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Virat Kohli says Rohit Sharma has the capability of captaining India some day

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2013Virat Kohli has said India batsman Rohit Sharma has the potential to captain the side one day. Kohli’s potential as a future captain of India received another tick with a 5-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe in the recently concluded ODI series and he cited Rohit as a contender to step into MS Dhoni’s shoes.Kohli and Suresh Raina have, in the recent past, captained India in Dhoni’s absence in certain tours. Rohit had enhanced his captaincy credentials when he led Mumbai Indians to the 2013 IPL title and is still establishing a permanent place in India’s limited-overs sides.”Rohit has a tremendous cricketing brain,” Kohli said at an event in Lucknow. “I often take his advice during matches. He has shown his capability while leading Mumbai Indians in the IPL.”Kohli, who was nominated for the Arjuna award on Tuesday, has amassed 332 runs in 8 matches as captain, including two centuries. The first, an attacking 102 off 83 balls, sparked a turnaround that helped India win the West Indies tri-series in July. He is second only to Shikhar Dhawan among India’s representatives in the top-five run scorers for ODIs this year.”I like to be a captain and take responsibility,” Kohli said. “As batsmen, we focus only on ourselves. But as a captain we have to look into every aspect. We have to deal with each and every player. Though the responsibility increases manifold it is a great challenge.”

Matt Lineker hit his second century in six days as Unicorns ended their Yorkshire Bank 40 season on a high with a 42-run victory against Leicestershire at Grace Road

18-Aug-2013
ScorecardJosh Cobb hit a half-century, but after that Leicestershire fell away•Getty Images

Matt Lineker hit his second century in six days as Unicorns ended their Yorkshire Bank 40 season on a high with a 42-run victory against Leicestershire at Grace Road.The 28-year-old former Derbyshire batsman scored 132 off 106 balls to steer Unicorns to 259 for 5 after they had been put into bat. It followed the 107 he made against Yorkshire last Tuesday.And then a feeble batting performance by the Foxes saw them bowled out for 217 in 39 overs, with seamer Garry Park claiming career best one-day figures of 4 for 39, giving Unicorns the only win of the campaign in their final game. The shock defeat ended Leicestershire’s slim hopes of reaching the semi-finals.It was a lacklustre effort from the home side with both bat and ball, and some loose bowling allowed Lineker and Tom Lancefield to post an opening partnership of 114 in 23 overs. Lineker dominated the stand with some bold attacking shots, reaching 50 off 44 balls with six fours plus a massive six off Michael Thornely. The century partnership was brought up with a cheeky reverse sweep by Lancefield.But having contributed 38 to the stand Lancefield was bowled by a quicker ball from Josh Cobb. Lineker however, continued to punish Leicestershire’s wayward attack and Park also chipped in with a six off Alex Wyatt. Another boundary by Lineker – his 14th – took him to his century off 86 balls.Park, who shared a stand of 81 in 10 overs with Lineker was bowled by Anthony Ireland for 31 and Bharat Tripathi was then beaten by a yorker from Shiv Thakor for 10. When Lineker finally holed out to long leg off Thornely he had hit 17 fours and two sixes. Unicorns scored 91 off the last 10 overs helped by 39 runs coming off two oves from Ireland and Thakor.Leicestershire made a good start to the chase with Cobb hitting a run-a-ball half century in an opening stand of 89 with Niall O’Brien. But when the two of them were out in the space of five overs the innings disintegrated.Only Ned Eckersley and Tom Wells offered any resistance, with Park picking up the wickets of Eckersley, Matt Boyce, Ireland and James Sykes to complete a memorable victory for Unicorns.

