Parthiv Patel to lead India in Emerging Players Tournament

Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, will lead India’s team in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in August

Cricinfo staff13-Jul-2010Parthiv Patel, the Gujarat captain, will lead India’s team in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in August. Cheteshwar Pujara, who finished as the highest run-getter in the recent A-team tri-series in England, has been appointed Parthiv’s deputy. The four teams – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and India – play two competitions – Twenty20 and 50-overs – during a two-week period.Each of the 15 players selected in the squad participated in the IPL, and a significant number has played for India. Parthiv and legspinner Piyush Chawla have played Test cricket, while medium-pacer Vinay Kumar, offspinner R Ashwin, seamer Umesh Yadav and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha have had exposure in the ODI format. Among the players missing from the India A squad that toured England are batsmen Manoj Tiwary and Manish Pandey. Tiwary averaged only 19 in five limited-overs games, while Pandey 11 in as many.The Emerging Players tour is an important opportunity for Saurabh Tiwary, the left-hand batsman who impressed in the IPL and had a successful Ranji Trophy, scoring thee centuries in the Plate League last season. He was picked in India’s ODI squad for the Asia Cup while on tour to England with the A team, but didn’t get a game.Squad: Parthiv Patel (capt & wk), Cheteshwar Pujara (vice-capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Saurabh Tiwary, Kedar Jadhav, Naman Ojha, Abhinav Mukund, Umesh Yadav, Jaidev Unadkat, Vinay Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaskaran Singh, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin.

Steven Croft, Lancashire stalwart, retires at the age of 39

Veteran allrounder set to move into coaching after calling time on 19-year professional career

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Sep-2024Steven Croft, Lancashire’s veteran allrounder and stalwart of their 2011 Championship-winning side, has announced his retirement from professional cricket at the age of 39.Croft stepped down from first-class and List A cricket at the end of the 2023 summer, and had been on a T20-only deal for this summer’s campaign. However, he has now confirmed his full retirement with immediate effect, and will instead move into Lancashire’s coaching staff on a full-time basis.His final appearance came earlier this month, in Lancashire’s defeat to Sussex in the Vitality Blast quarter-final, and was his 600th match for the club across formats. He made his Lancashire debut in 2005, and went on to make a total of 19,183 runs, as well as claim 199 wickets with his offspin.In 2011, he scored the winning runs against Somerset at Taunton, as Lancashire ended a 77-year wait for the County Championship, and four years later, he captained the T20 team to their maiden T20 Blast title at Edgbaston, beating Northamptonshire in the final.Between June 2006 and July 2018, Croft played 148 consecutive T20 matches for Lancashire, which is an English record. He finishes his career as Lancashire’s leading T20 run-scorer with 5,486 runs.”My dream as a boy was to play one game for Lancashire, in the end it became 600,” Croft said. “So, after just over two decades of playing for the club, I have taken the decision to retire as a player.”I can confidently say I have realised my dream and more, and what a ride it has been. To go with the games, runs, wickets and catches, I have played alongside some of my heroes and many greats of the game.”There have been so many highlights along the way, too. Winning the County Championship in 2011 will stay with me forever. The 2015 T20 Blast too, what a great night that was! But also, being awarded my county cap and being appointed club captain were special moments.Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s Director of Cricket, added: “On behalf of everyone at the club, I would like to congratulate Steven on an incredible Lancashire career.”Steven epitomises everything good about this club. He is an outstanding individual who always puts the team first and anyone who has watched him knows that Steven puts his heart and soul into every game and his record speaks for itself.”To be such an influential member of our side – as well as contributing to so many match-winning performances – over such a long period of time is something he should be very proud of.”Players like Steven don’t come around too often and whilst we will miss his skill and experience on the field, we’re thrilled that he will continue to play a vital role in continuing to develop the exciting young players we have at Emirates Old Trafford, working across the Men’s First Team, Second XI and Academy.”Even over the last 12 months, I’ve been really impressed with how quickly he’s taken to coaching and the impact he’s had in a short period of time. I am looking forward to seeing him develop these skills in the next chapter of his career.”

