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There was 24% fall in participation during the pandemic hit 2020-21 season

Andrew McGlashan04-Aug-2021Inevitably Covid-19 had an impact on grassroots participation in Australian cricket last summer, and is likely to do so for another season, but the decline was mitigated somewhat by growth in the female game.Cricket Australia released its annual participation figures on Wednesday with an overall drop of 24% from approximately 710,000 registered players to 539,000.However, there was a 2% increase in children playing the game. That was powered by 17.5% growth among girls registered to clubs and the Woolworths Cricket Blast programme in the first summer after Australia’s T20 World Cup success, which finished with the final at the MCG with a crowd of over 86,000 just days before the pandemic shut down global sport.”We were really fortunate with some timings and there’s no doubt the impacts we felt last season will be a similar story this year,” James Allsopp, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of community cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “Cricket really did reconnect communities last year after missing winter sports, that’s seen in the junior numbers, so we are really pleased with the way the game came out of it. We are also really mindful that the impacts won’t be a one-off thing, we’ll be navigating it this summer as well.”The areas hit hardest by the pandemic were indoor cricket, schools and social competitions. Overall, Cricket Australia said there were 170,000 games played last season largely thanks to the efforts of volunteers who adapted to the new normal.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Around the country, particularly Melbourne but everyone went through it at some stage, they had to do their version of biosecure plans,” Stuart Whiley, Cricket Australia’s head of participation, said. “There were Covid-safe plans, cricket club will never have spent more money on sanitiser, there were check-in, check-out systems.”For a club volunteer who is trying to do that as well as living with everything else going on that’s a lot of additional work. First and foremost, we are just really appreciative of the volume of work volunteers picked up to get those games to happen.”While trying to see through another season that appears likely to face disruption, an area of continued focus for CA is to ensure there are pathways into cricket outside of the club structure both for the multi-cultural communities and also those for who the traditional route is not the best fit.”We know that South Asian communities love their cricket so we are really sharply focused on how we are integrating those communities into our clubs,” Allsopp said. “We need to really understand their culture, what are the barriers to them participating and making sure we an inspiring them to play the game.”That’s something we are really mindful of as we start to work through the new strategic design. How do we continue to support the traditional club structure but how do we diversify the cricket offering so they are flexible, more social, you can opt in and out, to make sure there’s a format of cricket to suit everyone.”

Legspinner admits it would be ‘a bit unfair’ for him to be included ahead of squad announcement on Monday

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Feb-2020Adil Rashid has appeared to rule himself out of England’s Test tour to Sri Lanka, suggesting that it would be “a bit unfair” to declare himself available for selection without earning his place in county cricket.Rashid was a key member of England’s side that won 3-0 on their last trip to Sri Lanka, taking 12 wickets at 28.16 as part of a spin trio with Jack Leach and Moeen Ali, but, following Sunday’s ODI in Johannesburg, told Sky Sports that he would “probably not” consider declaring himself available for their upcoming tour if asked.ALSO READ: Archer not ‘overbowled’ by England, says Root“That’s a long way off,” Rashid said. “At this moment in time, I’m concentrating on playing for England in T20 cricket coming up in a couple of days.”I don’t think I would [make myself available] at this moment in time. For me to get into Test cricket, I’ve got to earn that right and deserve my place. For me to get Test cricket, I’ve got to go back into county cricket, perform, do well, and then get selected.”It’s a bit unfair for me to just say ‘yeah, I’m available’. At this moment in time, I’m really concentrating on white-ball cricket. Maybe in the future [I’ll return to Test cricket].”It is over a year since Rashid’s last first-class appearance, which came in England’s 381-run defeat against West Indies in Barbados, and he is yet to sign a new contract with Yorkshire ahead of next season.His comments seem to jar with the circumstances surrounding his recall to the Test side in 2018, when he was recalled despite not having played a County Championship game since the end of the previous summer.But he has had to manage a persistent shoulder problem since the start of last summer: he had to take pain-killing injections to get through the World Cup, and missed the rest of the 2019 season following the final of that tournament in July.It now appears highly unlikely that Rashid will be named in England’s squad for their tour of Sri Lanka, which is expected to be named on Monday morning. Jack Leach is expected to be fit enough to travel alongside Somerset team-mate Dom Bess, while reports suggest that Moeen’s self-imposed absence from Test cricket is set to continue, meaning Liam Dawson is likely to be included as the third spinner.Rashid took 3 for 52 in Johannesburg on Sunday, including the crucial wickets of Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma, and was named player of the match for his efforts. He bowled at a quicker pace during his ten overs than he had in November’s T20I series in New Zealand, and revealed afterwards that his speed through the air was the result of hard work pushing himself to get back towards full fitness.”It’s nice to get back in this circle,” he said. “I love playing white-ball cricket, especially with England, so it’s nice to get out there and bowl some overs.”Once you have that shoulder injury, that niggle, then you feel it, especially as a legspinner – you might struggle to get that extra zip, extra pace. It’s [been] frustrating, but you’ve got to make do with it, you’ve got to find a way.”[Speed] is something I’ve been working on, especially with the shoulder, trying to get stronger and better. I’ve been trying to bowl a bit quicker, bit more in the run-up, in the action, trying to get more fizz. My mindset is pretty simple: go in the nets, work hard in the nets, try my best in the nets, and then try to deliver.”

