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New Zealand’s three-Test series in India will begin on September 22, in Kanpur, followed by the second Test from September 30 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, while Indore will host the final Test

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-20160:58

India’s pink-ball Test will have to wait

New Zealand are unlikely to play a day-night Test against India this season with the BCCI announcing that all three Tests in September and October would begin at 9.30 am.Kanpur will host the first Test from September 22, followed by the second at Eden Gardens from September 30 and the third in Indore, a brand new Test venue, from October 8.The five ODIs will be played on October 16 in Dharamsala, October 19 in Delhi, October 23 in Mohali, October 26 in Ranchi and October 29 in Visakhapatnam.In April, BCCI president Anurag Thakur had announced India would host its first day-night Test during the New Zealand tour. A day later, NZC responded that nothing had been finalised. Last week, the chances of the series featuring a floodlit Test reduced further when Thakur himself conceded India were in “no hurry” to play one.New Zealand is the first of four teams – England, Australia and Bangladesh are the others – India are set to host in their 2016-17 home season, which comprises 13 Tests, eight ODIs and three T20Is. Thirteen Tests equals the record for the highest number of home Tests in a season; the only other instance was in 1979-80, also in India.New Zealand’s previous tour to India was four years ago, when they visited for two Tests and two T20 internationals. They lost the Tests 0-2 and won the T20Is 1-0.Initially, the BCCI’s press release had said Kolkata would host the third Test in October but the schedule was reworked to accommodate Durga Puja festivities.*1010 GMT, June 28, 2016. The article was amended to reflect a change in schedule in the India v NZ Test series

Andre Russell’s lawyer has disputed the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission’s (JADCO) claim that the West Indies allrounder had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, resulting in a violation of the whereabouts clause

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jul-2016Andre Russell’s lawyer has disputed the Jamaican Anti-doping Commission’s (JADCO) claim that the West Indies allrounder had missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, resulting in a violation of the whereabouts clause.According to , Russell’s lawyer Patrick Forster claimed at the hearing of an independent panel on July 20 that his client had received correspondence from JADCO for only twice – January to March, 2015 and July to September, 2015 – for allegedly missing the out-of-competition doping tests.Forster requested JADCO’s lawyer to make available the Commission’s third correspondence which notified Russell of his transgression. The tribunal panel chairman Hugh Faulkner then asked JADCO to provide documentary evidence of Russell’s third filing failure, following which it was agreed that JADCO would provide details on Monday.JADCO has until August 10 to serve their files, while the deadline for Russell’s team is September 7. The hearing is set for September 19 and 20.In March this year, JADCO said Russell had reportedly missed three dope tests in a 12-month period, which equated to a failed test under doping laws. Athletes are required make their whereabouts known to local anti-doping agencies to facilitate testing under the WADA code and face a ban of up to two years if found guilty of repeatedly missing them.Russell, 28, has been a leading player in the T20 format in recent times. He played a crucial role in West Indies winning the 2016 World T20 title in March and April, and is a key performer in domestic leagues around the world.Russell was part of winning campaigns for Sydney Thunder in the 2015-16 Big Bash League and for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League in February. He is currently playing for Jamaica Tallawahs in CPL 2016.

South Africa are a happy team again. Not just because they beat New Zealand but because they’ve rediscovered their reason

