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FICA reports players from several countries have been sounded out by IPL sides for long-term contracts

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Apr-20238:49

Where will cricket go from here?

Players from a number of leading countries have been involved in conversations with IPL franchises about the possibility of contracts which will see them play in multiple leagues for the franchise. Though discussions have been informal, they do raise the prospect wherein the main employers for leading players could eventually be an IPL franchise, rather than a full-member board. The reported on Tuesday that six English players, including some internationals, were approached by IPL franchise owners and asked whether they would be open to a deal in which the franchise owner, rather than the board or county, would be their main employer.These conversations have taken place not just in England but in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies, according to Heath Mills, executive chairman of FICA, the global players’ body. “There have been informal conversations between some franchises and players about being available to play in multiple tournaments,” Mills told ESPNcricinfo. “That can take a different shape and form for different players. But it should come as no surprise to anyone in cricket that these conversations are happening and that players will have these sorts of options in the future.”Without going into the specifics of individual conversations, they are about a player being available to play for a franchise in different T20 leagues. A franchise might have three or four teams globally, so they might want the player in multiple competitions – as opposed to just the IPL. It’s not necessarily about signing a player up for all competitions exclusively but rather additional ones to their IPL team.”Related

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Mills said he wasn’t aware of any individual having signed a contract yet with a franchise, but that FICA was “aware of conversations for a little while now with a few players to be available for multiple competitions.”The possibility of such a scenario has floated around the game in an abstract sense for some time now, and has gathered pace since the spread of IPL franchises such as Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders into new leagues in the UAE, South Africa and the US. It has occasionally reared its head, as in the protracted wrangling of David Warner’s contract situation last year, or Trent Boult foregoing his central contract. But confirmation by the head of the global players’ body that talks, even if at an informal level, are taking place turns a possibility into a more tangible vision of the future.It may not happen quickly. Earlier this week on the BBC’s podcast, for instance, the ECB’s managing director Rob Key said that prising away England’s biggest stars will not be so easy. “Test cricket is still the hold for English players, I don’t see any time in the near future certainly where one of the Test players, certainly the centrally contracted players, is going to say ‘by the way I’m going off to America for three weeks,” Key said. “I just don’t think that’s going to happen. That is not a threat at the moment. Obviously it is different for white-ball cricketers.”There will also be logistical obstacles to overcome, not least in finding a way around the different draft and auction processes in different leagues, as well as rules on salary caps and retention. And Indian players, the game’s biggest drawcards, will not be available to any league but the IPL, at least not with the BCCI’s current stance of not issuing NOCs (No-Objection Certificates) to play in other leagues. But the issue has been on the minds of administrators, as evidenced in the blunt words of Richard Gould, the ECB CEO, who recently talked about the need to pay players better for international appearances.”We’re going to have to pay them more money,” Gould said. “That’s probably likely to be based on appearance money rather than the central-contract element because I think that gives us the most cost-effective way of dealing with any particular competitive tournament at that particular time.”Our responsibility is to make sure we can compete in the global player market to ensure that our players want to play for us, men and women, both for England and within our domestic competitions. But to do that, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the financial clout to retain them.”Often, I think people will place a huge emphasis on playing for England, and we’re grateful to them for their loyalty. But we need to make sure that we can pay the going rate, and having come back from football, player markets are something I know pretty well, and we need to make sure we can compete in the global player market. And that global player market does change from month to month depending on what other competition there is there.”9:05

Sambit Bal: ‘Windows for international cricket, not leagues, will be the future’

FICA has long called for a rationalisation of the cricket calendar, consistently arguing that the glut of international bilateral cricket, ICC events, and T20 leagues is forcing the best players to choose and prioritise where and when they want to play. Mills was critical of how members go about putting together the Future Tours Programme (FTP) – the most recent version of which was announced last year. “The current situation sees each board organise their own bilateral programme and its T20 competition independently of each other. And everyone wants the best outcome for them alone. But they also all want the best players to enhance their international and T20 products. But obviously, the best players can’t be everywhere on the same day.”Whilst we have an arrangement where everyone does their own thing in terms of scheduling, we are going to have this collision of T20 leagues and international cricket occurring every month. The boards and the leagues are effectively cannibalising themselves. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”Mills offered a solution, by creating three windows in a year for T20 leagues alone, so as to avoid direct clashes with international cricket.”One option boards have is to actually come together and agree to incorporate T20 leagues in their bilateral programme and within that process look at creating windows for T20 leagues. You might create a window in April-May for IPL, you might create another window for T20 leagues in the southern hemisphere in January and early February, you might create another window in September before an ICC event.”You could look to create windows where people agree to not play any international cricket when a T20 league is happening. Everyone will need to compromise a little bit, but it is possible. Until that happens there will continue to be a collision and players will be forced to make a choice. And sadly I’m not sure that bilateral cricket will win.”

