ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the one of the punished players and a coach were not given a fair hearing by the BCB’s three-member enquiry committee that investigated their role in two controversial lower-tier league matches held last month

Mohammad Isam11-May-2017Cracks have emerged in the BCB’s investigation into two controversial lower-tier league matches held last month in the Dhaka Second Division League. Documents obtained by ESPNcricinfo suggest that one of the players and a coach, who were punished and accused of “tarnishing the image of Bangladesh cricket”, were not given a fair hearing by the three-member inquiry committee formed by the Bangladesh board.On May 2, the BCB had approved a report that concluded that Lalmatia Club and Fear Fighters Sporting Club should be scratched from the league, bowlers Sujon Mahmud and Tasnim Hasan be banned for 10 years each and the captains, managers and coaches of the two teams be handed five-year suspensions. The board also imposed a six-month ban on umpires Shamsur Rahman and Azizul Bari for their inability to handle the matches properly.While announcing the verdict, the committee’s convener Sheikh Sohel said that the clubs never complained against these two umpires or raised any issues on umpiring in general. However, letters obtained by ESPNcricinfo show that BCB directors were aware of umpiring complaints and had even exchanged memos on the issue during the 2015-16 season.In a letter dated April 22, 2016, the chairman of the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) – the BCB body that runs the four-tier Dhaka league – had written to the BCB’s committee of umpires, urging that in response to verbal complaints made by the participating clubs, nine umpires should be barred from officiating. Among them, were Shamsur and Azizul.Sohel said the clubs never expressed their displeasure to the committee about poor umpiring standards.
“I want to ask a question to the club officials: why didn’t they give us a letter if this was happening for such a long time? Why didn’t they tell the umpires’ committee? Also, these two umpires did other matches too, why didn’t anything similar happen in those games?”Sailab Hossain Tutul, the member secretary of the umpires’ committee, said the clubs are required to address their grievances to the umpires’ committee but many of the clubs are aware of the protocol of making all their complaints to the CCDM, which has been followed for decades.He also claimed that Shamsur and Azizul were assigned 10 matches to preside over together this season, primarily because of their mutual understanding with each other. Tutul, however, admitted that no other umpiring pair was allocated as many games to officiate together in through this season.”If a club has any complaints about an umpire, they have to directly address to the umpires’ committee,” Tutul said in a May 5 interview to the Bengali daily . “Other [umpires] are also paired, but not to such an extent. Maybe the umpires’ allotment committee didn’t think too deeply about it. We try to appoint pairs who are comfortable with each other.”It is understood that Shamsur and Azizul were given lighter punishments in the May 2 verdict because neither of the two teams under scrutiny – Lalmatia and Fear Fighters – submitted written complaints. However, it has now emerged that Lalmatia bowler Sujon, captain Faisal Ahmed Bonik and coach Asadullah Khan had written statements submitted to the BCB’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit on April 18.Sujon wrote that the umpires didn’t allow their captain to see whether the coin fell in favour of Lalmatia’s call at the toss, and that when Sujon had got off the mark with a boundary, one of the umpires came up to him and asked him to get out on his own, failing which the umpire threatened to “take charge”. Sujon claimed that his dismissal – stumped – was unjust as he was well within the crease.Biplob, the Lalmatia coach, wrote that he had arrived at the ground after the match had already begun. In a separate interview to the Bengali daily , he said it was Lalmatia’s assistant coach who was in charge of the match against Fear Fighters as Biplob himself was occupied with umpiring in an indoor tournament nearby, organized by a company owned by Akram Khan, one of the members of the fact-finding committee. However, when Biplob finally reached the City Club Ground, he found his side struggling at 20 for 6 and was subsequently informed by his captain that he wasn’t allowed to see the coin at the toss.”Being utterly disappointed with the unethical proceedings, I left the field and later came to know the outcome,” wrote Biplob.He said even though he didn’t appear at his hearing in person, he was told to await a call from the fact-finding committee. Upon receiving the verdict, Biplob said he was surprised to have been handed a five-year ban despite neither being present at the ground nor having given a statement to the committee.That turn of events was similar for the Fear Fighters captain Tanumoy Ghosh, who was down with jaundice in his hometown Rajshahi during the hearing. Like Biplob, he, too, was told to wait for communication from the committee, but he never received any. It is understood that Ghosh was punished on the basis the statement by Tasnim, the bowler who had deliberately conceded 69 runs in 1.1 overs.

