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This is the first instance of the India team getting a full-time, professional manager

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2017Former Tamil Nadu captain Sunil Subramaniam has been named India’s administrative manager on a one-year contract. This is the first instance of the India team getting a full-time, professional manager, marking a departure from the system of ad-hoc appointments made by the BCCI on a tour-to-tour basis. Subramaniam will join the team before the second Test that begins on August 3 in Colombo.Subramaniam, 50, was picked by a committee comprising BCCI acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, CEO Rahul Johri and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji, in accordance with the Lodha Committee’s recommendation approved by the Supreme Court. The committee, according to reports, had shortlisted more than 10 candidates before interviewing them. Subramanian said he would meet with Johri on Monday when he would be apprised of his duties. “It feels good to be a part of the team,” Subramaniam told ESPNcricinfo.During his playing days, Subramaniam, a left-arm spinner, picked up 285 wickets from 74 first-class matches. An NCA-certified coach, Subramaniam has acquired renown for having worked extensively with India offspinner R Ashwin in the past. Over the years, he has also coached teams in the Duleep Trophy and has been associated with the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Academy.On his appointment, a BCCI press release said: “He has a rich vein of experience when it comes to management and administrative capabilities, having served both public and private sector organisations for over 16 years.”

Rugby World Cup winning captain Francois Pienaar hopes he can contribute with insights into high performance as a member of the four-person committee tasked with reviewing South Africa’s national cricket teams

Firdose Moonda20-Apr-2016Understanding the core of a winning culture could be chief on the agenda for the four-person committee tasked with reviewing South Africa’s national cricket teams. Francois Pienaar, the 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning captain who is on the panel, explained that although the scope of the review has yet to be defined, he hopes to bring his knowledge of high performance to the process.”We are designing the scope on April 28 and then that goes to the [CSA] board and the board will then sign off on it and we will start on our work. For now we are deciding where the key focus areas will be and how we divvy up the roles,” Pienaar told journalists at the launch of the Cape Town marathon, an event for which he is one of the ambassadors.”I have been involved in high-performance teams and it’s not about which sport, it’s about the processes in place. There are four or five things you need to get right – and one of them is a bit of luck – to win. If you do four or five things really well, you will have a really good chance of winning.”According to Pienaar, who maintained a 100% record alongside coach Kitch Christie and with the Transvaal team in the 1993 Super Rugby competition, one of those things is ensuring that success is transferred from domestic to international level.”Let’s go back in rugby. Every World Cup that has been won since 1987, the core of that winning national team came from the club side that dominated. So that side knew how to win. Like in 1995, the core of our team was from the Lions,” he said.South African cricket faces an immediate problem in that regard because none of the six franchises can claim to be truly dominant. In addition to that, very few internationals turn out regularly for their franchise teams. To combat that, cricket may want to pay particular attention to the processes Pienaar described, which can create a winning culture even if the individuals involved change.”CEOs and coaches and captains come and go but you have to understand the culture of high-performance teams and you can’t tinker with that. As soon as you start tinkering with that, then you stand the risk of not remaining a high-performance team. That process is for me the most exciting thing and looking at how you put processes in place to ensure you will always be knocking on the door of a trophy, or a series or a championship,” he said.Apart from being involved in successful South African teams, Pienaar was also a player-coach at Saracens in England, whom he helped to their first ever cup win and where he created a structure he is “very proud of”, which has ensured they “are still a high-performance team”. Does he think he will be able to do the same for South African cricket?”It’s for me to bring a different approach and a different view and for us as a panel to recommend certain things. It’s not that we are the fount of knowledge. Definitely not,” he said.Pienaar hopes the panel’s recommendations will be made public on completion.

ESPNcricinfo previews the fourth Natwest ODI between England and Australia in Cardiff

The Preview by Alex Winter13-Sep-2013

Match facts

September 14, Cardiff
Start time 10.15 (0915 GMT)Steven Finn is still searching for form to prove he is a superstar in the making•PA Photos

