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Tom Harrison says ECB 'working closely with Cricket Australia' to ensure Ashes goes ahead

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ECB chief reiterates importance of player welfare with Australia’s Covid rules possibly preventing families on tour

Andrew Miller12-Aug-2021Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, says that England and Australia will use every diplomatic channel available to ensure that this winter’s Ashes can go ahead as planned, in spite of the players’ fears that their families may not be permitted to travel due to Australia’s stringent Covid-19 restrictions.The prospect of a postponed Ashes tour has become increasingly realistic in recent weeks, amid concerns that a number of England’s senior players – in particular multi-format players such as Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Mark Wood – would be reluctant to head straight from the T20 World Cup in the UAE to Australia, and spend up to four months away from their young families.Related

  • Jos Buttler may miss Ashes tour: 'You have to be open to saying no'

  • ECB says 'player and staff welfare the priority' as it seeks Ashes talks with Cricket Australia

  • 'I would want to make sure the players' families can get to Australia' – Strauss

  • FAQs: Will the Ashes 2021-22 go ahead as scheduled? What are the major issues?

Several former England captains have expressed their reservations about the tour taking place in such circumstances, most recently Andrew Strauss, who captained England’s last victorious Ashes tour in 2010-11, and said this week it would be “unrealistic” to expect the players to tolerate such lengthy enforced absences.Harrison, however, in a briefing before the start of the second LV= Insurance Test between England and India at Lord’s, insisted that the ECB’s “people first” policy would remain intact in spite of the “critical” importance of an Ashes tour to the finances of international cricket. He added that the lengths to which the board had gone to ensure a smooth passage for this summer’s series, including representations to the Prime Minister’s Office to enable India’s families to travel, was proof that the sport’s hotline to government was open, and that the relevant authorities were listening.”Managing player welfare, keeping players safe and with their families near and around, has been a real key theme through this pandemic,” Harrison said. “We’ve taken the view that people come first, and we will continue to take that approach as we continue to navigate this crisis for as long as it takes.”We are working very closely with Cricket Australia, and I had my latest conversation with my counterpart at CA yesterday,” Harrison added. “We are speaking every few days on this matter. All the right conversations are happening at government level in Australia, and we will be using our own diplomatic channels in the UK to ensure that the view of the players and the ECB, because we are jointly approaching this, [is put across].”The financial implications of an Ashes postponement would be devastating for Cricket Australia, and by extension the global game, as the ECB recognise all too well given the efforts they made to fulfil their home summer fixtures in 2020 – including three-Test series against West Indies and Pakistan, and white-ball visits from Ireland and Australia themselves.All of those fixtures took place in bio-secure bubbles behind closed doors, and were worth in excess of £120 million in TV revenue alone. However, the mental toll that the effort took on England’s players was considerable, with Stokes’ withdrawal from this summer’s India series the most significant evidence yet that such strictures are unsustainable.Tim Paine and Ben Stokes shake hands in the last Ashes•Getty Images

Speaking last month, Harrison defended the loosening of England’s Covid restrictions for this year’s Tests, saying that asking the players to go “‘once more unto the breach dear friends’ … isn’t an acceptable place for responsible employers to continue to go”. And he was adamant that that attitude would continue to dictate their efforts to keep the Ashes on track.”This is not players asking for anything unreasonable,” he said. “We are asking the Australian government to give some leniency, frankly, because it’s going to be important for us to ensure that we can give comfort to the players. That their families are going to be able to be in Australia, and that those conditions in which they are quarantined will be reasonable, and enable the players to be at their best in that Test series.”It’s a conversation that’s going to take place over the next few weeks. We are not going to have an answer by the end of this Test, for example. But I am very confident we will get to a place where we can fulfil our obligations to tour.”While Harrison acknowledged that Australia’s complex mix of state and federal legislation made the negotiations trickier than they might otherwise be – Sydney, for instance, is currently in an extended state of lockdown – he remained hopeful that cricket’s traditional status within Australian society will help to ensure that the various levels of government can come up with a workable solution.”The Ashes is so important to global cricket, much like an England-India series, but even more so in certain parts of the world,” he said. “The integrity of the Ashes is going to be paramount, and we’ve expressed that, and Cricket Australia understand this too. This is not an adversarial conversation, it’s one which we’re doing together.”To a lesser extent the Australian players have had to endure bubble existence, but they know exactly what it’s about. They were here last year, they’ve just been in Bangladesh, and know only too well what it’s like to be in these environments. It’s a little unsustainable to ask people to continually go to that extent, particularly in a country which has taken a hardline approach to border control.”There’s always political overlay in these matters,” Harrison added. “But the Sports Minister in Australia is a very senior cabinet position… sports has a level of influence, I think, which is greater than it is in this country too.”We’ve got all the right people paying all the right levels of attention to the importance of this debate, and to the critical nature of making sure we answer these questions that we are reasonably asking, to ensure we can get everything right, and that we can all look forward to a very exciting Ashes series in Australia this winter.”

