA for permissions to play Pakistan – Thakur

Anurag Thakur was non-committal on the resumption of bilateral cricket ties between India and Pakistan and said the matter was out of the BCCI’s hands, and that India’s Ministry of External Affairs would have to issue clearances.
“We play Pakistan in World Cup events. We played them in the 2015 World Cup, we’ll play them next year in the Asia Cup,” Thakur said. “We’ll play them in March in the T20 World Cup. So when you play them in multi-national tournaments, what stops you from playing them in a bilateral series?
“Mr Shashank Manohar met the PCB chairman in Dubai and both of them decided to play in Sri Lanka. For permissions and political clearances, we have written to the Ministry of External Affairs to give us the sanction. It is their call, whenever they take it.”
Thakur’s views now are markedly different to those in August when he had all but ruled out resumption of bilateral cricketing activity between the two countries.
Thakur, who is also a member of parliament from the ruling party, the BJP, said it was a tough decision for the government to make.
“When it comes to Pakistan, it’s not that easy to take calls,” he said. “Five years ago, social media didn’t play a role. Today you see a lot of reactions on social media, but you can’t go only by social media, you have to look at the interests of the nation,” he said. “I think diplomatic relations are also very important — whether you want to remain at loggerheads or you want to sit across the table and discuss things. We have been discussing cricket, trade, terrorism, PoK and Kashmir with Pakistan.”

Speaking at the earlier in the week, Thakur reiterated the observations of India team director Ravi Shastri and Test captain Virat Kohli that there were no problems with the pitches produced for the Tests against South Africa.”I think the debate on the quality of pitches is overhyped. When a match gets over in two days – maybe in some other part of the world, like Australia in three days – nobody raises that question,” Thakur said. “But when we see a lot of drawn matches, like in the last few years, we say nobody will come and watch Test cricket.”I have a question to ask about the Nagpur match. Ask any ex-cricketer, how many players from the two teams played a bad shot? Was there uneven bounce? No. Was there more turn than expected? Yes, maybe.”What is the criterion for a good pitch and bad pitch? Was the bounce uneven, were there injuries? The ICC has sent us a letter and we will soon reply to that. But I think there is nothing wrong if a Test match finishes on the fourth day or the third day. You should also look at the batting standards. Remember how [Rahul] Dravid, [VVS] Laxman played on these kinds of tracks?”Thakur maintained there was nothing wrong in exploiting home advantage and said the preparation of turning tracks wasn’t a worrying trend.”Nobody questioned the T20 and the ODI games. What about the pitches when South Africa won?” Thakur asked. “But when India won two Test matches, you start raising questions.”In many parts of the world such as Australia and South Africa, you will see much more bounce. In England, you will see more seam and swing. So how do you compare that? In India and Pakistan, you may see more turning tracks. That is the nature of our pitches, which we call home advantage.”Thakur also clarified that Manohar’s views on the ICC’s restructuring were personal. Manohar recently said the revamp was tantamount to bullying, and that he didn’t agree with the revenue-sharing formula that guaranteed India a significant chunk of the revenue. While his thoughts were endorsed by a section of the board’s members, there has also been considerable resistance. Thakur said there was nothing wrong in India receiving a larger slice of the financial pie.”The [BCCI] president said this in his personal capacity. He made it very clear that it was his personal opinion,” he said. “The Indian subcontinent contributes close to 70% of the ICC’s revenues. To take 21% of that is not much. That was the position with Australia and England earlier, and no one objected to it then. If this happens to India today, we shouldn’t object to it.”You have to understand that India plays a very, very important role in world cricket. It’s only India which has a stadium in virtually every state. The money we have been generating in the last so many years has been spent on the ground.”Thakur also said the larger interest of BCCI’s units would have to be looked into before arriving at a decision on Manohar’s proposals, which have already received support from boards like Cricket South Africa and Sri Lanka Cricket. The BCCI, however, will be keen to not ruffle the feathers of its own units. Senior administrator and Saurashtra Cricket Association president Niranjan Shah, who is known to be close to Manohar, had advocated a “middle path”, which would strike a balance between extending a helping hand to financially weaker boards and securing the monetary rewards the BCCI deserved.”We have to look at the overall picture and individual opinions could be different,” Thakur said. “I may disagree, but the final call has to be taken by the BCCI because it is not only in the interest of one association, it is in the interest of 30 units of the BCCI.”

