Anderson’s three late wickets keep Middlesex batsmen at bay

Paul Edwards at Lord's11-Apr-2019
An April morning in St John’s Wood. Wisden just published, winter taking flight and the world freshly clothed in its spring livery. It is a common habit at this point in an Ashes season to consider who will bat in the top order against Australia. Admittedly the field has been narrowed down to about thirty batsmen but before long anyone with a pulse who has reached double figures in the previous fortnight will have his advocates.For half this day we thought the 75 runs made by Stevie Eskinazi, a player rarely considered in an international context, would define the game’s first quarter. But by evening it was an opening bowler who had done most to mould the match’s current shape. For having taken just one wicket in the first two sessions, James Anderson bagged a couple more after tea as Middlesex declined from 181 for 3 to 236 for 9 at stumps. It may not have been exactly what Dane Vilas had envisaged when he opted to bowl at 10.30 but it was very acceptable all the same.Lancashire’s revival was completed by Tom Bailey, who added the late wickets of James Harris and Steven Finn to the two he had taken in the afternoon session.But it was inspired by Anderson, who had Dawid Malan caught at slip for 24 when he pushed one across the batsman and then returned with the new ball to nip one away from Max Holden when the young left-hander had made a composed 34. Rob Jones took the resulting slip catch quite as easily as he had when pouching Eoin Morgan in the gully off Josh Bohannon eight overs earlier.Morgan’s careless slash summed up Middlesex’s evening; Bohannon’s clenched fists encapsulated Lancastrian joy in pugnacious fashion. The 22-year-old only celebrated his birthday on Tuesday but his rolling gait suggests he has already spent a dozen years before the mast. One thinks of Leading Seaman Frank, the part played by William Hartnell, in the And all this was rather unexpected given Lancashire’s only success in the morning was achieved in the seventh over when Anderson squared up Sam Robson and Glenn Maxwell took the resultant edge at second slip without palaver. That wicket was Anderson’s 921st in first-class cricket but it was more notable for being his 300th for Lancashire in his 18th season with the county.Not surprising, you may say, when one considers the effect of central contracts on domestic cricket but still remarkable when one compares his achievement with that of Brian Statham, who took eight games more than Anderson’s 77 to reach the same landmark for his beloved county yet packed those matches into three years and four months following his debut in 1950.The contrasts between the two are as revealing as the comparisons. It is accepted that Statham and Anderson are two of England’s finest bowlers and each has had an End named after them at Emirates Old Trafford. Yet Statham had never travelled in an aeroplane before being asked to fly out and join MCC’s tour of Australia in 1951; the furthest he had voyaged from these shores was the Isle of Man.Anderson, by contrast has probably got more air miles on his clock than the average transatlantic pilot. Statham’s first job after leaving school was clerking in a firm of coal merchants and in what passed for retirement he worked in a brewery’s sales department. When Anderson’s career ends one doubts he will need to find alternative employment.All bowlers, though, have to insulate themselves against disappointment and Anderson’s was plain in the morning session when Gubbins edged him twice between slips and gully. He threw back his head, shoved his hands in his pockets and stalked back to his mark as if appalled at life’s iniquity.That was as nothing, though, when set beside Graham Onions’ frustration when he had both Gubbins and Eskinazi dropped by Alex Davies and Maxwell respectively in the space of seven balls. Thus reprieved, the pair lunched on 84 for one and Middlesex supporters looked forward to further prosperity.But it did not quite work out that way. After batting well and reaching his fifty with a pleasing back foot drive off Maxwell, Gubbins played across a full length ball from Bailey and was leg before wicket for 55. Nearly eight overs later, Eskinazi, whose driving through the off side had been one of the day’s delights, made to leg glance the same bowler but only feathered a catch to Brook Guest.As seems to have been the norm in recent seasons, Lancashire went into the game with two or three ‘keepers and Guest took over the gloves when Davies injured himself dropping Gubbins.Middlesex got to tea on 175 for 3 but rest of the day belonged to Lancashire’s bowlers with Anderson taking 3 for 41 from his 21 overs. It was a fine effort although one doubts he thanked his feet for getting him though the day, as Statham was wont to do.The rest of us thanked God or whatever means the good for letting us enjoy this stuff once again. The scents of blossoms were everywhere as one left Lord’s this Thursday evening and not even the subterranean stench of the tube could banish them.

