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Tom Smith, the Lancashire allrounder and former captain, has been forced to retire following medical advice

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2017Tom Smith, the Lancashire allrounder and former captain, has been forced to retire following medical advice. Smith made a comeback in 2016, after missing most of the previous season and giving up the captaincy, but has now decided to call time on a 11-year career.His retirement will come as a blow to Glen Chapple, who was last week appointed Lancashire’s new head coach. Smith, 31, was Chapple’s successor as captain and would have been one of the senior players in the dressing room. He will remain involved with the club, however, assisting Gary Yates in the academy.Lancashire have also been linked with signing South Africa wicketkeeper Dane Vilas on a Kolpak deal to add experience to their squad.”It’s with great sadness that I’ve had to retire from the professional game due to injury,” Smith said. “Following medical advice and recently becoming a father my long-term health is most important at this time.”I would like to take this chance to thank the whole of Lancashire County Cricket Club for 10 amazing seasons. To my team-mates, coaching staff and especially the medical team you have all had a massive influence on my career and I’d like to thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in over the years. To all the members and supporters I can’t thank you enough for all the support and encouragement you have given myself and the team. I now look forward to joining you as a fan and watching from the sidelines.”Smith, a Lancashire academy graduate, battled injuries throughout his career. He was an influential member of the side that ended Lancashire’s 77-year wait for an outright Championship title in 2011 and also won selection for England A – on their 2006-07 tour of Bangladesh – and England Lions in the summer of 2014, when he had his best season with 773 first-class runs and 54 wickets to help secure promotion.He was named as captain in all formats at the start of 2015 but only played one match that season before requiring back surgery. He fought back to fitness to feature again in 2016, describing the experience as “like making my debut all over again”. Smith gave his full blessing to Steven Croft taking over the captaincy.”Over the last 10 years I’ve been lucky enough to take to the field with some great players, childhood idols and at the same time create some fantastic memories,” Smith said. “2011 will always be remembered as a great highlight from my career, but to have the honour of captaining this great county, albeit for a brief period is something that I’m very proud of.”Chapple has been putting together plans for the coming season, having taken charge after the departure of Ashley Giles to Warwickshire. As well as Vilas, who has played six Tests for South Africa, Lancashire have reportedly looked into the possibility of signing Shivnarine Chanderpaul on a Kolpak deal and could bring in a marque overseas signing as player-coach for the NatWest T20 Blast.”It’s very sad that Tom has had to retire,” Chapple said. “He has made an outstanding contribution to Lancashire County Cricket Club.”He is a product of Lancashire’s local leagues and graduated through our academy. He is one of the nicest guys I know and it has been a privilege to play alongside him and then coach him. He was always 100% committed to the club and he will always be welcomed back at Emirates Old Trafford.”

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has said that he was not fit enough to play the ongoing Test series against Australia but hoped to make a return to the longer format next year

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2015West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has said that he was not fit enough to play the ongoing Test series against Australia, but hopes to make a return to Test cricket next year. He also urged fans to give more time to the struggling West Indies Test team and allow youngsters to develop their game.Gayle, who played the last of his 103 Tests in July 2014, said he was trying to get back into the groove after undergoing surgery on his back in July. He recently made a return to competitive cricket in the Bangladesh Premier League and will now play for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League.”If I wasn’t (recovering from a back injury) I would definitely. I haven’t retired from the game,” Gayle told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. “I’m just trying to get back into the groove. Next year, hopefully Test cricket is on the agenda. I haven’t batted for such a long time. I scored 92 in a game and the next day felt like I’d been hit by a bus. The body will actually take time to build up gradually.”Gayle has scored 7214 Test runs at an average of 42.18, but has played only four of West Indies’ 16 Tests since January 1, 2014. His last Test appearance was in the first match of the home series against Bangladesh in July. He subsequently missed Test series in South Africa and Sri Lanka, and home series against England and Australia due to fitness issues.Gayle also stressed that a young West Indies team needed time to develop in the longer format. West Indies have lost seven of their last ten Tests. On the current tour of Australia, they suffered a ten-wicket loss in a tour game against a Cricket Australia XI side that featured six players making their first-class debuts. This was followed by a listless performance in the Hobart Test, which they lost to Australia by an innings and 212 runs inside three days.”If you want to bash the cricket, you bash me basically,” he said. “We are loved around the world. We might not be playing good cricket but … it’s a young team so we have to definitely give it time rather than being so harsh on West Indies’ cricket all the time. Some young players are coming through the ranks. We have to give them time.”