Big Picture

This series has been reduced to a three-match contest following the abandonment at Edgbaston, so England now face, in Eoin Morgan’s words, a “semi-final and a final” in the remaining two matches if they are to win this series.Winning is the stated aim for England despite their experimental squad and, given the shortened nature of the series, winning is perhaps all they can expect to take from it because there is now little opportunity to have a look at the players they called up. Michael Carberry won’t want to be judged on just three innings and Morgan said he will retain his place as opener for the rest of this series. Likewise, England would like Steven Finn to get some more game time to gauge where his bowling is ahead of the winter Ashes tour; Finn perhaps feels that he needs a solid performance to nail down a place as backup bowler in the Test squad.Jamie Overton and Chris Jordan will now probably get one chance at best to announce their arrival in international cricket and none of the batsmen now need a rest so the opportunity for Luke Wright to return is slim.What cricket there has been in this series, Australia have played by far the best of it and they will be eager to get back on the park again and continue their progress. They have been motivated, sharp in all departments and desperately keen to take something away from what has been a tough tour. The form of George Bailey at Old Trafford suggested Michael Clarke might find some support and Mitchell Johnson has been back to his terrifying best, suggesting he could become a fine bowler in all forms of the game again.

Form guide

England LWLWW (Completed matches, most recent first)
Australia WWLLW

Watch out for

Steven Finn can’t make up his mind whether he’s a high class international bowler or not. He has all the attributes to do so but there has been a sense of him being dragged from pillar to post by England and Middlesex. A change of run up and back again; in and out of the Test side; none of it can have helped Finn’s confidence but if he can rediscover the form that tore through New Zealand in the ODI series back in February, we could be talking about Finn as England’s next superstar again.Aaron Finch showed what a blistering player he can be in the Twenty20 at the Ageas Bowl. He followed that up with a battering of Scotland and is primed to show he can produce regularly in ODIs. He endured a lean series against West Indies in February but is now clearly striking the ball at his best.

Team news

England are a pretty stubborn bunch when it comes to selection and just because they were rolled over once does not mean the make-up of their side needs to change, despite widespread opinion that they are a bowler light. It might take one more failure before they get the message, so expect an unchanged XI.England (possible) 1 Michael Carberry, 2 Kevin Pietersen, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Joe Root, 6 Ravi Bopara, 7 Jos Buttler (wk), 8 Ben Stokes, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Boyd Rankin, 11 Steven FinnAustralia are also likely to stick with the same side that handed down a thumping to England at Old Trafford.Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Shaun Marsh, 3 Shane Watson, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 George Bailey, 6 Adam Voges, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 James Faulkner, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Clint McKay, 11 Fawad Ahmed

Pitch and conditions

We have a decent forecast again so hopefully this match will be uninterrupted. But the pitch in Cardiff is unpredictable. During the Champions Trophy, a run-fest ensued between South Africa and India before the bowlers took charge when New Zealand played Sri Lanka. Scores in the Yorkshire Bank 40 have also been a mixed bag.

Stats and trivia

• Australia have to go back to 2001 for their only win in an ODI at Cardiff; a seven-wicket triumph over Pakistan in the NatWest series
• England have pitched up six times to Cardiff for an ODI but on only three occasions have they completed the match
• Of those three matches, England have won them all, including beating Australia by four wickets in 2010
• George Bailey is 30 runs short of 1000 in ODIs

Quotes

“It’s always nice to be around the environment, and if you do the right things you can put your name in the ring.”
“It’s pretty catchy. I didn’t like it when I first came over. I didn’t expect it. Now, it doesn’t bother me. It’s all part of the game, I know what to expect over here now.”

West Indies opener Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 65 to take his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Afghanistan in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsWest Indies opener Chris Gayle scored an unbeaten 65 to take his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win against Afghanistan in Colombo. Gayle, who averages 64.30 in all international matches this year, and 70 in the three T20Is, took his time to get going, but accelerated later as West Indies reached the modest target of 123 with more than five overs to spare.Gayle and Dwayne Smith put on 29 runs in the first five overs for the first wicket, before Smith was dismissed. Gayle started to hit a few boundaries, and with Johnson Charles added 59 runs in the next six overs, which diminished Afghanistan’s hopes of an upset. Offspinner Karim Sadiq, who gave away eight runs in his three overs, and seamer Shapoor Zadran were economical, but the West Indies batsmen scored off other bowlers to secure their chase.Unlike West Indies, Afghanistan couldn’t accelerate their scoring when required. Asghar Stanikzai scored his second half-century in two matches, guiding the innings for the most part. But before he could boost Afghanistan’s scoring at the death, he departed in the 18th over to leave them at 100 for six. A couple of sixes towards the end took them to 122, pegging the required run rate at just a little more than six runs per over – that wasn’t enough. West Indies bowled well collectively: none of the bowlers went for more than 6.50 runs per overs, with four of them being among the wickets.Afghanistan face India in their first World Twenty game on September 19 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, and West Indies face Australia at the same venue three days later.

