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Will there be no South Africa in international cricket? If yes, why? Is there no way things can change?

Firdose Moonda23-Apr-2021Is it the end of cricket in South Africa?
It’s possible, at least for a while. If the government gazette containing the minister’s proposed interventions is published, then CSA will no longer be officially recognised as the game’s governing body in the country, and can no longer claim to be in charge of national teams or to hand out national colours.So South Africa won’t have national cricket teams anymore?

Potentially, yes. If CSA is no longer recognised, then existing structures, as we know them, would cease to exist. Another governing body could, possibly, be formed but it would need to be recognised by both the South African sports ministry and the ICC in order to represent South Africa in international cricket.That sounds… massive!
Yes, because this could, for example, mean sponsors and broadcasters walk away and once they do, it’s going to be difficult to get them back even if cricket does manage to get itself back on its feet. And the ripple effect will ultimately be felt not only by the players but by the broader community that makes a living off cricket. Think the stadium security guard or vendor or schools’ and development coaches.Who’s going to run cricket in the country if not CSA?

Who knows? It’s difficult to know how things will work if the governing body is not recognised. This has not happened to a sport in South Africa to date and is not something cricket has dealt with at its highest, most prominent levels.Hang on, remind me – why is this happening?
Essentially because some administrators are against having a new CSA board, which has a majority of independent members. Specifically, there are five presidents of provincial associations on the members’ council, who do not want to agree to having this majority independent board and have not fully explained why.You’re losing me. What is the members’ council?

There are two centres of power in CSA: 1. the board of directors, who resigned last year and have been replaced by an interim board put in place by the government, and 2. the members’ council, which is made up of the 14 provincial presidents and has the highest decision-making authority in the organisation. Some of these presidents also sat on the resigned board and will sit on a new board (but not all of them). Following?Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa is the man calling the shots right now•Gallo Images/Getty Images

Just about. Go on.
Now, prior to the board’s resignation, seven of the members’ council sat on the board, which had five independent directors. The new proposal for the composition of the board – which dates back to 2012, when CSA had another governance review following the Gerald Majola bonus scandal – suggests four members’ council presidents and seven independents. In short, the members’ appears to be unhappy that their representation on a new board is cut and is trying to cling to that power, though we don’t know for sure because they haven’t explained much. Probably important to note at this point is that board members earn Rand 450,000 (US$ 31,500 approx.) a year for attending meetings and enjoy several privileges including traveling to games.Okay, so it’s a power struggle in which the government has now gotten involved.

Long story short, yes.Hasn’t this been going on for a while?
Forever, it would seem.That long story is that the problems stem from the failed T20 Global League in 2017, which saw the exit of then-CEO Haroon Lorgat. Enter Thabang Moroe, under whom CSA spiralled into several crises including a high-profile disagreement with the South African Cricketers Association, issues with broadcasters, and various governance issues. A forensic report found that Moroe had spent large amounts of board money on alcohol and service providers who did not deliver those services. Moroe has since been dismissed and the board that appointed him resigned (though some of them are still part of the members’ council because… see above). But the effects of his time in charge remain. CSA is facing serious financial losses that will run into millions of Rands.In trying to sort out this mess – with the involvement of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committtee (don’t ask, but this might help) – South Africa’s sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has intervened. Last November, he imposed an interim board on CSA, which was tasked with, among other things, putting in place the framework for a majority independent board. Which brings us back to today.You said something about a government gazette needing to be published for this to happen…
Yes, in theory, CSA continues to be the officially recognised governing body for cricket in South Africa until the gazette carrying the minister’s acts is published. That usually happens on Fridays, which means that April 30th (next Friday) is the date when CSA could officially ceases to be recognised. Things could change between now and then, of course, because it’s possible that the members’ council agrees to that board composition within the week, but we’re right at the very edge.

Iqbal picked up 3 for 16 before Clarke’s 23-ball 46 reduced the chase to a formality

