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The state of Lanning’s shoulder is a considerable worry for Australia given her pivotal role in the team, and there is no certainty that she will only be missing from the Pakistan fixture

Daniel Brettig05-Jul-2017A shoulder problem has forced Australia’s captain Meg Lanning out of at least the Word Cup match against Pakistan in Leicester later on Wednesday. Rachael Haynes will be included to lead the side in her absence.Lanning aggravated a long-running shoulder complaint at training ahead of the match, with the selectors recommending to the Cricket Australia board that Haynes, 30, take over while Alex Blackwell remains vice-captain.The state of Lanning’s shoulder is a considerable worry for Australia given her pivotal role in the team, and there is no certainty that she will only be missing from the Pakistan fixture.”Meg has been undergoing rehabilitation on her right shoulder, following a chronic injury,” the team physio, Kate Mahony, said. “The decision for Meg to miss today’s match will enable her to focus on some rehabilitation and we’ll continue to monitor her ahead of taking part in any further matches in the tournament.”Haynes, meanwhile, has played 34 ODIs for Australia with a solid batting record to her credit, but has not been part of the first-choice team at that tournament so far. “Rachael has a wealth of leadership experience including successfully guiding Victoria to back-to-back national Twenty20 titles,” the national selector, Shawn Flegler, said, “and alongside Alex, will ensure the team is led to continue their current form.”We know that Rachael is capable of coming in and doing the job that is asked of her as she demonstrated in New Zealand earlier this year when she scored a half-century after a lengthy absence from the national side.”

Following his record-breaking opening stand with David Warner, Travis Head is hoping to get more chances up the order

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2017Travis Head, who hit his maiden ODI century against Pakistan in the fifth ODI in Adelaide after being pushed up to open, hopes to get more chances at the top of the order.”As a batter I would love to bat as high as I possibly can, if there’s that opportunity as there was in this series,” Head, who put on 284 with David Warner, said after Australia’s 57-run win. This was the second time Head has opened in his young ODI career of 20 games. The first of those chances to open came in the first ODI of the series, in Brisbane, where he was out for a run-a-ball 39.”I got the opportunity at the Gabba and felt like I was in good form, but I wasn’t able to get a massive score,” he said. “I was very disappointed after that, then going back down the order, that I wasn’t able to capitalise.”So it was nice to get out there today, get first crack at it and get runs. But I’m happy to do the job wherever is needed in the side. I’m happy to go game by game and just be in the side. The preparation for the Champions Trophy, I think we’re playing the right brand at the end of this series. So wherever I fit, it’s fantastic.”With David Warner guaranteed to open, barring injuries, the search is on for a second opener for Australia leading up to the Champions Trophy in England in June. Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch have been tried there. Khawaja opened in the middle three ODIs of the Pakistan series. Finch, who was dropped for the series against Pakistan, has been recalled for the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand.Head too is part of the squad, and hopes to find himself among the runs to merit automatic selection. “I felt like I’ve been in good form in the series but I just haven’t been able to get a big score, and it’s probably been like that since I debuted,” he said. “It’s nice and satisfying to get runs, but the head moves quickly to New Zealand and try and back up the good form and keep the ball rolling.”Head said batting with Warner, who now has six tons in 11 ODIs and was battling a cold and later on fatigue in this game, made his job much easier. The pair set a new Australian ODI partnership record – beating the 260-run second-wicket stand between Warner and Steven Smith against Afghanistan in the 2015 World Cup. They missed the all-time ODI opening partnership record by two runs.”He [Warner] told me he was going for 200, so I don’t think his mind was set on coming off [due to health issues],” Head said. “He was pretty fatigued, we did a fair bit of running. But I don’t think that hindered him in any way, he just got on with the job. He was struggling a little bit but he was definitely focused on getting a few more runs. It’s easy at the other end – he makes it easy for me. He does it consistently, backing up massive scores and it’s another match-winning effort from him.”

