James Anderson could be ruled out of the remainder of the Investec Ashes after being forced off the field at Edgbaston with an apparent side strain

George Dobell30-Jul-2015James Anderson could be ruled out of the remainder of the Investec Ashes after being forced off the field at Edgbaston with an apparent side strain.Anderson, England’s record wicket taker, was two balls into his ninth over when he clutched his side after delivery. While he bowled one more ball, he then pulled up in his run-up and left the field. His over was completed by Joe Root.The ECB released a statement on Twitter confirming that Anderson had a “tight side” and would be “assessed overnight”. That means he will be sent for a scan with any firm decision about his future involvement delayed until the results are known. The fourth Test begins at Trent Bridge next Thursday.”I’ve heard nothing yet,” said Steven Finn, who was England’s best bowler on the day with five wickets. “Obviously pulling up halfway through an over for someone like Jimmy, he wouldn’t go off if it wasn’t hurting.”He’s a huge player for us. He is the leader of our attack. He sets the tone with everything he does. Jimmy loves bowling at Trent Bridge, everyone knows that. If he was to miss it, it would be a big loss, but we don’t know yet.”The injury took the gloss off an otherwise wonderful day for England. While they are strong favourites to take a 2-1 lead, the loss of Anderson would be a major blow. Anderson has a superb record at Trent Bridge: he has taken 53 wickets in eight Tests on the ground at an average of 19.24. He claimed a 10-wicket haul in the last Ashes Test there in 2013 – one of two 10-wicket hauls he has at the venue – and has taken six five-wicket hauls there.If Anderson is unavailable, as looks likely, England will probably look to Mark Wood to take his place, though Mark Footitt and Chris Woakes may also be considered.England, meanwhile, only have eyes for tomorrow’s third day, when Australia will resume with a lead of 23 and three wickets in hand.”The game is most definitely still not won yet,” said Finn. “They’ve got guys to come in who can bat, there will still be pressure on tomorrow and we have to do a professional job.”

Paul Grayson has been confirmed as Essex coach until the end of the season after the club’s general committee overwhelmingly resisted a recommendation from new cricket chairman chairman Ronnie Irani to remove him

David Hopps18-Aug-2015Paul Grayson, Essex’s beleaguered coach, has been confirmed in the role until the end of the season as the club’s general committee has overwhelmingly resisted a recommendation from the new cricket chairman Ronnie Irani to remove him immediately from the post.The debate about Grayson’s future could hardly have been more disruptively timed, coming only a few days before Essex’s NatWest quarter-final against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston which was duly lost in one of their most disappointing displays of the season.The committee, clearly wary of a repeat, voted in Chelmsford on Monday to delay their decision on Grayson’s future, even as Essex travelled to their final Royal London Cup group match against Sussex at Hove, another season-defining match in which victory would ensure them of a home quarter-final.Grayson has supervised consistently excellent displays in limited-overs cricket since taking charge in 2008 with Essex second only to Hampshire in the number of victories in one-day cricket in that time. But while Hampshire have gone on to win trophies, Essex have repeatedly faltered in the final stages, encouraging Irani to press for change soon after being elected to the role last month.It is the timing of the recommendation that has brought most unease, although in some ways that was unavoidable. Grayson was anxious to determine his future before the end of the season after the decision of the former cricket committee chairman, Graham Saville, to step down after 27 years in the role naturally introduced a period of reassessment within the county.Grayson, it is interesting to note, is one year into an official three-year plan in which it was made clear that the priority was to secure a one-day trophy and reshape a young Championship side based on home grown players. That commitment has been followed to the letter with a whole host of debutants given an opportunity to prove their worth for a county that lacks the pace bowling depth to sustain a serious challenge.Irani sounded more ambitious, stating upon taking office: ” We need to try to get into division one of the County Championship. We’ve fallen short of that for quite a few years now. We have to change and we have to improve massively.”We have an immensely talented group of individuals and it is fair to say that at this moment in time we have underachieved in the last seven or eight years.”We are still talented and it is great to see young players coming through like Nick Browne, Tom Westley and Jamie Porter. We have to make sure we keep doing that, while getting Essex back to the level that we were in years gone by, knocking on doors and trying to win trophies.”At this moment in time Paul is the head coach and we have to respect that position until the cricket committee decide on anything different.”Quite how much Grayson can be blamed for a prolonged failure to reach Division One of the Championship is a question worth asking. As a coach, as opposed to a director of cricket, his powers have remained limited, much against the trend in the county game and Essex’s budget is considerably lower.Essex still have one of the most traditional structures in county cricket with the outgong cricket chairman Saville, a former England U19 coach, and captain, James Foster, having had most influence on the big cricketing decisions. That way of doing things is unlikely to change.