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Nov-2015

Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif took five wickets to set up a seven-wicket win for Pakistan over Zimbabwe in the series decider in Harare

The Report by Liam Brickhill in Harare05-Oct-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:26

Bilal Asif’s five-for rocks Zimbabwe

Pakistan cruised to a 2-1 series victory over Zimbabwe with a seven-wicket win in the third ODI at Harare Sports Club. Offspinning allrounder Bilal Asif was the chief architect in the demolition of Zimbabwe’s batting line-up by Pakistan’s spinners, taking 5 for 25 as the hosts were bowled out for just 161. Bilal’s wickets prompted an extraordinary collapse with Zimbabwe losing 10 for 72 to ruin what had been a solid start from their openers. The only downside for Pakistan is that they remain in ninth place in the ICC ODI rankings as a result of the loss on Saturday.Operating from the City End of the ground, Bilal bowled his ten overs on the trot after being brought on in the 13th over by stand-in captain Sarfraz Ahmed – regular leader Azhar Ali sitting this match out with an infected foot. Openers Chamu Chibhabha and Richmond Mutumbami initially seemed to play the offspinner without much alarm, but when Chibhabha popped a simple return catch to the bowler, Zimbabwe’s spectacular implosion was set in motion.Sean Williams shuffled down the track to loft Bilal to wide long-on, but then seemed in two minds as he lunged forward at a flighted delivery and ended up chipping another tame catch to the bowler. Bilal took his second in the over by bowling a noncommittal Elton Chigumbura via the inside edge, and from then on Zimbabwe offered virtually nothing in the way of resistance.Sikandar Raza shuffled right across to the off side as he set himself to sweep, but exposed his stumps in the process and was bowled. When Tino Mutombodzi backed away and missed a cut off when the ball kept a touch low, Bilal had his fifth and Zimbabwe were 127 for 6 in the 31st over.There had been a completely different complexion to their innings in the midst of Chibhabha and Mutumbami’s opening stand. Chibhabha played with characteristic conviction off the front foot and took much of the early strike. He was into the 20s before Mutumbami had even faced his third delivery, and looked set for a 15th ODI fifty before falling to Bilal.His wicket broke an 89-run opening stand, and he was soon followed back to the pavilion by Brian Chari, who was lbw to Imad Wasim playing back when he should have been forward. Darting the ball in from round the wicket, Imad helped himself to two more wickets and in total Zimbabwe lost 9 for 65 to 18.5 overs of spin.Their collapse completely overshadowed a brave innings from Mutumbami. He was attacking from the outset and weathered a fearsome blow to the head from Mohammad Irfan, the ball knocking his helmet off his head, to register a career-best 67 before Irfan won their battle by having him caught behind. After his knock on the head, and a stinging blow to his wrist off Wahab Riaz, Mutumbami did not take the field in the second innings, with Chari filling in as wicketkeeper.The malaise in Zimbabwe’s performance today continued during Pakistan’s chase, which started before the lunch break due to the brevity of the hosts’ innings. John Nyumbu put Bilal down at slip in the second over, and he took advantage of the let-off with a quickfire 38 on either side of the interval as Pakistan cruised past 50.Bilal was eventually well caught by a diving Mutumbodzi at long-on. Mohammad Hafeez didn’t last long and Pakistan were 104 for 3 when Ahmed Shehzad was stumped for a 61-ball 32, but Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq faced minimal resistance in knocking off the remaining runs during their unbroken 58-run stand.