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A day-by-day summary of the spot-fixing trial at the Southwark Crown Court in London

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Nov-2011Day 1, Tuesday, October 4
Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt arrive early; opening day sees mostly legal arguments between Aftab Jafferjee QC for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Ali Bajwa QC representing Butt and Alexander Milne QC representing Asif. Jury sworn in – six men, six women.Day 2, Wednesday, October 5
Prosecution begins its opening address to the jury, giving them records of phone and SMS traffic between parties involved. Says case reveals “depressing tale of rampant corruption at the heart of international cricket, with the key players being members of the Pakistan cricket team”.Day 3, Thursday, October 6
Jury shown video footage of no-balls – without sound/commentary, as agreed. Prosecution details money found: Butt’s room had cash of £14,003 in one spot, and £15,999 in various denominations in envelopes. There was also US$12,617, 24,300 of UAE dirhams, AUS$710, 26,015 Pakistani rupees, $350 Canadian, 440 South African rand – as well as four mobile phones. No NOTW cash found in Asif’s room but £1,500 marked notes in Amir’s room. ACSU official tells court illegal betting market is worth around $1 billion annually.Day 4, Monday, October 10
Court hears recordings of conversations between Mahmood (NOTW journalist) and Majeed, with Majeed making unsubstantiated allegations. Mahmood then says his (fictitious) bosses are interested in making “big money” from gambling – Majeed says he and the Pakistan players he claims to control have made “masses and masses of money”. Sky Sports statistician says “one in a 1.5 million chance” of three no-balls occurring at pre-determined times in a Test match.Day 5, Tuesday, October 11
Court hears, through Majeed’s comments captured covertly, that Pakistan cricketers plotted to oust then ODI captain Shahid Afridi from his position by underperforming, in order to promote Test captain Butt to the ODI role as well. Also hears that Majeed was offered $1 million to influence a Pakistan defeat last year at The Oval, a match they eventually won.Day 6, Wednesday, October 12
Prosecution’s key witness, journalist Mazhar Mahmood, questioned by Asif’s lawyer on whether phone-hacking had gone on during his covert investigation, says he had no idea.Day 8, Friday, October 14
Police interview recordings show Butt saying he never requested Asif or Amir to cheat and bowl pre-determined no-balls. Bajwa, Butt’s lawyer, sets out the extent of Majeed’s financial issues: Majeed held more than 30 bank accounts and had overdrafts worth £704,000.Day 9, Monday, October 17
Butt, in the witness stand, tells the court he chose not to report Majeed, his agent, to the authorities even when Majeed asked him for tips to fix matches. Says Majeed sent him text messages to help him fix elements of a game against South Africa at the Twenty20 World Cup in 2010. Bajwa says they “concede” a “criminal conspiracy” between Majeed and Amir but his client Butt was not party to it.Day 10, Tuesday, October 18
Butt accused by the prosecution of lying to the jury on at least two occasions. Once when quizzed on why Azhar Majeed – Mazhar’s brother and business partner – was in the hotel room of Pakistan Test debutant Wahab Riaz along with Butt and wicketkeeper Kamram Akmal after midnight during The Oval Test, Butt doubted the written evidence read out to the court from Pakistan team security manager Major Najam. After playing a video of the over in which Asif bowled the no-ball in question, Asif’s lawyer Milne accused Butt of pressurising his client.Mohammad Asif, in the witness stand, had accused Salman Butt of abusing him•AFP

Day 11, Wednesday, October 19

Prosecution completes Butt cross-examining by concluding he had “been caught”. The night before the match began, there were 20 calls or texts between Butt and Majeed, 25 between Amir and Majeed and four between Butt, Asif and Amir. Butt is also interrogated on text messages Majeed sent him during the Oval Test when he was trying to fix by having Butt bat out a maiden over, which he subsequently did not do. Not convinced by Butt’s denials at being complicit in Majeed’s plans, Jafferjee says: “You are lying your head off to this jury aren’t you Mr Butt?”Day 12, Thursday, October 20