Firdose Moonda in Centurion30-Aug-20162:47

‘Happy with the way we batted’ – Du Plessis

South Africa are a happy team again. Not just because they beat New Zealand but because they’ve rediscovered their reason.”We’ve found our passion again and why we want to win games,” Faf du Plessis said. “The team space is good and that reflects directly on our performances.”The reason did not get lost in the retirements of great players like Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher. It did not get lost in the complex off-field affairs that dominate every sphere of life in a country still coming to terms with its past as it lurches into the future. It did not get lost in the five Tests they lost last summer across two series. It got lost before that, at the 2015 World Cup.”After the World Cup, we just stopped,” Dale Steyn admitted.Literally. On the night of the semi-final, the core of the South African squad was on the floor. Steyn, du Plessis and Morne Morkel were among those that had to be helped up. Something broke that night and, as we are now discovering, it was the South African spirit. “We didn’t know why we wanted to win games. We needed something to happen,” Steyn said.The something was the season of discontent that followed and the honest discussion that took place after that about exactly what was needed to heal, in all formats. “We felt we needed to improve again. We couldn’t rest on our laurels as the previous Test team did because with this team we are not good enough to do that yet,” du Plessis said.The previous team – the one of Smith, Kallis and Boucher – had become so good that they managed to win, or not lose, pretty much everywhere. The current team lost to India and England and in so doing, slipped from the No. 1 they had worked so hard to earn, to No. 7. “It was very disappointing. I can’t say what it was like because I wasn’t part of the teams that lost but it is disappointing to go from 1 to 7,” Steyn, who missed six of eight Tests last season through injury, said.The current team also knew that unless they changed their attitudes, they would not be able to change their ranking. “We had some really good discussions between ourselves. The guys took it on board. They were real mature,” du Plessis said.They decided to work harder and work smarter. They also knew they would have their two biggest weapons back. Steyn and Philander spent the rest of last summer recovering and the winter getting ready to show they still have it.”It will be tough for us to be at the top without the two of them,” he said. “It’s amazing to throw them the ball and know the run rate’s going to be under three and they are going to be taking wickets as well. To control the game of Test cricket, you need bowlers like them.”But you also need back-up and South Africa have the best they could ask for in Kagiso Rabada. You also need batsmen and with du Plessis and JP Duminy returning to form, South Africa need them as well. With AB de Villiers now out injured, the line-up has proved to themselves, they can be good enough again.”We’ve got the capabilities of transforming our team into a good team again,” du Plessis said. “We don’t rely completely on those guys – AB and Morne.”Du Plessis knows that any more progress will be difficult without de Villiers, who should return from an elbow injury in time for the Australia ODIs at home and Tests away, and Morkel, who is nursing a back niggle and will also be back soon. “We would need them to be No. 1. If they are not there, it’s going to be a challenge,” he said.He is even happy to hand the captaincy reins back to de Villiers, despite thriving in the role. “AB is the Test captain and I will support him fully and we can’t wait to have him back. He is a massive leader in our team. We have missed him this series,” du Plessis said.What South Africa have not missed is the chance to start rebuilding. Even though they were weary of a one-off Test to decide the series and unsure what to expect from a winter wicket, they accepted their challenges and more importantly, they overcame them. “We almost played the perfect Test. If I could write a script to write it the way I would like, that’s the way I would have scripted it,” du Plessis said.A first-innings total over 400, a century from one batsman, and bowlers who consistently applied pressure created what du Plessis called “a proper Test” on a pitch that kept interested. It also gave South Africa a proper restart to what they hope will be a successful few summers. “What a wonderful story it will be in two years’ time when we go to No. 1 again,” Steyn said.If you were wondering what the reason was, that’s it.

Australia’s ODI against Ireland in South Africa has been ignored by the pay television operator Fox Sports, leaving followers in Australia without a legal means by which to watch it

Daniel Brettig27-Sep-2016Australia’s ODI against Ireland in South Africa has been ignored by the pay television operator Fox Sports, leaving followers in Australia without a legal means by which to watch it.The match, being played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni from 6pm Eastern Australian time, is being broadcast by SuperSport in South Africa, but was not purchased by Fox Sports as part of a rights package that features the five ODIs between South Africa and Australia that begin on September 30.It is believed that the rights to the Ireland match were offered as a standalone proposition alongside the South Africa fixtures, with Fox choosing not to add it to their investment.Ben Amarfio, CA’s executive general manager, Media, Communications and Marketing, said he would have preferred to see the match broadcast. “Our preference would be for all of Australia’s away matches to be broadcast in the Australian market,” he said, “but ultimately that is the choice of rights purchasers to determine.”Very seldom is an international fixture played by an Australian side not broadcast back into Australia on Fox Sports. However, the network has in the recent past left it quite late in confirming their broadcast of matches.The most recent example of this was the broadcast of England v Pakistan Test series earlier this year, which was left in doubt until a matter of hours before the series began at Lord’s.Fox Sports has just completed showing the first Test between India and New Zealand in Kanpur, and is also broadcasting the ongoing T20 series between Pakistan and West Indies in the UAE.Cricket’s relationship with the pay television operator was somewhat strained in 2013, when after Fox Sports broadcast the first two seasons of the Twenty20 Big Bash League, Cricket Australia sold the rights to the free-to-air Ten Network to dramatically expand the tournament’s television audience. That decision led to a major scaling back of Fox Sports’ cricket department to a small part of the business.Cricket Australia, meanwhile, launched into a major digital partnership with Channel Nine in addition to the BBL deal with Ten.A Fox Sports spokesperson declined to comment.