Cummins: 'To go home winning the urn will be phenomenal – it's a final thing to tick off'

Despite the long tour, the Australia captain says he is in a better condition heading into The Oval this time compared to in 2019

Andrew McGlashan26-Jul-2023The Ashes is secured, but there is a huge amount at stake for Australia at The Oval. Return home with a 3-1 series win, to go alongside the World Test Championship title, and legacies will be secured. Draw the series, from being 2-0 up, and it will be mission incomplete.Many of this Australian squad featured in the 2019 Ashes series, which ended 2-2 when England won at The Oval. That has gnawed away at them, particularly after they had responded impressively from the Ben Stokes miracle at Headingley to win at Old Trafford.Pat Cummins remembers the final game of that series as the only occasion he worried he would miss a Test through fatigue, although he still ended with five wickets and bowled the most of Australia’s quicks, having also played the ODI World Cup earlier. This time, he is under scrutiny both as bowler and as captain, having endured a tough few days in Manchester. But he insists he has the gas in the tank for one final push. You wouldn’t expect him to say anything different.Related

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“I remember turning up here in 2019 for the fifth Test and I was wrecked,” he said. “It’s probably the only time in my career where I thought I genuinely might not be able to play. But I still did a decent job then. And I feel in a much better position now.”So, for the second time in four years, Australia reach The Oval 2-1 up but via different routes and aiming to achieve what they have been unable to do since 2001. This time, they were perhaps two good sessions of cricket away from securing this series outright in Leeds. England were 142 for 7 at lunch on the second day, still 121 behind, and for all their love for a run chase there is a good chance that, had they conceded a hefty lead, the game would have gone.Instead, largely through Ben Stokes and Mark Wood, England cracked 95 off ten overs to draw almost level and then, later in the day with Australia’s lead approaching 100, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne handed their wickets to Moeen Ali. There were a few twists to come but that’s where the mood of this series shifted.At Old Trafford, Australia were outplayed in a manner that has rarely been seen in recent years – over an extended period, rather than a single crazy session such as the one that cost them in Delhi earlier this year. In Manchester, a lazy first-day batting display then became a rudderless performance in the field as Zak Crawley, Joe Root and latterly Jonny Bairstow made merry.Australia admitted how poor they were, but have also tried to play it down somewhat by saying they always expected it would come given how England play. When it did come, they did not have any answers. Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh ensured a touch of equilibrium was resorted on the fourth day, but only the rain saved them.It all means they come back to London, where this tour started at the beginning of last month with the World Test Championship final, needing a victory (or at least be in a strong position for one should weather intervene again) to honestly be able to leave knowing they were the better team.”It’s a big one,” Cummins said. “If we win this one and you look back, it’s been an incredible tour over here really. We’ve played five games, we’ve won three and only lost one. It’s already a fantastic tour. But to go home winning the urn would be phenomenal. It’s a final thing to tick off the list of titles to win for a few of the guys, who you never [know] if you’ll get another chance at it. We’ve said the whole time, our aim is to come here and win the Ashes and that’s the opportunity ahead of us.”As Cummins alluded to, it will be the last Ashes Test in England for a lot of this side. In fact, it probably marks the start of a transition for both teams: the youngest member of the England attack at Old Trafford was Wood at 33.”They’ve got world class bowlers in their attack,” David Warner said. “They’re all mid-30s, like myself, so it’s just great to see them keep coming. They probably don’t have much cricket left in them and it will be sad to see a lot of those guys leave and we have to applaud the way that they’ve kept coming year after year.”Pat Cummins and Alex Carey could be borderline names when Australia pick the team for their next Ashes series in England•Associated Press

