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Assistant coach Ahmadzai says 2-1 T20I triumph will “give our cricket a new spirit”

Umar Farooq28-Mar-2023Afghanistan are toasting a first ever T20I series win over Pakistan, with their assistant coach Raees Ahmadzai describing the achievement as one that could “give our cricket a new spirit”.Ahmadzai has been with the team for two years now. He was on the sidelines watching as Afghanistan went 2-0 up, their bowlers reducing Pakistan to 92 for 9 in the first T20I and 130 for 6 in the second. They were unable to complete the series sweep as a young Pakistan team found new heroes of their own but the mood in the camp is still understandably upbeat.”Beating a higher ranked team is big for the country,” Ahmadzai told ESPNcricinfo. “I can’t explain the significance of this victory in words because it carries a lot of emotions. This is going to give our cricket a new spirit and give us a belief that we can do it and we did it. It became history and we are going to take this trophy back to Kabul giving our people much-needed joy.”Outside of their exploits against Zimbabwe and Ireland, this was only their third T20I series win over an ICC Full Member. The other two came in 2018 against Bangladesh and 2019 against West Indies.The three matches, which took place over the last week, were not part of the Future Tours Programme. It was arranged to fill the gap in the calendar after Australia withdrew from playing against Afghanistan.Until now, Pakistan and Afghanistan mostly faced off against each other in ICC events, with Pakistan winning a vast majority of the matches. But this time they came into the series resting several first-choice players – including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi – and Afghanistan took advantage.”It is special to win against a top nation,” Ahmadzai said, “And Pakistan fielded a strong side with a lot of PSL performers who have been scoring big runs and taking wickets. So it’s exciting to beat a top cricket nation. It’s not like we never came close to beating Pakistan before. There were some close games in the past in which Pakistan won but it’s good to pull a series.Pakistan came into the series resting several of their first-choice players•Afghanistan Cricket Board

“This is not just a win for Afghanistan cricket but for cricket as a game because this victory is going to inspire many youngsters who will start picking up the game in Afghanistan. Our people back home were skeptical, and taunted us, doubting our ability if we are ever going to beat a bigger team like Pakistan, India, Australia, and England. There were fans who don’t understand the process but just want to win and want to take pride in it and now everyone is happy. It’s like a festival now. Cricket has been a major source of happiness, people love cricket and this series win brought a lot of smiles. The game is already growing in the country and such wins change the dynamic at the grassroots.”The conditions in Sharjah also offered Afghanistan and their spinners a little bit more than the pitches that were used in the PSL and Ahmadzai praised his players for making full use of it. “We knew that Pakistan team coming from scoring so many runs in PSL and they could go all with the same pattern hitting uppish,” he said. “They are very talented cricketers but we knew the pressure of international cricket is going to test them. So we had to exploit the conditions and the rhythm they were enjoying playing in Pakistan. We have world-class spinners and we had to use our new ball smartly.”We didn’t have much time to prepare for the series but we knew this series was an opportunity to learn and execute what we know. We took full advantage of the conditions and restricted them to 90 and 130 odd runs. There are a lot of takeaways from the series, especially in our fast bowling department, we know we need to get more control in death bowling. We have stroke makers in our batting line-up but we have made them learn to take the innings deep when you have a bigger target in front of them. We have world-class spinners and they delivered up to the expectations.”Contests between Afghanistan and Pakistan are quite intense with incidents of both fans and players squaring off against each other. When asked about this, Ahmadzai said, “we have produced the finest [T20] cricketer for the game [Rashid Khan] and I often hear odd things about our nation that we don’t understand the game and don’t have the temperament for high-class cricket which is totally wrong.”We have role models in form of Rashid Khan who is the greatest ambassador of the game. There was an isolated incident of aggression in the field which has given a false impression. We respect the game and showing passion on the ground is a natural act and very much part of the game. We play the game according to the rules and regulations defined by ICC. What happens in the crowd is out of our control, we can’t control how people think and respond and it’s the role of security and stadium authorities to manage.”But what I can tell you is that we are a peace-loving country and play the game in the right spirit. There is a little rivalry going on with Pakistan and that’s healthy for the game.”Ahmadzai cited a passage of play in this series where Mohammad Nabi was seen glaring at Imad Wasim after picking up the wicket of Faheem Ashraf. “There was an incident that, to the outsider might seem like an example of the usually tense atmosphere in these games, but actually showcases Nabi’s smarts. Viewers might remember when he dismissed Faheem in the first T20, he turned around and apparently stared at Imad Wasim at the non-strikers. In fact, they had been discussing how much the ball was breaking on the pitch and when he took the wicket, he turned to show Imad, a team-mate at Karachi Kings, how much control he has over his bowling to have landed it exactly right.”Afghanistan next assignment is a full tour of Bangladesh in June, where they will play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