England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, meanwhile, has been named the Emerging Player of the Year

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Dec-2018

ICC women’s teams of 2018

ODI team of the year: Smriti Mandhana (India), Tammy Beaumont (England), Suzie Bates (New Zealand, capt), Dane van Niekerk (South Africa), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Alyssa Healy (Australia, wk), Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Deandra Dottin (West Indies), Sana Mir (Pakistan), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Poonam Yadav (India)
T20I team of the year: Smriti Mandhana (India), Alyssa Healy (Australia, wk), Suzie Bates (New Zealand), Harmanpreet Kaur (India, capt), Natalie Sciver (England), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Ashleigh Gardner (Australia), Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand), Megan Schutt (Australia), Rumana Ahmed (Bangladesh), Poonam Yadav (India)

India opener Smriti Mandhana has become the second winner of the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award after being adjudged the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year for 2018. Mandhana, the leading run-getter in women’s ODIs with 669 runs at an average of 66.90 and the third-highest scorer in T20Is with 622 runs at a strike-rate of 130.67, has also been named the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year.The T20I honours went to Alyssa Healy, who was Player of the Tournament during Australia’s run to their fourth Women’s World T20 title in the West Indies, where she made 225 runs at an average of 56.25 and a strike rate of 144.23.Mandhana, 22, is only the second Indian woman to win an ICC award. The fast bowler Jhulan Goswami was named the ICC Women’s Player of the Year in 2007. Australia allrounder Ellyse Perry was the inaugural recipient of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award last year.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“The awards are pretty special because as a player when you score runs, you want the team to win, and then when you get acknowledged for your performances through these awards, it motivates you to work harder and do well for your team,” Mandhana told .”The century I scored in South Africa (in Kimberley) was quite satisfying and then I had good home series against Australia and England. A lot of people used to say I do not score that much in India, so I had a point to prove to myself. That was something which really made me better as a player. And then, of course, the first four matches of the ICC Women’s World T20 were quite memorable.”Healy, meanwhile, enjoyed a memorable year in T20s even outside her World T20 heroics. Having begun her year with a maiden WBBL hundred and a maiden international century within the space of three months, the wicketkeeper-batsman finished fourth on the T20I run-getters list in 2018 behind New Zealand allrounder Suzie Bates, India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and Mandhana.”It’s obviously a huge honour,” the 28-year-old Healy said. “I enjoyed some form over the last couple of months, thoroughly enjoyed playing for the Aussie team in the T20I format. Winning the ICC Women’s World T20 final against England is something pretty special, especially after a disappointing couple of years in World Cups. That win against them, a dominant performance, was pretty special and one I will never forget.”When I first started playing for Australia I never thought that I would achieve anything like this. It’s a huge honour and one that I will not take lightly.”The 19-year-old England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has been named the Emerging Player of the Year. She took 18 wickets in nine ODIs and 17 in 14 T20Is during the calendar year. She was part of the squad that finished runners-up at the World T20.”There have been lots of great moments,” Ecclestone said. “As a team we’ve played some really good cricket and we did well to reach the final of the ICC Women’s World T20. We learned a lot in India at the beginning of the year and we took that into our summer against New Zealand and South Africa. We’ve never said we’re the perfect team but we’ll keep working hard to get better and that’s the same for me.”Alyssa Healy swats one through the leg side•Getty Images