Somerset’s Championship title hopes are hanging by a thread after an innings and 61-run defeat to Hampshire

03-Sep-2011
ScorecardSomerset’s Championship title hopes are hanging by a thread after an innings and 61-run defeat to Hampshire.Stand-in captain Alfonso Thomas fell six runs short of his first century in English cricket for the hosts, but that was not enough to prevent Somerset from only picking up two points. Hampshire, meanwhile, are now in with a realistic chance of survival. They have won three of their last four matches and took 23 points from this clash.Somerset resumed on 266 for seven, needing a further 157 to avoid an innings defeat. They held out for 21.2 overs before being bowled out for 362, Tahir claiming four for 125 and Dimitri Mascarenhas three for 70. Thomas was unbeaten on 79 overnight and added 15 before mistiming a drive off Imran Tahir to be caught at mid-on.Somerset at least put up a fight under grey skies, with the weather holding out just enough to avoid the rain break they were hoping for. Thomas, who went in the previous day with his side 132 for six, faced 141 balls and hit 12 fours and a six. Murali Kartik hit 26 in an eighth-wicket stand of 50, while Steve Kirby managed 14.There was even a late flourish from last man Charl Willoughby, who swung lustily to make an unbeaten 23, almost as many as he had managed in his previous 18 Championship innings this summer. Tahir took two of the three wickets to fall, finishing the match by having Kirby caught at point by Chris Wood.Mascarenhas pinned Kartik lbw playing no shot, the fourth Somerset player to be dismissed shouldering arms in the innings. The home side badly missed injured skipper Marcus Trescothick and must now win their last two Championship fixtures away to Yorkshire and at home to Lancashire to have any chance of winning the title.Hampshire face two of Somerset’s title rivals to finish, being away to Lancashire and at home to Warwickshire.

An unbeaten 92 from Middlesex captain Neil Dexter frustrated Derbyshire hopes of chasing down victory on the final day of their County Championship Division Two match at the County Ground

28-Aug-2010
ScorecardAn unbeaten 92 from Middlesex captain Neil Dexter frustrated Derbyshire hopes of chasing down victory on the final day of their County Championship Division Two match at the County Ground. By the time Dexter chose to declare his side’s second innings at 221 for 7 half an hour after lunch, bottom-of-the-table Derbyshire were left needing an unlikely 303 to win in 53 overs.
Chris Rogers led the Derbyshire charge after tea with 96 but the home side fell well short at 189 for 6 as the contest finished in a draw.The clatter of 21 wickets on the previous day breathed life back into a match that had lost four full sessions to the weather but Derbyshire needed to quickly wrap up the Middlesex second innings on the final morning to stay in with a realistic chance of snapping a winless streak stretching back to late April.They did break through in the sixth over of the day when Gareth Berg was caught by wicketkeeper Steve Adshead off Steffan Jones to make it 98 for 5 – but Dexter proved far tougher to shift. He did lose another partner before lunch, when Tom Smith was bowled by left-arm spinner Robin Peterson for 33, but by then the Middlesex lead overall was 258 and time was against Derbyshire.With his primary concern to allow Derbyshire little hope of winning the game and so increase his side’s chances of avoiding the wooden spoon, Dexter stretched that lead beyond 300 but resisted the temptation to push on for his own century. He left the field having struck 10 fours and a six and having made virtually sure that Middlesex would go home with at least a draw.Derbyshire laid a solid base at 56 for nought when a shower forced an early tea, though Wayne Madsen was dropped on one by substitute fielder Dan Housego at point at the beginning of the second over.Rogers, his side’s top scorer with 75 in the first innings, was the main cause of concern for Middlesex again as Derbyshire came out after tea to chance their arm. The openers pushed their stand on to 131 before Madsen skied a sweep at the bowling of veteran spinner Shaun Udal and was caught at midwicket by Owais Shah for 41.That was to prove the end of the Derbyshire challenge and after Rogers was caught behind reaching for a bouncer from Toby Roland-Jones at 156 for 4, two more quick wickets meant a Middlesex victory could not be ruled out. Peterson and Adshead saw out the remaining 13 overs but Middlesex finished the happier of the two counties.

