Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, has said that he’s still passionate about playing cricket and would relish the chance to play Test cricket again

Umar Farooq26-Apr-2012Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, has said that he’s still passionate about playing cricket and would relish the chance to play Test cricket again. He took a fitness test under Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore on Tuesday in a bid to stage a comeback to international cricket.Yousuf, 37, last played a Test in 2010, when Pakistan took on England in the controversial Lord’s Test that was marred by spot-fixing. Yousuf has not featured in international or domestic tournaments in more than nine months due to personal reasons. “I never lost my passion for cricket,” Yousuf told ESPNcricinfo. “There were certain commitments in my life that got higher priority for a while, but now I am hungry to play.”He made his debut 14 years ago and has played 90 Tests (scoring 7530 runs at an average of 52.29) and 288 ODIs (scoring 9720 at 41.71). He says he wants to focus only on Test cricket in the future. “I am least concerned about ODIs. My focus [right now] is Test cricket, I want to play it. My basics are right and I have lots of experience under my belt.”Yousuf, whose career has been plagued by controversy in the past, was banned by the PCB twice in 2010. First, for his poor performance on a winless tour of Australia and then for differences with Younis Khan, which the PCB said was a bad influence on the team. “I don’t want to live in past, people learn from mistakes. I have always tried to do my best, but sometimes things go wrong,” he said. “I can’t change the past, but I can only hope to revive my career.”With younger players like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq now featuring regularly in the side, some feel Yousuf will find it difficult to break into the team again. “I am not against new blood being inducted in the side – it’s good,” Yousuf said. “No one plays forever, but I still have cricket left [in me] and I have a role to play.”Pakistan are slated to tour Sri Lanka soon after the IPL to play two Twenty20s, five ODIs and three Tests. PCB’s chief selector Iqbal Qasim said that the board would discuss Yousuf’s future during their next meeting in May. “He is training and that’s what all players must do, but that doesn’t mean he will be selected in the team,” Qasim said. “If a coach is interested in a player he must convince the selection committee [first].”

Sean Ervine played argubly his most valuable innings for Hampshire when the support of last man David Balcombe enabled him to reach an unbeaten century on a green pitch against Glamorgan at West End.

Ivo Tennant23-May-2012
ScorecardSean Ervine played one of his most invaluable innings for Hampshire with an unbeaten hundred on a West End greentop•PA Photos

A little over a year ago, Sean Ervine thought hard about giving up
county cricket to concentrate on playing for his native Zimbabwe in
whatever form of the game he could still participate. There was,
though, something about the lure of Hampshire cricket – as well as the lure of becoming an
Englishman – that led him to stay put. It is just as well for Hampshire’s
sake that he did, for his innings against Glamorgan was perhaps the
most valuable he has played.On a green pitch which was indistinguishable from the rest of the
square at the start of play, Hampshire, asked to bat, slumped to 97
for 5 and then 204 for 8t. Ervine was dropped without scoring by
Mark Wallace, a low, difficult chance, and then on 76, a quite
catchable opportunity at long on. He relied on eye, instinct and good
timing in making an unbeaten 109, his first century of the season.Ervine was also reliant on support from David Balcombe, who is too good to be going
in last. Together they put on 85 from 86 balls for the last wicket:
entertaining hitting against an attack shorn of its three best seamers
and which, until then, had performed perfectly respectably. Rather
than defend in textbook manner and sooner or later be beaten by the
conditions as much as the bowling, this pair simply looked to hit the
ball – hard.So a total of 316 could well be a pretty useful one. For this does not
look to be a four-day pitch. John Glover took the new ball for
Glamorgan and moved it sufficiently off the seam to have Liam Dawson
leg before and Michael Carberry and James Vince taken by Mark Wallace.
Simon Katich was his customary adhesive self, compiling 36 before
playing slightly across the line at Will Owen as if batting on the
harder pitches of his homeland down under.Jimmy Adams and Michael Bates, by contrast, played straight and
watchfully. Or at least they did until the former played on to Owen
and the wicketkeeper, who was in form and was driving particularly
well, was bowled by Jim Allenby. When Owen removed Chris Wood and
Kabir Ali with successive balls, Hampshire were 204 for 8. Only
there was still Balcombe to come.His highest previous championship score was just 30, but he can bat.
Or he looks as if he can bat. Ervine reached his century with a six over
long on off Allenby, having made his previous best score this season,
75, against Glamorgan. His clean hitting emphasised why Rod
Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman, believes him to be a good enough
cricketer to represent England, as he has just become qualified to do.Had James Harris, Huw Waters and Graham Wagg been playing, the
likelihood is that Hampshire would not have reached 300. Even so,
Wallace had little option but to bowl first when he inspected the
pitch. Until the umpires appeared to have their own examination, and
while the groundstaff were in their hutch at square leg, it really was
impossible to tell where the match would take place. Still, this made
for an interesting day. And there is pace in the pitch.Glamorgan’s openers, the cerebral Gareth Rees, and Nick James, who
replaced Stewart Walters, survived the seven overs they had to face on
a sultry evening. Their side has mustered just one batting bonus point
thus far this season, an embarrassing statistic which provides just
the incentive they need to make some runs now.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab in Bangalore

