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Bruce Edgar, the former New Zealand opening batsman, has been named the country’s general manager national selection

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2013Bruce Edgar, the former New Zealand opening batsman, has been named the country’s general manager national selection. Edgar will take up office next month, his primary role being aiding New Zealand head coach Mike Hesson in selecting the national team.New Zealand Cricket had advertised to fill the role, and Edgar was eventually nominated for the job after being interviewed by a panel that included former quick Richard Hadlee. Having played 39 Tests for New Zealand between 1978 and 1986, scoring 1958 runs, Edgar also has a background in commerce. He played 64 ODIs too, and has a wealth of domestic experience with Wellington: he played 175 first-class games in a 15-year span, aggregating 11,304 runs, in addition to 3893 List-A runs from 119 games. After retirement, Edgar also got himself certified in coaching in Australia, and has worked on New South Wales’ high performance programmes and coached batsmen in grade cricket in Sydney.David White, the NZC chief executive officer, expressed delight at Edgar’s appointment. “Bruce is highly respected within the cricket fraternity and he was a very successful player both on and off the field,” White said. “He is considered methodical and logical, with exceptionally good attention to detail. And while Bruce has been recently living in Australia, he’ll be supported in the role by the local knowledge of talent scouts and major association coaches.”Edgar spoke of his keenness to expose New Zealand’s next generation of cricketers to foreign conditions. “Players need to be given opportunities to bridge the gap between first-class cricket and the international stage,” he said. “I would like to see players given experience in the subcontinent and with local conditions in other countries.”NZC had announced last month that the national team’s head coach would have the final say in selection, forming a two-member selection panel with the general manager national selection. Edgar takes the job following Kim Littlejohn’s confirmation that he would not seek to extend his tenure in the role when his contract runs out in September. Edgar’s contract will run through till the end of the 2015 World Cup.Apart from the senior team, Edgar will also play a role in the selection process of the New Zealand A team and the Under-19 side.

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke has insisted that England will not be greeted by doctored pitches when they arrive down under for the return Ashes series.

Daniel Brettig at The Oval25-Aug-2013Australia’s captain Michael Clarke has insisted that England will not be greeted by doctored pitches when they arrive down under for the return Ashes series. This is despite his side’s dire results over nine Test matches in India and England in 2013, where surfaces have without exception been made to order for the home team.England’s coach Andy Flower had argued, at times politely and others forcefully, for the dry, slow strips played on across the five Tests that reaped a 3-0 margin for the hosts. The England captain Alastair Cook said such tactics were all part of home advantage in a contemporary Test series.In a dry summer the chosen pitches had forced a strong Australian pace attack to work hard for their wickets while also aiding the superior spin of Graeme Swann. Yet Clarke, having seen his team subjected to all manner of humiliations and now dropped to No. 5 on the world rankings for the first time since August 2011, did not submit to the view that Australia would need to be equally precise at home.”I think we’ve had enough success in Australia how the wickets are, so I don’t see any reason to doctor them,” Clarke said. “I want to see good even wickets, a good contest between bat and ball. It’s how I think you play your best cricket, that’s how the people watching get to see some great cricket, so I’m confident if the wickets are how Australian wickets are and we play our best cricket, we’ll have success.”In my time as an Australian player I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Australian wicket change too much. Generally you know what you’re going to get, so I don’t see any reason why they will change that. You want a good, even battle between bat and ball and spin will definitely play a part as the wickets deteriorate in Australia, because it’s nice and hot. To me that’s how you see some great cricket.”At the end of the day that’s a part of international cricket; you tour around the world and play in different conditions. You need to find a way to adapt. Unfortunately for us now in India and in the UK we haven’t been able to have success so we’ve got to keep working hard.”As he drank in the realisation of his first Ashes series win as captain, Cook acknowledged that his team had sought every possible advantage, and would not begrudge Australia doing likewise. “Of course home advantage gives you that choice to try as much as you can to push things in your favour,” he said. “That’s why its Test cricket, that’s why it’s home advantage and one of the beauties of Test cricket is you have to test yourself in different conditions.”So when we get to Australia it’ll be similar I imagine to 2010-11, those pitches which they will try to have suit them as well, but we’ve got some good memories of what happened there last time, and a lot of the similar players are there as well.”The captains’ contrasting attitudes to the overseeing of home pitch preparation is in line with a wider theme. Australia prefer to play a more romantic, aggressive brand of the game, even if they have repeatedly tripped over in the pursuit of their ideal. But England are unapologetic about thinking negatively at times, reasoning that to push an opponent further from victory is to pull themselves closer to it.”Australia should be credited a little bit for the way they’ve set the game up,” Cook said of a dramatic final day at The Oval. “But at the beginning of the day we knew we had to make it as difficult as we could for Australia to push home what they were trying to do. We knew they were going to push for the win, and the harder we made it the easier it would’ve been for us to win, and that was proven.”