Pair recruited by former team-mate Darren Gough, who recently took over as the club’s managing director

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2022Steve Harmison and Ryan Sidebottom, the former England fast bowlers, have joined Yorkshire’s coaching staff on an interim basis.Recruited by former team-mate Darren Gough, who recently took over as managing director in the wake of the club’s racism scandal, the pair will support Tim Boon, the former England assistant coach who will lead training during pre-season preparations.Fielding specialist Cookie Patel, Thunder head coach Paul Shaw, former Durham and Sussex wicketkeeper-batter Martin Speight and Northern Diamonds performance coach Richard Waite will provide additional coaching support.”I am delighted that we have been able to secure interim support of the highest quality, all of whom have many years of experience between them, and our players will hugely benefit from their vast knowledge and expertise,” Gough said.Related

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A Yorkshire club statement added that “all the individuals offering support are not applicants for any of the permanent coaching vacancies currently being recruited”. The application deadline for the head coach role has now closed with the club set to review applications in the coming days.Yorkshire appointed Gough last month, filling the role vacated by Martyn Moxon, one of 16 members of the back-room staff axed following the allegations of institutional racism made against the club by Azeem Rafiq. Gough’s initial appointment is set to run to the end of the 2022 season, overseeing strategy, planning, recruitment and development.It is Harmison’s first foray into coaching with a county side since he retired as a player in 2013, having managed Ashington football club and worked in the media, including on BT Sport’s Ashes coverage and with Gough on talkSPORT radio. He spent a brief stint on loan at Yorkshire from Durham during his playing days.Ryan Sidebottom has experience as a bowling coach•PA Images via Getty Images

Sidebottom ended his playing career at Yorkshire, where he won three County Championship titles. He retired in 2017 and spent a year as a bowling coach with Surrey.Boon was part of Duncan Fletcher’s staff when England won the 2005 Ashes and also coached Leicestershire before becoming an an ECB cricket liaison officer and match referee.

Test captain not out of the running as England start on blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India