An independent committee has found Gautam Gambhir guilty of “seriously inappropriate behaviour”, and handed out a four-match suspended ban

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jun-2017Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir was handed a four-match suspended ban from first-class cricket for his altercation with coach KP Bhaskar in March this year. A three-member independent inquiry committee, set up by Justice Vikramjit Sen, comprising Madan Lal, Rajendra Rathore and Soni Singh, found Gambhir guilty of “seriously inappropriate behaviour”.The committee, however, suspended the punishment for a two-year period, ending on March 19, 2019, contingent on Gambhir accepting the ruling.During this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, Gambhir had criticised Bhaskar of creating an insecure environment for youngsters. Subsequently, the DDCA set up a committee to investigate the argument.”The Committee Members agree that considering the above facts and circumstances that have come to light, Mr Gambhir’s actions towards Mr Pillai with premeditated intent to humiliate the coach were highly inappropriate and of serious nature,” Sen said in a statement.”The position of a coach among the team members is of high respect and dignity. It is a serious disgrace to a coach to be humiliated in front of team members by one of the team members even though if it is a senior player.”The actions of Mr Gambhir, however well intended, cannot be said to be in the interest of the team, or its performance or the game as it was done on the very last day of the season and therefore could not have been any corrective effect,” the statement said.Among other decisions, the committee also recommended the creation of a grievance-redressal system for players and framing of disciplinary-action rules that would inform them of the consequences of a transgression.”It is also recommended that disciplinary action rules and mechanism of imposing penalty are required to be formulated to inculcate discipline in the team members and for predictability and deterrence, where players know that an act of indiscipline would have serious repercussions and are therefore deterred from committing them,” Sen said.

A rousing victory against New Zealand in their last league match will give India a measure of belief as they head into a semi-final against a dominant Australia side that seems to have all bases covered

The Preview by Annesha Ghosh19-Jul-2017

Match facts

July 20, 2017
Start time 1030 local (0930 GMT)

Big picture

A week ago, when India went down to Australia by eight wickets, the odds in favour of the two teams facing each other a second time this World Cup were seemingly low. While Australia had sealed a semi-final berth at a canter, India’s fate was to be decided by a knock-out tie against New Zealand. In what turned out to be their most comprehensive victory in the tournament, a century from captain Mithali Raj, coupled with Veda Krishnamurthy’s 45-ball 70, marshalled India to their fourth semi-final appearance in ten editions and their first since 2005, when they finished runners-up.The volatility of India’s performances has had a lot to do with their openers. Smriti Mandhana, who got India’s campaign off to a flying start with a 90 and a hundred in consecutive games, hasn’t been able to score in excess of 15 in the four subsequent games. Punam Raut, too, has made two substantial scores – 86 against England and 106 against Australia – while not scoring a fifty in her other five innings. But the one factor that has remained constant for India is Raj’s resilience. While her strike rate hasn’t been the most enviable, Raj’s partnerships with Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Krishnamurthy and Deepti Sharma have been vital to India’s totals, as have been her 356 runs at an average of 50.85, that contributed to her becoming the first Indian to score 1000 runs in the World Cup.For Australia, though, consistency of the top order led to the side’s six wins out of seven games. With one century and four fifties between them, the left-handed opening pair of Beth Mooney and Nicole Bolton has not only negated the shenanigans of the new ball but also laid the foundation for the other batsmen to capitalise on thereafter. That they bat as deep as No.9 has given Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry the freedom to play with abandon.Equally instrumental to Australia’s fortunes has been the variety and efficacy of their spin troika – Jess Jonassen, Ashleigh Gardner and Kristen Beams – who have taken 27 wickets between them, while conceding less than four an over each. Despite the spectre of uncertainty around the protracted pay talks with their board, Australia’s performance on the field has been near-perfect, with their batting and bowling complementing each other perfectly even when they have been without Lanning.

