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The opener was dropped after the selection committee said they were unaware of the “shoulder pain” due to which he had failed to report to the ground for the game against Mumbai on Thursday

Arun Venugopal09-Feb-2018M Vijay has been left out of the Tamil Nadu side for the remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after he “failed to report” to the ground for the game against Mumbai on Thursday due to “shoulder pain”. The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) made it clear in a press release that the state body, the selection committee and the team physio were unaware of Vijay’s injury.According to a top TNCA official, Vijay didn’t turn up to the SSN College ground, the venue of the match, on Thursday, and informed coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar about his injury at about 7.30 am, an hour and a half before start of play. With Tamil Nadu already hamstrung by an injury to opener Abhinav Mukund, Vijay’s unavailability was the last thing they needed. Ganga Sridhar Raju eventually slotted in as opener alongside Kaushik Gandhi.A source close to Vijay said the batsman was shocked by the development and was waiting to clear the air with the TNCA.Vijay, 33, played Tamil Nadu’s first two matches against Gujarat and Goa and scored 11 and 51. He has now been replaced by batsman Pradosh Ranjan Paul for the remaining matches.”How can we find a replacement at the last minute?” another TNCA official asked. “Vijay didn’t report to the ground and neither did he inform the selectors about his injury. It was very disappointing to say the least.”Vijay was unavailable for a comment on the matter.The TNCA is understood to have been unhappy with Vijay’s “attitude” over a period of time. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened,” a top TNCA official told ESPNcricinfo. “The selectors weren’t even inclined towards picking him in the four-day squads [for the Ranji Trophy] in the first place because of issues with his attitude and general aloofness.”The official, however, confirmed the TNCA hadn’t initiated any disciplinary proceedings yet. “At the moment it’s only the decision of the selectors to not pick him,” he said. “In the future, once national players confirm their availability for a tournament they have to play the full competition. They can’t pick and choose matches. This issue might come up for discussion at the Executive Committee meeting of the TNCA.”India offspinner R Ashwin, who has picked up seven wickets in three matches so far, is also set to miss Tamil Nadu’s fixture against Andhra on Sunday. The official, however, clarified that Ashwin had sought the permission of the TNCA in advance, and the association, in consultation with the selectors, granted his request.

Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, has signed to play as an overseas player for Nottinghamshire during the first half of the season

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2018Ross Taylor, the New Zealand batsman, has signed to play as an overseas player for Nottinghamshire during the first half of the season. Taylor injured himself during the course of his epic 181 not out in the fourth ODI against England, but is expected to be fit for a spell of eight Championship games and the Royal London Cup group stage at Trent Bridge.Taylor turned 34 on Thursday but had to put a birthday drink on hold after aggravating a quad problem in Dunedin, which makes him a doubt for the deciding ODI on Saturday, as well as forcing Notts to delay the announcement of his signing.One of New Zealand’s most prolific batsmen, he scored his 19th ODI ton – and second of the series – against England on Wednesday. As long as there is no reaction to his latest leg injury, Taylor will also be looking to add to his 6246 Test runs during the two-match series in late March.Taylor has been contracted until mid-June but could stay on for the Royal London Cup knockout stages, with Nottinghamshire looking to defend the trophy the won in 2017. He has previously played county cricket for Durham and Sussex.”I’m really excited about joining Nottinghamshire as they return to Division One of the Specsavers County Championship, and I hope I can play an important part in helping them become re-established at the higher level,” Taylor said. “It’s also great to be joining a team who are defending a white-ball trophy, with the club having won the Royal London One-Day Cup last summer, and hopefully the team can mount a strong challenge again.”I’ve enjoyed playing against England for New Zealand in the early part of this year, and I’m looking forward to testing myself in the early-season English conditions when I arrive at Trent Bridge for the start of the new season.”Taylor’s arrival will add significant red-ball experience to the middle order at Notts, after the retirements of Michael Lumb, Greg Smith and Chris Read, Brendan Taylor’s return to Zimbabwe and the request by Alex Hales to only play limited-overs cricket.Notts finished second in Division Two of the Championship last year, winning promotion after a season in the second tier, and also claimed a white-ball double by lifting the Royal London Cup and NatWest T20 Blast.Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell said: “Ross is a world-class performer who brings with him an excellent record at the highest level in both red- and white-ball cricket, as well as plenty of experience. He is just what we were looking for to strengthen the top order of our four-day batting line-up, where we have lost the likes of Michael Lumb and Brendan Taylor from last year, and his aggressive style suits the type of 50-over cricket we look to play.””With Ross suffering a recurrence of a previous quad injury in his century for New Zealand against England on Wednesday, we have been monitoring his fitness, which delayed the announcement of the signing by us. We will continue to check in with Ross and the New Zealand team’s medical staff, but he’s confident that he will be fully fit come the start of our season.”