Danyal Rasool20-Feb-2021Last year’s win was no fluke, and this year’s title defence is no surrender. That was the emphatic message Karachi Kings sent out not just to the hapless Quetta Gladiators, whom they thrashed by seven wickets in the inaugural PSL match of this season, but also to the rest of the teams. The Kings might have copped criticism for letting go of Mohammad Rizwan in the off season, but it was the new wicketkeeping recruit Joe Clarke who was the star of the show for Imad Wasim’s side, taking four catches and blitzing 46 off 23 balls to tear the game away from the Gladiators.The win was initially set up by the Kings bowlers – emerging player Arshad Iqbal chief among them – who punctured the Gladiators with regular wickets throughout the innings, and in the end, bowled them out for 121 in 18.2 overs.After being put in, Quetta, somewhat curiously, opened the batting with captain Sarfaraz Ahmed alongside Tom Banton rather than the more obvious option of Chris Gayle. Banton’s stay was ephemeral, falling to a low-percentage hoick in the first over. Once Gayle settled himself in, he looked the most serious outlet for a potentially match-winning total for Quetta Gladiators. However, no one kept him company, and the Jamaican himself managed more of a cameo before falling for 39 off 24. The next highest for the Gladiators was Azam Khan’s 17.Mohammad Hasnain did briefly threaten to make things interesting by removing Sharjeel Khan in a fiery first over, but a loose one from Qais Ahmed that Clarke spanked for 24, apart from three wides, removed any realistic chances of victory. Hasnain returned to remove Babar Azam midway through the innings, but by this time the Kings only needed to go through the motions to get their title defence off to a resounding start, and when the winning runs were scored, they had 37 balls to spare.Star of the day

While the Gladiators pace unit got most of the attention, with Naseem Shah, Mohammad Hasnain and Usman Shinwari in its ranks, the Kings’ emerging quick Iqbal ended up outshining the lot. Called in to bowl with Gayle having primed himself with 18 off Aamer Yamin, Iqbal held his nerve in the opening salvo, allowing just four in the seventh over. He wasn’t called on again until Ben Cutting and Azam Khan threatened to cut loose; the pair had just taken 11 off a Wasim over.What did Iqbal do? Bowl a wicket-maiden, naturally. He varied the pace beautifully as Cutting and Azam struggled to get a read on the young bowler’s plans before Azam swatted him straight to Daniel Christian in frustration. In his next over, Iqbal sent Cutting’s leg stump cartwheeling, and dismissed Hasnain in his final over, with figures of 4-1-16-3 not flattering him in the slightest.Tom Banton watches on as he is about to be caught by Joe Clarke•AFP via Getty Images

Miss of the day
Erm, the Gladiators batsmen in general? More specifically, Banton. The Gladiators would have plumped for Banton at the auction assuming his miserable outing last year with Peshawar Zalmi was something of an anomaly. But with the young Englishman having skipped the Big Bash League this year, there’s little recent data to gauge his form, and what was on offer today might worry Gladiators.Perhaps too eager to impose himself, he smashed Wasim to cow corner off the second ball he faced, before attempting an ugly smear over midwicket to a ball he never came close to the pitch of. It went a mile up and back down to the wicketkeeper, continuing Banton’s struggles in the PSL. Whether he shakes them off could be pivotal to the Gladiators’ chances in the tournament.Honourable mention

With that boyish innocent smile, the flowing wavy hair and the easy elegant, slender high-arm action, Hasnain can be the most marketable of Pakistan’s fast bowlers once he really gets his career underway. He was at that luscious best today, even if in a losing cause, pace and swing both on offer first up that proved too hot for Sharjeel. He had Joe Clarke on toast off his first delivery, unlucky not to find either the outside edge of the bat or the stumps. Despite little support from the other end, he then dismissed Azam, too, and when he was done, he had leaked just 18 off his four overs. The Gladiators might have had a bad day, but they will have that positive to take out of it.

Australia will hope for similarly brief encounters with England’s ODI captain, Alastair Cook, in the NatWest Series. He made only 5 as the tourists routed Essex at Chelmsford in their final warm-up match.

Daniel Brettig at Chelmsford26-Jun-2012
Scorecard
Michael Clarke retired with Australia’s top score as they routed Essex ahead of the NatWest Series•Getty Images

