The Champions League T20 governing council has approved the inclusion of the Sialkot Stallions in this year’s tournament to be held in October

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2012The Champions League T20 governing council has approved the inclusion of the Sialkot Stallions in this year’s tournament to be held in October. Sialkot will be the first domestic team from Pakistan to take part in the event. Sundar Raman, a member of the CLT20’s technical committee, announced the decision on Twitter. “CLT to invite Sialkot stallions for this year’s edition,” Raman tweeted.Earlier this month the BCCI, the league’s largest stakeholder, announced that it would inform the tournament’s governing council ahead of today’s meeting that it had no objection to the participation of a team from Pakistan. BCCI president N Srinivasan said the CLT20 governing council had already decided to invite a Pakistani team for the next tournament, to be held in India in October; the BCCI was now concurring with that decision. “The CLT20 is owned by the BCCI, Cricket Australia, and Cricket South Africa, so we will recommend to the governing council that the BCCI has no objection and is prepared to invite a Pakistan team,” Srinivasan said at the time.Sialkot were also the representatives in the 2008 tournament but that event was cancelled after the Mumbai terrorist attacks and Pakistani teams had been kept out of subsequent tournaments. The Sialkot Regional Cricket Association had requested the PCB last month to make efforts to enable the participation of Sialkot in the Champions League. The PCB, in turn, had said that Sialkot’s participation was dependent on the restoration of bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.

Adam Hollioake is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday

Peter English05-May-2012Adam Hollioake, the former England one-day captain, is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday.Hollioake, who played four Tests and 35 ODIs, was buzzing after his three-round mixed martial arts bout in Australia, claiming the high was greater than any moment in his 17-year cricket journey.However, he was left wishing he was fitter after running out of stamina towards the end of the nine-minute contest with Queensland’s Joel Miller.”In hindsight I would have taken a bit longer to prepare for this,” he said. “I made a silly mistake in the first round and that cost me. I won the second round and the third round was a non-event really.”The next combat steps depend on Hollioake’s wife Sherryn, who had a cage-side seat and wasn’t comfortable with the spectacle.”I’ll do what she says,” he said when asked if he’ll fight again.

From 166 for 2 chasing 244, Pakistan disintegrated to 179 for 9 in less than four overs to go down by 44 runs

The Report by Abhishek Purohit16-Jun-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIn 38 ODIs, Thisara Perera has been Man of the Match five times•AFP

Smart stats

• Thisara Perera’s hat-trick was the seventh by a Sri Lankan bowler and the first by a Sri Lankan against Pakistan. Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas have taken three and two hat-tricks respectively.

• In the Pakistan innings, six batsmen were dismissed for a duck. This is the third such occurrence (six ducks in an innings) for Pakistan after Birmingham (1987) and Cape Town (1993).

• From a position of 169 for 3, Pakistan lost their next six wickets for ten runs. The partnership aggregate between the fourth and ninth wickets (13 runs) is the lowest ever for Pakistan and the third-lowest overall.

• Sri Lanka now have an even win-loss record (6-6) at the Premadasa stadium against Pakistan. Against India, they have won 15 matches, the most against a particular opposition at the venue.

• The 110-run stand between Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene for the fourth wicket is their 13th century partnership in ODIs. Among Sri Lankan pairs, only the Sanath Jayasuriya-Marvan Atapattu one is ahead (14 century stands).

• Sangakkara was dismissed in the nineties for the third time in ODIs. It is also the ninth time a Sri Lankan batsman has fallen in the nineties against Pakistan.

• Azhar Ali became only the ninth player overall and the second Pakistan batsman after Saeed Anwar to carry his bat through a completed innings.