Asif in the witness stand, accuses Butt of abusing him (“run faster f*****, have you slept”) before he bowled the second of the three no-balls. Butt’s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC suggests Asif is fabricating his story to justify the no-ball. Bajwa also accuses Asif of “untruthfully downplaying” his relationship with the Majeed brothers. Asif denies taking any money for his no-ball or even having any knowledge that other people had “an interest” in his bowling a no-ball. Also denies prosecution suggestion that he had been “sucked into a web of corruption by Butt and Majeed”.Day 13, Friday, October 21
Asif suggests Butt had to have been involved with an alleged fix to bowl no-balls in a Test match but stops short of a definitive accusation. “The captain knows. What I have told you the last two days…the captain knows. He is the one who brings them (bowlers) on.”Day 14, Monday, October 24
Closing speeches begin. Prosecution sets out why the jury should reach a guilty verdict, listing “13 facts that prove guilt”. Defence for Butt says there is “no reliable evidence” to convict him.Day 15, Tuesday, October 25
Asif’s lawyer Milne urges jury to “follow the money” – no marked News of the World cash was found in Asif’s room during initial police raids on the players’ hotel rooms. “If you follow the money, you will find that it does not lead to Mr Asif,” Milne says. Justice Cooke begins his summing-up in the afternoon, informs the jury they should take it as an agreed fact that Amir and Majeed were involved in the fix – the first official guidance given to the jury as to the parts played in the case by Majeed and Amir. Judge tells the jury: “You should base your decision on the evidence alone and draw inferences, which I mean by drawing common sense conclusions.”Day 16, Wednesday, October 26
Judge explains to the jury that they needed to consider the fact that Asif had not told the police when under caution last year the reason for his no-ball, which he later gave in court: that Butt had abused him and put him under pressure. Jury asked to consider if this was due to the language barrier or a late invention.Day 17, Thursday, October 27
Judge completes his summing up of the trial and sends the jury out to make a verdict by midday. The jury are sent home for the day at 4.00pm having failed to reach a quick decision.Day 18, Friday, October 28
The first full day of the jury’s deliberations and they are again sent home at 4.00pm without reaching a verdict. The main action of the day centred on when the jury returned to court to listen to audio recordings of conversations between Majeed and Mahmood, with Butt featuring in both by speaker phone.Day 19, Monday, October 31
The jury inform the judge they are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, after which the judge asks them for a majority verdict with at least ten of them concurring.Day 20, Tuesday, November 1

Salman Butt found guilty on both charges – conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and conspiracy to cheat, while Asif is found guilty of conspiracy to cheat, with a hung jury on his second charge. It’s also revealed that Amir had pleaded guilty before the trial began, it couldn’t be reported because of restrictions.Day 21, Wednesday, November 2

Majeed is revealed to have pleaded guilty before the trial began. Lawyers for all four make their final submissions, appeal for leniency.Day 22, Thursday, November 3

All four get sentences – jail terms for Majeed (32 months), Butt (30) and Asif (one year) and six months in a young offenders’ detention centre for Amir. Butt plans to appeal.

Rahul Dravid has said he wishes he had reviewed the decision that ruled him out caught-behind in the second innings of the Edgbaston Test, and that it was confusion that led him to walk off without contesting

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Aug-2011Rahul Dravid has said he was too confused in the heat of the moment to contest the decision that ruled him caught behind off James Anderson in the second innings at Edgbaston. Replays showed he hit his shoelace and not the ball and Dravid said later that he wished he had asked for a review.Dravid appeared to have nicked a delivery from Anderson in the 16th over and was given out, but he was not convinced by the decision. After a word with the non-striker Sachin Tendulkar, however, Dravid decided against using a review.”My first instinct was that I had not hit it,” Dravid told the . “But there was a loud noise, and I couldn’t figure out where it had come from. I knew I hadn’t hit the ground, or my pad, or my shoe, so it confused me as to where the noise had come from. But I didn’t think I had touched it. So I asked my partner and he said there was a big noise. So I had Simon Taufel, one of the best umpires in the world, ruling me out, my partner saying it was out and I myself had heard the noise. I thought maybe it was just one of those instances where I hadn’t felt the edge.”As soon as I got back to the dressing room I told the guys I had to see the replay. I wanted to know where I had touched it [the ball]. I could never have imagined it was a shoelace. It was disappointing because I’ve been batting well and if I had batted longer with Sachin, who played well in that innings, and if we had seen off Anderson’s spell before lunch, we could have at least put up a bigger fight.”It was an odd sequence of play, with the dismissal preceded by Dravid running off the field in between overs. “I rushed off the field because my bladder was full and I wanted to relieve myself. It is an uncomfortable feeling to bat with a full bladder, so I did not want it on my mind.”Dravid has been India’s most successful batsman on a dismal tour of England. After he fell at Edgbaston, the rest of the line-up offered little resistance and India slumped to their third-biggest defeat in Tests. The result meant England replaced India as No. 1 in the ICC’s Test rankings.”It’s been a hard series for a combination of reasons. The pitches have been conducive to good swing bowling, and also the quality of the England bowling has been superb,” Dravid said. “Their seamers have bowled beautiful lengths, and have pitched the ball up. We expected England to be good in this series, but we expected ourselves to be better.”While the rest of India’s batsmen, including Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, struggled to deal with the conditions and England’s bowling, Dravid managed two centuries in six innings. He said there had been a change in his mental approach to the game since his early years.”Early in my career, I used to try to block out thoughts while I was batting and that was very tiring. Now I let my mind wander a bit. I recognise that it is wandering and that helps bring me back to reality. I take a couple of deep breaths and that gets me focussed.”While Dravid heaped praise on England, he pointed out they still had to win in India. “You have to do well in conditions in which you haven’t done well. England haven’t won in India for 27 years, so they have to do that. They’ve got the team and the skills to do it but it still needs to be done. Hopefully we can stop them from doing that.” England will play four Tests in India at the end of 2012.Down 0-3 in the series, India go into the fourth Test at The Oval with little to play for. Dravid, though, said they were also thinking about climbing back to the No. 1 spot. “Of course we want to play for pride and to show people what we can do. But also the goal now is to get back to No. 1 and for that every Test matters.”