England’s determination to maintain their recent upturn in fortunes in one-day cricket has been reflected today with the awarding of a full ECB central contract for Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2015England’s determination to maintain their recent upturn in fortunes in one-day cricket has been reflected with the awarding of a full ECB central contract for Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain.Morgan, who played the last of his 16 Tests in February 2012 and faced a total of 129 balls in first-class cricket for Middlesex this season, is one of 11 recipients on the list, having cemented his status as the one-day leader with 600 ODI runs at 66.67 in England’s summer campaigns against New Zealand and Australia, as well as a matchwinning 74 from 39 balls in the one-off Twenty20 against Australia at Cardiff.Mark Wood, the Durham fast bowler who has been named in all three squads for England’s forthcoming tour of the UAE, is the other newcomer to the list. He and Morgan replace the allrounders Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan, whose opportunities were limited by injury throughout the the 2015 season.Gary Ballance, England’s Test No. 3 until being dropped during the Ashes, has also missed out on a central contract this year.Andrew Strauss, the ECB director, knows that a successful showing from England at the 2019 World Cup on home soil is one of the board’s priorities in the coming years, especially in light of their dismal showing at the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, when they failed to qualify for the knock-outs.”Eoin Morgan’s award reflects his status as captain of our limited-overs teams,” said Strauss, “and the wider importance we place on white-ball cricket as we prepare for a busy period of T20 and one-day international cricket over the next twelve months, including the World T20 tournament in India next year.””We congratulate Mark Wood on winning a central contract for the first time,” Strauss added. “This award reflects his excellent performances for England this summer and our expectation that he will have a role to play in all three formats of the international game over the next twelve months.”A further eight players have been awarded incremental contracts, including the Yorkshire quartet of Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid. There is no award, however, for Adam Lyth, whose place as Test opener for the UAE has been taken by Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales.ECB central contracts: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham)Incremental contracts: Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)

Brendon McCullum did not mention “match-fixing” in a statement relating to an approach made to him by Chris Cairns, according to John Rhodes, the Australasian head of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU)