Alan Gardner03-Sep-2020Eoin Morgan has welcomed the chance to field something close to a first-choice T20I team in the forthcoming series against Australia, but made it clear that Joe Root is not out of the running as England start putting together their blueprint for next year’s T20 World Cup in India.During previous white-ball assignments against Ireland and Pakistan, Morgan has had to do without several players due to their involvement in the Test bio-secure environment. But with Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood returning to the squad, England are almost at “full strength” – missing only Jason Roy, through injury, and Ben Stokes, who has travelled to New Zealand to be with his unwell father.”For the first time this summer we are seeing the majority of our best team on the park and that’s great,” Morgan said. “Bar injury and absent players, which is only a couple, we are at full strength. That is a nice place to be. We don’t have to pick our best XI every series that we play because we can’t put all our eggs in one basket, because we need 16 or 17 players in the lead up to a World Cup, all vying for selection in the best 15. We found in the lead in to the 50-overs World Cup that was the best position to be in.”ALSO READ: Wood keen to make impression against ‘biggest rivals’ AustraliaWhile Morgan has been comfortable with giving opportunities to fringe players, he warned last week it would be important to get “our strongest team on the park as often as we can” in order to focus on role definition ahead of the 2021 World Cup.On Root’s case to be considered part of that group, Morgan indicated that England thought there would be more value in the Test captain getting some T20 cricket under his belt with Yorkshire, to better enable him to press his case among a clutch of top-order batting candidates.”Yes, we have had that conversation with Joe and he certainly does have a future. The conversation was surrounding Joe not getting in the best XI at the moment. We didn’t want to carry him round and him not play any cricket. Joe wants to play T20 cricket and put his best case forwards particularly when he doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to go back to Yorks and play T20 cricket. We felt it was a really good opportunity for him to do that.”While Root played a vital role as an accumulator at No. 3 in the side that reached the 2016 World T20 final, his position has been squeezed by England’s preference for using Buttler at the top of the order, as well as the stellar T20I record built up by Dawid Malan and the emergence of Tom Banton.Morgan confirmed that Buttler would open alongside Jonny Bairstow against Australia on Friday, saying that along with Roy they counted as “three of our greatest-ever white-ball players”. England remain keen to give Buttler as many balls per innings in which to wreak destruction as possible, although Morgan hinted he could still be redeployed to the finisher role he fulfils in ODI cricket.”Like I have said before, we will continue with this until we feel that it’s not working,” Morgan said. “We feel that Jason, Jonny and Jos are three of our greatest-ever white-ball players. They are unbelievable strikers of the ball. They’re batsmen who you do not want to bowl against. If one of the three of them gets going past the first six overs of the Powerplay, and into those middle overs, it puts us in a really strong position for the last 14.”We always pose the question of how do we get the best out of all of our players. When you talk about those three guys specifically, it’s more obvious with Jonny and Jason batting at the top of the order. Trying to get the best out of Jos, at the moment we feel the more balls he faces, the more influence he can have on the game. If we find things down the line haven’t exactly worked out we can always fall back on Jos in the middle order.”England’s wealth of options at the top has also masked, to a degree, their uncertainty around Nos. 5 and 6, where a number of candidates – from Sam Billings, to Joe Denly and Sam Curran – have been tried over the last couple of years, without staking a strong claim.”One of the challenges we do have down the line is trying to find a middle-to-lower-order batter that can come in and play in an aggressive manner from ball one,” Morgan said. “Very difficult to predict who that might be because very few do that at county level – they either bat in the top four or open. At the moment we do have an abundance of talented players who open the batting or bat at three.”Moeen Ali responded to a move up the order to No. 5 with his highest T20I score since 2015 in Tuesday’s defeat to Pakistan. Ali afterwards admitted to “coasting” at times recently, but credited his captain for showing faith in him; Morgan said that he was hopeful Ali had now rediscovered his motivation.”I have spoken to him a little bit about that,” Morgan said. “Sometimes in your career, if there is no direct goal or direct drive in what you are trying to do, your mind is not challenged, your body is not challenged. It’s always important to have that. It might be a team goal that motivates you, it might be an individual goal for different guys. It’s really important to have that.”Morgan was also pleased to have Archer back to play his first limited-overs international since bowling the Super Over in last year’s World Cup final, although he warned against overburdening the pace bowler with expectations after weeks of discussion about his role in the Test side.”It’s great to have him back. He’s one of our match-winners and to have another one in your team is great – he’s a huge asset. I just think we need to manage the level of expectation of what he produces throughout the series. Obviously, he has played a lot during the summer and he is very excited about playing in this series but we saw at Old Trafford in the first game [against Pakistan] guys took a little bit of time to get into their rhythm. So, the level of expectation naturally will be high but within reason.”

Andrew McGlashan in Brisbane06-May-2019The Australians, including Steven Smith and David Warner for the first time in more than a year, had to scramble for a one-wicket victory against a New Zealand XI including just five of the World Cup squad after suffering a batting collapse on the first of three practice matches at Allan Border Field.Having earlier restricted the New Zealanders to 215 they stumbled from 2 for 122 to 9 for 205 leaving the final pair of Jason Behrendorff and Adam Zampa to edge them across the line as darkness fell and save the blushes of a middle order that produced some poor shot selection.For all the excitement at the end, the result of this match won’t be hugely significant in the bigger picture but it was the latest milestone in the comeback story of Warner and Smith, pulling on the Australian colours for the first time since the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. They are likely to face more hostile crowds over the next few months than the 1000-plus of friendly local support that gathered on a public holiday. “Welcome back, Smithy” came a lone voice as the Australians took the field in the morning and both were greeted by warm applause as they walked to the crease. In England, however, things are expected to be a bit different.One of the more intriguing aspects of the day was a small message in how Warner was used: it doesn’t matter how good your form is, you may have to take on a new position in the team as he was slotted in at No. 3 despite only once in 104 ODI innings having not opened.As it was, Warner arrived at the crease in the first over of the chase when Usman Khawaja was bowled by Matt Henry playing an expansive drive and, after an iffy start where he was dropped at gully before scoring, cantered his way to 39 off 43. Smith, who earlier took a terrific one-handed diving catch that will have given the troublesome elbow a good test, got himself settled before falling for 22 and the innings stuttered.Marcus Stoinis was caught behind from a loose drive, Shaun Marsh slashed to gully and Alex Carey nicked a wild shot to leave it to the bowlers. Nathan Coulter-Nile tried to muscle the Australians over the line but was lbw to Todd Astle with 11 still needed.David Warner takes the field•Getty Images

