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Ajmal, 40, is likely to make an announcement after the ongoing National T20 Cup ends on November 26

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-20170:48

Quick facts: Saeed Ajmal

Saeed Ajmal will bring to an end one of the most illustrious modern Pakistan careers at the end of this month, once the National T20 Cup – the Pakistan domestic T20 tournament – ends.Ajmal, 40, is leading Faisalabad and news of his impending end came on a fitting day in which he played a lead role in a win over Lahore Blues. He took 3 for 26 from his four overs, including the wickets of Ahmed Shehzad and Babar Azam, and ran out Mohammad Hafeez in a seven-wicket win. He will hold off from making an official announcement until the end of the tournament.When he does leave, he will do so as one of Pakistan’s most successful spinners. Though he made his international debut late, in the 2008 Asia Cup, it was under Misbah-ul-Haq’s captaincy, from 2011 onwards, that he became a major all-format force for Pakistan. He ended, ultimately, with 178 wickets from 35 Tests at an average of 28.10; under Misbah, however, he took 141 wickets in just 26 Tests. He played a lead role in a number of Pakistan’s early successes under Misbah, not least his 24 wickets in the 3-0 whitewash of England in 2011-12.He was equally important in the white-ball formats, an important part of successful sides until 2011, and almost a solitary burden-bearer in the less successful sides thereafter. He ended with 184 wickets from 113 ODIs at 22.72 and another 85 wickets from 64 T20Is.But for all the success, there was also the more problematic issue raised by his action. He was reported for an illegal action twice in his international career and it clouded somewhat the sheer potency of his doosra, a delivery he used to devastating effect.He was reported first in 2009, during an ODI series against Australia in the UAE, though he was cleared soon after. But it was when he was reported in August 2014, at the peak of his powers, that his international career was effectively over. Subsequent tests found that his elbow straightened well beyond 15 degrees when delivering both the offspinner and doosra.At the time he was banned, he was the no.1 ODI bowler in the world, and in the top ten of both Test and T20 rankings. At that point, nobody had taken more international wickets than him in the preceding three-year period. It was suggested at the time that Pakistan’s excessive reliance on him – only one bowler had bowled more overs than him in that three-year period – had worn away his action and made it particularly ragged.He was able to remodel his action and return but he was never the force that he had been. He played just two ODIs and a single T20I in 2015 after the World Cup, but he was clearly a different bowler and a much reduced force.He has continued playing domestic cricket, and has been busy with an academy in Faisalabad since then. Until earlier this year, in the run-up to the PSL, he was hoping to use the league to return to international cricket. But he played only four matches for Islamabad United and picked up three expensive wickets. After his retirement, Ajmal will continue with Islamabad United as their spin-bowling coach in the PSL.

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.

Faizan Janjua has resigned from his post as vice-president of USACA after just over five months in the position