Australia will hope for similarly brief encounters with Alastair Cook over the next two weeks. So dominant with the bat in his recent appearances as ODI captain of England, not to mention a 766-run Ashes jaunt down under in the last Ashes series, Cook lasted only 15 balls for 5 as the tourists routed Essex at Chelmsford in their final warm-up for the looming NatWest Series which begins at Lord’s on Friday.Cook’s conqueror here was the Victorian seamer Clint McKay. Cracked to the backward point boundary early on, he persisted with a back-of-a-length line outside off stump and was rewarded when Cook edged an attempted forcing stroke to Michael Clarke at slip. By that point Mark Pettini had already departed, slicing Brett Lee to third man, and the Australians’ towering 313 for 9 was never to be threatened. Ravi Bopara and James Foster came closest to disrupting the procession.Aside from the early demise of Cook, Australia were also encouraged by a decidedly swift contribution from the 19-year-old Pat Cummins, who beat both Tom Westley and Greg Smith for pace to clatter their stumps. He later nudged the helmet of Reece Topley to demonstrate the aggression so admired by his teammates and coaches. Having earned selection for this fixture ahead of James Pattinson, Cummins is now heavily favoured to play at Lord’s, where he may find the slope to his advantage.Australia had limbered up by rushing beyond 300. The captain Clarke and the seasoned David Hussey did best for the tourists with a pair of half centuries, after David Warner and Shane Watson had sprinted at the start. Matthew Wade and Steve Smith also contributed at the end, leaving George Bailey as the only batsman not to have made a score of any real note in two county innings on the tour so far. His stay was ended by Topley, who caught the eye with his height, bounce and modicum of movement and finished with four wickets.Lee took the new ball and swung his first two past Pettini, though being right-handed the ball struck Wade’s gloves rather than the stumps as it had in two of his first three balls against Irish left-handers at Stormont. McKay took the second over, though it is unlikely he will get such a privilege for long consaidering the form Cummins is in.Westley lost his off stump to a delivery angled in and moving away, before Ryan ten Doeschate was involved in a mix-up with Bopara and elected to give up his wicket to the run-out instead of his England partner. The gesture was not to benefit Essex too much, as Bopara’s stay was ended by a diffident wave of the bat at Watson and a simple catch for Wade.All Australia’s bowlers finished the evening with wickets, Steve Smith’s snare to dismiss Foster a particularly laudable piece of fielding as the visitors reached a decent level of sharpness ahead of the first match against England.Clarke had won the toss on a beautiful summer’s afternoon, sending out his third top-order batting combination in as many matches by pairing Watson and Warner to open, with Bailey slated to come in at No. 3 after recovering from a groin strain. The visitors’ pace attack comprised Brett Lee and Cummins, who each bowled against Ireland, and Clint McKay who did not.Warner and Watson were off to a rollicking start, adding 51 in little more than 6 overs as they took advantage of an invitingly short western boundary. A Warner pull shot sailed clear beyond the stands, while a Watson on-drive clanged off the back of an open stand. Mercifully for Essex, Warner would perish for only 26, unable to control a hook towards the more distant fence and being caught in the deep off Graham Napier.Watson was soon to follow, touching a bouncing delivery from Topley as it arrowed down the legside and offering a catch to Foster. When Bailey cut the promising Topley to an alert Greg Smith at backward point having made only 12, Essex had rather made up for the flowing runs off the first six overs.Clarke had picked the gap at mid wicket to reach the boundary from his first ball, and with Hussey he set about regrouping. All of the bowlers were to be taken for greater than five runs per over with batting that was more busy than bluster, Clarke timing the ball sweetly across a swift outfield and Hussey punching his strokes with typical purpose. Their stand was worth 137 in 123 balls by the time Clarke decided he’d had enough and retired, and Hussey stayed only another four runs before he swung once too often at Tim Phillips’ slow left-arm.Smith and Wade contributed useful cameos to hurry the tally along towards 300, and Lee put a capstone on the innings by lathering a six to rival those of Watson and Warner before Topley removed his leg stump. There was some evidence of reverse swing late in the innings on a dry pitch, a skill the Australian bowlers would also go on to rehearse.

It was brash, it was brilliant and it came almost out of the blue. Even by his own extreme standards, Kevin Pietersen’s 21st Test century was one of his most remarkable

The Report by David Hopps04-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsKevin Pietersen was at his unique best at Headingley to haul England back into the match•Getty Images