Phil Simmons enters self-isolation as Alzarri Joseph downplays disruption

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West Indies coach attended a funeral on Friday

Matt Roller27-Jun-2020Alzarri Joseph has downplayed the significance of the news that West Indies head coach Phil Simmons is self-isolating in his Old Trafford hotel room as a health precaution.Simmons left the West Indies’ bubble to attend a funeral on Friday, and has been self-isolating since then in his room on-site. He will watch the squad’s second intra-squad warm-up game from his balcony this week, and will be permitted to join back up with the group on Thursday once he has been cleared through the required number of negative Covid-19 tests.That means that the burden will fall on assistant coaches Roddy Estwick and Rayon Griffith ahead of the four-day, first-class fixture that starts on Monday, with Floyd Reifer helping out as batting coach.A CWI spokesperson confirmed on Saturday that Simmons was “in self-isolation currently” after the broke the story. In a statement on Sunday evening, CWI said that Simmons had attended a “small private family cremation” for his father-in-law, having sought permission to do so from medical staff before the tour had begun.”The entire process of his exit and re-entry to the bio-secure location was approved and managed by the medical teams of CWI and the ECB and strictly followed protocols set up prior to the tour which addressed such scenarios,” the statement said.CWI added that Simmons had already taken two Covid-19 tests since returning to Old Trafford, both of which came back negative. Dr. Donovan Bennett, the chairman of CWI’s medical advisory commitee, said: “[We are] happy with the feedback we have been receiving from our medical associates in the United Kingdom.”Phil Simmons adhered to the process of managed exit and re-entry as discussed with and agreed on between CWI and the ECB. These contingencies were put in place before the tour was agreed on and all exits from the bio-secure environment must be agreed by both medical teams, before concessions are given.”Speaking in a virtual press conference on Saturday, Joseph said that Simmons’ absence “doesn’t really disrupt” West Indies’ preparations.”We have our jobs to do – we have our preparation to keep going with,” he said. “We have a very big coaching staff here that are very supportive of each other, so that’s not really a problem for anyone.”Joseph, who looks set to form part of a four-man seam attack in the first Test along with Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder, added that he hoped he could use any perception of him as a “weaker link” to his advantage.”Obviously those three guys have a lot more experience than I do,” he said. “I’d think more often than not, teams would see me as the weaker link. I think my job is to come in and just back those bowlers [up] and keep the pressure on.ALSO READ: Joseph, Chemar Holder can be ‘backbone’ of WI attack – Roberts“It’s not necessarily because of age, but because of the number of matches I’ve played compared to the other three bowlers. I could use it as an advantage – I know my abilities and they [England] might not know. But once I turn up on the day and get the job done, I know I can get on top of any opponent.”I see this tour as an opportunity for me to help the team to get higher up the rankings. Any opportunity I get to play, I’ll take it, and whatever the captain and the team require me to do, I’ll put my best foot forward.”Joseph took six wickets in West Indies’ first warm-up match•Gareth Copley/Getty Images

Joseph took six wickets in this week’s warm-up game, including that of Shai Hope in each innings, and said that he felt as though he was hitting his straps well heading into the series.”I’m just looking to stay consistent,” he said. “I think I bowled pretty well [this week] so I’m just looking to repeat what I did in the last game.”[The 2017 tour] was a really big learning experience for me, my first time in England. So I have some experience here now – I know how to bowl in these conditions my second time around.”The ball does a bit more here in England than in the Caribbean. It’s just some slight adjustments, nothing too big but some simple adjustments. For me, I think it’s about being consistent round that good area, extracting whatever movement you can get off the pitch, and sticking to plans as long as possible.”June 28, 2030 GMT – This story was updated to include Cricket West Indies’ statement

RoI fight back after Karnewar puts Vidarbha in front

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Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane wipe out the deficit after the Ranji champions send back the openers