Australian batter will arrive ahead of Friday night’s fixture at Northants

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2023Ashton Turner will return to Durham for the T20 Blast after Tristan Stubbs’ call-up for South Africa A’s tour to Sri Lanka ruled him out of a planned stint in the north east.Turner captained Durham in 2022 but his time with the club was affected by a shoulder injury sustained on debut, and he made 124 runs in his eight appearances.He returns to the UK after a stellar home season in Australia, lifting both the Big Bash and the Marsh Cup as captain and also featuring in Western Australia’s successful Sheffield Shield season.”It is great news to have Ashton returning to Durham this season,” Marcus North, Durham’s director of cricket, said. “He joins us on the back of an outstanding season for Perth Scorchers and Western Australia, where his experience and leadership skills have once again been evident for all to see.”Related

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“I’m excited to be joining up with Durham again for this year’s Blast campaign,” Turner added. “We have an exciting squad, and we have high expectations for the group this year. Hopefully we can achieve some success and have some fun along the way.”Stubbs was initially expected to join up with Durham straight after the IPL, but last month was included in South Africa A’s touring squad to play four 50-over games and two red-ball fixtures in Sri Lanka in June.Durham are one of five counties without a Blast title, and have not reached the knockout stages in any of the last four seasons. They start their 2023 campaign away at Northamptonshire on Friday night.

India batter won’t alter his aggressive batting style but is hopeful of finding more consistency with it

Shashank Kishore08-Jul-2023Don’t dwell on the past, but absorb lessons from it and keep moving forward. This, in a nutshell, is what Prithvi Shaw is trying to do to push himself back up the ladder for selection to the Indian team.Shaw endured a poor IPL 2023, to the point that he lost his place at the top of the order midway through the season for Delhi Capitals. In all, he managed just 106 runs in eight innings. The ongoing Duleep Trophy is his first competitive outing since then and Shaw is looking to live by the mantra that the “next game is the most important game”.”Those few innings [at the start of IPL 2023] went in a flash,” he said. “[While] I kept thinking about the first match, I quickly realised three matches had passed. The learning was once the match is done, just leave it there. You can’t do anything about it, it’s history. You have to keep moving forward.”Whichever game I play – Duleep Trophy, a Mumbai [club] game, whichever game – it’s important for me to bring my best. I’m the kind of person who always puts the team first. I feel that sometimes you just have to take a step back and then go forward again. Things will come your way if you do the right things at the right time.”Shaw last played for India in July 2021, and was most recently part of the squad during the home T20I series against New Zealand in January this year. He isn’t part of the white-ball squad for the West Indies tour and has seen both Ruturaj Gaikwad and his Mumbai team-mate Yashasvi Jaiswal leapfrog him for a place in India’s Test squad. Asked how he views where he stands, Shaw emphasised on the importance of focusing on his immediate tasks without carrying the anxiety or the pressure of performance.Related