Kraigg Brathwaite has plenty to say about his 85 on the first day of the SCG Test, his development on this tour, and the prospect of bowling on a turning pitch. But he has nothing to say about the out-of-form Marlon Samuels

Daniel Brettig at the SCG03-Jan-2016West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite has plenty to say about his batting, his doughty 85 on the first day of the SCG Test, his development on this tour, and the prospect of bowling on a turning Sydney pitch. He has nothing at all to say about, or for, Marlon Samuels.In a telling interlude as Brathwaite spoke about how he has evolved as a batsman on this trip, becoming more proactive to counter Australia’s bowlers rather than simply trying to wait them out, he became decidedly tight-lipped about Samuels, the run-out they were involved in, and the older man’s contribution to the tour.It may well have been a case of if you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all, for Samuels has endured a wretched tour, notching a meagre 35 runs in five innings – an average of seven for those not paying attention – and earning plenty of criticism for his apparent lack of verve in the field. At the time of the run-out, which was Samuels’ call, West Indies were in a decent position. After it, they subsided to 6 for 207.”I think those things happen in cricket. I’m not sure what to say about that,” Brathwaite said. “It was just a misunderstanding.”Queried further on Samuels’ contribution this tour, Brathwaite clammed up. “There’s not much I can say about that at the moment,” he said. A further question to that effect drew a similar response from the team media manager.What was left to discuss was an innings that impressed many, lacking only the catharsis of reaching three figures after Nathan Lyon finally found a way to confound Brathwaite’s previously sure feet and sound mind. “It is a good challenge,” Brathwaite said of Lyon. “I think he is bowling quite well and I just have to keep believing in my ability. They fielded well today and for me it is about trusting my defence and working towards my plan.”It is a tour where I am learning and I just want to keep going out there and building a foundation for my team and learning in the process. On a first-day pitch that is spinning like that, once we get a score, anything about 300 will put ourselves in a good position.”I think the spinners bowled well, it is just about trusting your defence and backing your shots and you can score. Coming from the last game, when the guys showed some improvement, it is key to keep showing that improvement and supporting one another.”As for the pitch, Brathwaite was surprised by how much deviation it offered, but was eager to see how his team might fare on it – and how he might bowl on it. “I was quite surprised, I didn’t expect the first day to spin like that,” he said. “I heard it can spin here but I didn’t expect that.”So as batters, once we put some runs on the board, we can put some pressure on Australia. It is important when we do bowl that we string those dots together because dots balls can build pressure and that brings wickets. I will be looking forward to [bowling]. We will just have to see what happens.”

Nick Compton praised the role of Alastair Cook in helping nurse him towards a maiden Test hundred

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin09-Mar-2013Nick Compton praised the role of Alastair Cook in helping nurse him towards a maiden Test hundred on the fourth day in Dunedin. The pair combined for their third century opening stand in 10 innings, with Cook scoring his 24th Test hundred, and Compton was grateful for the experience of his captain as he edged towards three figures.Cook, who fell with Compton on 99, did not have to wait for more than a few days for his first Test century, which came in just his second innings against India in Nagpur. While Compton’s wait has not been too long the final moments were surrounded by tension. Compton’s innings had started to flow more freely after a sticky start against the new ball, but once the 90s arrived scoring seized up again and, for a short while, it appeared he could be stranded overnight short of the milestone.”He’s fantastic, a real solid grounding sort of guy. He’s a special guy,” Compton said. “Both of us weren’t moving our feet too well early on and probably got away with it a little bit. It grew from there. It was great to have that over-by-over focus. He’s a tough character and he kept me going when at times I wanted to get on with it a little bit.”The Cook-Compton partnership replaced one of the most settled of England’s history. Cook walked out with Andrew Strauss in 117 innings and they are comfortably England’s most prolific first-wicket pair whose 4711 runs together included 12 century stands. The new era, however, has started productively with three hundred partnerships in 10 innings.They are now only one behind three pairs who had lengthy associations – Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch (four in 49 innings), Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick (four in 30), Atherton and Mark Butcher (four in 32). Currently, too, for partnerships that have lasted at least 10 innings they sit second behind Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe in terms of average. A skewed statistic, yes, but one nonetheless that shows their early success.Before the Test, Cook spoke about the differences in their characters – the intensity of Compton – and how life has changed since he is no longer opening with Strauss. He said he felt a duty, as the senior man, to help Compton along.”I think you get a bit more intense when the pressure is on and you are searching for runs, trying to get yourself together,” Compton said. “I’ve always been someone who analyses myself quite a lot, probably to the detriment but I also think it’s got me to where I have – the hunger and the drive. Alastair is a very balanced guy, very level-headed guy.”When Cook finally fell, shortly before the close, edging behind off Trent Boult with the second new ball, the stand of 231 was England’s highest for the first wicket since Strauss and Trescothick added 273 against South Africa at Durban in 2004, which was the beginning of another rearguard after a poor first innings, and also their eighth-highest ever upfront.It has given England a good chance of salvaging a draw after two horrid days in another slow start to an overseas series. “We put ourselves in this position, we’re well aware of that,” Compton said. “We weren’t good enough in the first innings and New Zealand were right on it. They batted brilliantly, they bowled well. So it was a bit of a kick up the proverbial, if you know what I mean. It was a case of really trying to get back into it.”