Former Test cricketers Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott have been elected in the New Zealand Cricket board of directors

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Sep-2013Former Test cricketers Richard Hadlee, Martin Snedden and Geoff Allott have been elected in the New Zealand Cricket board of directors. The three were among eight new directors voted in by delegates representing all Major Associations and District Associations in a general meeting in Auckland.The other five members included in the new board of directors were Greg Barclay, Neil Craig, Liz Dawson, Stuart Heal and Don Mackinnon, all of whom have experience in sport and corporate administration and governance. Barclay, Heal and Mackinnon, who are also current NZC directors, were relected. The three former cricketers also have extensive experience in administration of the sport.Heal, the current chair of the audit and financial risk committee, will act as interim chairman of the board till a permanent chairman is elected at the first board meeting on October 23.The vote was an outcome of the new NZC constitution that was approved in July.

Brendon McCullum was at the forefront of a cavalier batting approach as Chennai Super Kings posted a total substantial enough to take them to No. 1 in the league

The Report by George Binoy25-Apr-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details4:27

O’Brien: Everything went right for Super Kings

Brendon McCullum was at the forefront of a cavalier batting approach, the Kings XI Punjab bowling and fielding withering under his charge, as Chennai Super Kings posted a total substantial enough to take them to No. 1 in the league. The 97-run victory brought them level with Rajasthan Royals on ten points, but ahead on net run rate with a game in hand. Kings XI, on the other hand, slipped below Mumbai Indians to the bottom of the competition.These two teams had played each other three times in the 2014 season and on every occasion Kings XI had made more than 200 to beat Super Kings. This time, however, without Glenn Maxwell who was dropped because George Bailey returned as captain, Kings XI were restricted to their second lowest 20-over score in eight IPL seasons. They stumbled to 95 for 9 as the Super Kings’ rejuvenated spinners Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin shared five wickets for 36 runs in eight overs after an ordinary start to the tournament.From the moment Dwayne Smith flayed the first ball of the game from legspinner Karanveer Singh to the cover boundary, Super Kings were always on top of the contest. It was the beginning of an opening stand of 50 in 4.4 overs, during which Smith waylaid Karanveer for 22 in an over and McCullum smacked Sandeep Sharma around.McCullum was dropped by Mitchell Johnson on 21, and made Kings XI pay, slashing and pulling to 66 off 44 balls. He had got to his fifty – 32 balls – with two pulls off Johnson: the first not perfectly timed to the midwicket boundary, the second superbly pulled over deep square leg. By the time he was dismissed, Super Kings had got to 116 in 12.1 overs.McCullum had added 66 for the second wicket with Suresh Raina, who had two bits of good fortune. The first was on 8 when umpire Johan Cloete didn’t see an edge to the wicketkeeper, and the second was on 13 when Johnson put down another catch. Raina didn’t punish Kings XI as severely as McCullum did, but after his exit MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, who were sent in ahead of Dwayne Bravo and Faf du Plessis, finished the innings with a 48-run stand in 28 deliveries.Super Kings had looked on course for more than 200 at one stage, but their total of 192 was a formidable one.The Kings XI chase was a procession. Virender Sehwag chipped Ishwar Pandey to mid-off in the first over, and Shaun Marsh was trapped lbw by Ashish Nehra in the sixth. With the score 39 for 2, Dhoni brought on his spinners after the fielding restrictions and Jadeja and Ashwin ended the contest.
Jadeja dismissed Bailey and Miller in single digits in his first two overs, and Ashwin got M Vijay and Axar Patel in his second and third. That left Kings XI 66 for 6 and sinking irrevocably.Dhoni called the victory, “one of the most convincing wins we’ve ever had in all IPLs.”

