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Former India opener also finds support from Irfan Pathan, Manoj Tiwary and Dodda Ganesh

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Feb-2021Former India captain Anil Kumble has led the support from the Indian players’ fraternity to former team-mate Wasim Jaffer after senior officials at Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) reportedly alleged Jaffer was creating a religious and communal divide in the dressing room. Along with Kumble, others who backed Jaffer included former Indian and Baroda allrounder Irfan Pathan, India and Bengal batsman Manoj Tiwary and former India and Karnataka fast bowler Dodda Ganesh.”With you Wasim,” Kumble said in a tweet posted on Thursday. “Did the right thing. Unfortunately, it’s the players who’ll miss your mentorship.” Incidentally, both Kumble and Jaffer are part of the Kings XI Punjab coaching staff; the former is the director of cricket operations and the latter is the batting coach.The allegations, which were published by Hindi newspaper on Wednesday, quoted the CAU secretary Mahim Verma stating that Jaffer was trying to “break the team through religious activities”. Navneet Mishra, the Uttarakhand team manager, also alleged that Jaffer had also changed the team slogan from ” to ”.Meanwhile, the CAU has asked Mishra to submit a report on the matter. “After looking at the seriousness of the incident related to the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand and Wasim Jaffer, the association has asked men’s senior team’s manager Navneet Mishra to submit a report on the matter,” Verma said in CAU release. “The further course of action will be decided after Mishra submits his report.”We are already questioning the manager about the biosecure bubble breach and will take action against any person/support staff responsible for the same as players’ safety is paramount for us.”On Wednesday, Jaffer denied all the allegations, calling them “baseless” and “petty”. Pathan agreed, saying in a tweet today, that it was “unfortunate” Jaffer had to “explain this”.Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Dodda Ganesh and Manoj Tiwary tweeted in Jaffer’s support•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Incidentally, the allegations emerged a day after Jaffer sent in his resignation as Uttarakhand head coach on February 8 citing “interference in selections”. In an e-mail to senior CAU office bearers and officials, Jaffer singled out Verma for interfering in the team selections and it was the CAU’s secretary’s “laidback and unprofessional approach” which had caused him to “move away”.Last June, the CAU had appointed Jaffer as the head coach for the 2020-21 season. With the pandemic delaying the start of the Indian domestic season, the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was Jaffer’s first assignment as he arrived in Dehradun for the preparatory camp on December 22. Immediately, Jaffer said, he noticed Verma having a say in cricketing issues including selection for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.”Things had started to get sour between me and Mr. Mahim Verma when I was pressurised in the last team selections for Syed Mushtaq Ali, where Mr. Verma had been pushing the names of players for selection in the team, who were not at all deserving,” Jaffer wrote in the February 8 e-mail. “I had made it very clear then also that for the betterment of cricket in the state going forward, I am not going to entertain such interference in the team selection.”Related

• Jaffer steps down as Uttarakhand coach

• Wasim Jaffer denies reported 'communal' allegations after quitting as Uttarakhand coach