England’s players have a better understanding of the conditions they may face in the first Test on Thursday, after their two-day warm-up finished in a draw

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong17-Oct-2016England XI 256 (Duckett 60, Tanveer 4-52) drew with BCB XI 294 (Mazid 106, Shanto 72, Ansari 4-68)
Scorecard In the Chittagong twilight at the end of their second two-day warm-up game at the MA Aziz Stadium, the England players crossed the small roundabout between the ground and their hotel with a better understanding and practical experience of the conditions they may face in the first Test on Thursday.The visitors batted for 74.2 overs on the day with most of their regulars and hopefuls getting a fair hit in a match setting. Ben Duckett’s 101-ball 60 was as attractive to watch as it was important for England’s perpetration. A place in the Test team can’t still be guaranteed but four fifties on a tour of the sub-continent is hard to ignore in a selection meeting.Haseeb Hameed also staked his claim through his long stay in the middle, having batted for more than four hours in two stints. He made 57 off 125 balls, but fought through phases against both pace and spin.Gary Ballance also spent quality time in the middle, batting for nearly two hours while Joe Root and Ben Stokes would also be reasonably happy with their time at the crease. But it was a missed chance for Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali in particular, as both batsmen have been short of runs on this tour so far.The takeaway for the home side was how Taskin Ahmed started and finished the day. He hurried Hameed, hitting him twice too, and ended England’s innings with a beautiful yorker to Gareth Batty.Legspinner Tanveer Haider took four wickets, thus also putting his name in the hat for the selectors. He has been asked to stay back in Chittagong to train with the Bangladesh team, rather than rejoin Rangpur Division, his first-class team in the NCL.Meanwhile, England have been boosted by the return of their captain, Alastair Cook, to the squad, following the birth over the weekend of his second child.Cook made two hundreds on England’s last tour of Bangladesh in 2009-10, and made sure that he will be ready for the first Test by flying out with the ODI squad ahead of his daughter’s birth.”I think you’d be a bit worried if it was someone who was less experienced, I suppose, and hadn’t experienced these conditions before and spent time in the middle because that’s important,” said Cook’s team-mate, Steven Finn, after the close of play on Sunday.”The amount of cricket that Cooky’s played in the subcontinent, I think he’ll fit back in seamlessly.”

Pakistan have added batsman Younis Khan to their squad for the second Test against West Indies in Abhu Dhabi, which starts from October 21

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2016Pakistan have added batsman Younis Khan to their squad for the second Test against West Indies in Abu Dhabi, which starts from October 21. Younis’ inclusion is the only change to the squad for the ongoing series.Younis had missed the first Test after being advised extended rest as he recovered from a bout of dengue. The 38-year-old batsman had contracted a high fever last month that was later diagnosed as the mosquito-borne disease, as he underwent treatment at a Karachi hospital. The illness also forced him out of the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament.Younis is Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests with 9456 runs at 53.72. Before the Dubai Test, he had last missed a Test in May 2011, and had since played 41 successive matches, scoring 3839 runs at an average of 59.06. He scored 218 against England at The Oval in his last Test appearance.