Highlights from the IPL fixture between Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers at the Brabourne Stadium

Cricinfo staff04-Apr-2010
Kieron Pollard take a bow, Jonty Rhodes is up on his feet•Indian Premier League

Pushing the performance up
Bowlers usually limber up for the spells by stretching their limbs. But Rahul Sharma decided to get in some push-ups before he was thrown the ball by Adam Gilchrist. Even if it was an unusual way to get loose, it seemed to have worked for Rahul, as he trapped Sachin Tendulkar in his first over and set off on a solo victory-ride. It was not the first time Tendulkar has fallen to an unkown player – Piyush Chawla and Vinay Kumar are notable names that burst into promimence after picking his valuable wicket.Gibbs in limbo
Herschelle Gibbs has had an average IPL with the bat, but today even his fielding was not up to the mark. First, he had to contend with bad bounce in the opening over of the Mumbai innings, and ended up giving two extra runs to Shikar Dhawan. Then, standing at long on, he was in two minds about intercepting a lofted drive from the same batsman, and a late attempt only resulted in the ball kissing his outstretched hands before sailing over the ropes for a six.Cheer up, love
Ambati Rayudu picked an innocuous delivery from Andrew Symonds and lofted it handsomely over deep midwicket. Initially, it seemed the ball would sail deep into the stands, instead it landed in the pit where a group of Deccan Chargers’ cheerleaders were having a happy breather with little knowledge of the white orb landing in their midst. Nice style by Rayudu to say “hello ladies”.Pollard makes Jonty smile
Rohit Sharma hit back a length ball from Kieron Pollard so hard that, barely a fraction of a second had passed before the ball whizzed to the bowler’s left. But the big Trinidadian, mid-way into the follow-through, bent low to finish off the catch in neat fashion. Pollard has a good reputation as a fielder, and this was the first time he showcased his abilities in the IPL. Even the Mumbai Indian’s fielding coach, Jonty Rhodes, arguably the greatest fielder off all-time, stood up to applaud the effort.

India’s assistant coach said that the team will have to assess the misfiring batting but praised the impact of Jeffrey Vandersay

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Aug-20241:43

Nayar on batting order change: ‘Perceived as left-right combination’

Dropping a match to this Sri Lanka was a surprise, sure. But the conditions also made for fickle cricket. Abhishek Nayar, India’s assistant coach, has, like the rest of us, not watched Sri Lanka take many games off India lately. But these were his takeaways from the second ODI, which India lost by 32 runs.He also pointed to opposition spinner Jeffrey Vandersay’s excellent lengths, and Sri Lanka’s tenacious lower order batting as reasons for the defeat. For the second match in a row, the pitch took substantial turn, enabling even less-proficient spin bowlers to become threats.Related