Glamorgan’s bowlers made rapid inroads on an abbreviated second day’s play in their Championship Division Two clash with Northamptonshire

ECB/PA01-Jun-2015
ScorecardCraig Meschede added two wickets to his first day century•Getty Images

Glamorgan’s bowlers made rapid inroads on an abbreviated second day’s play in their Championship Division Two clash with Northamptonshire.Play was only possible before lunch at the Swalec Stadium but, after those 28 overs, the visitors were left struggling at 79 for 5. Even that came after a recovery of sorts, with Josh Cobb and Adam Rossington adding an unbroken 46 before rain stopped play.The weather threatened all morning and Glamorgan’s seamers took full advantage of cloudy skies and a green pitch to trouble the batsmen. Resuming with no score after nightwatchman Azharullah played out a maiden on Sunday evening, he and Stephen Peters progressed to 28 before Northants collapsed to 33 for 5, with five wickets falling for five runs in six overs.The opening partnership featured five penalty runs, awarded when wicketkeeper Mark Wallace chased the ball to fine leg and returned to Colin Ingram, who had illegally put on Wallace’s discarded glove to field the ball.Michael Hogan made the initial breakthrough when he uprooted Peters’ off stump with a ball that nipped back off the pitch, and he was quickly followed by Kyle Coetzer who chipped Hogan to midwicket.There was no respite from the other Glamorgan seamers, with Craig Meschede inducing Azharullah to edge one to Jacques Rudolph at slip. Rob Newton became Meschede’s second victim when he was caught by Wallace, before Rudolph then took his second catch in Ruaidhri Smith’s first over to dismiss Rob Keogh.Northants could have been in further trouble had Ben Wright, at midwicket, managed to hold on to a sharp chance offered by Cobb before he had scored. Cobb and Rossington then counterattacked effectively, sharing eight boundaries in what remained of the action and leaving Northants 143 runs away from the follow-on target of 222.Hogan believes Glamorgan are “in a position of control”, adding: “If we can all bowl well again tomorrow morning, then we will be in total control. It’s a good pitch, with enough in it to encourage the quicker bowlers, especially with the new ball, but if the batsmen can get over the first hour or so there are runs there. We saw that in the first innings, when we were 92 for four and then recovered well.”

Hong Kong have called up 17-year-old Giacomo Lamplough to their squad for the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier after batsman Waqas Barkat was ruled out of the tournament due to visa complications

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2015Hong Kong have called up 17-year-old Giacomo Lamplough to their squad for the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier after batsman Waqas Barkat was ruled out of the tournament due to visa complications. Lamplough is a part of Hong Kong’s development squad for the 2015-16 season.Charlie Burke, Hong Kong’s director of cricket, said that the selection was an exciting moment for Lamplough who has been recognised as a “prodigious junior talent”.”I really feel for Waqas. As a former vice-captain he is a key member of the squad. I know how disappointed he is. However, he understands the situation and has accepted it with grace,” Burke said. “On the upside, this is an exciting moment for Giacomo who has been known throughout the Hong Kong cricket community as a prodigious junior talent over his formative years, receiving the HKCA’s Junior Player of the Year this season whilst also performing at the highest level in senior cricket. He is one of the best fielders I have ever seen and even though he has been with us as a development player so far here in the UK, I know the boys cannot wait to welcome him officially into the group.”Burke added that Lamplough had gained significant experience during his stints with the Hong Kong Cricket Club and the Craigengower Cricket Club, playing matches in New Zealand, Singapore, England and Australia over the last 18 months.Hong Kong will arrive in Scotland on July 3 for their official practice matches against Netherlands and Afghanistan on July 6 and 7 respectively. They are drawn in Group A and will play Ireland, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Namibia and USA after their opening game against Jersey on July 11. The top four teams in each of the two groups will progress to the quarter finals, and the top six qualify for the group stages of the ICC World Twenty 20 to be held in India in 2016. Hong Kong played their first World T20 in 2014, but failed to progress beyond the group round.

Tom Abell played a serene innings of 88 that, alongside James Hildreth, who scored 76, led Somerset to 310 for 6 on a difficult pitch to leave the match well poised after an intriguing first day.