Apparently, Jaffer’s riposte did not deter Verma. According to Jaffer, he spoke to Verma on January 30, regarding the selection of the squad for the forthcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament. Jaffer wanted to finalise the squad along with the Uttarakhand selection panel head Rizwan Shamshad, the former Uttar Pradesh fast bowler. Jaffer told Verma he “wanted our team to go and play at least 4-5 practice matches with other association so I can observe the performances of the players and temperament in conditions away from Dehradun”.On February 3, Verma told Jaffer in an e-mail that Shamshad’s panel had been asked to pick the squad by February 1. “I had e-mailed a team of 22 players to the secretary, selection committee and CEO on 7th Feb night as my recommendation and feedback but I did not receive even a reply or a call and the team was announced on 8th Feb which I being the Head Coach received on 8th Feb late evening. I had been continuously in touch with the CEO since my appointment was done and had been smoothly coordinating with Mr. [Aman] Singh in regards to all cricketing requirements but even on that front I was asked by Mr. Verma to directly coordinate with him as he is the secretary of the association and going forward this has also resulted in many delays and no plan of action was discussed ever.”According to Jaffer, Shamshad had “not even once” contacted him before finalising the Uttarakhand squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy. “Being the Head Coach and being with the team continuously for the last 3-4 months I expect at least some feedbacks to be taken.”Jaffer, 42, retired from cricket having played for more than two decades during which he played 31 Tests for India, won eight Ranji Trophy titles with Bombay and two more with Vidarbha, for whom he played as a professional. Jaffer said he had turned down offers from overseas including the batting coach role at Bangladesh to focus on Uttarakhand. But the episode had left him “disheartened”.”I feel really sad for the players as I genuinely think that they have lot of potential and can learn so much from me but are denied with this opportunity because of so much interference & bias-ness of selectors and Secretary in the selection matters for non-deserving players. If the Honorary Secretary of CAU would want to inculcate such kind of work environment while not letting me take certain decisions pertaining to the team’s welfare and performance. Then I don’t think there’s any valid reason for me to continue as Head Coach of Men’s Senior team of CAU.”I had an offer of becoming batting coach of Bangladesh test team, Head Coach Sri Lanka premier league, Head Coach Dubai T10 and Head Coach offers from other reputed state associations but I refused them all because of my commitment to CAU that I had made. I had put in a lot of efforts into shaping up the Men’s team keeping in mind the future aspects of the state and its players but such a laid back & unprofessional approach from Mr. Verma has forced me to move away from CAU. It is really very disheartening to see that so much talent in the state is being wasted just because of such approach.”

He took four wickets in his first two overs, a blow from which the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots could never recover

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy27-Aug-2020A maiden T20 five-wicket haul from Mohammad Nabi led the St Lucia Zouks to their fourth win in six matches, against the bottom-placed St Kitts & Nevis Patriots who could never recover after their top order imploded on a square turner in Port-of-Spain.The Zouks won the toss and chose to bowl, and Nabi set the tone straightaway with two wickets in the first over of the match, and two more in the third. The Patriots slipped to 38 for 5 at one stage, and even if they recovered to get past the 100 mark, they fell well short of setting a target that could have put pressure on the Zouks line-up.A brief spell of Test cricketThere was some moisture in the Queen’s Park Oval surface early on, and Daren Sammy threw the ball to Nabi straightaway to see if there was any grip for his offbreaks. There was plenty, and Nabi bowled at a slower pace than usual, to try and induce errors by making the batsmen reach for the ball. That plan immediately brought two Test-match-style wickets: Chris Lynn caught and bowled, done in by dip and sharp turn while trying to drive against the turn, and the left-hander Nick Kelly caught at slip while trying to defend.Spin, spin, spinScott Kuggeleijn bowled the second over, but thereafter it was all spin until the end of the 17th.Nabi picked up two more wickets in his second over, with Denesh Ramdin and Evin Lewis both done in by the ball stopping, turning and bouncing while they tried to sweep. From 11 for 4, it was a hard slog for the Patriots to get any sort of total on the board, and even though the Zouks’ other spinners didn’t achieve Nabi’s level of wicket-taking penetration, they were all extremely hard to hit on a pitch where the ball turned big and, by and large, slowly.On such a surface, the sweep remained one of the few run-scoring options, even if it remained a risky shot. Ben Dunk played it often, with a reasonable degree of control, and scored 33 off 39 balls to give the innings some semblance of shape, with no one else in the top six getting into the double figures.Dunk’s only boundaries were a pair of sixes down the ground on rare occasions when Rahkeem Cornwall and Zahir Khan fed him loopy half-volleys. Those two sixes and another early on from Ramdin were, in fact, were the only boundaries in Patriots’ innings until the end of the 17th over – the last of Nabi’s quota, when he came back and dismissed Sohail Tanvir, off another top-edged sweep, to complete his five-for.Rahkeem Cornwall smashes one over long-off•Getty Images