The Report by Sreshth Shah in Nagpur14-Feb-2019The day belonged to Vidarbha’s Akshay Karnewar, whose maiden first-class century handed the Ranji Trophy champions a 95-run first-innings lead, but a fighting partnership between Rest of India’s Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane wiped out the deficit to bring the Irani Cup contest back on an even footing on Thursday’s third day.At stumps, RoI were 102 for two, having inched seven runs in front on a deteriorating pitch, where Vidarbha will have to bat last.Karnewar’s 133-ball 102 – with 13 fours and two sixes – helped Vidarbha post 425 in response to RoI’s first-innings total of 330. Karnewar was ably assisted by overnight batsman Akshay Wadkar, whose 139-ball 73 had arrested a collapse on the second day.Despite losing Wadkar before lunch, Karnewar did not curb his aggression. After reaching his half-century, he struck the day’s first six, when he smashed Dharmendrasinh Jadeja over midwicket, and he followed it up with a glance in the next over to take Vidarbha closer to the RoI total. The new batsman, No. 9 Akshay Wakhare, played his part too, and gave Vidarbha the lead in the 114th over of their innings when he tickled one down to fine leg just before lunch.The 76-run eighth-wicket stand between the two was finally broken just after lunch, when Karnewar shaped to pull Rahul Chahar’s half-tracker, but the ball stayed low and trapped him in front. Wakhare soon followed, bowled off Chahar’s googly while trying to drive through the off side.Vidarbha were 56 ahead at that stage, but a last-wicket partnership of 39 between Yash Thakur (10) and Rajneesh Gurbani (28 not out) frustrated RoI further, and a drive to long-on from the latter took Vidarbha past 400. Ankit Rajpoot later claimed the final wicket, with Thakur lbw to one that swung in late.Nineteen-year-old Chahar (4-112) was the pick of the RoI bowlers. He dismissed Vidarbha’s two highest scorers – Karnewar and Wadkar – and wasn’t afraid to show off his variations, earning two wickets courtesy his wrong ‘un. Chahar could even have had a fifth wicket when he found the outside edge of Gurbani’s bat late in the innings, but RoI captain Rahane fluffed the chance at first slip, much to the dismay of the close-in cordon and the bowler.In the morning, Karnewar had struck three consecutive boundaries off Rajpoot to give Vidarbha a rapid start to the day. The flurry even led to a brief exchange of words between batsman and bowler, but Karnewar continued confidently, scoring at a good clip and bringing up his century in glorious fashion when he muscled a six over midwicket off Jadeja in the over before lunch.When RoI came out to bat, an hour before tea, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal gave left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate the new ball. The plan paid off when Anmolpreet Singh looked to take the bowler on in the seventh over, only to toe-end a leg-side heave to long-on.That brought Vihari into the middle, and together with Mayank Agarwal (27), they tackled the difficult surface by looking to play straight. Vihari, in particular, played mostly in the V to the spinners, and his battle with Wakhare’s offspin made for fascinating viewing.However, Agarwal, who made 95 on the first day, holed out in the 12th over trying to take on Wakhare. He skipped down the track to a ball that wasn’t quite there, and miscued the shot to Mohit Kale at long-off. That brought in Rahane, who worked the ball around in the company of Vihari to chip away at the lead.Rahane found his groove courtesy a full-toss from Sarwate, and that leg-side whip briefly led to a rise in the scoring rate as Vihari also played a beautiful drive through the covers and followed it up with a lofted shot over long-off.But Karnewar stemmed the flow of the runs when he began varying his pace more than usual, in a bid to extract more spin, and that made Vihari and Rahane bat cautiously. Their prod-and-push style led to two half-shouts for lbw and a difficult dropped chance at short leg, but the batsmen stuck it out. Intriguingly, of the 35 overs they have faced so far, RoI have had to deal with pace in only four, all from Gurbani.The day ended with a good spell of spin bowling under the setting sun. Sarwate and Karnewar troubled Vihari and Rahane no end, but they survived, which was crucial. When stumps were called, their stand stood at 56 runs, and Vidarbha had a slender lead.With rain expected overnight, RoI will have some plotting to do for the penultimate day if they are to push for a win. In case the game ends in a draw, Vidarbha will lift the Irani Cup for a second year in a row on the back of their first-innings lead, but there are still 180 overs of play remaining, weather permitting.