The ICC also named Bates and Harmanpreet the captains of the women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year.Harmanpreet, 29, led India to their first semi-final appearance in the World T20 since the 2010 edition, but was involved in a public fallout with the ODI captain Mithali Raj after the team’s exit. Harmanpreet said the award would help build her confidence in the role.”BCCI is showing confidence on me – that I can do well in the format and I am looking forward to do well in the future,” Harmanpreet said. “To be honest, it was really surprising for me. The last two years we did not get enough T20I matches to play and it was really tough for me to build that confidence in the team and show that self-belief that we can do well in T20Is. Credit goes to all team members, the way they worked hard and show that self-belief.”Bates, meanwhile, stepped down from the captaincy ahead of the World T20, handing over the reins to Amy Satterthwaite. Bates had led New Zealand to second place in the second cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship after three rounds.”Thank you very much to everyone who voted for the ICC team of the year,” Bates said. “To be named captain is just an absolute honour. Obviously, I have been playing for a long time and stepped down from captaincy, but to be named captain of a World XI is pretty special and something I will always remember.”It would be nice one day if we got together to play as a group and to captain some of the superstars, but once again such a huge honour and congratulations to all the award winners for this year.”

Mark Davis has left Sussex by “mutual consent” after the club’s failure to achieve Championship promotion

George Dobell25-Oct-2017Sussex have confirmed the departure of their head coach, Mark Davis. While the club insisted the decision was reached by “mutual consent”, it is clear Davis paid the price for Sussex’s failure to achieve Championship promotion and an over-reliance upon imported players. It is also understood that Davis lost the confidence of some senior figures in the dressing room.Sussex are now expected to hold a thorough recruitment process to appoint a successor. Chris Adams, captain during their three County Championship triumphs in the 2000s, is certain to be a strong candidate for the role with a possibility that he might be able to coax former team-mate Matt Prior back to the game in some sort of part-time, back-room role. Prior retired in 2015 due to injury and has subsequently moved into cycling as the co-owner and chief executive of One Pro Cycling.Confirmation of Davis’ departure comes a day after long-serving batsman Chris Nash was released and Rob Andrew, Sussex’s chief executive, said it was time to try and take the club in a new direction.”After reviewing a disappointing season for the first team, it was concluded that action needed to be taken in order to build for the future,” Andrew said. “The difficult decisions to part company with Mark by mutual consent and to agree to Chris’ request to be released from his contract were part of that action, but at its core were moves to solidify the foundations of a squad that has the potential to achieve great things in the coming years.”As such, a number of players have been offered and have signed new or extended contracts over recent weeks, and more are set to follow. This means we now have a stable and balanced squad made up of a mix of youth and experience that offers real strength across all disciplines.”Whoever is appointed is likely to be expected to show much greater faith in home-grown talent than was the case in 2017. While the club have enjoyed some success at age-group level in recent seasons, there were times last season when four or five of the team was made up of players ineligible for England – including Kolpak signings Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese – which inevitably limited the opportunities for younger players.”I strongly believe that when a new head coach is appointed, they will have the raw materials with which to build a trophy-winning side,” Andrew said. “We are continuing to work on our four-year strategic plan for the wider organisation and there will be further news on this in due course.”A major part of that strategy will be the on-going development of home-grown Sussex players by our Performance Department. This work will continue the well-established trend of Sussex-bred bowlers and batsmen making their mark in the 1st XI.”Davis’ departure ends a long and generally happy association with Sussex. First as a player (he was part of the squad that won the County Championship for the first time in the club’s history in 2003) and then as a coach – he started as 2nd XI coach before being appointed head coach in 2015 – he has been associated with the club for 17 years.In a statement released by the club, Davis said: “I have established a very strong squad including Jofra Archer, Stiaan van Zyl and Laurie Evans and given opportunity to a number of young players who will no doubt achieve great things in the future.”The professional squad is very well set for the challenges ahead and I am confident these players will bring silverware to the club. I would like to thank all the players, support staff and coaches who supported me, as well as all the faithful Sussex supporters”.