Senior players Chloe Tryon and Lizelle Lee have also returned to the fold for the series

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Apr-2019South Africa women will be without the services of their regular captain Dane van Niekerk for the upcoming limited-overs home series against Pakistan, as she continues to recover from a stress fracture of the right femur.Van Niekerk had suffered the injury during the first ODI against Sri Lanka in February this year and Suné Luus, who had stepped in to lead the side for the remainder of that series, has been named captain for the games against Pakistan as well.The elevation to the captaincy, albeit in a temporary capacity, marked an interesting few months for Luus: she was dropped for the series against Sri Lanka, before being included in place of the injured Chloe Tryon, and then went on to lead the side when van Niekerk picked up her injury. Luus, a legspin-bowling allrounder, took a match-defining 4 for 30 in the third ODI against Sri Lanka, which helped her side sweep the series 3-0.Two other senior players were recalled after regaining full fitness. Vice-captain Tryon has recovered from a groin injury, while Lizelle Lee was picked after meeting the team’s fitness standards. Fitness concerns had resulted in her withdrawal from the series against Sri Lanka.Wicketkeeper-batsman Sinalo Jafta, who last played an ODI in January 2017, was included in both squads, as was the uncapped Nondumiso Shangase. Shangase, a young allrounder, is a product of the Women’s National Academy, and was also part of the South Africa women’s emerging team that hosted England and Australia’s academies in a triangular series last year. Opening batsman Andrei Steyn and medium-pacer Zintle Mali have only been picked for the ODIs, with Tazmin Brits and Moseline Daniels taking their place in the T20I squad.The three-match ODI series will begin on May 6, and both South Africa and Pakistan will look to be higher on the ICC Women’s Championship table by the end of it. South Africa are fifth on the table with six wins from 12 matches, the same number as Pakistan, who are sixth, but have an extra point following a no-result (against West Indies in September last year). The first two ODIs will be played at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, with the final ODI in Benoni. The five-match T20I series will be played in Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg and Benoni between May 15 and May 23.South Africa women’s ODI team: Suné Luus (capt), Chloe Tryon (vice-capt), Lizelle Lee (wk), Andrie Steyn, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnim Ismail, Mignon du Preez, Tumi Sekhukhune, Masabata Klaas, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine De Klerk, Zintle Mali, Nondumiso Shangase, Sinalo Jafta (wk)South Africa women’s T20I team: Suné Luus (capt), Chloe Tryon (vice-capt), Lizelle Lee (wk), Tazmin Brits, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnim Ismail, Mignon du Preez, Tumi Sekhukhune, Masabata Klaas, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine De Klerk, Moseline Daniels, Nondumiso Shangase, Sinalo Jafta (wk)

Director of cricket Mick Newell says Hales’ behaviour “fell way short of what we expect” but expects club to rally round

Jon Culley03-May-2019Nottinghamshire have offered England outcast Alex Hales an arm round the shoulder as he seeks to rebuild his shattered career, while at the same time making it clear that he needs to deliver on the field if he is to secure his future at the county.Hales saw his desire to be back on the field after his expulsion from England’s World Cup squad thwarted as rain washed out Nottinghamshire’s Royal London One-Day Cup tie against Durham at Grantham Cricket Club, but Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, made it clear that the batsman had been welcomed back into the fold following his 21-day suspension for a second recreational drug offence.”Alex knows how we feel about the way he has behaved, that it fell way short of what we expect at the club, but he is very contrite about it and we are all going to work together to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Newell said.”His relationship with our dressing room is very good. Whenever he plays for us, he is always the same sort of character, the lads enjoy his company back in the changing rooms.”They want to see him do well and whenever he comes back in I think his record for Notts shows that he is totally committed to playing whenever he is available.”Hales’s latest misdemeanour, which follows his involvement with the brawl that ended with team-mate Ben Stokes in court on affray charges (from which was acquitted last year), brought a scathing condemnation from Eoin Morgan on the eve of England’s ODI against Ireland, the team’s captain speaking of a “breakdown in trust” between Hales and the other players.But Newell rejected the notion that the batsman was a character who deserved to be ostracised. “I understand what the England players have done and I respect the decision they have made,” Newell said.”But I’ve known him for 12 years and as a character, I don’t see him as the bad boy of cricket at all. He’s just made poor decisions, mistakes. He realises now that he can’t afford to make those mistakes again.”What a price he has paid. He has been left out of the World Cup squad. That’s as bad a penalty as I can think of for anybody in cricket. But we have tried to make him aware that we want to support him. Ultimately, though, they are his decisions and his lifestyle has to be the right one.”Nonetheless, while stopping short of issuing him with a final warning, the county has made it clear that Hales must also make a meaningful contribution on the field, in the job he is paid to do, if he is to secure a contract beyond his current deal, which expires at the end of this season.Because he is on a white ball-only contract, that means making an immediate impact in what remains of the Royal London Cup, followed by a major contribution to Nottinghamshire’s campaign in the Vitality Blast T20.”He will have two, hopefully three 50-over matches if we get to the final, and then at least 14 T20 matches,” Newell said. “If he has an impact on our season like he did in 2017, when we won both white-ball trophies, then that is the best he can possibly hope for.”If that comes combined with him understanding that he needs the network of support we put in place around him, to ensure that he makes better decisions in the future, as he is well aware he must, if that all falls into place then there is no reason why he can’t play for Notts for a number of years.”We are hopeful he is going to have a really good summer and we will sit down and talk to him at some point in August-September time.”Newell admitted he was unhappy he was not allowed to be clear about the reason for Hales’s absence from the county’s early one-day fixtures, which he had to say was for “personal reasons” because of the ECB’s confidentiality agreement with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) over recreational drug offences.”There is a process in place agreed by the ECB and the PCA that you have to adhere to and we were as honest as we felt that we could be, given that,” he said. “But it created a vacuum of information where you couldn’t tell people why Alex was not playing. I don’t like being in a position where I have to say ‘no comment’ but you have to stick to the policy. It was not ideal.”