Pace travels the distanceFrom thereon, Sammy went to his faster bowlers to finish the innings. With some pace to work with finally, the Patriots got some big hits away, with Rayad Emrit and Alzarri Joseph hitting a four and three sixes between them – mostly off short balls clubbed over midwicket – off Kuggeleijn and Kesrick Williams. Thirty-seven runs came off the last three overs of the Patriots’ innings, enabling them to set a target of 111.The shape of their innings should have given the Patriots some clue as to which bowlers to entrust with the bulk of their overs. They started with the pace of Sohail Tanvir, however, and the Zouks immediately took full toll. They shaved 20 runs off their target in the first over, courtesy the effortless power of Cornwall, who hit the left-armer for two fours and two sixes – an effortless pick-up shot over square leg and a flat-bat thump over mid-off.Chase, Zadran steer Zouks to victoryCornwall muscled another big leg-side six, off the legspinner Imran Khan, in the third over but fell two balls later to one that shot through low. A brief rain interruption followed, and Imran had another wicket immediately upon resumption as Mark Deyal miscued an unnecessary slog – the required rate at that stage was under five an over.Imran picked up another wicket – Andre Fletcher caught at midwicket – in the seventh over of the Zouks’ innings, but by then they were already nearly halfway home. Roston Chase then played simple, risk-free cricket from one end and Najibullah Zadran took some calculated risks – including a pair of clinical reverse-sweeps off the offspinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar – from the other, as a fourth-wicket stand of 47 put the Zoyks within sight of victory.Zadran fell with just 12 runs required, but only the formalities were left; Zouks had 32 balls to spare when Chase swatted the winning boundary.

Offspinner’s 12-wicket haul sees Essex to an innings win and up to third in the table

David Hopps at Chelmsford17-Jun-2019The debate over whether Simon Harmer is the finest spin bowler in Essex’s history has sounded premature for a player contesting only his third Championship season, but the evidence is growing at a rapid rate. Twelve more wickets, at a cost of only 61 runs, dispensed of Hampshire before tea on the second day at Chelmsford. Harmer was irrepressible, but in considerable part that was because Hampshire were dire.No county can host a result within five sessions and feel entirely comfortable about the outcome and a post-match conversation between the Essex groundstaff and the ECB’s cricket liaison officer, Stuart Cummings, a former Rugby League referee, was inevitable, but there was no sense whatsoever that they saw anything too untoward about a surface that had also been used for a women’s ODI between England and the West Indies last Thursday.During that match, a West Indies player was reportedly sick on the pitch. Presumably on a length. For a spin bowler operating from the River End.Hampshire’s two innings spanned only 63.5 overs as Harmer rushed Essex towards victory as inexorably as a river flows to the sea. He is now the leading Championship wicket-taker with 42 and the Chelmsford pitches do encourage him, as did the rough created by Hampshire’s left-arm seamer Keith Barker.But as well as he bowled, Hampshire’s supposed Championship challenge – they began the round in second place – should surely be categorised under Fake News. They met Harmer with an air of defeatism disguised as counterattack. Even Harmer felt obliged to politely chastise