Form guide

Australia WWLWW (completed matches, most recent first)
India WLLWW

In the spotlight

Through their seven league matches, Australia’s brooding confidence as defending champions translated, almost seamlessly, into their incarnation as practical frontrunners to win the World Cup. Much of that transition has, unsurprisingly, coincided, with Ellyse Perry‘s imperious run of form – on Saturday, she became the only batsman to make five successive ODI half-centuries on three separate occasions. Perry’s 58-ball 55 against South Africa was one of 20 fifties in her last 31 ODI innings. That run of form has earned her a career-best No. 3 spot among batsmen in the latest ICC Women’s ODI Player Rankings. Her World Cup tally of 366 runs from seven innings is the second-highest in the tournament, and her returns with the ball – nine wickets and an economy rate of 4.62 – have helped her leapfrog West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor to become the top-ranked allrounder in the world for the third time in her career.Rajeshwari Gayakwad came in to bowl, for the first time in the tournament, in the 12th over of New Zealand’s chase. Even though the scorecard read 34 for 3, Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite were still at the crease. By her fifth over, Gayakwad had dismissed both, and halfway into her eighth, she had wrapped up career-best returns, the best bowling figures in this tournament, and India’s semi-final spot. Gayakwad was Raj’s trump card against New Zealand, and will remain so against Australia. Unlike fellow left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, whom she replaced in the side, Gayakwad bowls with genuine loop and guile, and could hold the key to slowing Australia down. When India last defeated Australia, in Hobart last year, Gayakwad bowled an important spell, taking two wickets including that of Lanning.Meg Lanning averages 109.33 in this Women’s World Cup•Getty Images

Team news

Lanning’s troublesome shoulder forced her to sit out a second game in the tournament during Australia’s last league match, against South Africa on Saturday. She was, however, seen taking throwdowns, albeit with a heavily strapped shoulder, as the team got its first training session underway in the County Ground. Chances of her not slotting back into the XI, and as captain, for the knockout clash are, therefore, slim.Despite Lanning’s inclusion, Australia may consider retaining stand-in captain Rachael Haynes, who has featured in only two games so far. Against South Africa, Haynes’ left-arm medium-pace accounted for two top-order wickets off the only two overs she has bowled since the 2013 World Cup. With two golden ducks and one half-century in her last four innings, Elyse Villani’s expensive part-time medium pace may not be enough for her to merit a selection ahead of fellow allrounder Haynes.Australia (possible) 1 Beth Mooney, 2 Nicole Bolton, 3 Meg Lanning (capt), 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Elyse Villani, 6 Alex Blackwell , 7 Alyssa Healy (wk), 8 Ashleigh Gardner, 9 Jess Jonassen,10 Megan Schutt, 11 Kristen BeamsGiven the nature of the individual performances in their last group game, it is unlikely India will tweak their playing combination.India (possible) 1 Smriti Mandhana , 2 Punam Raut, 3 Mithali Raj (capt), 4 Harmanpreet Kaur, 5 Veda Krishnamurthy, 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Shikha Pandey, 8 Sushma Verma, 9 Jhulan Goswami, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Poonam Yadav

Pitch and conditions

Mithali Raj considers Derby India’s “home ground” and for good reason. They won each of their four round-robin fixtures at the venue, including the tournament opener against England and the semi-final qualification match against New Zealand. Australia, however, will be playing here for the first time in this World Cup.India’s undefeated run at the venue has largely been due to the spinners, who have capitalised on the two-paced nature of the pitch to take 24 out of India’s 33 wickets here.

Stats and trivia

• Perry’s average of 91.50 is second only to Lanning’s 109.33 in this World Cup.
• Three Australian bowlers – left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen, legspinner Kristen Beams and medium-pacer Megan Schutt – feature in the top ten on the wicket charts. India, on the contrary, have none.
• Among the India batsmen, Krishnamurthy boasts the best strike-rate, 110.86, trailed by Mandhana’s 95.76.
• Legspinner Poonam Yadav’s economy rate of 3.45 is the best among bowlers in the tournament who have sent down 20 overs or more. Jonassen’s 3.61 is the second-best.
• India have won only eight out of their 42 contests against Australia, the most recent win coming in 2016, steered by half-centuries from Raj and Mandhana and a three-for from Shikha Pandey.

Quotes

“I’m very impressed with the way India have played this tournament, from the very beginning in their match against England. They were very proactive as a team and I think they have a more aggressive approach to their batting”.
“To win against them requires us to give more than we have so far, against Australia it is important that we are the best we can be as players”.