BCCI’s ethics officer says they cannot be commentators and also in administration, gives them two weeks to pick one

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Jun-2019Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have been found to be in positions of conflict of interest for their roles as commentator and the positions they hold in Indian cricket. That is the ruling of the BCCI’s ethics officer Justice (Retd) DK Jain, who has given them two weeks to choose between the two roles.Justice Jain was reviewing complaints filed by members of the public against Ganguly and Laxman.
Another complaint, against Sachin Tendulkar, alleged a conflict between his roles as mentor of Mumbai Indians in the IPL and as a member of the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee. However, during the hearing of the case, Tendulkar submitted that he had decided not to be part of any BCCI committee, and had informed the board about it. Following this disclosure, Justice Jain ruled there was no issue of conflict and no need to investigate further.In the case of Ganguly and Laxman, having heard both the complainants as well as the former players in person, and upon studying the BCCI’s constitution, Justice Jain concluded that the two men could hold only one post at any given point of time. “That is the spirit of the constitution, the concept of one man one post,” Justice Jain told ESPNcricinfo. “And they are holding more than one post… therefore there is a conflict of interest as defined under the constitution.”Ganguly and Laxman were deemed to have breached Rule 38 (4) of the BCCI constitution, which states that a person cannot hold two positions at the same point out of 16 listed. The clause says: “It is clarified that no individual is allowed to occupy more than one of the following posts at a single point of time except where prescribed under these rules.”The 16 positions are: Player (current), selector/member of cricket committee, team official, commentator, match official, administrator/office bearer, electoral officer, ombudsman & ethics officer, auditor, any person who is governance, management or employee of a franchisee, member of a standing committee, CEO & managers, office Bearer of a Member (state association), service provider (legal, financial etc.), contractual entity (broadcast, security, contractor etc.) and owner of cricket academy.Ganguly is the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, advisor at Delhi Capitals in the IPL, and also a TV commentator. Laxman is a mentor at Sunrisers Hyderabad and a TV commentator.”I have only interpreted provisions of the rule which were framed pursuant to adoption of the constitution after the Lodha Commission’s recommendations (were accepted by the court),” Justice Jain said.He said that both Ganguly and Laxman can challenge the order and take it up with the BCCI. It is understood that the BCCI’s legal team is studying the order.If either or both Ganguly and Laxman carry on performing both roles, Justice Jain said it was for the BCCI to take a call on the path forward. “It is the job of the BCCI to first interpret and then enforce constitution and the rules. They are also bound. They are also the creature of the constitution,” he said.