Freddie Wilde at the Ageas Bowl21-Jun-2015
ScorecardTom Abell again fell short of a maiden first-class ton•Getty Images

Tom Abell, just 21 years of age, taps the bat in his stance with great care. It is almost as if he is standing on glass; as if he doesn’t want to damage the crease around him. This is his area, his territory. He nurtures this zone, looks after it and protects it, not ostentatiously like Jonathan Trott, or eccentrically like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, but quietly and carefully. It was this soft bat-tap; one of minimal fuss and undemonstrative personal protocol that embodied Abell’s serene innings of 88 that, alongside James Hildreth, who scored 76, led Somerset to 310 for 6 on a difficult pitch to leave the match well poised after an intriguing first day.Abell’s 88, that came from 170 balls in exactly three and a half hours at the crease, caps off a memorable week having signed a four-year contract on Monday and scored two crucial fifties in Somerset’s dramatic win against Nottinghamshire which ended on Wednesday.A highly regarded product of Somerset’s academy, Abell was the 2013 Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year following in the footsteps of the likes of Jonny Bairstow, James Taylor and Jos Buttler. He is learning from the best too. After scoring 95 at No. 4 on his first-class debut last season, and then finishing his French and Sports Science degree at Exeter University this spring, Abell has been given the opportunity to open with Marcus Trescothick this season. Here, while Trescothick conspicuously struggled with some probing Hampshire bowling, Abell’s progress through the morning session was comparatively trouble-free.Hampshire will perhaps think themselves unfortunate not to have taken a wicket in a compelling first hour in which the ball beat the bat regularly and at times spat nastily off the pitch. But they had their chance and didn’t take it: with Trescothick on 30 Gareth Berg produced an edge and Liam Dawson couldn’t hold onto a sharp chance at second slip. Trescothick briefly threatened to punish Hampshire, twice pulling short balls to the boundary with awesome power, but he fell for 53 shortly before lunch, bowled by a good full ball from Berg.Abell reached his fifty soon after lunch with a nicely struck boundary but just eight balls later Jackson Bird took the wicket of Johan Myburgh, caught driving at point, to leave Somerset 142 for 2. Myburgh’s demise brought together Abell and James Hildreth, a partnership of steel and silk, and the pair fed off some poor Hampshire bowling as the sun beat down and the afternoon session wore on.It seemed as if it was going to take something special to remove Abell, and special it was. Pushing forward to a full ball from the left-arm spin of Dawson, Abell was opened up by some sharp turn and the ball clipped the top of off stump. Abell walked off just as he batted, with no fuss and no remonstration, but when he raised his bat to warm applause there was understandably a sense of disappointment in his manner. A maiden first-class hundred was there for the taking, and although he was dismissed by a good ball, he will just wish he had covered his off stump – even an edge may have seen the ball squirt away through third man.Less than six overs later Jim Allenby was on his way back to the pavilion too, caught well by Sean Terry at short-leg for 9, again off the bowling of Dawson. And when tea came with Somerset 222 for 4 a day that had been almost entirely dominated by Somerset was suddenly back in the balance.Hildreth is quite possibly the best current county cricketer never to play for England in any format, and after tea he demonstrated his class, moving from 36 to 50 in five balls and three scoring shots before making excellent headway towards a century. But the pitch was still offering assistance to those disciplined enough to consistently hit a good length, and within the final hour Peter Trego, who scored a patient 21, was bowled through the gate by a sensational ball from Sean Ervine before Hildreth was trapped lbw by James Tomlinson. There were many occasions in this day when things looked to be running away from Hampshire but it is to their credit that they kept coming back, but Somerset will be the happier of the two teams on a pitch that has proved tricky to bat on.Michael Bates, on his return to the home of the county who controversially released him, received a warm applause as he made his way to the middle in the final half hour, and Somerset will hope he can marshal the tail tomorrow to drag Somerset to and beyond 350.