A round-up of the National Cricket League 2016-17 matches that ended on September 28, 2016

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2016

Tier 1

Rain wreaked havoc in the National Cricket League Tier-1 opening-round match between Dhaka Metropolis and Dhaka Division. Only 15 overs of play were possible over four days in the drawn game and the umpires called off play early on the final day. The other three first-round matches were also affected by rain.Barisal Division held Khulna Division to a draw at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna. Batting first, Barisal were bowled out for 261 runs in 80 overs. Abdur Razzak and Al-Amin Hossain picked up three wickets each while Barisal’s innings was propped up by three fifties by Shahriar Nafees, Fazle Mahmud and Monir Hossain. In reply, Khulna posted 424 runs with Tushar Imran and Razzak scoring 91 and 97 respectively, while Mahedi Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz made 85 and 73. Golam Kabir and Sohag Gazi took three wickets each. Trailing by 163 runs, Barisal reached 248 for 8 on the final day. Nafees struck his second fifty of the match, scoring 72.

Tier 2

In Sylhet, Rangpur Division reached 224 for 5 in a chase of 265 runs in a draw against Chittagong Division in a Tier-2 match. Rangpur scored more than five runs an over in their chase, but couldn’t push their way to a win. Mahmudul Hasan struck an 89-ball 85 and Ariful Haque slammed 63 off 50 balls to control Rangpur’s chase.Earlier batting first, Chittagong put up 368 runs. Yasir Ali top-scored with 90 while Tasamul Haque struck 52. Alauddin Babu took three wickets. Rangpur conceded a first-innings lead of 13 runs after being bowled out for 355. Tanveer Haider fell three runs short of a hundred, while Saymon Ahmed (53) and Dhiman Ghosh (86) also made fifties. Yasir Arafat Mishu took 5 for 65 on his first-class debut. Suhrawadi Shuvo’s 5 for 50 then helped Rangpur bowl Chittagong out for 251 in the second innings, leaving Rangpur a target of 265.In the other Tier-2 game, Rajshahi Division also drew against Sylhet Division at home. Batting first, Abu Jayed’s five-for blew Rajshahi away for 199 runs in the first innings. Then Farhad Reza and Muktar Ali took three wickets each as Sylhet were bowled out for 175, giving Rajshahi a 24-run lead. Rain, however, ate into the game and the match ended with Rajshahi at 120 for 4 in the second innings.

Despite their easy six-wicket win against New Zealand in the first T20, South Africa captain AB de Villiers said his side’s bowling lacked bite in the first six overs

Firdose Moonda15-Aug-2015The secret to understanding sport is examining a series of moments which explain how a game is won or lost. Take the first six overs of the T20 between South Africa and New Zealand, for example.In that period, the hosts were barely hanging on. They were still sussing out the early-season surface, which was not sprinkled with the usual spice of a South African strip. Their seamers steered away from a short-ball barrage and pitched it up instead. Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson took advantage of the fielding restrictions and the width on offer, and found the boundary 10 times in the Powerplay. New Zealand were stringing together what they thought would be the foundation of their success and AB de Villiers was unhappy with the lack of bite from his bowlers.

August pitch earns praise

South Africa had never played an international in August before Friday and they will be pleased to know pre-season is actually a perfect time to host cricket, at least in Durban where summer rainfall often pours a wet blanket on the action in the peak period. Both captains described the Kingsmead pitch as a “good wicket” with enough in it for both batsmen and bowlers. Kane Williamson went as far as to say it was “probably a 180 wicket” even though his team could only muster 151. AB de Villiers agreed but added that there was also some spice for the seamers and surprisingly, turn for the spinner, Aaron Phangiso, who also expressed surprise at the assistance he got. “I got value for shots,” de Villiers said. “But then the ball also beat the bat and that’s the kind of cricket you want to see: high scoring games but always something in it for the bowlers.”