It was brash, it was brilliant and it came almost out of the blue. Even by his own extreme standards, Kevin Pietersen’s 21st Test century was one of his most remarkable. It took a Test series that had been characterised throughout by South African discipline and English subjugation and it turned it thoroughly, thrillingly, on its head.As ever with Pietersen’s greatest innings, it grew not just from innate talent but a colossal belief in his own ability. Shortly after tea, he became the fastest batsman, in terms of time, to 7000 Test runs – beating South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, his compatriot and not exactly his biggest fan, by almost a year. He gazed upon his statistic, adorned with his own image, on the big screen as if drawing new energy, new belief, from the magnitude of his achievement.One point that has not been stressed enough about Pietersen’s retirement from England’s one-day side after a stand-off with England’s management is that feelgood is not just beneficial to him, but essential to all he achieves. When the ego is not fed, the magic departs.He was comparatively restrained up to tea, making 43 from 83 balls, but in a prolonged final session of 3 hours 10 minutes something clicked. He destroyed the finest attack in Test cricket, surfing on a wave of self-belief. There was still something in the pitch but it became an irrelevance. In that final session, England made 168 runs in 42 overs and Pietersen got 106 of them. Nobody can suggest this Test is not alive after that. South Africa suffered a further blow shortly before the close when captain Graeme Smith had to be helped from the field after injuring his left knee in chasing a ball to the boundary.Perhaps South Africa should not have tried to bounce Pietersen out immediately after tea. It was a legitimate tactic and, if Hashim Amla had held on at short leg when Pietersen was 52, a push off his hip against Morne Morkel, Smith’s gambit would have succeeded. It fell to earth.Pietersen then imagined himself invincible. It must be the sort of feeling most of us only ever recognise after about three drinks when the music is playing, except in Pietersen’s case, the more he sups the better it gets. He flung his front leg to the leg side, to haul a succession of short balls from Morkel riskily above and beyond three boundary catchers, causing South Africa to abandon the ploy prematurely; he stood tall to drill Dale Steyn through point; and he met Jacques Kallis with the whippiest of straight drives.As the Test series was transformed, he lacerated Vernon Philander through the offside to reach 99 and then, next ball, stole a single to midwicket for his 100, leaving him level with his captain, Andrew Strauss and one behind those at the top of the pile: Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott and Wally Hammond. His high-hurdle celebration was regarded by some South Africans as rather tasteless, and after he had raised his bat to his wife in the crowd, his hug of celebration with the diminutive James Taylor, on debut, was amusingly chaste. How do you hug a man on public view who you barely know and who is more than a foot shorter than you are? Carefully, according to Pietersen.Taylor played dutifully on his Test debut, a predominantly back-foot player, like most small batsmen, who fell half-an-hour before the close when he chopped on against Morkel for a considered 34, in a stand of 147, that provided a careful counterpoint to the mayhem around him. He must have observed Pietersen, 22 yards away, and imagined a different world.

Smart stats

• Kevin Pietersen’s unbeaten 149 is his third century and second-highest score against South Africa. In ten Tests against South Africa, he has scored 805 runs at an average of 50.31.

• Pietersen became the eighth England batsman to pass the 7000-run mark. He achieved the feat in his 88th Test. Both Pietersen and Wally Hammond, the quickest England batsman to the 7000-run mark, are the only batsmen on the list with 50-plus averages.

• Pietersen’s century is his 21st in Tests. It brings him level second on the list of England batsmen with the most Test hundreds.

• Pietersen is one run short of equalling the record of Hammond and Len Hutton for the most 150-plus scores (10) by an England batsman. Pietersen currently has nine such scores including three double-centuries.

• The 147-run stand between Pietersen and James Taylor is the fourth-highest fifth-wicket stand for England against South Africa and the highest since South Africa’s readmission.

On 110, Pietersen lashed Steyn so fiercely back towards him that it was a relief the bowler was not struck. Every onlooker, English or South African alike, would have had their most memorable moment. This might be a bit left field: on 143, he failed to spot a googly from Imran Tahir. No matter, he concluded, I will switch hit the next one. He missed it. He probably never read it. He probably did not even try to. But it spoke volumes about how he believes that attitude can conquer all.Until Pietersen deemed what had passed before immaterial, the suspicion was growing that South Africa’s accession to the No 1 Test ranking by winning this three-Test series was only a matter of time. South Africa looked purposeful; England slightly listless. It was the draining feeling when a side suspected that in the home conditions where it had normally been so dominant, it had finally met its match.Pietersen’s conviction contrasted vividly with the dismissals of Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell as England struggled to break the shackles. Smith’s catch at first slip, as Steyn dismissed Trott for 35, came from a cross-batted carve at a length ball and worse was to when Bell, who had announced himself by lofting the legspinner Tahir imperiously for a straight six, chased a curly outswinger from Kallis that swung wide and early.It was an abysmal shot by Bell, one of the weakest of his 79-Test career, especially considering that his dismissal brought in Taylor, on debut, only five minutes before tea. It did at least allow Taylor to make his first Test runs by the interval, an off drive against a long half-volley from Tahir that would have settled his nerves.Strauss was the first wicket to fall after lunch, a laborious innings coming to grief when Steyn, who had bowled too wide at him, finally found a tight enough line to force a catch at the wicket. Alastair Cook fell in a rain-affected morning, the sort of Headingley morning when the fancy dressers would have been better coming as frogmen than paying homage, as many did, to the Leeds DJ, TV personality and eccentric, Sir Jimmy Savile, who died last year.Cook was lbw pushing forward to Philander, the sort of low-trajectory bowler with an ability to swing the ball at a good length who often succeeds at Headingley. He stayed around for an umpiring review, however, which predictably was entirely wasted when the ball was shown to be hitting middle, two thirds of the way up. There might have been a glimmer of hope that the ball was pitching outside leg but it was a wasted review.Batting relationships, as well as the status of players within a side, can often be revealed by attitudes to reviewing decisions that even in real time seem to have a high probability of being out. Cook is not only one of the most valued wickets in the England side, which gives him a slightly greater claim to a review, he is also Strauss’ heir apparent and the relationship between the two men is strong. It all tipped England into a review that Strauss must have agreed to against his better instincts.