In the weeks leading up to Warner and Smith returning, Australia strung together eight consecutive ODI wins. One of the key parts of that was the success Khawaja and Aaron Finch had together at the top of the order. What the top order looks like at the World Cup remains one of the questions Australia need to answer. In all likelihood various combinations will be used during the three matches against New Zealand, and the odds still favour Warner opening come the tournament, but the fact he didn’t get first crack was a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.Warner didn’t quite middle everything from the off, perhaps still adjusting to the change in conditions from the IPL to Brisbane. He almost spooned his first ball close to backward point then nearly offered a return catch to Henry, who should have had him in his next over when Daryl Mitchell spilled a chance at gully, but was soon dispatching deliveries to the boundary. He took a particularly liking to anything Doug Bracewell dropped short before trying something a little too inventive off Astle and top edged a reverse sweep.Smith had been given a tough net session by the Australian quicks yesterday but looked reasonably assured in the middle, one straight in particular standing out, until he was caught behind off Henry as Australia’s collapse was set in motion.The player who was a shining light for the men’s team during a difficult home summer, Pat Cummins, had got the day off to a lively start when he struck twice in the opening over to send back George Worker and Henry Nicholls.From there, the New Zealanders recovered impressively through a third-wicket stand of 137 between Will Young and Tom Blundell. Young, recently handed a central contract, is the next in line behind the incumbent batsmen while Blundell earned the final spot in the World Cup squad when he was preferred ahead of Tim Seifert as back-up wicketkeeper.After laying a foundation following the early losses both started to expand their strokeplay; Blundell launched Behrendorff into the grandstand over deep square and Young later peppered the same area. However, when Young clubbed Coulter-Nile to deep midwicket and Blundell fell four overs later and the innings went into a nosedive as the New Zealanders lost 8 for 78.Cummins, Behrendorff and Coulter-Nile each finished with three wickets while Adam Zampa nipped out Mitchell with a stumping. Kane Richardson, who is one of the standby pacemen for the World Cup along with Josh Hazlewood, and would be in line for a call-up if Jhye Richardson doesn’t recover from his dislocated shoulder, went wicketless and will hope for another chance in the next two matches. Australia will hope to bat better.

County executives assured there will be no more compensation payments to Test-hosting counties until the issue has been discussed further

George Dobell08-Mar-2018ECB chairman Colin Graves has sought to ease the concerns of anxious county executives by assuring them there will be no more compensation payments to Test-hosting counties until the issue has been discussed further.In a chief executives’ meeting on Thursday, Graves insisted that plans for such payments had only been at draft stage and would have to have been ratified by the board before implementation. As a result of concerns raised by the counties – and most notably by the resignation from the board of Andy Nash – those plans will now be reviewed.While the mood among the counties does appear to be somewhat appeased – there is no serious talk of a vote of no confidence – there are still some awkward questions to answer. At least one club would appear to have already received a payment from the ECB, while at least two more have budgeted for it.Meanwhile, those counties concerned that the suggested compensation payments might signal a change in the long-term policy of the ECB were further alarmed by the news that the new County Partnership Agreements (the successor to Memorandums of Understanding) are likely to be bespoke to each club. While the aim of that is largely to reflect the differing needs of clubs in different parts of the country, it might also be interpreted as providing potential for a further divide between Test-hosting clubs and the rest. In the past, the ECB’s funds have been largely split on an equitable basis (with some room for performance-related bonus payments) among the counties.It has also been revealed that, at some stage in the last couple of years, Sport England expressed some concern over Graves’ position of chairman of the ECB’s new nominations committee.While the ECB has made much of the fact that its board will shortly be mostly made up of independent members, the nominations committee effectively has the opportunity to vet every prospective applicant. All other board members with affiliations to counties – the likes of Richard Thompson, the Surrey chairman, or Peter Wright, the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board chairman – are obliged to step down in May when they will be replaced by independent board members. Giles Clarke, the ECB president, is also expected to step down in May. Alan Leighton is expected, at some stage, to take over as chairman of the nominations committee.Furthermore, it has emerged that in March 2016 the ECB provided an assurance that Graves would abstain from “any vote or decision which could be deemed a conflict of duty… as is his statutory duty”.Although Graves, who was previously chairman of Yorkshire, did excuse himself from the room when the recent allocation of major matches was validated by the board, questions remain as to whether he did so on other occasions; notably when the decision to strip Durham of their Test status was approved. Graves no longer has any direct financial link to Yorkshire, though family trusts set up by him but run independently are owed £20m by the club.