“It’s an area we will discuss again – the first six overs because we are not as good as we wanted to be there. We wanted to be a little more aggressive,” de Villiers said. “A couple balls were maybe a little bit too full, which is not a bad thing, but you also want to see the aggression.”The game changed, however, in the moments after that. Immediately after the Powerplay, de Villiers gave the ball to left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, his last hope in stemming the flow. Phangiso’s first over ended with the wicket of Williamson, who admitted he was hoping to take on the spinner but could not. “Phangiso bowled nicely and changed his pace. With the short boundaries, you think you can go after the spin but he controlled his length,” Williamson said.Phangiso, who finished with 2 for 29 in four overs, was also pleased with the show of confidence from his captain. “It was great to see the captain give me the ball under pressure,” Phangiso said. “All players want to succeed under pressure. I enjoyed the pressure and I enjoyed the confidence of the captain giving me the ball at that time.”The sequence of events that followed explain how South Africa went on to win the game. David Wiese took pace off the ball, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel held back the lengths and Kyle Abbott mixed it up to keep New Zealand guessing, prompting de Villiers to call the team’s bowling comeback “near perfect”.”We slowed the game down and turned the momentum around and then ran with it,” de Villiers said. “All the seamers who came back for their second spells bowled really well. We mixed it up exceptionally well. The last 15 overs of our bowling performance was near perfect.The guys had really smart plans. When I spoke to them between balls, the guys knew exactly what they wanted to do. I saw all the variations from them: yorkers, good length balls and bouncers.”As much as South Africa applied the chokehold, New Zealand allowed themselves to be cornered. “We weren’t quite at our best in the last 10 overs. We know we have the firepower in that lower middle order to cash in on situations like that and we weren’t quite on top of things,” Williamson said.The collapse of 7 for 40 was partly due to no one in the middle order taking responsibility of the latter part of the innings and Williamson has challenged his team-mates to change that in the next match. “It’s a fine line when you lose wickets, and we lost two wickets in a row a couple of times which never helps but it takes one other bloke or two other blokes to get going and get the score moving.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the opening Twenty20 between New Zealand and England

Preview by Andrew McGlashan08-Feb-2013

Match facts

February 9, 2013
Start time 7.00pm (0600GMT)Brendon McCullum is the only batsman with two Twenty20 international hundreds•Gallo Images

Big picture

It might only feel five minutes since the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka – and it is only five months – but the next tournament is little more than a year away so there is no time like the present to start the planning, especially with the fragmented nature of bilateral T20s at international level.This three-match series gives both teams a decent chance to bed into the format. The structure of the tour is also to New Zealand’s benefit with the shorter formats (50-over matches follow later this month) their best chance of turning England over – the odds favouring England could even be a little generous – and success in coloured clothes would allow them to enter the Test series in decent heart.Both teams had a disappointing World T20 in Sri Lanka, exiting in the Super Eights, and have enjoyed mixed results since. England shared their series in India while New Zealand lost against South Africa, although they did gain one victory through a stunning innings by Martin Guptill.Batting is probably the stronger department of both sides, especially with Ross Taylor’s return for the hosts, and coupled with some short boundaries around New Zealand it should lead to a high-scoring series. England are still trying to work out their best combination of bowlers and Steven Finn’s poor warm-up form has confused matters a little.

Form guide

(Most recent first, completed matches) New Zealand LWLTL
England WLLWL

In the spotlight

Ross Taylor has admitted his relationship with coach Mike Hesson remains a “work in progress” but so long as his mind is switched to batting he will considerably strength the New Zealand side. However, his T20 numbers are perhaps a little lower than expected – an average of 24.37 and strike-rate of 120 – and it has been suggested that he has not always been best utilised in the order. New Zealand are not good enough not to make the most of him.The England wicketkeeping merry-go-round continues and currently Jos Buttler is the man hanging on. Yet while questions remain about his glovework, as a batsman he is starting to show his rare ability. He has produced a couple of sparkling T20 displays in the last few months and prepared for this series with back-to-back rapid half centuries against the New Zealand XI.