Bancroft seeks county fulfilment at Somerset

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Cameron Bancroft might be part of Australia’s Ashes-winning squad but his early forays in county cricket have caused a headache or two

David Hopps22-Dec-2017Cameron Bancroft will return to county cricket with Somerset in 2018 as he seeks to build on his new Test status by finally proving his mettle in the English game.Bancroft makes the switch from Somerset’s west country neighbours, Gloucestershire, were he has spent two relatively undistinguished seasons considering that he has now won considerable kudos in Australia as part of their Ashes-winning squad.He also revealed a dry wit in his first media conference when he outlined at length Jonny Bairstow’s “headbutt” greeting in the Avenue bar in Perth shortly after England’s Ashes party had touched down in Australia.He averaged 40.29 for Gloucestershire in the Championship last season, which sounds solid enough, but remove an admirable unbeaten 206 in a stalemate against Kent and the returns have not been so great: 671 runs over the last two seasons, both of them only temporary assignments, at an average of 25.80.Such a return illustrates why Bancroft’s selection for Australia’s Ashes XI was met with more scepticism in England than in his native Australia, where his unbeaten 228 for Western Australia against South Australia in Perth last month became an irresistible claim for selection.Bancroft still has learning to do and that means that Somerset have secured him for the majority of the season, confident that even though he will make a step up to Division One this can be his breakthrough season.Somerset’s director of cricket Andy Hurry said: “Cameron will be available, subject to permission from Cricket Australia, for the start of the 2018 Specsavers County Championship season, all of the Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures plus the six remaining Championship matches that take place after the T20 Blast group stages. This will provide us with the continuity that we are looking for from an overseas signing.”He has come very highly recommended and will fit seamlessly into our environment. This will be a key ingredient to us achieving our aspirations of winning silverware. Cameron has the appetite and the temperament for scoring big hundreds. He really values the price of his wicket, is mentally tough and highly driven to succeed.”Bancroft made his international debut in this winter’s first Ashes Test, making an eye-catching 82 in Australia’s second innings, although his returns have been low since then. If he has as much impact at Somerset as his coach at Western Australia and Perth Scorchers, Justin Langer, who averaged more than 50 in first-class cricket for the county, then everybody will be more than satisfied.Chris Rogers, another Australian opener of recent vintage, also came close to leading Somerset to the title in 2016.As a teenager in Attadale, a well-to-do riverside suburb of Perth, Bancroft kept a poster of Langer on his bedroom wall, and is slowly developing a similar reputation as a driven and disciplined opening batsman.”I’ve heard a lot of good things about Somerset from Justin Langer and it’s clear that they are a team heading in the right direction,” Bancroft said. “There’s a long history of Australians doing well at Taunton, so hopefully I can add my name to that list.”

Duckett and Hameed make Test cases

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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.”

'Situation different after death of Italian national'

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BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the murder of an Italian national in Dhaka on Monday could seal the fate of the Bangladesh-Australia Test series, officially due to begin next week

Mohammad Isam29-Sep-20151:16

Coverdale: CA cannot risk ignoring government advice

BCB president Nazmul Hassan has said the killing of an Italian national in Dhaka on Monday could seal the fate of the Bangladesh-Australia Test series, officially due to begin next week. However, he also said he believed that the security assurance – including a four-layered cover – given to Cricket Australia’s security team by the highest level of the Bangladesh government in their meetings over the past two days should be sufficient for a touring team.Cricket Australia, Hassan said, is likely to inform the BCB of its decision on the tour in the next couple of days.While it is quite rare for a foreign national to be a target of such an attack in Dhaka, the timing of the incident will not help matters related to the tour. The team’s departure was delayed after the Australia government issued a travel alert last Friday.”The situation is now different after the death of the Italian national,” Hassan told reporters at his residence in Dhaka on Tuesday. “The UK and US governments have also given out alerts. This is a very rare incident in Bangladesh but one has to understand the difference between this and a cricket team that is given blanket security.”Hassan said that the specific threat did not relate to the touring team but to an annual event held by Australian expatriates in Dhaka. “Every year on October 2, Australians living here hold a private party in a hotel. They had information related specifically to that programme.”He also spoke on the meetings between the two sides. “In the space of a day and a half we took them to the highest level of our security and intelligence agencies, the home minister, as well as the prime minister’s security advisor,” Hassan said. “Everyone reassured them that there won’t be any trouble. We will give them four-layered security.”