Peter Della Penna03-Sep-2015Faizan Janjua, who was elected to his first term on the USA Cricket Association board of directors in March, has resigned from his post as vice-president after just over five months in the position. Janjua’s resignation was announced via Facebook on Wednesday night, and comes just five days after the USACA board was absent from the ICC’s town hall meeting for USA stakeholders in Chicago.”I knew from the get-go that it would be hard to work with the current regime of USACA,” Janjua wrote. “But I wanted to give it a shot. Now it is very evident that I can’t proceed with a very ill-managed organization. Therefore, I’m resigning as 2nd VP of USACA.”When contacted by phone on Wednesday night, Janjua told ESPNcricinfo: “There was no real effort to steer the organisation in the right direction. If you want to correct something, you have to recognise where you are doing wrong or where the problem is and they are not even willing to do that.”They think the whole ICC thing is being malicious toward USACA, which is wrong. Their responses to some of the questions raised by the ICC, they are not willing to answer them. They hide behind the USACA constitution and their answer to everything is, ‘We are governed by the USACA constitution.’ I think it’s very unlikely that they will be reinstated.” The ICC had suspended the membership of the USACA in June.According to Janjua, the USACA board’s absence from the Chicago town hall meeting run by the ICC on August 29 was an organised effort. Janjua says that during a USACA board meeting on August 25, the board decided not to attend the meeting because they claimed they were “informed of the town hall but not formally invited”. However, an ICC spokesperson denied the USACA claim that they were not invited to the town hall.”It is incorrect to suggest that the USACA was not invited to attend the Town Hall meeting,” an ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday. “The ICC wrote to the USACA president, inviting him and representatives of his board. This invitation was reiterated during ICC’s meetings with USACA in New York some weeks ago, and in correspondence following this meeting.”Separate from his USACA post, Janjua serves as president of the Northwest Cricket League and ran on the same ticket as Atlanta Georgia Cricket Conference president Suren Gandavaram in the 2015 USACA election and won a vice-president post that had been vacated by Michael Gale who chose not to seek re-election. However, Gandavaram’s bid against Dainty failed, leaving Janjua without a major ally on the board and as a result he says he ran into steady opposition during meetings.”In one of the meetings, all of them jumped on me because I was asked by the ICC about the ghost leagues,” Janjua said. “I told them what was true, what was happening in my area because I am familiar with it. One of the leagues called Seattle Cricket League is not an active league and they did not like it.”Janjua, 45, first came to attention on the US cricket scene in 2012 when he was part of a five-man league presidents committee appointed by the USACA to oversee the appeals process filed by the 32 USACA member leagues who were barred from voting in that year’s election after the completion of a member leagues compliance audit. After all appeals were rejected, Janjua blasted the process, calling it a sham in an email to all USACA members.Janjua also was part of the six-man league presidents committee formed after the 2014 USACA AGM to come up with revisions to a proposed new USACA constitution after a vote to ratify the document was deferred at the AGM. The group’s proposals were put forward to the USACA board in January and were rejected outright. As a result, the 2015 USACA elections went ahead under the USACA constitution that has been in place since 2008. When asked why he pursued a spot on the USACA board after these experiences, Janjua said he was hoping to be an agent of change from the inside.”I gave it a shot but it didn’t work,” Janjua said. “The current board, they do not have the vision or the capacity to change anything. It has to be a different group. If people are hoping that these people will change, it’s not going to happen. They’ve been around for long enough and they know how to control the organisation. The ICC or someone else will have to come up with a different group of people, those who have the right idea and the vision to change cricket.”ESPNcricinfo attempted to contact USACA president Gladstone Dainty for a response to Janjua’s comments. An email and phone message left with Dainty were not responded to.

BCB chief Nazmul Hassan has said Bangladesh will only tour Pakistan if the security situation in the country improves

Mohammad Isam31-Dec-2012Bangladesh will only tour Pakistan if the security situation in the country improves, BCB chief Nazmul Hassan has said. Hassan, who addressed a press conference in Dhaka on Monday, was noncommittal on the issue, not saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposed tour, but made it clear in various ways that the January visit is ruled out for the moment.”The ICC minutes have it that we have made an unconditional commitment to tour Pakistan. But there is concern among us about the country’s security situation, it has deteriorated. We don’t think it will be wise to visit Pakistan at this time,” Hassan said. “We have sent them [the PCB] a letter three days ago, telling them of our stance. We will again contact them when their security situation improves. And we will go in the future, because we are committed to go there.”Two months ago, Hassan had said that the BCB – without mentioning who in particular – had committed to tour Pakistan in an ICC meeting. But concerns remained in Bangladesh, and it was learnt that the players wanted full-proof security guarantees from all parties before heading to play the series.However, the PCB has begun its preparations for an impending tour. It has already placed a tender in one of Pakistan’s top newspapers, inviting sponsorship bids for a series title sponsor, two co-sponsors and in-stadia advertising rights for two international matches (one ODI and one T20). The PCB has also moved the domestic first-class Quaid-e-Azam matches, scheduled between January 7 and 22 away from the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore to accommodate the proposed matches against Bangladesh.Hassan’s comments came at an “exchange of views” programme on Monday, which the BCB had arranged to discuss some of the issues in Bangladesh cricket with the media. Hassan said the BCB was aware that putting the tour on hold could sour relations with the PCB. “It isn’t an easy decision for us. If we say we want to go, many people in the country will be hurt. If we don’t go, there will be repercussions,” he said. “We know the consequences, they may not want to send their players to the Bangladesh Premier League and our Dhaka leagues. They will probably not want to help us or support us.”The PCB had used the upcoming BPL as a bargaining chip ahead of the T20 league’s player auction on December 20: the Pakistan board had not handed out No-Objection Certificates to their players to play in the tournament, the understanding being they were waiting for an official announcement from the BCB, confirming that the proposed tour would go ahead.Several Pakistan players were however bought at the auction. The prominent ones among them included Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Imran Nazir and Wahab Riaz, whose participation in the tournament is now unclear.The PCB and BCB have for some time now been discussing a short tour of Pakistan that would mark the return of top-flight international cricket to the country for the first time since the March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore. A window had been created by the PCB to accommodate an ODI and T20 between January 10 and 15 ahead of the BPL, which starts from January 17. That window will now be missed.The BCB have a ‘written commitment’ to tour Pakistan and, earlier this month, Hassan had said that they were in the second phase of talks with the PCB about going ahead with the tour, as the first phase that dealt with security issues had been completed satisfactory.However, on December 22, Hassan said the tour was still unconfirmed, as the BCB was awaiting a security assessment to be conducted by the ICC.Bangladesh was all set to tour Pakistan in April 2012 after a deal had been cut between the two boards, by which the PCB would back the BCB president Mustafa Kamal as the nominee for the ICC vice-presidency and Bangladesh would tour Pakistan in 2012. However, the tour was postponed after a Dhaka court order embargoed the series. At the time, the ICC had introduced a special dispensation by which bilateral series can take place even if the ruling body determined it unsafe to appoint its officials for the series. As per the dispensation, such series could be manned by “non-neutral match officials”.