Brisbane Heat captain Jess Jonassen did her best to keep the chase alive after rain but there was too much to do

Alex Malcolm01-Dec-2024An all-round masterclass from Hayley Matthews helped Melbourne Renegades break their WBBL title-drought in a nail-biting rain-affected final against Brisbane Heat at the MCG.Matthews made 69 off 61, took 2 for 24 with the ball and claimed a critical catch to continue her extraordinary record in T20 finals and guide the struggling franchise claim their first championship just a season after finishing last. Heat’s finals heartbreak continued after losing last year’s decider by three runs at Adelaide Oval.A sloppy fielding effort saw Heat concede 141 for 9 when they could have reduced Renegades to 76 for 5 after 12 overs. A top-order collapse either side of a rain delay then saw them needing 61 from 30 with five wickets in hand. Jess Jonassen nearly pulled off the impossible, smashing 44 not out from 28 balls but Heat still fell short. Five of Renegades’ six bowlers chipped in with wickets while Wareham was the most economical, conceding just 12 runs from two overs.

Renegades rocked by early rust

After qualifying for the final, Renegades had to wait eight days between matches and the rust showed early. Courtney Webb slapped a pull shot straight to midwicket and Sophie Molineux sliced a cut shot to backward point. Deandra Dottin was run out in dozy circumstances, without facing a ball, to sum up Renegades’ sleepy start. Dottin was jogging through for a single to deep midwicket when she got her bat stuck in the turf on the popping crease as she slid it to make her ground and her foot did not touch down before Georgia Redmayne broke the stumps. It left Renegades 23 for 3 in the fifth over and in real danger of capitulating despite Heat’s bowling not looking overly threatening on a pretty good surface.

Cool-headed Hayley holds firm

Matthews remained unflustered. She was not striking the ball cleanly, struggling to 6 off 15 at one point. But two boundaries in the sixth over off the legspin of Grace Parsons helped her find some rhythm. Wareham was an important foil in a steadying 41-run stand. Wareham struck three boundaries in her run-a-ball 21 before holing out to long-on off Parsons. The legspinner should have had another straight away when Stalenberg skied her to deep midwicket, but Charli Knott dropped the chance diving forward. It proved a key moment.Instead of being 76 for 5 after 12 overs, Renegades took the power surge after just four-down. Matthews stepped up, thumping Shikha Pandey for three boundaries in the over. Jonassen then opted for spin in six of the last seven overs, with the exception of one from Lucy Hamilton. It worked to some degree, as Renegades scored just 50 from 42 balls, but it was odd to see Nicola Hancock bowl just one over in the final after being Heat’s star in last year’s decider with 3 for 23. Heat did take a wicket in each of the last five overs. Hamilton was the pick of the bowlers with 1 for 19 from her four including the dangerous Nicole Faltum. But Matthews was able to club three boundaries in the last three overs, all from the offspin of Knott.Jess Jonassen did her best to keep Brisbane Heat in the chase•Getty Images

Horror Heat start compounded by rain

Grace Harris held the key in the chase, and the decision to open with Charis Bekker’s left-arm orthodox proved a masterstroke for Renegades. Harris holed out trying to loft over mid-on for a second ball duck. Jemimah Rodrigues miscued Milly Illingworth to cover in the next over as Heat fell to 11 for 2 before a critical rain shower came after 3.2 overs. Rain had been forecast for some point in the afternoon and had been a factor in Heat’s decision to bowl first. But no one was sure how long the shower would last and how it would impact the chase.The rain lasted long enough to knock off eight overs but Heat’s poor start meant Duckworth-Lewis-Stern set them 98 to win off 12 overs with only eight wickets in hand and one power surge over to use. Renegades continued the trial by spin after the rain and Heat were doused. Molineux bagged the key wicket of Redmayne before Matthews added to her finals aura with two wickets in two balls, including Laura Harris for a first ball duck, to leave Heat 37 for 5 needing 61 from 30 balls.