The five-ball over gave MS Dhoni an opportunity to raise the question that if with so much technology available the officials couldn’t ensure the proper counting of balls in an over

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval14-Feb-2012India don’t want to create controversy about the five-ball 30th over that may or may not have made a difference to the final result of a tight game, a tie. However, it gave MS Dhoni an opportunity to raise the question that, with so much technology available, why couldn’t the officials ensure the proper counting of balls, and why blindly follow the DRS?The essence of Dhoni’s comments, though, was that this could easily be turned into a controversy but he didn’t want to do so. “Duncan [Fletcher, the coach] told me about it,” Dhoni said. “There have been five-ball overs in the past, but we have seen the third umpire interfere and you have to come back and bowl that ball. Usually that’s what has happened to us also. It didn’t happen in this game, fair enough. Nothing much can be done now.”I don’t know [if a full over might have broken the tie] because you could have had a dot ball. It happens in cricket, so maybe it would have been a dot.”Dhoni said India were not going to lodge an official complaint. “Well because it’s done and dusted,” he said. “That’s what is important. We can create a big fuss out of it but what’s the point? It’s like a controversy standing right at the edge, just about to happen, because we have seen in the past that we have bowled an over and they have almost changed ends. But then the third umpire interferes and says, ‘Okay you have to bowl one more ball in this particular over”. It didn’t happen in this game. I don’t know why. We don’t really want to create a controversy.”As an afterthought, Dhoni took a dig at DRS. “If this can happen then I don’t know why people back DRS so much,” Dhoni said. “We have seen people happy with DRS in one series as long as it goes in their favour. Once it doesn’t go in their favour, they are quite unhappy about it so. I am quite happy with three individuals. If I am not wrong, two umpires in the middle and the match referee and the scorer [are there], and it has still happened. Better off accepting it because we humans are bound to make mistakes.”The said over was, at that time, the second best of India’s innings. Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni had taken nine off Malinga when over was called after five balls. Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, said he didn’t know of the error. “I am not complaining,” he joked.

Senior seamers took only one wicket between them in England’s 3-0 win in Sri Lanka in 2018-19

Matt Roller08-Jan-2021James Anderson and Stuart Broad are prepared to put in the hard yards in a holding role during England’s Test series in Sri Lanka, and accept that they are unlikely to play every game in Asia over the next two months.England opted to pick only one of Anderson and Broad at a time in their 3-0 series win in Sri Lanka in late 2018, with the pair taking just one wicket between them in a combined 55 overs as spin dominated the series. While Sri Lanka’s most recent home series against New Zealand saw the seamers play a slightly greater role, head coach Mickey Arthur told the on Thursday that he expected “typical Sri Lankan conditions” in the two Tests at Galle this month.Speaking on Sky Sports’ Cricket Show, both Anderson and Broad said that they expected to perform a defensive role in the series, and said that they are anticipating some rotation among bowlers on their tour of the subcontinent. Straight after the second Test in Sri Lanka, England will fly to India for a four-match series, starting on February 5 in Chennai.James Anderson bowls in the nets•ECB

“You do play a slightly different role [in Sri Lanka],” Anderson said. “As was the case last time we were here, the spinners are the attacking option and the seamers then have a holding role – it’s almost breaking up the spinners and trying to give them a rest, whereas in England, they might be doing that job and you’re the more attacking bowler. It’s a different outlook on it as a seamer, but you’re still in the game and you can still get wickets.””Galle might be a pitch that if you bowl 20 overs, 1 for 40, you’ve actually done a brilliant role,” Broad said. “If you do that for your whole career, you’re not going to stay in the side that long, averaging 40, but it’s being realistic. For a spinner in England, a perfect job would be: first innings, 20 overs, 1 for 40, and then he comes into the game later on. I think we flip that over here: we can hold in the first innings, and then you might get reverse-swing later in the game when the pitch is warm… and the ball roughs up slightly.”It’s unrealistic to think that you’re going to play all six Test matches and be the leading wicket-taker in these conditions. You just have to not get greedy when you get that opportunity: if you play three Tests out of six, [you have to] do your role for those three Tests, not selfishly try to get wickets to get you in the next game.”Anderson suggested this week that Sri Lanka will have “a slight advantage” going into the first Test, having recently completed a two-match series in South Africa while England have not played a Test since late August. England’s red-ball specialists trained in a heated marquee at Loughborough in the final few months of 2020 while the white-ball sides have not played in more than a month, and Broad admitted that the touring squad was “a bit shy” on match fitness a week out from the first Test.Related