Becomes youngest to take five-for at a World Cup; Imam, Babar also impress as Pakistan bow out on happy note

The Report by Danyal Rasool05-Jul-2019
As it happenedThe ridiculous fantasies of engineering a win cricket simply isn’t created to throw up aside, this was an excellent Pakistan performance, subduing a side that three weeks ago, most would have fancied to turn them over. It means they become the first team to bow out at a World Cup with four consecutive wins, also ending a streak of four successive Bangladesh victories over them.Watch on Hotstar (India only): How the Bangladesh wickets fellPakistan needed to win by a record margin, of the kind Uganda women handed out to Mali women – posting 314 and then skittling them for 10. To give you a sense of how desperately flimsy the strand by which Pakistan’s hopes hung, that would not have been enough. They batted first and put on 315; they needed to restrict Bangladesh to below 8.While that was never on anyone’s mind, what Pakistan did find was a gem in Shaheen Afridi, who eclipsed Shahid Afridi to pick the best figures for Pakistan in World Cup – 6 for 35 – as Pakistan bowed out in front of a sea of green – both set of fans included – with a 94-run win at Lord’s.The win was set up by Imam Ul Haq, who got himself on the famous Lord’s board with a sixth ODI century. Babar Azam missed joining him, but made a sublime 96 as Pakistan posted 315 for 9. With the ball, there was nothing ordinary about Shaheen Afridi, the youngest man to take a five-fer at a World Cup, his six wickets cleaning up Bangladesh inside 45 overs. Only Shakib Al Hasan, who finished the World Cup with 606 runs, offering any sort of steel with a industrious 64.WATCH on Hotstar (India only): Highlights of Imam-ul-Haq’s tonPakistan won the toss and opted to bat – batting second would have eliminated them straightaway – but any ideas of galloping to a 400-plus evaporated quickly. Bangladesh intelligently opened up with offspinner Mehidy Hasan to counter Fakhar Zaman’s threat. He would concede only six runs in the four overs he bowled while the opener was at the crease, and when he holed out at point to Mohammad Saifuddin, he had scored 13 off 31. Hardly the stuff of 400-exceeding totals, that.Getty Images

To their credit, Imam and Babar decided to play for a morale-boosting win, rather than aiming for the impossible, negotiating Shakib’s spin threat expertly. It also helped that Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh’s captain with a wonky knee and in his last lap, was inaccurate with his lines, thereby allowing them to target him.Him being hit out of the attack meant Saifudin and Mustafizur Rahman brought back somewhat earlier than had been planned. During the course of his innings, Babar became the most prolific run-scorer at a World Cup for Pakistan, surpassing Javed Miandad’s 437 runs at the 1992 World Cup. He fell four runs shy of what would have been a richly deserved hundred, but by then, Pakistan were well on their way to a potentially match-winning score.WATCH on Hotstar (US only): Full highlightsImam at the other end completed his, but trod on his stumps the very next ball, triggering a collapse which meant they couldn’t quite launch at the end. Imad Wasim was left to the usual cameo-playing role, one that he has begun to perfect with impressive consistency. It took Pakistan past 300; they posted the fifth-highest score at Lord’s in ODI history, and it always looked a touch too much for a Bangladesh side so heavily reliant on Shakib.The man himself wouldn’t disappoint, notching up yet another half-century, his seventh this World Cup, and going past 600 runs at the tournament, a feat bettered only by Sachin Tendulkar and Mathew Hayden. But with Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal departing early, and Mushfiqur Rahim cleaned up by a vicious Wahab Riaz inswinger, there was always the sense this game would cease to be competitive from the moment Shakib was dismissed.With the asking rate, as well as the pressure on his admirably broad shoulders, rising, he nicked off to Sarfaraz Ahmed to give Shaheen his third wicket. It brought down the curtain on one of the all-time great World Cup campaigns, but in the process, also wound up Bangladesh’s chase. There was more cheer for Shaheen and Pakistan, though.Shaheen, who has improved with every game that Pakistan have won over the past fortnight, became the youngest player to take a five-for at a World Cup, cleaning up the lower order in much the same way he had three of the top five.Tamim Iqbal hasn’t had the best World Cup, despite coming into this tournament as the highest Bangladesh run scorer of the past four years. It was a bad time to run into Shaheen, who, after a slow start to the tournament, had begun to ignite. On Friday, he was molten hot, but it was ice-cool wiles rather than fiery passion that broke through the Bangladesh opener, a slower delivery deceiving him all ends up.Liton Das fell to another slower delivery, this one so well disguised it might have fooled most Secret Services. He could only scoop it to short extra cover, and that was the moment Shakib began running out of partners. It meant a change in attitude from the Bangladesh talisman, and once he found himself forced into an uncomfortable position off one that seamed away, his, and Bangladesh’s, fate was sealed. Mahmudullah was felled by a yorker shortly after, and the tail was never going to be a match for him.Shaheen’s figures read a record-breaking 6-35 in 9.1 overs. They might not have been the records Pakistan were looking to break, but in Babar, Imam and Shaheen, they have the ingredients for a more successful World Cup recipe in four years’ time.