• Vandersay six-for gives SL first ODI win over India in three years

• Vandersay brings the vibes back for Sri Lanka

“Was it a shock? I would say yes, there is a surprise,” Nayar said. “But you anticipate and understand that in these conditions the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer.”Even if you look at the last game, it was relatively easy to score against the new ball. As the ball got older, the conditions when batting second got slightly tougher. Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in the 50-over format, this happens.”We want to go back and understand, and rectify, why it happened twice in a row. The day before yesterday, we were able to stitch partnerships. But today we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle.”That bundle of wickets came between overs 14 and 24, when India lost their six wickets – all against Vandersay – for 50 runs. Vandersay had the ball turning big from the outset, as many of India’s spinners also did. But he bowled tight lines too, and kept batters pinned in the crease with his lengths and flight.”They bowled well – I think Vandersay bowled the ideal length in these conditions,” Nayar said. “In such conditions, when the ball is turning – and the way Vandersay bowled today, used his finger, and bowled stump to stump – you get these phases when there is assistance from the pitch. I feel today we should give more credit to Sri Lanka.”India faded dramatically after a fast start to the chase•AFP/Getty Images

When batting, Sri Lanka had been 136 for 6, and potentially looking at a score under 200. But for the second match in a row, Dunith Wellalage produced arguably Sri Lanka’s best innings, hitting 39 off 35 balls from No. 7. Then Kamindu Mendis, a batting allrounder who frequently bats as high as No. 4, also struck 40 off 44 at No. 8. Sri Lanka clambered their way up to 240 for 9, which always seemed a serious score on this pitch.”When you are batting first, there is less pressure,” Nayar said. “When you are chasing, the pressure is more because you have to keep an eye on the run rate, wickets. Whenever you bat first, you often have partnerships. Wellalage batted really well, both in the last game and this game. They scored important runs in the lower order.”India’s own mixing up of their batting order – Shivam Dube pushed up to No. 4, Shreyas Iyer down to No. 6, and KL Rahul at No. 7 – Nayar did not believe was especially radical. Safeguarding a left-right combo at the crease was what they were trying.”My belief is that in any sport, position only matters if you’re playing in different areas of a game. We lost wickets in the middle phase, and that’s where the middle order batters batted. It’s not as if middle order batters batted towards the end.”If you look at numbers like four, five, or six, maybe sometimes it can play games in your head. It was more about keeping a left-and-right combination, keeping in mind that there were offspinners, and a legspinner in the Sri Lanka team.”The thought process was right. When it doesn’t work out, these questions are asked often. But I’ve always believed that if a middle order batter bats as a middle order batter, it is the right decision.”

Heinrich Klaasen produces fighting knock but South Africa miss out on World Cup Super League points

Valkerie Baynes01-Feb-2023England 346 for 7 (Buttler 131, Malan 118, Ngidi 4-62) beat South Africa 287 (Klaasen 80, Hendricks 52, Archer 6-40) by 59 runsJofra Archer’s maiden ODI five-for crowned his comeback and ensured England would leave with more than a consolation victory after Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan’s perfectly crafted centuries prevented what had looked like a certain series sweep to South Africa.The tourists depart in the knowledge that Archer is back in business after his 6 for 40 in just his second international match after spending the best part of two years out of the game injured. He sealed a 59-run victory despite the best efforts of Heinrich Klaasen and Wayne Parnell, who put on 85 runs off just 54 balls for the seventh wicket, which poses implications for South Africa’s hopes of qualifying directly for this year’s World Cup. They must now beat Netherlands 2-0 in their upcoming series and hope New Zealand defeat Sri Lanka at least once in their three-match series to secure an automatic berth in India.The hosts were on course for a 3-0 series result when England slumped to 14 for 3 thanks to Lungi Ngidi’s three wickets for seven runs in the space of 11 balls. But Buttler and Malan staged a fourth-wicket stand worth 232 runs to take their side to 346 for 7.Half-centuries from Klaasen and Reeza Hendricks and starts by Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma and Parnell kept South Africa in touch but breaking partnerships was key for England and Archer was the chief destroyer.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bavuma, centurion and Player of the Match as South Africa went 2-0 up on Sunday in Bloemfontein, eased to 22 off 16 balls at the end of the fourth over which included a huge six over deep midwicket off Chris Woakes. At 41 for no loss after seven, England introduced Archer, but it was Woakes who made the breakthrough with a slower ball that saw Bavuma chipping to Reece Topley at mid-off.Archer, back after resting for the second match, claimed just his second wicket of the series when Rassie van der Dussen slashed to Jason Roy at point. Archer’s next ball was a 146kph/90mph bouncer which rapped Markram’s left shoulder and Markram responded by driving the next ball fiercely down the ground for four.With Hendricks opening in place of Quinton de Kock, who was rested after picking up a minor thumb injury in the second ODI, South Africa’s run chase was still in good hands. He reached his fifty off 59 balls and put on a half-century partnership with Markram off 40 deliveries, but then Adil Rashid removed Hendricks, stepping back to try and dig out one that had pitched well outside leg stump before turning back to rap the inside of his left knee and deflect onto his stumps.Markram was looking set and put on 46 runs with Klaasen before he miscued off Archer and found Moeen Ali sitting under the ball at midwicket. That brought in David Miller and he crashed Moeen’s first ball through the covers for four and his fourth down the ground for an effortless-looking six. But then Archer removed the threat with the first ball of his next over, a sizzling back-of-a-length delivery that found Miller’s inside edge and was pouched by Buttler.Klaasen and Parnell then teamed up, Klaasen clubbing Moeen for 14 runs in the 37th over and reaching 80 off 62 before skying Archer to Ben Duckett, running in from deep backward square. Archer took out Parnell’s middle stump to seal his five-for and made it six when he pinged the top of Tabraiz Shamsi’s off stump, ending England’s five-match losing streak in ODIs.Jos Buttler leaves the crease after his century•AFP/Getty Images