N Srinivasan has said that the board would treat the case against his son-in-law and top Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, “objectively and fairly”

ESPNcricinfo staff25-May-2013BCCI president N Srinivasan has said that the board will treat the case against his son-in-law and top Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan, who was arrested on charges of cheating, forgery and fraud, “objectively and fairly”. Srinivasan also aggressively defended his decision not to resign his post, reiterating that he had no reason to quit as president because he had done nothing wrong.Gurunath, who was produced in a Mumbai court on Saturday afternoon, was charged under 12 sections of three laws – relating to cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery, among other issues – and returned to police custody till May 29. The laws under which Gurunath was booked include Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, Sections 4 and 5 of the Gambling Act, and Sections 465, 466, 468, 471, 490, 420, 212, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.*Srinivasan was speaking from Mumbai, having left Madurai earlier in the day. “The law has to take its course. I am sure that he will defend himself adequately but that is not a reason for me to step down,” Srinivasan told NDTV. “I am sorry. I cannot be bulldozed and I will not allow the press or the others to railroad me. I have done nothing wrong.”Again as far as Mr Gurunath is concerned, whatever steps and action has to be taken, which has been taken in case of anybody else, the same would apply to him. There will be no discrimination or change.”The fact is the probe will be carried out. Whatever steps have to be taken, will be taken objectively and fairly. That you need not be worried about. You can be sure that BCCI will act with the same alacrity. You need not be concerned about that.”When asked if he was aware of the alleged activities for which Gurunath had been charged, Srinivasan distanced himself from the issue, saying he barely followed the IPL. “I had no knowledge. Everybody knows I hardly visit, I hardly watch a game. In fact, I do not go to the CSK games, I hardly watch the T20. All I can say is that I had no knowledge of anything, which also people will understand because I never went to the games.”With reports emerging that some officials within the BCCI are moving to oust him, Srinivasan said he still had a lot of support within the board. “A lot of BCCI members have already sent me messages of support and how they are with me.”*15.00GMT, May 25: This article has been updated after the details of the charges against Gurunath Meiyappan arrived

Lancashire have bolstered their ranks for this season’s Friends Life t20 campaign with the recruitment of Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat

ESPNcricinfo staff02-May-2012Lancashire have bolstered their ranks for this season’s Friends Life t20 campaign with the recruitment of Pakistan allrounder Yasir Arafat.Arafat, 30, will join his compatriot Junaid Khan as Lancashire’s second overseas player for the 20-over tournament. Lancashire will be Arafat’s fourth county after spells at Surrey, Sussex and Kent. He has played three Tests for Pakistan as well as 11 ODIs and seven T20Is.Mike Watkinson, Lancashire’s director of cricket, said: “The addition of Yasir to our squad emphasises our determination to progress in the Friends Life t20 tournament and we are delighted to have him on board. Our squad doesn’t have the depth that we have been accustomed to and Yasir brings experience and skill to fulfil this important role.”Peter Moores, the head coach, said: “Yasir has a wealth of experience of playing in this country. He is a very experienced one day bowler and a big hitter of the ball down the order.”Arafat, who last played for Pakistan two years ago, told PakPassion.net that his aim was a place in World Twenty20.”I’ve been out of favour with the national side for more than two years and all I can do is to try and perform well and to attempt to impress the selection committee,” he said. “I would dearly love to play in the Twenty20 World Cup later this year.”

The World Cup has left Sri Lanka Cricket in debt to the tune of $23 million thanks to cost overruns and heavy expenses incurred in building stadiums

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Apr-2011The World Cup has left Sri Lanka Cricket in debt to the tune of $23 million thanks to cost overruns and heavy expenses incurred in building stadiums. Sri Lanka, which lost the final to India in Mumbai, built two new grounds, one in Hambantota and the other in Pallekele, while the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo received an extensive renovation.”We spent a lot of money to host the World Cup, to build two stadiums and rebuild one stadium. The World Cup left us a 2.5 billion rupee deficit,” Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters. “We spent about five billion rupees to build the three World Cup venues.”The board was forced to pledge the newly built stadiums plus the income from upcoming tours as collateral to raise funds to pay for the World Cup. Sri Lanka hosted 12 games over the course of the tournament.’We are not in a serious cash crisis,” Aluthgamage said. “Building new stadiums costs a lot of money. You must look at it as an investment for the future development of the game.”According to Sujeewa Rajapakse, Sri Lanka Cricket treasurer, the board took a $21.5 million loan from state-run Bank of Ceylon and another $3.5 million loan from the ICC to cover their costs. “We are expecting $25 million from the ICC soon, by way of hosting rights,” Rajapakse said. “Once that comes, we can sort things out.”Sri Lanka will play England, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa this year, and is due to host the World Twenty20 championships in 2012.

Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, will look to rediscover the team’s trademark flair as they defend their World Twenty20 title in the West Indies

Cricinfo staff26-Apr-2010Waqar Younis, the Pakistan coach, will look to rediscover the team’s trademark flair as they defend their World Twenty20 title in the West Indies. “I will try to induct the same kind of aggression and fire in the team, which was Pakistan’s trademark in 1990s as it is necessary for us to win and retain the title,” Waqar said, ahead of the team’s departure for the Caribbean.While he was confident of his side’s chances, he avoided making predictions about the result. “Twenty20 is a different type of cricket where no one can predict anything but it is important to perform to your potential. You have to bowl, bat and field well on the given day in order to win the match,” he said.Captain Shahid Afridi noted that his side would miss Umar Gul, the world’s leading T20I wicket-taker, but reiterated that the rest of his bowling attack was good enough to make up for his absence. “Umar is an expert of reverse swing. He could have been lethal on the slow pitches in the West Indies but all the other available players are also equally good and eager to perform in the mega event,” Afridi said.Afridi reposed confidence in his spinners, who will play a key role on the slow and low wickets in the West Indies. “Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez and Abdul Rehman are all talented spinners and can play the role of match-winner against any team,” Afridi said.Despite their players not featuring in the recently concluded IPL, Pakistan are recognized as a dangerous Twenty20 outfit after their exploits in the first two editions of the tournament – they lost to India in the 2007 finals, before going all the way in 2009.The team’s manager, Yawar Saeed told PPI that the team had put behind the disappointments and controversies from the disastrous tour of Australia and were looking forward to the World Twenty20. “Whatever happened during the Australian tour is history now and the players are looking forward to give their best in the championship,” he said.He reiterated that the players’ discipline was being monitored closely, in the aftermath of the Australian tour and the punishment that followed. “Those who are in the team I think have learnt their lessons and there is no disharmony in the team now. The players know their boundaries and they know they can’t cross those boundaries. If any player does indulge in indiscipline no time will be wasted in taking action against him,” he said.

Earlier, the game was supposed to take place behind closed doors but now that it has been moved, the fans can come in as well

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2024The second Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh has been shifted from Karachi to Rawalpindi on account of ongoing construction at the National Stadium in order to get it ready for the Champions Trophy in 2025.According to the original schedule of the two-match series, Karachi was due to host Bangladesh between August 30 and September 3 and the game was supposed to go on without any spectators due to the redevelopment work, but now with the PCB moving the game to a new venue, fans will be able to attend as well.A press release from the PCB on Sunday said, “we have been guided by the construction experts on the timelines for the readiness of the [National Stadium in Karachi]. They advised that while construction could continue during playing hours, the resulting noise pollution would disturb the cricketers. Additionally, the dust from the construction work could also affect the health and wellbeing of the players, officials, broadcasters, and media.”Given that construction must continue uninterrupted to ensure the venue is operationally ready for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the PCB, after consulting all stakeholders and reviewing operational and logistical matters, has decided to hold both Tests in Rawalpindi.”Related

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Karachi is due to host England as well when they visit in two months. On that subject, the PCB said, “at this stage, we will not like to speculate on the hosting of the second Test in Karachi from 15-19 October and will continue to work closely with the architects and construction experts on the safe and secure hosting of the match, while keeping the England and Wales Cricket Board updated.”Pakistan have a bumper home season with seven Tests and an ODI tri-series featuring New Zealand and South Africa. But the Champions Trophy in February is the marquee event given it will be the first ICC tournament held in Pakistan since the ODI World Cup in 1996. To make sure it goes off well, the board has been working on sprucing up its stadiums.The PCB was hopeful of being able to split all these matches across the three venues they had available – Rawalpindi, Karachi and Multan. The Lahore upgrade had ruled the Gaddafi stadium out of contention for any of the home season’s matches until early next year. It is understood that the PCB was initially against taking the Bangladesh Test out of Karachi because of logistical challenges.The first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh begins on August 21 in Rawalpindi, where the hosts are preparing to go in without a specialist spinner in anticipation of a pitch with pace and carry. The second Test will start at the same venue on August 30.