For Australia, of those who have featured in the series, you can only say confidently, as much as is possible with the uncertainties of professional sport, that Labuschagne, Travis Head, Cameron Green and Todd Murphy will have the chance of returning in four years’ time. Marsh and Alex Carey (35 by then) are perhaps borderline names, as is Cummins himself who will be 34. The team will start disbanding as soon as the next home summer with Warner the first to depart, at the SCG against Pakistan in early January if he makes it that far.”We know we are an experienced team,” Cummins said. “But that means there are some people who are close to the end of their career. That means we’ll have to find some new guys, who I think it won’t be very hard to find, but no doubt the team’s going to change over time. Maybe it’s this moment, I don’t know.”While some are questioning how long Cummins will be able to marry the role of lead fast bowler and captain, he sees the upcoming changing of the guard as something exciting.”We’re very individualised in how we let everyone be themselves and do it their way,” he said. “Some of that’s down to the fact that we’ve got guys that have played 100 Test matches [and] 15 years of first-class cricket. If there’s new guys [coming] in maybe you need to shift that a little bit more. It’s exciting – that’s what I like about the job.”But before the future, comes the immediate challenge. Being crowned Test world champions was deserving reward for two years of excellent Test cricket, but coupling that with an Ashes series win in England – something that has passed by a number of very fine Australian players – is needed to ensure that this group of players has its place in history.

Sam Northeast steers Glamorgan to victory after Michael Hogan polishes off Leicestershire resistance

Ben Mike half-century keeps home side waiting but points are secured shortly after tea

ECB Reporters Network08-May-2022Glamorgan wrapped up a six-wicket victory on the final day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match against Leicestershire in Cardiff.Leicestershire resumed their second innings with three wickets in hand and just 41 runs in front. An excellent half-century from Ben Mike and 29 runs from stand-in captain Callum Parkinson took that lead to 149 before the final wicket fell.Glamorgan got off to a flying start in their pursuit of the victory target thanks to a brisk innings from David Lloyd but three wickets from Parkinson slowed their progress. While Parkinson was a consistent threat the Glamorgan batters chased down the required runs in 40.4 overs with Sam Northeast undefeated on 40.Leicestershire will be hugely disappointed to have given away such a strong position on day one and will need to work on their ill-disciplined bowling that saw them bowl 25 no-balls and concede 82 extras in the match.With the wicket of Harry Swindells falling to the last ball of day three Leicestershire were in urgent need of a partnership to give them any chance of setting Glamorgan a challenging target. That is exactly what they got from Mike and Parkinson.Mike narrowly missed out on a maiden first-class hundred in Leicestershire’s last match against Middlesex, with the final wicket falling with him stranded on 99 not out. In this match he carried on that good form as he made a counterattacking 64 to give his team a target that was potentially defendable.Leicestershire had looked frazzled during the last session of day three, and Glamorgan were in complete control. That was not the case on the morning of the fourth day as Mike and Parkinson put on an eighth-wicket stand worth 88.Mike’s enterprising innings was ended in the first over with the second new ball when an attempted pull shot and got a top edge off Michael Hogan that had serious hang time. Chris Cooke took the catch after waiting patiently underneath the skier.It was debutant Andy Gorvin who was given the new ball at the other end and he claimed the first wicket of his career when he had Chris Wright trapped lbw for 3. The innings was wrapped up when Hogan bowled Beuran Hendricks with Leicestershire 266 all out to set a victory target of 150.Lloyd was in no mood to hang around when the chase got underway as he raced to 36 from just 32 balls. He was bowled attempting to sweep, the first of three Glamorgan batters to fall playing that shot off Parkinson.Northeast and Kiran Carlson shared a match-defining partnership in Glamorgan’s first innings and they combined again in a stand worth 35 that got their team within touching distance of the target. Carlson was dismissed by Scott Steel but Northeast saw his side home.Glamorgan finished with 23 points from this match with Leicestershire claiming five bonus points.