Titans will be be counting on the experience of AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel to guide them in the Champions League T20, after a trophy-less domestic season

Firdose Moonda20-Sep-2013Overview

The most successful South African franchise had a lean summer in 2012-13 and did not collect a single trophy. They finished last in the first-class competition they were defending, fared slightly better in the fifty-over tournament and were beaten in the final of the Twenty20 competition.But the defeat that stung them most was their semi-final loss to the Sydney Sixers in last year’s CLT20. The match was snatched away from them off the last ball and then-captain Martin van Jaarsveld was obviously stunned at the media engagement afterwards. Titans are seldom used to coming off second-best, and to succumb to defeat at home in a tournament where they fared well, hurt them.They have a second chance, having qualified to play in the CLT20 again albeit in vastly different conditions to their own, and they will fancy their chances of bettering their showing because they are an almost entirely different unit. For a change, they will have some big-name internationals, who usually are unavailable for them, in their line-up and they will also be lead by a new coach.Van Jaarsveld, who has retired, will not be around to lead them. Instead, Henry Davids, who has already captained them in the longer format, takes over in all competitions. Davids is an experienced domestic player who has learned to manage his charges well but will also hope his leadership skills get noticed by those in decision-making positions at national level and maybe even an IPL franchise.He’s not the only player who will want to use this shop window as a way to showcase himself. Fit-again Marchant de Lange, who has recovered from a stress fracture which kept him out of the game for most of last summer and a rib niggle which bothered him in pre-season, is another. Charging in to bowl at 150kph plus, de Lange will be looking to make a case for a national recall. Opening batsman Davids and allrounder Roelof van der Merwe are also players to watch out for.Most importantly, Titans will use this event to begin a new era. After a difficult last season, and following the departure of the much-loved Matthew Maynard, they seemed to have lost some direction. But a changing of the guard may have breathed fresh verve into them. The CLT20 could be the place to show that off first.Key players

Although Titans have lost Albie Morkel and Faf du Plessis to Chennai Super Kings, who are incidentally in their group, they have the good fortune of having two other key national players in their squad. AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel would have played for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils respectively, but neither team qualified.International and T20 commitments mean they rarely turn out for Titans even though both of are products of the franchise. It presents the conundrum of who to leave out to make room for these must-have players, but it a problem any franchise would be happy to have.De Villiers, who gives them a third wicket-keeping option after Heino Kuhn and Mangaliso Mosehle, can bat anywhere in the order, while Morkel will spearhead their pace attack. Both players have had ample experience having toured India, and could be ideal mentors for some of the younger crop.Weaknesses

A change in leadership can be a positive, but it could also trip Titans up, especially as it will be their first assignment with new personnel in charge. Rob Walter, formerly South Africa’s fitness and fielding coach, has taken over from Maynard and may have a baptism of fire in one of cricket’s biggest club tournaments.Walter has not had any competitive experience with his squad, although they have played a few warm-up games, so he has not had time to allow his style to sink in. Add to that that Titans do not often have the national players at their disposal and Walter’s management just became tougher. Without having had the time to come up with patterns of play, Walter’s credentials will be tested on the toughest stage.Surprise package

In a squad packed with international players, Titans sometimes don’t have room for an under-the-radar type, but Ethy Mbhalati is one of their longest-serving. Mbhalati leads the attack in all their domestic games, and is known for his accuracy. Although he does not have the pace of de Lange or Morkel, his discipline should serve him well on the slower tracks of the subcontinent.