Mumbai’s captain made his first IPL fifty since 2021 to set up his side’s first win of the season

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Apr-2023Rohit Sharma’s match-winning 65 against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday night was an innings of two phases. He raced to 37 off 17 balls in the powerplay as Mumbai made a blazing start to their chase of 173, and slowed down thereafter, his last 28 runs coming at exactly a run a ball.Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said the two phases had worked out just as planned: he went out with the intention of maximising Mumbai’s run-scoring in the powerplay, keeping in mind the threat of Capitals’ spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav.Mumbai brought up their first win of IPL 2023, but it didn’t come easy. Rohit’s first fifty-plus score in the IPL since 2021 left them cruising towards victory, needing 34 runs off 27 balls, but they lost three wickets in six balls to bring Capitals back into the game. Mumbai eventually prevailed by six wickets in what turned out to be a last-ball thriller.Related

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“When I went to bat, I thought I need to make full use of the powerplay because as the game went on, I thought it is going to be tough with the couple of quality spinners they [Capitals] have,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “So it was there in my mind to keep attacking, take my chances in the first six overs, and then just see where the game is heading, try and knock the ball in the gap, try and create that partnership.”While Rohit finding form was a major positive for Mumbai, their headaches haven’t disappeared. Their campaign has been marred by injury, which has left them relying on a number of inexperienced players including Arshad Khan and Nehal Wadhera, who hadn’t played any T20 cricket before this IPL season.”We’ve got a lot of young guys, [some] haven’t played IPL before as well,” Rohit said. “But it’s all about giving them that confidence, showing them enough trust because they will get hit for runs, they will keep getting out, but it is important to keep backing those abilities and keep telling them, ‘it’s okay, you are the guys who are eventually going to do the job for us.'”So that’s exactly what the team talk is and that is what we are trying to create in our dressing room as well. We don’t want to make drastic changes looking at how the results come, but it’s important to stick to it and follow that process which I think we are doing really well.”

Todd Greenberg, the ACA chief executive, said players were aware how important it was to keep the game going

Alex Malcolm28-Feb-2022The Australian Cricketers’ Association is hopeful the key parts of a new pay deal between the players and Cricket Australia could be resolved in the coming months with chief executive Todd Greenberg vowing that there will be no repeat of the ugly dispute that unfolded when the last deal was struck in 2017.Discussions on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) have been ongoing between Greenberg and CA chief executive Nick Hockley with the pair currently in Pakistan together on tour with the Australian men’s team for the first Test in Rawalpindi.They have been speaking regularly since coming into their respective posts in 2021 in a bid to form a stronger bond than the almost non-existent relationship between predecessors James Sutherland and Alistair Nicholson back in 2017 when an ugly 10-month pay dispute led to the players being unemployed for 34 days and an Australia A tour being cancelled before a resolution was found.”I’d be surprised if we haven’t got something resolved in the coming months,” Greenberg told ESPNcricinfo. “First and foremost, we don’t anticipate having any of the MoU discussions conducted in the same manner that it was way back in 2017. I think a lot of that has changed.”Cricket Australia have recognised the revenue share model and the importance of that for cricket. The game has continued to grow during this period of time, and I think despite the difficulties of the Covid pandemic, what it has demonstrated is there is a really strong alignment of partnering between the game and the players because there’s a real need for each other to be aligned on that. So the model works. Effectively if games aren’t being played, revenue is not being earned.”We’ve made some good progress already on the MoU discussions. Nick and I have been leading those on behalf of our respective teams. And I’m hopeful we can come to an agreement in a relatively short space of time, which will see both the players and Cricket Australia in a really strong position to come out of the pandemic.”Bubbles have been a strain on finances and the players•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Greenberg was pleased he had been able to forge a relationship with Hockley over the last year to create a greater dialogue between the ACA and CA on a range of issues.”We’ve spent a lot of time together,” Greenberg said. “And I’m pleased that we are spending time together because it’s really important when we said we can talk about different issues in the game and I can certainly give him perspectives on behalf of the players both male and females.”That relationship is really strong. I came into this role knowing the history of the last MoU and the difficulties that the game faced, and I was pretty determined to try to repair some bridges and try to mend some of those relationships. And so Nick and I both being new in our roles have an opportunity to do that.”The new MoU is one of a number of key issues for Cricket Australia to resolve in the coming months. New CA chairman Lachlan Henderson outlined a new cricket strategy with refreshing the BBL at the top of the agenda, particularly with a new TV broadcast rights deal set to be negotiated in 2024, after the new MoU is already in place.Covid has also affected CA’s bottom line with Henderson revealing the administration had spent $40 million on biosecurity over the past two seasons, money it needs to recoup.The players are hopeful the bio-bubbles will not be required next summer after two years of playing in such environments both home and abroad.”We’re really hopeful that we can return to some level of normality next summer by the time that rolls around,” Greenberg said. “But it’s certainly not lost on me and it shouldn’t be lost on the fans that the players have made enormous sacrifices to keep the game underway.”The players have made it very clear to me that at any point in time, the most important thing for them is to continue to play cricket and if you go back over the last 24 months the sacrifices players have made to be away from families to be in isolated environments, some of the sacrifices from players from Western Australia who have literally not been home since the middle of last year is nothing short of phenomenal.”They know that they’ve got a huge responsibility to do that, a responsibility to keep the show on the road but a responsibility to play cricket so that the revenues are still coming into the game. Because the revenues are there to generate grassroots participation and to keep the game flowing from top to bottom.”