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Oct-2015Brendon McCullum did not mention “match-fixing” in a statement relating to an approach made to him by Chris Cairns, according to John Rhodes, the Australasian head of the ICC’s anti-corruption and security unit (ACSU).Cairns, who is on trial at Southwark Crown Court in London and denies two counts of perjury and perverting the course of justice, was claimed to have discussed spot-fixing during a meeting with McCullum in a Kolkata hotel room in 2008.However, according to Rhodes, to whom McCullum admitted the approach three years later following an ICC anti-corruption briefing, the New Zealand captain’s statement in February 2011 mentioned a “business proposition” but did not include an explicit reference to match-fixing.Orlando Pownall, QC, Cairns’ defence lawyer, read extracts from McCullum’s statement to the court: “We had a general conversation and then after about half an hour he [Cairns] asked me if I knew anything about spread betting. I told him that I didn’t. I initially thought he was taking the piss.”Cairns then started to explain using a pen and paper: “He was telling me you can make a great deal of money. He told me you could make between US$80,000 to US$250,000 a day. He told me that he had never done it on an international match.”Pownall put it to Rhodes that the conversation between McCullum and Cairns concerned betting, not an approach for McCullum to underperform in a particular match.Rhodes responded: “The inference is in the statement. It is clear to me that an approach is being made by Mr Cairns to Mr McCullum.””To fix matches or to underperform?” asked Pownall.”Yes,” said Rhodes.”Where does it say that?” Pownall continued, to which Rhodes replied: “It doesn’t.”When asked why he had not requested McCullum clarify what he meant, Rhodes stated he was not “in a position to put words” into his mouth.The ACSU, Pownall suggested, had done “nothing” in response to McCullum’s statement, although Rhodes said that, as an unsanctioned tournament, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) was beyond the jurisdiction of the ICC.The allegations, Pownall suggested, were “potentially momentous”. However, Rhodes argued that without corroboration from any other source they remained unsubstantiated.Rhodes added that he had “no reason” to believe McCullum had not been telling the truth. However, he said that as a field officer, his job was simply to collect information – it was up to his superiors to investigate his findings.Rhodes recalled that McCullum had met him in Nagpur, along with his then-captain, Daniel Vettori, whom Rhodes stated did not contribute to the meeting and had been attending to provide support for McCullum.However, under cross-examination, Rhodes was shown a statement made by Vettori in February 2014, in which he said he had asked Cairns to buy him a diamond ring with the money he was owed for undertaking a promotional tour for an Indian toothpaste company after the Champions Trophy in 2011.Asked why his evidence had omitted this detail, Rhodes said that he did not recall Vettori’s comment. “What I am saying is that if Mr Vettori is saying to me that he said that to me in Nagpur, then I will accept that.”Rhodes told the court that he had not made any notes of that conversation, adding that he had lost his diary for 2011. He also admitted that he had not made a note of McCullum’s request that New Zealand Cricket should not be told he was making a statement.Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the current chairman of the ACSU, also gave evidence. He denied that Cairns had been made a scapegoat to deflect media criticism into his unit’s lack of success in tackling corruption.”Corners were cut, normal action was left to one side with a view to achieving the scalp of Chris Cairns,” Pownall suggested.Flanagan replied, “absolutely not”, adding: “If scalp turns out to be an appropriate description, I think it is an absolute tragedy.”The trial continues.

Javeria Khan’s 131-ball 90 guided Pakistan Women to a comfortable six-wicket win against West Indies Women in the first ODI in St Lucia

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2015
ScorecardJaveria Khan struck seven fours in her 90•WICB Media/Brooks LaTouche Photography Ltd

Javeria Khan’s 131-ball 90 guided Pakistan Women to a comfortable six-wicket win against West Indies Women in the first ODI in St Lucia. Chasing 223, Javeria combined with three top-order batsmen to form substantial partnerships, as Pakistan gained a 1-0 series lead.West Indies got off to a solid start after being asked to bat first, but lost both their openers – Kycia Knight and Hayley Matthews – in quick succession. A 37-run third-wicket stand between captain Stafanie Taylor (27) and Deandra Dottin (19) stabilised the innings, before the hosts lost another clump of wickets as they were quickly reduced to 96 for 5.However, wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira brought West Indies back into the match with a patient 67, and in the company of Britney Cooper, took the score past 150. The hosts managed to score 66 off the last 75 balls to end with 222 for 9. Four Pakistan bowlers contributed with two wickets apiece.The visitors began the chase smoothly, as Javeria and Marina Iqbal put on a 54-run opening stand in 83 balls before Marina was bowled for 23. However, Javeria stayed firm and put up stands of 49 and 79 for the second and third wickets with Bismah Maroof (21) and Nain Abidi (31) to guide her team closer to the target. Javeria was eventually caught off the bowling of Stacy-Ann King in the 41st over, but Nida Dar and captain Sana Mir sealed the victory with 11 deliveries to spare.