Team news

Grant Elliott (quad) and Ian Butler (ankle) have been ruled out of the opening game meaning a call-up for allrounder Jimmy Neesham who now has a good chance of playing. Hamish Rutherford, the son of Ken, is in line for a debut to open the batting and Taylor’s return is likely to come at No. 4 followed by a clutch of allrounders.New Zealand (probable) 1 Hamish Rutherford, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Brendon McCullum (capt & wk), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Colin Munro, 6 James Franklin, 7 Andrew Ellis, 8 Jimmy Neesham, 9 Nathan McCullum, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Mitchell McClenaghanJoe Root did not appear in any of the warm-up matches so is unlikely to feature and the main issue is to solve being who plays at No. 7. Samit Patel bowled well in the second warm-up match and may be asked to share some overs with Luke Wright. Eoin Morgan’s batting position will depend on the state of the innings and overs remaining.England (probable) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Michael Lumb, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Jos Buttler (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Stuart Broad (capt), 9 James Tredwell, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Jade Dernbach

Pitch and conditions

It is a drop-in surface at Eden Park and is expected to be of decent pace, ideal for Twenty20 cricket. The unusual dimensions of the ground, which is also a rugby stadium, mean exceedingly short straight boundaries which will make life hard work for all the bowlers, but particularly the spinners. The forecast is for a warm, sunny day leading to a very pleasant evening.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand’s top order will include three T20 hundreds (two for Brendon McCullum and one for Guptill) but England’s batsmen have yet to score one. Alex Hales and Luke Wright have both reached 99.
• England have only lost once in six T20s against New Zealand. Their most recent meeting was at the World T20 in Sri Lanka when England won by six wickets.

Quotes

“I’d imagine it will be a feisty contest, like we always have with New Zealand, and both teams will be going hell for leather to win.”
Stuart Broad“He’s come back in and he was smiling and happy and a definite part of the group. Ross is a fabulous cricketer and he’s shown that so far in his career, his ability to step up time and time again on the international stage.”
Brendon McCullum

Stuart Broad has said that England “would not want to be chasing much more than 250” in the final innings against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi

George Dobell in Abu Dhabi27-Jan-2012Stuart Broad has said that England “would not want to be chasing much more than 250″ in the final innings against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.Broad, the England allrounder, followed up his excellent first-innings bowling with an aggressive half-century to help his side gain the initiative in the second Test. A fightback from Pakistan’s fifth-wicket pair of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq brought the hosts back into the game, however, and left them leading by 55 with six wickets in hand at the close of the third day.”We’re delighted with our position,” Broad said. “They’re only about 50 ahead and we are only 19 overs from the new ball. We just have to remember we are only two wickets away from being into their tail.”We don’t want to be chasing more than 250. Scoreboard pressure plays a huge role and even if the wicket does get a bit flatter that’s still a decent score. We have to bowl well and that new ball will be the key. Hopefully we can restrict them to about 200 and then chase that down.”Broad denied that England were frustrated by Pakistan’s resistance and instead reasoned that batting conditions had eased.”Frustrating isn’t the word,” he said. “In Test cricket, you expect partnerships. The wicket today played at its flattest – I just don’t know if it will turn more or play flatter tomorrow. But the important thing is we didn’t start chasing wickets; we didn’t start trying for magical deliveries. We just stayed patient.”Earlier Broad had struck six fours and a six in a 62-ball innings of 58 to help England gain a first-innings lead of 70.”Looking at how difficult it was to defend against the quick-turning ball at the end of the second day, I thought my best option would be to try and manoeuvre the field, try to counter punch,” he said. “Once I hit a couple of boundaries, everybody seemed to move out and I could pick up some singles and twos. It was a personal decision to give it a bit of a go with the amount of turn there was the night before and it paid off.”Azhar, meanwhile, saw things slightly differently. He reasoned that a lead of 150 would prove “very good” on this wicket and that anything “above that would be excellent”.”We’re very confident,” he said. “We are fighting back. We lost four wickets but we’re determined and will not give up.”No one gave their wicket away. The England bowlers are very good, it has to be said, but we don’t want to give up. We were determined and we knew that if we stayed there, the runs would come.”Both players also praised what Azhar called the “fantastic crowd”. Around 14,000 spectators took advantage of the free entry to attend the third day’s play, creating “brilliant support for both teams”, in the words of Azhar.Their presence also helped drown out Sky Sports commentator David Lloyd, according to Broad. “The Barmy Army have been brilliant throughout,” he said. “But it was so quiet on the first day that we could hear ‘Bumble’ commentating and we had to ask the umpires to turn the speakers down.”I keep thinking when I go to leave the ground at the end of the day, ‘Tomorrow is a huge day – tomorrow evening I’ll know what the result will be’. But I keep getting to the end of the day, and I’m no clearer.”This has been an amazing Test. It’s been one for the purists, I suppose. The cricket has been quite slow at times, but very intriguing. It really can go either way.”