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran01-May-2012

Match facts

Wednesday, May 2, Bangalore
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Time for Virat Kohli to hit form•Associated Press

Big Picture

Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a slight blip after a hat-trick of victories, sharing points in a washout against Chennai Super Kings before getting walloped by Kolkata Knight Riders. The 47-run defeat was particularly galling for Royal Challengers, a team which prides itself on its world-class batting line-up, as they were out of the chase even before the halfway stage.Royal Challengers’ bowling has always been hot and cold, and they have relied on the heavyweight batsmen to win them matches. They had found Knight Riders’ spinners hard to put away but a return to the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which regularly dishes out some of the flattest batting tracks in the country, should make Royal Challengers a more formidable opponent. With the top two teams moving away from the pack, Daniel Vettori’s side needs a win to keep pace, and will hope the weather cooperates – Bangalore was lashed by rain on Tuesday evening, and was overcast on the morning of the game.Kings XI Punjab, though, have already upset some of the stronger teams at their home grounds – they have beaten Chennai Super Kings in Chennai, Mumbai Indians in Mumbai and Knight Riders in Kolkata. Can they add Royal Challengers to that list?Kings XI are currently second from bottom in the points table, but they could have their captain Adam Gilchrist back tomorrow, after he sat out the previous four matches with torn hamstrings. They could also have Ryan Harris, the Australia fast bowler who was an ever-present in their campaign last season, back in the squad after the West Indies Test series.

Form guide

(completed games, most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: LNrWWW
Kings XI Punjab: WLWLL

Players to watch

After a season in which he secured his spot in the Test team, was India’s most consistent limited-overs batsman, and rose to the vice-captaincy, Virat Kohli has stuttered in the IPL. While the dazzling performances of Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers have largely covered up for his failures, Royal Challengers Bangalore will be expecting more than an average of 18.37 and a strike-rate of 102.08.Since his visa issues were resolved, Azhar Mahmood has become Kings XI’s preferred overseas allrounder, and he has been influential in almost every game he’s played. He announced himself with a cameo of 33 off 14 deliveries against Royal Challengers, but his most telling performance was in the game against Chennai Super Kings, where he removed the set openers and kept his head in the death to snatch victory for Kings XI.

Stats and trivia

• Royal Challengers have won five of their last six matches against Kings XI, after losing their first three. At home, they have a 2-1 record, winning in 2010 and 2011, and losing in 2008.
• Shaun Marsh is the leading run-scorer in matches between these two teams, with 224 runs in six innings at an average of 56 and a strike rate of 133.33. Gayle has played three innings against Kings XI, with scores of 107 (49 balls), 0 (7) and 87 (56).
• Piyush Chawla has taken 14 wickets against Royal Challengers at an average of 15.92 and an economy rate of 6.75. Only three bowlers have taken more wickets against an opposition team in the IPL.
  

  Quotes

  “We have bowled well for 16-17 overs and have had two-three very bad ones, and that has cost us games.”

  “The pleasing factor for me is that even if we’ve lost games, I’ve never seen the boys totally deflated saying ‘no no, there’s no way we can beat them’.”