Durham are in danger of becoming the doormats of the north group in the NatWest T20 Blast after Nottinghamshire wiped the floor with them

ECB Reporters Network25-Jul-2017
ScorecardRiki Wessels saw Notts home•Getty Images

Durham are in danger of becoming the doormats of the north group in the NatWest T20 Blast after Nottinghamshire wiped the floor with them. Notts won by nine wickets with four overs to spare at Chester-le-Street against an inexperienced side who, after five games, remain on minus four points.Being obliged to start with that four-point deficit cannot have helped the morale of a side shorn of five players from the team which reached last year’s final.All out for 123 with 11 balls unused, there was no attempt to exert pressure as 18-year-old debutant Liam Trevaskis was asked to bowl the first over and Alex Hales hit the left-arm spinner for two fours.When Durham’s T20 skipper Paul Coughlin came on for the third over Hales twice drove him straight down the ground. With 15 coming off the over Hales set about finishing it as quickly as possible, only to be bowled for 44 when going down the pitch to Trevaskis in the seventh over.There were already 69 on the board and Riki Wessels was able to continue his good form by coasting to an unbeaten 49. Brendan Taylor finished the match with a six over long-on off Ryan Pringle to finish on 33 not out.Any chance of a contest looked remote from the moment Durham slipped to 8 for 2 after ten balls. They were briefly revived by Graham Clark with 41 off 27 balls, but from 54 for 2 Durham slipped to 65 for 6 with Samit Patel picking up three wickets.On the day he was awarded a full contract until the end of the 2019 season, Cameron Steel cut the first ball of the match, from Patel, for four. But after adding two singles he lifted left-arm seamer Luke Wood’s first ball to extra cover.Paul Collingwood was moved up to No. 3 but fell for nought, skying a pull off Wood to backward square leg. Clark cut, pulled and drove three fours in taking 15 off the first five balls of a Jake Ball over, only for Michael Richardson to bottom edge the sixth into his stumps.Patel was recalled and had Clark caught behind when aiming to leg. Jack Burnham’s fierce drive to extra cover was well held above his head by Dan Christian then Stuart Poynter played all round Patel’s next ball.Coughlin and Pringle could afford few risks but did well to add 39 before Pringle pulled Steven Mullaney straight to deep backward square. Smart work by Mullaney saw Coughlin run out and Barry McCarthy stumped by Tom Moores off Ish Sodi before last man Chris Rushworth lofted to mid-off.It was a tame end to a stuttering innings, leaving Nottinghamshire with a simple task to complete their third successive win.

Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain feels he is regaining some of the old rhythm, and wants to add more skills to his repertoire

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the Premadasa30-Aug-2017His hauls may be lighter of late, and his pace may have diminished, but Sri Lanka’s acting captain Lasith Malinga remains defiant as ever of criticism, and has no plans to quit. In fact, he wants to continue adding skills to his bowling repertoire.Though Malinga is hardly Sri Lanka’s greatest concern, his figures since returning after a 19-month ODI layoff have not been impressive. He has taken eight wickets in 11 matches, at an average of 63.25. Where once top orders sought to see him off safely and score off the remaining bowlers, he does not inspire fear anymore. In Malinga’s defence, fielders have also dropped eight chances off his bowling. At least half of those were easy catches.”As a bowler, I’ve not been able to get wickets in the last couple of series,” Malinga said. “A lot of people have talked about that. In fact, there has been more talk in the last couple of months than in 14 previous years that I’ve played, but I’m used to that. But whenever someone is coming towards the end of their careers, there is failure. People talk about them not being fit enough, or not picking him.”Although his performances have not quite reflected it, Malinga himself felt he was regaining a little of his old rhythm. There have been glimpses of the old Malinga over the past two months – most recently, he dismissed Shikhar Dhawan with a short ball that jagged sharply back in.”I was out for 19 months, but now I feel I am getting better. Everyone knows how major my leg injuries are. Now that my leg is getting better, I’m doing all the treatment and all the rehabilitation. The fitness also is improving, and now I feel really comfortable to bowl 10 overs – I bowl consistently.”What’s more, he feels there are additions to be made to his game yet. At various points in the series, Malinga has been seen chatting to Zaheer Khan, who is commentating on the matches. They’ve spoken about their old days at Mumbai Indians together, and how Malinga’s body is still holding up, but also about what Malinga could do to regain his wicket-taking ability.”Zak [Zaheer] is more of a seam and swing bowler, and I want to learn more of that kind of thing over the next few years,” Malinga said. “That’s what I talked with him. Every time I have an opportunity, we speak about my bowling action, and how I have to improve. Because guys like him are in the commentary box, they look at every single one of my body movements and my bowling action, and how I swing the ball, and they have a good idea of how I’m going now.”