Sri Lanka chief selector Ashantha de Mel has said that the national selection committee may streamline the selection of teams, and have a separate squad for Twenty20s

Sa'adi Thawfeeq15-Oct-2012Sri Lanka chief selector Ashantha de Mel has said that the national selection committee may streamline the selection of teams, and have a separate Twenty20 squad, following Sri Lanka’s 36-run loss to West Indies in the World Twenty20 final in Colombo.The changes are likely to be introduced in the one-off T20 international against New Zealand to be played at Pallekele on October 30.Vice captain Angelo Mathews is expected to take the reins for the game against New Zealand, with Mahela Jayawardene having resigned from the captaincy following the World Twenty20 final.”We will have to go with Mathews for the moment but we will assess the captaincy. The team should be captained by a player who has a permanent place in the side,” de Mel said. “We need to separate the Test and ODI players from the T20 players and pick a squad that will fulfill the requirements of T20 cricket.”We will pick a young side with players who can make a clean strike of the ball,” he said. Sri Lanka hit the least sixes of the four semi-finalists in the World Twenty20 and managed only one six to West Indies’ seven in the final. “We really have to assess the situation and start building a team of T20 cricketers for the next World T20 in Bangladesh in 2014,” said de Mel.”We need to find some strong hitters who can clear the boundary successfully. Players like Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews don’t have the power so they adopt different methods to score runs like the scoop and the reverse sweep. Even playing those strokes you need the strength to clear the fielders,” he said.Mathews exposed his stumps and was bowled attempting to play the scoop shot against Darren Sammy and Jayawardene failed to clear the short third man fielder when he reverse swept Sunil Narine. De Mel said that Dilshan Munaweera, who was unused after the group stages of the World Twenty20, was a player who could hit sixes.”Chamara Kapugedera is another batsman who could easily clear the boundary but he has been under so much pressure from all quarters for failing to contribute big scores that he was eventually dropped,” de Mel said.Kapugedera hit 13 sixes in six matches for NCC in the Premier club T20 tournament and had a strike rate of 179.64.De Mel also said Sri Lanka paid the penalty for not being aggressive enough chasing a West Indies total of 137 for victory. Sri Lanka’s batsmen were circumspect after the dismissal of Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over, and struggled to score at the require run rate throughout the innings. They were eventually dismissed for 101.”I don’t know what went wrong with our batting, for in the earlier matches we used to score at least 50 runs in the first six overs of Powerplay. Here they managed only 30 runs which put the fielding side on top.”I think we also panicked during our innings when there was a slight drizzle and threw away wickets rather unnecessarily trying to up the score, the two run outs of Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis didn’t help either. Everything seemed to go against us.”