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“When I came back for the T20s against New Zealand, I didn’t get a chance [to play] but this is what life is,” he said. “Sometimes you get chances, sometimes you don’t. You have to accept it. It’s not like I’ll be sitting down there and thinking ‘why, why’. I mean, I do ask myself that question but at the end of the day, if you go there and perform well, do your fitness routines, score well, you’ll be there. I just try and be as positive as I can.”That positivity, Shaw said, isn’t just part of his thought process but his game, too. He is clear while aggression is part of his batting DNA, he is learning to be “a little smarter than what I am” to try to bring consistency to his game.Shaw had a mixed bag of a first-class season in 2022-23. Although he made 595 runs in ten innings, including an incredible 379 off 383 balls against Assam – the second-highest Ranji Trophy score of all time – he believes he could have been more consistent. After that innings, Shaw had spoken of how he had tried to shut out all the negativity around him while also making a plea not to be judged on social media.”If things are not going my way, obviously I’ll try and not play how I’m supposed to play in those conditions,” Shaw said when asked about his approach in bowler-friendly conditions, like in Alur during the Duleep Trophy semi-final where he made 26 in the first innings and 25 in the second. “Personally I feel, I don’t have to change my game. I have to just be a little smarter than what I am.”I try to play with the bowlers, do some things that are going to distract them and make them bowl here and there, and give me the balls that I want and not what they want to bowl. These are the things I look forward to when conditions are like this.”I feel whatever has brought me till here, I will stick to that method, be the same. If I change right now for something, for example, I can’t bat like [Cheteshwar] Pujara sir. He can’t bat like me. I just try to do what has brought me here, everything god has given me, like this aggressive batting. I don’t like to change that, be it T20 or any format. The mindset is the same across formats, obviously I won’t go slashing if I shouldn’t in red-ball cricket, but mindset is to be aggressive.”Shaw will have two more opportunities to impress in the Duleep Trophy final, against South Zone, starting July 12. After that, he could potentially feature for West Zone in the 50-over Deodhar Trophy followed by a maiden county stint with Northamptonshire in England. And he is looking forward to all of it.”I’m expecting to be better than what I was last year,” Shaw said. “I just want to be a step ahead, be a better version of myself as a good batter, as an athlete and as a good person.”

Yorkshire claim 13 points, Gloucestershire take 12 as rain intervenes

ECB Reporters Network28-Jun-2023Gloucestershire all-rounder Ollie Price completed an excellent maiden first-team century during an otherwise low-key final day at Headingley as their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Yorkshire finished in a draw.Price moved from 97 not out overnight to reach three figures in the day’s first over as the visitors were bowled out for 464 in reply to a first-innings 550 for 9 declared during the first half of the morning.Price was last man out for 113 off 162 balls to on-loan left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty, who finished with 5 for 139 on Yorkshire debut.Yorkshire started their second innings with a lead of 86 and reached 200 for 6 in the 48th over when rain stopped play at 4.30pm, a lead of 286. No more play was possible.During a weather-affected third day, 22-year-old all-rounder Ollie Price shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 162 with his older brother Tom. This season, the brothers have both posted their maiden first-team centuries in this competition after new-ball seamer Tom did it in a draw at New Road in April.There was always the chance of a potential final day contrived finish, but that didn’t eventuate and both sides – relegated from Division One last year – remain closer to the bottom of the Division Two table than they are to the top.Yorkshire claimed 13 points and have won once from seven outings, while Gloucestershire took 12 and remain winless after eight.Price reached his milestone century with a leg-glanced boundary off the fifth ball of the day from George Hill’s seam. Two balls later, Matt Taylor edged seamer Dom Leech to first slip as Gloucestershire slipped to 425 for 9.Unfortunately for the smattering of spectators present on an overcast day at Headingley, this wasn’t a day’s play jam-packed with edge-of-your-seat action.But even though the game was drifting, Gloucestershire bowled well after lunch and took some scalps with them back to the South West. Adam Lyth also posted a pleasing 55 either side of lunch for Yorkshire.Given the position of both sides in the Division Two table and no threat of relegation, it was somewhat of a surprise that no adventure was shown.Wrapping up Gloucestershire’s innings, debutant Moriarty bowled a sweeping Price to secure his fifth wicket having joined Yorkshire from Surrey for the next month of Championship action.Lyth and Fin Bean shared a 73-run opening partnership at the start of Yorkshire’s second innings, with Bean caught behind pushing forwards at Zafar Gohar’s left-arm spin three balls into the afternoon for 38 including a pulled six off Ollie Price’s off-spin.Lyth pulled, reverse swept and drove before edging Zaman Akhter’s seam to first slip, ending a 56-run second-wicket stand with captain Shan Masood, who was bowled reverse sweeping at Gohar shortly afterwards, leaving Yorkshire at 135 for 3 in the 31st over.By this stage, the floodlights had been turned on at Headingley. For the game, it was very much lights out.A break for bad light and rain from just before 3pm accounted for the loss of seven overs before played resumed, allowing impressive Gohar to claim his third wicket when Dawid Malan was caught behind cutting for 20. That was the first of two wickets in five balls as Ben Charlesworth’s first ball accounted for Jonny Tattersall, caught at slip as Yorkshire fell to 161 for 5 in the 40th over.Gohar was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 63 from 18 overs, while Chris Dent struck with his third ball, getting Hill caught at slip with his left-arm medium pace. Dent celebrated in disbelief and patted Hill on the back as he departed, maybe owing to the fact he usually bowls part-time left-arm spin. It proved to be the fixture’s final ball.