At the 10-over mark, England’s scoring rate was going nowhere at 20 for 3 after South Africa had sent the visitors in on a Kimberley ground notoriously difficult to defend upon.Ngidi hit his lengths beautifully at the outset and struck with his sixth ball as Roy mistimed his attempted drive and picked out Bavuma at mid-off. Ngidi struck again in his second over with a shorter ball angled across left-hander Duckett, who nicked to Klaasen behind the stumps. Harry Brook was unable to lift his side off the back of his 80 in the second game, which followed a duck on debut in the series opener, when Ngidi had him caught behind stabbing at a wide delivery outside off stump which found the inside edge.Buttler found the initial going tough, taking 14 balls to get off the mark. Markram saw his fourth ball smashed for six over long-off as Buttler set about raising the tempo. That was after he had narrowly survived being run out chancing a second off Parnell with Miller diving, gathering and firing the ball into Klaasen in one fluid motion, and before Malan’s pull shot off Shamsi burst through Hendricks’ fingertips.Buttler raised his fifty off 64 balls, which was slow by his standards but what his side needed in the circumstances. Shamsi missed the chance to remove Malan when he dived to his right for an attempted return catch but managed only to get a finger to it. Malan then dispatched Parnell over the fence at deep square leg to bring up an even more sluggish half-century (off 79).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

From there, however, Malan went on the attack, carving Parnell to the boundary through backward point and heaving Shamsi for six over wide long-on, Shamsi conceding a second maximum in three balls when Buttler pummelled him over midwicket.The England duo pounced on anything short, and there was plenty from Jansen as he conceded 18 runs off the 34th over – 17 of them to Malan who targeted the leg-side fence, and beyond, three times in as many balls. They brought up their centuries within three balls of each other, Malan to the rope at deep-third and Buttler flicking to the leg side for two. Malan’s second fifty came off just 27 balls and Buttler’s from 42. Malan eventually fell to a leading edge off Sisanda Magala which found Klaasen waiting underneath it at short fine leg.Moeen offered an entertaining cameo, failing connect with his one-handed attempt at a reverse sweep off Shamsi but taking England past the 300-mark that had seemed out of reach earlier with back-to-back sixes, including one off a no-ball from Ngidi. Moeen’s knock ended when Ngidi nailed him with a yorker which tore between his ankles, and Buttler holed out to long-on off Jansen three balls later.