Day-night Test cricket has once again become a possibility after the ICC annual conference in Kuala Lampur

Firdose Moonda28-Jun-2012Day-night Test cricket has once again become a possibility after the ICC annual conference in Kuala Lampur. All Full Members were approached and asked if they would be open to the idea of hosting a day-night Test and there seems to be interested from some quarters. CSA’s acting chief executive, Jacques Faul, called it “one the exciting ideas” to emerge from the meeting.”We were all encouraged to try and host a night Test,” Faul said at a press briefing on his return home. “In our case, it’s something the board will have to approve first before anything else can happen. Then, we’ll have to convince the players, the coach and the opponents.”Although Faul admitted the idea is something CSA may “want to try”, he said he would not be happy to rush into it without some form of trial run. “If we do it, we will start off with a first-class match. I’m not brave enough to just get into a [international] night game without testing it,” he said. Pakistan is the only country that have played first-class cricket under lights, with the final of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy being played as a day-night fixture for the last two seasons.Faul said there was significant feedback from the Pakistan experiment to pique the interest of some other countries, including South Africa. “There weren’t any negative comments about it,” he said. “The pink Kookaburra ball is good enough, is what we have been told.”Should South Africa decide to sample the concept, Faul said they will look carefully into which grounds they can use, with a particular focus on weather. “Night cricket is a funny thing, because it means playing in different conditions,” he said. “I am a little scared about the dew factor at certain grounds at certain times of the year.” South Africa’s Highveld venues as well as the coastal ground in Durban, where humidity is high, usually have significant amounts of dew during the summer months.The specifics of day-night Test cricket are already being talked about in some form. Faul said the idea would be to start at 4pm and play until around 10pm, meaning playing time amounting to an hour less than is currently the norm. “It’s speculation for now,” Faul said.He admitted the most important aspect would be getting players to agree to participate in the idea but, he said, he believed it could revolutionise the longest format of the game. “It will be interesting to see how the players react to it but I think it could be very beneficial,” Faul said. “I think that might be the way forward. I might not see it taking place at every venue or against every team, but it definitely has the blessing of the ICC executive’s committee.”

Several leading India and overseas players contracted to Royal Challengers Bangalore, including team captain Daniel Vettori, are awaiting the first instalment of their fees for the 2012 season

Sharda Ugra and Nagraj Gollapudi12-Jul-2012Several leading India and overseas players contracted to Royal Challengers Bangalore, including team captain Daniel Vettori, are awaiting the first instalment of their fees for the 2012 season. Australia allrounder Andrew McDonald is believed to be another player who has not been paid, along with some members of the support staff. The South Africa Cricketers’ Association confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that five South Africans had outstanding payments due to them from the Royal Challengers. The South African cricketers on the Royal Challengers roster include A B DeVilliers, Charl Langeveldt and Rilee Rossouw.Though this is the first season that Royal Challengers have delayed on payments on this scale, the players affected are concerned by the lack of response from franchise officials to their queries. The news comes at a time when the Bangladesh Premier League is in the headlines for non-payment of salaries to its overseas players.Franchise officials, including team director Siddhartha Mallya, did not respond to repeated requests over several days by ESPNcricinfo for comments on the issue.The development coincides with the well-documented financial difficulties being faced by the UB group, the franchise owners. Royal Challengers Bangalore are owned by businessman Vijay Mallya through UB Sports Pvt Ltd, a group subsidiary. In recent months, Mallya’s airline, Kingfisher Airlines, has been found to be in debt of $1.3b. Recent rumours of the sale of the team’s stake have been denied by the UB Group, with a spokesman saying: “There is no question of a stake sale in the Royal Challengers Bangalore team.”The players affected include those from India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. It is believed that Chris Gayle, though, has been paid his contracted amount. “Gayle is looked after separately,” a Royal Challengers player said.Under every identical tri-partite IPL contract, signed between the player, the franchise and the IPL, clause 1.a.i (which covers the schedule of payments) spells out the payment break-up: the player receives 15% of his fee for the season by April 1 (before the IPL or early into it), 50% by May 1 (during the IPL or towards its end), 20% after the Champions League T20 and the remaining 15% by December 1. As of today, Royal Challengers has not met this schedule, with several players still owed 65% of the fee owed to them, nor has it provided any explanation for the delay. It is understood the players emailed the management after the season finished in May, but did not receive a straightforward response.Heath Mills, the chief of the New Zealand Players Cricket Association (NZPCA), said he’d heard about the delay from Vettori on Monday. “It’s disappointing that some of the players have not been paid to date. We hope they are paid before this issue becomes more serious. It really isn’t right that people are not paid for work they have already completed, and I can’t imagine anyone in any workplace environment being overly happy about that.””Nobody has come back to us, to let us know what is going on,” a player said, under the condition of anonymity. “The people, at the moment, are in the dark. Normally there are one or two cases of delayed payments that we have seen in the previous seasons.”Some players are known to have written even to the Royal Challengers’ head coach Ray Jennings, who was unavailable for comment. The players just want to know what the problem is; a clear response will leave them much more comfortable. “There must be a problem. But I need to have awareness of the problem,” another player said. “We are adult enough to understand if there is a problem, that is fine, but we have to see how we resolve the issue from here.”