Seamer claims four in each innings as Kent are overwhelmed despite second-innings fight

ECB Reporters Network 12-Jul-2023 Warwickshire 549 for 7 dec (Yates 228, Maxwell 81) beat Kent 171 and 332 (Finch 67, Leaning 64, Denly 45, Hannon-Dalby 4-59) by an innings and 46 runsWarwickshire have thrashed Kent by an innings and 46 runs in their LV= Insurance County Championship game at Canterbury, bowling the hosts out for 332 on day three.Oliver Hannon-Dalby took four for 59 in the second innings and finished with eight for 115 in the match, as Warwickshire issued a warning to their title rivals with an overwhelming victory.Harry Finch made 67 and Jack Leaning 64, but the hosts were left to rue a dismal first-innings performance and remain mired in a relegation battle.Kent began day three on 55 for one, still 323 behind Warwickshire’s first innings score of 549 for seven, with Joe Denly and Ben Compton not out on 29 and 17 respectively.An early appeal for a catch off Compton’s shoulder drew a cry of: “Are you Australia in disguise?” from the Frank Woolley Stand and although he survived that one, he became the morning’s first victim in the 26th over, when he nicked Hannon-Dalby behind for 26.Denly made 45 from 105 balls before he was removed by Hannon-Dalby, caught by Michael Burgess after the ball seemed to ricochet off his pads.Finch and Leaning batted through till rain brought an early lunch at 12.52 pm. Play resumed at 2.15, with nine balls bowled before a second, briefer delay of 20 minutes, resulting in a cumulative loss of nine overs.It was Kent’s biggest stand of the match and worth exactly a hundred, but it ended when Leaning fell into a trap. With three fielders crowding the bat on the leg side he tried repeating a shot he’d played in Yates’ previous over and this time the bowler had him caught by Jacob Bethell.Jordan Cox lasted 17 balls before he tried to sweep Yates and was lbw for four, leaving Kent on 223 for five at tea.Finch’s obdurate innings came to an end when Chris Rushworth bowled him off stump with the new ball and when Henry Brookes had Joey Evison caught behind for 37, the last of Kent’s defensive-minded batters had gone.Grant Stewart decided to have some fun, whacking successive sixes off Rushworth including one that went into a third-tier balcony in the Old Dover Road flats and he hung around for 44 balls, putting on 64 with Hamid Qadri before he hit Hannon-Dalby to Glenn Maxwell at gully for 40.Any realistic hopes Kent had of taking the game into a fourth day ended when Qadri went to the very next ball, lbw to Maxwell for 30 and the victory was confirmed when Arshdeep Singh drove Hannon-Dalby to Will Rhodes at mid on in the next over.

“We are just off our game at this moment… we are getting there,” Klaasen says as the losses pile up

Firdose Moonda11-Sep-2023At what point should a team that has lost five successive fixtures across white-ball formats start to panic? Or, if that sounds too extreme, when should that team, with the knowledge that a World Cup is less than a month away, begin to show some signs of concern?Not yet, according to Heinrich Klaasen.South Africa’s No. 5 put the team’s poor form (they lost the T20Is 3-0 and are currently 2-0 down in the ODIs against Australia) down to the simple – but not small – matter of not doing the foundational stuff well.Related

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“They [Australia] are doing the basics very well and we are quite far off on our basics,” Klaasen said in Potchefstroom ahead of the third ODI. “And the intensity they are playing at at this moment is far, far higher than ours. We need to raise our intensity a little bit.”He called it “a good challenge” for South Africa that they need to win the next three games to take the series, and even better that the gauntlet has been laid down in Potchefstroom, a venue Klaasen claims opposition teams “don’t particularly enjoy”.Marnus Labuschagne, who grew up 40 kilometres away from Potchefstroom in Klerksdorp and whose friends and family are expected to arrive in numbers, may disagree. But for Klaasen, the absence of distraction and South Africa’s strong record give them the upper hand.”We all stay in the [student] village. It’s nice and quiet here. We don’t give them the glamorous life that you get elsewhere in South Africa, so speaking to the guys, teams don’t particularly enjoy it,” Klaasen said. “But we love this venue.”South Africa have won seven of the eight ODIs they have played in Potchefstroom, including a six-wicket win when they blanked Australia 3-0 in 2020. Then, it looked like the team had turned a corner after a period of mostly administrative upheaval. Now, they will hope to do the same with only three competitive fixtures before the World Cup and, as Klaasen put it, at least a 20% improvement the need of the hour. “We’re performing at 60%, if we’re honest, perhaps even lower. If we can get that around 80% to 95% – I don’t think anyone gets it to 100% – we’ll be in a good position.”They will have to do that with three big questions to answer, starting with who is able to take the field.Anrich Nortje is out with lower-back spasms•MLC