Marnus Labuschagne laments 'innocuous dismissals' of set batsmen

“We’ve certainly showed last game no matter how many you have you’re in the game”

Daniel Brettig26-Dec-2020Marnus Labuschagne has admitted that Australia’s top order has been wrestling with the fact that India have turned up for the Test series with multiple highly evolved plans to confound them, after they were bowled out for 195 on Boxing Day to follow up a first innings of just 191 in the first Test in Adelaide.You have to go back to November 1984, when Australia were being obliterated by West Indies on the way to Kim Hughes’ resignation as captain, for the last time they failed to reach 200 in consecutive first innings; they were bowled out for 76 in Perth and then 175 in Brisbane. That the record would be matched in the season when the Australians had hoped to regain the batting initiative against India after struggling without Steven Smith and David Warner in 2018-19 says much about how India have approached their task, the sporting nature of the pitches at Adelaide Oval and the MCG, but also the profligate nature of some dismissals.Related

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“We had three innocuous dismissals, that we probably didn’t need,” Labuschagne said. “Just three frustrating dismissals, and I think all three of those guys were set and were in. It’s a big job from our batting group, whoever that is on the day – whether that’s myself or anyone else in the top order – that we make sure we get the big scores.”You just know you’re going to have to lock in and bat for periods of time. They’re bowling really straight lines, you’re not getting many runs through the off side, so this is the art of Test cricket, this is why we all love it. Because it’s a continual challenge for the bowlers to come up with new ideas to stop the batters scoring and build pressure and that’s what they did today.”Labuschagne, in a 132-ball stay worth 48 runs, has gone close to getting fully established in both Tests, but even he has struggled far more than last summer when Pakistan and New Zealand looked bereft of ways to get past him. At the same time, Smith’s scores of 1 and 0 are his worst-ever first-innings scores to start a Test series.”Something that we’re realising very quickly is people are coming up with new ways, thinking about the game slightly differently,” Labuschagne said. “Obviously today, they came out with a heavy leg-side field and bowled very straight and didn’t give us any scoring options to the off side.”So for all our batters, you’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches, learning the game, understanding what they’re doing and take that innings to innings. I think that’s the key. As long as we do that as a batting group and learn from that, we’re just going to keep getting better and learning.”Looking ahead to the rest of the game, Labuschagne placed plenty of store in the Australian side’s bowlers to keep them in the contest, given how much movement was available. “We’re in the game,” Labuschagne said. “We’ve certainly showed last game no matter how many you have you’re in the game. It’s pretty hard for me to make an assessment on the wicket currently, you’re both going to have to bat on the wicket to see how both teams bat.”There was a little bit more in it, the ball seamed and you even saw the ball swing at the 50th over mark, which is something you probably don’t see usually here at the MCG at that time. We’ve got to make sure we adapt and whatever they get, we get a big score in the second dig.”As for the blow to the helmet from the swift Mohammed Siraj, Labuschagne said he had not felt any lingering effects. “Not at all,” he said. “I’m very accustomed to getting hit in the head, so just shake it off and move on.”

Gurney defends six off last five as Nottinghamshire reach knockouts

Adam Lyth hits 48 and takes five wickets, but ends up on losing side as Gurney and Luke Fletcher close out tense win