Role of former club chairman called to account at DCMS hearing in Westminster

Andrew Miller25-Jan-2022Colin Graves, the former ECB chairman, has been told to “put up or shut up”, and accept an invitation to testify before the parliamentary select committee investigating racism in English cricket, after being accused by the committee chair of “substantial and ongoing interference” in the running of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.The Graves family trust is owed approximately £15 million by Yorkshire following a bail-out in the early 2000s which saved the club from bankruptcy, and according to Roger Hutton – the former chairman who resigned in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s damning allegations of institutional racism at the club – Graves’ continued role behind the scenes has been a significant “roadblock” in Yorkshire’s delayed response to the crisis.Yorkshire launched an investigation into Rafiq’s claims in September 2020, but it wasn’t until Rafiq’s appearance before the department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee, more than a year later in November 2021, that the findings of that investigation were finally put into the public domain. By that stage, the club’s failure to take action had led to the mass withdrawal of the club’s sponsors, including Nike and Emerald, amid a swathe of damaging revelations about the dressing-room culture.Opening the proceedings at the latest DCMS hearing in Westminster, chairman Julian Knight MP noted that Graves had declined an invitation to testify at the hearing – he is currently in Barbados, where England’s cricketers are taking on West Indies in five T20Is – but criticised him for “putting his head above the parapet” in an interview last week with the Yorkshire Post, in which he had insisted that the club’s inaction had been down to weak leadership from Hutton rather than interference from the trustees, before telling Knight that, if he wanted to run English cricket, “he should apply for the job of ECB chairman”.In response to Graves’ remarks, Knight read out extracts from a letter from Hutton to the committee: “What was happening on a weekly basis is it sometimes appeared to me as if Mr Graves was influencing the trust and sometimes spoke as if he was,” Hutton was quoted as saying.”Mr Graves expressed concern at how the investigation [into Rafiq’s allegations] had taken place some of which I empathised with. But his views on Azeem Rafiq, the finding of the report and how the club should respond to those findings are were different from mine.”Shortly after that meeting, I was contacted by the trust’s independent observer. He explained very clearly that I should not consider the trust an ordinary secure creditor. He also told me, though it proved to be incorrect, that the trust could remove me if they didn’t like what I was doing and that I should listen to what they say.”The trust summoned me to a meeting where they asked me to listen to Mr Graves and others in the club whose views differed to non-executive members of the board but were more closely aligned to those of Mr Graves. I formed the view that some of his opinions were very similar to those of the executive board and others in the club.”Responding to the DCMS committee on Yorkshire’s behalf, Lord Kamlesh Patel insisted that he had not encountered any interference from the Graves Trust since succeeding Hutton as chairman in November, but added that the club was taking steps to ensure that there could be no such issues going forward.Related

• PCA to appear before Parliament in wake of Azeem Rafiq's 'inept' claims

• Leicestershire chair Mehmooda Duke quits in blow to ECB's diversity drive

• Michael Vaughan apologises to Azeem Rafiq for 'hurt' during racism controversy

• Azeem Rafiq: 'Time is right' for Yorkshire to get back right to host international cricket

• English cricket must 'clean up its act' on racism, concludes DCMS report

“When you have a financial agreement with those added extras, that has an observer on the board, you could veto in theory the appointment of a person,” Patel said. “That wasn’t used while I was there and I don’t believe was used before. We are currently drafting up legal documents to make sure all those powers are removed, and those will be presented at the AGM.”I’ve seen some correspondence where I believe the trusts were raising questions, in a proper manner linked, to the finances of the club,” Patel added. “To have that potential, or perception that someone does have power in a place, is not helpful for anyone going forward.”Yorkshire currently remains suspended from hosting international fixtures, pending the outcome of an ECB inquiry, and though Patel reiterated his concerns that the club cannot be “financially viable” unless its Major Match status is restored, he stated that the county’s governance review was due to be completed on Wednesday, and that they expected to get clarity on this summer’s scheduled Test against New Zealand and ODI against South Africa by the end of next month.”We’ve made immediate priorities and we’re making immediate actions now,” Patel said. “We will submit all our evidence by the end of this month that we will present to the ECB on February 1, and then we will await the decision by them to see if we’ve met the criteria.”

Players lose 100% of their match fees for falling five overs short; Travis Head fined 15% of his match fee for use of an audible obscenity

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2021The England players have been fined 100% of their match fees, and team has also been docked five World Test Championship (WTC) points for maintaining slow over rates in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane, which Australia won by nine wickets on Saturday. Travis Head, Player of the Match for his 152 in Australia’s first innings, has also been fined 15% of his match fees for the use of an audible obscenity during the gameThe WTC playing conditions state that teams would be docked one point – and each player 20% of their match fees – for each over they fall short of after adjusting for time allowances, and David Boon, the match referee for the game, adjudicated that England had been short by five overs at the end of the match. That added up to the five points and the team’s entire match fees.Related

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• England docked a further three WTC points for slow over rate in Brisbane

• Root: 'We are not scared of a challenge'

• Stats – England's win drought in Australia

Head was deemed to have used inappropriate language while batting, when he was beaten by a Ben Stokes delivery, which led to the fine and one demerit point, for Head’s first offence in a 24-month period.Head had not been part of the playing XI after the second Test against India at the start of the year, but came back strongly, hitting an aggressive 152 in Australia’s first innings, after England had been bowled out for just 147.England were better in their second innings, putting up a total of 297 built around a third-wicket partnership of 162 between Dawid Malan (82) and Joe Root (89), but another collapse left Australia with just 20 to win the Test, which they did for the loss of Alex Carey, who was opening in place of the injured David Warner.Australia now go into the second Test, scheduled to start in Adelaide on December 16, with a 1-0 lead.