• The 113-run stand between Azhar and Misbah-ul-Haq is joint-fifth on the list of top third-wicket stands for Pakistan against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan have been abysmal chasers in recent years in ODI cricket. Three hours of accumulation offered hope that tonight wouldn’t end in another failed pursuit. And then, as if all the accumulation had stretched their patience too taut, the dam broke. From 166 for 2 chasing 244, Pakistan disintegrated to 179 for 9. In less than four overs. Thisara Perera followed up his 6 for 44 in the second ODI with a hat-trick. Pakistan registered six ducks, and their 15th defeat in 18 chases of 240-plus in the last three years.In the end, the match was decided in the two batting Powerplays, with Sri Lanka surging in both. A cramping Azhar Ali, who became the first player to carry his bat in ODIs in more than a decade, and Misbah-ul-Haq had put on 113 for the third wicket, leaving Pakistan with 78 to get from 76 deliveries. In the 37th over, the second of the batting Powerplay, Misbah refused a tight single with Ali having run more than half way up the pitch. The effort required to get back worsened Ali’s cramp, making it harder for him to accelerate, like Kumar Sangakkara had earlier after a similar slow fifty.Three balls later, Misbah departed for an efficient 57, with Nuwan Kulasekara taking a sharp low catch at mid-off off Lasith Malinga’s bowling. Umar Gul had put down a much easier chance at long-on off Sangakkara, who went on to add 62 off 48. Malinga stepped it up after Misbah’s departure, pegging Umar Akmal back with three successive sharp bouncers. Akmal drove at and edged his fourth, off Kulasekara, to the wicketkeeper.The fight had gone out of Pakistan. Younis Khan, held back till No. 6, edged a rising Perera delivery to the keeper. Shahid Afridi either explodes or implodes. He did the latter, punching his first ball to extra cover. Sarfraz Ahmed obliged Perera with the hat-trick, guiding him to slip. The persevering Ali was reduced to a spectator, all his hard work undone in minutes of chaos.Like Sri Lanka, Pakistan hadn’t found run-scoring easy in the first half of their chase, but Ali and Misbah kept the visitors going, taking their team to 100 four overs earlier than Sri Lanka had.Pakistan’s top order continued its wobbly ways when Mohammad Hafeez collected his fifth duck in his last 12 international innings, pulling his fifth delivery from Malinga to long leg. Kulasekara kept Ali and Asad Shafiq under pressure with a probing opening spell of five overs for just 16 runs.Still, like Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan had for Sri Lanka, Ali and Shafiq ensured Pakistan weren’t bogged down completely. It was the left-arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon, bowling for the first time in international cricket in his second ODI, who got the breakthrough with his 10th delivery, trapping Shafiq in front on 25 with a slider. The combination of Ali and Misbah was never going to blaze away, but it made sure the asking-rate stayed below six, and under control, finding the boundary just when required. Little did they know of the pandemonium that was to ensue.Not remotely on the same scale, but Pakistan had fallen apart in the field too after being disciplined for more than three-fifths of Sri Lanka’s innings. Gul dropped Sangakkara off Afridi, when on 35 off 82 deliveries. Then came the batting Powerplay. Sangakkara carted 62 off his last 48 deliveries, and Sri Lanka reached the kind of total Pakistan have struggled to chase in recent years.Till Sangakkara was put down in the 31st over, Sri Lanka had been tied down, first by Pakistan’s fast bowlers, and then by their spinners. Sangakkara and Dilshan did add 55 for the second wicket, but they were hard-earned runs, and Dilshan’s departure immediately after the first drinks break meant Sri Lanka had to continue with their cautious approach. The absence of scoring opportunities consumed Dinesh Chandimal as well, after which the expected rain came down to force a 70-minute break.Pakistan’s spinners continued with the run-squeeze after the rain interruption. The next few overs were quiet, but Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene took complete charge in the batting Powerplay, which went for 49. Gul, who was feeling some pain in his right index finger, was to suffer the most. He had given just 16 off his first five overs; he disappeared for 26 in two overs in the batting Powerplay. Sangakkara stepped out to launch the first ball of Gul’s second spell for a straight six. When Gul overdid the bouncer in the next over, Sangakkara pulled him for six more over fine leg.Sangakkara dominated the 110-run fourth-wicket partnership with Jayawardene, who played some innovative strokes. He was quick to lap-sweep and sweep the spinners, and even reverse-pulled Saeed Ajmal for four over point. Pakistan managed to dismiss the duo in the 44th and 45th overs to limit the damage, but most of it had already been inflicted. Pakistan’s self-destruction later sealed the issue.