Pakistan Under-19 inflicted a sixth straight defeat on Zimbabwe Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2012
Scorecard
Pakistan Under-19 inflicted a sixth straight defeat on Zimbabwe Under-19 at the Stellenbosch University Ground. Zimbabwe, after choosing to bat, appeared to be in a comfortable situation at 73 for 1 in the 19th over. Luke Masasire (65) and Kevin Kasuza were involved in a 59-run second-wicket stand but things fell apart after the pair was separated. In a collapse, Zimbabwe lost 9 wickets for 65 runs and were bowled out for 138 in 40.5 overs. Seamer Zia-ul-Haq grabbed three wickets and was supported by Usman Qadir and Mohammad Nawaz, who took two each. Opener Faraz Ali top-scored with 68 in the chase and Pakistan sealed victory with 22 overs to spare and seven wickets in hand.

Once the players woke up to sunny skies in Centurion, it was only a matter of time before South Africa took the final two wickets that stood between them and a 1-0 lead in the series

The Bulletin by George Binoy20-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

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• This was South Africa’s first innings win against India at home and fourth overall against them. Four of India’s seven innings defeats since 1990 have come against South Africa.

• This is only the second time that South Africa have won the first Test of a home series against a major Test side since beating New Zealand in 2007.

• India’s total of 459 is the seventh highest third innings score in defeats.

• The victory improves South Africa’s win-loss ratio in Centurion to 12, the best among all home grounds to have hosted at least five Tests. Their only loss at Centurion was a two-wicket defeat against England in 2000.

• This was the fifth occasion that South Africa won by an innings after losing less than five wickets in the entire match.

Once the players woke up to clear skies in Centurion, it was only a matter of time before South Africa took the final two wickets that stood between them and a 1-0 lead in the series. The other question was whether they could inflict an innings defeat on India, something they had never done at home. They did, dismissing the tailenders in less than six overs on the fifth day, while Sachin Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 111.The length of South Africa’s wait was going to be determined by Tendulkar’s approach, and once he showed no intention of farming the strike, exposing Sreesanth and Jaidev Unadkat by taking singles, the home team knew Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn wouldn’t make them field for too long.Sreesanth prodded forward to a short of a length delivery outside off from Morkel, and AB de Villiers caught the thick edge comfortably at second slip. Unadkat faced 10 out of the 14 balls following Sreesanth’s dismissal and the Test ended when he fended a short ball from Steyn to gully.

New Zealand Cricket has scheduled a meeting on Friday to discuss appointing a successor to Andy Moles, who resigned as national coach last October