Clarke, Ponting get maximum reserve price

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Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting have attracted the highest base price of $400,000 each ahead of the IPL player auction, which will be held on February 3 in Chennai

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jan-2013Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting, the current Australian Test captain and his predecessor, have attracted the highest base price of $400,000 each ahead of the IPL player auction, which will be held on February 3 in Chennai. The Australian duo form part of the 101-strong list comprising players from eight countries, which was finalised by the IPL on Wednesday and distributed to the nine franchises.In addition to a host of lesser-known players mainly from Australia and South Africa – the breeding ground of Twenty20 cricket – the list includes seven Indians, two Englishmen and Kevin O’Brien, the Ireland allrounder who is the lone representative from the Associates. The list once again does not feature Pakistani players.Though Clarke has not played for Australia in Twenty20s since he retired from the format a couple of years ago, he was signed by the Pune Warriors last year outside of the auction. Now released by the franchise, Clarke is expected to be one of the few marquee names to go under the hammer. What stands in his favour are his successful leadership abilities along with a strong batting form last year.In comparison, the 38-year-old Ponting, who retired from all forms of international cricket last November, may not sell as an equally-hot entity. Ponting made his IPL debut in 2008 with the Kolkata Knight Riders, but in 2010 the franchise bought out his contract.Darren Sammy, who led West Indies to the World Twenty20 crown last year, tops the list of first-timers with a base price of $100,000, and is part of the allrounders set. Ravi Bopara, the England allrounder, also has a list price of $100,000, the same as last season when he remained unsold. Another England player who was ignored last year, but has once again put his hat in the ring, is Matt Prior ($200,000); he is also one of the wicketkeepers available.RP Singh and Abhishek Nayar top the list of players whose fortunes crashed badly last season. Singh, who was bought by Mumbai Indians in 2012 for $600,000, was released by the franchise after a lukewarm performance where he bagged 10 wickets from 11 matches and thereafter has failed to impress in the domestic cricket.Nayar hit prolific form during Mumbai’s victorious Ranji Trophy season this year to finish as the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament. He was bought by Kings XI Punjab in the 2011 auction for $800,000 but the franchise opted to release him after a dismal 2012 edition. Nayar has now entered the auction with a reserve price of $100,000.Among the overseas players, Johan Botha is back in the auction at a list price of $300,000 after being released by Rajasthan Royals. They had paid an eyebrow-raising $950,000 during the 2011 player auction to bag Botha, a move that seemed puzzling considering Shane Warne was still the leading spinner for the inaugural IPL champions. Last year Botha fetched a poor return, bagging just nine wickets and scoring 58 runs in the eleven games he played.This time around the majority of the franchises have predicted a low-key auction, reasoning that they had most bases covered during the previous two auctions. “Apart from filling in certain small gaps, I do not see any big action happening this time around. Also with the player contracts expiring after the 2013 season, it would be difficult to place your bets on any big buys,” a franchise official told ESPNcricinfo.Even the trading window, which opened on November 19, attracted scant attention from the franchises with one formal trade registered: T Suman, who played for Mumbai Indians in 2012, shifting to neighbouring Pune Warriors. The second trading window will be open from February 4 to 15. Each franchise has a salary cap of up to $12.5m to spend on their 2013 squad, which can contain a maximum of 33 players, including 11 from overseas.Click here for the full list of players and reserve prices.

East make semis with five-wicket win

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East Zone held their nerve in the chase to beat West Zone by five wickets in Valsad. This is only the third time West have lost to East in the Duleep Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jan-2012
ScorecardEast Zone held their nerve in the chase to beat West Zone by five wickets in Valsad. This is only the third time West have lost to East in the Duleep Trophy. West had already conceded the first-innings lead and had begun the final day with only five wickets remaining in the second innings. Mumbai’s Abhishek Nayar and Kaustubh Pawar were their last hope of saving the game but when Pawar went caught behind to Ashok Dinda on 37, West’s lower order crumbled. They lost five wickets for 21 runs to be bowled out for 201, Nayar being the last man to be dismissed for 58. Dinda and Abu Nechim ended with three strikes each for East.The visitors made a strong start to the chase of 173 with Dheeraj Jadhav and Manish Vardhan putting on 52 upfront. However, Maharashtra’s Akshay Darekar, who bowled 23 of the 56.3 overs in East’s second innings, kept striking from one end to leave them in some trouble at 121 for 5 at one stage. Biplab Samantray and Anustup Majumdar, who had helped East take the first-innings lead with an unbeaten century, ensured there were no further worries for their side as they knocked off the remaining 52 runs. Darekar finished with 5 for 87.East will now take on North Zone in the second semi-final in Delhi from February 7 while Central Zone will meet South Zone in the first in Chennai.