West Indies Twenty20 champions Trinidad and Tobago will have to play qualifying matches for the second-year running before the Champions League 2012 to join the four IPL teams and two teams each from Australia and South Africa

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Jul-2012West Indies Twenty20 champions Trinidad and Tobago will have to play qualifying matches for the second-year running to make it to the main draw of the Champions League, a situation that T&T chief operations manager Dudnath Ramkessoon termed ‘unfortunate’.Ramkessoon’s comments came after a fourth IPL team was granted direct entry into the tournament, while the Twenty20 champions from the West Indies, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and two teams from England, will have to compete in a pre-tournament qualifier for two remaining spots. Apart from the Indian teams, two teams each from Australia and South Africa gain direct entry.”We have not received any word yet from the committee, but with regard to what has been reported, it is rather unfortunate that we have to participate in a play-off, seeing how well we have performed in our last two appearances,” Ramkessoon was quoted as saying on the West Indies Players’ Association website.T&T were the runners up in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2009 and qualified for the main draw after topping their group last year.”Being the champions of the West Indies and given how well we have played, you would have thought we would have gone to the main draw because of the quality of our play and the fact that people like to see us play.”However, Ramkessoon added that T&T would ensure it played its strongest team, to top the qualifying and leave nothing to chance.”We are aiming to top that group to ensure that we qualify. We will prepare with that in mind,” he said.Three of T&T’s top players – Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine – are contracted to play for IPL teams. But discussions have been initiated with a view to having these players representing T&T in the tournament.The CLT20 will be played between October 9 and 28 this year. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Durban have been named as venues for the tournament, though the dates and venues for the qualifiers, as well as the schedule, are yet to be released.

A stunning 69 from Chamara Kapugedara propelled Uthura Rudras to a compelling first victory, as they overhauled Basnahira Cricket Dundee’s score of 150 with four wickets and four balls remaining

The Report by Andrew Fernando21-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rilee Rossouw’s 44 for Basnahira Cricket Dundee was in vain•Shaun Roy/SPORTZPICS/SLPL

A stunning 69 from Chamara Kapugedara propelled Uthura Rudras to a compelling first victory, as they overhauled Basnahira Cricket Dundee’s score of 150 with four wickets and four balls remaining. The chase seemed kaput when Dillon du Preez walked to the crease at 86 for 6 in 13.4 overs but he helped keep the Rudras’ heads above the rising run rate, until Kapugedara launched the winning offensive. Rudras’ win means the bottom four teams of the competition are all still statistical possibilities for a semi-final berth.Kapugedara has been one of the mighty disappointments for Sri Lanka on the international stage, having impressed and been selected for Sri Lanka at a young age, but never having translated talent into results. At the domestic level though, innings like Tuesday’s will make him difficult for the selectors to ignore for the World Twenty20. He had ambled to 21 from 22 balls, perhaps because of the clutter of wickets at the other end that left the Rudras with 64 to win from 6 overs and only four wickets in hand. But in the company of du Preez, Kapugedara built quickly to the deluge of boundaries that would win the match. The pair scrambled ones and twos in the 15th over, before Kapugedara smote a four from the 16thand a six over midwicket in the 17th. Still, with 37 required from the last three overs, victory was still a distance away for the Rudras.The surge to the finish came in the next eight balls. Du Preez crashed a four over extra cover, before giving the strike to Kapugedara, who whittled down a daunting demand to a simple saunter to victory in three mighty blows. The first six off Dammika Prasad flew high and straight. Thilan Thushara then missed his length in the first ball of the penultimate over and Kapugedara blasted it over cover. The charging six over midwicket to bring the rate down to a run a ball was filled with the kind of audacity he has rarely shown at the top level. If he is selected for the World Twenty20 squad, perhaps Kapugedara should take further confidence in the fact that both the bowlers he mauled to turn the game have played for Sri Lanka. The final six to win the game, with one run required off five, was almost obnoxious.Despite their poor overall record at the tournament, the Rudras’ bowling has largely been encouraging. Muttiah Muralitharan has missed the last two matches due to a family wedding in India, but as in the loss to Uva Next on Sunday, the young attack performed creditably in his absence. Madushanka Ekanayake recovered from a poor first over to remove Tillakaratne Dilshan, just as the batsman had greased his innings into motion with a scooped six. Chathuranga Peiris turned in four tight overs of his own, while du Preez was the most economical of the group, going at only 4.25 an over.Thushara, Rangana Herath and Prasad had bowled well to get their side into a winning position, but Cricket Dundee could not resist the Kapugedara onslaught that now sees them fighting to stay alive in a tournament they had been one of the favourites to win.