Moeen Ali played down his record-breaking 53-ball hundred, but said that the confidence he has gleaned in the course of a phenomenal summer in international cricket allowed him to trust his instincts

Andrew Miller at Bristol24-Sep-2017Moeen Ali played down his record-breaking 53-ball hundred as a “bit of a slog”, but said that the confidence he has gleaned in the course of a phenomenal summer in international cricket allowed him to trust his instincts and put West Indies’ bowlers to the sword in a run-laden third ODI at Bristol.After easing into his day’s work with a run-a-ball 39, Moeen let rip in the final six overs of England’s innings, crashing eight sixes and two fours in 14 deliveries, to rampage to his third ODI hundred and the fastest ever made on English soil.The performance capped a summer of rare all-round brilliance from Moeen in all formats, not least during the 3-1 Test series win over South Africa in July and August, when he became the first player in history to score 250 runs and take 25 wickets in a four-Test series.”It’s been good for my confidence,” Moeen said. “I know there will be tough times ahead, and I try not to get too over-confident, but I’ve played quite a bit for England now and the experience has allowed me stay focussed on what’s to come.”Playing in the side regularly, training with international players and playing against international players, has helped my game so much, I feel my batting and bowling is improving all the time.”As to the secrets of his phenomenal success at Bristol, Moeen said that a focus on laying the groundwork in his innings had set him up for the fireworks to come, plus a commitment to “keep his shape” in his strokes, irrespective of the adrenalin that was beginning to pump ever harder with every new blow.After a 132-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Joe Root and Ben Stokes, England had been in some strife at 217 for 6 in the 35th over when Moeen began his innings-turning stand of 117 with Chris Woakes.”I felt Rooty and Stokesy did a fantastic job for us,” he said. “I thought we were in a bit of trouble, then we lost those three wickets and we both had to rebuild a bit. But I felt like we got to a situation around 42 overs when we were in a decent position and it was time to press the button, but in the end [Woakes] was giving me one every ball because I felt like I was in the zone and everything was coming off.”While Moeen has long had a reputation as one of the most eye-catching ball-strikers in England’s team, even he had never really considered himself a six-hitter in the mould of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler.”As a kid [sixes] were a regular thing, but only playing first-class and international cricket, I never saw myself as that sort of player,” he said. “But the ground wasn’t the biggest and I felt like they bowled a little bit in the slot. I just had a slog really, everything seemed to come off, I tried to watch the ball, keep my shape and really go for it.”Jason Holder, West Indies’ captain, was left to rue another performance in which a game had got away from them despite an often spirited display, not least from Miguel Cummins, who might not feel like celebrating his career-best figures of 3 for 82 after bearing the brunt of Moeen’s attack.”I felt we got off to a decent start,” he said. “We got wickets with the new ball, which we pride ourselves on. Things started to leak a little bit then we pulled it back with a couple of wickets. I thought Miguel was outstanding in the middle overs coming back and getting those two prize wickets. We just didn’t finish off well.”They bat deep. [Moeen] has played a special innings today. I think we didn’t execute our plans towards him and he was able to capitalise on the dimensions of the ground.”It’s a small ground and he backed himself to clear it. We didn’t field well, we were a just bit sloppy, a couple of misfields and dropped chances.”

The two fast bowlers, who suffered injuries during the Women’s World Cup in England, are back in the squad that will face Sri Lanka in three ODIs on October 11, 13 and 15 in Trinidad

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2017Fast bowlers Shakera Selman and Shamilia Connell have returned to the West Indies women squad for the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka that begins on October 11 in Trinidad. Both suffered injuries during the Women’s World Cup in England in July.Selman was struck on the helmet while fielding at short leg during the team’s opening match against Australia, while Connell injured her hip during the match against India. Kycia Knight and Subrina Munroe replaced the pair for the rest of the tournament.Kycia keeps her place in the squad for the Sri Lanka series, alongside sister Kyshona Knight, while Munroe misses out. Shanel Daley, Qiana Joseph and Felicia Walters have also been left out of the 13-member squad.The three ODIs will be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, on October 11, 13 and 15. The results of all three will count towards the ICC Women’s Championship, which is being contested by the top eight ODI teams in the world. The top three finishers in the Women’s Championship will qualify automatically for the 2021 World Cup.West Indies women squad: Stafanie Taylor (capt), Merissa Aguilleira, Reniece Boyce, Shamilia Connell, Deandra Dottin, Afy Fletcher, Kycia Knight, Kyshona Knight, Hayley Matthews, Anisa Mohammed, Chedean Nation, Akeira Peters, Shakera Selman.