A round-up of the CSA T20 Challenge matches played on November 16, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2016Albie Morkel’s unbeaten 34 off 16 balls helped Titans recover from a top-order wobble to beat Cape Cobras by six wickets in Paarl and post their second successive win in the CSA T20 Challenge.Morkel, who came in to bat No. 6 with Titans needing 52 off the last five overs, smashed six fours in his cameo. He was supported by Farhaan Behardien, who remained unbeaten on 22, as Titans surpassed Cape Cobras’ 141 for 6 with seven balls to spare.Cape Cobras had lost Richard Levi in the second over after Justin Ontong elected to bat. They were driven by an 84-run stand for the second wicket between Cebo Tshiki (47) and Jason Smith (38), before Lungi Ngidi’s double-strike in successive overs hurt the Cobras. That they recovered to post 140 plus after a wobble was because Kieron Pollard made a 19-ball 32.Titans lost Henry Davids, bowled by Dane Paterson, off the first ball of their chase. When Heino Kuhn was caught and bowled by Rory Kleinveldt for 11, Titans had slipped to 22 for 2 in the fourth over. Heinrich Klaasen kept chipping away at the target, making a 39-ball 46, while Qaasim Adams made 17. At 90 for 4, Titans benefited from the presence of two experienced batsmen to steer the side home.Cameron Delport narrowly missed his second T20 century•PSL

Cameron Delport’s unbeaten 93 and four-wicket haul helped Dolphins record their first win of the competition, against Lions by 49 runs in Durban.Delport and Morne van Wyk, the captain and wicketkeeper, put on 124 for the first wicket in just 13 overs after being asked to bat. Van Wyk made 60 of those in 37 balls, while Delport batted through to finish with five fours and six sixes in his 62-ball knock. Three of those sixes came in one Eddie Leie over, the 16th of the innings, to give Dolphins a final push; they smashed 63 off the last five overs to finish on 193 for 4.Lions started briskly with Dominic Hendricks firing, but found themselves at 55 for 3 in the seventh over. Nicky van den Bergh made 43 in a 52-run stand with Hendricks before their dismissals in the space of six deliveries set Lions back. They were bowled out for 144 in 19.3 overs with Delport, who was introduced in the 12th over, finishing with career-best figures of 4 for 17.”When the luck is going your way, you’ve just got to ride it,” Delport said, after having been dropped three times in his innings. “Morne and I had that important partnership of 100 up front and we know that when we do that, as a team we bat so deep and have so much diversity on our team that we can post a big total.”I love bowling and work hard on it in the nets. I think I’ve got a role to play with the ball, especially in the shorter format and it was nice to be able to contribute this evening.”

Stuart Broad has reportedly been interviewed for the England Test captaincy, along with Joe Root and Ben Stokes

Andrew Miller10-Feb-2017Stuart Broad confirmed that he has held talks with the ECB, as the board launched its search for Alastair Cook’s successor as Test captain, but insisted he has “not specifically” thrown his hat into the ring for the role.Speaking to reporters at Buckingham Palace after receiving an MBE from Prince Charles, Broad said that he backed Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, to make the right appointment, after it emerged that the frontrunners for the role – Broad, Joe Root and Ben Stokes – had all held meetings with Strauss and James Whitaker, the chairman of selectors, on Thursday.”I’ve played for England for a long time, over ten years, so as a senior player you are going to share views and talk to coaches and hierarchies about how the team moves forward,” said Broad.”It’s important that players who’ve been involved, and who you see leading the team forward in the next few years, are consulted.”When he was captain, Andrew Strauss was one of the best decision-makers I’ve ever played with and, now he’s moved into the top of English cricket, I’m sure he’ll consider all options and malke a very sensible and good decision.”While Root remains the overwhelming favourite to lead England in their next Test series, against South Africa in July, there are legitimate concerns about the workload on both him and Stokes, two players who are deemed indispensable to England in all three formats.And that could yet be a reason to hand the Test captaincy to Broad, 30, a senior player with established leadership qualities (he was England T20 captain for three years until Eoin Morgan succeeded him in 2015), but who has played only two limited-overs matches since the 2015 World Cup.Moreover, with England’s defence of the Ashes fast approaching in November, Broad’s proven appetite for the heat of battle in Australia – where he has recently completed a successful stint with Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash – could be another reason to entrust him with the captaincy.