them, saying: “There was turn and bounce with the new ball. They needed to be more patient before taking me on. When it flattened out it would have been easier.”Joe Weatherley, showing the circumspection Harmer advocated, batted through the second innings for 29 from 80 balls. The India international Ajinkya Rahane made a pair and lasted only three balls in the match, twice edging Jamie Porter to the wicketkeeper; decisive breakthroughs because he might have had the wherewithal to play Harmer with aplomb. As for Rilee Rossouw, he succumbed to two of the wildest slogs imaginable.Adi Birrell, Hampshire’s coach, summed things up fairly enough. “Harmer bowled fairly well but the ball wasn’t turning square, it wasn’t impossible to bat,” he said. “Joe Weatherley batted through. He applied himself and needed someone to bat through with him.”It is a painful and hurtful result. Hopefully it is a defeat in isolation. We can’t afford to let this affect us. It was a very bad two days.”Essex had begun the day on 147 for 3 but were themselves bowled out before lunch, as they lost seven wickets for 67 runs, seven to lbw decisions with Kyle Abbott the main recipient as he jagged the ball back sharply.Observe Harmer from behind the arm and he flows into the crease. Watch him from side-on, however, and he is a more unprepossessing sight. Dare it be suggested, his run is little more than a gentle waddle, but the snap of his fingers fills his action with energy.He was on by the fourth over, initially because pace bowler Sam Cook had limped from the field. In the time needed to sneak off for a cheap haircut close to the ground, Hampshire’s second innings had been snipped back. When Harmer is bowling, do not attempt this if you have a luxuriant head of hair.Facing a first-innings deficit of 96, Hampshire lost seven wickets for 32 in only 13.5 overs before finally coming to grief 15 minutes before tea. They were in danger of registering their lowest score against Essex – they made 54 at Southampton in 1931 – but at least that ignominy was avoided.Harmer began by having Sam Northeast stumped; advancing down the pitch he contrived to let the ball squeeze between bat and pad and his ponderous efforts to regain his ground allowed Adam Wheater enough time to stretch to his right to gather and complete the stumping.In the same over, Rossouw paddled his first ball for four then tried to slog over long-on and edged a simple catch into the off side. Aneurin Donald slog-swept a non-turning delivery to midwicket before Harmer took two wickets in his seventh over, having James Fuller lbw, leaving a ball that turned out of the footholds, and finding gentle turn as Barker, reaching forward, edged to first slip.Harmer rounded off the victory as Mason Crane was caught in circus-trick style with the edge running down Adam Wheater’s chest at which point he expertly volleyed it, left-footed, to forward short leg. Never criticise all those pre-match football kickabouts ever again.This was Harmer’s third 10-wicket haul for the county, and fourth of his first-class career. He has taken four five-wicket hauls in his six innings bowling at Chelmsford this year. Essex, who have comfortably won all three of their Specsavers County Championship at home, have moved within seven points of Hampshire, and boast a game in hand.If they beat the leaders Somerset at Chelmsford next week, they will begin to believe a repeat of their title triumph of 2017 is not beyond them. When Harmer has the ball in his hand, anything is possible, but surely Somerset will play him better than this.