Jonassen almost pulls off a miracle

Heat’s captain almost did it. Boundaries in each of the next two overs keep them within touching distance of the alarming required rate before she opted to take the surge with 43 needed from 18. Molineux opted to bowl just the second over of pace for the innings and Dottin got clobbered. Two length balls on the pads sailed to midwicket for six and four respectively. Jonassen lofted the next over cover for two more as Renegades fans started to get nervous.But a mistake from Lauren Winfield-Hill off the next delivery proved costly. Jonassen wanted a second run to deep midwicket to retain the strike, Winfield-Hill denied her. The English import miscued the next to Matthews at mid-off to fall for 3 off 5. Hancock then faced a dot and the equation was 30 off 12. Matthews bowled two long hops that were both smashed to the fence but was able to close out the over without any more damage. Molineux returned to bowl the last with Heat needing an unlikely 19. She gave up just 11 including a consolation six off the last ball, sealing Renegades’ first WBBL title.

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.

Opportunity for meaningful practice for tourists at high-scoring venue

Matt Roller11-Jul-2022South Africa marked the start of their England tour by training in the Taunton sunshine on Monday afternoon, ahead of the first of two 50-over warm-up games against England Lions. They will play three ODIs, five T20Is (including two against Ireland in Bristol) and three Tests over the next two months, a return to old-school touring after two years of short series being squeezed into schedules following the Covid pandemic.That means that they will have the opportunity to acclimatise rather than heading straight into a series, beginning their trip at a venue that played host to the highest English domestic T20 total of all-time on Saturday night. Rilee Rossouw, who starred as Somerset piled on 265 for 5 against Derbyshire, will only come into the mix for the T20I leg of the tour but South Africa’s batters will be enticed by the combination of short boundaries and a flat, hard pitch.The second tour match, at New Road in Worcester on Thursday, will carry List A status but despite the ECB’s efforts, Tuesday’s will not; South Africa were keen to give as many of members of their 17-man squad a chance as possible. “We can try and get all of our batters to bat and all of our bowlers to bowl,” Mark Boucher, their head coach said, returning to the venue where he suffered a career-ending eye injury a decade ago.”Hopefully, we get the proper headache of having everyone in the runs. The second game will be a proper game of cricket, classed as a List A game. It’s going to be a good opportunity for us in the next couple of days to get everyone ready and also see where each individual is in these conditions.”Keshav Maharaj will stand in as captain for the 50-over leg of the tour, with Temba Bavuma missing through injury. “He’s a massive loss for us,” Boucher said, “but we have our back-up plans as well.”The England series is not part of the ODI Super League, in which South Africa have struggled, leaving them facing the possibility of having to play in next year’s qualifiers in order to reach the World Cup in India. “There’s maybe been a bit of a lack of form and continuity in certain series as well, where we’ve lost players to IPL,” Boucher added. “Our plans are good. If we can just settle on that then the results will naturally come.”Related

• Injured Bavuma ruled out; Maharaj and Miller to lead white-ball teams in England

• Will Smeed loves living in the 90s as Somerset defeat Surrey

• Rehan Ahmed, 17, picked in England Lions squad for South Africa fixtures

• Boucher on Bazball: 'It's probably the way that red-ball cricket is going'

The ECB have picked a strong Lions squad for this series, with the usual blend of “next-best” and “future-best” players, according to Mo Bobat, England’s performance director. “We cross over with the England ODIs so we had to be really mindful of which players we picked and also think about the county game,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “You could easily decimate the Championship.”The Lions have hardly played since the start of the pandemic, with the demands of England’s schedule often meaning they have required two enlarged squads simultaneously. When they did, in Australia last winter, the tour was badly affected by quarantine demands and inclement weather.They are due to play South Africa in a red-ball game on August 9 and will tour Sri Lanka this winter if the political situation allows, but this week effectively marks the full return of the programme after what Bobat described as a “pretty difficult” couple of years.”It’s always quite tricky playing Lions cricket in the summer anyway because of the congested schedule, so getting to a point where we could put this game on and put a decent side out felt like quite an important thing. It’s nice for us to feel like we’re getting Lions cricket going again. It’s a good opportunity this week for these guys to play some 50-over cricket against international opposition.”Keshav Maharaj (right) will captain South Africa in the absence of Temba Bavuma•AFP/Getty Images