The USA Cricket Association has announced an historic deal in partnership with New Zealand Cricket designed to grow the game in the USA

Peter Della Penna19-Dec-2010The USA Cricket Association (USACA) has announced an historic deal in partnership with New Zealand Cricket (NZC) that is designed to grow the game exponentially in one of the ICC’s target markets. The partnership establishes a newly formed entity, Cricket Holdings America LLC, which will hold a majority of the commercial rights to cricket in the United States. This includes potentially valuable Twenty20 rights and the ability to stage a franchise-based Twenty20 league.New Zealand will play an agreed number of matches in the United States as well as make its players available to participate in any future Twenty20 leagues, as part of the partnership. There is no word yet on when New Zealand will play its next series in the USA or who the opponent will be. NZC will also contribute management, development and coaching resources.In an interview with ESPNcricinfo in November, USACA treasurer John Thickett stated that the association was closing in on an eight-figure deal involving NZC and Saturday’s announcement confirms that. “This is a historic day for the development of cricket in the USA,” Thickett said. “This partnership has the potential to bring both funds and know-how to US cricket and provides a robust long term development plan for the world’s second-most popular sport in a major market. I am absolutely thrilled at the opportunities it will provide USACA’s stakeholders.””This partnership will provide cricket in the US two very clear benefits,” USACA President Gladstone Dainty said. “Importantly, it will provide a sustainable revenue stream for the development of the game and secondly, we shall be supported by the knowledge and expertise that comes from a Full Member country like New Zealand. These two compelling benefits will assist us to give cricket a strong foothold in the United States.”The other members of the partnership are Australian-based marketing company Insite, cornerstone investor Top Bloom and Podar Holding International, part of the Podar Enterprises group based in India, with has interests from mining and manufacturing to sports education, and operates the Cricket India Academy in Mumbai.Neil Maxwell, the executive director of Insite, claimed that Cricket Holdings America should have a “capitalized value in the ballpark of between $80-100 million”. Maxwell and his company were eager to get involved in the US market and he is being credited with brokering the deal. He was a visible presence at a USACA board meeting in Florida last March and also appeared at the Twenty20 series in May between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Lauderhill.”With a population of four million, New Zealand is a limited market place,” NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan, said. “We have historically punched above our weight through leadership and innovation. Cricket Holdings America LLC is a significant step in diversifying our long-term revenue base and in the process, growing a new market.”

United Arab Emirates completed a comfortable five-wicket victory over the United States of America in their World Twenty20 Qualifier warm-up game at Sharjah.

Cricinfo staff05-Feb-2010
Scorecard
United Arab Emirates completed a comfortable five-wicket victory over the United States of America in their World Twenty20 Qualifier warm-up game in Sharjah. A middle-order collapse meant USA could only muster 134 for 8, and after opener Mohammad Iqbal’s brutal 43 the target was chased down with 11 balls to spare.USA had looked set for a large total after Sushil Nadkarni and Carl Wright put on 64 in the first eight overs. Nadkarni, who has a reputation as a prolific batsman in American cricket, blazed his way to a half-century, but his dismissal by Fayyaz Ahmed sparked a disastrous collapse as seven wickets fell for only 25 runs in the second half of the innings.Ahmed grabbed three wickets in four balls – including the captain Steve Massiah and Sudesh Dhaniram for first-ball ducks – while Ahmed Raza and Shadeep Silva ensured there would be no fightback from the lower order. Orlando Baker’s breezy cameo took the score past 130, but USA would have been hoping for 30 to 40 more runs after the bright start to their innings.UAE’s reply got off to a brisk start courtesy of Iqbal. He smashed six boundaries, including three sixes, to take the pressure off his opening partner, Arfan Haider, who played a far more sedate innings before he was dismissed by Imran Awan. Iqbal was run out in the same over, but calm innings from Saqib Ali and captain Khurram Khan ensured there would be no repeat of USA’s collapse.Timroy Allen, the young Jamaican-born fast bowler, struck twice in the 18th over to remove Khan and Ahmed, but by then the result was all but sealed. These two teams meet again at Abu Dhabi in two days time for their second warm-up game before the World Twenty20 Qualifiers begin on February 9.