David Hopps at Trent Bridge25-Aug-2019There are few trickier death bowlers in the Blast than Harry Gurney and Jordan Thompson now knows that more painfully than most. Three times in the last four balls, Thompson swung at Gurney and missed, giving Notts a three-run win to take them along with Lancashire into the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast and eliminating Yorkshire in the process.Gurney, who had been short of his best, had to defend 12 from the last over, and Yorkshire again were in the ascendancy when Will Fraine, playing against his former county, launched the first ball over long-on for six. But Fraine then fell at backward point and, although Thompson did middle one delivery to long-on for two, the dominant sound was a swishing and a cursing.Luke Fletcher also played a fine hand at the death. His first two overs had leaked 25, but a fine boundary-saving pounce at short fine allowed him to begin the 19th over with Yorkshire still needing 18 off the last two overs. He yorked Jack Leaning with his first ball and Tim Bresnan with his last to send emergency signals blaring in what had always been a tightly-judged chase.Trent Bridge was packed almost to capacity as nearly 14,000 turned up on a baking summer’s day to see Notts reach the last eight, but much of the Notts innings was little more than a backdrop because for all but the most ardent supporter it was inevitable that thoughts would stray to Headingley.The biggest ovation of the day came when Notts were 76 for 2, not because of anything before their eyes, but for news of an astounding victory at Headingley where Ben Stokes had added a heroic Ashes innings to his exploits in the World Cup final to confirm himself as one of the greats of the game. Trent Bridge felt like a part of a great cricketing family.”It got a little bit interesting for me when they hit six off the first ball of the final over but I’m always confident when you’ve got double figures to defend in the last over,” Gurney said. “I’m not sure we’ll be grabbing the back pages tomorrow but we’re all England fans in our dressing room apart from Dan Christian – and he’s getting plenty of stick.”On a slow, low Nottingham surface, nobody was thinking much about greatness. Until a thrilling climax, it was a largely desultory afternoon on a sluggish pitch in 30C heat when adequacy was hard enough and slow bowlers held sway.Notts laboured for most of their innings. Joe Clarke’s half-century held them together even though he was not at his most fluent and was dropped on 3 – he did not field later because of cramp. When Clarke and Tom Moores fell to Lyth in successive balls, Notts had declined to 99 for 5 off 16, but posted 148 for 7 with 43 coming off the last three overs.Joe Clarke swings through the leg side•Getty Images

Perhaps Christian, Notts’ Australian captain, had been working off a bit of Stokes-derived frustration. His unbeaten 31 from 16 balls shook Notts into some sort of order, 16 of three balls off David Willey in the 18th over finally achieving an impetus they had struggled to achieve. Fletcher’s six off the penultimate ball, from Lyth, was another decisive intervention from the big fella before Lyth had him caught in the deep from the last ball to return startling figures of 5 for 31.Lyth’s all-round prowess with bat and ball might not have been the most obvious route for Yorkshire to have sought to revive their Blast season, but he produced one of the best bat-and-ball displays in the county’s T20 history.He had only taken 10 T20 wickets in 110 previous appearances before he stepped out at Trent Bridge, but his gently-flighted offspin suddenly seemed to have taken on new guile. He later struck 48 from 51 balls in orderly fashion before he squirted a back-of-the-hand delivery from Gurney to backward point. With Yorkshire needing 49 from 38 with seven wickets left he had cause to hope he had done enough.Yorkshire’s T20 season has adopted many forms this summer, few of them convincing, but this was the second time in a week that an unsung offspinner made a striking intervention. Five wickets for Jack Shutt at Chester-le-Street had helped them beat Durham three days earlier, a match in which Lyth also picked up three.”We should have got over the line but credit to Notts, they grind those sorts of results out on their own patch and we crumbled a bit under the pressure at the end,” said Yorkshire’s coach, Andrew Gale. “I think 85 percent of the game we played some smart cricket.”That sums up our one-day cricket, we can’t get over the line. We’ve tied three games and lost by a run in one of them and until we stand and take responsibility in key moments under pressure then we are where we are.”Three runs was another tight margin and Gale’s frustration was understandable, but it only told half the story. Yorkshire are now nearer to solving their perennial shortcomings in T20 cricket and, outside their top three, they lack star quality.Three runs or not, that it was Notts who proceeded to the last eight felt entirely appropriate.

Lawrence finds form to keep Middlesex rock bottom

Dan Lawrence and Varun Chopra totalled more half-centuries than Essex had managed all season as a hapless Middlesex attack again failed to defend a big total

ECB Reporters Network16-Aug-2018
ScorecardDan Lawrence struck an outstanding 86 as Essex recorded only their second win of the Vitality Blast campaign against basement boys Middlesex at Lord’s.The 21-year-old, who like his teammates has struggled in T20 this year chose Lord’s to strike his first half-century of the campaign, plundering four sixes and seven fours in a 45-ball effort.His heroics enabled Essex to chase down Middlesex’s 210 for 3 – their record score against Essex – in the format.For Middlesex it was a familiar story of their bowlers having no capacity to defend a big total given them courtesy of superb half-centuries from Paul Stirling (78) and Eoin Morgan (77).It meant a seventh successive defeat for Daniel Vettori’s side, who must now beat Sussex at Hove tomorrow night to have a chance of avoiding the South Group wooden spoon.Stirling responded: “It is pretty gutting. We have put up a few good scores recently and not managed to get over the line with the ball. There have been some signs of improvement in little places here and there, but collectively it has not got us the win.”