• England lean towards three-seamer, two-spinner strategy for first Sri Lanka Test

• James Anderson: Sri Lanka have 'slight advantage' heading into England series

• Zak Crawley out to prove he is no 'one-hit wonder' in Sri Lanka after epic 267 against Pakistan

• Jonny Bairstow confident ahead of anticipated Test recall: 'I think my game's in the best place it's been'

• Jack Leach admits Covid-19 concerns meant he feared he had played his last Test

“In international cricket these days you don’t get these sorts of breaks, normally,” he said. “It is a long period of time without spending time in the field, keeping the bones used to fast bowling.”We’re probably a bit shy on match fitness but you’ve got to make the best of what you can. We’ve got warm-up games over the next two days, and that’ll be just about acclimatising to the conditions, but it is by far the shortest preparation time I can remember on an England tour.”Meanwhile, Anderson backed Jonny Bairstow to make a success of his recall to the red-ball side after a year-long absence, but suggested he had underachieved in his Test career to date. Bairstow averages 34.74 with the bat after 70 Tests, but said on Thursday that his game is “in the best place it’s [ever] been” going into the Sri Lanka series.”As we’ve seen when he’s played for England in the past, he can bat anywhere in the order, and he’s got this determination that [means] he wants to do well, he wants to succeed,” Anderson said.”He’s someone who I look at him and think he should probably have done better than how he has done for England. But obviously, situations with going up and down the order, it’s not been easy for him. I’d like to think that he’s got much more in the tank for England.”

Kane Williamson was unbeaten on 89 at the end of another shortened day after Gloucestershire were inserted by Yorkshire

Alex Winter at Bristol10-May-2012
ScorecardNew Zealand batsman Kane Williamson has continued his recent Test form with Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Few would have expected such a scorecard at the end of a day when at the start everything pointed to a feast for the bowlers. Heavy cloud, a brisk wind, intermittent rain and the deluge that was very well soaked up by the Bristol outfield were the factors in Andrew Gale’s decision to bowl first. Had he inspected a little closer under the covers, he might have made a different call.Though even if a reasonable deck were to have been discovered, the horrendous light – which prevented play later in the day – was reason enough to send Gloucestershire in. It was miserable. Benny Howell edged to third slip in Tim Bresnan’s second over and everything was as expected. But then Kane Williamson provided a classy innings.Last season, he looked a good player with a very correct technique. There wasn’t much excitement about him; he didn’t make the eye-catching scores one would hope from an overseas signing; he made one century – on a terribly flat pitch at Leicester. He was getting a good run in the New Zealand team, playing all formats of the game, without too much success. His run had been earned by a century on debut in Ahmedabad and the general perception that he was the future for New Zealand.His subsequent scores didn’t match that glorious debut and observers wondered whether he had been thrust in too soon. One innings changed those doubts. Battling on the final day to save a Test against South Africa at Wellington he made an unbeaten 102. He was dropped, hit on the body, sliced in two, beaten on countless occasions but made an innings of much acclaim against arguably the most fearsome attack in world cricket: Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. It confirmed his talent in some fashion.”That was a great challenge,” Williamson said. “They came really hard and it was a really nice innings to play against such quality bowlers. It was an interesting period in the winter; I didn’t spend too much time at the crease. We played Zimbabwe and I wasn’t required much of the time.”Arriving back for a second season with Gloucestershire, he made 128 in the second innings at Derby. If he can add another 11 runs tomorrow it will be three consecutive centuries for Williamson and Gloucestershire’s faith that John Bracewell had plucked a star in the making will be restored.He was sublime after making a 90-ball half-century against perhaps the best new-ball partnership he will face all season. Ryan Sidebottom and Bresnan quickly became frustrated at their lack of penetration and especially at Williamson’s ability to play with the most delicate of hands – playing under his nose; guiding runs through gully.He has seemed to gain an ability to score more easily, overcoming a lack of power. His off-side play was a joy to watch. Coming forward with a large stride he drove straight and through cover exactly as the textbook describes. Equally, going back he was quickly into a comfortable position and timed several boundaries to the shorter tennis-court boundary.The chief criticism of his cricket is playing the short ball: a few times he was found out in Australia. Here there was no short bowling to worry about – Bresnan and Sidebottom bowled full but found little enjoyment off a slow surface. The only time Williamson pulled was a long hop from Anthony McGrath – dispatched over square leg.The 146 Williamson and Chris Dent added in 43 overs was the third century stand Williamson has contributed to in the two games he has played for Gloucestershire – highlighting his value to an order that would otherwise have to be led by Dent. He was more patient, taking 123 balls to reach fifty and didn’t play any of the pleasant drives his partner showed. But he cut very well and ground out a score in a challenging situation. He fell to Steven Patterson, lbw playing back, as Yorkshire found something late on a day they expected far more from.