Cricket Australia has made a written complaint to Cricket South Africa about taunts largely directed at the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town23-Mar-2018Personal abuse directed by Newlands spectators at the Australian side during the third Test has been labelled “disgraceful” by the coach Darren Lehmann, as Cricket South Africa responded to a written complaint from Cricket Australia following taunts about the partners and families of Steven Smith’s team.David Warner’s post-dismissal exchange with a spectator on day two was the visible tip of an iceberg’s worth of abuse over the first two days of the match, with nine spectators ejected on day two, after three had been blocked from entry on day one for wearing offensive t-shirts on the opening day. None of the ejected spectators have been banned from returning later in the match.Lehmann said the abuse, typically directed at the nearest Australian fielder to the boundary when the South African side was batting on days one and two, was the worst his team had witnessed anywhere in the world. “We accept it all around the world, but as soon as they cross the line and they talk about players’ families the whole time and getting abused like that, it’s just not on,” Lehmann said. “There’s been various incidents throughout the Test series but this one has taken the cake.”I think it’s been disgraceful. You’re talking about abuse of various players and their families and personal abuse, it’s not on at a cricket ground anywhere around the world, not just here, it shouldn’t happen. You can have the banter, that’s fine, banter is good-natured, fun by crowds but they’ve gone too far here. We’ve written to Cricket South Africa, Cricket Australia have done that, we’ll see their response, but it’s been poor. We’ll see what happens, hopefully something.”In response, South Africa’s acting chief executive, Thabang Moroe, said fans on both sides needed to behave. “Cricket South Africa and the players appreciate the fans’ passionate support displayed at all our games,” he said. “However the events that transpired today were not tolerable and something that we don’t want to see at any of our Test matches.”We have since taken it upon ourselves to beef up our security personnel to ensure that players from both sides don’t have to endure such unfortunate behavior. Both CSA and the players encourage supporters to continue rooting for their teams and also to behave in a decorous manner that will allow this Test series to be played in true spirit of the game.”Australian touring teams have long acknowledged that they receive some of their harshest treatment from spectators in South Africa, although up to this point Warner’s tour had involved more exchanges with opponents than fans. In Durban he was captured on CCTV cameras exchanging words with Quinton de Kock, then responding angrily to the response from the South African wicketkeeper and needing to be physically restrained by team-mates as he climbed the stairwell at Kingsmead.That incident saw Warner fined and handed three demerit points under the ICC code of conduct, meaning he is one further disciplinary infraction away from a ban. De Kock was also fined over the episode, albeit on a lesser charge. Warner had alleged that his aggression was sparked by de Kock making personal remarks about his wife Candice.Between Test matches, offensive masks were distributed by fans in reference to her brief bathroom encounter with the rugby league player Sonny Bill Williams years before she and Warner became a couple. Two Cricket South Africa officials, Clive Eksteen and Altaaf Kazi, were suspended by the home board after allowing fans wearing the masks to be admitted to St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and then posing with them for a photograph. In Cape Town, the t-shirt fans were barred from wearing into the ground stated “Warner where’s your wife? She’s just gone to the toilet for a minute”, while abuse of other players and their partners ramped up.”Yep it was personal and it was poor and he wasn’t the only one,” Lehmann said of the taunts at Warner. “There’s always going to be banter, as long as it doesn’t get personal, but it has gone too far with the crowd here and they’ve got to be better than that when they’re coming to international arenas to watch a game of two quality sides playing against each other. They go hard on the ground, there’s no doubt about that, but off the ground you don’t expect that when you’re leaving the ground or you’re having a go at someone’s family. It’s just disgraceful.”David Warner’s stump goes cartwheeling•AFP