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Dawid Malan struck boundaries off his first two deliveries, but then edged Sam Cook through to Adam Wheater.Thereafter Stirling dominated the Powerplay with a mixture of craft, ingenuity and brute force, two sixes and seven fours carrying him to fifty off 29 balls. The Irish international and John Simpson added 66 before the latter was caught and bowled by Simon Harmer.Stirling struck another incredible flat six over square cover, but was soon acting as the foil to Morgan’s stunning innings. Morgan began slowly before three sixes in an over off Paul Walter helped catapult him to 50 off 30 balls.Stirling eventually holed out at long off, but Morgan’s response was to strike three maximums in an over for the second time, Matt Coles the bowler on the receiving end.James Fuller, promoted to No 5 then weighed in with 25 off 11 balls as he and Morgan shared a stand of 58 from the final 23 deliveries.Aussie paceman Peter Siddle (1-33) was the pick of the visitors’ attack though many were left to wonder why Ravi Bopara bowled just the one over.Needing 211, Essex soon lost Wheater to a stunning catch by Stevie Eskinazi off Fuller’s first ball. New batsman Walter hit Steven Finn for an enormous straight six, but he extracted almost immediate revenge when another attempted big hit found the safe hands of Malan at mid-off.Despite the wickets runs came quickly, Lawrence hoisting Fuller for six and Varun Chopra too clearing the ropes at long-on, Finn again on the receiving end as the visitors reached 60 by the end of the PowerplayThe 50-stand came in 25 balls and the 100 was up inside 10 overs. Lawrence was the main aggressor and his fifth four coupled with two sixes carried him to 50 in just 24 balls, only the second Essex batsmen to achieve the feat in the 2018 Blast.Then came a huge moment in James Franklin’s first over when Chopra on 35 carved a ball outside off in the air towards the boundary at square cover where young George Scott spilled the chance. Chopra made the most of the reprieve, moving through to his own 50 off 31 balls as the century stand was realised.The hosts needed a breakthrough and James Harris, returned at the Pavilion End to bowl Chopra for 51, leaving Essex 137 for 3 in the 14th.
Lawrence though motored on depositing another six into the grandstand off Franklin.At the other end the experienced Bopara was missed off a skier by a combination of Fuller and Franklin and as Middlesex’s out fielding fell apart he was dropped again by Finn in the deep.Lawrence departed before the end, bowled around his legs by Finn, but Bopara (31) and Ashar Zaidi (20) saw Essex home with four balls to spare.

Gambhir gets suspended ban for coach spat

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.

Sanghvi and Dahiya get directives from ombudsman in conflict cases

Justice (retired) AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that Rahul Sanghvi was in violation of the BCCI’s internal conflict-of-interest rules by serving as Delhi selector while still being associated with Mumbai Indians