A round-up of the final round of Ranji Trophy matches from Group B on December 7, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2016A total of 18 wickets fell in Vadodara as four wickets each from medium-pacers Sumit Narwal and Pradeep Sangwan saw Saurashtra fold for 92 before Delhi went to stumps on 194 for 8 with a 102-run lead.Delhi, who need an outright win to be assured of a playoff spot, chose to field. Wicketkeeper Snell Patel (26) and Kishan Parmar (12) scored 24 runs for the first wicket, but the latter’s dismissal saw Saurashtra quickly fall to 35 for 4. Narwal and Sangwan removed the top seven batsmen, before part-time offspinner Nitish Rana took two wickets with the score on 81 in the 30th over. Saurashtra folded for 92 inside 34 overs. Prerak Mankad top-scored for the third Saurashtra innings in a row with his 33.Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir opened Delhi’s innings and were out in consecutive overs after scoring 16 runs each. Their wickets were part of a collapse that saw Delhi go from 38 for no loss to 57 for 4. Rishabh Pant then hit a 28-ball 40 to take Delhi past Saurashtra’s score before Kushang Patel had him caught. Kushang finished the day with four wickets as he troubled Delhi’s middle order who were 128 for 7 at one stage, before a 62-run stand for the eighth wicket between Manan Sharma (33) and Sangwan (39*) took them to stumps with a sizable lead.Vinay Kumar took his third five-wicket haul this season as Karnataka dismissed Maharashtra for 163 before finishing the day on 67 for 1 in Mohali. The spell also saw him move past Madan Lal’s tally of 351 wickets to become the leading wicket-taker among seamers in Ranji Trophy history.Maharashtra, who also need an outright win to qualify, were put into bat. Openers Swapnil Gugale (25) and Rohit Motwani (32) added 42 runs for the first wicket before the former was caught behind off Stuart Binny. The next six overs saw only 3 runs, before Vinay picked up three middle-order wickets as Maharashtra lost six batsmen before they reached 100. Motwani, the innings’ top scorer, was removed by Binny as the team’s seventh dismissal on 113, which was followed by a brief resistance from the lower order before they were wrapped up for 163.Although Karnataka lost debutant opener Arjun Hoysala in the first over to Anupam Sanklecha, his partner Ravikumar Samarth (33*) put on 67 with Kaunain Abbas (30*) to cut Karnataka’s deficit to 96 runs.Noida saw only 46 overs of play due to inclement conditions. Play only began after the scheduled lunch time, and Rajasthan were bowled out for 140 by Vidarbha.Each of Vidarbha’s five bowlers had wickets to their name, as Rajasthan’s wickets fell within 98 runs after openers Amitkumar Gautam (18) and Manendar Singh (27) had put up 42 runs for the first wicket. This included collapses of 4 for 5 and 6 for 50 on either side of a 43-run fifth wicket stand between Rajat Bhatia (26) and Siddharth Dobal (19). Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate finished with 3 for 22 while Shrikant Wagh, Rajneesh Gurbani and Lalit Yadav took two wickets each.In response, Vidarbha openers Sanjay Ramaswamy and Faiz Fazal played out the day’s last four overs and took them to stumps on 14 for no loss.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appointed a two-man committee to investigate allegations of widespread corruption within the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA)