Morne Morkel, who took his 300th Test wicket on day two, stopped short of criticising the Newlands crowd, and stated he had been on the receiving end of abuse from crowds in Australia.”We can’t control that. Unfortunately, there is a bit of alcohol and there’s hot sun and we expect that,” Morkel said. “When we play in Australia, I have played in Melbourne, I have copped the same sort of abuse. It’s part of the game but there is a line and its important not to cross that.”The crowd here is always amazing. They come out and support us all the time. Tomorrow is going to be even louder being a Saturday. It’s always special playing here at Newlands. It’s the marquee event and the way they get behind the boys and lift us up when we are out in the field is special.”South African teams playing in Australia have a history of facing verbal abuse or worse, dating back to the spin bowler Pat Symcox having a cooked chicken thrown at him on the SCG outfield during a limited-overs match in 1997. On more recent tours, other members of the South African side, including Hashim Amla, have been subjected to racial taunts. In 2005-06, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Garnett Kruger and Shaun Pollock were among players racially abused.”None of the team minds any form of abuse because it happens in any country, the home side really gets behind it,” South Africa’s then coach Mickey Arthur said at the time. “But we feel once it becomes a racist taunt then the boundaries are being overstepped and the South African team categorically deplores that type of behaviour. I don’t think we can do too much more other than just make our point that we categorically deplore it and we do feel that boundaries are being crossed when that sort of thing transpires out there.”The events of that summer brought a fiercer focus from CA on crowd behaviour at grounds, including a “zero tolerance” policy for racial abuse, which could attract a life ban from venues. Advertising campaigns were also devised to educate spectators as to what was appropriate and what was not.Asked about crowd behaviour in Australia, Lehmann said improvement was needed across the board. “That’s not good enough from an Australian crowd point of view either,” he said. “We’ve just got to get better at watching the game of cricket, actually supporting both teams generally, and that’s something that both boards have got to get around.”

The allrounder will play for Renegades for the next three seasons, having signed a multi-year deal at the age of 35

ESPNcricinfo staff14-May-20180:56

Dan Christian signs with Melbourne Renegades

Allrounder Dan Christian will play for Renegades for the next three Big Bash League seasons, having signed a multi-year deal with the Melbourne team at the age of 35. Christian was part of the Hobart Hurricanes side that made the BBL final in 2017-18.However, another allrounder James Faulkner has joined the Hurricanes, after spending seven seasons with the other Melbourne team, the Stars, according to a  report. The signing is meant to make up for Christian’s departure and is expected to be announced on Tuesday.”By signing Dan we know we’ve got a T20 player who has proven his ability around the world over a long period of time,” Renegades coach Andrew McDonald said. “He has the ability to change the game with his big hitting in the middle order. He also brings useful variations with the ball and plenty of experience bowling at the death, so having that option gives the team added flexibility.”Christian is presently playing in the IPL, for Delhi Daredevils coached by former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, but he has been picked for only four out of 12 games. His batting form has been poor – 26 runs off 33 balls – and he has four wickets in 11.5 overs at an economy rate of 8.53.In the 2017-18 BBL, however, Christian was more productive in home conditions for Hobert Hurricanes. He scored 216 runs at a strike rate of 153 and average of 27, and took 11 wickets in 33 overs at an economy rate of 8.87.

The franchise is pressing for a stake in CSA’s new T20 tournament since – contractually – it still holds the rights to a T20 franchise based out of Durban