Jofra Archer set to win a chance in England’s next ODI engagements as coach admits some are playing for their places in the World Cup squad

George Dobell in St Lucia03-Mar-2019You might think, after four years as England coach, that Trevor Bayliss might be inured to England’s occasional – and, perhaps, not so occasional – propensity for a batting collapse.But, seeing him at the team hotel on the morning after the night – okay, the early afternoon – before is to see a man clearly struggling to come to terms with events. He uses words such as “embarrassed” and admits he “can’t get my head around” the disparity in quality between England’s performances. For them to suffer the largest defeat, in terms of how long it took West Indies to knock off the target, in their ODI history on Bayliss’ watch clearly hurts.It wasn’t just the extent of the defeat, though. It was the fact that it came in the final ODI before England were obliged to select their World Cup squad. Despite all the tours and training and faith in the players, it seems the England team retain a propensity, when confronted by conditions outside their comfort zone, to collapse in spectacular fashion. A difficulty in adapting to conditions is clearly a recurring problem.And while Bayliss admitted the performance – perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the lack of performance? – could be the “wake-up call” his side required, he also said that some of the current players have had every opportunity to nail down their places and failed to do so. As a consequence, Jofra Archer be given an opportunity to show what he can do during the ODIs against Ireland and Pakistan despite having just 14 List A appearances to his name. He would appear to have every chance of winning a World Cup spot.ALSO READ: ‘It’s been an honour to wear the crest’ – Gayle bows out“Was it the worst yet?” Bayliss said of defeat in St Lucia. “I think it was. To lose in such a fashion… I think they [the players] were embarrassed.”We talk all the time about playing smart cricket but, quite simply, we didn’t play smart cricket. We kept making the same mistakes.”Whether it’s a bit of overconfidence – have we gone into the match with, not a blasé attitude, but an overconfident attitude where they go out and play their natural games and think it’ll just happen? Batting can’t be easy and free flowing all the time. And it’s happened a few times.”Bayliss hopes the game will prove to be something of a watershed moment. Straight afterwards, the team held a long meeting in the dressing room where they reflected on their failings and, he believes, understood where they went wrong.”I didn’t have to say very much,” he said. “Eoin Morgan started the conversation and three or four of the most experienced players in the team led it. They were on the money.”They were talking about getting to 220-230 on that pitch. That conversation was going on out in the middle and in the dressing room. But we didn’t put it into play.”You’re not going to score 400 on a wicket like that but you make high 200s, 300, 350 and it’s enough to win games on those wickets. Yesterday we just didn’t. Two hundred and we would have been right in the game.”If it doesn’t sink in after this one – so close to the World Cup – then there’s something wrong. I’d like to think that, after their chat yesterday in the changing room, it will sink in.”While the batting was the focus of most reports, Bayliss was also underwhelmed by some aspects of the bowling during the series. There had, for example, been talk ahead of games about bowling yorkers at Chris Gayle. But very few were delivered and Gayle was able to hit 39 sixes in four innings; one every 8.10 balls.”We just bowled a lot of balls in his strike zone,” Bayliss said. “We just didn’t get the ball in the right area enough. Yorkers were spoken about a lot. Sometimes the bowlers go out to try and do it and just can’t.”Partly as a result, Bayliss confirmed that Archer – who is now just a few days from qualifying as eligible for England – is almost certain to made his debut in the ODIs to be played in May ahead of the World Cup. While England are obliged to name their 15-man World Cup squad by April 23 (they are expected to name it a week or so early), they can make as many changes as they like until May 22. After that date, they need ICC approval for any change and they will only be allowed in the event of injury or exceptional circumstances.”Jofra Archer’s name keeps cropping up and I think, at some stage, we will give him an opportunity,” Bayliss said. “Those matches against Pakistan and Ireland, I think he will get an opportunity to show us what he can do. He’s said publicly that he’s keen.”He’s a bowler you don’t get many of: someone who is able to bowl in all three phases of the game. He can take the new ball, he can bowl through the middle and he can bowl at the end which is a good skillset to have.”There was a little bit of contact made during the Australian summer and there was talk a month or two ago about when the date was that he qualified. At the time, it was around 31 days that he needed to be back in the UK.”Are the players he’s competing with aware of the situation? I don’t know, you’d have to ask them. There is plenty of speculation all the time in the papers and I’m sure they read that.Ben Stokes was dismissed by Carlos Brathwaite•AFP

“The guys in the team, they’ve got hold of those positions and in a way it’s theirs to lose. If they keep performing and doing well it’s difficult to bring people in.”The implication? That they been performing. Several fringe members of the squad now face an anxious wait.England resume training on Monday ahead of the first of three T20Is against West Indies in St Lucia on Tuesday. They will be without Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali, who have all been given time off before they depart for the IPL, while Jason Roy will shortly go home to be present at the birth of his first child. Mark Wood is also likely to be rested for one or two of the T20 games.The likes of Sam Billings, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan and Sam Curran – who have all been brought in for the T20I series – are likely to win opportunities in the coming days, as is Joe Denly who has been a non-playing member of the ODI squad.

The BCB announced the allrounder had sufficiently recovered from his finger injury and is expected to arrive in Colombo on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Mar-2018Shakib Al Hasan will join the Bangladesh squad on Thursday, ahead of the final league match against Sri Lanka, the winner of which will progress to the final of the Nidahas Trophy. The BCB announced Shakib had recovered sufficiently from his little finger injury, and is expected to arrive in Colombo on Thursday afternoon.Shakib’s return will bolster the Bangladesh line-up, particularly the bowling attack which has looked threadbare in all three games. He will also take over the captaincy from Mahmudullah, who was filling in as T20I captain during the tournament.Shakib had hurt his finger during the January 27 tri-series final against Sri Lanka, after which he missed the Tests and ODIs against them at home. He also missed the Pakistan Super League, as well as the first three games in the Nidahas Trophy.During this time, he saw specialists in Thailand and Australia, before taking up gym and training sessions in Dhaka earlier this week.