The latest ICC rankings show an intriguing battle developing for qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2015The latest ICC rankings show an intriguing battle developing for qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy. The top seven sides in the world, plus hosts England, will compete at the next 50-overs tournament and the cut-off date for qualification is September 30, 2015.Bangladesh, with 88 points, have risen to eighth place after a 3-0 drubbing of Pakistan, who are a point behind them at ninth.Mashrafe Mortaza told ESPNcricinfo that moving up the rankings was a priority for Bangladesh to make sure they remained in contention for direct entry into the next World Cup as well.”See in the dressing room we mostly talk about training, planning and the match, mostly,” he said. “But of course, whenever we were in a briefing, I would mention it and we discussed it in length. As a cricket nation, we have to progress in every format. We have to ensure we are going ahead in T20s and Tests but the ODIs too need attention. We will prepare properly for the T20 World Cup next year and we need constant attention to Tests but we have a target to stay within No. 8 to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. This is an important first step.”West Indies, who are ranked seventh, currently have no ODIs scheduled between now and September 30, leaving them potentially vulnerable to Pakistan, who have eight matches to come – three at home to Zimbabwe and five in Sri Lanka each at home, and Bangladesh have three against India and South Africa.Meanwhile, Australia have tightened their grip at the top of the ICC ODI rankings following their World Cup victory last month. Their lead has doubled over India after triumphing in Melbourne to lift a fifth title. New Zealand’s run to the final of the World Cup sees them rise to third in the table, while England’s miserable tournament has sunk them to sixth place.India remain in second place, the position they also occupy in the T20 rankings, with Sri Lanka, the reigning World T20 champions, extending their lead.The latest ICC rankings see the table recalibrated to include matches only in the last three years. One-day rankings differ to the Test placings, that are calculated after every match.ICC ODI Rankings
1. Australia 129pts
2. India 117
3. New Zealand 116
4. South Africa 112
5. Sri Lanka 106
6. England 94
7. West Indies 88
8. Bangladesh 88
9. Pakistan 87
10. Ireland 50
11. Zimbabwe 45
12. Afghanistan 41ICC T20 Rankings
1. Sri Lanka 135pts
2. India 124
3. Australia 122
4. West Indies 117
5. Pakistan 113
6. New Zealand 110
7. South Africa 110
8. England 100
9. Bangladesh 77
10. Afghanistan 62
11. Netherlands 60
12. Zimbabwe 51
13. Scotland 44

“It was obviously pretty prehistoric in terms of the way they went about things. You could see that in the results they got.” Paul Collingwood’s verdict on England’s performance in the World Cup might just be the most apt epitaph yet.

Tim Wigmore05-Jun-2015″It was obviously pretty prehistoric in terms of the way they went about things. You could see that in the results they got.” Paul Collingwood’s verdict on England’s performance in the World Cup might just be the most apt epitaph yet.Collingwood, who was coaching Scotland during the World Cup, remains the only Englishman to lift a global limited overs trophy: the 2010 World T20 in the Caribbean.”We’ve always played catch-up in the one-day form of the game,” he said, though he believes England have been handicapped by conditions that render attacking the new ball far harder than in other parts of the world. “Whenever we tried it in English conditions, it never quite worked because of the seam movement and all this business. We kind of get halfway and then always resort back to the more conservative plan. But now there is a real sense of ‘we’ve got to do this’ because we’re getting nowhere playing conservative cricket.”The guys in world cricket now who have taken the game to the next level are people like AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Chris Gayle and they are playing as if they are in the back yard. It’s as if there are no consequences on their wicket whatsoever. Somehow a coach has to get that environment, certainly in the one-day form of the game, to where he can say ‘lads, you’re backed, don’t worry, you have games to fail, go out there and prove what you can do’. I think that is an important factor in how to get the utmost amount of skills from each player.”In his role as Durham captain, Collingwood has seen a new breed of English one-day batsman emerge, and is adamant that there is “a hell of a lot of talent” around, if only it is allowed to flourish. He is particularly excited about Alex Hales, aghast that England failed to give him “a good year of cricket” before the World Cup after his century against Sri Lanka in last year’s World T20.While Collingwood briefly worked as an England coach last year, he no longer has a formal role in the set-up. But Collingwood has discussed a potential role with Andrew Strauss, the new director of England cricket. “I’ve spoken to him but nothing concrete. It was just to see what my position was moving forward,” Collingwood says. “The experience of playing for England for so many years, that’s where you feel you belong, in that dressing room wearing the three lions. You’re never guaranteed a job when you come out of cricket but if there was a role they wanted us to play somewhere it would be hard to turn down.”Not that Collingwood is planning on giving up county cricket just yet. Having vowed that the 2014 season would be his last, Collingwood played so well that he decided to play on again. After an even better start to 2015 – he already has two Championship centuries and a five-for – he could again postpone his retirement. “I actually found a cover drive,” he laughs. “I would have thought I’d have another year of playing, I’m still enjoying it and love trying to help develop the youngsters up at Durham who are coming through.”One of those, Mark Wood, made quite an impression in his debut Test series against New Zealand. Not that Collingwood was surprised. “He has got great skills, a fast bowler who can swing the ball both ways. In any side is going to be hard to combat.”The great thing about Woody is that he has taken his character into that dressing room, he doesn’t seem to be scared of the environment which is a real positive. I think that will be good for the England dressing room because he’s a good guy to have around. He is a bit mad but he’s a great guy and I think he can bring more to the dressing room in terms of his skills out in the middle. He’s still very young and still has more development to come.”In a month’s time, Wood is likely to be playing in the Ashes, where Collingwood believes that England’s best chance lies in channelling a little of the buccaneering spirit of 2005.”It came after the Lord’s Test – I remember being in a meeting at Edgbaston and talking about taking it to the Aussies, not aggressively, but more in the way we play,” he says. “It was a real shift because we knew Warne was going to take wickets against us but can we make him go for four-an-over rather than two-and-a-half-an-over?””I can see England being in a similar situation now. We’re the underdogs again, nobody is expecting much from the Ashes but we have an opportunity there. It probably only takes one player like Freddie did in that series to re-ignite the love of the game again and really get the nation behind the team.”His Durham colleague Ben Stokes is indeed “the obvious one”. But Collingwood also expects Moeen Ali to surprise, especially with Australia likely to play two left-arm pace bowlers. “The pace that he bowls means he is going to be tricky, landing in the footholds they create outside off stump,” he says. “I think Moeen Ali is going to be underrated.”