Broad sympathy for de Villiers

Stuart Broad believes that AB de Villiers has made a wise decision to postpone his return to Test cricket until after this summer’s England tour, as he seeks to regain full fitness after a long-term injury lay-off.
Broad, who has dismissed de Villiers ten times in Test cricket, more than any other bowler, admitted he would miss “testing himself against the best”, but said that de Villiers had to do what was right for his long-term career.
“He needs to get it right, because what people don’t realise when cricketers get injured, it’s not just the physical pain that it can cause you, it’s the mental strain of actually getting up every day and playing through pain.
“It’s like playing with a headache every day, and it wears you down over a period of time. I’d always encourage any cricketer who has had long-term niggles to make sure the body gets right, so it would certainly be wrong of me to encourage AB to come over and play through an injury that has hampered him for a little while.
“But if he does have a change of heart come July it’d be lovely to see him at Lord’s. The lunches are still as good.”

Not only has he produced series-winning spells in each of England’s last three home Ashes series, most memorably with his 8 for 15 at Trent Bridge in 2015, he was also one of the few players to emerge with his reputation enhanced on the disastrous whitewash tour Down Under in 2013-14, finishing as England’s highest wicket-taker with 21 scalps.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Broad recalled how the events of that tour helped to “make him as a cricketer”, most notably during the opening exchanges of the first Test in Brisbane, where a local newspaper, the Courier-Mail, instigated a vendetta against him as a consequence of his refusal to walk for a catch at slip during the Trent Bridge Test in 2013.Throughout the contest, the paper referred to him only as “the 27-year-old medium-pacer”, and encouraged the crowds to let him know what they thought of him, but after claiming first-innings figures of 6 for 81, Broad walked into that evening’s press conference with a copy of the paper under his arm.”That really helped make me as a cricketer,” Broad told ESPNcricinfo. “It made me quite a steely character, made me know how to deal with crowd pressure, put it to one side and work on your performance.”It was an experience for sure, I played there in the Big Bash against Brisbane, and got a bit of crowd interaction but certainly not as much as in an England shirt. To walk away with that sort of reaction but with a six-for was a pleasing feeling. I told myself I can deal with everything that’s thrown at me externally and still deliver a good performance.”Obviously the Test didn’t go our way but I know I am a competitive bloke, I thrive in competitive situations, and there’s no better situation than an Ashes series away from home, and it’s a hugely exciting challenge for us.”We’ve got a lot to get through but we are building a team that can challenge Australia in Australia. I spent some time there and there’s no doubt they are formidable in their own conditions, but we have players of the likes of Root and Stokes, Jos Buttler’s such a dangerous talent with the bat, and Moeen Ali too.”These are guys who are delivering on the big stage, plus a few senior guys who’ve been there and done that. We are growing as a team and this will be an exciting Test team to follow over the next few years.”Stuart Broad had to endure hostility from the fans and the media during the Brisbane Test in 2013•Getty Images

Despite speculation that he might be in line for a return to the ODI squad for the forthcoming tour of the Caribbean, Broad was last week overlooked in an unchanged squad, and appears to recognise that county cricket will be his priority for the foreseeable future, as he readies himself to face South Africa, Test opponents that England have not beaten on home soil since 1998.”I’ve got a great period now with no Test cricket until July,” Broad said. “I haven’t had that for about eight or nine years, so I’m looking forward to the next period of time, doing my pre-season with Notts, heading over to Barbados, and setting high standards for myself come July.””South Africa are always a tough team, that’s what made winning in South Africa so special,” he added. “I’ve played in two series against them at home, they beat us in 2008, when I got dropped towards the end of the series, then Hashim Amla got a triple at The Oval [in 2012] and they beat us in that series too.”They are always great competitors, very skillful in our conditions, and that makes this summer a huge one. It’s important for us to get back to winning ways after a tough tour of India. Everyone expected that – five back-to-back with no warm-ups was going to be tricky – but England in our own conditions, at grounds that we are used to and where we have very good records, should encourage us to really take South Africa on.”