Australian cricket will have its first female board member in 107 years – and a much wider business knowledge base – following the announcement of a trio of corporate heavy-hitters to join Cricket Australia

Daniel Brettig28-Sep-2012Australian cricket will have its first female board member in 107 years – and a much wider business knowledge base – following the announcement of a trio of corporate heavy-hitters to join Cricket Australia as the governing body’s first fully independent directors.Jacquie Hey, the former managing director of Ericsson Australia and New Zealand, the Rio Tinto managing director David Peever and the former Colorado Group chief executive Kevin Roberts were approved as candidates at a CA board meeting in Melbourne on Friday, with their appointments expected to be made official at the annual general meeting on October 25.Wally Edwards, the CA chairman, had made it clear that he wanted three board directors who came from beyond the regular spheres of cricket, a description that each candidate fits although Roberts did play first-class cricket for New South Wales. They were chosen ahead of a field that initially numbered about 100, and included the former Test captain Mark Taylor.”They all bring a close interest in and knowledge of cricket,” Edwards said, “combined with significant experience and success at very senior corporate levels dealing with a wide range of diverse contemporary business challenges relevant to cricket, plus understanding and experience working with different cultures which is important to us as we strive to ensure cricket is a sport for all Australians of all backgrounds.”Most importantly, they offer us independent, expert insight from outside the day-to-day cricket world – we were focussed on finding three high-calibre candidates completely independent of cricket.”Hey’s appointment is most noteworthy. In addition to her time with Ericsson Australia, she has also held MD roles with Ericsson in the UK, Ireland and Saudi Arabia. She is currently a non-Executive Director with Bendigo & Adelaide Bank, and SBS.Peever has been the managing director Australia for the mining giant Rio Tinto since 2009, while he is also a Business Council of Australia councillor and Economic Policy and Competitiveness Committee Chairman, Vice Chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia.Roberts played 23 first-class matches for the Blues and also made 18 domestic limited overs appearances, scoring one century in each format. He has since gone on to become a non-Executive Director of Netball Australia and was formerly the Colorado Group/Fusion Retail CEO and the adidas Pacific Managing Director.