As South Africa’s senior team closed in on victory at Lord’s the second XI secured a first victory on their tour of Ireland

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Aug-2012
ScorecardAs South Africa’s senior team closed in on a win at Lord’s that would secure them the No. 1 Test ranking, the second XI secured a first victory on their tour of Ireland with a rain-affected 68-run win in the first one-day game.Farhaan Behardien was the mainstay of the South Africa A innings with 88 off 85 balls, his highest one-day score, while Justin Ontong made 60 in a total of 255 for 9. The chase proved well out of reach for the Ireland XI as they lost three of their top five batsmen for ducks before rain brought an early end to the match.The home side had made a promising start by reducing South Africa A to 86 for 4 in the 22nd over when Dean Elgar was caught behind off Kevin O’Brien. However, Ontong and Behardien added 95 for the fifth wicket to form the backbone of the innings.Ontong had struck two sixes in his 66-ball stay when he fell to Peter Connell but Dane Vilas, the wicketkeeper, offered useful support in a stand of 34 with Behardien who played out the innings as the lower order fell away a little. Trent Johnston finished with 3 for 33 from his 10 overs.Wayne Parnell, who was outstanding in the four-day game, struck in his first over of the chase to immediately set the Ireland XI back. James Shannon played positively for his 33 off 35 balls but when he departed to Ryan McLaren three wickets fell with the score on 48.Andrew Poynter and John Anderson resisted for an 11-over stand but the required rate was rising and the South Africans chipped away, including a scalp for Behardien to cap his day, before the game decided was when the weather closed in.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has sent its legal advisor to attend the spot-fixing trial in London involving Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif

Richard Sydenham at Southwark Crown Court05-Oct-2011The spot-fixing trial involving Pakistan players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif has been adjourned for lunch on the second day with all parties still debating legal arguments. Among those attending the trial is the Pakistan Cricket Board’s legal advisor, Tafazzul Rizvi.Rizvi, who has been on a retainer with the PCB for five years, has attended the first two days of the case at Southwark Crown Court. He is unlikely to stay for the duration, which may be up to five weeks, but will report to the PCB on his findings.Butt and Asif, who flew in at the weekend from Lahore, are facing the possibility of a custodial sentence if deemed guilty, though both are pleading not guilty. They are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat, and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments, following the Lord’s Test in August last year when they allegedly conspired to bowl pre-determined no-balls.”I’m here as an observer on behalf of the PCB,” Rizvi told ESPNcricinfo. “When this case started the players were on a central contract with the PCB so that is why we have an interest here. Ironically I was here in London also when the players’ hotels rooms were raided by police last year. It was important that I witness a criminal trial involving Pakistan players.”I’m only concerned with the legal side of things at the PCB not the playing side, so any evidence against them will interest us.”Rizvi also said that ICC rules mean that the players must have independent legal support, therefore he has not liaised directly with the players during the trial or beforehand. The PCB’s main aim is to observe the proceedings and learn from what has happened to influence future events or policies.”As a cricket board we need to find out if anything wrong was done by them. We can’t discuss specifics now but any wrongdoing would be reflected in the final judgement.”

Northamptonshire opener Stephen Peters struck his second century of the season
but leaders Sussex’s late fightback has left the match hanging in the balance

19-May-2010
Scorecard
Northamptonshire opener Stephen Peters struck his second century of the season
but leaders Sussex’s late fightback has left the match hanging in the balance. Peters’ brilliant knock of 136 from 251 balls was the bedrock of the home
side’s total of 274 all out which gave them a handy lead of 99 runs.Ollie Rayner was the pick of the Sussex attack taking three for 45, with former
West Indies paceman Corey Collymore also claiming three wickets.But the visitors, who had been skittled for 175 on the first day, had little
problem in pulling back the deficit and closed on 137 for 2, 38 runs ahead. Northants started the day on 118 for 5, 57 runs behind, with Peters resuming on 55 and former captain Nicky Boje starting his innings after new skipper Andrew Hall was bowled by the final ball of the first day.Boje, who relinquished the captaincy on Monday in a bid to improve his own
form, made just a single before he went cheaply by smashing James Anyon straight
to Robin Martin-Jenkins at mid-off.A boundary through extra cover from James Middlebrook moved the hosts ahead in
the 59th over of their innings and he made 25 before edging spinner Rayner to Ed
Joyce at slip. Peters then reached his century off 203 balls, which included 14 fours and went on to smash a huge six down the ground in the first over after lunch off
Rayner.David Willey (11) was trapped lbw by Rayner in the fifth over after lunch
before Collymore was finally able to remove Peters when he was caught behind by
England wicketkeeper Matt Prior.Collymore then finished Northants’ innings by taking out Jack Brooks’ off stump
for four, leaving the hosts with a lead of 99. Early in Sussex’s second innings, Chris Nash pulled a four to go past 4,000 career first-class runs on his 27th birthday.The visitors’ openers, Nash and Michael Thornely, managed to survive 15 overs
before tea to leave their side on 42 without loss. But Nash fell in the fourth over after the interval for 32 when he edged Lee Daggett straight to David Sales at second slip.Joyce survived a scare when he was dropped by Sales in the same position before
a 50 partnership between him and Thornely helped put Sussex ahead again. But Joyce (30) finally went when he pushed Middlebrook to Alex Wakely at short leg with Thornely and Murray Goodwin guiding them through to the close, unbeaten on 45 and 21 respectively.