Tom Abell, the Somerset captain, will lead the side on his home ground and expects the Lions to replicate England’s attacking style. “Getting to captain is a huge privilege and it’s extra special being here at Taunton,” Abell told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got a really good group. Hopefully we can come together and put South Africa under a bit of pressure.”A lot of us haven’t really experienced playing at this level against international opposition so the next couple of games are going to be amazing for us. What we want is for the group to feel free and be able to express themselves. We’ve all been playing T20 cricket and everyone’s approach is pretty positive so it’ll be about adapting to the 50-over format, but still trying to maintain that mindset: we want to have that positive, attacking intent at all times.”There are three capped players in the 14-man squad – Tom Banton, Ben Duckett and David Payne – and a mix of recent Under-19 graduates like Rehan Ahmed and Will Smeed, and older players with strong recent form such as Benny Howell and Jake Lintott. Not that many of them have played much 50-over cricket of late, since the Royal London Cup now clashes with the Hundred.”I haven’t played a 50-over game for God knows how long – a club game, probably,” Smeed, who could make his List A debut on Thursday, told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s not something that’s been on my radar but it was a lovely call to get. They’ve got a lot of tall, quick bowlers which will be fun. It’ll give me a good reflection as to where my game is at against that sort of bowler – you don’t get loads of them in the Blast so this should be a good challenge.”England Lions squad: Tom Abell (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Banton (wk), Sam Cook, Ben Duckett, Stephen Eskinazi, Sam Hain, Adam Hose, Benny Howell, Jake Lintott, David Payne, George Scrimshaw, Will SmeedSouth Africa ODI squad: Keshav Maharaj (captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne

He says giving some younger players chances hasn’t produced “consistent” results

Madushka Balasuriya03-Mar-2021Blooding young talent in the national side at the expense of consistent results has not proven to be a winning strategy, West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said on the eve of the first T20I against Sri Lanka. Pollard further said it was about time the team started winning matches on a regular basis.Since their T20 World Cup triumph in 2016, West Indies have won just 16 of their subsequent 50 T20Is, losing 30 of them. According to Pollard, the team needs to “get back into the habit of winning,” and bringing senior players back into the fold is one way in which they hope to achieve that.”You look at some of the younger guys that have gotten the opportunities when we started off around 2019, and it hasn’t really produced the results on a consistent basis,” Pollard said.Related

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“As a team we need to start winning cricket matches, win series. Because we can go down the line of saying ‘we need to blood this talent, blood this talent’, but some of you same guys will start talking about the results as well. So we have to strike that balance [between youth and experience], we have to start winning T20 matches, we’re the defending champions, and we have to get back into the habit of winning. And if that means getting a couple of senior guys in to start that process, so be it.”Recalls for Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards, 41 and 39 respectively, raised more than a few eyebrows, but head coach Phil Simmons had earlier stated both players had earned their spots in the side by virtue of their strong performances in franchise cricket. Pollard echoed this view, adding that he views a blend of youth and experience as very much the way forward ahead of the T20 World Cup in India later this year.”These guys continue to perform despite their age. And one that thing that has been said throughout is that once you show that you can perform at the highest level, such as franchise cricket from the T20 point of view, the opportunity is still there.”The way to go forward is having that sort of mixture in the team, youth and experience. The youthful guys can learn from the experienced guys, and these are some of the things that have been missing. From 2016 till now can we safely say we have put forward our best T20 team to go to any series or anything like that?”With a hectic T20 schedule ahead in the coming months, Pollard also urged players in the domestic system to “stick your neck above the rest” to be selected.”We have to start somewhere and this is a starting point for us. We have 18 games plus a whole CPL tournament before the World Cup, so guys can get opportunities and we can see where we need to be come October.”[Fringe players must] continue to work hard and continue to churn out the numbers, and stick your neck above the rest.”But you have to continue to do it. If you have to pick between guys scoring 150-200 runs all the time, and there’s no one sticking out their head – I’m just talking in general, that figure is not relevant – scoring above that, then it just boils down to who you think is the best person at that point in time. And if the guys keep doing that then the opportunity will present itself.”Look at young Kevin Sinclair, he’s been economical in the couple of games he played in the Super 50 in the last couple of years for the emerging team, even this year as well in CPL. He gets an opportunity now. The opportunities are there, opportunities are going to come, things are being seen. You just have to be as consistent as possible, and not just walking around doing and saying things with a sense of entitlement.”In terms of the players that have missed out on the Sri Lanka tour, particularly Shimron Hetmyer – widely considered to be among the most talented batsmen in the West Indies set-up – Pollard refused to be drawn into the conversation, though he did say Hetmyer’s absence left a “big void”.”He knows exactly what he needs to do, he knows the reasons why he’s not here. And again we need to sometimes be open and honest and straightforward with each from different points of view, rather than just try to pamper certain situations all the way through. You’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t in certain aspects, but he has left a big, big void.”