The ICC have extended the deadlines for naming World Twenty20 squads, although the chances of Kevin Pietersen being included for England remain very slim

Andrew McGlashan16-Aug-2012The ICC has extended the deadline for naming the World Twenty20 squads, although the chances of Kevin Pietersen being included for England remain very slim.The original deadline was Saturday but boards have now been given until August 24 to submit their 15-man lists for the tournament which begins on September 18, after the ICC received requests “from several of its members”.It is understood that the ECB was one of the boards who asked about the possibility of an extension with the ICC but that was to avoid a clash with the final Test against South Africa which starts on Thursday. The ECB was also believed to be happy to abide by the Saturday deadline if required.Sri Lanka, who are currently in the midst of the SLPL, are another country who requested an extension as their domestic Twenty20 tournament will help determine selection for the World Twenty20.It is now expected that England will name their squad on Tuesday, following the conclusion of the Test series, although the party, it is believed, was decided during a selection meeting at Edgbaston last week.Although Pietersen offered an apology to the ECB on Tuesday night for what he termed ‘provocative’ text messages to South African players it was met by a cool response from the management and Andrew Strauss. His apology followed the YouTube video on Saturday night when he made himself available for all international cricket having previously retired from limited-overs cricket which led to him being unavailable for Twenty20.”The truth is a lot has happened over the last seven days,” Strauss said. “The England team has been in the news for the wrong reasons. We all want to move forward but there are some underlying issues on trust and respect that don’t get dealt with over night and it’s going to take quite a long time to overcome those.”Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket, said lots of negotiations remained. “We are in receipt of Kevin’s apology, but further discussions need to take place to establish whether it is possible to regain the trust and mutual respect required to ensure all parties are able to focus on playing cricket and to maintain the unity of purpose that has served us so well in recent years.”Five countries – Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Bangladesh – have already named their squads for the World Twenty20.

Michael Muirhead, a management consultant, has been appointed CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Sep-2012Michael Muirhead, a management consultant, has been appointed CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board. Muirhead, a Jamaican, will replace Ernest Hilaire, who steps down on September 30 after completing a three-year term.Muirhead, 55, served as Executive Director of the Tourism Product Development Company of Jamaica from 2004 to 2006 and since then has been engaged as a management consultant with several high-level projects in the country. He was also with Price Waterhouse and served in senior management positions at the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica.”The Board is confident that the appointment of Mr. Muirhead will ensure that West Indies cricket remains resolutely on the path to structured development and progress and that he is most capable of continuing the process of overseeing the implementation of the WICB Strategic Plan 2011-2016,” Julian Hunte, the president of the WICB, said. “Michael brings a wealth of experience in a range of sectors in Jamaica. He is an accomplished, astute and measured executive on whom the Board will rely to execute its programmes and policies and further build capacity at the WICB secretariat.”The interview panel was most impressed with his resume, clarity of thought, broad understanding of the sport, communication skills and overall skills set, and specifically, his capacity for judicious management. Now that we are exiting the ‘season of fundamental change’ in West Indies cricket and approaching the road to sustained stability and steady progress, the Board believes that Michael is the ideal candidate to lead its administrative arm.”Muirhead said: “I am delighted at the confidence that the Board has placed in me and stand committed to advancing the implementation of the Strategic Plan and the policies of the Board.”West Indies cricket has been enjoying some recent successes and is now positioned to be a competitive force once again among the cricketing nations of the world. I will do my utmost to maintain and improve on what has already been put in place thus ensuring that we as West Indians can once again proudly hold our heads high.”