Cricinfo staff29-Jan-2010New Zealand Cricket are expected shortly to name a coach as successor to Andy Moles, who resigned last October, with the board scheduled to discuss the issue at a meeting on Friday. Those in contention include Darren Lehmann, who confirmed he’d been in talks with NZC, Mark Greatbatch and Jeff Crowe. However, Adam Gilchrist denied developments regarding Lehmann, the coach of IPL franchise Deccan Chargers, during his commentary stint in the fourth ODI between Pakistan and Australia.”It will be discussed at today’s board meeting and I am confident an appointment will be made before the start of the Bangladesh series on Wednesday,” NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan told .New Zealand have not appointed any interim coach since Moles stepped down, increasing captain Daniel Vettori’s responsibilities during the series against Pakistan late last year. Moles was in the job for less than a year, raising questions over whether NZC had erred during their recruitment process when appointing him as John Bracewell’s successor.Vaughan said NZC wanted to be sure the right candidate was picked this time, leading to a lengthy spell without a national coach. “Looking at some examples from international cricket in recent times, some coaching appointments have not gone well, and we had that experience as well with the departure of Andy Moles last year,” he said. “I think there’s been a real need to reflect on that and make sure we get this appointment right.”Lehmann, the former Australian batsman who guided the Deccan Chargers to the IPL title last season, has confirmed he is in talks with NZC for the role.

Former captain makes 94 but ends up on the losing side at Northwood

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay09-Jul-2025Former Middlesex all-rounder James Fuller returned to haunt his old team with a crucial unbeaten 43 from 26 balls as Hampshire squeezed over the line at Merchant Taylors’ School to keep their Vitality Blast hopes alive.The Hawks were under pressure at 157 for seven, needing 31 from 13, when the final ball of Noah Cornwell’s stint sailed over Fuller for four byes plus a no-ball – and momentum swung as the batter capitalised on the resulting free hit to crack six off Leus du Plooy.Stephen Eskinazi, who stood down as Middlesex’s T20 captain earlier in the day, led the way for his side with an outstanding knock of 94 from 48, sharing partnerships of 69 from 40 and 82 from 51 with Kane Williamson and Max Holden respectively.But Hawks seamer Scott Currie (four for 32) removed both Eskinazi and Holden, triggering a middle-order collapse as Middlesex shed seven wickets for 34 and fell below the 200-plus total that had looked likely.Put in to bat, the home side made swift progress in the powerplay as Williamson (25 from 22) flicked Sonny Baker neatly over long leg for six and Eskinazi plundered 20 from Eddie Jack’s first over.Benny Howell made the breakthrough with his fourth delivery as Williamson was bowled swinging across the line, but runs continued to flow from Eskinazi’s bat and the opener raised his third half-century of the tournament from 23 balls with a straight-driven six.Holden (33 from 26) played second fiddle, taking 18 balls to register his first boundary, but Eskinazi’s timing and placement was exemplary as he cut Currie for successive fours, with a hundred looking inevitable.However, Eskinazi was denied when Currie returned to rip out his off stump – the first of five wickets in 17 balls as Middlesex faltered during the death overs, clambering above 180 thanks to a couple of late boundaries from Luke Hollman.James Vince (27 from 17) began briskly when Hampshire replied, pulling Zafar Gohar for six and punching a string of back-foot boundaries off the seamers before he fell to a low diving catch at mid-off by opposite number Du Plooy.The new Middlesex skipper took a skier to dismiss Tom Prest in the next over and, when Toby Albert presented Hollman (two for 21) with a routine return catch, the visitors were uncertainly placed at 68 for three.Joe Weatherley batted aggressively, clubbing both Gohar and Ryan Higgins for straight sixes in his 41 from 22 but, when he failed to counter Hollman’s googly, the Hawks were back under pressure.Cornwell and Higgins picked up further wickets, but the left-armer’s lapse tilted the contest back towards Hampshire and Fuller finished the job with two balls to spare, hitting Higgins for successive boundaries.

The two, along with former head coach Grant Bradburn, were given roles at the National Cricket Academy after the 2023 ODI World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-2024After Grant Bradburn ended his tenure with the PCB, Mickey Arthur and Andrew Puttick have also resigned from their respective posts at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore. All three were given a new portfolio after the 2023 ODI World Cup.Arthur had joined as director of the Pakistan men’s team in April 2023, while Bradburn and Puttick were appointed head coach and batting coach respectively.”All three individuals informed the Pakistan Cricket Board of their decision to leave their respective jobs by the end of January 2024,” the PCB said in a release. “The decision was taken amicably between all the stakeholders.”Arthur will continue in his role as Derbyshire’s head coach, a job he juggled with his duties with the Pakistan team. Last week, Bradburn signed a three-year deal as Glamorgan’s head coach and Puttick as Afghanistan’s batting coach.After Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup, all three were in limbo as the PCB’s temporary management committee lacked the authority to relieve them from their duties. They have had their roles reassigned and none of them travelled with the team for their recent Test tour of Australia, with Mohammad Hafeez acting as both team director and head coach, and Adam Hollioake as batting coach. Pakistan lost all three Tests there.Currently, the team is in New Zealand for a five-match T20I series and is trailing by 3-0.