Mumbai unhappy with change in auction norms

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Mumbai Indians have sought an explanation from the IPL regarding a last-minute change in the auction procedure, which they feel compromised the “level-playing field” for all franchises

Nagraj Gollapudi27-Jan-2011Mumbai Indians have sought an explanation from the IPL regarding a last-minute change in the auction procedure, which they feel compromised the “level-playing field” for all franchises.In a two-page letter (a copy of which is available with ESPNcricinfo), Mumbai referred specifically to the clause in the ‘Player Auction Briefing’ dated December 17, 2010, which stated that the auction of player sets would occur in random order. But on the eve of the auction (held on January 8 and 9), two hours before the final auction briefing, the franchises were sent an email containing an amendment which stated that the random order would be replaced by pre-decided ‘order of the auction list’.

Vijay Mallya seconds Mumbai

“Mumbai has made some valid points,” the owner of Royal Challengers Bangalore said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. “I was surprised by the order in which some of the players were auctioned. Players were selected randomly within categories, but the order of those categories was something I think in retrospect could have been managed better.”
When asked whether Bangalore would also file an official letter, he said, “I don’t think there’s a need for everyone to follow what Mumbai’s done. I agree with the points Mumbai have raised so let’s wait to see what the response is.”

The clause was in paragraph 18 of the original Player Auction Briefing, which read: “Players in the auction would be divided into ‘sets’. The initial sets would comprise marquee players. Subsequent sets would each comprise players with the same specialism (batsmen, bowlers, allrounders, wicketkeepers). The order of these subsequent sets would be determined by random draw that will take place in the auction room.”According to Nikhil Meswani of Indiawin Sports Private Ltd (parent company of Mumbai), who signed the letter, there was a sudden and unexplained change made to the above clause the day before the auction. “The final sentence of paragraph 18 is to be deleted. The sets will be presented to the auction in the order of the auction list.” Meswani noted that this was a “fundamental change” to the auction process.”The primary purpose of deciding the order of the auction (whether of subsequent sets or the players within the sets) through random draw in the auction room in presence of the bidders is to ensure transparency and a level playing field to all the franchisees so that all the franchisees are not only privy to the process but are treated in the same manner and no particular team receives preferred treatment,” Meswani said.According to him any such change warranted strong and justifiable reasons, which he felt were not there or explained. To clarify the matter, Mumbai have asked the IPL governing council for ten bits of information including documents.

Lawry and McKenzie gain places in Hall of Fame

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Bill Lawry and Garth McKenzie, two greats of the 1960s, will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

Cricinfo staff14-Feb-2010Bill Lawry and Garth McKenzie, two greats of the 1960s, will be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame at the Allan Border Medal on Monday. Bob Lloyd, the selection panel chairman, praised the contributions of both players.”Bill was an outstanding opening batsman and captain of Australia during his 67 Test-match career and has also since then had an on-going and significant role in cricket as an administrator with Cricket Victoria and as a commentator with Channel 9,” Lloyd said. “Graham, or ‘Garth’ McKenzie as he was universally known, almost single-handedly led the Australian attack over a 10-year period and his 246 wickets places him eigth on the list of wickets taken for Australia.”The Australian Cricket Hall of Fame began in 1996 with 10 inductees and 22 more have been included since then. Selectors take into account the players’ status as sporting legends in addition to their outstanding statistical records and inductees must have been retired from international cricket for a minimum of five years.Hall of Fame inductees Fred Spofforth, John Blackham, Victor Trumper, Clarrie Grimmett, Bill Ponsford, Sir Donald Bradman, Bill O’Reilly, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Dennis Lillee, Warwick Armstrong, Neil Harvey, Allan Border, Bill Woodfull, Arthur Morris, Stan McCabe, Greg Chappell, Lindsay Hassett, Ian Chappell, Hugh Trumble, Alan Davidson, Clem Hill, Rod Marsh, Monty Noble, Bob Simpson, Charles Macartney, Richie Benaud, George Giffen, Ian Healy, Steve Waugh, Bill Lawry, Garth McKenzie.