Nortje’s fitness under the scanner

South Africa started the series without death-bowling specialist Sisanda Magala, who was nursing a knee niggle. He is available for selection for the third ODI but Anrich Nortje has been ruled out with lower-back spasms. Nortje also didn’t play the first match in the series, for the same reason, and only managed five overs in the second. He is undergoing scans in Johannesburg, which will have the medical staff holding their breath.It was in 2021-22 that Nortje was out of action for seven months with hip and back injuries that took longer than expected to heal. He is one of six quicks in the World Cup squad – South Africa are relying on their traditional strength – and, after missing the 2019 World Cup with a fractured thumb, Nortje will not want history to repeat itself.With concerns over both Magala and Nortje, it is likely that if South Africa need a replacement player, they will look to Wayne Parnell, which may also help the…

… balance of the squad

Currently, they have only one allrounder – Marco Jansen – in the World Cup 15, which is far fewer than most other squads. Australia, as a direct comparison, have five allrounders in their playing group, which lengthens their batting order and gives them several options with the ball.While Klaasen thinks “if we nail our basics, then our balance is perfect”, he need only look at some of the other squads to wonder if his statement should be taken with a pinch of salt. England have six allrounders, including two spin-bowling allrounders, New Zealand and Netherlands have five each, and India three. South Africa may consider Aiden Markram a second allrounder, and Magala, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj almost-allrounders, but even then they all need to step up to avoid the XI lacking something.That said, a fairly similar squad beat England earlier this year to give South Africa much-needed World Cup Super League points so it may just be a case of…

… shaking off the rust

South Africa were out of action for five months before Australia arrived, and though many of their players were active in T20 leagues over the southern-hemisphere winter, they may still be finding their feet as a group. Again, Klaasen didn’t agree but urged some patience with the playing group, which will look to get things right over the next six days.”We are professional cricketers and the majority of the guys have been playing around the world. We are just off our game at this moment,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time. Maybe we are trying a little bit too hard. We are getting there. Hopefully we’ll get it right tomorrow.”

India pacer, who was only named as a non-travelling reserve initially, helps skittle Bangladesh for 51

Shashank Kishore24-Sep-2023Pooja Vastrakar could have well been watching the Asian Games back home on TV. She was only initially named as a non-travelling reserve in the squad, who was to fly back home after a week-long pre-departure camp in Bengaluru. But when Anjali Sarvani pulled up injured a day prior to departure, the direction of Vastrakar’s flight changed from Indore to Hangzhou.A week later, on Sunday, Vastrakar proved why she should have been considered in the first place. Her career-best T20I figures of 4 for 17 helped skittle Bangladesh for 51 in the semi-final as India vaulted themselves into gold medal contention. Up next in the final on Monday will be Sri Lanka, who beat Pakistan quite comfortably in their semi-final fixture.India will head into that game knowing their regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur will be available after her two-match suspension ended with Sunday’s game, which incidentally was given to her following an acrimonious series against Bangladesh in July.

Vastrakar’s early incision

Nip-backers, outswingers, hard lengths – Vastrakar showed she’s no one-trick pony as she got it to zip around with the new ball. And in the first over itself, she had two wickets with two different deliveries. Shathi Rani was caught behind first ball of the match after being enticed to drive an away-swinger and Shamima Sultana was trapped lbw playing all around one that hit the seam and jagged back to hit her below-the-knee roll.In her next over, Vastrakar should have had a third but Smriti Mandhana grassed a sitter at mid-off. Sobhana Mostary couldn’t capitalise, managing just one more run, before being dismissed for 8 in Vastrakar’s third straight over inside the powerplay. And it was almost an action replay of the reprieve. Except Mandhana saw this carefully lodge in her palms.Then it was the turn of debutant Titas Sadhu to make a splash, and she picked up her maiden wicket with an excellent delivery of her own. Angled in full from wide of the crease, Sadhu had Shorna Akter playing all around a full delivery that held its line to crash into the middle. At 21 for 4 after the powerplay, Bangladesh were tied in knots on a surface that held up considerably, where shot-making wasn’t easy. Under the covers for two full days in the lead-up to the match, the surface seemed a touch unpredictable, which further magnified Bangladesh’s decision to bat early into the contest.