Mohammad Amir’s dismissal of Misbah-ul-Haq was the exclamation point of a game that swung both ways, mainly due to these former Pakistan team-mates

Mohammad Isam22-Nov-2015Cliched T20 speak tells you that one ball can turn a match on its head, but Mohammad Amir’s deadly yorker to remove Misbah-ul-Haq only gave the opening BPL fixture a better finish. That delivery in the 19th over was the exclamation point of a game that swung both ways, mainly due to these former Pakistan team-mates.Misbah ended up with the biggest impact through a 39-ball 61 that was both patient and attacking. The innings reconstructed Rangpur’s chase of 188 after they had fallen to 23 for 4 in the fifth over. Misbah added 64 for the fifth wicket with Al-Amin, then a fast-paced 80 with Thisara Perera but when Amir removed both off consecutive deliveries, even Misbah thought it was over.”I think he won in that moment,” Misbah said. “He bowled a really good yorker, I was set and I missed that. This is what people are here to watch. Amir bowled well with the new ball. He had good pace and variations. In the 19th over he would have won the game for his team. Good to see him bowling like [he did today].”Amir started off with a maiden before taking the first two wickets – Lendl Simmons caught at mid-off and Soumya Sarkar dubiously given out leg-before – off consecutive deliveries in his second over. He was hard to get away, especially when he kept zooming in the full ball.Chittagong Vikings captain Tamim Iqbal, who felt that his team were 10-20 runs short and suffered through Asif Ahmed’s two dropped catches, was delighted to see Amir bowl with such verve.”He bowled brilliantly,” Tamim said. “I was looking forward to seeing him bowl. I am sure he will get better and better each day. He was playing a game like this after a long time. I think he was a bit nervous but it will get better for him. He has been taking wickets back in Pakistan. He was playing T20s after a long time.”Misbah said that he always knew that, with Thisara and Sammy waiting in the wings, Rangpur had a chance despite falling behind halfway through their chase.”We just wanted to play 20 overs, and that’s what I was telling Al-Amin,” Misbah said. “He was playing well at that time. We had Thisara and Sammy in the end, so we knew what capabilities they have when it comes to hitting the ball.”Even if we needed 80 runs in five overs, we were confident. Here 15 runs an over is chaseable when you have set batsmen. Once you have that big over, you have to keep in mind which bowler has how many overs left. If we can plan that, we can win games.”

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja was declared fit to play for his Big Bash League franchise Sydney Thunder’s next game at the MCG on Sunday

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Dec-2015Australia batsman Usman Khawaja was declared fit to play for his Big Bash League franchise Sydney Thunder’s next game at the MCG on Sunday. This will be Khawaja’s first competitive match after he had sustained a “moderate strain” in his left hamstring while chasing a ball on the second evening of the Perth Test against New Zealand. He was subsequently ruled out of the rest of the series after scoring centuries in the first innings of the first two Tests of the series.Khawaja, however, was named in the squad for Australia’s next Test against West Indies at the MCG. Australia’s selectors will now face the difficult task in picking the XI for the MCG Test as his replacement, Shaun Marsh, scored 182 and was involved in a record partnership with Adam Voges in the first Test in Hobart.Speaking on the selection dilemma for the MCG Test, Australia coach Darren Lehmann had said that he would be happy for Khawaja to return to the team as an opening batsman, though he would have to run that past captain Steven Smith.”We will have to see if Uzzy is fit and then we will have a dilemma,” Lehmann said. “If he is fit, having scored two hundreds in the two Test matches [against New Zealand] yes, you would think he would be in form to play. We need him playing. With a hamstring, we don’t want him playing Test match cricket if he is not fully fit.”He will have to be sharp in the T20 games and then we will make a decision from there. If he comes back in someone will miss out. We have to work out that is. I would [be happy with Khawaja opening] but the captain might not want that. We have to work out the best six and the batting order from there.”

Fiji Under-19 captain Saimoni Tuitoga has spoken of his excitement in taking part in what he believes is “a big opportunity” for the team