Umar Farooq and Firdose Moonda21-Jun-2018The owner of the Durban Qalandars franchise is weighing up legal options against Cricket South Africa (CSA), accusing the board of abusing a franchise rights agreement.The Qalandars were in line to own a team in the inaugural Global T20 League last year, but CSA at first postponed and then scrapped the tournament altogether. Numerous logistical challenges and serious financial concerns, not least the lack of a broadcast deal and title sponsor, led to the board launching a replacement league that it co-owns with the broadcaster SuperSport.None of the eight team owners from the GLT20 will be involved in CSA’s new competition, which is essentially a South African product, but the Qalandars are pressing for a stake since, contractually, they still hold the rights to a T20 franchise based out of Durban.”We have had a successful experience with Lahore Qalandars in PSL and wanted to grow globally,” the Qalandars CEO Sameen Rana told ESPNcricinfo. “We couldn’t resist investing in South Africa, a country which has a big cricketing history and with the talent around I felt it was an excellent opportunity for us expand our venture. We were particularly keen to invest in cricket development in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province.”We also set up our office, invested a lot on recruitment to bring people to run the cricket operations in South Africa. It all came after we were awarded the rights for Durban franchise with Kingsmead Cricket Ground as our home venue. But unfortunately after [former CSA CEO] Haroon [Lorgat] departed things started to fall apart and CSA stopped interacting with us. Reportedly there were a lot of discussions within CSA board without even taking us into confidence, despite us being a stakeholder for the entire project.”CSA’s efforts are now concentrated on making sure the new T20 tournament goes off without a hitch, and the board has begun giving back the deposits paid by the GLT20 team owners – USD 250,000 along with an interest of 3.5%.And, in a letter from CSA to a GLT20 owner seen by ESPNcricinfo, the board offered to pay an additional USD 180,000 to each franchise to reimburse them for the expenses incurred in planning for the tournament, a figure some owners are reportedly unhappy with.The Qalandars aren’t satisfied with how everything has panned out.”To our surprise we now read that CSA and SuperSport have signed a deal for yet another T20 venture and we were asked to take the refundable USD 250,000 back without any explanation,” Rana said. “This is a serious breach of trust and contract with us. We do not want our refundable money back, but we require CSA to fulfill the agreement they have signed with us. They also offered us 3.5% interest on the refund along with the reimbursement of expenses incurred. But this is again something we did not demand. We simply need CSA to respect the agreements around the awarding of the franchise to us, which they themselves have given to us in perpetuity. I do not agree to this refund as condition to give up my rights so we will challenge CSA via legal [proceedings].”All of these reimbursements will cost CSA a further R 19.6 million (USD 1.44 million) adding to their already depleted stocks. That will bring losses incurred by the board, which were reported at USD 14.1 million last year, to USD 15.6 million (R 212 million).However, even though it appears CSA have cut ties with the people who had initially invested in the concept a T20 league in South Africa, an insider told ESPNcricinfo otherwise. “CSA’s view is that we were in a partnership and would ideally like to retain the relationship in case there’s an opportunity in selling equity in teams.”

Sachin Tendulkar’s son, a left-arm quick, is set to play two four-day matches in Sri Lanka next month

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jun-20181:15

Archive: Tendulkar’s son bowls at England in the nets

Arjun Tendulkar, the son of Sachin Tendulkar, has been picked in the India Under-19 squad for two four-day matches in Sri Lanka in July.A left-arm quick, Arjun, had been picked in the Mumbai Under-19 one-day side for the JY Lele invitational tournament in September last year. He also bowled in the nets in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test between England and South Africa in 2017, sending Jonny Bairstow off with an injury scare when he struck him on the toe with a yorker. Arjun also bowled in the India nets during the home series against New Zealand last year.However, he did not find a place in the one-day squad that will play five games against Sri Lanka. The four-day squad will be captained by 18-year-old Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman Anuj Rawat, who had scored two half-centuries, including one on debut, in as many matches for Delhi during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy.”We are happy on Arjun being selected in Indian under-19 team. It is an important milestone in his cricketing life. Anjali and I will always support Arjun in his choices and pray for his success,” Sachin told The one-day squad will be led by 16-year-old Uttar Pradesh wicketkeeper-batsman Aryan Juyal, who had played two matches in the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year and was part of the Under-19 World Cup winning team in January.Seventeen-year old left-arm spinner from Gujarat Siddharth Desai was picked in both squads. He also made his first-class debut in the 2017-18 season and was named the Man of the Match in his first two matches, taking nine and eight wickets against Kerala and Haryana respectively. He currently has 29 wickets from five first-class matches and three scalps from as many one-day matches.Atharwa Taide, also picked in both squads, was the captain of the Vidarbha Under-19 team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy earlier this year. He led them to their maiden title with a marathon knock of 320 off 483 balls in the final against Madhya Pradesh.