Despite a 24-ball 40 from Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 117 and Netherlands aced the chase in 18 overs

S Sudarshanan02-Nov-2022Firsts are often memorable occasions and Netherlands ensured that they would only have fond memories of their maiden T20I at the Adelaide Oval. Their batting mainstay Max O’Dowd exuded calmness to help them through a small run-chase against Zimbabwe with a steady 52-run knock to all but end their hopes of making the semi-finals. This was after a fine seam-bowling performance from Netherlands – led by Paul van Meekeren’s three-for – helped skittle Zimbabwe for 117.Only Sikandar Raza stood tall yet again for Zimbabwe as their batters failed to counter accurate fast bowling and fell prey to clever changes of pace that they bowled. In response, O’Dowd and Tom Cooper stitched together a 73-run partnership which ensured Netherlands did not lose early wickets in clusters.While Zimbabwe mathematically still cling on, any result in the India-Bangladesh contest will knock them out.Seam, swing and all that
The two colours that generally make for good viewing were on display at the Adelaide Oval – blue, sunny skies after a rainy build-up and an even covering of green grass on the surface. But Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine had little hesitation in batting first even as his opposite number seemed content with what they had to do. You could see why.A left-arm bowler swung it into the right-hander (away from the left-hander). Then a right-arm seamer did the opposite. After Fred Klaassen came perilously close to nicking Ervine off in the opening over, van Meekeren drew first blood in the next. He began with a misdirected inswinger to the left-handed Ervine before castling Madhevere with a peach. Madhevere was rooted to the crease expecting an outswinger but instead received a full and straight ball on middle, which he missed a belated flick off to be bowled.It was then time for Brandon Glover to come to party. He began with five straight dots, which led to Ervine top-edge an attempted flick with Scott Edwards completing a well-judged catch. In his next over, Glover saw Regis Chakabva survive two chances – one when Bas de Leede failed to cling on to a cut at backward point and then on the very next ball when Edwards grassed a regulation diving catch.But, much like Madhevere, Chakabva lost the mind game against Glover as he was stuck to his crease expecting another one outside off, only to be trapped in front by a full and straight one in line of the stumps. Zimbabwe were reduced to 20 for 3 inside the powerplay, as a result.Sikandar Raza top-scored with a 24-ball 40 for Zimbabwe•ICC via Getty Images

Raza, again
It was yet again up to Raza to rescue Zimbabwe, for the umpteenth time in recent games. He was starved of strike for two overs upon his entry before he got going of a 14-run over off Glover. He targeted the short, square region on the leg side to pepper his pull strokes and used his might to smoke generally un-hittable length balls over the bowler’s head. He found an ally in Sean Williams, who played a steady hand in their 48-run partnership.Even after Williams fell, Raza did not slow down. He smoked two more sixes – the second off Glover (again) made a sound you’d want to use for one of your phone alerts. In all, Raza scored 26 off the 11 balls he faced from Glover, after the bowler had two wickets – including a wicket-maiden – and had conceded just two runs from his first two overs.But once Raza fell trying to take on the longer long-on boundary off Bas de Leede – back after he was replaced in the match against Pakistan due to concussion – Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets for 25 to fold for 117.O’Dowd denies Zimbabwe
O’Dowd enhanced his batting credentials in this men’s T20 World Cup with his second half-century in the competition. It was not all smooth-flowing for him though. Even though he managed to hit a four in each of Tendai Chatara’s three overs in the powerplay, he could only score 14 off the 18 balls he faced in the phase. He was regularly beaten on the outside edge, courtesy Chatara’s outswingers, and it was almost like the phase was being played on repeat.It was only when he picked up a Richard Ngarava slower delivery early after the powerplay and then followed it with a gorgeous inside-out six over extra cover off Sean Williams that he had truly announced himself. By that time, Cooper, who perhaps knows the Adelaide Oval conditions like the back of his hand thanks to his stints in Australian domestic circuit, had got into a roll and his alliance with O’Dowd had all but sealed the deal for Netherlands.Even though Zimbabwe managed to pick up four wickets for 26 with Cooper’s fall, a total of just 117 was never really going to be enough.