The last series of group matches in the NatWest T20 Blast saw a number of teams deeply interested in what their rivals were doing or, more to the point, given the wide band of rain that moved in from the West, whether they were playing at all

Paul Edwards24-Jul-2015This was not a normal Friday evening. The last series of group matches in the NatWest T20 Blast saw a number of teams deeply interested in what their rivals were doing or, more to the point, given the wide band of rain that moved in from the West, whether they were playing at all.And, in the end, the final quarter-final berth was confirmed in the dying moments of a sodden evening when Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan in a Five5 which meant Essex clung on for fourth place in the South Group.After heroic efforts by the Glamorgan groundstaff, and with just minutes to spare, the thrash began moments before 9pm. Essex fans suddenly swelled Gloucestershire’s support base. They glued themselves to radio and social media to track every ball. It was out of their hands, but Glamorgan could only post 45 in their five overs. Gloucestershire cruised it.Paul Grayson, the Essex coach, was relieved. “We would have preferred to have played and beaten Kent to book our quarter-final place but I am still happy that we have made it through,” he said. “After our poor start in the competition when we lost four of our opening five matches, to have reached the quarter-finals is something that we have to be happy with no matter how it was achieved.”

NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals

August 12: Sussex v Northamptonshire, Hove
August 13: Birmingham v Essex, Edgbaston
August 14: Worcestershire v Hampshire, New Road
August 15: Kent v Lancashire, Canterbury

Earlier, at lunchtime, the position in the North Group was that Birmingham Bears and Worcestershire Rapids had secured home quarter-finals; the remaining places would be taken by two of Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Lancashire Lightning and Nottinghamshire Outlaws with the Trent Bridge side needing to get more points than one of the other pair in order to make the last eight. If no game could be played, Notts were out.The situation in the South Group was never so simple. While Kent Spitfires had booked their home quarter-final spot for Saturday August 15, the remaining three places were to be fought over by six counties: Hampshire, Sussex, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Surrey. It was, in its way, as near as county cricket gets to an election night.The first no-result came in from Kennington North, where Surrey’s home match against Sussex Sharks at The Oval was abandoned early on. This eliminated Surrey. It also moved Sussex up to second in the group but, quaintly, did not even guarantee their qualification for the last eight.And that was it for an hour or more. Somerset’s home game with Middlesex had bit the Taunton mud but neither of those teams could qualify anyway.Across the rest of the country, savvy captains took the view that play might still be possible in their own game for just as long as they knew other matches had not been called off. At Worcester the great ground could only be viewed through a thin film of rain. Everyone waited for conditions to improve in the full knowledge that they probably would not. Peter Roebuck once described English cricket as a dry game in a wet land.At 6.45 umpires Steve Garratt and Jeremy Lloyds declared that no play would be possible at Worcester and at more or less the same time, the game between Leicestershire and Notts was also abandoned. Those decisions sorted out the North Group and made it clear that Lancashire Lightning would visit Kent Spitfires.”There a few nervous moments checking on my weather thing,” Ashley Giles, Lancashire’s cricket director, said. “It suddenly brightened up a little bit at Leicester but it appears it has gone dark.”It is unfortunate for Notts but of course good news for us. It’s not the way you want to go through to a quarter-final but one of our targets was to get to the quarters for a start, then move on from there.”Mick Newell, Notts’ director of cricket, had an honest assessment. “It wasn’t about tonight, it was about the results earlier in the
competition,” he said. “We’ve beaten all the teams which have finished in the top four at least once, so we only have ourselves to blame.”Now all that was needed was for similarly executive decisions to be made by the returning officers at Chelmsford and Cardiff. But at Chelmsford, the rain stopped and the umpires decided to have a glance at 7.45. However, it was futile and the match was abandoned shortly before 8.30pm, leaving all eyes on events in Cardiff. Despite all the rain, there was drama to the very end.