Rahul Dravid has given a hint of his approach to dealing with India A players, saying he is ready to work with different mindsets and objectives

Amol Karhadkar11-Jun-20152:04

Need to guide, not teach, India A players – Dravid

Rahul Dravid has given a hint of his approach to dealing with India A players, saying he is ready to work with different mindsets and objectives. While the newly-appointed India Under-19 and India A coach feels that his mentor’s role at Rajasthan Royals will aide him in his new challenge, he doesn’t see himself “teaching” India A cricketers.”The selectors and the senior team management generally have a vision as to what sort of players they are looking to pick,” Dravid said on the sidelines of the convocation ceremony of the International Institute of Sports Management in Mumbai on Wednesday. “Sometimes you pick young players in India A, sometimes you pick players who are looking to make a comeback and want to push for the national team. Sometimes you pick players depending on what future tours are in mind.””So I think there are various parameters and you just can’t decide these kind of players should be selected or that kind. I see my job as coaching the players they have selected and not in the selection side of things. My job is to coach the players and try to help them to get to the next level.”Over the last couple of years, India A squads have consisted of fringe players alongside promising youngsters who have excelled on the domestic circuit. While the fringe players enter an A tour with an objective to continue knocking on the selectors’ door, the youngsters are more inclined towards facing new opponents in unfamiliar conditions to improve their skill sets and temperament.Dravid admitted that his experience as a mentor with IPL franchise Royals will come in handy in his new avatar. “The fact that I have spent a couple of years at Rajasthan Royals in the role of a mentor, I have seen the other side of what the sport is. I have always seen it as a player and I have spent many years as a player,” Dravid said.”The couple of years that I spent outside in the management and the coaching side of things, there is a lot of learning that you get all the time, and the more you do it, the better you get. It is like playing. I am looking forward to it.”While Dravid reiterated that he was “looking forward to” working closely with Ravi Shastri and his support staff of the senior team, the former India captain echoed Sunil Gavaskar’s opinion of the senior team not requiring a coach. At a function in Mumbai recently, Gavaskar had said that the senior team needs more of a mentor than a coach. Agreeing with Gavaskar, Dravid stressed that he would not prefer to “teach” India A players, instead helping them bring out their best.”There is no need for basic coaching at that level. You are looking for someone as the guiding factor or someone to create a good environment which helps to grow and share some of the experiences that we have,” Dravid said. “My philosophy is not going to be teaching. I don’t think you need to teach India A players how to play. They all know how to bat and bowl and they are there because they are successful. It is just about trying to help them to get to the next level.”