Sunil Narine, the West Indies spinner who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $700,000, will be available for the entire duration of the 2012 IPL, a franchise official has said

Tariq Engineer03-Apr-2012Sunil Narine, the West Indies spinner who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for $700,000 in the January player auction, will be available for the entire duration of the 2012 IPL, a franchise official has said. The IPL overlaps with West Indies’ home Tests against Australia, and while Narine does not have a WICB contract and hasn’t played a Test yet, his excellent form in the limited-overs series against Australia could have resulted in a call-up.Venky Mysore, the Knight Riders chief executive, told ESPNcricinfo that Narine will be landing in Kolkata today and is free to play in the tournament. Narine and the WICB had been in discussions behind the scenes but the West Indies coach, Otis Gibson, had admitted it would be difficult to stop Narine playing in the IPL if that was his preference. Narine, 23, has taken 34 first-class wickets at an average of 11.88.Narine first attracted international attention during the 2011 Champions League T20. Opposing batsmen found his assortment of offbreaks and ‘knuckle balls’ difficult to pick and the most runs he conceded in any game was 26 against New South Wales. In the next match against the Super Kings, he took 3 for 8, accounting for Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and M Vijay.

All the latest county snippets, including unusual tie-breakers and declaration bowling

Matt Roller21-Aug-2020Babar Azam appears set to fulfil his T20 Blast contract with Somerset after the end of Pakistan’s T20I series in England, pending a No Objection Certificate from the PCB. Azam, the leading run-scorer in the competition last season in his first year with the county, was due to spend five weeks at Taunton this summer before the Covid-19 pandemic altered the dates of both the county and international seasons.While Surrey and Northants cancelled contracts for Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf respectively, Somerset have kept Azam’s deal on the table throughout, and hope to confirm that he will be available next week. He would miss the first three or four fixtures due to his involvement in the T20Is, but looks set to play the bulk of the rest of the tournament.ESPNcricinfo understands that the remaining question mark over his availability is dependent on whether he will be exempted from the National T20 Cup, Pakistan’s domestic competition, which is set to be staged at the end of September.Hampshire have yet to confirm Shaheen Shah Afridi’s availability for the tournament, but at this stage he appears less likely to play in the Blast than Azam. They will announce the signing of Scotland international George Munsey for the tournament next week, while James Vince is set to miss the start of the competition for the birth of his second child.***Unusual problems may call for unusual solutions, but it would be quite something for a team to qualify for this year’s Bob Willis Trophy final by virtue of taking more wickets than another group winner.In this season’s abbreviated first-class competition, the two group winners with the most points will reach the five-day final at Lord’s on September 23. If the current standings were used, Essex (61 points) would progress, but Worcestershire and Derbyshire (57) would have to be split by a tie-breaker.Under the tournament’s playing conditions, they would be split first on most wins (two each), then fewest losses (both unbeaten), most points in contests between them (they won’t play each other), wickets taken, and runs scored. That means Worcestershire, with 57 wickets, would edge out Derbyshire on 46 to reach Lord’s; in case you were wondering, they’ve hit more boundaries, too.***The winner of the Central Group seems likely to be decided in the final round when Somerset head to New Road, but both teams will be acutely aware that their positions could be stronger if they had timed declarations better.Joe Leach may live to rue a late declaration against Glamorgan•Getty Images