Nagraj Gollapudi12-Nov-2015Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appointed a two-man committee to investigate allegations of widespread corruption within the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). The committee, comprising the secretaries in the sports and urban development departments, has been given 48 hours to report back their findings.The probe assumes significance as the BCCI at its AGM on Monday had given the DDCA time till November 17 to get all necessary clearances from the government and the Delhi civic body for it to host the fourth Test between India and South Africa. Should Delhi fail to meet the deadline, Pune will host its maiden Test, scheduled between December 3 to 7.
It is understood that on November 10 prominent former Delhi cricketers, led by former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi, met Kejriwal. “On Diwali eve they met the chief minister and submitted a memorandum alleging largescale corruption and financial irregularities in the DDCA,” a government source, present at the meeting, told ESPNcricinfo.Incidentally, current Delhi captain and senior India batsman, Gautam Gambhir also met Kejriwal on Thursday morning to express his frustration about leading a team without any support from the DDCA. In his interviews with the media this week, Gambhir brought out in the open his rift with the DDCA. “[If Delhi were to win the Ranji Trophy this year] that will be a massive, massive slap in the face for a lot of people who haven’t done anything for cricket and yet have been on top posts in the DDCA,” Gambhir told the .The issue of corruption and financial mismanagement has plagued the DDCA for a many years, but the inability of the factions to resolve their differences has now come to bite them back. Both the Delhi government, which is headed by Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, and the Delhi civic body have slapped numerous notices on the DDCA to clear long-standing dues and seek clearances in order to host the South Africa Test match. The BCCI, too, has for the past two years stopped the funds to DDCA because the association has not filed its accounts for the said period.The biggest impediment for the DDCA is the massive sum of Rs 24.46 crore it owes to the Delhi government as entertainment tax. DDCA apparently believes it was exempted from entertainment tax from 2008 to 2012, but the new commission has asked them for arrears for those years plus interest. So DDCA claims they owe no more than 5 crore, but the government has asked for 24 crore.None of the DDCA officials responded to calls, but in their interactions with the media earlier this week some senior officials had expressed confidence that Kejriwal would listen to their case and waive off a part of the entertainment tax.The government official pointed out, however, that the probe panel was not concerned about the BCCI deadline. “Those are two different matters,” the official said. “The DDCA has not paid the entertainment tax to Delhi government since a long time. So the department would be concerned only about the tax. The deadline to DDCA by the BCCI is their own internal matter”.The official said Kejriwal had two options with regards to the memorandum submitted by Bedi and co. Either the government disposes of the memorandum, but that would not be done considering it was supported by eminent names like Bedi. The second option was to conduct a swift and thorough inquiry.()

Essex have signed New Zealand batsman Hamish Rutherford to replace Rob Quiney as their overseas player for the remainder of the season.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-May-2013Essex have signed New Zealand batsman Hamish Rutherford to replace Rob Quiney as their overseas player for the remainder of the season. Rutherford will become available after New Zealand’s tour of England.Quiney suffered a shoulder injury attempting a catch on the final day of Essex’s defeat to Lancashire at Old Trafford on May 10. He requires an operation and has flown home to Australia. He played in the first four of Essex’s County Championship matches, scoring only one half-century in seven innings.But in Rutherford, a 24-year-old left-hander, Essex have a like-for-like replacement at the top of the order. Rutherford’s weight of runs in domestic cricket in New Zealand earned him a call-up for the Test side against England in March and he made 171 in his first innings in Dunedin. He also struck 126 against England Lions at Grace Road in the second match of the New Zealand tour.New Zealand’s T20 series against England concludes the tour with the final match at The Oval on June 27. Rutherford would therefore become available for Essex’s T20 against Hampshire at Chelmsford a day later.”We are delighted to be signing Hamish and we welcome him to the club,” Essex head coach Paul Grayson said. “The coaching staff and myself look forward to working with him and are pleased that he is joining Essex. He is an attacking opening batsman that will definitely benefit us in both the Yorkshire Bank 40 competition and Friends Life t20 too.”I was very impressed with how he played for New Zealand this winter against England and Hamish comes highly recommended from some good judges in the game, so will be a great acquisition for us I’m sure.”

Dav Whatmore, the Pakistan coach, has said he is “disappointed” with the postponement of Bangladesh’s proposed tour of Pakistan following a court stay order