Run outs add to Bangladesh’s misery

It wasn’t just shot selection that hampered Bangladesh, though. Their running between the wickets was equally poor, and accounted for two run outs that should have never been. Nigar Sultana, one of Bangladesh’s most-accomplished batters, was out attempting a single to extra cover where Devika Vaidya swooped in to effect a direct hit at the bowler’s end.Two balls later, Fahima Khatun was run out without facing a ball when Ritu Moni dabbed one to short third, where Kanika Ahuja fired a direct hit at the striker’s end. Khatun may have survived had she put in a dive; she didn’t. At 25 for 6, Bangladesh were in danger of not lasting the overs. Nahida Akter and Moni helped Bangladesh huff and puff past 50 before they folded in the 18th over, with five of India’s bowlers finishing among the wickets.

Rodrigues helps India cruise home

India’s chase wasn’t without its own initial hitches. Smriti Mandhana was out to Marufa Akter, misjudging the line of her delivery as she lobbed a leading edge to point for 7. Then with the target two blows away, Shafali Verma who seemed in a hurry, especially in trying to muscle her way against spin, perished. Looking to get inside the line and pull, Shafali was beaten by the slowness of the surface as the ball kept a tad low and sneaked through her legs to crash into the stumps. Rodrigues treaded spin with her patented touch game, using the pace of the bowlers to nudge and deflect deliveries into gaps to make a polished unbeaten 20 to see India home in Ahuja’s company with 70 balls to spare.

SLC president and country’s sports minister hold separate media sessions to push their point of view

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Nagraj Gollapudi11-Nov-2023Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) president Shammi Silva has warned that the country could lose out on hosting the men’s Under-19 World Cup in January and February if the ICC’s suspension of SLC was not lifted. He also said the ICC wanted to suspend Sri Lanka back in July, but he prevented it.However, ESPNcricinfo understands the ICC has not yet made a decision on the U-19 World Cup and will discuss the hosting of that tournament only at the next board meeting on November 21. It is learned that there was also no discussion within the ICC of suspending SLC in July.According to Silva, ICC deputy chairman Imran Khwaja had taken special interest in potential political interference in Sri Lanka. “About five months ago, the ICC came here when there was news of political interference, and held an inquiry,” Silva said. “Mr. Imran Khwaja met the minister and the president (of Sri Lanka), and told them the ICC would be taking it seriously if you don’t properly control this. This [the suspension] is not something that happening in one or two days.”Khwaja came on May 10. I later went to an ICC meeting from July 10 to 14. In their report, it says that Sri Lanka Cricket is being totally politically abused. Then they told me we have a few options: either we ban Sri Lanka, stop the cricket in Sri Lanka, or stop the money to Sri Lanka. I told them not to do that. So actually we were going to be suspended between July 10 and 14, and we [SLC officials] prevented it.”Related

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According to information that ESPNcricinfo has, it is only after SLC complained to the ICC about political interference in November 2022 that Khwaja travelled to Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission. It is understood the ICC did not find prima facie evidence of direct interference at the time.The background to this issue is that SLC and the country’s sports minister Roshan Ranasinghe have been in conflict over the past year, with Ranasinghe making accusations of corruption and mismanagement in the cricket board, while Silva and SLC accuse him of meddling with cricket.Both Silva and Ranasinghe held media interactions separately on Saturday afternoon; both parties sometimes making personal insults. In Silva’s press conference at SLC headquarters, he stressed that both the ICC and SLC seek assurance from the highest level of Sri Lankan politics – the president of the country, essentially – that there would be no further political interference in the running of cricket in Sri Lanka.Though Silva and his elected board are currently at the helm at SLC, their place remains precarious. It is only the result of a 14-day stay order delivered by Sri Lanka’s courts, which reversed Ranasinghe’s appointment of an interim committee led by Arjuna Ranatunga on Monday to run SLC.Ranasinghe, meanwhile, outlined the sports ministry’s next steps as it attempts to have SLC’s suspension lifted by the ICC. He said the ministry would approach the ICC’s dispute resolution committee first, which is a body within the ICC that reviews appeals from boards on membership matters. If that process fails, Ranasinghe said, the ministry would look at pursuing a case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.On the home front, the ministry will seek a jugdement from Sri Lanka’s own courts that reinstall the minister’s Ranatunga-led interim committee.It is Silva who is understood to have sought SLC’s suspension, as a means of putting pressure on the Sri Lankan government. When asked directly about this at the press conference, he said: “I’ve already said this was something that was going to happen for five months. If I can pull strings like that, I’ve got to be an impressive person.Earlier in the day, SLC’s vice president Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo: “As a full member, it is our right to go to the ICC.”