Alex Gidman defended Joe Leach’s belated pulling of the plug in the second round, with Glamorgan escaping on 141 for 7 after being set 358 in 50.4 overs, while a miserable final day in Birmingham meant Somerset ended up with only 15.4 overs to take the last four Warwickshire wickets. While the welfare of bowlers is an important concern in an abbreviated season, whichever side fails to qualify will rue their caution come late September.***Players were told at the PCA’s rookie camp in February that there had never been a better time to be a professional cricketer, but inevitably the Covid-19 pandemic has put the brakes on that.This week, the players’ union signed off a deal intended to protect jobs for next season, including a reduction in the minimum wage, the option of a summer contract, and young players being able to extend their ‘rookie’ deals into next season even if they should be ineligible due to age limitations – as reported by ESPNcricinfo in June.***As Leicestershire and Durham decided to set their game up on the final morning this week, there seemed few better candidates for some declaration bowling than Hassan Azad, whose first-class career with the ball extended to a solitary over playing for Loughborough MCCU in 2016. But after Sam Evans had lobbed up some gentle pies from the far end, the second ball of Azad’s first over was a wicked googly, which skidded through low and onto the base of leg stump, possibly via Brydon Carse’s edge. Carse and non-striker Ned Eckersley were both nonplussed, while Azad’s celebration was muted; but it was Carse who had the last laugh in the run chase before the rain intervened, bowling Azad via the inside edge to get his revenge.Meanwhile, Essex’s highly-rated young batsman Rishi Patel will join Leicestershire on loan for the rest of the Bob Willis Trophy. He played six first-class games for Essex last season but has fallen behind Feroze Khushi in the pecking order this year.***Somerset have labelled their captain Tom Abell ‘the mop’ for his ability to clean up tailenders, and he gave a reminder of his knack by removing nine, ten and jack in the first innings of their draw with Warwickshire to finish with 3 for 4 from his 3.2 overs. But perhaps that moniker would be better suited to Mason Crane, the Hampshire legspinner. Crane ripped through the Surrey lower order this week to seal a thumping win, and has now dismissed a No. 9 batsman twice, a No. 10 batsman twice, and four No. 11s this season.All in all, he has taken 11 wickets at 8.72 in the BWT – some improvement after returns of five wickets at 107.80 in last year’s County Championship. Surrey, meanwhile, are rock bottom, with fewer points than anyone else in the competition. They will be boosted by Ben Foakes’ return from the England bubble on Saturday, while Ollie Robinson is set to play for Sussex.***Northants have left T20 captain Josh Cobb out of their side throughout the first-class season, but he seems to be finding his feet ahead of the Blast. In Northants’ first warm-up game against Leicestershire on Thursday, he hit nine sixes and a four in a 45-ball 80, before clubbing 33 off 14 in the second.Josh Cobb in action for Northants•Getty Images

Having missed out in last year’s Hundred draft, Cobb will feel he has a point to prove in the Blast, and will be hoping to remind teams of his ability, with some spots for 2021 likely to be up for grabs in a partial re-draft.No final decision has been made regarding whether picks from the draft will remain valid, but it is understood that there will be some kind of retention mechanism similar to that initially planned, which allowed teams to keep up to ten players from their squads for the following season at a mutually agreed salary band.The exact details will be ironed out between the PCA and the ECB next month, with an announcement to follow after England have announced their centrally contracted players for 2021.

Zimbabwe Cricket are set to obtain government clearance to visit Pakistan for a limited-overs series next month

Danyal Rasool and Umar Farooq15-Sep-2020Zimbabwe will tour Pakistan as scheduled next month with official confirmation all but imminent. This was confirmed to ESPNcricinfo by Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani, who said he was “hopeful we will be cleared to travel to Pakistan” and that an official announcement would be made shortly.That would appear to end any uncertainty surrounding the limited-overs tour set to begin from October 20, with Multan in line to host an international fixture for the first time in 12 years. The series will be held in a bio-secure bubble, with the PCB yet to formalise in full the standard operating procedures which are to be followed during the series, including the period of quarantine that Zimbabwe’s players will have to undergo. The PCB are privately weighing up the merits of a quarantine period as short as three days, to one as long as a week. They are understood to be in talks with the ECB and ICC for input.England were the first cricket board in world to host an international series in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic by creating a bio-secure bubble and went on to play West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia. The PCB accrued some experience of the procedures, given the Pakistan side were in England on tour, and are forming their own protocols. It was understood the PCB couldn’t afford the company hired by the ECB to carry out the procedures.With an apparently sharp decline in Covid-19 cases in Pakistan, the PCB in August principally decided to resume professional cricket after a 24-week hiatus. The PCB had formally commenced cricketing operations last month and announced a full domestic season, opting to host the National T20 Cup ahead of the Zimbabwe tour in Rawalpindi and Multan – the two venues that are to host Zimbabwe. It is believed setting up a bio-secure bubble for domestic teams will form a learning curve ahead of the international fixtures. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, look to have been spared the worst of the pandemic so far, with fewer than 8,000 official cases and 224 deaths.Multan, which last hosted an ODI in 2008, is scheduled to play host to a three-match ODI series, with as many T20Is to be played in Rawalpindi. The Zimbabwe tour to Pakistan is the second such tour by the side in five years, after Zimbabwe became the first Full Member nation to visit Pakistan since the Sri Lankan cricket team terror attack in March 2009.