There has been no sanctioned cricket in India since March, and it remains unclear if the BCCI has given its go-ahead to the latest T20 tournament

Varun Shetty13-Sep-2020The Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) is set to launch its own T20 league – the Jharkhand Premier League – on September 15 this year. In an email accessed by ESPNcricinfo, several cricketers who are affiliated with the association were informed of their selection for the league and sent accompanying forms to register themselves for it. They have been asked to report to the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi – with instructions around Covid-19 testing – which is understood to be the host venue for the entire tournament.The tournament’s proposed format of hosting all matches in one venue is not completely in line with BCCI’s tentative plans for the domestic season, which involves creating groups that would exclusively play on four grounds in two cities. But it could well prove to be an unofficial dry run for the BCCI, in terms of handling a safety bubble with multiple teams. At the same time, it is unclear if the tournament has been approved by the BCCI yet, and ESPNcricinfo’s attempts to reach the association were unsuccessful. That said, it is unusual for such a tournament to take place without official sanction, and the letter sent to the players was on official JSCA stationery, which clearly spells out that it is affiliated with the BCCI.The BCCI is currently dealing with the prospect of a severely truncated domestic season, if one happens at all, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been no sanctioned cricket in India since March, and no clear path laid out for resumption apart from a preliminary fixtures proposal that has not yet been ratified by senior management. The radar is trained firmly on the IPL at the moment, which has run into several challenges of its own, including at least a 20-30% drop in revenue for all its franchises, apart from a 50% drop in title sponsorship.In this climate, the JSCA has reportedly signed on two major sponsors as well as a live-streaming partner.The tournament will, however, be without prominent Jharkhand players like MS Dhoni, Ishan Kishan, Shahbaz Nadeem and Varun Aaron, who are in the UAE to take part in the IPL for their respective teams. But the board sees it as an opportunity to provide a platform for upcoming players and keep a strong pool of players ready should there be a domestic season in the works by the end of the year.MS Dhoni and other prominent Jharkhand cricketers are away in the UAE for the IPL•PTI

“The Association is humbled and offers its deepest gratitude to the state government for its proactive support in these despairing times, to kick-start sporting activities in Jharkhand,” JSCA president Nafees Akhtar Khan was quoted as saying in the .The league will reportedly have six teams representing Jharkhand’s six zones and run for 33 days. The teams will not be franchise-based. “The six teams representing six zones include Ranchi Raiders, Dumka Daredevils, Dhanbad Dynamos, Singhbhum Strikers, Jamshedpur Jugglers and Bokaro Blasters,” JSCA secretary Sanjay Sahay was quoted as saying in the . “The teams shall comprise only of players who are registered with the JSCA from the state of Jharkhand. Nearly 100 players will be part of the tournament. There will be no franchises or team owners.”The email Sahay sent out to the players included a document on Covid-19 protocols, which lays out the ways in which a bio-secure bubble will be created at the stadium. The letter of selection stated that players would only be allowed into the bubble after submitting negative reports for Covid-19 before leaving from their homes. Upon reaching the venue, the guidelines are along expected lines – physical distancing, no saliva on the ball, no sharing of equipment, no exits from the bubble, and so on. The players are going to be provided three sets of “accommodation kits” for the duration of their stay, one set of “dressing room kits” for each match, and two sets of “sports attire”. Players have been told to use personal vehicles or unshared taxis to reach the venue.There is also a provision for those with symptoms: “Any player/support staff suspected of having Covid-19 like symptoms during their stay shall undergo RT-PCR tests for Covid-19. Two tests one day apart (Day 1 & Day 3) shall be done to account for false negatives. If both the test results are negative, only then they shall be allowed to take further part in the league.”