West Indies’ ODIs against Bangladesh the first for either side in the ICC Super League

Mohammad Isam17-Jan-2021West Indies coach Phil Simmons is clear that he doesn’t want West Indies to go through the qualifier route for the 2023 World Cup, like they had to the last time, and wants to start strongly in Bangladesh to avoid that eventuality.”It is mighty important [to get a good start] because you have to catch up in the series,” Simmons said of the fallout of starting poorly in Dhaka on Sunday. “We don’t want to get into the playoffs anymore. To catch up in the series is going to be really hard, so we need to start well.”West Indies had to play the World Cup qualifier in 2018 after failing to secure direct entry into the tournament, and then went through along with Afghanistan after they finished in the top two – with Afghanistan winning the qualifiers – in Zimbabwe.The three-ODI series in Dhaka from later in the week will be the first engagement for either side in the ICC Super League. Where the participating teams finish in the league will determine who qualifies directly for the 2023 World Cup – the top seven teams and hosts India would be certain participants – and who must go through the playoffs, to be held in Zimbabwe again.Related

• Jason Mohammed: 'We have to give ourselves a little bit more time' in the middle overs

• All eyes on Shakib Al Hasan's return as Bangladesh, West Indies begin ODI Super League campaign

• Simmons calls on 'hunger and enthusiasm' to trump Bangladesh

• Lloyd: 'Opportunity to prove you're not second-class cricketers'

• Jason Mohammed eyes long-term West Indies berth

West Indies have already missed playing ODI series against New Zealand and Netherlands because of the Covid-19 pandemic, making the ODIs in Bangladesh vitally important. Their first match in Bangladesh is on Monday, when they play an intra-squad one-day game in Savar, near Dhaka.”[I want to see] the guys to put in place what we have been practicing – how we score runs, how we set fields and how we bowl to those fields,” Simmons said of his expectations. “These are the little things we will try to implement in the main game. So we will try to do them tomorrow too.”We are close enough [to finalising the XI], but the practice game will be the best indicator. It will give us the notice that we need, [and] give us the idea what the players bring to the table in a game situation. So tomorrow is the final straw.”Having reached Dhaka only last Sunday, Simmons, however, emphasised that the team could have done with more training, like they had on their tour of New Zealand last November. “It is never enough for me,” he said. “I think that I would have liked the sort of time we had in New Zealand – but this is what we have, and we try to fit in as much as we can in that period.”

Further 10,000 places made available during summer holidays to ride the wave of World Cup success

George Dobell at Lord's23-Jul-2019The ECB have extended their All Stars kids cricket programme to accommodate for the enthusiasm generated by England’s successful World Cup campaign.The scheme, aimed to provided children aged between 5 and 8 with their first organised experience of the sport, usually ends as the school holidays begin. But the ECB, eager to capitalise on renewed interest in the sport, have arranged for a further 10,000 All Stars places to be available around the country.This year, 66,000 children attended All Stars sessions; up from 59,000 last year. The aim is that, when each eight-week course ends, the clubs which ran the courses will offer the children involved further playing opportunities in the summer holidays. The ECB have also rolled out an extension of the scheme which caters for 8 to 12-year-olds utilising smaller pitch lengths and smaller team sizes.The ECB are also aiming to launch a school’s strategy later this year the broad aim of which will be to double the participation numbers of children playing cricket in primary schools.”It’s crucial that we use the platform created by the World Cup to introduce more young people to the sport and hopefully spark a lifelong passion for the game,” An ECB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. “All Stars Cricket has been very successful in that over the last three years and hopefully the ‘Have a Go’ sessions will get an additional 10,000 kids down to their local club. We now need to make our game as accessible as possible which is why a major part of our strategic plan is to double participation in primary schools by 2024.”Cricket World Cup organisers claim the tournament is the third “most-watched global sporting event” – in terms of broadcast figures – after the football World Cup and the Olympics, with more than four million ticket applications made and 888,000 tickets sold. 100,000 of those were under 16. Around 43 percent of ticket buyers described themselves as England supporters, while 32 percent said they supported India, 10 percent Pakistan and six percent Bangladesh. Around 80 percent of ticket buyers lived in the UK.For details of which clubs are offering the sessions and when visit: allstarscricket.co.uk