Arun Venugopal16-Mar-2016Justice (retired) AP Shah, the BCCI ombudsman, has ruled that former India spinner Rahul Sanghvi was in violation of the BCCI’s internal conflict-of-interest rules by serving as selector of the Delhi senior and Under-23 teams during the 2015-16 season while still being associated with IPL franchise Mumbai Indians. Former India player Kirti Azad had filed a complaint, alleging Sanghvi was in conflict after the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) appointed him as one of the three selectors in September 2015.Shah also ruled that there was no point in terminating Sanghvi’s contract with the DDCA now, given that Delhi’s season was set to finish at the end of this month.Sanghvi had contended that he had not applied for the job and had been nominated by the DDCA. He also added that he didn’t receive any remuneration as a selector. Sanghvi said he was employed with Mumbai Indians in an administrative capacity since 2008 and he was not involved in coaching or selection of the IPL team.After seeking clarification from the BCCI on the conflict-of-interest rules in place, Shah wrote that if a retired cricketer was appointed as coach or selector of a state association or any other unit affiliated to the BCCI on an “annual or long-term basis”, he could not accept any position with an IPL franchise. Shah’s order, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, stated there was no conflict, though, when a former cricketer was appointed by a BCCI-affiliated unit for a single season following the end of which he worked with an IPL team (for example, a former player might work with say Bengal during the 2016-2017 Ranji Trophy and once the tournament is done go and work for, perhaps, Delhi Daredevils in the 2017 IPL). “The BCCI has permitted the same, at least for the time being,” Shah wrote.In another order, Shah highlighted a clarification received from the BCCI that bars cricketers (current or retired), who hold positions as coaches or selectors of the board’s affiliate units, from running private academies. The order was in response to Azad’s complaint against former India wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya that alleged he was in conflict by virtue of running the Vijay Dahiya academy – a private coaching centre – while still being Delhi’s coach in 2015-16. Azad also said that Dahiya’s role as assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL also constituted conflict. According to Azad, Dahiya owned a company called Safe Hands Sports Management, which deals with cricketing equipment and gear, and that led to further conflict of interest.Dahiya responded by saying he didn’t run the academy and that he didn’t own or hold any position in Safe Hands Sports Management. After reviewing the submissions of various parties Shah stated that the academy was run by Dahiya’s near relatives. “Since the academy is named after Mr Dahiya, and it is run by his near relatives, and there are advertisements for the academy in Mr Dahiya’s name, it appears that the retired cricketer is closely associated with the academy.”While nothing can be done if a name has already been adopted by a cricket academy, hereafter, if such an academy is named after a cricketer and is run by a near relative it may be presumed that it is run by that cricketer,” Shah wrote.He recommended that Dahiya submit an undertaking to the “affiliated unit or the BCCI (whichever entity engages him)” that advertisements wouldn’t bear his name as coach of the Vijay Dahiya Academy. Shah also wrote that if a player from the Vijay Dahiya Academy came up for selection Dahiya should recuse himself from the selection process pertaining to the player. Shah also recommended that Dahiya sign an undertaking that he wouldn’t be associated with Safe Hands Sports Management so long as he is a coach or selector of a team.This is the second instance of the ombudsman pulling up a prominent player for a conflicting association with a sports business, after asking India offspinner Harbhajan Singh to dissociate from Bhajji Sports.Based on Dahiya’s submissions, Shah also made sharp observations on the DDCA’s “deplorable state of affairs” and directed the BCCI to forward a copy of the order to the association. “Mr Dahiya claims that payments have not been made or have been excessively delayed for the past four-five years,” Shah wrote. “This is a deplorable state of affairs, and the BCCI must look into it urgently. Huge amounts are paid by the BCCI to affiliated units, and they must be directed to appropriately compensate their coaches and other staff.”

Dalmiya re-elected CAB president

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, has been re-elected Cricket Association of Bengal president for another term

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jul-2013Jagmohan Dalmiya, the interim BCCI chief, has been re-elected Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president for another term.Dalmiya was re-elected unopposed at the 82nd annual general meeting of the CAB in Kolkata and also retained the panel of the two joint secretaries, Subir Ganguly and Sujan Mukherjee, and treasurer Biswarup Dey. Dalmiya, 73, has been heading the board since 1993, except a 19-month period starting December 2006 when he was unseated from the position for alleged embezzlement of funds from the 1996 World Cup. He was elected the board president again in July 2008.The only change in the board was the election of former BCCI joint secretary Gautam Dasgupta as trustee and board chairman. The four other members, who are also new, to the trustee board are – Russi Jeejeebhoy, Samar Kar, Shibaji Roy and Shivkumar Kalyani.

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