Mohammad Isam21-Jan-2016Fiji Under-19 captain Saimoni Tuitoga has spoken of his excitement in taking part in what he believes is “a big opportunity” for the team.Fiji are competing in the Under-19 World Cup for the very first time, and perhaps it was to put Tuitoga’s mind to ease that he was being accompanied to the press conference room by their head coach Shane Jurgensen, who is no stranger to Bangladesh.”We are very excited to be in this big event,” Tuitoga said. “Back at home, everyone knows that we are going to take part in the biggest event of the U-19 level. It is going to be a tough challenge for the boys. We are looking forward to play the first match against England. We are training hard.”Raju Rijal, Nepal Under-19’s wicketkeeper-batsman who was also at the press conference, was comparatively less shy. Rijal revealed that his team had been training in India to prepare for the tournament following last year’s earthquake in Nepal.”We had a huge disaster in Nepal last year. We have prepared in Himachal Pradesh, and we will try our best in this tournament. I can’t think too much ahead in the tournament. We will try to do it game-by-game. We will try our level best,” he said.Rijal said that he was a fan of Paras Khadka, the captain of Nepal’s senior side, with whom the U-19 team has sometimes shared training facilities. He added that Shakib Al Hasan was another player he followed closely.”Paras Khadka is very good as a person, as a cricketer. They practice with us sometimes in the stadium. We also chat at times.”We follow Bangladesh’s matches. We started together but Bangladesh have risen very high. They have many stadiums and host so many events. We can’t afford this in Nepal. We are inspired by Bangladesh. My favorite cricketer in the Bangladesh team is Shakib Al Hasan.”

Kane Williamson was named New Zealand’s Cricketer of the Year and awarded the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal at NZC’s awards function

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Feb-2016Kane Williamson was named New Zealand’s Cricketer of the Year and awarded the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal at NZC’s awards function, following a judging period in which he scored five centuries, set a New Zealand record for most runs in a calendar year and became the No. 1 ranked Test batsman. He was also named the Test Player of the Year and won the Redpath Cup for his first-class batting exploits.

The winners

Player of the Year: Kane Williamson
Test Player of the Year: Kane Williamson
ODI Player of the Year: Martin Guptill
T20I Player of the Year: Martin Guptill
Winsor Cup (first-class bowling): Trent Boult
Redpath Cup (first-class batting): Kane Williamson
Women’s Player of the Year: Suzie Bates
Domestic Women’s Player of the Year: Amy Satterthwaite
Bert Sutcliffe Medal for Outstanding Services to Cricket: Rex Smith

Since the beginning of 2015, Williamson has scored 1314 Test runs in 10 matches at an average of 77.29, including a match-saving unbeaten 242 against Sri Lanka in Wellington. Across the three formats, Williamson made 3339 runs in 53 games at an average of 60.70, with eight centuries. He also made seven consecutive fifty-plus scores in limited overs against England and Zimbabwe between June and August.Martin Guptill, who enjoyed a breakthrough year in the limited-over formats and earned a recall to the Test side, was named the ODI and T20I Player of the Year.Guptill scored 1891 ODI runs since the start of 2015 at an average of 55.61 and a strike rate of 97.22. He also struck the second-highest score in ODIs, a 163-ball 237 against West Indies in the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup.Suzie Bates, who capped off a stellar year with an ODI ton against Australia in Mount Maunganui on February 24, was named the Women’s Player of the Year for the third consecutive year. In 18 games since February 2015, Bates has managed 799 runs at 53.26 and two centuries.

Peter Handscomb glided to an attractive ton as Victoria closed in on an outright victory over their nearest challenger South Australia on the penultimate night of the floodlit Sheffield Shield match

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2016
ScorecardFile photo – Peter Handscomb hit 17 fours during his 102•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

Victoria closed in on an outright victory over their nearest challenger South Australia on the penultimate night of the floodlit Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.Victoria saw off four South Australia batsmen before stumps, two falling to Fawad Ahmed in a spell of 2 for 10 that was both threatening and economical. The hosts’ captain Travis Head (35*) is left with an enormous task to pull his side out of the mire.There had been plenty of purpose to Victoria’s batting earlier in the day as they set up a declaration. Peter Handscomb glided to an attractive century while Glenn Maxwell contributed his second half century of the match, a nicely modulated 63 from 109 deliveries.Matthew Wade and Dan Christian then accelerated, adding 70 in 13.3 overs before Victoria’s captain decided he had a sufficient lead. Should the Bushrangers win, the prospect of a competition final played in Alice Springs will become a distinct possibility.