South Africa’s Richard Levi took home the ICC’s T20I Performance of the Year award for his knock of 117 not out off 51 balls against New Zealand, in Auckland, in February

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2012South Africa’s Richard Levi took home the ICC’s T20I Performance of the Year award for his innings of 117 not out off 51 balls against New Zealand, in Auckland in February. That effort broke Chris Gayle’s record for the fastest century in international T20s – Levi got to the mark in 45 balls.In that game Levi, playing only his second international match, also hit the most sixes in an international Twenty20 innings: 13.”I don’t remember much of the innings but I regularly get reminded of it,” Levi said after collecting his award. “With T20 cricket it either comes off or it doesn’t and for me it came off that day. I’m looking forward to playing Sri Lanka when the ICC World Twenty20 gets underway. It’s very humbling to get [this award].”It was the only award on the day for South Africa, with Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander missing out on a couple of top honours. Cricket South Africa congratulated Levi for his achievement. “It was a phenomenal performance and one that is going to be talked about for years to come,” CSA acting CEO Jacques Faul said. “To win the award he had to beat off serious competition.”Levi’s century was picked over Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan (nominated for his century against Australia last August) and Ajantha Mendis (for his six-for against Australia during the same series), and West Indies’ Chris Gayle (for his unbeaten 85 against New Zealand in Florida) in the category.

Round-up of the Zimbabwe one-day competition matches played on October 20

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Oct-2012Craig Ervine and Glen Querl played leading roles with bat and ball in Tuskers 132-run bonus-point win over table-toppers Rhinos in Bulawayo. Ervine scored an unbeaten 106 to power Tuskers to 294 before Querl picked up his first List A five-for which was instrumental in wrapping the Rhinos’ innings in 38 overs.Tuskers, after being put into bat, started slowly with 34 runs coming off the first 11 overs, but set up a good platform after a solid 71-run opening stand between Terry Duffin (26) and Brian Chari (64) in 16 overs. Ervine joined Chari after Cremer struck to remove Duffin and shared a 63-run partnership in 12 overs. Although Tuskers only lost two more wickets by the 40th over, Rhinos had their run rate well under five. Tuskers went past 200 in the 44th over, after which Ervine and captain Keegan Meth (58 off 37 balls) launched an unprecedented attack in the last six overs to score 89 runs.The late assault numbed the Rhinos, who lost early wicket in their chase. Querl struck in his second over to remove Brendan Taylor, and then picked up two more wickets in his fourth off successive balls. He returned later to mop up the tail and finish with figures of 8-2-26-5.Tino Mawoyo steered the chase with an unbeaten century that helped Mountaineers beat Rocks by seven wickets at Mutare sports club. Chasing 267, Mountaineers’ openers – Mawoyo and Kevin Kasuza (85 off 102 balls) – racked up a 182-run opening partnership in 31.4 overs and Mawoyo stayed till the end to see his team through. His 120 came off 128 balls and included 18 boundaries and a six and was his first List A century.Rocks, in search for their first win, chose to bat first and were boosted by an 82-run second-wicket stand between Alester Maregwede, who scored 62, and Ben Slater, who scored 32. But regular wickets thereafter meant that they were not able to accelerate and were at 170 for 5 with 10 overs to go. The tempo was changed by Prince Masvaure’s cameo, an unbeaten 56 off 39 balls, that saw the Rocks score 96 runs off the last ten helping Rhinos to their highest total in this year’s tournament, which wasn’t enough this time.

Ajit Agarkar, former India bowler and Mumbai Ranji captain, has joined Irfan Pathan as the second quick to miss the second round of Ranji Trophy with injuries sustained during the first round