Umar Farooq23-Apr-2012Dav Whatmore, the Pakistan coach, has said he is “disappointed” with the postponement of Bangladesh’s proposed tour of Pakistan following a court stay order. Whatmore also said that he had not faced any security issues during his two-month stay in Pakistan.Bangladesh had agreed to visit Pakistan in the last week of this month for an ODI and a T20I, both scheduled to be played in Lahore, but the tour was delayed on April 19 with a Dhaka court ordering a four-week embargo over security concerns.”It is a bit disappointing,” Whatmore said. “We were planning to quickly get started with training, but all that has been knocked on the head with Bangladesh not coming.”Whatmore, who was born in Sri Lanka and immigrated early to Australia, coached the country of his birth to their famous 1996 World Cup triumph. “From my personal point of view, I’ve lived in Sri Lanka, I was born in Sri Lanka, I lived through civil war there towards the end of that problem, and I am now staying in Lahore for the last two months and move around quite freely. I really don’t have any problems with security.”Whatmore said the Pakistani people were starved of international cricket, which was difficult for them given the following and history of the game in the country. “It must be really hard for the people here, but do they [the rest of the world] really know how hard it is? You need to come and witness it to really know how difficult it is for a nation that has a rich history in international cricket to keep the game going without having the ability to host overseas teams.”For Pakistan, the Bangladesh tour is more a closed chapter for the moment and the series could be scrapped from the ICC Future Tours Programme as Pakistan is unlikely to host Bangladesh at an offshore venue. The PCB is, however, focussing on launching its own lucrative Twenty20 league, and is hoping to have overseas players in it – another tactic to revive international cricket in the country. Whatmore welcomed the idea and was hopeful of its success.”Once it is known to people in the world that the PCB is planning to do this, I’m sure there will be a lot of international cricketers looking at their schedules and see that they are available in this short period of time to come and play here. I am very hopeful that there will be some very good international cricketers coming and enjoying playing in it.”With the possibility that the Bangladesh tour might not happen, Pakistan face a spare period ahead of their away series in Sri Lanka towards the end of May. Whatmore said he would ensure the players avoided getting complacent and rusty during that time.The PCB has recently asked its centrally-contracted players to undergo a fitness test, before they are considered for a new contract. “The fitness test was designed to give everyone an idea of where they are now and after a prescription of work to re-test and see the improvement,” Whatmore said.

England batsman Ian Bell’s half-century was not enough as his Warwickshire side succumbed to an 18-run defeat against Northamptonshire

08-May-2011
ScorecardIan Bell found form with 88 but Warwickshire subsided late in their chase•Getty Images

England batsman Ian Bell’s half-century was not enough as his Warwickshire side succumbed to an 18-run defeat against Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the Clydesdale Bank 40 at Wantage Road.Steelbacks’ wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien crashed 61 off 46 balls and David Sales finished unbeaten on 60 as the hosts posted 238 for 5 from their 40 overs.The Bears slumped to 17 for 3 before Bell’s knock of 88 off 101 balls and Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf’s 72 put them back in business, but Chaminda Vaas’ 3 for 45 helped to ensure they fell short. The visitors lost their last seven wickets for just 45 runs and it means Northants maintain their 100 per cent record in this year’s competition.Warwickshire won the toss and elected to field and Andrew Miller quickly took the wicket of Stephen Peters, out caught and bowled to complete an opening wicket maiden. Vaas then departed for 31 when he smashed Darren Maddy to Rikki Clarke at mid-wicket.But Ireland international O’Brien went on to complete an explosive half-century off just 37 balls before perishing when he was caught and bowled by Maddy. Alex Wakely then went for 27 when he chipped Miller straight to Bell at mid-wicket. Sales stuck around to reach 50 off as many balls but Rob White fell on 47 when he launched Chris Woakes to Keith Barker at deep cover to break a fifth-wicket stand of 82.Chasing 239, the Bears’ reply got off to an awful start when they lost Varun Chopra for a single in the first over when he edged Vaas to O’Brien. Barker (5) threw his wicket away when he recklessly smashed Northamptonshire captain Andrew Hall to Wakely at deep cover before Ireland opener Will Porterfield (10) was run out by James Middlebrook at mid-on.Bell then completed a composed half-century off 66 balls as he and Yousuf added 158 between them, the latter making it to 50 off 52 balls. The stand was broken when Bell was run out by Peters at point before Yousuf departed when he nudged Vaas to O’Brien to tilt the match back in the home side’s favour.Clarke (8) then needlessly blasted Hall to David Willey at midwicket and Darren Maddy hammered 25 off just 18 deliveries before launching Vaas to Hall at extra cover. Wicketkeeper Richard Johnson departed without facing a ball as he was superbly run out by Willey at mid-off before the same man bowled both Miller and Maurice Holmes to claim personal figures of two for 29 and seal victory.