The PSL has confirmed that the Decision Review System will be used for the tournament’s three play-off matches starting from Tuesday

Danyal Rasool28-Feb-2017The PSL has confirmed that the Decision Review System will be used for the tournament’s three play-off matches starting from Tuesday. The tournament’s chairman Najam Sethi made the decision public by tweeting, “another first from #HBLPSL. DRS to be used in the #HBLPSL play-off matches.”While the ball-tracking technology Hawk-Eye has been used as a tool by the broadcasters since the start of the PSL, it has not been part of the umpires’ decision-making process. This development possibly also marks the first time DRS will be used in a T20 contest at either franchise or international level. Each side will be allowed one review per innings in the same way the technology is used at ODI level.DRS is, however, not expected to be available for the PSL final, which Sethi announced yesterday would be held in Lahore, as the company handling the Hawk-Eye technology will not travel to Pakistan.Earlier this month, the ICC chief executives committee gave an in-principle approval for use of DRS for the first time in an ICC T20 tournament in 2018, with one review per team in the Women’s World T20 in the West Indies.

A round-up of the Group D matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy held on March 3, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Mar-2017Half-centuries from Sheldon Jackson, who was out obstructing the field for 73, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, and Chirag Jani underpinned Saurashtra‘s 92-run win over Chhattisgarh at the Eden Gardens. This was Saurashtra’s first win in five attempts in this season’s Vijay Hazare Trophy.Jackson led the way with his seventh List A half-century, which contained five fours and three sixes. Jackson’s knock, however, ended in bizarre circumstances: he was only the second Indian, after Mohinder Amarnath, to be out obstructing the field in List A cricket. Jadeja and Jani assisted Jackson as Saurashtra recovered from 116 for 5 to post 279 for 9. Seamer Pankaj Rao was the pick of the bowlers for Chhattisgarh, taking 4 for 34, his second four-wicket haul in three matches.Chhattisgarh lost opener Abhimanyu Chauhan for a duck in the first over of the chase, but Manoj Singh, the other opener, lent more resistance with 55 off 71 balls, but the rest of the middle order could not produce substantial contributions, despite a clutch of starts. The second-best score for Chhattisgarh was captain Mohammad Kaif’s 32. Seamer Kushang Patel took care of the tail as Chhattisgarh were dismissed for 187 in 44 overs.Hyderabad survived Saurabh Tiwary’s counterattacking hundred – 102 off 104 balls – and defended 203 against Jharkhand at the
Jadavpur University ground in Kolkata. Tiwary accounted for over 56% of Jharkhand’s total, the next best score being captain MS Dhoni’s 28 off 47 balls. Excepting these two, only opener Ishan Kishan and middle-order batsman Ishank Jaggi reached double-figures. Left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan claimed three wickets, including that of Dhoni. Tiwary kept fighting before he was the eighth Jharkhand batsman to be dismissed with the score at 173. Six overs later, they were bowled out for 182.Earlier, Hyderabad lost their openers inside seven overs, but forty-somethings from K Sumanth and B Sandeep perked up the innings. Then a series of cameos from the lower order pushed the total past 200. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem returned 3 for 27 in nine overs.Seamer Prasidh Krishna, playing his fourth List A match, grabbed 4 for 15 to rout Jammu & Kashmir for 108 to set up Karnataka‘s fourth win in four matches in Kalyani. Krishna dismissed opener Ahmed Bandy for 5 in the fourth over, then went onto carve up the lower order. In between, fellow seamers Stuart Binny, and Ronit More made light work of the middle order. That Jammu & Kashmir captain Parvez Rasool had to retire hurt for 12 did not help the side’s cause. He did not return to bowl in the second innings either.Facing a slim target, Karnataka lost their openers early to seamer
Mohammed Mudhasir, but K Gowtham, who was promoted to No. 3 hit an unbeaten 57 off 46 balls to seal victory with seven wickets and 194 balls to spare.