India D are 311 ahead with five second-innings wickets left

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2024Shreyas Iyer hit a quickfire fifty, Sanju Samson a brisk 45 and Ricky Bhui a stodgy unbeaten 90 as India D had the ascendancy over India B in the final Duleep Trophy fixture in Anantapur. Already out of reckoning for the title, India D are 311 ahead with five second-innings wickets left.Resuming on 210 for 6, India B stretched their total to 282. A majority of those runs came courtesy Washington Sundar, who top scored with 87. Left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar picked up all four wickets to fall in the day, finishing with figures of 5 for 73, his 25th five-for in first-class cricket.India D’s second innings began with a flurry of wickets as Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar reduced them to 18 for 3. It’s at this point that Iyer, who was out for a five-ball duck in the first innings, decided to counterattack. He hit seven fours and a six across 39 deliveries before becoming Mukesh’s third wicket.Samson, the first-innings centurion, kicked on to make his start count, putting together a 68-run stand with Bhui. The sixth-wicket stand between Bhui and Akash Sengupta was worth 94 when stumps were called.Currently second on the table, India B face an uphill task of trying to win the title. For them to have a shot, they need to win outright and then hope neither India C nor India A win outright.

Latif, who lives in Pakistan, was not present at the trial nor has he been detained

Reuters11-Sep-2023A Dutch court has sentenced former Pakistan batter Khalid Latif to 12 years in prison after he was tried in absentia for urging people to murder Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.The court ruled that statements by Latif should be regarded as incitement to murder, sedition and threat.Latif lives in Pakistan and has not attended any stage of the trial or been detained in the Netherlands.The Netherlands and Pakistan have no treaties in place regarding judicial cooperation or extradition, and earlier requests for cooperation in this case received no response, the prosecution has said.The court said prosecutors had proved that Latif posted a video in 2018, in which he offered a PKR 3 million (EUR 21,000 approx. at the time) reward for the murder of Wilders.That video came at a time of fierce demonstrations against Wilders in Pakistan, after he had announced a cartoon contest depicting caricatures of Prophet Mohammad. The competition was later cancelled.”The words used by the suspect are explicit: he promises to pay a considerable sum of money to anyone who engages in a specific act, namely the killing of Mr Wilders,” the Hague district court said.”It is very likely that someone – anywhere in the world – would feel compelled to act on this call,” the court added in reference to the protests, where Dutch flags had been burned and others had also called for the killing of Wilders.Images of the Prophet Mohammad are forbidden in Islam. Caricatures are regarded by most Muslims as highly offensive.Reuters was not immediately able to reach Latif – who received a five-year ban from cricket in 2017 over a spot-fixing scandal – for comment. In all, he played five ODIs and 13 T20Is between 2008 and 2016.Wilders, 60, is one of Europe’s most prominent far-right leaders and has been a key figure in shaping the immigration debate in the Netherlands over the past two decades, although he has never been in government. His Freedom Party (PVV) is the third-largest in the Dutch parliament and is the main opposition party. Wilders has lived under constant police protection since 2004.