England’s style of play compared to the World Cup could not be more of a contrast but Steven Finn insisted the aggressive mindset so effective in this series was the plan for World Cup too

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2015Steven Finn suffered more than any England bowler at the World Cup but he, like the team, has shown a remarkable turn of form in the ODI series against New Zealand, which heads to the final match on Saturday level at 2-2. England’s style of play compared to the World Cup could not be more of a contrast but Finn insisted the aggressive mindset so effective in this series was the plan for that tournament too.The removal of Peter Moores as coach has been highlighted as the primary cause of England’s change of attitude but Finn insisted Moores was also trying to instill the type of cricket they have produced in this series.”We talked about what we wanted to do in the World Cup,” Finn said. “We sat in front of the media and said we wanted to play with freedom and smiles on our faces. We didn’t do it. I’ve been involved in both series and I can’t put my finger on why but it seems there has been a huge change in attitude here.”There’s been some personnel changes and those guys have come in and done really well. Everyone is playing with a smile on their face. Even when we walked off the field after going for 350, we felt as though we were in the game. When you are 100 for 0 off 11 overs, everyone is sitting there in the dressing room and there’s a real camaraderie with the guys that I’ve rarely experienced in a dressing room before. It is really exciting.”All the credit for England’s turnaround has gone to their batsmen but Finn has played a crucial, and largely unheralded, role in the series, staging his own comeback having been their most expensive bowler at the World Cup, and then left out of the tour to West Indies. Finn is the joint-top wicket-taker in the series and is the most economical of those to have played in three or more matches, conceding 5.67-an-over, which before this series would have been considered expensive. Finn recognised how much the game has changed.”It is about accepting that the game has changed. [Brendon] McCullum hit me over wide long-off for six and I thought, ‘that was probably hitting the top of off stump’. So you have to walk back and think, ‘fair play, that was a good shot’. It’s that sort of attitude that bowlers are having to take into games.”It’s like playing a long Twenty20. You almost have to accept that you’re going to be hit for boundaries, you have to accept that people will play good shots. It’s just trying to make sure they are playing good shots to get their boundaries and they are not hitting bad balls. It has changed big time since the World Cup. To come into this series and for there to be scores regularly of around 350, as a bowler you have to change your mindset and go about things slightly differently.”It’s been tricky so far but it’s been really exciting. We have a good, young, very talented group of players at the moment. We’ve talked a lot about playing with a carefree attitude and playing with freedom – we talked a lot about it in the winter but never did it – so it’s great that four games in a row now, win or lose, we’ve played with that attitude. It has stood us in good stead so far.”Finn might have feared his England career was over when left out of the West Indies tour but he has staged a second return to international cricket, following his initial resurgence having been dubbed “unselectable” during the Ashes tour of 2013-14.”When I came back from that Australia tour, we stripped everything back and went right back to basics,” Finn said. “It’s been a case of grooving that over the last 18 months. To be now feeling in control of what I’m doing when I’m at the end of my mark is a nice feeling and something I want to keep doing. I learned a lot about my bowling and my action in that time and I feel as though I have a really good understanding of it now. I don’t feel as though I’ve ever bowled this consistent in terms of where I’m bowling it. I’d love to get that high-end pace back 100 per cent all the time that I had when I was taking wickets a lot a few years ago. That’s something I’m working towards but I’m happy where I am at the moment.”My mantra is very much to keep it as simple as I can. When I’ve done alright in T20s and one-dayers, it is about keeping it as simple as you can. If you’re clouded at the end of your mark or clouded when you’re running up, that generally leads to you bowling a poor ball. So it is about having a clear plan and saying, ‘if you hit me while I’m bowling to this plan, then you’ve got the better of me and are too good for me today’. It’s about finding plans for each batsman and you try not to bowl to their strengths.”Finn was named in the 14-man training squad that will travel to Spain ahead of the Ashes and now has his sights set on a return to the Test arena.”Well my last Test match was in the last Ashes over here nearly two years ago. I’d love to be involved. I’m going to have to keep bowling well and taking wickets for Middlesex. I dream and hope and wish I can play in this Ashes series but I can’t change what I’m doing in order to do that. I can just keep plugging away, keep trying to get better, keep feeling that rhythm, keep feeling as if I’m getting better. If that gets me in the Ashes squad, then great.”