Maxwell’s 37-ball 52 gave Australia a glimmer of hope, but another top-order failure meant that Pakistan took an unassailable lead

The Report by Danyal Rasool26-Oct-2018It will take something truly special to put an end to this purple patch Pakistan are basking in as far as T20I cricket is concerned. As another top-order collapse saw Australia fall short by 11 runs, it became patently obvious this particular visiting side aren’t that special someone.Pakistan, again, weren’t at their very best with the bat, and it was only a string of medium-sized scores that took them to 147. But it was in the field that their swagger was on full display, with an exceptional bowling performance – and at times an even better fielding one – snuffing out Australia’s chances.It was a final result that made the game look closer than it really was. It wasn’t until the last five overs that Glenn Maxwell and Nathan Coulter-Nile finally took control of the chase and started finding the boundaries with regularity, and it was then that Pakistan found themselves under pressure in the field. They had, however, done enough during the first half of the innings by way of controlling the runs and taking regular wickets to ensure Maxwell’s late salvo wouldn’t imperil their inexorable path to sealing the series -their tenth in a row – at the earliest opportunity.Chasing a target similar to the one they were tasked with on Wednesday, Australia didn’t make quite the calamitous start that saw them lose six wickets on that occasion. That, unfortunately, was all that could be said for it, with the top three falling for a combined 12 runs, and as Mitchell Marsh and Maxwell tried to rebuild, they fell far behind the asking rate.It is when Pakistan have teams on the rack in this very fashion that they’ve sculpted their T20I fortunes on. Imad Wasim was teasingly accurate, conceding eight runs in his allocated quota, while Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hafeez almost queued up to torment Aaron Finch’s men. In the field, Pakistan were taking flying catches and inflicting miraculous run-outs. One from Fakhar Zaman may arguably be the best run-out inflicted all year, with Zaman diving forward while throwing backwards at the non-strikers end without even looking at the stumps. He hit middle, with a non-plussed Ben McDermott finding himself trudging back, victim to two sensational run-outs in as many games.Australia were arguably unfortunate at the start of their innings in the manner D’Arcy Short was dismissed. When Finch drove Imad back to the bowler, he got a finger on it as the ball hit the stumps. The third umpire deemed Short to have his bat in the air, but no one could be sure; indeed, certain angles seemed to imply he had it grounded all along.That began a furious and prolonged remonstration from Finch against the umpire that may yet see him part with a portion of his match fee. Australia’s sense of being against it intensified, while Pakistan began to constrict them as the asking rate soared. Soon enough, Maxwell -who had managed to hang around as the rest of his teammates found their stays at the crease prematurely curtailed – realised he’d have to do it all by himself. For the briefest moment, it appeared he’d make a match of it. Twenty-seven came off a couple of overs bowled by Shadab and Hasan, and for the first time Pakistan began to lose their rag slightly. Hafeez dropped a sitter at the cover, and the young Shaheen Afridi lost his bearings and bowled a couple of wides to send the jitters through everyone involved with Pakistan. But when Maxwell – who scored a gutsy half-century – fell in the final over, Australia’s fate had been sealed.Pakistan’s first-innings total was once more set up by Babar Azam and Hafeez, a 70-run partnership between the two taking Pakistan to 99 with six overs still to remain. Neither, however, pushed on to provide Pakistan a flourishing finish, and Australia picked up wickets at regular intervals as they dented Pakistan’s march towards a big total. Coulter-Nile, who was the most disappointing of the three seamers in the first game, was the pick of Australia’s bowlers here: his three big wickets for 18 an instrumental factor in containing Pakistan to under 150.But it is the innings too short to even count as cameos that have made enormous differences in both games. In the first, it was Hasan Ali whose big-hitting meant Paksiatn smashed 17 in the final over to undo much of the good work the visitors had done to seize the initiative. Here, Faheem Ashraf played that role in the final over, with Andrew Tye clobbered for 15, once again robbing Australia of the uplifting finish that would enable them to carry over the momentum to the second innings.It isn’t merely a matter of fortune, though. Winning these small moments has enabled Sarfraz – still unbeaten in a T20I series – to win some big matches over the past two years. Once the final ball had been bowled, Sarfraz raced to the middle of the pitch and let out a roar that was part elation, part relief. Judging by the captain’s reaction, this T20I felt as big as any he has won in the green of Pakistan.