“I’ve obviously batted there a lot over the last couple of years, so I feel really comfortable at three,” Marsh says

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Oct-20231:24

Mitchell Marsh: ‘I feel really comfortable at three’

Mitchell Marsh put on a record 259 alongside David Warner at the top of the innings on Friday against Pakistan, and had made 52 as opener in the match before that. But he confirmed that he would be dropping down to No. 3 when Travis Head returns.Head had been out with a hand injury, but seems likely to play against Netherlands on Wednesday, having even progressed to practicing range-hitting (six-hitting), on Tuesday. Now, Marsh will drop down one spot, and Marnus Labuschagne will likely exit the XI.”I mentioned to David Warner, maybe he can bat three, but I got a firm no from him,” Marsh joked on the eve of the match. “But yeah, very happy to go back down to three. I’ve obviously batted there a lot over the last couple of years, so I feel really comfortable at three. And if and when Heady comes back in, I think that’s the best position for me to play for this team.”Related

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Marsh’s numbers at first-drop are not especially impressive, though: he averages 22.25 after 12 innings there. This is compared to his average of 60.55 when opening, though that figure was greatly boosted by his having hit a career-best 121 off 108 on Friday.He has had a fruitful 2023, however, averaging 45.92 across 14 innings to make himself a fixture in Australia’s ODI line-up. Marsh said there were no major technical changes that spurred this growth – only hard work.”Not a whole lot’s changed [with my game],” Marsh said. “I’ve just probably not given up on the fact that I was striving for something and kept working hard through periods of time that were tougher than others.”In the last couple of years, I feel as I’ve been as consistent as I have been, which was something that I was always striving for. I guess all the best players in the world that you look up to, and certainly in our team, they’re so consistent. And that’s what I have been.”Australia lost their two first games in the tournament, but have now won two in a row. On the surface, their next opposition would appear to be the softest they might face in the league stage. But Marsh said Australia were taking nothing for granted against a team that’s beaten South Africa.”There’s absolutely no easy games. And you go into every game having done all the appropriate homework and hopefully you can come out with a win,” he said. “So, tomorrow is no different for us. We respect the Netherlands; they’re playing some good cricket and that will be a tough challenge.”

Craig Ervine, Sean Williams and Brad Evans were ruled out of the series with injury

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Dec-2023Zimbabwe have named a new-look squad for the three upcoming ODIs against Ireland, calling up seven players who weren’t part of the team that took part in the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in June and July, during their previous ODI series.Of the seven – Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Tanaka Chivanga, Faraz Akram, Brandon Mavuta, Milton Shumba and Tony Munyonga – only Akram is uncapped in ODIs.Captain Craig Ervine, Sean Williams and Brad Evans were ruled out of the series with injury, while Tendai Chatara, Wessly Madhevere and Tadiwanashe Marumani were not selected. Zimbabwe will be led by Sikandar Raza in Ervine’s absence. The three ODIs are scheduled for December 13, 15 and 17 at the Harare Sports Club.Zimbabwe had failed to finish in the top two in the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier, and as a result did not make it to the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, and will also miss out on the 2025 Champions Trophy.They also failed to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies, and are coming off a 2-1 T20I series defeat to Ireland.Zimbabwe squad for Ireland ODIs: Sikandar Raza (capt), Faraz Akram, Ryan Burl, Tanaka Chivanga, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Innocent Kaia, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Tinashe Kamunhukamwe, Clive Madande, Wellington Masakadza, Brandon Mavuta, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava and Milton Shumba