Cricket South Africa has extended Haroon Lorgat’s contract as chief executive officer by three years, until July 31, 2019

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2015Cricket South Africa has extended Haroon Lorgat’s contract as chief executive officer by three years, until July 31, 2019. Lorgat, the former ICC CEO, was appointed CSA’s chief executive in July 2013 for a period of three years.The board said it had decided to extend his tenure after the “exceptional progress” made since his appointment. The extension was recommended by a panel of directors at a board meeting in Johannesburg on Friday.”Haroon has more than delivered on our expectations and even though his first term will only end in twelve months’ time, the board had no hesitation to confirm the services of Lorgat for a second three-year term,” Chris Nenzani, CSA president, said.”He took over at a time of great uncertainty and under very difficult circumstances, but his experience and astute leadership has stabilized our cricket and set us on the path of achieving our goal to be the best run sports federation on the continent.”Lorgat has extensive experience as a cricket administrator. He was previously a treasurer of CSA and convenor of selectors, and spent four years -between 2008 ad 2012 – as CEO of the ICC. His stint so far with CSA has not been without its share of controversy.In his stint with the ICC, he had clashed with the BCCI on a number of issues, such as the Future Tours Programme, the DRS and an ICC independent governance review, and the Indian board had expressed reservations over his appointment as CSA’s CEO.Shortly after Lorgat assumed the role, both boards clashed over India’s curtailed tour to South Africa in December 2013, which deviated from the schedule put down in ICC’s FTP.Lorgat faced further trouble when the ICC began investigating his role in the statement made by its former legal head, David Becker, who said that BCCI’s flouting of the future tours programme could have legal implications.CSA withdrew Lorgat from dealing with the BCCI or the ICC until he was cleared in March 2014.

Mohammad Hafeez, who has been banned for one year, is bowling in the Haier Mobile T20 Cup tournament without having undergone any remedial measures to his action

Umar Farooq10-Sep-2015Mohammad Hafeez, who has been banned from bowling in international cricket for one year by the ICC, is bowling in the Haier Mobile T20 Cup without having undergone any remedial measures to his action. Bowlers banned from international cricket for suspect actions can bowl in domestic cricket if their home boards let them, but it is unusual for them to do so without any attempt at correction.Hafeez has so far bowled only in one match – three overs for 35 runs on Tuesday for Lahore Whites against Islamabad – and has not been used since because of a slight side strain.ESPNcricinfo understands Hafeez has not remodelled his action since it was found to be illegal for a second time in two years in July. He was first pulled up for a suspect action in November 2014, then made the necessary changes and was cleared by the ICC in April 2015. However, he was back under scrutiny two months later and when tests revealed his elbow extended beyond the permissible 15 degrees, the ICC banned him for 12 months.Hafeez cannot approach the ICC for a retest of his bowling action until the completion of his suspension, so at present there is no conclusive way to determine if he is bowling with his old action or a changed one.

Excerpt from ICC rules on suspect bowling actions

A player who has been suspended from bowling in International Cricket shall be permitted under the supervision and with the consent of his home board to continue to play domestic cricket.
In circumstances where a suspended player is seeking to play in domestic cricket events under the jurisdiction of another member board, the consent of that member board should also be obtained prior to the player participating in such matches.

According to ICC policy on illegal bowling actions, the concerned board shall formulate and implement a strategy to deal with players with illegal bowling actions in domestic cricket.”We are monitoring him as there is a provision that he can bowl,” Intikhab Alam, the PCB’s director of domestic cricket, told ESPNcricinfo, “It’s not like we are being lenient with him. The umpires can still report him if they suspect anything wrong in his action.”Since this ongoing tournament is being televised, it’s the best opportunity for us to monitor him closely. In a while, if he is reported at this level as well then he will be suspended for another three months.”As per ICC rules, a bowler can have maximum elbow extension or flex – the amount he bends and straightens his elbow while delivering the ball – of 15 degrees; anything more, and the action is deemed to be illegal. When he was first banned, Hafeez had been found to bend his elbow as much as 31 degrees. At an unofficial retest in January, he had brought it down to 17 and 19 degrees following which the PCB applied for an official retest, which he cleared. The tests after his second report in July though indicated the elbow extension had exceeded the permissible limit again.Last year, the PCB had decided to clamp down on questionable actions right from the domestic level and had directed match officials to report any bowler with a suspected action. The results were encouraging. Dozens of bowlers were reported and all of them were cleared after a short-term session at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

A sparkling all-round performance from Nasir Hossain proved match-winning as he led Bangladesh A to a 65-run win against India A in the second one-dayer to level the series 1-1