New Zealand’s domestic first-class competition – the Plunket Shield – will take place without match referees in the upcoming season, as a result of budgetary cuts

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2015New Zealand’s domestic first-class competition – the Plunket Shield – will take place without match referees in the upcoming season because of budget cuts. The removal of the three match referees is one among a number of programmes to be cut by New Zealand Cricket, who are expected to face a multi-million dollar loss this year.The match referees were tasked with assessing umpire performance, playing standards of the grounds and on-field incidents, all of which will now be handled by the officiating umpires with assistance from regional associations to ensure quality playing conditions.”It wasn’t a cheap programme given we had to pay them, travel them round and pay for accommodation,” NZC head of cricket Lindsay Crocker told . “It was really disappointing but it was a programme we are simply unable to afford.”If we had more income then we would be able to do all the programmes we wanted, it’s just the nature of running a business and trying to compete on world terms with a budget smaller than our competitors. Now we’ll be asking the people who host the matches, the major associations, to step up and take responsibility for quality again.”Crocker said the money generated from co-hosting the 2015 World Cup would be used as a safeguard for the future and other areas of investment. “The World Cup was a one-off, it isn’t a matter of making a nest egg and then expending it. We’ve got to be prudent about that, it gives us an opportunity to sit out any future rainy days and there is also some investment we need to do around facilities.”The Cricket World Cup money and the legacy we attach from there is really around capital projects rather than operational ones.”As was the process before the concept of match referees came into force, umpires will receive feedback through reports from captains and from NZC umpire Tony Hill, who will travel to select matches.

Australia’s squad for the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane next month is expected to have a very different look from the 15-man group that was supposed to tour Bangladesh

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2015Australia’s squad for the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane next month is expected to have a very different look from the 15-man group that was supposed to tour Bangladesh. The likely return of David Warner, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Johnson should immediately lead to three changes, while the different conditions could also bring changes to the attack.Chairman of selectors Rod Marsh at the weekend declared “open season” on selections after the cancellation of the Bangladesh tour due to security concerns, and national selector Mark Waugh on Monday supported his views. The likely return of Warner from a fractured thumb, and Johnson and Hazlewood, who were to be rested from the Bangladesh trip, will be key factors in selection changes.”There’s three players straight away who you would imagine would come back into the reckoning,” Waugh told reporters in Sydney on Monday. “And [there’s] different conditions, you’re not going to have two spinners at the Gabba. So, there are some guys who were picked on that tour who are going to be shuffled down the order a little bit, but you can’t do anything about it.”At least their names are there … they got picked on an Australian tour so they can take comfort from the fact that they’re definitely in the reckoning. The real thing is it’s going to be a different 11 for the first Test in Brisbane to what would have been picked in Bangladesh.”Among the players who hoped for a baggy green in Bangladesh were the uncapped opening batsman Cameron Bancroft and fast bowler Andrew Fekete. Both men starred on the first day of the Matador Cup competition on Monday in Sydney, where Bancroft struck 176 against South Australia and Fekete picked up 4 for 30 in Tasmania’s win over Queensland.It is also hard to see the spinner Steve O’Keefe being called on during the summer in Australian conditions; in Bangladesh he was likely to play alongside Nathan Lyon in a twin spin attack. Australia’s players now have only one-day cricket and one round of Sheffield Shield matches before the first Test against New Zealand, but Waugh said limited-overs form would be considered.”It’s a different format, but you’ve seen players picked from one-day cricket for Test squads before so it does carry over,” Waugh said. “It’s a different game obviously, you’ve got to bat for long periods in Test cricket, one-day cricket the most you can bat is 50 overs, but I think just the form, you can see if guys are batting and bowling well.”If you’re not doing well it can count against you more so. You want to see all your players performing well … I’m not saying you can pick a guy from 50-over cricket, but if you’re making runs and taking wickets it doesn’t do your chances any harm.”Marsh had said at the weekend that he felt sorry for the players who could have expected a debut or a return to the Test team on the Bangladesh tour.”You feel for blokes who would have gone on that tour and maybe even played in a Test,” Marsh said. “We’ll never know who was going to play in those two Test matches. No one will never know, except perhaps me and Darren [Lehmann].”Although, we didn’t really know, either, because we didn’t see the conditions. It’s just a terrible shame that we couldn’t go, but you can’t go against what the government says. They make the rules. I feel very sorry for the players from both sides because I’m sure it would have been a very good contest.”