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Nov-2012Ajit Agarkar, former India bowler and Mumbai Ranji captain, has joined Irfan Pathan as the second quick to miss the second round of Ranji Trophy with injuries sustained during the first round. Baroda’s Munaf Patel and Kerala’s Sreesanth are already out of action.Agarkar injured his calf during Mumbai’s draw against Railways at the Wankhede Stadium, and the calf is still sore. Rohit Sharma will captain Mumbai in Agarkar’s absence. Mumbai’s next assignment is an away game against defending champions Rajasthan, starting on Friday. The first-round matches ended on Monday, giving fast bowlers little time to recover.From the squad that notched three points against Railways, Mumbai will be missing three other big players: centurions Sachin Tendulkar and Ajinkya Rahane, and fast bowler Zaheer Khan. All three are part of the India squad to take on England, and will be present at the team’s conditioning camp in Mumbai from November 9 to 11. Mumbai are already missing senior batsman Wasim Jaffer, who is away on Haj pilgrimage.However, Mumbai will also be reinforced with those players who represented Mumbai A in the tour game against the English around the same time as the first round of Ranji matches. Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai’s leading run-getter and fourth-highest overall with 754 at an average of 69, will be brought in. Also coming back into the side will be young quick Kshemal Waingankar and Hiken Shah, who averaged 58 last season. The other addition to the squad, which has been reduced from 15 to 14, is Shoaib Shaikh, who is yet to make first-class debut.Like Irfan, Agarkar too came straight from the Champions League T20 in South Africa to play first-class cricket on much less conducive Indian pitches. Irfan, though, played another first-class game in between, against the English at Brabourne Stadium before travelling to play in Baroda the next day. What makes it worse for these fast bowlers is the unforgiving Ranji Trophy schedule. Some of them are being played three days apart, and some provide a gap of four days.However, Agarkar will find sufficient time to recover before Mumbai’s next game as Mumbai will be one of the three teams not playing in the third round. Their next game will start only on November 24, but they will have to play back-to-back games after that.

The addition of a separate coach for limited-overs cricket will instil the England squad with new energy according to Alastair Cook.

George Dobell in Kolkata04-Dec-2012The addition of a separate coach for limited-overs cricket will instil the England squad with new energy according to Alastair Cook.England last week announced the appointment of Ashley Giles as the coach of the England limited-overs sides, with Andy Flower retaining overall management of all three sides but only day-to-day involvement with the Test side.Now Cook, England’s ODI and Test captain, has welcomed the addition of Giles to the coaching staff and, in a clear hint that Flower was considering turning his back on the England job entirely, expressed his delight that the his services had been retained at all.”It’s great that we’ve managed to keep hold of Andy,” Cook, who admitted he did not try to talk Flower out of the decision, said. “He’s a great person to be involved with and we’re also adding more experience into the coaching team with Ashley coming on board. It is exciting times and I am sure it will work well.”Cook denied any suggestion that Flower’s authority would be diluted by the arrangement and pointed to England’s use of three captains – one for each format – which had worked seamlessly until the retirement of Andrew Strauss saw Cook take on the ODI and Test roles.”It is very clear that Andy is still the team director,” Cook said, “and to me it is very similar to what happened with the three captains. That worked well and there is no reason why this can’t work well with the people involved. Having three captains gave new energy to each form of the game and I can see that happening here. Also, the coaches will have a little more time to prepare for each series. It is new, so it is virgin territory, but I can’t see why it won’t work really well.”A lot of the coaches’ work is done when we’re not playing. It’s great that we’ve managed to keep hold of Andy, he’s a great person to be involved with, and we’re also adding more experience into the coaching team with Ashley coming on board.”Cook admitted he did not know what style of coach Giles might be, but he provided a ringing endorsement of his character and his record in county cricket. As director of cricket at Edgbaston, Giles led Warwickshire to the County Championship title in 2012 and also saw the team contest two and win one Lord’s one-day final in the last three seasons. Cook also felt that Giles’ record as a player who made the most of his limited ability should render him well-suited to a coaching role.”What Giles has had is a lot of success at Warwickshire,” Cook said. “He’s turned that club around. All the reports coming out of Warwickshire are that he is doing a fantastic job. He is a really good character and he knows what it takes to succeed at international level.”He did it the hard way as well. He would probably be the first to admit he wasn’t the most naturally gifted of cricketers but, my God, he worked hard to get results. I assume he’ll be carrying that into his coaching as well. As I say, he’s done a great job at Warwickshire and I’m really looking forward to working with him. It is vital we form a good relationship as captain and coach because all three of us need to work together.”