The Report by Vishal Dikshit in Bangalore18-Sep-2015
ScorecardNasir Hossain’s five-for included the wickets of Suresh Raina and Unmukt Chand•PTI

A sparkling all-round performance from Nasir Hossain led Bangladesh A to a 65-run win against India A in the second one-dayer, helping them level the series 1-1. Coming in at 82 for 5 in the 19th over, Nasir pulled Bangladesh A out of troubled waters with an unbeaten hundred, his third in List A matches, to lead them to a competitive 252 for 8 and then took five wickets, including those of Unmukt Chand and Suresh Raina, to make the win comfortable in the end.The India A chase looked on course when they were 119 for 1 in the 28th over, with Chand on 56, and even when Raina smacked Rubel Hossain for a six three overs later with the hosts needing 116 runs from 19 overs. But Nasir had Chand caught behind down the leg side, and had Raina and Karun Nair stumped within four balls to leave India A struggling at 146 for 5.Bangladesh A captain Mominul Haque brought Rubel back into the attack immediately from the other end, and the bowler did the needful by removing Sanju Samson for a golden duck and Karn Sharma for 2. Nasir then knocked over Rishi Dhawan’s off stump, also for a duck, thwarting India’s chance of a win.

India A captain Unmukt Chand on…

Squandering the start after Bangladesh A were 82 for 5
“We could not capitalise on the early wickets between the 20th and the 40th overs, we probably could have had more intensity on the ground.”
If complacency crept in while batting
“If there was any scope of complacency, it was in this match and we were a bit complacent, to be honest. We’ll probably come back stronger in the next match.”
Reasons for losing the match
“On wickets like these, it is important to hang in in there. It’s just a matter of staying there and letting the partnership flourish. I got out, then Manish got out, then all of us got out in quick succession. We didn’t have partnerships and that was the reason we lost this match.”
If 253 was chaseable
“Of course it was achievable on this wicket and with this outfield. In the last match also we saw runs are possible here and we were 120 for 1. But there were soft dismissals and this shows you what cricket is all about.”

Mayank Agarwal had given the chase an attacking start with three fours within the first four overs but fell to Rubel’s pace while going for a drive, for 24. Chand then took charge, alongside a circumspect Manish Pandey, and hit three fours in the ninth over off Shafiul Islam to push the run rate towards five. He was dropped on 21 by Liton Das off Rubel, and cashed in to cross 50 and take his team past 100. With things not going Bangladesh A’s way, Mominul used seven bowlers by the 27th over in a bid to break a partnership that grew to 88.It worked when Chand edged one off Nasir and Pandey made room against Rubel three overs later only to find his middle stump scattered. Rubel and Nasir combined to take six wickets for 20 runs and Gurkeerat Singh was the only batsman to hang on, scoring a 30-ball 34, before he ran out of partners.Earlier, put in to bat, Bangladesh A were thrown off track by double blows from Dhawan and legspinner Karn after they lost Rony Talukdar early. Soumya Sarkar and Anamul Haque had just started to push the throttle after a watchful and edgy fifty-run stand for the second wicket when Dhawan struck. Sarkar, who had been dropped twice, dragged one onto his stumps for 24 and Dhawan got Mominul’s edge in his next over. Three overs later Karn took a return catch off Anamul for 34 and struck Sabbir Rahman’s middle stump, after the batsman stepped out and missed, to leave the side at 82 for 5.The innings was resurrected by two crucial stands – the sixth-wicket partnership between Liton and Nasir for 70 runs, and seventh-wicket one between Nasir and Arafat Sunny for 50. Liton led the first partnership, collecting four fours between the 18th and 21st overs, and the two batsmen had just settled down when Dhawan came back for his second spell and Liton pulled him straight to the deep square leg fielder for 45.It was a Nasir Hossain show from there. The pitch seemed better for batting and he farmed the strike in the company of Sunny, Shafiul and Rubel. Soon after he brought up his fifty with a sweep in the 37th over, he smashed Karn over long-off like a confident top-order batsman for six. After Sunny and Shafiul fell within 16 balls, Nasir provided a strong finish by smacking Raina for three fours in an over – a slog sweep and two cover drives – to race from 76 to 88. With three overs still to go, he reached the three-figure mark off 94 balls and took his team single-handedly past 250, collecting 41 runs in the last five overs with the tail-enders